Pitt Public Health Magazine: Fall 2024

Magazine for the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health | FALL 2024
Change-Making
Collaborators

FALL 2024
Inside
Message from the Dean / 3
Briefly / 26
Department news; Faculty and Alumni news
and announcements
Class Notes / 30
Passings—Mary Ann Peterson / 32
Cen Gift / 32
Features
16
IN-DEPTH
Changing Course
Nontraditional students bring
new perspectives to class. Meet
four graduate students seeking
a “second act” career path in
public health education.
By Michele Dula Baum
Peter Hotez Honored with Porter Prize
Since his high school days, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, dean of the National School of
Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has considered University of Pittsburgh
virologist Jonas Salk, MD, his personal hero for developing the first safe and effective
vaccine for polio in 1955. Following in the footsteps of Salk, Hotez has made it his
life’s work to develop low-cost vaccines for the most vulnerable people in the world.
In recognition of his extraordinary efforts in health promotion and disease prevention,
he was honored with the School of Public Health’s 2024 Porter Prize. Established in
1983, the Porter Prize is named in honor of the late Milton Porter, CEO of L.B. Foster Co.
Porter was one of the first industrialists in the nation to view the workplace as a site for
wellness programs.
8FOCUS
Building Bridges
Collaboration is a fundamental
driver of science and innovation.
Pitt Public Health looks at some
of the ways our researchers work
with partners across campus
and around the world to build
healthier communities.
By Michele Dula Baum and Clare Collins
4
PROFILE
Anzell v. HHT
Postdoc’s personal experience
drives research.
By Clare Collins
6
SPOTLIGHT
Reflections,
Connections, Action
Finding affinity and joy in
environmental justice work.
By Clare Collins
22
SPOTLIGHT
Grief Illuminated
Collaborative filmmaking
project brings bereavement
into focus.
By Michele Dula Baum
On the cover, La’Vette Wagner, PHRESH coordinator,
works out of the collaborative’s Hill District field office.
24
PROFILE
Finding Her Groove
Caroline Deasy reflects on
three decades at Pitt.
By Jackie Friedman Hathaway
PHOTOGRAPHY: (OPPOSITE) JOHN ALTDORFER; (ABOVE) JOSHUA FRANZOS; (TOP) ELAN MIZRAHI PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 1

MESSAGE
From the Dean
“Freedom is an endless horizon,
and there are many roads that
lead to it. We must walk arm
in arm with other men, and we
must struggle toward goals which
are commonly desired and sound.
We must give and lend to the youth
for stronger voice and encourage
their individuality. We must
look to the schools and constantly
work for their improvement
because that is where the future
leadership of the country will be
coming from.”
— U.S. REP. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
SPEAKING AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY IN 1969
Pitt Public Health
Magazine
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Michele Dula Baum
Senior Science Communications
Manager
EDITORS
Jeanine Buchanich, PhD, MEd, MPH,
Vice Dean
Associate Professor of Biostatistics
and Health Data Science
Clare Collins, MA, MEd,
Director of Marketing and
Communications
COMMUNICATIONS TEAM
Joseph Barreto,
Communications Specialist
Amber Curtaccio, Content Manager
Jackie Friedman Hathaway, MEd,
Social Media Manager
Caitlin McCullough,
Web Content Manager
CONTRIBUTOR
Marty Levine,
Staff Writer, University Times
DESIGN
Landesberg Design
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photos courtesy of the School of
Public Health unless otherwise noted.
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Sloane Astorino
Cindy Bryce, PhD
Jessica G. Burke, PhD, MHS
Lourdes Cano, JD
Berthony Deslouches, MD, PhD
Julie M. Donohue, PhD
Tamara Dubowitz, ScD, SM, MSc
Thistle Elias, DrPH, MPA
Michael Friend, MS
Tiffany Gary-Webb, PhD, MHS
Catherine Haggerty, PhD, MPH
Mary Hawk, DrPH
Suresh Kuchipudi, PhD, MVSc, MBA
Yan Ma, PhD
Cynthia McCarthy, DHCE, MA
Christina Ndoh, PhD
Quasar Padiath, MBBS, PhD
Elaine Vitone
Helena VonVille, MLS, MPH
Sally Wenzel, MD
Ada Youk, PhD
CORRESPONDENCE
Share your thoughts with Pitt Public
Health at phmag@pitt.edu.
Pitt Public Health is published by the
Office of the Dean, School of Public
Health. It is produced twice a year
for alumni, students, faculty, staff
and friends of Pitt Public Health.
The University of Pittsburgh is an
affirmative action, equal opportunity
institution.
People Get Ready
Dear Pitt Public Health colleagues,
This past summer, I vacationed in Ormond Beach, a
Florida town where Shirley Chisholm, the first African
American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, once
made her home.
Also the first Black woman to make a serious bid
for the presidency, Chisholm was known throughout her legislative
career as a fierce advocate for gender and racial equality.
Her commitment to empower the most vulnerable among us
reflects a true public health mindset—one the School of Public
Health shares, along with her determination to implement bold,
innovative ideas.
Today, climate change, emerging infectious diseases, food
insecurity and environmental pollution are serious challenges
that demand transformative solutions—solutions to which
schools of public health are uniquely positioned to contribute.
Indeed, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health has
an obligation to confront these threats.
Going forward, the School of Public Health will focus on
precision public health strategies that anticipate, prepare for and,
if possible, prevent consequences related to these challenges.
Our goal is analogous to that of precision medicine, which looks
to develop the right treatment for the right patient at the right
time. Precision public health, however, has a broader goal to find
the right intervention for the right population at the right time.
We have the tools and expertise right here in Pittsburgh to
achieve these goals.
I’ve challenged our faculty to think big and identify approaches
that cut across departments and disciplines to address today’s
problems as well as those we will face in the future.
One Health, which you will read more about on page 9, is
a fundamental approach to the answers we seek. One Health
recognizes that human, animal and environmental health are
inextricably linked. For example, we can see the effects of a
warming climate in waves of extreme heat and destructive storms.
Just this past summer, two people were found to be infected
with dengue virus in the Florida Keys—an extremely rare
You don’t make progress by standing
on the sidelines, whimpering and
complaining. You make progress by
implementing ideas.”
— U.S. REP. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
occurrence in the continental United States. Locally transmitted
cases have also been confirmed in Arizona and California.
Researchers have found that more than half of all human
infectious diseases can be worsened by climate change.
Flooding—often a consequence of severe storms—can affect
water quality and the habitats where dangerous bacteria and
vectors like mosquitoes can breed and transmit infectious
diseases to people.
Excessive heat can exacerbate existing health problems, such
as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. And when heat stress
becomes heat stroke, it can damage the heart, brain and kidneys
and become lethal.
Heat also affects food and water security by shortening growing
seasons, threatening shellfish and moving fisheries further
from coastal waterways people have relied upon for generations.
Migratory patterns are changing among birds and native species
are on the move seeking more hospitable habitats. All of these
factors increase the risk of emerging infectious diseases.
Hot weather and the same fossil fuel gases warming the
planet contribute to ground-level ozone, a key component of
smog. In turn, smog can worsen allergies, asthma and other
respiratory problems, as well as cardiovascular disease.
Wildfires fueled by hot, dry landscapes add to the air pollution
health risk. Wildfire smoke is laden with tiny particles that
can travel deep into the lungs, causing heart and respiratory
problems.
At the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, climate
and health are being embedded in research, teaching and service.
Every day, our school is fielding the necessary expertise in
data science that can help us analyze patterns and predict future
risks, advancing our understanding of the microorganisms that
cause infectious diseases and developing vaccines to prevent
them, and partnering with communities in Pittsburgh and around
the world to prepare for what comes next.
Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH, Dean
Jonas Salk Professor in Population Health
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
© 2024 by University of Pittsburgh
School of Public Health
2
PHOTOGRAPHY: (LEFT) ADAM CUERDEN/WIKI COMMONS; (ABOVE) AIMEE OBIDZINSKI
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 3

