UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ANNUAL REPORT

Pitt Med adapts to a world that 2020 has suddenly gone remote. p. 2 On January 7, 2020, Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, a nationally recognized educator, researcher, and entrepreneur with major contributions in medicine and life sciences, was named senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine. Learn more about his background, his experiences, and what Pitt Med can expect.

p. 6 p. 16 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Annual Report 2020

NEWS EDUCATION

Notable honors and awards pp. 6–7; Pitt responds Going remote pp. 16–17; Hippocratic evolution to COVID-19 pp. 8–11; Bettering community pp. 18–19; Curriculum advances p. 20; Who we health; Innovation by the numbers pp. 12–15 are; Campus COVID-19 protocols p. 21; Med student outreach pp. 22–23; Mentoring and nurturing pp. 24–25 p. 26 p. 37 pp. 50–52 School of Medicine Administration, Departments, Institutes, and Leadership

p. 52 Credits

p. 53 Board of Visitors

On the cover

The pandemic may have RESEARCH DONORS isolated us physically, but the School of Medicine commu- nity has adapted by staying connected with the world Exemplary exploration; Noteworthy advancements Pay it forward p. 38; Family foundation remembers virtually and by unflinch- and grants pp. 26–30; NAS honoree’s reflections its patriarch p. 43; An inspiring, grateful reunion ingly moving forward with p. 31; Regenerative startup pp. 32–33; Space age p. 46; List of donors pp. 39–49 research, learning, achieve- know-how; TB’s new shot; Improving transplants ments, and benevolence. pp. 34–36 Artist: Klaus Kremmerz

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 1 NEW LEADERSHIP | THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE’S NEW DEAN

“Anantha’s capacity to envision solutions, galvanize partnerships, MEET: ANANTHA SHEKHAR, MD, PHD and produce First Impression results is second to none, and he doctor, on his first shift as a psychiatric his record resident, walks into the room of a patient, of propelling who is a white, middle-aged, Midwestern woman. The patient, understandably, has no both people way of knowing the credentials of the doctor. and institu- The journey to walking into that room for Anantha Shekhar included scoring among tions to the top 1% of high school seniors on ASSET, success is a test taken by all of India’s high school students to help determine college placement. unparalleled.” Two years later, he again scored among the Chancellor very best in another placement test to gain Patrick Gallagher admittance to St. John’s Medical College, the sole Catholic medical school in Asia, which admits only about 60 students from tens of thousands of applicants. Six years later, he received a coveted NIH-funded psychiatry fellowship and boarded an airplane for the first time to further his medical career at Indiana University. The patient, unaware of how fortunate she is to be in Shekhar’s care, hears him say hello. She then looks him straight in the eye and replies: “Pardon my French, but I don’t want any f*cking [N-word] examining me.” Her response was uttered in the early 1980s but has never been forgotten by Shekhar: “I was stunned and had no idea what to do because I never really encountered racism until then. My attending didn’t do anything; he just kind of asked me to leave because the patient didn’t want me in the room. That’s when I realized that there is a subset of our society that has strong Tprejudices toward skin color and Blacks in particular. “And that’s why, to this day, I feel so passionate that to have a just society we have to do things differently.” In his leadership role at Pitt, he says he’s more than ready to leave his mark on all of the traditional benchmarks; and, he emphatically adds, he’s eager to remove — for both faculty and patients — any undercurrent of being an “other.”

2 Who is Dr. Shekhar?

The lifelong journey of After completing a psychi- Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, atry residency in 1989 began years ago in one of and a PhD in neuroscience India’s tiniest villages. His in 1992, both at Indiana childhood education in a University, he remained two-room schoolhouse on Indiana’s faculty for morphed into a career in nearly three decades before medicine that, by June 2020, coming to Pitt. Highlights brought him to Pittsburgh of his multiple leadership as the new senior vice chan- roles at Indiana include cellor for the health sciences growing NIH funding 73% and John and Gertrude while overseeing Indiana’s Petersen Dean of the School research during the past five of Medicine at the University years; cofounding several of Pittsburgh, succeeding successful biotech compa- Arthur S. Levine, MD. nies; forming two commer- cial incubators; directing a Dr. Shekhar’s journey has highly productive laboratory; encompassed scientific leading curriculum reform at excellence, clinical prowess, Indiana’s School of Medicine; successful entrepreneur- and forming the Indiana ship, and outstanding lead- Clinical and Translational ership—all accomplished Sciences Institute, the only without losing sight of inclu- statewide institution of its sivity and compassion. kind, which is a collabora- “Anantha’s capacity to envi- tion among Indiana, Purdue, sion solutions, galvanize and Notre Dame Universi- partnerships, and produce ties to improve the region’s results is second to none, health care. and his record of propelling Although arriving at Pitt both people and institutions during a pandemic, he’s to success is unparalleled,” unfazed. “I’m optimistic says Chancellor Patrick that the world will be a Gallagher. better place in 2021, defi- Jeffrey Romoff, president nitely by 2022,” he says, and CEO of UPMC, concurs: “and I’m confident that “Dr. Shekhar’s bold vision Pittsburgh will be, just and collaborative spirit will as it has always been, further the successful part- a prominent contributor.” nership between UPMC and Pitt, enabling us to continue pushing the boundaries of academic medicine to the benefit of patients around the world.” Shekhar’s credentials speak for themselves.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 3 ANANTHA SHEKHAR, MD, PhD | A TRANSFORMATIVE VISION

we hired more than 100 scientists and created four Why companies and recruitment of another one to Indiana.

Pittsburgh? Very impressive. With all of your success there, why come to Pitt? AS: What I could do in Indiana, like with the Precision In-person at Alan Magee Scaife Hall: Dr. Shekhar, Health Initiative, I can do three times faster and three sitting in his School of Medicine office—and keep- times bigger with Pitt. There’s tremendous skill here. ing a social distance—discussed off the cuff the Pitt has its own engineering school, plus we have past, present, and future. Carnegie Mellon University next door. Creating an ecosystem of collaborations here will increase the number of patents issued. Then we will increase the number of commercial entities using a patent to Do you sometimes think back and wonder how a build a product and, ultimately, improve health care. young boy growing up in a tiny village in India is now responsible for 6,000 faculty and staff and Another attraction of Pitt is having UPMC as a partner, 5,000 students? not only as a health care provider but as an insurer— AS: [chuckles] I sometimes wonder how is it possible half of its business is actually insurance. So it makes that this has all happened. Life takes you on all sorts fiscal sense to train our physicians of the future on the of journeys. Many professional people, my teachers, importance and impact of addressing social determi- colleagues were all wonderful to me along the way. nants. Take a chronic diabetic for example. The care is focused on clinics and hospitals. We aren’t paying atten- So how did the journey begin? tion to all the prevention and management measures. We have no coverage for their nutritional status. Exercise. AS: It started with my parents, who were very commit- Personal care. Social aspects of their disease. Instead, ted to me being educated. Fortunately, I enjoyed school— we are constantly prescribing expensive medications liked reading, liked learning, was always very curious. for them. Bringing them in for expensive tests. And then, once necessary, they have expensive surgery. It’s You certainly excelled in school, which enabled a medical model and a disease and a treatment model, you to pursue your interest in a medical career. not a lifestyle and prevention model. By focusing more Why psychiatry in particular? on health care excellence, the savings that occur for AS: My closest friend, we grew up together from UPMC’s insurance plan can then be put to good use primary school, and I were both interested in health for medical advancements while we’re also keeping and medicine. When we were first-year students at our patients healthier. college, I found him one evening as dusk was settling in, bumping into pillars in our dorm. I was taken aback Sounds like a meaningful goal. Have you had a and had him get medical attention the next day. It turns chance to formulate other goals for the health out he had a massive brain tumor that had begun to sciences at Pitt and the School of Medicine in compress his optic nerve. He passed away about four particular? months after that [pause]. What happened to him made AS: Yes, I have several goals that I think are attainable me want to better understand the brain. The more by 2025. Educational, research, clinical, and transla- I learned about the brain in medical school, the more tional excellence go without saying. I expect us to be it really fascinated me. I wanted to get more training considered among the top 10 in the nation in each of and education, which is why I pursued a psychiatry resi- those areas. I also want us to be a national leader in dency and a PhD in neuroscience at Indiana University. commercialization and product development. I want to make precision medicine part of routine clinical You had quite an impressive run in your nearly care. To do so, we need to have large data sets from 40 years as a post-graduate trainee and longtime patients, which includes various genetic as well as faculty member at Indiana before coming to Pitt. health utilization data, so we can better understand What are some of the things that stand out to patterns in order to predict outcomes—it can all be you during your time there? tailored to individual patients and their genetics and AS: Well, it’s where I first met my wife [Gina Laite, MD] their disease. We’ll need, of course, lots of data and while we were both part of the IU residency [smiles; they sophisticated computing and data analysis capabil- now have two grown children]. I’m also proud of helping ities. Pitt and UPMC probably make Pittsburgh the lead the Precision Health Initiative, where we brought best place where this can happen because of the size, together researchers from Indiana, Purdue, and Notre the complexity of the health system, the talent here Dame to improve treatments and find cures for some of at Pitt, as well as the AI and computational talent at the state’s and nation’s most dreaded diseases. Carnegie Mellon University. Pittsburgh could very well The initiative had an estimated statewide economic be the place to make precision medicine the norm and impact of nearly $200 million in just four years, and routine within the next five years or so.

