TRIB LIVE - Even people who exercise the recommended two-and-a-half hours per week likely face an increased risk of death if they sit a lot every day, according to a new study on sitting’s health risks. The science of sedentary behavior is more limited than the science of physical activity, said epidemiology’s BONNIE ROCKETTE-WAGNER. She tells people to find creative ways to get up and move around – whether it’s pausing a TV show to get a little ...
EVA CHERNOFF (MMPH '18, MD '19) received her BS in psychology and neuroscience with a minor in human development and family studies at Penn State University where she researched how ADHD impacts juvenile, higher level brain function and emotional regulation. She worked for the Child Attention Learning Study at Penn State, coordinating research efforts including participant recruitment, student training, statistical analysis, grant finances and I...
THE HILL - Emeritus dean and environmental professor BERNARD GOLDSTEIN comments that, as we help communities affected by recent weather disasters, it's time to talk about our national responsibility to fund restoration of areas likely to be repeatedly impacted in the future. “Would it not be better, after the immediate rescue efforts are completed, to require recognition of the reality of global climate change in planning for a rebuilt Houston th...
This morning we enjoyed the Commons Cafe Grand Opening, with none more excited than Dean Burke! Have you checked out the offerings? So good to have a welcoming place to connect and collaborate!
BCHS student EMMA HOSMAN presented on September 8, 2017, at the second annual Pitt MED Ed Day. Her poster, titled Implementing Responder Safety Trainings at a Local Health Department: A Public Health Preparedness Initiative, was based on work at the Allegheny County Health Department during her participation in the 2017 Pittsburgh Summer Institute.
Anthony Stanowski, president and CEO of the Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME), visited the Department of Health Policy and Management on Wednesday, August 30. His main goals of the visit were to learn more about our MHA program and to stress the importance of CAHME accreditation in advancing the quality of health care management education.
During the 1956 Sugar Bowl halftime, the Pitt marching band spelled out SALK to honor the polio vaccine work of Pitt researcher Jonas Salk. The efforts of his research team culminated in the largest national controlled field trial in history, resulting in the vaccine’approval for the public on April 12, 1955, an action that Newsweek called “a summit moment in history.”
PITT MAGAZINE - When a mysterious illness suddenly emerged in his Brazilian hometown, IDM researcher ERNESTO MARQUES mobilized with colleagues to decode its unknowns. The work may help infectious-disease researchers stop or stall new epidemics. His story begins on page 18.
NBC PHILADELPHIA - State officials want both public and private school students to be up-to-date with all their vaccinations within five days of the beginning of the school year, a drastic reduction from the eight months that pupils used to have to get their shots. Epidemiology’s LEE HARRISON says outbreaks of infectious diseases have demonstrated the need for high immunization rates.
We welcome SHYAMAL D. PEDDADA as the new chair of the Department of Biostatistics. He comes to us from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), where he was the acting branch chief of the Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch and a senior tenured investigator. He also held adjunct appointments as professor of biostatistics at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and professor...
AXIOS - Doctor and health policy professor WALID GELLAD said the real question is why a potential breakthrough drug that has some question marks about effectiveness should cost more than proven life-saving measures like bone marrow or kidney transplants. “This is an amazing therapy, but there has to be a limit at which point companies can no longer charge desperate patients, or taxpayers, enormous sums.”
THE GLOBE AND MAIL - It has been two years since Brazil’s northeast was hit with the public-health crisis that left babies born with CZS and set off alarm bells in the global health community. Yet experts continue to grapple with big questions. “We can’t really tell if what happened here was replicated or not in other areas of Brazil or Latin America because we don’t really know how many women were exposed,” said IDM’s ERNESTO MARQUES, who is con...
WHAT IS ELI? Check out this introductory video about the Emergency Law Inventory (ELI) and how to use it. The tool, developed by the Pitt Public Health Center for Public Health Practice, is particularly appropriate now as aid organizations struggle to respond to the devastating Texas aftermath of hurricane Harvey.
INSURANCE JOURNAL - “Our findings will affect regulatory agencies and how they set exposure standards,” said principal investigator GARY MARSH, professor of biostatistics and director/founder of the school’s Center for Occupational Biostatistics and Epidemiology. “It is very good news that the workers in this industry are not at increased risk of death due to the materials used in their occupation, both for the employees and for the hard metal in...
BECKER’S HOSPITAL REVIEW - Pitt Public Health alumnus LOU SHAPIRO (HPM ’84), CEO of the New York based Hospital for Special Surgery, talks about how he plans to stay competitive in an increasingly consolidated healthcare landscape and what it means to grow better instead of bigger.
SCIENCE - Incoming biostatistics chair, SHYAMAL PEDDADA, offers an invited scholarly review of research by Smits et al. into how the gut microbiome in hunter-gatherer communities responds to seasonal changes in diet, activity, and the external environment. Even as high gut microbial diversity contributes protective effects among long-lived hunter gatherers, this microbial diversity is dropping among modernizing societies.
TCTMD - Two new analyses call into question the cost-effectiveness of adding the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab to statin therapy in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Pitt Public Health alumna INMACULADA HERNANDEZ (HPM ’16) noted that the conclusions of the two papers are the same: the drug’s cost “is way above what we usually considered cost-effective in this country.”
NPR - Using claims data from Medicaid patients in Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2013, HPM’s JULIE DONOHUE looked at prescription opioid use and medication-assisted treatment rates before and after overdoses. The study's senior author found that “This is a time when people are vulnerable, potentially frightened by this event that’s just occurred and amenable to advice, referral, and treatment recommendations. It’s safe to characterize it as a missed o...
90.5 WESA - Bigfoot, UFOs, and prehistoric birds. Whether you’re a sceptic or ardent believer, listen to an interview with Seth Breedlove, director and producer of the documentary, “Invasion on Chestnut Ridge,” with stories told by locals who say they have experienced paranormal activity in the region. We know our Pitt Public Health classrooms and labs are safe, but keep your eyes open!
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - With just a week under his belt at Pitt Public Health, incoming director of the Center for Health Equity, NOBLE A-W MASERU, is to join an AARP-sponsored, 90-minute public panel discussion on 8/22 of how older adults (and younger ones with disabilities) could be affected by changes in federal law and state policies, including how proposals may impact health care and insurance, Medicaid funding, and related programs.