Faculty Profiles & Research News

Water crisis in Mississippi capital cannot be disentangled from racial inequities, experts say

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USA TODAY - Epidemiologist Maureen Lichtveld said the most important lessons the nation continues to overlook from past disasters are rooted in preparedness investment and strengthening systems to increase community resilience. Those lessons, she said, could have been learned from past system and regulatory failures – from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans after years of neglecting the city's levee system to regulatory failures in F... 

Wahed receives funding to develop SMART patient-centered clinical trial methods

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PITTWIRE -  With over $1 million from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Abdus Wahed, professor of  biostatistics , and his team will launch a three-year project to develop methodological and statistical guidance for a new way of testing treatment sequences through adaptive and sequential clinical trials that better center patient needs and interests. Co-investigators on this project include Yu Cheng and Zhao Ren of t... 

Misinformation is a common thread between the COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS pandemics

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THE CONVERSATION - IDM's Cristian Apetrei discusses the striking parallels between the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics that show the dire consequences disinformation can have on both patients and society as a whole. COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic where false and harmful information has set back public health. What sets this pandemic apart, however, is the sheer magnitude of damaging disinformation put in circulation around the world. Data sho... 

Children living near Pennsylvania fracking sites are at increased risk of leukemia

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WHYY - EOH's Dr. Bernard Goldstein weighs in on this study by researchers at Yale School of Public Health. He states, "It looks at a potential problem in ways that include new exposure metrics, which are really needed." Goldstein also says that though the factors that contribute to childhood leukemia are complex and still unclear, benzene is one known link. Dr. Goldstein has conducted prior research into exposures due to oil and gas wastewater i... 

Richard Garland Featured on Public Health America

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On this episode of Public Health America, Richard Garland discusses the national surge in gun violence and how it is a public health problem that requires public health intervention.  

Jeremy Martinson is recipient of 2022 Craig Teaching Award

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2022 Craig Award winner, Jeremy Martinson, is an assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (IDM), vice chair for research and program director of the Master of Public Health degree. “As a mentor, Dr. Martinson is extremely friendly and personable. He shows a genuine interest and cares for the well-being of students, and someone can talk to him about anything school or life-related. He is extremely knowledgeabl... 

Ying Ding selected as Health Sciences Ascending Star awardee

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Congratulations to BIOSTAT’s Ying Ding who was selected as Health Sciences Ascending Star awardee! This honor was established to recognize highly productive, creative mid-career faculty members in the six Schools of the Health Sciences and is accompanied by $25,000 in research support. The inaugural group of awardees was selected from more than twenty outstanding nominees and sheds light on the tremendous breadth and depth of their scientific ac... 

Gao Wins 2022 JESEE Young Investigator Meeting Award

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EOH’s Peng Gao is an accomplished and respected professional in the field of exposure science. The International Society of Exposure Science (ISES) has recognized Dr. Gao’s work with the 2022 JESEE Young Investigator Meeting Award. This award supports student and new researcher participation at ISES annual meetings. Congratulations!  

New Public Health Leaders Named

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Two departments will welcome new leaders in time for the fall semester. Mary Hawk has been appointed chair of the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences and Yan Ma will lead the Department of Biostatistics. “We are excited to welcome these leaders,” said Dean Maureen Lichtveld. “They bring extensive research and teaching experience, compelling visions and effective management skills to their new roles.”  

Peter Salk says newest U.S. case of polio sounds a warning

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PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - After a man in Rockland County, New York, became the first patient to contract polio in the U.S. in nearly a decade, experts such as IDM’s Peter Salk — whose late father, Jonas, developed a vaccine for the disease — said the public shouldn’t be alarmed but warned that children unvaccinated for polio could be at risk. “Polio is only a plane flight away,” Salk said. “Here is a circumstance that demonstrated that.”  

Study finds health care workers reluctant to post about COVID -19 vaccine on social media

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NEXT PITTSBURGH - BCHS' Beth Hoffman and Jaime Sidani led a study, recently published in the Journal of Community Health, which highlights COVID-19 hesitancy, acceptance and promotion among health care workers. Partnering with scientists in the Department of Psychiatry they used Twitter analysis and health care worker surveys to gain insight regarding that hesitancy. Additional authors include BCHS' Kar-Hai Chu, Elizabeth Felter and MPH student,... 