4 “There’s tremendous What concerns do you have? need to focus not only on the biology, because that’s AS: Health disparity is a major concern and not just only 20% of the diseases; 80% of the outcomes of skill here. … Creating for Pittsburgh. In many of our country’s urban areas any disease—other than some infections and certain there are zip codes where health outcomes are worse types of cancer—are a patient’s behavior, a patient’s an ecosystem of than Bangladesh while there are other zip codes that environment, a patient’s lifestyle, so we have to focus collaborations are better than Sweden. In Indianapolis, there is a more on the entire picture. train track that goes from Louisville to Chicago and here will increase cuts right through the city. Along those tracks, within When you talk about increasing diversity among a 12-mile radius the lifespan of the population drops medical students, some might argue that could the number of patents by 14 years—65 years in the inner city, 81 years in the lead to a lessening of standards in order to have issued. Then we will suburbs. That can’t go on. a diverse class. AS: I completely reject the argument that we’ll need to increase the number It’s difficult to comprehend why such a health compromise our standards or our mission by increas- of commercial entities disparity hasn’t been addressed. ing diversity. We get 7,000 applicants for 140 seats, AS: Part of the challenge is that the underserved don’t so it’s not like we don’t have a choice. The cream of using a patent to trust the system because the health care professionals the crop apply. Take the top MCAT scores. There don’t look like them. The disparity is never going to end are, on an average, 100 Black students who ace the build a product and, unless we start training more doctors who are persons MCAT. Why don’t they come to Pitt? Well, we don’t ultimately, improve of color; it’s never going to change until we train leaders, have enough scholarships, and we don’t have enough not just in research, but in social impact—leaders who diversity. We need to work on creating an environment health care.” are going to disrupt health care and create a new model, where they want to come here. Increase diversity. Make medical school more affordable. Perhaps make the Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD doctors who are going to look at social determinants of health. Ultimately, to change our society’s health, we fourth year of medical school a paid hybrid year in which the student is a trainee. That could reduce a student’s debt by as much as $75,000.

It seems like you’re talking about a true para- digm shift in training doctors. AS: Don’t get me wrong; we’re incredibly success- ful in research—and we’re not going to diminish the importance of research—but now it’s time to increase our expertise in other dimensions as well. Think of it this way. In the past, doctors couldn’t carry a medical library with them and check a reference in their office just as they were about to see a patient. But today there’s more information in an iPhone than there was in my medical school library.

Times have changed! AS: What hasn’t changed is that we need to learn from the patient and think through the problems and create solutions, which has been our University’s wonderful history.

From the chancellor on down, people at Pitt have mentioned how pleased they are to have you here. Do you think—given the somewhat perilous state of the world—it’s still possible for a youngster living today in a tiny village in India to follow in your footsteps? AS: I think so; I would hope so.

With that optimistic reply, Dr. Shekhar smiled and concluded the session.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 5 | NOTABLE HONORS AND AWARDS

Notable Faculty NEWS Achievements

The year 2020 will be memorable for many reasons, including these bright spots for Pitt faculty:

Stephen Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD, professor of surgery and deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society for his work to advance extracellular matrix-driven tissue regeneration.

Jan Beumer, PharmD, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, School of Phar- macy, was named editor-in-chief of the Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology journal. Beumer has a secondary appoint- ment as professor of medicine and is director of the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Cancer Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Facility.

Peter Strick, PhD, Distinguished Professor and chair of neurobiology, Thomas Detre Professor of Neuroscience, and founding scien- tific director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, received the Krieg Cortical Kudos Discoverer Award from the Cajal Club Neuroscience Society in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of the As of winter 2020, COVID-19 remains a worldwide crisis. cortical circuits involved in motor control. Pitt is among notable institutions leading the John Williams, MD, Henry L. Hillman Professor way in pursuing treatments of Pediatric Immunology, is the 2020 recip- and vaccines. Learn more, ient of the Norman J. Siegel Outstanding starting on page 8, about the Science Award from the American Pediatric School of Medicine’s efforts. Society in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of pediatrics. He is an international leader in the field of respi- ratory virus biology, particularly human metapneumovirus.

6 Leadership News

Humanism Among the newest appointments to leadership roles in Honors the health sciences and School of Medicine are these:

The School of Derek C. Angus, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor, Mitchell P. Fink Professor, and Medicine congratu- (L–R), Birmaher, Girard chair of critical care medicine, is the health sciences schools’ inaugural associate lates those who have vice chancellor for health care innovation. This role complements his appointment Congratulations! recently been inducted as UPMC’s chief health care innovation officer and fosters more strategic linkages into the Charles G. between Pitt and UPMC to improve learning of health systems and clinical care delivery. Watson Chapter of Stephen Chan, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, is director of the Vascular Medicine the Arnold P. Gold Institute. He also continues to direct the Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology he School of Medicine congratulates Humanism Honor and Medicine and work with the cardiology fellowship research program. Boris Birmaher, MD, Distinguished Professor Society. The society of Psychiatry, who was elected to member- honors medical Paula Davis, MA, is associate vice chancellor for diversity, equity, and inclusion, ship in the Association of American Physi- health sciences, a new position. She is responsible for coordinating the recruit- students, residents, cians, and Timothy Girard, MD, associate ment and retention of diverse faculty, students, and staff in the health sciences fellows, and others professor of critical care medicine, who was schools; developing cultural competence education; and working to create a more selected by a vote Telected to membership in the American Society for inclusive environment. Clinical Investigation. Election to these societies of their peers who Mark W. Geraci, MD, professor of medicine, is associate vice chancellor for interdisci- recognizes significant achievement in scholarship demonstrate plinary research, health sciences. In this newly reconfigured role, Geraci will advance and research. high standards of research efforts across all six health sciences schools to support the University’s humanistic clinical expanding biomedical research activities. Prior to joining Pitt, Geraci served as John B. care, leadership, Hickman Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Indiana University. compassion, and Prestigious Recognition dedication to service. Alda Maria Gonzaga, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine, is associate dean for student affairs. Gonzaga is known for her leadership in efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She succeeds Joan Harvey, MD, who retired after 30 years at Pitt. New members , professor of pediatrics, is associate dean for the learning he National Academy of Medicine—which has from the Class Evelyn C. Reis, MD environment. Reis is an educational leader in communication skills and the more than 2,000 members chosen by their of 2021: doctor-patient relationship. She was the founding medical director of the Univer- peers in recognition of outstanding achieve- Ololade Adebiyi sity’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute pediatric practice-based research ment in their fields, as well as their willingness Lauren Auster network, Pediatric PittNet. to engage in advisory activities—has elected Patricia Campos two Pitt physician-scientists this past year: Jason Rosenstock, MD, professor of psychiatry, is associate dean for medical Bryce Churilla TToren Finkel, MD, PhD, G. Nicholas III and education. Rosenstock has won multiple teaching excellence awards, helped to Dorothy B. Beckwith Professor of Translational Catherine Corey found the medical school’s neuroscience area of concentration, and has served Medicine and director of the Pitt Aging Institute, and Camille Davis as chair of the curriculum committee since 2015. Amy Wagner, MD, Physical Medicine and Rehabili- Mikaela Fenn tation Professor of Translational Research, School Valerie Gobao of Medicine, and professor of neuroscience, Dietrich Alexandria Harris School of Arts and Sciences. Rafa Ifthikhar Distinguished Faculty Finkel’s work centers on how oxidative stress and Evan Keller the function of mitochondria alter the rate of aging. Song Kim Recently, his focus has been on autophagy—the Kathleen Koesarie body’s natural way of clearing out old and damaged he School of Medicine now boasts 13 additional faculty members who have parts of cells—as a target for anti-aging therapeutics. Anna Leone been awarded the title of Distinguished Professor, the highest honor the Wagner uses biomarkers and statistical modeling John Leech University can accord to its faculty. to predict how well patients will recover from brain Kara McClain They are Boris Birmaher, MD, and David Brent, MD, Distinguished injury and to guide clinical decisions along the way— Arthi Narayanan Professor of Psychiatry; Gregory Cooper, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor a strategy she calls “personalized rehabilitation Cristine Oh of Biomedical Informatics; Terence Dermody, MD, Distinguished Professor medicine.” Her experimental research focuses on how Katherine Orr Tof Pediatrics; JoAnne Flynn, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and dopamine systems, hormones, inflammation, and Vivianne Oyefusi Molecular Genetics; John Kirkwood, MD, Distinguished Service Professor of rehabilitation-relevant therapeutic agents affect plas- Rahilla Tarfa Medicine; Patrick Kochanek, MD, Distinguished Professor of Critical Care Medi- ticity and functional recovery. She also treats patients cine; Fadi Lakkis, MD, Distinguished Professor of Surgery; John Mellors, MD, with neurological conditions during their acute care Distinguished Professor of Medicine; José-Alain Sahel, MD, Distinguished hospitalization and inpatient rehabilitation. Professor of Ophthalmology; Mark Shlomchik, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor Including Finkel and Wagner, 20 Pitt School of of Immunology; William Wagner, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Surgery; and Medicine faculty are among the academy’s elite Adriana Zeevi, PhD, Distinguished Service Professor of Pathology. membership.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 7 NEWS | PITT RESPONDS TO COVID-19