PROFILE
Anthony Anzell
He was diagnosed with a rare
genetic disease in high school.
As a Pitt postdoc, he’s committed
to finding answers.
RESEARCH
Anzell v. HHT
Postdoc’s personal experience drives research
By Clare Collins
When Anthony Anzell, PhD, was a sophomore in high
school, a terrible migraine came out of nowhere and
lasted for several weeks. His only relief came from
sleeping, which he was doing about 21 hours a day.
I wasn’t eating anything,” Anzell, now a postdoctoral
fellow in the Department of Human Genetics, recalls of those
days in 2007. “I lost somewhere around 40 pounds. Since I didn’t have
much weight to lose, my parents were very, very concerned.”
Despite being told to “wait it out” by his doctors, Anzell’s strong-willed
mother pushed for a diagnosis. When it came, they were astounded.
A CT scan revealed a fourth of his brain was covered in abscesses,
and he was subsequently diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called
hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (teh-lan-jee-ek-TAY-zhuh),
or HHT. No one in his family knew what it was, let alone how to
pronounce it.
They learned that HHT causes abnormal connections between arteries
and veins called arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). The most common
locations affected are the nose, lungs, brain and liver.
There are two primary genes responsible for HHT—the endoglin
gene and another gene called ACVRL1. Anzell’s genetic test came back
positive for a mutation in the endoglin gene.
After undergoing three brain surgeries to remove fluid that had built
up in his brain, as well as a liver surgery and lung surgery to seal off
two pulmonary AVMs, Anzell began to stabilize.
He soon was inspired to raise awareness and
funding for HHT through various activities, one
of which was endurance sports. He joined the
crew team at Grand Valley State University in
Grand Rapids, Mich., as a collegiate rower, and
participated in several 50-mile ultramarathons
and ultra-ironman competitions throughout his
post-college years.
“I started to see my experience as an opportunity
to devote my life to something,” he says. Before
long, he completed a doctoral degree in physiology
at Wayne State University in Detroit.
After graduation, he sought out Beth Roman, PhD,
associate professor and vice chair of research in the
Department of Human Genetics and basic research
director of the school’s HHT Center. Roman, a leading
expert in HHT, studies the disease’s molecular
and cellular mechanisms.
As a postdoc in Roman’s lab, Anzell has immersed
himself in research to understand more about the
disease process of HHT, which he hopes will result
in new therapies. “For the last three and a half years
[at Pitt], I’ve been living out my dream doing HHT research,” he says.
“It’s been really amazing.”
Anzell is primarily focused on the cellular biology of AVMs and
exploring the role of blood flow in their development.
“We have some data that show cells move differently when they lose
the receptor that is encoded by the gene ACVRL1, which is called ALK1,”
he explains. “Instead of moving against blood flow, they may move
with the flow of blood, and we think that this somehow leads to AVMs.”
Early in 2024, his research received a boost with a $20,000 Young
Investigator Draft grant from Uplifting Athletes, an organization that
uses the platform of college athletics to fund collaborative basic bench
research on rare diseases.
A perfect blend of Anzell’s passion for sports and rare disease research,
he is using the award to continue his work to better understand how
a cell’s structure, shape, size and arrangement changes with HHT. He
is also working on a study to determine the prevalence of HHT based
on genomic data.
“THE SCIENCE THAT
WE DO ON THESE
RARE DISEASES
DOESN’T JUST HELP
THOSE AFFECTED
BY THEM, IT CAN
APPLY TO ALMOST
ANY SORT OF
PHYSIOLOGY.”
ANTHONY ANZELL
“The science that we do on these rare diseases doesn’t just help those
affected by them, it can apply to almost to any sort of physiology,” he
adds. “When we talk about how blood vessels form, that’s a natural part
of life. Understanding how and why things fail is just as important.”
Anzell remains passionate about raising awareness of HHT. A member
of the board of directors for the nonprofit organization Cure HHT, he
wants people to know that an estimated 50,000 to
100,000 Americans are affected by HHT, and that
the majority of cases go undiagnosed.
“I think the tough thing is that when you see
me, you see a very healthy individual, somebody
who’s very active,” he says. “You don’t see that I
have nose bleeds every day. I will obviously have to
struggle with this disease for the rest of my life.”
Now a parent of young children, Anzell is thankful
for the tenacity of his parents, which brings
him to tears. He is also especially grateful that
both his children have tested negative for an HHT
genetic mutation.
“It started with me and ends with me,” he says.
“I feel super blessed to have two really healthy
kiddos.”
The World Health Organization defines a rare disease as one
that affects 1.3 in 2,000 people. The total economic burden
of rare diseases in the United States was estimated to be
$966 billion in 2019.
Rare Disease Day, a global initiative to raise awareness
and support for people on a rare medical journey, takes place
on Friday, February 28, 2025.
4 PHOTOGRAPHY: (LEFT) JOSHUA FRANZOS; (RIGHT) JOHN ALTDORFER
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 5

SPOTLIGHT
Environmental Justice
FACULTY & COMMUNITY
Reflections,
Connections, Action
Finding affinity and joy in environmental justice work
By Clare Collins
Hosting a three-day workshop on environmental justice after a few brief
months of planning is not something many would associate with
happiness or laughter, but that’s how the event was described by its
conveners—Tina Ndoh, PhD, associate professor of environmental and
occupational health at Pitt’s School of Public Health, and Dani Wilson,
MSW, executive director of the Cancer and Environment Network of Southwestern
Pennsylvania.
Ndoh and Wilson met in January 2024 to begin planning the “Environmental
Justice Summit: Reflections, Connections and Collaborative Action,” which was held
last spring at Pitt’s Community Engagement Centers in Homewood and the Hill
District, as well as additional locations in Hazelwood and Clairton.
The summit, attended by more than 100 community members and academics,
was the first such event in Pittsburgh to engage scholars, community members and
practitioners in the topic of environmental injustice and to offer healing activities—
cooking lessons, how-tos in making nontoxic household cleaners and self-care products,
and art therapy—for Black communities and others disproportionately burdened
Dani Wilson, left, and Tina Ndoh
by environmental toxins and hazards.
“It was a lot of hard work for our planning
committee, like birthing a baby,” laughs
Ndoh, also associate dean for public health
practice. “But there was also just so much
joy expressed, which I think had to do with
creating a space for people to tell their stories
and to connect with like-minded partners.”
Registration filled in a mere two weeks,
which Wilson attributed to a profound need for
“spaces where people can pause for community
connection and care.”
When she first relocated to Pittsburgh
from Durham, North Carolina, Ndoh viewed
herself as a resident on a “tiny island of environmental justice
scholars,” yet remained keenly interested in developing a one-day
environmental justice symposium, despite some uncertainty
about how to move forward. Likewise, Wilson and her network
colleague, Andre Green, MSW, who received funds from The Heinz
Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation to host an environmental
justice meeting, were questioning how to do so while
providing a space for healing. When the two women connected,
everything came together.
“From the moment we discussed combining our projects, Tina
was such a strong believer in doing something for the community,
as well as academic partners,” says Wilson. “She was excited to
combine these in a way we hadn’t really seen much of before.”
Their next step was framing the concept of environmental
justice to invigorate collective action and celebrate participants.
“We were very intentional from the start in making sure the event was community-
voiced and community-focused,” says Ndoh.
They also wanted to emphasize environmental justice as an ethical issue. “It really
is about creating the environment we all deserve,” says Wilson.
Part of this understanding comes from the idea of healing justice, which seeks
to respond to generational trauma and regenerate traditions of liberatory practices
that have been lost or stolen, explains Wilson. The topic was “brought home” at the
summit through a Bearing Witness ceremony, in which participants convened at the
home of Melanie Meade, who lives adjacent to the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works.
Meade invited participants to see and breathe the air that she and her son breathe,
which led to discussions about anger, fear, exhaustion and grief, and a closing ceremony
that inspired solidarity, says Wilson.
“There are so many structures that keep us disconnected from the environmental
health work that we do,” says Ndoh, reflecting on the Bearing Witness event.
“These same structures keep folks who don’t experience environmental injustices
on a regular basis from witnessing what is happening to others.”
Believing those most impacted by environmental injustices should lead post-
summit discussions, Ndoh and Wilson passed the torch on to the Black Environmental
Collective (BEC) as that organization continues to convene follow-up conversations
on environmental justice.
“We are excited to keep the momentum going regarding environmental justice and
healing,” says BEC Director Alyssa Lyon, MPM. “Keeping the lines of communication
open will continue to create pathways for solution sharing and mutual learning for
all who actively participate in environmental initiatives.”
Ndoh and Wilson, who have continued to provide support, agree. “It’s really important
that we operate from a place of love and healing,” says Wilson. “It’s about sharing
understanding and slowing down to create spaces to heal.”
“KEEPING THE LINES OF
COMMUNICATION OPEN
WILL CONTINUE TO
CREATE PATHWAYS FOR
SOLUTION SHARING AND
MUTUAL LEARNING FOR
ALL WHO ACTIVELY
PARTI CIPATE IN ENVIRON-
MENTAL INITIATIVES.”
ALYSSA LYON
The Environmental Justice Summit was sponsored by the Cancer and Environment Network of
Southwestern Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Health, Environment and Engaged
Research, the University of Pittsburgh Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and the University
of Pittsburgh Health Policy Institute.
6 PHOTOGRAPHY: (ABOVE) JOSHUA FRANZOS; JOHN ALTDORFER
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 7

IN-DEPTH
Change-Making Collaborations
BUILDING
Stories from the ancient “Epic of Gilgamesh” to the latest binge-watch of Netflix drama
“The Bear,” emphasize that no one—from the greatest hero to your everyday Joe—can get
anywhere without the help of a capable team.
“It’s the interconnectedness among disciplines, institutions and communities that
amplifies, that energizes our awareness, and that’s the essence of public health,” said
School of Public Health Dean Maureen Lichtveld, MD, MPH. “Not everyone works in the lab,
at the bedside or in the community but, together, we have a continuum of knowledge.”
In this issue, Pitt Public Health takes a closer look at important research collaborations
that include faculty, students and staff from multiple departments within the school as
well as other schools at Pitt and elsewhere, government and nonprofit organizations across
the Commonwealth and nation, and partnerships that cross international boundaries—
to the ultimate benefit of communities everywhere.
“If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.”
–African Proverb
BRIDGES
By Michele Dula Baum and Clare Collins
A Commitment to Community Outreach
In August 2024, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania selected the School of Public
Health to coordinate the Pennsylvania One Health Consortium. The consortium is
an outgrowth of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health and
Diagnostic Commission, which was launched in 1988 to improve the health and
well-being of animals and support veterinary education in the Commonwealth. One
Health’s expanded focus was added to the commission’s charge during a reorganization
10 years ago, which created the Pennsylvania One Health Task Force.
“Human, plant and animal health and the health of our environment are unmistakably
interconnected and reliant on each other,” said Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture
Russell Redding. “The PA One Health Consortium will strengthen communication among
those who conduct research, drive innovation, and make policy decisions that affect our
health and our lives together.”
Going forward, research studies undertaken by the University and its academic partners
will provide findings to inform policy development by government bodies like the
Department of Agriculture or the Department of Health. “What we can do now,” Lichtveld
8 PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 9

