NPR - Humans get along pretty well with most microbes. Which is lucky, because there are a lot more of them in the world than there are of us. This is a series is about where germs come from. In this first of three episodes, we see what our early encounters with germs may have been like, and how germs initially got an upper hand.
NEW YORK TIMES - “I don’t think public health officials should be alarming people,” said MARIAN JARLENSKI, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at Pitt Public Health. “They just have to say, ‘There have been studies done, and there is some risk.’”
Take a look at what makes Pittsburgh great, through the eyes of Pitt grad students.
Congratulations to EMILY ROBBINS (IDM '16) on her new position with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). She will work as an epidemiology program associate in waterborne diseases with an initial primary focus on Legionella prevention within the community.
I am currently a fellow in the Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Program at UPMC. In addition to pursuing my MMPH, I am working as a post-doctoral research fellow in Dr. Juan Celedon’s lab at Rangos Research Center, studying the effects of environmental exposures on asthma in children in Puerto Rico. My project involves conducting data analyses to study the association of maternal stress, preterm birth and subsequent pulmonary outcomes.
In advance of Monday’s Allegheny County Council Committee on Health and Human Services’ consideration of a proposed regulation to bring laws regarding e-cigarettes in line with traditional smoking laws, the 39-member UPMC CancerCenter and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Council show strong support of the regulation.
MARKETPLACE - In a Marketplace interview about insulin drugmakers accused of price fixing, WALID GELLAD (HPM) said, “They’re competing on the price that the pharmacy benefit manager and the insurer pays. They're not competing on the price that the patient pays."
SOCIETY OF TOXICOLOGY - In a career spanning almost four decades, MERYL KAROL has been actively engaged in research that has advanced the role of toxicology in safety decision-making. She has published extensively on chemically induced allergy and asthma and individual susceptibility to allergic diseases (holding patents related to this research) and is published widely on improving indoor air quality to sustain public health.
NEWS MEDICAL - Jane Cauley (EPI) shared years of data from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), enabling fellow researchers to identify women who will experience bone fragility well in advance of a fracture.
Doctoral student ZHE SUN (BIOS '19), co-advised by WEI CHEN and YING DING, has been awarded a 2-year Research Advisory Committee fellowship for 2017-18 supported by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Congratulations Zhe!
TIME - “There are far more people who would like to need less sleep than who actually need less sleep,” says DANIEL BUYSSE, Pitt professor of psychiatry and a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. …
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION - Findings by epidemiology's SAMAR R. EL KHOUDARY reveal a previously unknown, menopause-specific indicator of heart disease risk, pointing to potential strategies to reduce that risk. " For the first time, we’ve pinpointed the type of heart fat, linked it to a risk factor for heart disease, and shown that menopausal status and estrogen levels are critical modifying factors of its associated risk in women...
TRIB LIVE - HPM Chair MARK ROBERTS was asked to weigh in on the tremendous economic benefits to a community when public health clinics offer vaccinations. In a city such as Pittsburgh, where there are no public hospitals, public clinics become even more crucial.
SANGKI OAK (MMPH ’19) is a fourth year medical student who is taking a year off to pursue his MPH. During his service in the military, particularly while providing care to the Afghan locals during his two deployments, he developed a passion for medicine and a desire to provide health care to low-resource populations overseas. He plans to specialize in trauma surgery and so hopes to focus on global surgery during his public health studies.
A senior telephonic health coach for UPMC Health Plan, ELANA R. BARKOWITZ (BCHS ’11) also works part-time as an interviewer for the Pittsburgh Girls Study. She previously moonlighted as a paraprofessional counselor at Planned Parenthood of Western PA. Barkowitz is certified in public health (CPH) and credentialed as a Certified Health Education Specialist. She is happy to be growing her career in her hometown.
As community engagement coordinator for Pitt's Clinical and Translational Science Institute, JENNIFER JONES (BCHS ’11) bridges community and academia to build capacity and solidify partnerships. After working at public health non-profit in Washington, D.C., she realized she wanted to earn her own Master of Public Health--Pitt was her number-one choice! While an MPH student, Jones completed the community-based participatory research and practice c...
MELISSA KNORR (BCHS ’16) is the operations manager at The Open Door, Inc., where she first interned in 2014. During her time at Pitt, Melissa was an Evans Fellow, pursuing the joint MPH/masters in social work. She also served as an administrative intern for Bridging the Gaps and a board member of the Global Health Student Association. Previously, Knorr served in the Peace Corps in Zambia, Belize, and Costa Rica in the health, education, and youth...
Even before completing her MPH and global health studies, TAYLORDAPHNE MORSILLO (BCHS ’16) began working on the Plan for a Healthier Allegheny at the Allegheny County Health Department where she also supports the epidemiologist and manager of special projects. Previously, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique where her assignment focused on community and local hospital health presentations and direct work with an I-NGO, a provi...
Vice president for education, KATHARINE HOROWITZ (BCHS ’12) has been with Planned Parenthood of Western PA for nearly five years. She is a born-and-bred Pittsburgher, driven to improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes for everyone in the dynamic communities that make up our city. Horowitz has worked in youth development for eight years, having started her career leading summer trail crews with the Student Conservation Association. While pu...
MARA LEFF (BCHS ’15) is a program associate for the Jewish Healthcare Foundation working on planning and implementation across projects, including support for the foundation’s Aging Agenda. Previously, she worked on an NIH-funded childhood obesity prevention campaign at Ogilvy Public Relations, a global marketing and communications firm in Washington, D.C. While an MPH student, she conducted practicum research in India, informing her thesis, “Th...