STEROIDS IMPROVE COVID-19 COVID-19 PATIENTS’ SURVIVAL INFECTS n the race to find treatments forCOVID -19 THE WORLD patients, an international team led by Pitt and UPMC clinician-scientists found that administering widely available, inexpen- PITT MED sive steroids boosts critically ill COVID-19 patients’ survival odds. The study’s RESPONDS results even prompted the World Health IOrganization (WHO) to update its COVID-19 treatment guidance. “It is relatively rare in medicine that you find drugs where the evidence of their effec- A team led by Duprex is working on a tiveness in saving lives is so consistent,” says PITT IS COVID-19 vaccine candidate that harnesses lead author Derek Angus, MD, MPH, Distin- A LEADER IN a measles vaccine engineered to express guished Professor, Mitchell P. Fink Professor, COVID-19 FIGHT SARS-CoV-2 proteins on its surface to and chair of critical care medicine. “This is, generate immunity to the virus. CVR is part- in many respects, the single clearest answer IT IS RELATIVELY nering with the Serum Institute of India to we’ve had so far on how to manage terribly ill RARE IN MEDICINE cientists and clinicians across bring the vaccine to phase I clinical trials. COVID-19 patients,” adds Angus, who is also THAT YOU FIND Pitt’s six health sciences schools, Also in CVR, William Klimstra, PhD, associate vice chancellor for health care inno- DRUGS WHERE along with colleagues from other associate professor of immunology, is vation in the Schools of the Health Sciences. THE EVIDENCE academic departments, have taken investigating a polyclonal antibody therapy The findings, which were published across OF THEIR a prominent role in responding to (SAB-185) that could be used to both treat four JAMA articles, stem from the “Random- EFFECTIVENESS the pandemic. In all, Pitt is home and prevent COVID-19. Clinical staff began ized Embedded Multifactorial Adaptive Plat- IN SAVING LIVES IS to more than 400 ongoing studies injecting SAB-185 into healthy volunteers for form-Community Acquired Pneumonia SO CONSISTENT.” related to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. a phase I trial in August 2020. (REMAP-CAP)” trial, a large-scale interna- S Derek Angus, Perhaps foremost among these are Two pharmaceutical companies, Moderna tional initiative to evaluate treatments at MD, MPH studies in the University’s Center for Vaccine and AstraZeneca, partnered early with Pitt numerous hospitals. Because REMAP-CAP Research (CVR), which integrates efforts in and UPMC on vaccine trials. The phase III trials can simultaneously test multiple combina- virology, immunology, and other disciplines were led by Judith Martin, MD, director of tions of potential therapies—as opposed to to develop diagnostics, therapeutics, and the Pittsburgh Vaccine Trials Unit and CVR vaccines against known and emerging infec- member, and Sharon Riddler, MD, director of tious diseases. CVR houses one of the few clinical research in Pitt’s Division of Infectious labs nationwide qualified to handle pathogens Diseases. (See page 10) Former Pitt Fellow Leads Wuhan’s Pandemic Response like SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory Another potential vaccine, called Pitt­ syndrome coronavirus-2), which causes CoVacc, was developed by a team led by Today, Zhiyong Peng, MD, PhD, is COVID-19. CVR director W. Paul Duprex, PhD, Louis Falo, MD, PhD, professor and chair of professor and chair of critical care received permission from the U.S. Centers for dermatology, and Andrea Gambotto, MD, medicine at Zhongnan Hospital of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to bring associate professor of surgery. PittCoVacc Wuhan University in China, a region the virus to Pittsburgh in mid-February 2020. is administered using a fingertip-sized patch considered Ground Zero for the of 400 tiny needles that delivers lab-made COVID-19 pandemic. But his crisis coronavirus spike protein pieces into the skin, management skill derives, in part, from lessons Peng learned in Pittsburgh. A POTENTIAL VACCINE IN THE where the immune reaction is strongest. The patch goes on like a Band-Aid, and then the As a fellow and later researcher PRECLINICAL PHASE—PittCoVacc— associated with Pitt Med’s Department of Critical Care Medi- IS ADMINISTERED USING A FINGER- needles simply dissolve. When tested in mice, the vaccine produced antibodies specific to cine from 2006 to 2014, Peng focused on studying complica- TIP-SIZED PATCH OF 400 TINY NEEDLES tions from acute kidney injury and severe infections like sepsis. THAT DELIVERS LAB-MADE CORONAVIRUS SARS-CoV-2 at quantities thought to be suffi- cient for neutralizing the virus. “He really ran the sepsis laboratory; it was my lab, but we SPIKE PROTEIN PIECES INTO THE Although PittCoVacc, unlike some other worked closely together, and I trusted him to run it,” says SKIN. … THE DELIVERY METHOD HAS vaccine candidates, is still in the preclin- John Kellum, MD, Professor of Critical Care Medicine ADVANTAGES FOR GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION ical phase, Falo believes that if PittCoVacc Research. AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OUTSIDE is approved, its delivery method has global “My time at Pitt was very valuable,” says Peng. “I learned OF THE PANDEMIC. distribution advantages and potential appli- a lot, including how to manage teams and be a leader.” cations outside of the pandemic. Peng has been at the forefront of his hospital’s COVID-19 response and has presented and published important clinical care insights on the first COVID-19 cases in Wuhan.

8 the traditional, slower clinical trial process Researchers and clinicians have noted that that tests one therapy at a time—the initiative ACTIV-4 many patients who have died from COVID-19 is well-suited for rapidly identifying effective CLINICAL TRIALS formed blood clots throughout their bodies, RELYING ON PITT treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic. including in their smallest blood vessels. This Between March and June 2020, the unusual clotting—one of many life-threat- REMAP-CAP corticosteroid trial random- ening effects of the disease—causes multiple ized 403 adult COVID-19 patients admitted he National Institutes of Health (NIH) health complications, from lung and other to an intensive care unit to receive the steroid selected the University of Pittsburgh organ damage to heart attacks, pulmonary hydrocortisone or no steroids at all. (Steroids to lead a trio of phase III clinical trials embolisms, and strokes. can reduce inflammation and modulate the involving COVID-19 patients. Collec- Antithrombotics, also known as blood thin- immune system.) The trial found a 93% prob- tively known as ACTIV-4 Antithrom- ners or anticoagulants, keep blood protein ability that giving patients a seven-day intra- botics, these trials will explore the and platelets from turning into clumps or venous course of hydrocortisone would result use of blood thinners in saving lives sticking to each other. Doctors are deter- THIS IS A MASSIVE in better outcomes than not giving the steroid. Tand improving care, particularly among adult mining whether COVID-19 blood thinners are The results, which involved compiling data COVID-19 patients who are at risk of devel- UNDERTAKING effective in treating patients with this condition from 121 hospitals in eight countries, were oping life-threatening blood clots. SUPPORTED and, if so, at what point they should be applied. consistent across age, race, and sex. As the coordinating center for these trials, BY NIH—ONE Stephen Wisniewski, PhD, Pitt’s vice REMAP-CAP was one of several interna- Pitt is occupying a leading role in NIH’s Acceler- THAT IS LEVERAG- provost for budget and analytics, and two tional trials testing steroids. After REMAP-CAP ating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and ING A GLOBAL physician-scientists from Pitt—Matthew D. investigators coordinated with the other trials’ Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative, funded through NETWORK TO HELP Neal, MD, Roberta G. Simmons Associate researchers and WHO to pool and analyze Operation Warp Speed. Six other universities— IMPROVE PATIENT Professor of Surgery, and Frank Sciurba, MD, data, the teams observed that the results Harvard University, New York University, the OUTCOMES professor of medicine, who directs the Pulmo- were consistent across all trials—a major University of Illinois at Chicago, the University FOR COVID-19. nary Function Exercise Physiology Labora- finding and collaborative effort, Angus notes, of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at IT IS ALSO A tory—are leading this effort. because, amid urgency to uncover break- Chapel Hill, and the University of Vermont—are CHALLENGE THAT “Understanding how to treat coagulation through COVID treatments, such clear results also participating in the initiative, which will THE UNIVERSITY risk in COVID-19 patients is critical to less- are rare. The trials’ findings were published continue to add qualifying institutions. OF PITTSBURGH, ening the impact of this pandemic,” says alongside a simultaneous meta-analysis of “This is a massive undertaking supported A LONGTIME Wisniewski. “Pitt’s ability to innovate and the work. by NIH—one that is leveraging a global LEADER IN HEALTH collaborate enables us to help ensure that During the study, steroids were given only network to help improve patient outcomes for CARE INNOVATION, these trials will be completed with the rigor to hospitalized COVID-19 patients needing COVID-19,” says Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, IS PERFECTLY and speed necessary to make an impact at respiratory support, since applying them Pitt’s senior vice chancellor for the health POSITIONED this critical moment. In collaboration with unnecessarily can dampen the immune sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen TO TACKLE.” NIH and our peer institutions, we will use the system and cause serious side effects. Dean of Medicine. “It is also a challenge that combined tools of biology and statistics to Anantha Shekhar, The REMAP-CAP corticosteroid trial was the University of Pittsburgh, a longtime leader MD, PhD advance the treatments of this deadly virus.” conducted primarily in resource-rich coun- in health care innovation, is perfectly posi- “This has been an amazingly cooperative tries across Europe, North America, and tioned to tackle.” endeavor—unequivocally the most rapidly Australasia, so the findings may not translate moving, complex but also highly collaborative to low- and middle-income countries. experience of my life,” says Neal. “REMAP-CAP and our findings on cortico­ “While the greatest focus on blood clot- steroids are possible because of a global ting complications has been in the inpatient community of clinicians and scientists coordi­ setting, earlier attention in more stable nating and sharing data across different patients prior to hospitalization may have an languages and countries,” says coauthor important impact on progression to the more Christopher Seymour, MD, MSc, associate serious consequences professor of critical care medicine and of COVID-19,” says Translational and Clinical Science Program Sciurba. director at Pitt’s Clinical Research, Inves- tigation, and Systems Modeling of Acute Illness (CRISMA) Center. “This is how we get definitive answers as fast as possible on how to best treat patients. Outcomes in Amsterdam are helping patients at UPMC Altoona.”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 9 NEWS | PITT RESPONDS TO COVID-19