Change-Making Collaborations
explained, “is publish research and promote education strategies—that’s
the freedom we have under an academic consortium.”
Another critical component of the new consortium is its commitment
to community outreach. “Our goal is to serve as a transdisciplinary
resource for One Health research, education, policy and community
engagement across Pennsylvania and the region,” said Lichtveld.
Among the consortium’s priorities are health challenges arising from
infectious diseases, extreme heat, poor air quality and insecure access
to healthy food and clean water.
“Our key focus is addressing the challenges of emerging infectious
diseases through a comprehensive approach,” said Suresh Kuchipudi,
PhD, MVSc, MBA, professor and chair of the Department of Infectious
Diseases and Microbiology (IDM).
While most such academic departments are housed in schools
pertaining to their specific focus (medical, veterinary or agriculture),
Pitt’s positioning of IDM within its School of Public Health accords an
opportunity to bridge these disciplines and study infectious diseases
at the intersections of human, animal and environmental health.
A grounding of research, education and practice rooted within the
interconnectedness of environment and populations defines the very
essence of public health.
“The concept of One Health has been around for a long time but is
receiving increased attention because of the recent infectious disease
challenges we’ve faced like COVID-19,” Kuchipudi added, explaining
that COVID-19, like the majority of emerging human viral threats, is
zoonotic in origin. Zoonotic viruses originate in animals, cross species
from animal to animal and animal to human and can sometimes gain
pandemic potential once they become transmissible among humans.
“On August 14, the World Health Organization declared Mpox
(formerly monkeypox) a Public Health Emergency of International
Concern following the emergence of a new subtype and its rapid spread in
central Africa,” he noted. “Very quickly, Sweden and Pakistan confirmed
Mpox cases, highlighting the global health risks of zoonotic viruses.”
Mpox was first identified in 1958, giving health authorities nearly
seven decades to learn more about its activity before the disease became
a global emergency—and underscoring the importance of acting early to
prevent, prepare and respond before a disease becomes a major problem.
“We need to have a very targeted focus on research, training and
community engagement,” said Kuchipudi. “One Health is much more
important in the context of infectious disease, particularly because of
the urgency and the current challenges we face globally.”
James Holt, VMD, sees that urgency in his own work.
A Chester County large-animal veterinarian who chairs the One Health
consortium steering committee for the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture, Holt cares primarily for beef and dairy cattle and horses.
A multistate outbreak of HPAI A(H5N1) bird flu in dairy cows became
apparent early in spring 2024—the first time bird flu viruses have been
seen in cows. Cases have been concentrated thus far in Colorado, with
additional cases in Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas.
On April 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
confirmed one human HPAI A(H5N1) infection in a person in Texas who
had exposure to dairy cows that were presumed to be infected with
the virus. This is thought to be the first instance of likely mammal to
human spread of HPAI A(H5N1) virus. In May 2024, CDC began reporting
additional, sporadic human cases in people who had exposure to
Pennsylvania One Health Consortium
Partners & Collaborators
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture
Department of Health
Department of Environmental Protection
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Game Commission
Fish and Boat Commission
Delaware Valley University
Penn State University
Department of Veterinary and Biological Sciences
Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
College of Medicine
Extension Offices
Temple University
University of Pennsylvania
School of Veterinary Medicine
Perelman School of Medicine
U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife and
Veterinary Services
infected dairy cows. A handful of other human
infections have followed—again, among people
who had exposure to infected cows.
Though bird flu has yet to arise in Pennsylvania
dairy cows, a large outbreak could
have severe consequences in the Commonwealth.
Pennsylvania is second nationally in
the number of dairy farms, with 485,000 head
of cattle on 6,200 farms. The Pennsylvania dairy industry provides
52,000 jobs across the commonwealth and generates $14.7 billion in
annual revenue.
Should the virus mutate to a form capable of human-to-human transmission,
the world could be facing another pandemic. The Spanish Flu
of 1918, for example, began as an Influenza type A in birds and moved
through other mammals to people. COVID-19 originated in primates
before infecting people.
It is these kinds of threats that members of the Pennsylvania One
Health Consortium will study, plan and prepare for, and aim to prevent.
“Frankly, we’re still in the early stages of this,” said Holt. “But
our partnerships give us a significantly larger platform where we can
communicate with a larger audience, develop research projects, have
outreach and education opportunities and, potentially, have the ability
to affect change by providing information to legislators as they’re
making decisions.”
“One Health is much more important in the
context of infectious disease, particularly
because of the urgency and the current
challenges we face globally.”
SURESH KUCHIPUDI
10 PHOTOGRAPHY: (ABOVE) GETTY; (RIGHT) JOHN ALTDORFER
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 11

Change-Making Collaborations
Pitt nursing student Hope Karnes with
resident Roselyn Baum at The Willows
nursing home in Oakmont, Pa.
Lessons Learned—Rethinking Nursing Home Care
‘ ‘ T
he moral test of government is how it treats those who are in
the dawn of life: the children, those who are in the twilight of
life: the aged, and those who are in the shadows of life: the sick,
the needy and the handicapped. Our long-term care system has
suffered from a tremendous under-investment, which means
that we are not meeting that moral test.” —Marc Cohen, “What
COVID-19 Exposed in Long-Term Care: A Documentary”
When COVID-19 struck the U.S. in early 2020, nursing
homes became the pandemic’s epicenter. Overwhelmed long-term care
facilities found themselves unable to keep up with spiraling infections
and deaths among residents. Overworked staff lacked personal
protective equipment and were emotionally burdened by what they
were witnessing. For the rest of us, refrigerated trucks functioning as
makeshift morgues splashed across national news outlets and remain
an indelible image of the time.
Advanced age, underlying frailty and communal living conditions
combined to make nursing home residents acutely vulnerable to
COVID-19, accounting for 25% of fatalities nationwide by the end of the
first year of the pandemic. Still, the nursing home industry struggled
with chronic problems well before.
Teaching Nursing Home Redux
Partners & Collaborators
Centre Care
Jewish Healthcare Foundation
Penn State University
University of Pennsylvania
School of Nursing
University of Pittsburgh
School of Nursing
University of Pittsburgh School
of Public Health, Department of
Health Policy and Management
UPMC Canterbury Place
Wesley Enhanced Living
The Willows
“What happened in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic
did not happen in a vacuum,” says Nancy Zionts, MBA, chief operating
officer and chief program officer at the Pittsburgh-based Jewish
Healthcare Foundation (JHF). “It involved decades of neglect—not paying
attention to the workforce and the lack of resources for infection control
protocols, staff and equipment.”
Recognizing the huge and urgent need coming out of the pandemic,
Zionts and Karen Feinstein, PhD, JHF president and chief executive
officer, connected with Terry Fulmer, president and CEO of The
John A. Hartford Foundation, and together they decided to revisit
a concept from the 1980s called the Teaching Nursing Home Initiative.
Conceived by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 1981, the initiative
targeted issues affecting the burgeoning elderly population living
in nursing homes during the 1970s and 80s.
“The original Teaching Nursing Home Initiative ran its course with
some success,” explains Howard Degenholtz, PhD, professor of health
policy and management at Pitt’s School of Public Health. “When the
pandemic exposed our inadequacies in caring for elderly residents in
long-term care, we said, ‘let’s dust off this idea’ and see what can be
learned from the past, and really think about what we can do today to
engage schools of nursing as well as nursing homes.”
In July 2021, a three-year pilot project to revisit the teaching nursing
home was launched. By enhancing partnerships between
academic nursing programs and nursing homes in
Pennsylvania, the team of investigators sought to
improve the quality of care provided to nursing home
residents and the education nurses receive in geriatric
care, and their perceptions of nursing homes as fulfilling
places to work.
“In the past, if you were at a school of nursing and
they were assigning clinical placements, and you were
gone that day, all that was left was nursing homes,”
says Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, associate dean for graduate
clinical education and associate professor at Pitt’s
School of Nursing. “Everyone wanted the intensive
care units, maternity or pediatrics. No one wanted the
nursing home placements. This partnership has really
shown us that by introducing nursing students to
geriatric nursing, we can break the stigma of working
in a nursing home, and now, we have true champions for working in
long-term care facilities.”
Taylor McMahon, RN, director of nursing at Presbyterian SeniorCare
Network, started her career a decade ago in long-term care to gain
experience so she could pursue a career in emergency medical care.
Then she fell in love with working with older adults.
“This work is truly nurse-driven and involves critical thinking skills and
a lot of autonomy,” says McMahon. “I can see the impact of my work by
improving the quality of life for these folks and helping them age in place.”
McMahon helps nursing students recognize the intellectual challenges
that come from working in long-term care facilities when she presents
at orientation programs at Pitt’s School of Nursing. “It is really about
looking at what matters to each individual older adult that we care for
and aligning their needs with what they want,” explains McMahon.
“What matters” is a cornerstone of the Pennsylvania Teaching Nursing
Home Collaborative, which employs the age-friendly health system
framework developed in 2017 by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Whatever is most important to individuals and orienting care around
what they see as a priority is what matters. Other core concepts are
“medication,” “mentation” and “mobility.” Medication requires careful
consideration of pharmaceuticals like benzodiazepines and opioids that
can have significant side effects in older adults. Mentation focuses on
identifying modifiable factors associated with cognitive function, such
as delirium, which is often associated with urinary tract infections, as
well as diagnosis and treatment. Mobility is based on individual residents
and their personal goals. “Do they want to focus on walking and
gait, or do they want to focus on falls and fall prevention? It is up to the
individual to define,” explains lead evaluator Degenholtz.
After the successful conclusion of the pilot project in mid-2023, the
initiative was officially named the Pennsylvania Teaching Nursing
Home Collaborative, growing to 20 schools of nursing and 40 nursing
homes across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The eventual goal
is to expand nationwide.
McMahon is happy to play her part in encouraging the future generation
of nurses to consider long-term care.
“Working with older adults has changed my life personally and
professionally and just made me a better person,” she says. “We have
a lot of room to make this bigger and better, and I am excited to see
where it leads.”
“This work is truly nurse-driven and involves
critical thinking skills and a lot of autonomy.
I can see the impact of my work by improving
the quality of life for these folks and helping
them age in place.”
TAYLOR McMAHON
12 PHOTOGRAPHY: JOSHUA FRANZOS
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 13