New covid subvariants highly contagious, immune evasive, experts say

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TRIB LIVE -  A rapidly spreading covid variant is highly contagious and can cause breakthrough infections, but it’s not more severe or dangerous than prior strains, local experts say. The omicron subvariant — known as BA.5 — has “really taken off, nationally and locally,” said Dr. Lee Harrison, professor of infectious disease and epidemiology.   “It is very, very infectious,” Harrison said. “There’s no doubt about it. In terms of immun... 

EPI's Andrea Rosso receives Steven D. Manners Research Development Award

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UNIVERSITY TIMES - The University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) has selected three projects from five Pitt faculty members to receive the Steven D. Manners Research Development Awards. Rosso was awarded for her work on Neighborhood Environment and Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults across Southwestern Pennsylvania. The awards, which were established in 2001, are for promising research projects in the social, behavioral, ... 

This Pitt researcher is using data to fight the opioid epidemic

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PITTWIRE - Jeanine Buchanich, a research associate professor in Biostatistics, is taking a big-picture approach to figuring out what programs will best tackle the problem.Buchanich has evaluated public health interventions as varied as community-level training for first responders on naloxone use and stigma reduction; county and municipal health department prevention efforts; the Patient Advocacy Program, which helps patients who have been presc... 

Postpartum Mothers Mobility Study co-hosts summer solstice yoga for wellness of black mothers and people who birth

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PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE - Alecia Dawn, a yoga instructor and owner of YOGAMOTIF, guided a small group in a yoga and meditation class Monday at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination in Garfield. The Summer Solstice Yoga event was co-hosted by YOGAMOTIF, Healthy Start Pittsburgh and the university of Pittsburgh Postpartum Mothers Mobility Study, or PMOMS.  PMOMS is research focused on understanding factors associated with racial disparities ... 

Gun owners, onlookers split on what gun control proposals could accomplish

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TRIB LIVE - Reaction to proposed gun control laws shows that even some local gun owners appear just as divided about the effectiveness of such measures as the politicians debating them. Although many people seem to agree the country has to find a way to stem gun violence on American streets and in schools, there is little agreement on how best to do that. "Much of the gun regulation debate is based on speculation," says EPI's Anthony Fabio. "The... 

COVID-19 deadlier during pregnancy, African study says

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VOICE OF AMERICA - Pregnancy puts women at higher risk of severe medical complications or death from COVID-19, according to a new study of more than 1,300 women in sub-Saharan Africa. "Africa is not Europe, is not the U.S.A.," said IDM and EPI's Jean Nachega, lead author of the new study. "We should not just rely on data coming from the U.S., Europe or China to try to understand COVID on the continent."   In the study , published in the jou... 

Meet the anti violence expert advocates want on jail oversight board

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Pittsburgh City Paper - BCHS' Richard Garland has been recommended by the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Let's Get Free: the Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee, and Book 'Em, to serve on the Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board (JOB). Garland has gained respect and notoriety for his steadfast commitment to violence prevention, trauma-informed care, and re-entry, to the extent that he has received support from Mayor Ed Gainey to fill the o... 

Gary-Webb participates in White House listening session on health equity issues

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On May 25, Tiffany Gary-Webb, associate professor of Epidemiology, participated in a White House listening session on health equity issues across the Commonwealth.  Experts from a range of disciplines – medicine, nursing, public health and social work – participated in the session.  Attendees were asked to share their views on health equity and its impact on clinical care.  “While our clinical advancements have been amazing and pivotal, pre... 

Valerian Kagan, pioneer of "redox biology," graces academic journal cover

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Dr. Valerian Kagan, professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, was honored as the “Cover Scientist” of Anti-Oxidants and Redox Signaling , for his pioneering work in the field of redox biology. In addition to gracing the cover of the premier journal’s May issue, Dr. Kagan’s life and scientific achievements are the subject of a biographical article in the journal. “Professor... 

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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)
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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)
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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)
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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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