PITT PLAYS KEY ROLE IN COVID-19 VACCINE CLINICAL TRIALS

IH’s COVID-19 Prevention Network and Operation Warp Speed vaccine program are counting on the Univer- sity of Pittsburgh to play a key role in COVID vaccine clinical trials— and it’s no wonder. Vaccines and Pittsburgh go way back, most Nnotably to the 1950s, when Pitt researchers led by Jonas Salk, MD, developed the first safe, effective vaccine against polio—the most feared disease of the era. Beyond developing vaccines, conducting vaccine clinical trials is a crucial process, one with which Pitt has considerable experience. The Pittsburgh COVID vaccine clinical trials COVID-19 in Other Words and Pictures site is enlisting 750 participants, and several hundred volunteers have received the COVID Before the COVID-19 pandemic, School of Medicine student Carly O’Connor-Terry was vaccine as part of nationwide phase III clinical conducting research with the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy. When the virus trials, says Judith Martin, MD, professor of hit Pittsburgh, she formed a volunteer effort with her med school peers and contacted pediatrics and director of the Pittsburgh site the center to see if there was anything they could do to help. for the Moderna vaccine research study. The Opal M. said they were thankful O’Connor-Terry contacted them because an entire registry of Pittsburgh volunteers numbers community was in need. almost 5,000 individuals, including many “When Carly emailed us, I had just tested positive for COVID-19,” said M., the center’s members of the Black and Latinx commu- assistant director and an autistic, disabled, queer/nonbinary parent of children who are nities, which have been disproportionately autistic and disabled. “I looked and looked—even asked several of my physician contacts— affected byCOVID -19. and couldn’t find any materials whatsoever written in plain language to help better under- In addition to the Moderna COVID vaccine, stand the virus.” a second Pittsburgh site for the Astra M. said it can be difficult for autistic people and people Zeneca vaccine is being directed by Sharon with intellectual disabilities to recognize cues in their own Riddler, MD, professor and clinical research bodies, like hunger or thirst, or when they are sick or tired. director in the Department of Medicine’s For O’Connor-Terry, a Pittsburgh native, she can person- Division of Infectious Diseases. The studies, ally relate to these concerns. O’Connor-Terry has an autistic which focus on vaccine efficacy and dura- brother with whom she does not communicate orally. She tion of immunity, have enrolled hundreds of said this is part of the reason it was so important to help. patients from the region and contributed to The same day she connected with M., O’Connor-Terry the early vaccines’ success. quickly got to work on the guide, recruiting help through a Martin is also working with Janssen, the Slack group of med students across the country. vaccine arm of Johnson & Johnson, and Using the CDC guidelines for reference, the team further notes that a Moderna pediatric produced a plain language guide describing what COVID-19 vaccine study may be the next step for Pitt is and what to do if a person experiences symptoms. researchers. “We classified the symptoms into groups. The ‘emergency group’ is the most important, “Pittsburgh has done vaccines for a long which includes shortness of breath. The ‘ask for help group’ includes fever and cough, and time,” says Martin, who also directs the the ‘stay home group’ includes more general symptoms, like sore throat, runny nose, and Pittsburgh Vaccine Trials Unit at UPMC muscle pain. We have a picture for each symptom, and we describe how the symptom could University Center. “I think what’s so wonderful feel,” said O’Connor-Terry, who is also a Clinical Scientist Training Program research scholar. about this environment is that we have the O’Connor-Terry and the team had their guide vetted by two infectious disease doctors at resources and we have such a collabora- Pitt, along with other clinicians with relevant experience, including Peter J. Veldkamp, MD, MS, tive nature,” which, she says, has been key professor of medicine and director of education and of travel health in the Department of to enrolling diverse participants and rapidly Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases. obtaining the necessary infrastructure and M. is so thankful for the guide and thinks it will be of great assistance. “People look personnel to conduct the trials. for things that are illustrated to show how things feel in their bodies—and describe those feelings—so they can better understand what’s happening,” said M.

10 IMMEDIATE COVID-19 RESEARCH RESPONSE

hen the COVID-19 pandemic The Ab8 antibody—which was tested in began, Pitt’s Clinical and Trans- collaboration with other U.S. and international lational Science Institute (CTSI) universities—is 10 times smaller than a full- wasted no time coordinating sized antibody, meaning it can better pene- funding for the vital research trate tissues to neutralize the virus and could and work needed to combat possibly be administered through inhalation the outbreak across all fronts. or intradermal injection, as opposed to more WIn April 2020, CTSI’s COVID-19 Pilot Grant standard intravenous antibody administration. Program awarded $900,000 to 17 Pitt The antibody does not bind to human cells, so research projects addressing various aspects it is unlikely to cause side effects in humans. of the pandemic. After the researchers infected mice with “We are optimistic that the impact of a modified version of SARS-CoV-2, those research will provide insight and results,” said ANTIBODY MAY treated with even low doses of Ab8 contained POTENTIALLY TREAT CTSI director Steven Reis, MD. “We are proud AB8 NOT ONLY 10-times less infectious virus than untreated to be part of this thriving research community AND PREVENT COVID HAS POTENTIAL mice. The drug also effectively treated and that has shown how Pittsburgh really steps AS THERAPY FOR prevented SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters. up when called upon.” COVID-19, BUT The researchers sifted through a pool Awardees were selected after an accel- drug developed by Pitt researchers IT ALSO COULD of more than 100 billion antibody compo- erated, extensive peer-review process. The could be highly effective at BE USED TO KEEP nents, using the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein recipients’ projects covered everything from preventing and treating COVID-19. PEOPLE FROM as bait to determine which antibodies would clinical and community serosurveillance, Neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus GETTING latch on and become potential therapeutics. pneumonia severity biomarkers, neurologic is not strictly a job for vaccines SARS-COV-2 Senior author Dimiter Dimitrov, PhD, ScD, manifestations, maternal infections and and their resulting antibodies. INFECTIONS. professor of medicine in the Division of Infec- newborns, modeling strategies, therapeutic Pitt researchers and their collab- ANTIBODIES OF tious Diseases and director of Pitt’s Center nanobodies, and much more. Pitt’s CTSI, Aorators have developed an antibody domain LARGER SIZE HAVE for Antibody Therapeutics, was among the Office of the Provost, Office of the Senior called Ab8 aimed at preventing and treating WORKED AGAINST discoverers of neutralizing antibodies for the Vice Chancellor for Research, and the DSF SARS-CoV-2 infection. Ab8 binds to the OTHER INFECTIOUS original SARS coronavirus in 2003. He and Charitable Foundation funded the program. SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, preventing its DISEASES AND his team discovered other infectious disease Reis, who is also Distinguished Service attachment to healthy cells. Their findings antibodies in ensuing years, hastening the HAVE BEEN WELL Professor of Medicine and associate senior were published in Cell. search for effectiveSARS -CoV-2 antibodies. vice chancellor for clinical and transla- “Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for TOLERATED, Abound Bio, a newly formed, Pittsburgh- tional research, health sciences, said the COVID-19, but it also could be used to keep GIVING US HOPE based company, has licensed Ab8 for world- grant program was created to support people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections,” THAT IT COULD BE wide development, and the researchers hope research initiatives aimed at immediate says study coauthor John Mellors, MD, Distin- AN EFFECTIVE to begin clinical trials in early 2021. progress toward reducing the harm to guished Professor of Medicine, Professor for TREATMENT FOR individuals, groups, and society from Global Elimination of HIV and AIDS, and chief PATIENTS WITH COVID-19. “We need to look at all options to of the Department of Medicine’s Division of COVID-19 AND deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Infectious Diseases. “Antibodies of larger size FOR PROTECTION response to the call for proposals was over- have worked against other infectious diseases OF THOSE WHO whelming,” said Reis, alluding to the program and have been well tolerated, giving us hope HAVE NEVER HAD receiving more than 150 proposals from 590 that it could be an effective treatment for THE INFECTION investigators across 14 schools. “As encour- patients with COVID-19 and for protection of AND ARE NOT aged as we were with the number, we were those who have never had the infection and IMMUNE.” even more impressed with the thinking that are not immune,” Mellors says. John Mellors, MD went into the proposals from so many different Using antibodies to treat COVID-19 parts of the University,” he added. patients takes a similar approach to conva- lescent plasma therapy, which harnesses antibodies from people who already had COVID-19 to treat those battling infection. Yet this therapy is still being tested in clinical trials, and there may not be enough plasma to benefit all in need. WE ARE PROUD TO BE PART OF THIS THRIVING RESEARCH COMMUNITY THAT HAS SHOWN HOW PITTSBURGH REALLY STEPS UP WHEN CALLED UPON.” Steven Reis, MD

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 11 NEWS | BETTERING COMMUNITY HEALTH | INNOVATION BY THE NUMBERS

Equitable Skin Care Pitt Innovation

n the Department of Dermatology, the Skin Health Equity (SHE) program has by the Numbers enhanced underserved communities’ access to dermatologic care since 2017. The program is vital, in part, because academic literature in derma- tology contains a disproportionate amount of white skin compared to Black skin; and skin color influences how certain diseases look, according to Alaina James, MD, PhD, assistant professor of dermatology. For example, people of color face increased melanoma morbidity because Imelanoma is often diagnosed at a more advanced stage in people of color, James Invention Disclosures Startups says. “Through SHE, we are trying to improve all those aspects: education about skin of color, access for patients with skin of color, and education of patients with skin of color so that they can advocate for themselves.” SHE, after partnering with Pittsburgh community health centers and deter- +27% +124% mining a community’s dermatologic needs, deploys teams of dermatologists, residents, medical students, and undergraduates through MobileDerm, SHE’s outreach program, to provide care in-person or via tele-consultation. James is 1,767 director of SHE and MobileDerm. 1,402 83 Now, SHE is expanding. In 2020, the MobileDerm program was awarded a pilot grant from Pitt’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute to expand outreach to 37 rural regional communities, some of which are dermatology deserts, James says, 2011–15 2016–20 2011–15 2016–20 with large populations lacking any dermatologists in the community. James can’t stress enough the importance of skin awareness: “[Skin] is in tune with the rest of the body and reflects a lot of what’s going on with the overall health of the patient. We can commonly diagnose patients with internal medical conditions based on changes that are present on their skin.”