Change-Making Collaborations
A Community-Based Approach
Begun in 2011 as the Pittsburgh Hill/Homewood
Research on Eating, Shopping, and
Health (or PHRESH), the effort has since
grown to include a suite of studies on the
effects of neighborhood investments and
improvements in built environments on
physical and mental health. Currently, the
team is recruiting participants for a new
component called THINK PHRESH, which is exploring
how changing neighborhood conditions throughout life
contribute to healthy aging, including thinking and
memory, as well as cognition later in life.
“It’s a community-based research approach,” said
Tamara Dubowitz, ScD, MS, MSc, professor and chair,
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health,
and a former senior policy researcher at RAND. “We
opened a field office in one of the two neighborhoods,
employed and trained residents to be data collectors and
started by enrolling households.”
La’Vette Wagner, MAT, has been the coordinator
of the Hill District field office since the effort began.
Her ready laugh and sunny outlook on life would help
make any job easier, but Wagner loves her work with
PHRESH for many reasons, not least of which is because
she calls the neighborhood home.
“It’s like I get to see my family and friends every day, even if I just
go over to the store to grab some lunch,” she said. “I love people coming
up to me and saying ‘Hey, La’Vette, I’m in your study, are y’all doing
it again? Don’t forget to call me! Here’s my new number.’ They think
I know everybody in our studies,” Wagner said.
It’s hard to imagine why she wouldn’t know everyone after more
than a dozen years on the PHRESH team. But Wagner won’t let on.
As any good scientist will tell you, confidentiality is key to a study’s
success—and Wagner is a good scientist.
She’s also a good neighbor who teaches three fitness classes each week
at the Thelma Lovett YMCA on Centre Avenue—down from 12 fitness
classes a week before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
“I just like to keep moving, positive and happy, and teaching water
aerobics is definitely something that keeps me happy,” said Wagner.
“And it’s not your grandma’s class where you think we’ll be going slow
and counting 1, 2, 3, oh no. We play a lot of R&B and Motown.”
Wagner and the Hill field office team enrolled 900 Hill District
households and 400 Homewood households in that first PHRESH study,
which looked at possible differences in shopping habits and diet in the
neighborhoods after a supermarket opened on the Hill in 2013—the first
full-service grocery to locate there in more than 30 years.
“Rates of obesity and being overweight increased six-fold in the
U.S. between 1960 and 2020,” Dubowitz noted, with nearly every state
in the country showing obesity rates of at least 35%. “When we look
at Black adults, the picture is more dire,” she said. “Among Black
adults in most of the states, at least 40% of the population is suffering
from obesity.”
PHRESH Partners & Collaborators
Black Environmental Collective
Hill Consensus Group
Hill District Community
Development Corporation
Homewood Children’s Village
Macedonia Family and
Community Enrichment Center
Operation Better Block
Pitt Community Engagement Centers
RAND Corporation
University Center for Social
and Urban Research
University of Pittsburgh Swanson
School of Engineering, Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Public
Health, Department of Epidemiology
UPMC
Previous studies have linked so-called “food
deserts”—neighborhoods with limited access to
fresh fruits, vegetables and nutritious foods—to
a legacy of redlining and community disinvestment.
The official U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) definition of the term includes any
census tract with a 20% or higher poverty rate
and where at least a third of the residents live
more than a mile away from a supermarket.
Choosing neighborhoods similar in sociodemographic
makeup both without grocery stores at the
outset enabled what Dubowitz called “a natural experiment,”
focusing on diet, weight, obesity, purchasing
behaviors, neighborhood satisfaction and perceived
access to healthy foods among both neighborhoods,
one of which would experience much more change.
That first PHRESH study observed neighborhood
shopping patterns, diet and other variables for a year
after the Hill supermarket opened, said Dubowitz.
Results were mixed. Though people did shop at the
new Hill District grocery store and overall dietary
habits as well as neighborhood satisfaction improved,
there was no relationship between
residents who used the new store and
improved diet. As for major grocery
shopping, most people still chose to
travel longer distances to big-box stores where their
dollars could stretch further.
In addition, the grocery store opening coincided
with other new developments on the Hill, including
renovation of the former Connelly Trade School into
the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED)-certified Energy Innovation Center (EIC). EIC
is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage
corporate and community leaders, align workforce
development and education, develop and demonstrate
technology, and incubate businesses to support emerging
clean and sustainable energy markets. The University
of Pittsburgh and UPMC lease space in the building.
Housing, green space and community center developments
followed, making it difficult to parse how
and whether the new grocery store alone affected the
neighborhood, Dubowitz said. As a result, six subsequent
five-year studies have tackled different elements
of change in the Hill and Homewood and how those
developments may relate to different health outcomes.
“Since then, we’ve looked at green space and physical
activity, housing improvements and sleep apnea, and
cardiometabolic outcomes and mental health,” she added.
In addition to THINK PHRESH, the team is recruiting
participants for its Health and High Water Project, funded
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
which will look at correlations between wet weather,
flooding and well-being among Black residents in the
neighborhoods. “We’re measuring moisture, air quality and different
pathogens in basements and we’re doing analysis to see whether there
are health risks in these households that need to be addressed.”
Studies like these have become even more important considering the
effects of climate change in Pennsylvania, which is fueling storms that
are more frequent and severe.
Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns are likely to increase
the intensity of both floods and droughts, according to the EPA. Over
the past century, average annual precipitation in Pennsylvania increased
5 to 10%. Precipitation from extremely heavy storms has increased
70% throughout the Northeast since 1958.
During the next century, annual precipitation and the frequency of
heavy downpours are likely to keep rising, intensifying the potential
for flooding in winter and spring.
“Our community partners and stakeholders are really the people we
rely on the most to help us understand what is happening. And by ‘us’
I mean ‘researchers,’” said Dubowitz. “My interest and training is in
trying to understand how we can improve population health, particularly
among communities that are left behind for a variety of reasons.
So, we can crunch the numbers. And we can form the questions—sort
of. But it’s really the people who are living in these communities who
need to tell me what the most important questions are.”
“Our community partners and stakeholders
are really the people we rely on the most
to help us understand what is happening.
And by ‘us’ I mean ‘researchers.’”
TAMARA DUBOWITZ
PHRESH team data collectors
Symone Turner, left, and Arneta Dyer
at the Hill District field office.
14 PHOTOGRAPHY: JOSHUA FRANZOS
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 15

FOCUS
Grad Students’ Next Chapter
Students can travel many career
paths before seeking their next
chapter in public health.
By Michele Dula Baum
16 PHOTOGRAPHY: ELAN MIZRAHI
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 17

Grad Students’ Next Chapter
Nontraditional Students Energize Pitt Public Health
Look at any Pitt School of Public Health class
of graduate students and one might find the
world in microcosm. For some, a graduate
degree is the next logical step between a
bachelor’s degree and the workplace. For
others, public health is a deliberate step away
from—or in addition to—a career already
in progress.
Nontraditional students contribute lived experience and help
to illustrate the many opportunities available to establish a
career in public health or one of many complementary fields.
“The school is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion
across the board,” says Jeanine Buchanich, PhD, MEd, MPH,
vice dean and associate professor of biostatistics and health data
science. “In many ways, students from all walks of life are also
teachers who enrich the educational experience for all of us.”
“We are working to expand our joint programs, which
speaks to the school’s mission to broaden the impact of public
health and bring more students to the field from different
backgrounds,” adds Ying Ding, PhD, MA, associate dean for
graduate academic affairs and professor of biostatistics and
health data science.
The school offers joint degrees with the University of Pittsburgh
Schools of Law (MPH/JD), Social Work (MPH/MSW), Medicine
(MD/PhD) and the Katz Graduate School of Business (MPH/
MBA). A joint MD/MPH program is in development, says Ding,
adding that opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration
are underway with the Swanson School of Engineering.
“There are challenges to
being a nontraditional
student, but also benefits.”
Amy Whitsel, MD, is
a maternal-fetal medicine physician
in clinical practice and a part-time
graduate student in the Multidisciplinary
Master of Public Health degree
program. “I don’t have a traditional
path,” says Whitsel, a U.S. Air Force
veteran who provided obstetrical care
on military bases in England and Italy
before returning to the United States.
“I’ve had an interest in global health
for a long time,” she says, adding that
she studied pediatrics in Sweden while
finishing a medical degree at Vanderbilt
University School of Medicine.
“On base, we had medical facilities
that were like small, community hospitals,”
Whitsel says. “But sometimes
people had to go to larger centers that
could manage higher risk patients,
and we did collaborative care.”
Working on maternal mortality
review panels with the Pennsylvania
Department of Health and the
Allegheny County Health Department
helped pique Whitsel’s interest in
public health education. “There are
challenges to being a nontraditional
student, but also benefits,” she says.
“I took a humanitarian aid course,
and we were talking about the
complexity of decisions made during
war based on international law,” she
says. During discussions of efforts
by the U.S. and coalition nations to
help Kurds fleeing northern Iraq during
Operation Desert Shield in 1990–91,
Whitsel told the class she had friends
serving on a U.S. base in Turkey
who assisted in those humanitarian
missions. “People were surprised that
I had been in the Air Force. I don’t think
anyone in the class was even alive
then except the teacher and me,”
she says.
Previous page, Gabriel F. Quinteros
and Ximena Rangel Mejia kayaking
in Sharpsburg, Pa. with kids from
Casa San José.
“Systemic racism is a
public health concern.”
Gabriel F. Quinteros
is one student on that dual-degree
track. A graduate student in behavioral
and community health sciences,
he aims to complete an MPH/MSW
in 2025. The Texas native currently
works part-time with Venture Outdoors
and has held several jobs, including
teacher, insurance broker, paralegal
and Medicare specialist.
A former AmeriCorps service member,
Quinteros partnered with Catholic
Charities of Dallas to support unaccompanied
minors fleeing violence
from their Central American home
countries. Under attorney supervision,
he also helped families navigate
removal proceedings through the
U.S. Department of Justice and U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
“Systemic racism is a public
health concern,” he says. “As a social
work and public health student, my
professional goals are to work directly
as a clinical social worker in the therapeutic
space and also community
and population health in the public
health realm.”
As part of a Pittsburgh Schweitzer
Program fellowship, Quinteros recently
partnered with Casa San José in
Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood
to share his passion for outdoor
activities with the program’s youth
participants. Casa San José is a
nonprofit resource serving the region’s
Latino population with clinics, food
pantries, summer camps and community
meetings. The Schweitzer
Program provides a stipend for
students to design and implement
a community service project.
Latinos can sometimes feel left out
of conversations about systemic racism
and implicit or explicit bias, which in
places like Pittsburgh can seem black
and white, explains Quinteros. “We
want to talk about what it means to
be a Latina growing up in Compton or
Chicago and moving to Pittsburgh—or
the mental challenges of being thrown
into a new school system.”
Casa San José Youth Program
Manager Teresa Parra says Quinteros
has helped the staff plan how to talk
to their students in a more explicitly
cultural context. “We’ve been learning
a lot from each other as a team,” she
says. “I’m really grateful he contacted
Casa San José.”
18 PHOTOGRAPHY: (LEFT) ELAN MIZRAHI; (ABOVE) JOSHUA FRANZOS
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 19

