Research and Practice News

Check out some highlights of research and practice under way at Pitt Public Health:

PA is trying county fairs, text messages, and door-knocking to raise the vaccination rate. Success is slowly coming. 

PA is trying county fairs, text messages, and door-knocking to raise the vaccination rate. Success is slowly coming.

PHILADEPHIA INQUIERER - "The issues left are vaccine hesitancy, or they don't feel there's a strong enough need to jump through the hoops they would need to to get the vaccine," said EPI's Wendy King. Her research includes a nationwide survey of more than five million respondents and suggests that ... (08/11/2021)

Garland Examines Rise in Young People's Involvement in Local Violence on Hayes-Freeland show (video) 

Garland Examines Rise in Young People's Involvement in Local Violence on Hayes-Freeland show (video)

KDKA - BCHS' Richard Garland spoke with KDKA's Lynne Hayes-Freeland about the factors that are contributing to a rise in violence among youth in Pittsburgh. (08/03/2021)

Culyba and Chu on How to Reduce the Risk of Youth Vaping 

Culyba and Chu on How to Reduce the Risk of Youth Vaping

UPMC - Adolescents who set goals for their future and those with strong parental support are less likely to use e-cigarettes and other tobacco products. Senior author BCHS' Alison Culyba noted that frameworks already exist to help clinicians use future orientation and encourage parental monitoring ... (08/02/2021)

Gary-Webb is Co-Author on Equitable Data Analysis: Lessons from a COVID-19 Research Collaborative 

Gary-Webb is Co-Author on Equitable Data Analysis: Lessons from a COVID-19 Research Collaborative

THE RAND BLOG - The health inequities exposed by COVID-19 underscored the importance of collecting race-stratified data to inform local policymakers and revealed major pitfalls for public health researchers relying on open-source data. These and other contributing factors led to RAND, the Black Equ... (08/02/2021)

"The Role of Mom's Microbes During Pregnancy" cites Gopalakrishna's work 

"The Role of Mom's Microbes During Pregnancy" cites Gopalakrishna's work

THE SCIENTIST - In 2019, Kathyayini Gopalakrishna (HUGEN '20) and colleagues deomonstrated the importance of bacteria-specific IgA antibodies in preventing overexpansion of Enterobacteriaceae—a classic hallmark of NEC—in the guts of preterm babies. These and other results imply that immune educatio... (08/02/2021)

Baumann's talk during TEDxUniversity: Leaders, Innovators, and Neighbors (video) 

Baumann's talk during TEDxUniversity: Leaders, Innovators, and Neighbors (video)

BCHS' Sara Baumann is a mixed-methods researcher harnessing participatory, arts-based tools to study mental health and reproductive health issues. She was living in Nepal in 2015 when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck, killing close to 9,000 people and displacing half a million. Watch the recording... (07/26/2021)

COVID Cases Still Low in Allegheny County, While Opioid Overdoses Continue to Plague Residents 

COVID Cases Still Low in Allegheny County, While Opioid Overdoses Continue to Plague Residents

WESA-FM - "[That's] a big loophole there in terms of potentially not having people covered who are sick," said board chair IDM and EPI's Lee Harrison.  (07/23/2021)

Donohue finds more Americans are receiving addiction treatment, but race matters 

Donohue finds more Americans are receiving addiction treatment, but race matters

U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT - Opioid use disorder can be treated, just like any other disease, but treatment is most successful when the patient has regular, unimpeded access to trained clinicians who can not only treat the disorder, but also oversee the rest of their health care," said HPM Chair Ju... (07/23/2021)

Gary-Webb accepts award for impact of data from the Black Equity Coalition 

Gary-Webb accepts award for impact of data from the Black Equity Coalition

NATIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD INDICATORS PARTNERSHIP - Harnessing interdisciplinary expertise and perspectives, the Black Equity Coalition in Pittsburgh successfully used data to advocate for programs and policies to decrease racial disparities in COVID-19 response and created a forum to tackle other healt... (07/23/2021)

Gary-Webb featured in PHRESH: Communities Thrive When Residents are Involved in Decisions That Affect Their Neighborhoods 

Gary-Webb featured in PHRESH: Communities Thrive When Residents are Involved in Decisions That Affect Their Neighborhoods

"The Hill District and Homewood are similar and different in various ways. They're similar in the sense that they've been relatively stable over time and they have predominantly Black populations but they have very different histories overtime," explains EPI's TIffany Gary-Webb, assocaite dean for ... (07/23/2021)

Garland and Brooks: Young People at Center of Surge in Violent Crime in Allegheny County 

Garland and Brooks: Young People at Center of Surge in Violent Crime in Allegheny County

KDKA - "The age group is15-25 - younger and drugs and alcohol...people getting out of lock down now and not being in school and not being in jobs," explained BCHS' Gina Brooks. After a year without school or direction, many of these young people with easy access to guns have turned to drug use and ... (07/23/2021)

Drake: How To Improve Consumer Plan Selection in ACA Marketplaces 

Drake: How To Improve Consumer Plan Selection in ACA Marketplaces

HEALTH AFFAIRS  - There is currently an opportunity for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help consumers enroll in better Marketplace coverage in 2022. By adjusting how returning Marketplace enrollees are automatically re-enrolled in coverage, CMS can nudge more enrollees into plans... (07/23/2021)

Baumann blogs about Health Policy and Planning article, asking Is criminalization the answer for ending a harmful practice in Nepal? 

Baumann blogs about Health Policy and Planning article, asking Is criminalization the answer for ending a harmful practice in Nepal?