Transactions Patents New Center Tackles Pelvic Pain +10% +66% lthough endometriosis and pelvic pain affect as many as one in10 women of reproductive age, a proper diagnosis can take years. A new center established at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital aims to improve early diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis and other pelvic pain disorders 658 723 459 and to advance research through tissue sample collection and coordi- nation of resources. 277 Endometriosis occurs when the uterine lining—called endometrial 2011–15 2016–20 2011–15 2016–20 Atissue—grows elsewhere in the abdominal cavity. Like normal endometrial tissue, these displaced lesions react to monthly hormonal cues, causing inflammation. Symptoms include pain during a period and intercourse, generalized pelvic pain outside of the menstrual cycle, and unexplained infertility. Because it can’t be detected with imaging equipment, the only way to definitively diagnose endo- FISCAL 2020: metriosis is through exploratory surgery. “Chronic pelvic pain can be so difficult to diagnose,” saysNicole Donnellan, MD, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences and INNOVATION INSTITUTE FOR director of the Chronic Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis Center. “There are many COMMERCIALIZATION ENTREPRENEURIAL EXCELLENCE different conditions that can cause pelvic pain, including bladder or muscle spasms, Invention disclosures: 394 1,900+ businesses uterine issues, and even gastrointestinal problems.” received 1:1 consulting The new clinic embraces a unified team approach to patient care, providing Patents: 88 $25,600,000+ patients with the opportunity to meet with gynecologic surgeons, behavioral health Transactions: 132 in capital formation therapists, and physical therapists during the same appointment, helping to begin UPMC agreements: 16 treatment sooner. 8,500+ hours of consulting Startups: 15 “Many women come to the clinic in frustration after being told their pain is 10,000+ jobs supported psychological,” notes Suketu Mansuria, MD, associate professor of obstetrics, Revenue: $12,375,660 and/or created gynecology, and reproductive sciences. 52 startups launched “Someday, we’d like to have a blood test to detect endometriosis, but we need to understand the pathology of the disease first,” says Donnellan, who, along with researchers at Magee-Womens Research Institute, is on the case.

12 i4Kids Initiative

“We’re finding orldwide, the leading cause of death for children under age 5 is infection. In the United States, more collaborative children are hospitalized for infectious and inflam- ways to fight matory diseases than for any other cause. The Institute for Infection, Inflammation, and debilitating Immunity in Children, i4Kids, is a joint initiative infectious and launched in 2020 by the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to immune-mediated become a center of research, discovery, prevention, diseases that and treatment of these diseases in children as the foundation of improving the health of future generations. affect children’s “We’re finding collaborative ways to fight debilitating infectious and immune-mediated lives, like pneu- diseases that affect children’s lives, like pneumonia, bronchitis, diabetes, and asthma,” saysJohn WWilliams, MD , Henry L. Hillman Professor of Pediatric Immunology and the institute’s director. monia, bronchitis, “We have great strengths in infection biology and immunology research here in Pittsburgh, diabetes, and and i4Kids will build on those strengths,” adds Terence Dermody, MD, Distinguished Professor, Vira I. Heinz Professor, and chair of the Department of Pediatrics, who conceived the idea asthma.” of such an institute more than 30 years ago. “We are also united in our goals for improved John Williams, MD childhood health, which allows us to recruit for additional strength.” Currently, 39 faculty members from across the University’s research enterprise are affiliated with i4Kids. Multidisciplinary team pilot projects funded for 2020 include:

• In Situ Engineering of the Skin Immune System To Treat Peanut Allergy (Dermatology and Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering)

• A coustic Waveform Respiratory Examination for Pediatric Inflamma- tory Airway Diseases (Pediatrics, School of Medicine, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering)

• CRISPR i Repression of Group B Streptococcus-Externalized Proteins To Identify Key Mediators of Macrophage Responses During Neonatal Infection (Pediatrics and Medicine, School of Medicine)

• R ole of Protists in Virus-Mediated Loss of Oral Tolerance and Celiac Disease (Pediatrics and Immunology, School of Medicine)

At the same time, the institute’s Pittsburgh Phage Project is bringing together several dozen faculty from medicine, public health, and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences to investigate new uses for bacterio- phages — viruses that infect and destroy bacteria. In September 2020, the R.K. Mellon Foundation announced a $1.5 million grant to support development of a candidate vaccine or therapeutic treatment against acute flaccid myelitis, an infection linked to neurological complications and paralysis in children. All of this is very good news to Anna Wang-Erickson, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and the institute’s associate director, who states, “We are very excited about the development of new collaborations.”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 13 NEWS | BETTERING COMMUNITY HEALTH

Surgical Engagement “ Stories are just so powerful. They are an incredible way to communicate; they can cross cultures, and he COVID-19 pandemic, the calls for social they’re a way to convey very technical information justice, and other tumultuous events of 2020 without using very technical language.” have demanded new means of taking action on equity and outreach and that includes the Kathleen M. McTigue, MD, MPH, MS School of Medicine. In the Department of Surgery, Timothy Billiar, MD, Distinguished Professor, TGeorge V. Foster Professor, and chair of surgery, recently formed the Division of Community Engage- ment, which builds and fosters health equity, trust, and commitment among Pittsburgh’s communities Storytellers Could Improve through educational and engagement initiatives. The division shares information and discussions Health Outcomes on COVID safety, nutrition, trauma treatment, and many more topics of concern, while also working to inspire interest in science and medicine among young community members. Billiar appointed Steven Evans, MD, clinical professor of surgery, as community engagement division director. tory Booth is a research project that collects people’s “Our mission has to be to serve the needs of our stories about their health experiences and shares them surrounding communities, and that includes those with researchers. The project’s roots are in PaTH, one of who are underserved, underinsured, and underrep- 33 networks that comprise the Patient-Centered Outcomes resented minorities, in a culturally sensitive way,” says Research Institute’s National Patient-Centered Clinical Evans. “I feel it’s really incumbent on us as educators Research Network. to focus on the root causes of these disparities and “The mission of Story Booth is to promote patient-cen- outcomes that we see.” tered research,” says Kathleen M. McTigue, MD, MPH, MS, While the pandemic restricts gatherings, the divi- associate professor of medicine. “We wanted to make it sion’s messaging has been shared across Pitt and easier to foster the development of research that addresses UPMC channels and via social media, videos, and virtual town hall meetings, often in partnership with questions patients feel are important. Stories are just so organizations attuned to education, social justice, and powerful. They are an incredible way to communicate; combatting disparities. Two of those partners include they can cross cultures, and they’re a way to convey very technical information the Gateway Medical Society, an organization associ- without using very technical language.” ated with the National Medical Association working to People who volunteer to share their stories with Story Booth often record them eradicate disparities in health care, and 1Hood Media, over the telephone and agree to allow researchers to listen to the stories. The idea a collective of socially conscious artists and activists. S is that if researchers know what topics people think are important, researchers will The division’s outreach also emphasizes cancer design studies around those topics. Then, those studies can, hopefully, generate screenings, which have taken a hit during the findings that may better people’s health. pandemic. “We’re looking now at a potential uptick McTigue, also associate professor of epidemiology at Pitt’s Graduate School in cancer diagnoses,” Evans says, “because of people 72 no longer screening due to the pandemic.” Breast of Public Health, explains that % of storytellers have expressed an interest in cancer and colon cancer are leading killers among getting involved in health research as partners who help guide the research process. Black women and men, Evans says. The division rein- Story Booth researchers support team-building by introducing storytellers and forces the COVID safety measures taken by places researchers with shared health interests. like UPMC Hillman Cancer Center to keep patients She says, “We knew that many researchers are intrigued by patient-centered and the community safe while continuing screenings. research but don’t really know how to make it happen and often feel uncomfortable. “We want to educate on prevention and treatment, Likewise, we know many patients are interested in the concept but are sometimes as opposed to having conversations that accuse the intimidated because they don’t know how to find or connect with researchers, community of not being responsible themselves,” and they may use different vocabularies than researchers. Story Booth is a way Evans says. to bring those two different groups of people together.” In 2019, Story Booth was affiliated with a Pitt Year of Creativity award that

“OUR MISSION HAS TO BE TO SERVE THE funded a project with University of Pittsburgh at Bradford undergraduates and NEEDS OF OUR SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES, AND faculty artists. Each picked a story that inspired them and created artwork based THAT INCLUDES THOSE WHO ARE UNDERSERVED, on the story. UNDERINSURED, AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES, “It’s another way we’re trying to amplify the storytellers’ voices,” says McTigue. IN A CULTURALLY SENSITIVE WAY.”