Grad Students’ Next Chapter
Joseph “Joey”
Engelmeier expects to
finish his MPH in environmental and
occupational health in spring 2025
and recently entered the Swanson
School’s PhD program in environmental
engineering. After graduating
with a Bachelor of Arts in communication
science and disorders at Pitt’s
School of Health and Rehabilitation
Sciences, Engelmeier took a job with
Pivot Physical Therapy in Pittsburgh
but soon felt the itch to expand his
educational horizons.
“My dad worked for J&L Steel
and would tell me that when he was
“I just know that whatever my
career is, I want to do something
good for my community.”
my age the streetlights would come
on at noon because of how polluted
the air was,” says Engelmeier. “I just
know that whatever my career is,
I want to do something good for my
community.”
In addition to coursework,
Engelmeier is a student researcher
at Pitt’s Healthy Home Laboratory,
a century-old residence that serves
as a base for researchers to determine
how to adapt and equip a home
to best support people as they age
and their abilities change.
“In the Mon Valley, you still regularly
get these smog warnings,” says
Engelmeier. “And you can see the
impact of not only the environmental
hazards but also from just how
neglected a lot of these communities
have become.”
Many such communities in the
region “have really been left behind
due to industries picking up and
leaving but the repercussions of what
those industries were producing are
still there—whether it be in our soil,
water or air,” he adds.
Part of Engelmeier’s desire to
“give back” also stems from a former
part-time gig as an environmental
educator with the Rivers of Steel
Explorer, a sustainably built riverboat
used to host STEM-based student
programs that combine education
with firsthand observation of the
remnants of heavy industry.
“The Monongahela was called
the hardest working river in the United
States for about 50 years,” he says.
“There is still a lot of work to be done.”
Clare Black, RN, formerly
served as a public health nurse at
the Allegheny County Jail before
becoming a full-time student in the
MPH program in the Department of
Health Policy and Management. “I’ve
always taken a circuitous route for
my career, both academically and
professionally,” she says. “But I think
my past three and a half years working
as a nurse have really informed my
desire to be more of a stakeholder for
how health care policies are shaped
in this country.”
Black has “always been passion -
ate about public health,” she says,
adding that she formerly worked as
a medical-surgical nurse at UPMC
Presbyterian Hospital and as a hospice
nurse, as well as a contractor for
the U.S. Office of Customs and Border
Protection during the administrations
of Presidents Barack Obama and
Donald Trump.
“I became a nurse because I love
working with and being an advocate
for people who maybe don’t have a
voice.” she says. “But ultimately what
I want to do is work more on the side
of the bigger picture—the policies that
affect those people.”
“Ultimately what I want
to do is work more on the
side of the bigger picture—
the policies that affect
those people.”
Doctoral students Joey Engelmeier and
Jemima Ohwobete monitor indoor air
quality at Pitt’s Healthy Home Lab.
20 PHOTOGRAPHY: (LEFT) AIMEE OBIDZINSKI; (ABOVE) JOSHUA FRANZOS
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 21

E L
SPOTLIGHT
Visualizing Loss
FACULTY & COMMUNITY
Grief Illuminated
Collaborative filmmaking project brings
bereavement into focus
By Michele Dula Baum
“I don’t know what kind of person I am
anymore. I’m so heartbroken and
I feel like I’m failing at everything.”
— MEGAN LEINBACH of Lebanon County,
mother of Ryder Burkholder, 9, who died in 2019.
United by sorrow, families from across Pennsylvania share their
experiences in “Visualizing Loss,” a collaborative filmmaking
project designed to examine the course of bereavement after
the death of a child—an anguish that largely remains hidden
in society today. Facing the camera, they remember the
challenges of caring for children affected by severe, incurable conditions.
The project was initiated by Behavioral and Community Health
Sciences (BCHS) faculty members Jessica G. Burke, PhD, MHS, and Sara E.
Baumann, PhD, MPH, and funded by the McElhattan Foundation.
The Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition (PPCC), a nonprofit offering
resources to families, volunteers and medical professionals caring for
children with life-limiting illnesses, was an important partner in the
effort. PPCC staff shared expertise and helped recruit families to take
part in the project.
“Making the film was a three-year process,” says Burke, BCHS professor,
explaining that she and Baumann worked closely with an advisory
board that included bereaved parents to ensure the material was both
gathered and presented with sensitivity and authenticity. “What
the participants were willing to share with us was really precious
and we needed to make sure to respect it.”
“Our grief is endless … just like
the love we have for our son.”
— CASSIE GRASSMYER of Blair County,
mother of Jack, 8, who died in 2020.
I Z A B
Using a collaborative and arts-based research method developed by
Burke and Baumann, five families were trained to create, record, analyze
and screen films that captured their journeys through loss following
the death of their children. The families worked closely with professional
musicians and a graphic designer to create customized melodic
accompaniment and illustrations to complete the filmmaking process.
For any family dealing with the loss of a child, grief is complex
and evolving. The “Visualizing Loss” film is made up of five unedited
vignettes that honor and celebrate the legacy of the incredible children
who navigated palliative care, the families that supported them, and
the palliative care teams that continue to support families.
“I think the most important thing I can say about it—and you heard
the parents say it in the film over and over again—is that they feel
invisible,” says PPCC Executive Director Betsy Hawley, explaining that
“normal life” ceased for each family the moment their children were
diagnosed with incurable, complex medical conditions.
“Even before the death of the child, they’re isolated in their lives,”
she adds. “After a child dies, parents still feel isolated and set apart
from the rest of the world.”
E T H
“In a world where life moves on for
everyone except those who grieve, it is
always deeply humbling and moving
to me when someone thinks of us.”
—TARA HACKWELDER of Allegheny County,
mother of Elizabeth, 8, who died in 2021.
“More than 500 people viewed the film’s virtual premiere screening,
which speaks to the interest in this topic and the power of storytelling,”
says Baumann, BCHS assistant professor. “But most importantly, the
screening ensures that the families’ experiences are seen and heard.”
The film was also screened in late September at the third biennial
Conference of Family and Caregiving Research held in Pittsburgh, which
was sponsored by the National Center on Family Support.
“I ran so hard from it for so long that
this movie helped to bring [my grief] to
where it needed to be so that I could actually
experience, instead of burying, everything
I was feeling about the loss of Isaiah and
our family moving on without him.”
— MAUREEN PENTZ of Clearfield County,
mother of Isaiah, 7, who died in 2019.
“This project is emblematic of what creative public health methods can
offer within community-centered research,” adds Baumann. “Our goal
is to work together with our participants as collaborators to advance
conversations and promote action.”
For each of the families who took part in “Visualizing Loss,” the
conversation, however difficult, is the bottom line.
“We honor our loved ones by taking the
best parts of them with us as we continue our
journey through life. The short life of Timothy
lives on in his brother, Christopher, and in me,
and in everyone else he touched.”
— ALLYSON WEBER of Lehigh County,
mother of Timothy, 4, who died in 2006.
D E
A R
To view “Visualizing Loss” and learn more about the collaborative
filmmaking process, visit www.collaborativefilmmaking.com.
22 ILLUSTRATION: SOPHIE MALIPHANT
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 23

PROFILE
Caroline Deasy
STAFF
Finding Her Groove
Personnel administrator Caroline Deasy reflects on three decades at Pitt
Caroline Deasy with Clark
By Jackie Friedman Hathaway
I
f you hear someone whistling or humming on the seventh
floor of the Pitt Public Health building, chances are
it is Caroline Deasy, personnel administrator for two
departments: Biostatistics and Health Data Science and
Human Genetics.
Deasy has been jamming out to ’80s alternative and
punk music in the school’s hallways since 2013 and is now
celebrating her 30-year work anniversary at the University
of Pittsburgh.
“I started the day after the Super Bowl in 1987 at the
Hillman Library as a book processor in Catalog Maintenance
when they still had hard catalogs,” she says. That
year, the New York Giants defeated
DEASY HAS BEEN
JAMMING OUT TO
’80S ALTERNATIVE
AND PUNK MUSIC
IN THE SCHOOL’S
HALLWAYS SINCE
2013 AND IS NOW
CELEBRATING HER
30-YEAR WORK
ANNIVERSARY AT
THE UNIVERSITY
OF PITTSBURGH.
the Denver Broncos, with a halftime
show featuring a “Salute to
Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary.”
Deasy spent the first five years
of her career in the Hillman and
Barco Law Libraries until she was
promoted to full-time mother in
1992 with the birth of her third
daughter.
In 1994, she came back to the
University and picked up where she
had left off in the Barco Law Library.
After working in the dean’s office at
the School of Law and in the School
of Medicine’s Division of General
Internal Medicine, she eventually
made her way to the then-Graduate
School of Public Health.
Deasy interviewed for her current position in 2013 and
credits her father’s 1970 graduation ceremony from the
Department of Biostatistics for clinching the deal.
“When Sally Morton, the Biostatistics chair at the time,
interviewed me, I said, ‘you know, this is the first building
I remember at Pitt because I came here when I was about
4 years old when my father graduated from public health,’”
she says.
“I actually remember the graduation vividly. I remember
the auditorium had long blue curtains. I even have his
degree in my office,” she adds.
“This was probably the first building I walked into and
hopefully it will be the last building I walk out of,” she jokes.
The full-circle moment helped pave the way to Deasy’s
path at Pitt Public Health. Currently, she splits her time
between two departments and absolutely loves everyone
she works with. She manages the administrative aspects
of faculty, staff and student recruitment, as well as faculty
contract renewals, academic appointments and secondary
appointments.
“I love it here. The days aren’t the same and listening
to the research that Human Genetics does is fascinating
to me,” she says.
Jennifer Palaski, MBA, former administrator for the
Departments of Biostatistics and Human Genetics, worked
closely with Deasy for over 10 years and praises Deasy’s
thoughtfulness, which, Palaski says, shines inside and
outside of the office.
“She was always willing to lend a helping hand with
anything from reconciling a financial report to picking
up a sandwich tray from UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
while I was unexpectedly in labor, says Palaski,
now associate dean for finance and
administration.
Outside of work, Deasy taps into her
creative side, making homemade cards
for Cards for Kindness, an organization
that provides greetings to senior citizens
in nursing homes and hospitals.
“I spend hours making cards. Once
a month, I send them a bundle of cards
and I have a huge crafting table in my
office at home. The first year I did my
Christmas cards, I made at least 60,” she says.
She credits the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron
for bringing out her creative side.
“I’ve had depression all my life. I started going to therapy
and the therapist asked me if I do anything creative because
that helps with depression,” says Deasy. “I am a left-brain
person all the way (but) she recommended this book and
once I read it, it really helped bring out my creativity.”
Handmaking cards for Cards for Kindness, family and
friends has not only brought out Deasy’s artistic side, but
has helped with her depression, making her a mental
health advocate.
“I am always nice to other people around me because
you never know what someone is going through,” she says.
Deasy always strives to bring positivity inside and
outside the workplace, which has contributed to her long
and successful career at the University.
“She is incredibly organized, thoughtful and a joy to
work with. Her devotion and service to the department is
unwavering,” says Palaski.
24 PHOTOGRAPHY: CAROLINE DEASY
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 25