HPP DEBATED - BCHS' Sara Baumann (BCHS '19) talks about a recent article in the journal Health Policy and Planning, Is criminalization the answer? Perspectives of community members and police on menstrual seclusion policy in Far-West Nepal. The study was completed by an interdisiplinary Pitt team i... (07/23/2021)

Four SWAN studies explore women's brain and heart health during midlife 

Four SWAN studies explore women's brain and heart health during midlife

NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING - Meaningful research from our students, alumni, and faculty suggest that midlife health may be an important determinant of cognitive function and heart health later on in life. Featuring work from four SWAN manuscripts, one led by EPI's Emma Barinas-Mitchell (EPI '98) f... (07/09/2021)

5 COVID-19 Takeaways. Roberts: Masks Work. Really.  

5 COVID-19 Takeaways. Roberts: Masks Work. Really.

DISCOVER MAGAZINE - Fierce debate raged in the pandemic's early months about whether wearing face masks curbed viral transmission. There was never much science that said masks didn't work, says HPM's Mark Roberts, director of the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory. Pre-2020 research already showed m... (06/22/2021)

Hill and colleagues find that coke works fire made asthma worse for sufferers nearby 

Hill and colleagues find that coke works fire made asthma worse for sufferers nearby

WTAE - Brandy Bywra-Hill (EOH '22) was lead author on a recent study in collaboration with ACHD that recounts the impact of the Christmas Eve 2018 fire that destroyed the pollution controls of the U.S. Clairton Coke Works. "This is the type of data that helps shape policy about air emissions, facto... (05/06/2021)

Mendez talks Black Maternal Health in Adagio Health's Better Health Outcomes Speakers Series 

Mendez talks Black Maternal Health in Adagio Health's Better Health Outcomes Speakers Series

In observance of Black Maternal Health week, EPI's Dara Mendez presented Black Maternal Health in Pennsylvania and the U.S., presenting data, discussing the implcations of racism and next steps. Open for the full recording.  (05/06/2021)

New research from Roberts shows Medicare and Medicaid fail Americans just above the poverty line 

New research from Roberts shows Medicare and Medicaid fail Americans just above the poverty line

ACADEMIC TIMES - Americans who receive Medicare but make slightly too much money to qualify for supplemental coverage from Medicaid spend thousands more dollars on out-of-pocket medical expenses while receiving fewer outpatient services and prescriptions than people covered by both programs, accord... (04/12/2021)

El Khoudary finds abdominal fat gain tied to heart disease risk in menopause 

El Khoudary finds abdominal fat gain tied to heart disease risk in menopause

UPMC - Women who experience an accelerated accumulation of abdominal fat during menopause are at greater risk of heart disease, even if their weight stays steady, according to research published in the journal Menopause. "We need to shift gears on how we think about heart disease risk in women, par... (03/19/2021)

Costacou - Type 1 diabetes onset before menarche shortens reproductive window 

Costacou - Type 1 diabetes onset before menarche shortens reproductive window

HEALIO - "Studies have provided discrepant findings on the issue of early menopause in women with type 1 diabetes," said EPI's Tina Costacou. "Our results suggest that the discrepancies may relate to whether the type 1 diabetes diagnosis precedes menarche or not, something that previous investigati... (03/04/2021)

Community Engagement Updates & News

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum Blood Drive 

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum Blood Drive

Vitalant is hosting a Blood Drive on 2/24, 3/4, 3/9, 3/16. 3/25, and 3/31 from 9 am- 2 pm. Appointments recommended. (02/22/2021)
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Pitt's community engagement programs, fortifying the interface of the University with the broader community 

Pitt's community engagement programs, fortifying the interface of the University with the broader community

Visit www.cec.pitt.edu to learn about collaborative possibilities with other Pitt schools and local neighborhoods, community leaders, residents around health - as part of Pitt's 15-year committment to strengthen and support communities and Pitt!  (12/11/2020)

Research Videos

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Garland Examines Rise in Young People's Involvement in Local Violence on Hayes-Freeland show (video) 

Garland Examines Rise in Young People's Involvement in Local Violence on Hayes-Freeland show (video)

KDKA - BCHS' Richard Garland spoke with KDKA's Lynne Hayes-Freeland about the factors that are contributing to a rise in violence among youth in Pittsburgh. (08/03/2021)
image

Baumann's talk during TEDxUniversity: Leaders, Innovators, and Neighbors (video) 

Baumann's talk during TEDxUniversity: Leaders, Innovators, and Neighbors (video)

BCHS' Sara Baumann is a mixed-methods researcher harnessing participatory, arts-based tools to study mental health and reproductive health issues. She was living in Nepal in 2015 when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck, killing close to 9,000 people and displacing half a million. Watch the recording... (07/26/2021)
image

Gary-Webb featured in PHRESH: Communities Thrive When Residents are Involved in Decisions That Affect Their Neighborhoods 

Gary-Webb featured in PHRESH: Communities Thrive When Residents are Involved in Decisions That Affect Their Neighborhoods

"The Hill District and Homewood are similar and different in various ways. They're similar in the sense that they've been relatively stable over time and they have predominantly Black populations but they have very different histories overtime," explains EPI's TIffany Gary-Webb, assocaite dean for ... (07/23/2021)
image

Hill and colleagues find that coke works fire made asthma worse for sufferers nearby 

Hill and colleagues find that coke works fire made asthma worse for sufferers nearby

WTAE - Brandy Bywra-Hill (EOH '22) was lead author on a recent study in collaboration with ACHD that recounts the impact of the Christmas Eve 2018 fire that destroyed the pollution controls of the U.S. Clairton Coke Works. "This is the type of data that helps shape policy about air emissions, facto... (05/06/2021)
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