Steven Evans, MD

14 hen [the COVID-19 pandemic] hit and we were before I got into the house and then everything I had touched once told to shelter in place, it hadn’t hit me yet. I was I got inside the house and clean it all. It was overwhelming. I think still going to the store without a mask or gloves, I had a panic attack or something. Then, I would go to the grocery but then I started to see the shelves emptied store and have to tell my mom that they had run out of a lot of things, of hand sanitizer, hand soap, toilet paper, etc. and we were just going to have to take what we could get. It took I hadn’t really felt the impact of it. I was in shock. about until the middle of May before I felt like I had a groove. But Then, I started wearing gloves, a hat, a double mask, then I started seeing people without masks because they thought “Wand I was really scared—really petrified of people and of being in [the pandemic] was over. People stopped social distancing. I think public spaces. But I had to go out and get necessities. I also have we opened up way too early. I just need to do whatever I have to in an 80-year-old mother who lives on the other side of town. She order to keep myself and my mother safe. It still scares me when definitely couldn’t be going out shopping, so I had to be the one to people get too close or they’re not wearing masks or wearing them do it. One time, I had just come from dropping off groceries to my inappropriately. I wonder when I’m going to snap out.” mom and had to drive back across town to get home and unload my groceries. At the time, they didn’t know whether the virus could last on packaging, so I put my groceries on the floor and used bleach — adapted from a Story Booth recording of a woman’s experience living mixed with water to wipe everything down before I put it away. I just through the COVID-19 pandemic as someone who is HIV positive and broke down. It was a lot. I had to remember everything I touched caring for her aging mother

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 15 | GOING REMOTE

EDUCATION A Virtual Year

ith the cancellation of most in-person events during the COVID-19 pandemic, the School of Medicine has rein- vented how it cele- brates its traditional milestone events and Wbuilds community. Strict physical distancing meant meeting virtually for most of 2020.

MATCH DAY

Match Day 2020 at Pitt Med was a virtual celebra- tion of the hard work and accomplishments of the graduating medical students. Students fundraised for four years to make their Match Day a celebration to remember. When the arrival of COVID-19 forced their festivities online, the students opted to donate their party funds to local organizations supporting the community during the COVID-19 crisis. That’s a celebration that will leave an indelible memory.

SCOPE AND SCALPEL

By late March, it seemed like Scope and Scalpel— the annual production put on by graduating medical students—would end its 65-year streak of roasting (Above) On Match Day, all things Pitt Med. But students were able to film med school students shared individual parts of “The Lyme King” and screen it their future residencies as a whole via Zoom in May. Proceeds from this (and excitement!) online. year’s show went to the Greater Pittsburgh Arts (Top R) “The Lyme King,” Council’s Emergency Fund for Artists. this past year’s Scope and Scalpel production, took place virtually and can still DIPLOMA DAY be viewed on YouTube. Students in the School of Medicine virtually cele- brated Diploma Day on May 18, 2020. It was streamed on YouTube, had all of the traditional pomp and ceremony, and has been viewed more than 7,000 times. David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, assistant professor of medicine at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and a survivor and researcher of Castleman disease, delivered the commence- ment address. He wrote the acclaimed memoir “Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action,” reflecting on his journey as a patient and physician-scientist.

16 WHITE COAT CEREMONY The White Coat Ceremony is a symbolic event marking the entry of you want to be in life.” As for the students, they declared their first-year students into the medical profession. School of Medicine commitment to integrity, ethical behavior, and honor by reciting administrators and faculty members virtually welcomed students the Hippocratic Oath. This year, in addition to the traditional Hippo- of the Class of 2024; and Vaughn S. Clagette, MD, MBA, physician, cratic Oath, Chenits Pettigrew Jr., EdD, associate dean for diversity, Southeast Permanente Medical Group, and member, Pitt Board of equity, and inclusion and director of diversity programs, challenged Trustees and UPMC Board of Directors, gave the keynote address: students to write their own class oath for the first time in the school’s “Your journey is about to begin,” he told the medical students. 134 years. The new oath was more explicitly inclusive of all people, “At Pitt, with continued work, you can become any and everything including those historically overlooked by the medical community.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 17 EDUCATION | HIPPOCRATIC EVOLUTION

“We believe that our oath acknowledges the context of U.S. history and medicine and uses it to explain our current state. We used the past and present to clarify our future goals as physicians.” Tito Onyekweli ’24

18 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CLASS OF 2024 OATH

As the entering class of 2020, we start our medical journey amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and a national civil rights move- ment reinvigorated by the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery. We honor the 700,000+ lives lost DO NO HARM to COVID-19, despite the sacrifices of health care workers. We recognize the fundamental failings of our health care and political systems in serving vulnerable communities. This oath is the first step in our enduring commitment to repairing Hippocratic Evolution the injustices against those historically ignored and abused in medicine: Black patients, Indigenous patients, Patients of Color, and all marginalized populations who have received substan- dard care as a result of their identity and limited resources. Acknowledging the privilege and responsibility that come with being a physician, I take this oath as a call to action to fulfill n addition to reciting the traditional Hippocratic Oath during my duty to patients, to the medical profession, and to society. the White Coat Ceremony in August, members of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Class of 2024 started a new tradition by writing their own class oath to acknowledge their THEREBY, I PLEDGE AS A PHYSICIAN AND LIFELONG ever-evolving responsibilities as physicians. STUDENT OF MEDICINE: At orientation, Chenits Pettigrew Jr., EdD, associate dean for I will support and collaborate with my colleagues across diversity, equity, and inclusion, challenged med students to update disciplines and professions, while respecting the patient’s vital the oath. After circulating a draft to the entire medical school class role on the health care team. for feedback, students officially presented the new oath to Anantha honor my physical, mental, and emotional health so as Shekhar, MD, PhD, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences I will to not lessen the quality of care I provide. and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine. “At Pitt, we challenge our students to change the world — and I will carry on the legacy of my predecessors by mentoring the future of medicine — for the better. This class didn’t wait,” said the next generation of diverse physicians. Shekhar. “Their class oath, the first of its kind in our program’s I will recognize the pivotal role of ethical research in the 134-year history, speaks to the power and importance of clinical advancement of medicine and commit myself to endless care and research in creating a more inclusive and just society, and I am excited scholarship with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. to watch them put this promise into practice.” I will care for my patients’ holistic well-being, not solely their The oath, which highlights issues likeCOVID -19, health care disparities, and pathology. With empathy, compassion, and humility, I will prior- racial injustice, is not merely about current events, said first-year medical student itize understanding each patient’s narrative, background, and Tito Onyekweli, one of 12 students on the oath writing committee. experiences, while protecting privacy and autonomy. I“We believe that our oath acknowledges the context of United States history and I will champion diversity in both medicine and society and medicine and uses it to explain our current state,” Onyekweli said. “We used the promote an inclusive environment by respecting the perspec- past and present to clarify our future goals as physicians.” tives of others and relentlessly seeking to identify and eliminate my personal biases. The students acknowledged that they are beginning their careers in medicine at an unforgettable moment in history. The oath addresses championing diversity I will be an ally to those of low socioeconomic status, the in medicine and society, being an ally to those of low socioeconomic status, and BIPOC community, the LGBTQIA+ community, womxn/women, restoring trust in the health care community. differently-abled individuals, and other underserved groups in order to dismantle the systemic racism and prejudice that “We start our medical journey amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and a national medical professionals and society have perpetuated. civil rights movement reinvigorated by the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery,” the oath begins. “We honor the 700,000+ lives lost I will educate myself on social determinants of health in order to use my voice as a physician to advocate for a more to COVID-19, despite the sacrifices of health care workers.” equitable health care system from the local to the global level. In the future, each incoming School of Medicine class will be invited to write its own unique oath during orientation week to help them establish their profes- I will restore trust between the health care community and sional identities as physicians. the population in which I serve by holding myself and others accountable and by combating misinformation in order to improve health literacy.

In making this oath, I embrace the ever-changing responsibilities of being a physician and pledge to uphold the integrity of the profession in the clinic and beyond.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 19 EDUCATION | CURRICULUM ADVANCES

“Our students, with the support and leadership of Dean Shekhar, Medical School Curriculum have been Undergoes Major Advances leaders in this change, push- ing us to make our curriculum he time is now for LGBTQ-specific needs in medicine — a theme that has more anti­ “disruptive change” (the been growing in the curriculum but came to the forefront racist, more good kind) in the curric- during this past year’s social justice movement. ulum for Pitt medical “Our students, with the support and leadership of attentive to students. That assess- Dean Shekhar, have been leaders in this change, pushing social medi- ment comes from School us to make our curriculum more antiracist, more atten- of Medicine educators, tive to social medicine themes,” points out Rosenstock. cine themes.” based on rapid changes Instead of waiting for the curriculum reform to be Jason Rosenstock, MD in biomedical science, launched in fall 2023, Pitt Med has already refreshed medical practice, peda- elements of the curriculum, including a class in winter gogical shifts, and 2021 to address bias and racism in medicine. An already student feedback. existing social medicine focus will be strengthened “We continually upgrade the curriculum, but for larger throughout the curriculum, and another suggested changes you need a broader revival effort,” says Jason plan is to include students’ projects examining health Rosenstock, MD, associate dean for medical education care disparities in Pittsburgh and working on solutions Tand professor of psychiatry, who spearheads the curric- that involve collaboration with local agencies and other ulum reform. “We also wanted to address some specific professionals. themes.” Medical students have also asked educators to reex- One of the themes is interprofessional education. In amine the first two years of the curriculum. Rosenstock a working environment, physicians interact with phar- says the committee is looking at condensing or making macists, nurses, physical therapists, and other health more efficient the basic science curriculum and at how professionals to provide the best care for patients. Inter- assessment and feedback are given to students for them professional education blends students and learning from to be better prepared for exams and clerkship experiences. different health care fields. Rosenstock and others believe The school is giving the curriculum update the time the current new construction to increase space and flex- and effort it deserves, with more than70 people on ibility in Alan Magee Scaife Hall — the medical school’s five subcommittees representing voices at every level, home — is essential to the new styles of learning. In fact, including basic science faculty, physician-educators, Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD, senior vice chancellor for students, education and education technology experts, the health sciences and Petersen Dean of Medicine, made and student affairs, faculty affairs, and admissions changes to the layout plans soon after arriving in Pitts- personnel. burgh in June 2020 to ensure suitability for interprofes- “Everything is affected by curriculum reform,” says sional learning. Rosenstock. “Changes can affect the educators we need The change in space puts the medical school at the and the students we admit. It’s really the lifeblood of forefront of curriculum reform because it gives students our institution.” ready access to different technologies, like point-of-care ultrasound, and also reinforces the school’s emphasis on smaller, more active learning groups. Another focus is social medicine — social determi- nants in medicine, race and ethnicity in medicine, and