Briefly
Behavioral and Community
Health Sciences
DEPARTMENT NEWS
Associate Professor Jaime Sidani, PhD,
MPH, project leader of a National Institute
on Minority Health and Health Disparitiesfunded
R01 research grant focused on nicotine and
tobacco-related misinformation on youth-oriented
social media platforms, appreciates the value of
collaborative research.
She is leading a team of co-investigators from
the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Public Health
and Medicine, Duquesne University and the University
of Maryland. In addition, the research team includes
undergraduate students who are leading the effort to
examine social media content. “We have been lucky
to have the expertise of these students,” says Sidani.
“They have grown up with social media and have
a unique perspective.”
An integral part of the research project is the
MYTH Youth Collaborative, a group of teens aged
13 to 17 from across the U.S. who meet with the
research team monthly. Led by a team of graduate
student facilitators, MYTH members have assisted
the research team in identifying appropriate platforms
to examine, deciding which nicotine and tobacco
products to focus on and developing a survey
instrument.
“Our MYTH members are passionate about
public health,” says Sidani. “Having their input—
which includes telling us when we are missing the
mark—will make our research that much better.”
“We have been lucky
to have the expertise
of these students.
They have grown up
with social media
and have a unique
perspective.”
JAIME SIDANI
Biostatistics and
Health Data Science
Three new faculty members have recently
joined the department. They are Soumik
Purkayastha, PhD, MS, Qiong Wu, MD, PhD,
MS, and Pedro Baldoni, PhD, all assistant professors.
While a student at the University of Michigan
School of Public Health (MS ’21, PhD ’24) Purkayastha,
a native of India, worked on causal discovery for
biomedical data and modeling infectious diseases.
He also pursued experience with spatiotemporal
forecasting of infectious diseases. Areas of focus
included infection rates in India, comparing and understanding
how different transmission models work
and developing a transmission data-driven framework
to help inform public health policy. He will play a key
role in shaping the department’s research and educational
initiatives.
Wu earned an MD and PhD in statistics from the
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania in 2021. Her research interests span
statistical modeling and inference for high-dimensional
and complex structured data, multisource data
integration in large, distributed research networks and
causal inference using real-world data like electronic
health records.
Baldoni received a PhD in biostatistics from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022.
His research interests primarily involve analyzing and
interpreting bulk and single-cell epigenomic, transcriptomic
and proteomics data. At Pitt, he collaborates
with research groups from the Department of Orthopaedic
Surgery to understand genomic and molecular
mechanisms in spine-related diseases, other orthopedic
issues and patients with traumatic brain injury.
“We are pleased to offer this contribution
to faculty in nursing and health care
ethics looking to provide high-quality
advanced nursing ethics content.”
JENNIFER H. LINGLER
Human Genetics
Michael J. Deem, PhD,
associate professor
of human genetics,
and Jennifer H. Lingler, professor of nursing,
School of Nursing, jointly edited and contributed to
a new book of essays, “Nursing Ethics: Normative
Foundations, Advanced Concepts, and Emerging
Issues,” published in September 2024 by Oxford
University Press.
The collection of 19 chapters written by an international
group of clinicians and ethicists provides
rigorous, scholarly commentary to the nursing ethics
field that pushes beyond basic ideas. “We hope the
volume will contribute to reinforcing nursing ethics as
a distinct and important subfield of both academic
bioethics and clinical ethics,” says Deem, who, like
Lingler, is also faculty at Pitt’s Center for Bioethics &
Health Law, a joint program of the Schools of Medicine
and Law.
“We are pleased to offer this contribution to
faculty in nursing and health care ethics looking to
provide high-quality advanced nursing ethics content,”
says Lingler.
Health Policy and Management
Assistant Professor Meredith Hughes,
JD, MPH, was named an inaugural fellow
in a pilot program aimed at developing and
implementing more informed state health policies
and programs.
“Much of what happens in health policy is at the
state level, and this program will give fellows the
understanding, knowledge and relationships to positively
shape policy and program development into the
future,” says A. Everette James, JD, MBA, director of
the Health Policy Institute.
The National Academy of Medicine’s State Health
Policy Fellowship program places fellows in state
government legislatures and executive branches for
a year to provide expertise and context to local policy
deliberations as policy advisers.
“State policy is incredibly important but sometimes
overlooked in the arena of health policy,” says
Hughes. “I hope to use my time in the program to
advance the resources and services available for
older Penn sylvanians and individuals with disabilities
Environmental and
Occupational Health
The department has begun a new initiative,
Books and More, to augment the EOH
Bookshelf of Recommended Environmental and
Social Justice Readings. Books and More transforms
a previously static list into an engaging platform for
semester activities to foster discussions and practical
applications of featured literature and other media.
Each semester includes a voluntary environmental
health art study, inclusive of traditional books and
discussions, as well as less traditional “book club”
explorations such as documentary screenings, visits
to local art exhibits and other media thematically
reflective of environmental and occupational health.
To support active student participation, EOH will
provide book loans.
The Fall 2024 selection
is “Our Roots Run Deep
as Ironweed: Appalachian
Women and the Fight for
Environmental Justice,”
a narrative of resilience
and activism by Shannon
Elizabeth Bell. Coal River
Mountain activist Bo Webb,
who is mentioned in the book, spoke at the department’s
first Books and More event in October.
Other events are being planned. For meeting
information, contact Katie Walters at
katie.walters@pitt.edu.
by supporting progress on Pennsylvania’s new
com prehensive plan on aging, Aging Our Way PA.”
Hughes is one of three fellows selected for the program
from applicants across the country. Her research
focuses on Medicaid, aging, long-term care, family
caregiving and the impacts of housing on health.
“I feel truly honored and excited to be a part of
this fellowship program,” Hughes says.
“State policy is incredibly
important but sometimes
overlooked in the arena
of health policy.”
MEREDITH HUGHES
Infectious Diseases
and Microbiology
TB is a leading
cause of infectious
disease-related
mortality and
people living with
HIV co-infection are
at especially severe
risk for disease
and death.
Two department faculty have received
National Institutes of Health-funded R01
grants for studies relevant to human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB).
Known as research project grants, R01 awards are
considered a significant measure of an investigator’s
achievement in their chosen field.
Velpandi Ayyavoo, PhD, professor and vice
chair for education, is principal investigator for
“Understanding the Mechanisms Involved in HIV-1
Epidemiology
Support during and immediately after
pregnancy is critical to help families thrive,
especially for those who may experience
partner violence.
Dara Mendez, PhD, MPH, associate professor of
epidemiology, is coprincipal investigator on a new
R01-funded study targeting intimate partner violence
(IPV) during the perinatal period, which spans the latter
half of gestation through the first month of infancy.
Maya Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS, associate professor
of pediatrics, School of Medicine, also is coprincipal
investigator for the multidisciplinary project.
The five-year study, “Novel Doula Intervention to
Leverage Clinic-Community Connections to Support
Perinatal Intimate Partner Violence Survivors,” seeks
to determine whether doula-based support can have
a mitigating effect on IPV risk.
Doulas are trained advocates who offer mental,
physical and emotional support during pregnancy,
delivery and the postpartum period. Doula support
has been shown to improve health outcomes like
preterm birth and increase access to perinatal health
care but has not previously been studied in regard
to IPV.
CNS Latency,” a five-year, more than $3.7 million
study to identify factors that regulate viral retention
in central nervous system tissue cells despite aggressive
antiretroviral drug treatment. Her team will use
advanced, three-dimensional brain organoids they
developed to understand how HIV-1 causes latency
and identify new therapeutic targets to enhance
treatment strategies.
Assistant Professor Joshua Mattila, PhD, will
colead a five-year, nearly $656,000 study, “Type I
IFN-Dependent and Independent Contributions to the
Outcomes of Early Innate Immune Cell Inter actions
during HIV/TB Co-Infection.”
TB is a leading cause of infectious disease-related
mortality and people living with HIV co-infection are
at especially severe risk for disease and death.
Using a combination of in vivo and in vitro
models, Mattila’s team will investigate how exposure
to factors produced by damaged or dying cells
and molecules involved in cell-cell communication
affect TB lesion formation accompanied by HIV
co-infection. Additional principal investigators are
Christina Stallings, PhD, Washington University School
of Medicine, St. Louis, Mo., and Bryan Bryson, PhD,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Does doula-based
support have a mitigating
effect on IPV risk?
The study is funded at nearly $3.8 million by the
National Institute of Nursing Research. Cynthia Salter,
PhD, MPH, assistant professor of behavioral and
community health sciences, is a co-investigator, along
with other School of Medicine and Dietrich School
of Arts and Sciences faculty, as well as the Maya
Organization, Healthy Start, and a half-dozen other
community organizations.
26 PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 27

