Hospital News, 10-1-2011 - Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News

Issue No. 10 wphospitalnews.com| 49Two New Faculty Members JoinUniversity of Pittsburgh GraduateSchool of Public HealthHealthcare Professionalsin the NewsThe University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of PublicHealth Department of Health Policy & Management(GSPH-HPM) recently introduced two new faculty memberswho joined the department in September 2011.Jagpreet Chhatwal, Ph.D. holds a joint appointmentat GSPH-HPM and the Swanson School of Engineeringin the Industrial Engineering Department. Chhatwal receivedhis Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison. His thesis focused onimproving the practice of breast cancer diagnosis by reducingunnecessary biopsies. He developed advancedmathematical models to help radiologists determine therisk of breast cancer and the optimal time to recommendJagpreet Chhatwal a biopsy. This research won him several awards from themedical, as well as the operations research community.After completing his PhD, he worked for Merck Research Laboratories as a health economistfocusing in the area of infectious diseases and vaccines.Dr. Chhatwal joined the University of Pittsburgh in order to pursue his goal of integratingmedicine with operations research to form better clinical and public health policies. He alsoplans to collaborate with the VA Pittsburgh Health Systems to make healthcare operationsmore efficient. Additionally, Dr. Chhatwal expects to develop two new graduate courses oncost-effectiveness analysis and operations research methods in healthcare for the next academicyear.Julia Driessen, Ph.D. did her undergraduate work atThe University of Michigan, where she majored in mathand economics. She then completed her Ph.D. in Economicsat Johns Hopkins University. Her thesis, titled “TheImpact of Health Interventions on Fertility and Education:New Evidence”, was a study of secondary data to evaluatethe socioeconomic effects of vaccination and family planningprograms in Bangladesh.Dr. Driessen’s position at Pitt will allow her continueher research on Bangladesh, in addition to collaboratingon work with other faculty members to examine the longtermsocioeconomic effects of health interventions. Herfuture goals include the application of her econometric Julia Driessenanalysis of health programs to other regions of the world.Dr. Driessen also expects to begin teaching at the Graduate School of Public Health in thenext academic year.For more information, visit www.pitt.edu.Mark A. ProvenzanoHeritage Valley Sewickley Adds NewPulmonologist/IntensivistHeritage Valley Health System recently announced the addition ofMark A. Provenzano, M.D. to Heritage Valley’s Sewickley campus.With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Provenzano specializesin critical care and in the treatment of all respiratory diseases. He obtainedhis bachelor’s of science degree from the University of SouthernCalifornia and his medical degree from George Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency in InternalMedicine and fellowship in Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical CareMedicine at UPMC. Dr. Provenzano is board certified by the AmericanBoard of Internal Medicine for internal, pulmonary and critical care medicine.He is a also a fellow in the American College of Chest Physicians.Visit www.heritagevalley.org for more details.