20 | BY THE NUMBERS | SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Who We Are 2020–21 Academic Year

599 MD students

327 (55%) women and 272 (45%) men; 211 (35%) Pennsylvania residents; with 18% underrepresented minority students

368 registrants in PhD programs

152 students in MS programs

34 students in certificate programs On-Campus COVID-19 Testing

n effort to keep the University community healthy, Pitt, through the School of Medicine’s For 2020, leadership, is working to monitor and contain the spread of COVID-19 on and off campus by using surveillance testing of asymptomatic students. The strategy is designed to detect substantial shifts in trends of positive tests and helps give a sense of the prevalence of the virus in the larger community. Students 7, 17 7 are randomly selected—based on the work of statisticians and epidemiologists in the applications for admission Graduate School of Public Health—to be tested for the virus. IStudents receive an email from Pitt’s COVID-19 Medical Response Office—directed by infectious disease specialist John Williams, MD—notifying them that they have been 734 prospective students interviewed selected to get tested. The percentage of the student population tested has aligned with for a first-year class of 149 students recommendations from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American College Health Association. (Mass testing of asymptomatic students didn’t take place because it places undue stress on testing capacity, and lag time for results diminishes 2,424 regular and their medical relevance.) 2,190 volunteer faculty members; For the fall semester, two cohorts of 280 randomly selected students on the Pittsburgh campus, who weren’t experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, were tested each week at the 81 are members of the on-campus outdoor testing site. Testing takes only about 15 minutes, using a simple nasal Academy of Master Educators swab. The students and their test results remain confidential. If students test positive, they are isolated at a University-designated facility or at home. Contact tracing is also conducted to identify people who may have been exposed to the virus through close contact. During on-campus isolation, food is delivered to the students, and they are monitored daily by a health care professional who determines the most appropriate care. For the semester, 7,766 students underwent surveillance testing; there were 33 posi- tive tests, for an overall rate of 0.42% among asymptomatic students. Overall, there were approximately 700 students who tested positive, which included symptomatic students, many of whom were tested through student health services.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 21 EDUCATION | MED STUDENT OUTREACH

MusiCare Show Goes On

or seven years, School of Medicine students have been singing, playing, and performing music for hospital patients through the school’s MusiCare program. Small bands of students take up their guitars, keyboards, cellos—everything—and head to area hospitals to share the comforting, healing qualities of music with patients. They play pop covers, (L–R), Davis, Humphrey Fclassical music, and much more for patients on dialysis, in palliative care, and in other settings. They perform Disney songs at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. But then came the COVID pandemic, which threatened to silence the music. “We all put our heads together in the spring when every- thing was shut down,” says Julia Knight, a second-year medical student and MusiCare coordinator who also sings Snacks for STEM and plays ukulele for patients. “We knew that, especially during that time, it was even more important to provide this music to patients. Notably, they were separated from their families and visitors weren’t really allowed in the hospital.” So, the students launched the MusiCare Connections YouTube channel to share their performances virtually. To get or Camille Davis, the moment the word out, students took to social media and partnered came during a rotation in pediat- with other students and hospital staff to distribute business rics. A young patient, who looked cards with QR codes and info on MusiCare to patients and familiar, was talking with her about their families. how she wanted to be a physician or Even though recordings can’t capture the same connec- scientist when she grew up because tivity as live performances, going virtual has let alumni and she likes math and science. The even students at other medical schools partake in the music patient described a program at her making, Knight says. But she looks forward to performing elementary school where medical for patients in-person again when safe to do so. “Within a few minutes of playing and singing, [patients] kind of light students came in to discuss careers up. And I think that’s such a rewarding experience to be able in medicine and STEM-related fields. to provide that for them and for their families.” Davis happened to be one of those visiting med students through the program, Snacks for STEM, which she co-created with fellow student Victoria Humphrey. The program is meant to provide children from underserved Fcommunities more exposure to STEM careers, while also helping to combat food insecurity. A couple of years ago, after a Student National Medical Associa- tion meeting, Davis and Humphrey decided to act on their mutual passions for education, equality, and service. They created Snacks for STEM, a community service organization that gives healthy treats and information about STEM-related careers to children at Pittsburgh Fulton PreK-5, a city school with a percentage of its student body coming from underserved communities. In addition to being funded through allocations from campus orga- nizations for community outreach, Snacks for STEM received a 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service grant. “We bring some physician tools and talk to the children about what we do and what the career possibilities are in fields like science, technology, or engineering to just open up their minds to different possibilities,” says Humphrey.

22 Davis and Humphrey, both now fourth-year med students, bring snacks to school because they know many families struggle with food “ Sometimes all it takes is a 30-second insecurity, and they talk about professions conversation for them to realize in STEM because they know that representa- tion matters. Both women had similar expe- that they could be doctors, scientists, riences in elementary school, where they saw or engineers, too.” someone who looked like them who worked in a STEM field. Camille Davis “It’s so important that Black, Latinx, and historically marginalized populations have that exposure to positive representation, espe- cially from someone who looks like them,” says Humphrey. “It reaffirms that if they can’t see you, they can’t be you.” “Sometimes all it takes is a 30-second conver- sation for them to realize that they could be doctors, scientists, or engineers, too,” says Davis. “That’s how it worked for me when I was in their shoes in elementary school.” While they cannot be in Pittsburgh Fulton PreK-5 right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis and Humphrey are figuring out new ways to help the community, including possibly putting the Snacks for STEM grant toward sponsoring some teachers’ educational wish list items. Both Davis and Humphrey want to continue programs similar to Snacks for STEM in their residencies next year; and, wherever they end up, they also want to continue working toward representation and equality. “I’m currently applying to pediatrics residency programs that focus on underserved popula- tions,” says Davis. “I’ll be involved in increasing minority representation in medicine and helping Black and Brown children make it into STEM fields in general.” Humphrey agrees and says, “I’m also passionate about increasing representation within my intended field of dermatology and working with underserved and minority communities through clinical practice and community outreach.”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 23 EDUCATION | MENTORING AND NURTURING

Jenny Jiao, a visiting research scholar from Tsinghua University School of Medicine, at work in the lab. Pitt Mentorship Program Coveted by International Students

n a University of Pittsburgh School of track to its medical school degree offerings for a selected, Medicine lab, a team of scientists is using very small group of students to spend an additional zebrafish and a technology they developed — year engaged in mentored research at Pitt, the results chemoptogenetic ablation of neuronal mito- of which would qualify them for the PhD portion of chondria — to understand the mechanisms their MD/PhD. underlying cell death in Parkinson’s disease. Of her years at Pitt, Jenny says, “Pitt has such a great Simply put, they are studying how nerve environment for research. My mentor, Dr. Burton, is my cells die in neurodegenerative diseases. The career role model. He’s very helpful and supportive and development and use of this new technology has taught me a lot about how to do research and think encompasses the doctoral work of one team like a scientist. My project is very exciting because it has member, Binxuan Jiao (who uses the name “Jenny”). just reached the point where I can dig deeply into the “Jenny is extremely smart, works very hard, and is a mechanisms underlying cell death in Parkinson’s disease.” Igreat colleague,” says her mentor, Edward A. Burton, MD, Jiao feels fortunate to have the opportunity to DPhil, Professor of Movement Disorders in Neurology continue her studies at Pitt, especially in the midst of and associate professor of neurology. the COVID-19 pandemic. For the past two years, Jiao has been working in “Tough things will pass eventually, while my experi- Burton’s lab as a visiting research scholar, part of Pitt ence here will stay with me for a lifetime,” she says. Med’s collaboration with Tsinghua University School of Medicine, one of China’s premier universities, through which the Pitt School of Medicine provides two years of mentored research training to qualifying students “ Jenny is extremely in Tsinghua’s eight-year MD program. The visiting smart, works very hard, scholars must complete a master’s-level thesis based on their research at Pitt as a requirement to receive their and is a great colleague.” Tsinghua MD. In 2019, Tsinghua added an MD/PhD Edward A. Burton, MD, DPhil

24 “The idea for the MID program Nurturing Underrepresented came from Undergrads in Biomedical Sciences PMI graduate students and was also borne he college student-to-scientist career pipeline is not out of the always constructed the same for all students, espe- cially students who are underrepresented minorities. social justice Some students know they like science but haven’t had movement the exposure or formative experiences that help them solidify a decision to pursue it as a career. To capture in the past these students, faculty members and graduate students few months.” in the School of Medicine’s Program in Microbi- Partha Biswas, PhD ology and Immunology (PMI) developed and fast- tracked the Microbiology and Immunology Diversity (MID) Scholars Program. With financial support and enthusiasm from Anantha TShekhar, MD, PhD, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and Petersen Dean of Medicine, and the Departments of Immunology and of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, the program moved from concept to four funded scholars in just a few months (four additional scholars will be selected to begin the program in the 2021 spring semester). Similar programs exist at the University, but engaging students as undergraduates makes the MID program unique. “We created this program at the undergraduate level because it’s during this time when students who have an interest in biomedical sciences get lost because they don’t get resources or support,” says Partha Biswas, PhD, associate professor of medicine (Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immu- nology) and of immunology and program director. “We want to pick them up early on, put them in a research lab, introduce them to biomedical science, and see how their interest grows. This support at the initial level is important because, by the time their undergraduate years are finished, their interest in science may not have been supported, and they’ve already moved away from science as a career.” Students from underrepresented minority groups accepted into the MID program are funded for two years in order to complete long-term basic, clinical, and/or translational research projects within the graduate program in microbiology and immunology under the mentorship of experienced researchers and principal investiga- tors. Scholars also receive peer-based mentoring and career advice from PMI graduate students, are encouraged to attend career and professional training sessions, and receive travel awards to present their projects at local and national conferences. “The idea for the MID program came from PMI graduate students and was also borne out of the social justice movement in the past few months,” says Biswas. “We want to nurture and mentor these scholars and their interests. There has been a tremendous enthusiasm for the program so far, and now we’re looking at long-term sustainability and how to reach more students.”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 25 | EXEMPLARY EXPLORATION