BRIEFLY
NOTEWORTHY
Sally Wenzel, MD, Rachel Carson Professor in Environmental Health
and professor and chair of environmental and occupational health,
was named among the top female scientists for 2024 by data analytics
company Research.com based on her productivity, publication history
and number of citations as calculated from bibliometric sources, known
as the h-index.
The Council on Education for Public Health has reaccredited Pitt Public
Health for an additional period of seven years. Maureen Lichtveld,
MD, MPH, dean, extends her appreciation to faculty, staff, students,
alumni and members of University leadership and the school’s Board
of Visitors who took part in the process.
The school’s Master of Public Health Program in environmental and
occupational health has been accredited by the National Environmental
Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC). EHACaccredited
environmental health degrees are deemed the industry
standard by environmental health leaders.
Department of Human Genetics students Jacqueline Cohen
(MPH ’19) and Elizabeth Roy (MPH ’24) have been named to the
inaugural cohort of fellows by the American Society of Human Genetics
and National Human Genome Research Institute. Cohen has been
named the first-ever Genomics Communications Fellow and Roy will
serve as the next Genetics and Public Policy Fellow.
The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health
(ASPPH) has selected Jaia Gallegos (MPH, EPI ’25) and Prathiksha
Sivakumar (MPH, HPM ’25) as members of ASPPH’s 2024–2025 This
Is Public Health (TIPH) Ambassador Cohort. Students in the program
elevate public health awareness by hosting virtual events, managing
TIPH’s social media platforms, engaging with their cohort online, and
developing projects and presentations that bolster interest in public
health education and careers.
Kruthika Doreswamy (MPH, EPI ’22) is a member of the 2024–2025
class of Fulbright U.S. Student Program awardees, the U.S. government’s
flagship international academic exchange program. Doreswamy will
research health-seeking behaviors of stroke patients and explore the
unmet rehabilitation needs of survivors in the stroke clinic at Kasturba
Medical College of Manipal in India.
Martina Anto-Ocrah, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of epidemiology,
and Dara Mendez, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology, are
2024 recipients of the Dr. Larry E. Davis Black Excellence in the Academy
awards, which honor the outstanding achievements, contributions and
leadership of Black faculty at the University. Mendez was honored for
academic achievement and Anto-Ocrah was honored for her success
in mentorship. Additionally, Mendez presented a 2024 Ascending
Star lecture, “Maternal and Reproductive Health Equity, Justice and
Joy.” Ascending Star awards, conferred by the Office of the Senior Vice
Chancellor, Health Sciences, recognize highly productive and creative
mid-career faculty members in the health sciences.
Coleman Drake, PhD, assistant professor of health policy and
management, has been awarded a five-year, $1.9 million R01 research
grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The title
of his project is “Reducing Uninsurance by Addressing Administrative
Burdens in the Health Insurance Marketplaces.”
Sarah Siddiqui (MPH, HPM ’25) has received a scholarship from
the Dr. Alexander and Frances Minno Graduate Student Resource Fund
through the Pitt Alumni Association. Siddiqui will matriculate into the
fall 2025 class of Pitt’s School of Medicine.
Theresa Chapple-McGruder, PhD, MPH, has been appointed
associate professor of health policy and management and director of
the Center for Health Equity. Most recently, Chapple-McGruder served
as director of the Oak Park (Ill.) Department of Public Health, where
she was instrumental in coordinating the Chicago metropolitan area
community’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
Tiffany Gary-Webb, PhD, MHS, professor of epidemiology and
associate director of the Center for Health Equity, is among graduates
of the 29th class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in
Academic Medicine and Executive Leadership in Health Care fellows.
In addition, Gary-Webb has been appointed a Provost Faculty Fellow,
a position in which she will continue working with the University
Faculty Diversity and Development team.
Pitt Public Health is grateful to alumna Stacy Hurt (HPM ’96), chief
patient officer of Parexel, for the generous donation of her fee from a
speaking engagement with the data management company eClinical
Solutions. This gift supports the Public Health Science Academy, an
innovative summer program aimed at educating and inspiring the next
generation of public health professionals.
Alexander Sundermann (DrPH, EPI ’22; MPH, IDM ’14), assistant
professor of epidemiology, has received a $10,000 grant from the
Samuel and Emma Winters Foundation. Sundermann’s research interests
focus on using whole genome sequencing surveillance with machine
learning of electronic health record data to more quickly detect and better
intervene upon health care-associated infection outbreaks compared to
traditional infection prevention methods.
The School of Public Health congratulates Kim Beringer and
Mary Tranchine, who recently marked 40 years of employment in the
Department of Epidemiology. Beringer has worked in the Epidemiology
Data Center (EDC) throughout her career, most recently as director
of computing. Tranchine has managed EDC finances for many large
national research trials since 2002.
Former Vice Dean Jessica Burke, PhD, MHS, has been appointed
associate vice chancellor for global affairs, health sciences, where
she began her duties Sept. 1. The University’s six schools of the health
sciences are key drivers of Pitt’s reputation both within the United States
and globally. Burke will work to enhance that reputation, leveraging
this key strength to improve health among underresourced populations
around the globe.
Jeanine Buchanich (PhD, EPI ’07; MEd, A&S ’96; MPH, EPI ’98), former
associate dean for research, succeeds Burke as vice dean. Buchanich is
also associate professor of biostatistics and health data science.
Alison Sanders, PhD, associate professor of environmental and
occupational health, succeeds Buchanich as associate dean of research
administration. Sanders is also director of the Rust to Resilience (R2R)
Environmental Chemical Research Center.
PRACTICE & SERVICE
On a Mission
Pitt researcher combines teaching and conservation in Bolivia
By Joseph Barreto
A
partnership with Bolivian animal sanctuary
Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (CIWY) this past
summer enabled Danielle Tufts, PhD, assistant
professor of infectious diseases and
microbiology, to combine her passion for
teaching, conservation and waste reduction.
Even though medical supplies, including needles, syringes
and sutures, remain unused, regulatory guidelines require
disposal after their expiration date. The waste bothered
Tufts, who taught students about infectious diseases and
public health infrastructure in Bolivia as part of Pitt’s Study
Abroad Program. The University of Pittsburgh’s Division of
Laboratory Animal Resources and research labs provided
generous donations of expired medical supplies for CIWY.
Located in the Bolivian rainforest, CIWY has a mission
to care for abused, trafficked, and illegally traded wildlife,
“I LIKE CATS AND
READ A BOOK CALLED
‘THE PUMA YEARS’ ABOUT
THIS ANIMAL SANCTUARY
IN BOLIVIA. IT’S RUN BY
VOLUNTEERS AND THEY’RE
CONSTANTLY IN NEED OF
VETERINARY SUPPLIES.”
—DANIELLE TUFTS
including primates and large cats like jaguars,
pumas and ocelots. Tufts proposed to donate
Pitt’s unused, expired medical supplies and the sanctuary
eagerly agreed.
Tufts’ work with the sanctuary goes beyond donations,
extending to research on tick-borne pathogens in Bolivia.
CIWY volunteers soon began collecting tick specimens for
her research studies. This work is particularly crucial in
areas where wildlife comes into close contact with humans,
increasing the risk of disease transmission.
Tufts plans to continue her CIWY partnership and return
to Bolivia in 2026. The tick specimens collected by the
sanctuary will play a crucial role in her ongoing research
using a One Health approach, which is vital for understanding
and improving human, wildlife and environmental
health.
28 PHOTOGRAPHY: MARIA ISABEL PEREIRA / COMUNIDAD INTI WARA YASSI / SANCTUARY AMBUE ARI
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 29

