Pitt double-major Ore Fawole has long been passionate about film, an interest she shared closely with her dad and one that shaped how she thinks about storytelling and its influence. When he received a kidney and liver transplant during her junior year of high school, that connection between narrative and health took on new meaning, eventually leading to her first scientific publication as a lead author.
Published Jan. 12 in Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes, the study found that television depictions of cardiac arrest often differ sharply from reality, including where cardiac arrests occur and who experiences them. While most cardiac arrests happen at home, they are rarely portrayed that way on screen. Victims are also disproportionately depicted as white men, a pattern that raises questions about representation, influence and real-world response.
“We don’t know if TV is reflecting reality or if reality is reflecting TV,” Fawole said. “But this is a starting point.”
When Fawole arrived at the University of Pittsburgh from Minnesota through Pitt’s Guaranteed Admissions Program in 2022, she knew she wanted to become a physician. She also knew she didn’t want to give up her interest in film along the way.
Graduating with a BS in natural sciences and a BA in film and media studies this past December, Fawole spent her undergraduate years exploring the intersection of media, medicine and public health. She plans to carry that perspective with her when she begins medical school at Pitt this July.
“I don’t think people realize how much health information they’re getting from screens,” she said. “Most people aren’t seeing doctors regularly, but they’re spending hours on their phone and watching hours and hours of TV. It’s really important we understand what health content they are consuming and how they’re reacting to it.”
Her entry point into research came early. As a first-year student, Fawole took a health, law and ethics course with Cindy McCarthy, DHCE, MA, Pitt Public Health associate professor of human genetics and director of the bioethics certificate, while writing for The Pitt Pulse, Pitt’s student-run health and science magazine. The combination of coursework, student media and access to faculty opened doors quickly.
While interviewing McCarthy for a story on ethical themes in television, Fawole mentioned her dream job: becoming a medical advisor for TV shows. McCarthy suggested she reach out to Beth Hoffman, PhD, assistant professor of behavioral and community health sciences.
That single introduction led to a meeting, then a role as a student research assistant and eventually a leadership position. As a sophomore, Fawole joined Hoffman’s media and health research group and quickly distinguished herself.
“I always forget she’s a student,” Hoffman said. “She operates at such a high level.”
When the Circulation study began to take shape, Fawole wasn’t just assisting, she was helping guide it. She coordinated meetings, supervised two Pitt Public Health undergraduate research assistants and helped shape the project’s direction, while collaborating with faculty and clinicians across Pitt’s health sciences.
One of her central contributions was shifting the focus toward bystander CPR.
“When you watch a show like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ or ‘Chicago Med,’ CPR looks very different from what a regular person would do,” Fawole said. “You see all this equipment and it starts to feel like, ‘That’s CPR for them, not CPR for me.’”
Alongside her research, Fawole became a mentor to other Pitt undergraduates and to high school students through the Public Health Science Academy. She guided students through coding projects, conference abstracts and presentations, including work later shared at the Society for Behavioral Medicine.
“She’s written essentially a playbook for how to be a student research coordinator in this space,” Hoffman said. “And she’s generous about passing that knowledge on.”
That same instinct to think about who has access, who feels included and who gets left out also shapes how Fawole thinks about medicine and media.
“As a doctor, I’ll help a lot of people,” Fawole said. “But millions of people are watching these shows. If we can improve what’s on screen, that’s public health on a much bigger scale.”
-Clare Collins