CNBC - New gene therapies that aim to cure hemophilia are on the horizon. Leerink analysts said the treatments could cost $1.5 million or more. Treating hemophilia can incur between $580,000 and $800,000 per year. For that reason, a potential one-time $1.5 million cost is perceived by many to be a bargain compared with a lifetime of chronic therapy. Others, like HPM's WALID GELLAD, see it as excessive.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - Working with dendrites, what he calls "the quarterbacks of the immune system," IDM's ROBBIE MAILLIARD and colleagues are applying the budding field of TNT research to HIV. Now, they are investigating whether drugs that are commonly used to lower cholesterol levels could be repurposed to control viral infections.
TRIB LIVE - Environmental planning and design officials plan to reveal a draft report of Oakmont's pedestrian transportation plan this month. The plan is being paid for partially through an $11,000 grant from Pitt Public Health's WalkWorks program. Project Manager CAROLYN YAGLE said they will highlight findings during a presentation and take questions from residents afterward. "This is a draft set of recommendations for both policy and project i...
ASPPH FRIDAY LETTER - The past quarter century has brought a striking decline in earlier-than-expected deaths among blacks in the U.S. “We were surprised by these findings because they demonstrated such dramatic improvement,” said DEAN DONALD BURKE. “Our study shows that racial disparity in health outcomes is not inevitable. It can change, and the gap can be narrowed,” said BIOST's JEANINE BUCHANICH.
Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology awards during our annual Dean's Day student research competition were given to KELSEY MESSERSCHMIDT (MPH '19), BETHANY FLAGE (MS '18), ROBERTA METTUS (MS '19), and RENEE ANDERKO (PhD '22).
MEGAN HAGER (MS/MPH '18) won in the master's category and TERESA CAPASSO (PhD '21) received the doctoral prize.
NINA YACOVONI (MPH '18) received the prize for the master's category and RAYMOND VAN CLEVE (PHD '19) received the doctoral prize given by the Department of Health Policy and Management.
This year, KATHLEEN MAKSIMOWICZ-MCKINNON (MPH '18) received the prize for the master's category and CHRISTIAN GARCIA (PhD '18) received the doctoral prize.
Environmental and Occupational Health has traditionally offered the Keleti Award at Dean’s Day to recognize the presentation that demonstrated excellence in environmental health. This year’s Keleti winner is RAHEL BIRRU (PhD '18).
The Department of Biostatistics prize went to JOANNE BEER (PhD '18). She presented a poster on Predicting Social Responsiveness Scale scores from fMRI data using structured sparse penalized regression.
WILLIAM LOUTH-MARQUEZ (MPH '20) received the prize for the master's category and LYCIA TRAMUJAS VASCONCELLOS NEUMANN (PhD '19) received the doctoral prize.
This year’s Delta Omega prize was awarded to AMRITA SAHU (EOH ’19), and the Herbert Rosenkranz Prize was given to EMMETT HENDERSON (BCHS ’21).
The Health Disparities Poster Competition is a University-wide event. Two students from Pitt Public Health received awards during this year's competition. Congratulations to JOHN WRIGHT CORDIER (HPM '18) and CRISTIAN CHANDLER (BCHS '18).
In conjunction with Dean's Day, YUAE PARK (BCHS '20) was awarded with the Center for Public Health Practice Award for Translation and Application of Research to Public Health Policy and Practice. In addition, EMMA GOSSARD (BCHS '18) and LYCIA TRAMUJAS VACONCELLOS NEUMANN (BCHS '19) were awarded with the Catherine Cartier Ulrich Memorial Award for Service to the Underserved.
Congratulations to first place winner CELESTE SHELTON (HUGEN '19). Second place was awarded to CRISTIAN CHANDLER (BCHS '18) and third to CANDICE BIERNESSER (BCHS '18).
EPI's MARNIE BERTOLET is among the facilitator's for the workshop Transforming Curriculum to Be More Inclusive, happening on May 10. All facilitators of this session are Provost's Diversity Award winners.
Part of a rich series of workshops happening May 3-16 on associated topics like structural racism and bringing global perspectives to our fields and our courses.
Jane Cauley was appointed as a Distinguished Professor, the highest honor that can be accorded to a member of the professorate at Pitt. Such a designation recognizes eminence in several fields of study, transcending accomplishments in and contributions to a single discipline, in addition to national recognition.
At the ceremony, Cauley gave a presentation entitled Pivotal Directions and People in my 30-Year Osteoporosis Journey. Congratulati...
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER - Pitt Public Health analysis found that the years of life lost declined by 28 percent among blacks, over the 25 years that were studied. “We were glad to see this," said DEAN DONALD BURKE. "Every year of life is precious. Asking how much premature or avoidable death there was, is a way of comparing how much life was left on the table and how much we are improving.”
HEALIO - Patients treated with chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy will incur on average $30,000 to $36,000 in additional costs aside from drug expenses, according to a research letter published in JAMA Oncology. "It is important to quantify the total costs of these therapies to account for them when doing pharmacoeconomic evaluations and deciding on their coverage," said INMACULADA HERNANDEZ (HPM '16).
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - A proposal by the EPA administrator that aims to limit the scientific research that the agency can use to set rules illustrates a widening rift between republicans and the scientific community. If finalized, the action would limit studies only to those whose data is publicly available. In environmental health research perfect, randomized, double-blind clinical studies aren’t possible, says EOH's BERNARD GOLDSTEIN.