BRIEFLY
CLASS NOTES
1970s
2010s
William Himmelsbach (MPH, HPM ’70) has
been elected chair of the Board of Trustees at
Beaufort (S.C.) Memorial Hospital. After retiring
from active health care leadership positions, he
joined the Beaufort hospital board in 2013.
1980s
Jane Cauley (DrPH, EPI ’83; MPH ’80)
and Anne Newman (MD, ’82; MPH, EPI ’87),
Distinguished Professors of Epidemiology, were
named among the top female scientists for
2024 by data analytics company Research.com
based on their productivity, publication history
and number of citations as calculated from
bibliometric sources.
1990s
Stephen Wisniewski (PhD, EPI ’94), professor
of epidemiology, has been appointed associate
vice chancellor for clinical trials data coordination,
health sciences. Wisniewski serves as codirector
of the Epidemiology Data Center, which establishes
collaborations with clinical researchers to design,
conduct and analyze multicenter randomized
clinical trials and epidemiological studies. He holds
secondary appointments in psychiatry and clinical
and translational science.
2000s
Jennifer Barkin (PhD, EPI ’09; MS, BIOST ’02),
principal investigator of the South Georgia Healthy
Start program at Mercer University School of
Medicine, received $5.5 million in funding
from the U.S. Health Resources and Services
Administration to continue providing services to
at-risk mothers and families as part of a proven,
wide-ranging infant and maternal health initiative.
Kelly Delmore (MHA, HPM ’04) has been
appointed cochair of the Government Relations
and Public Policy Department at Hooper, Lundy &
Bookman, P.C., a national boutique health care
law firm in Washington, D.C.
Kamil Barbour (PhD, EPI ’10, MS, BIOST ’11)
has been appointed program director for epidemiology
at the National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, one of the 27
institutes and centers that make up the National
Institutes of Health. In addition, Barbour was
promoted to captain in the Commissioned Corps
of the U.S. Public Health Service.
Katie Baric (MPH, BCHS ’16) has been awarded
the Ivan and Mary Novick Award for Young
Alumni Leadership by the Pitt Alumni Association.
The award recognizes the accomplishments and/
or service of recent graduates. Baric is executive
director at Hands on Peru and Centro de Salud
Pública (Center for Public Health), both in
South America.
Julianne Baron (PhD, IDM ’14) has been
selected president-elect of the Front Range
Biological Safety Association, an organization
founded in 2009 to promote biological safety
principles.
Sara Baumann (PhD, BCHS ’19) assistant
professor of behavioral and community health
sciences (BCHS), and Jessica Burke, PhD,
MHS, BCHS professor, were awarded a $400,000
grant by the Spencer Foundation to support a
partnership between the School of Public Health
and Projet Jeune (Youth Project) Leader to
improve comprehensive sexuality education for
adolescents across Madagascar.
Devin Boyles (MS, EOH ’19) is a staff scientist
in the division of biosafety and global engagement
at Kansas City, Mo.-based MRIGlobal, a company
that provides technology-based research in
national security and defense, energy and environment,
life and animal sciences, agriculture and
food safety, and transportation.
Jordan Brooks (MPH, EPI ’18) has been
awarded the HOPE Public Interest Resource
Center’s Exemplary Service Award for his contributions
at the Human Rights Clinic at the University
of Miami School of Law. In May 2024, Brooks
became the first Black person to complete both
the Medical Doctor and Juris Doctorate degrees
at the University of Miami.
Jason Flatt (PhD, BCHS ’13) has been promoted
to associate professor of social and behavioral
health at the School of Public Health at the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Franziska J. Rosser (MMPH ’15), assistant
professor of pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine,
received the Robert B. Mellins, MD Award for outstanding
achievement in scholarship or research
from the Pediatrics Assembly of the American
Thoracic Society. Rosser specializes in caring for
children with respiratory disorders and recently
testified before the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency regarding federal standards for air pollutants,
including fine particulate matter.
Emily Russell (PhD, HUGEN ’19; MPH ’16) is a
clinical bioinformatics analyst in medical affairs
at Invitae Corp., a medical genetics company
headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.
Jason Sanders (MD, ’14; PhD, EPI ’12) graduated
from Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ physician
investigator career development program and
is working to advance development of the company’s
next cystic fibrosis therapy—a promising
once-daily pill that could serve as a treatment
option for more than 90% of people living with
the disease.
2020s
Alexander Sundermann (DrPH, EPI ’22; MPH,
IDM ’14), assistant professor of epidemiology,
has joined Next Gen Diagnostics as director of
infection prevention services.
Christian Trent (MHA, HPM ’21) has been
appointed as director, Institutes—Medical Specialty,
Integrated Hospital and Heart, Vascular, and
Thoracic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.
Send your news for Class Notes to
phmag@pitt.edu.
TOP FLIGHT
The School of Public Health is just one of six Health
Sciences schools at the University of Pittsburgh
preparing researchers, administrators and providers
who are among the best in the world. Together, these
schools are a powerhouse, reinforcing each other’s
many strengths. When it comes to Health Sciences
at Pitt, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Yet there’s plenty to brag about regarding the separate
parts, too. Keep reading, you’ll see what we mean.
THE SIX SCHOOLS
School of Dental Medicine
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
School of Medicine
School of Nursing
School of Pharmacy
School of Public Health
AMONG THE BEST
U.S. News & World Report rankings
School of Medicine ranks Top Tier for research.
7 subjects ranked globally in Top 30 based on research
and reputation. Surgery is ranked 7th, Clinical Medicine
is 19th, and Infectious Diseases is 20th.
Several programs and specialties ranked nationally in
Top 20, for instance:
1st Occupational Therapy Programs
2nd Nursing-Anesthesia Schools
5th DNP Nurse Practitioner: Psychiatric/Mental
Health, Across the Lifespan Programs
5th Speech-Language Pathology Programs
6th Audiology Programs
7th Psychiatry Programs 1
8th Physical Therapy Programs
9th Pharmacy Schools
10th Bachelor of Science in Nursing Programs
RESEARCH MIGHT
Top 2% of U.S. universities in externally funded R&D
expenditures ($1.16 billion); Health Sciences accounts
for nearly 80% ($918.4 million) of Pitt’s total
24 years in the Top 9 most funded institutions by
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2
Ranked 6th in NIH funding to universities ($658.3 million);
$618.2 million generated by Pitt Health Sciences
Ranked 6th in NIH funding to schools of medicine,
when including funding to School of Medicine faculty
in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and
Reproductive Sciences 3
Ranked 8th in NIH funding to schools of public health
12 disciplines ranked in Top 10, and
18 disciplines in Top 20 in NIH funding
LEADING MINDS
6 National Academy of Sciences Members
9 National Academy of Inventors Fellows
15 National Academy of Medicine Members
9 Best Female Scientists in the World 4
TOTAL ENROLLMENT = 5,986
10th Obstetrics and Gynecology Programs 1 PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 31
1 2023 is most current data point, others are 2024.
2 Pitt has ranked in the Top 9 since 1999, except for ranking No. 11 in 2021.
3 Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research ranks the School of Medicine
No. 8 when not including funding of faculty in the Department of Obstetrics,
Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.
4 Research.com 2023 ranking.
30 PHOTOGRAPHY: U.S. AIR FORCE/SENIOR AIRMAN MICHAEL FRYE
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 31

BRIEFLY
GIVING
Cen Gift
PASSINGS
Mary Ann Peterson
May 8, 1932–April 10, 2024
When Mary Ann Peterson retired after a long secre-
A Grateful Journey
By Clare Collins
“We can all give back in
our own way. We can
comfort students, mentor
them or even help them
find a job. If you do good
things, good things will
come to you.”
DEBRA CEN
tarial career at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public
Health, the word “Graduate” was still part of the school’s
name. Peterson died on April 10 at the age of 91.
Martha Ann Terry, PhD, MA, emeritus associate professor
of behavioral and community health sciences, began working
with Peterson in the early 1990s, when Peterson was
providing support for an HIV prevention research project and
helped Terry figure out how the University system worked.
“Mary Ann was always cheerful, with a ready hello in
the morning and a positive attitude,” Terry recalled. “The
one word that comes to mind when I think of her is ‘light.’
I knew that if I was down, all I had to do was go next door
to her office, and I’d feel better in an instant. The department
wasn’t the same after she retired.”
“Mary Ann was a great person to work with,” said
David Arndt, information technology support specialist.
“She was the person to see if you needed anything—office
supplies, help with travel expenses. She was kind, warm
and personable, and she had a great laugh and smile. She
was the glue of the department.”
— MARTY LEVINE
In 1986, entrepreneur and Pitt Public Health
alumna Hui (Debra) Cen (IDM ’91) left her home in Fujian
Province, China, with only $67 in her pocket. She took the
long flight, financed by half of her parents’ lifetime savings,
to begin a doctoral program in infectious diseases and
microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh. After a short
while, she had managed to send enough of her graduate
teaching stipend home for her parents to buy their first
washing machine.
Nearly 40 years on, Cen, a member of the University of
Pittsburgh Board of Trustees and School of Public Health
Board of Visitors, continues to prioritize hard work and
giving back. She supports School of Public Health initiatives
focused on making students’ experiences meaningful, and
often shares an inspiring personal story of her own.
Before moving to Pittsburgh, Cen was a graduate student
at the Chinese Academy of Science’s Shanghai Institute
of Biochemistry. She recognized the potential for better
research opportunities in the United States and was intrigued
by public health, which she felt could make a broader
community impact.
“My thinking was that I would go to the States to get
my PhD in public health and then my life would be set,”
says Cen. “I would become a professor in China with a
respectable life and secure job. In China, you are golden if
you have a permanent job.”
Thoughts of returning to China began to change around
the time of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In June 1989,
the Chinese government declared martial law in response
to protests and deployed troops to occupy the square.
Several hundred people were killed, including 36 university
students, and thousands were wounded.
As Cen considered a future in the U.S., she moved on to
postdoctoral positions at the National Institutes of Health
and, later, the University of California, San Francisco. She
soon settled into Bay Area life, and began working at a
biotechnology firm.
A career in industry suited Cen’s desire to become
self-sufficient. “In the Bay Area, you are surrounded by
entrepreneurs,” she explains. “When you’re an immigrant
and don’t have something to fall back on, becoming financially
independent is very important.”
Within a few years, Cen decided to try her hand at
launching a business. She wasn’t immediately successful,
but a second attempt took off. After 11 years at the helm of
SABiosciences, a company offering easy-to-use research
products featuring low-density gene arrays, Cen decided it
was time to sell and move on to something new.
In 2013, she formed a group to help Chinese immigrants
settle into the Bay Area and connect them to the larger
community. “I started thinking that maybe I could use
my knowledge of the language and culture to help others,”
she says, reflecting on her motivation to form the Palo
Alto Chinese Parents’ Club, which she later registered as
the nonprofit organization WizChinese. The group, whose
name is derived from the word wisdom, organized the first
Chinese New Year festival in Palo Alto in 2016, which has
grown into an annual celebration attracting more than
3,500 attendees.
After stepping down to let others lead the organization,
Cen’s passion turned to helping low-income students
in the East Palo Alto area succeed by improving their
academic performance. She also became actively involved in
Rotary International efforts to solve problems and address
community needs. Through this work, Cen feels she “found
her people.”
Looking back, Cen feels a deep sense of gratitude for all
the people who helped her succeed, and she hopes more
of us will tap into our own motivation to help and provide
support to others, particularly to students at the School of
Public Health.
“We can all give back in our own way,” she says. “We can
comfort students, mentor them or even help them find a
job. If you do good things, good things will come to you.”
Make a Difference
For more than 75 years, the University of Pittsburgh School of Public
Health has cham pioned vital initiatives to inform and empower local
communities and diverse populations around the world.
Learn how you can make an impact today.
Visit publichealth.pitt.edu or use the QR code below.
32 PHOTOGRAPHY: JOSHUA FRANZOS
PITT PUBLIC HEALTH 33

130 De Soto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
publichealth.pitt.edu
Another
Look
“The only hope of solving
the problems of the planet
lies in the application of
scientific understanding
and skills in the service of
human dignity, freedom
and welfare.”
Mindel C. Sheps, MD, MPH
Above, Dr. Sheps, associate research professor of biostatistics,
known for her many collaborations, interacts with Pitt Public
Health graduate students in the 1960s. She was passionate about
addressing poverty, women’s rights and social justice.