De-liver-ing

sing skin cells from human volunteers, School RESEARCH of Medicine researchers created fully func- tional mini livers, which they transplanted into rats. These lab-made organs survived for four days inside their animal hosts, Alejandro USoto-Gutiérrez, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology, and colleagues, wrote in Cell Reports. “Seeing that little human organ there inside the animal—brown, looking like a liver—that was pretty cool,” said Soto-Gutiérrez, who is also affiliated faculty with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Pittsburgh Liver Research Center. These mini livers secrete bile acids and urea like a normal liver. Soto-Gutiérrez and colleagues repro- grammed human skin cells into stem cells, coaxed those stem cells to become various types of liver cells, and then seeded those human liver cells into a decellularized rat liver, completing what would normally be a two-year maturation process in under a month. Four days after the lab-grown livers were trans- planted into rats bred to resist organ rejection, researchers investigated how well the implants were functioning. Although blood-flow problems had developed within and around the graft, the trans- planted mini livers worked, and human liver proteins were detectable in in the rats’ blood. Significant challenges, including long-term survival and safety issues, remain, the authors noted. “The long-term goal is to create organs that can replace organ donation; but in the near future, I see this as a bridge to transplant,” Soto-Gutiérrez said. “For instance, in acute liver failure, you might just need hepatic boost for a while instead of a whole new liver.” A new alliance—between Pitt and the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory— aims to advance regener- ative medicine by enabling “ The long-term goal is research to take place to create organs that can onboard the ISS. (Above, a flight engineer at work in replace organ donation; space.) See page 34. but in the near future, I see this as a bridge to transplant.” Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez, MD, PhD

26 | UNIVERSITY FUNDING

PROFILE: ABHINAV HUMAR, MD

Prioritize Living-Donor Liver Transplants Making Progress

n what is often a life-or-death option for treating liver disease, 2019 NATIONAL INSTITUTES living-donor transplants can improve outcomes and survival OF HEALTH FUNDING “Living-donor rates and reduce costs compared to deceased-donor trans- UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH liver transplant plants, the more common procedure. should be Nationally, of the 8,000 liver transplants performed considered annually, less than 5% of operations include living donors, the first and which involves removing a portion of the donor’s liver best option that grows back to full size and function within eight to $582 M for most 10 weeks. patients with About 25% of people on the national waiting list die each 80% School of Medicine liver disease.” year waiting for a transplant and experience poorer health at the time Abhinav Humar, MD of transplant because of the prolonged wait. For these more than 14,000 Ipeople, living-donor transplant could be a viable, preferable option. “The consequences for patients on the waiting list can mean the differ- ence between life and death because the longer they are waiting, the sicker they become,” says Abhinav Humar, MD, Thomas E. Starzl Professor of Transplantation Surgery and clinical director of the Thomas E. Starzl 8,000 Transplantation Institute. “Living-donor liver transplants, in tandem LIVER TRANSPLANTS with deceased-donor liver transplants, represent an opportunity to signifi- PERFORMED ANNUALLY cantly decrease the risk of wait-list mortality and give us the ability to transplant a person sooner.” Rank 6th In a retrospective review published in the Annals of Surgery, LESS THAN Humar and other Pitt researchers evaluated 245 adult living-donor liver transplant recipients and 592 deceased-donor recipients whose procedures were performed over the last 10 years at UPMC, which 5% houses the country’s largest living-donor liver transplant program. 2020 OF OPERATIONS INCLUDE Here’s what they found: PITT TOTAL RESEARCH BUDGET LIVING DONORS • Living-donor liver transplants’ three-year patient survival stood at 86%, hospital stays averaged 11 days, and there was a 53% likelihood of needing intraoperative blood transfusion and a 1.6% likelihood of ABOUT needing post-transplant dialysis. In comparison, for deceased-donor transplants, the recipients’ three-year survival was 80%, hospital $874 M stays averaged 13 days, and there was a 78% likelihood of needing 25% intraoperative blood transfusion and a 7.4% likelihood of needing 70% School of Medicine OF PEOPLE ON THE post-transplant dialysis. In addition, hospital costs were also NATIONAL WAITING LIST 29.5% lower for living-donor recipients. DIE EACH YEAR WAITING FOR A TRANSPLANT • P atients and donors were followed for at least two years post-transplant. There were no deaths among the living donors, who had an overall complication rate of 20%.

• “Living-donor liver transplant should be considered the first and best option for most patients with liver disease,” Humar says. “It is not only an option for those on the waiting list but could perhaps offset the fact that not everyone who may benefit from transplant qualifies to receive a deceased-donor transplant based on today’s current rules of allocation.”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 27 RESEARCH

28 | NOTEWORTHY ADVANCEMENTS

SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE JAMA PEDIATRICS OCT 2019 | VOL 11 | ISSUE 513 MAR 2020 | VOL 174 | ISSUE 3 Published SENIOR AUTHOR: Bernhard Kühn, MD, PhD, SENIOR AUTHOR: Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, Edmund R. Advancements Associate Professor of Pediatrics McCluskey Professor of Pediatric Medical Education, Professor of Pediatrics 2020 Control of Cytokinesis by β-adrenergic Receptors Indicates an Approach for Regulating Cardiomyocyte An Athletic Coach–Delivered Middle School Gender Endowment Violence Prevention Program Beta blocker drugs could stimulate cardiomyocyte The Coaching Boys Into Men program, aimed at stop- cell division in infants with congenital heart defects to ping violence and sexual assault against women and improve heart function. girls, successfully reduces abusive behaviors among middle school athletes, demonstrating the program’s success with younger adolescents. eLIFE SEP 2019 | ONLINE JOURNAL JAMA NEUROLOGY SENIOR AUTHOR: Vaughn Cooper, PhD, APR 2020 | VOL 77 | ISSUE 4 Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics AUTHORS: Michael W. Collins, PhD, Professor of Evolutionary Pathways to Antibiotic Resistance JAMA Orthopaedic Surgery; Anthony Kontos, PhD, Are Dependent Upon Environmental Structure SEP 2019 | VOL 322 | ISSUE 11 Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bacterial Lifestyle PITT AUTHOR: Halina Zyczynski, MD, Professor of Whether bacteria live as independent cells or grow into Association of Time since Injury to the First Clinic Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences communal biofilms determines how they evolve anti- Visit with Recovery Following Concussion biotic resistance, which could expose vulnerabilities in Athletes treated within a week after experiencing a Effect of Vaginal Mesh Hysteropexy vs Vaginal drug-resistant infections. concussion recovered faster than athletes not treated Hysterec ­tomy with Uterosacral Ligament Suspension on until eight days to three weeks after injury, indicating Treatment Failure in Women with Uterovaginal Prolapse the importance of seeking appropriate, specialized Compared to traditional vaginal hysterectomy with CLINICAL EPIGENETICS care early on. uterosacral ligament suspension of the vaginal apex, NOV 2019 | ONLINE JOURNAL a uterine suspension with transvaginal mesh results in comparable three-year anatomic and symptomatic SENIOR AUTHOR: Mellissa Mann, PhD, Associate Professor PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES outcomes in women with pelvic organ prolapse. of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences JUN 2020 | VOL 117 | ISSUE 23 Perturbations in Imprinted Methylation from AUTHORS: David Levinthal, MD, PhD, Assistant Assisted Reproductive Technologies but not Advanced JAMA SURGERY Professor of Medicine (Division of Gastroenterology, Maternal Age in Mouse Preimplantation Embryos MAR 2020 | VOL 155 | ISSUE 3 Hepatology, and Nutrition); Peter Strick, PhD, Fertility treatments, not advanced maternal age, may Distinguished Professor and Chair of Neurobiology LEAD AUTHOR: Anita Courcoulas, MD, MPH, cause the epigenetic changes associated with Beckwith- and Thomas Detre Professor of Neuroscience Anthony M. Harrison Professor of Surgery Wiedemann, Silver-Russell, and Angelman syndromes, as shown in mice. Multiple Areas of the Cerebral Cortex Interventions and Operations 5 Years after Bariatric Influence the Stomach Surgery in a Cohort from the U.S. National Patient- The brain-body connection has largely focused on Centered Clinical Research Network Bariatric Study THE LANCET the gut’s influence on the brain, but neural pathways According to a national, multicenter cohort study JAN 2020 | VOL 395 | ISSUE 10219 connecting the brain to the stomach reveal that the involving tens of thousands of bariatric surgery patients, brain influences stomach function and development in the five years following bariatric surgery, patients LEAD AUTHOR: Kristina Rudd, MD, MPH, of stomach ulcers. who underwent a gastric bypass operation were more Assistant Professor of Critical Care Medicine likely to experience a readmission to the hospital or to Global, Regional, and National Sepsis Incidence and undergo an additional abdominal operation or inter- eLIFE Mortality, 1990–2017: Analysis for the Global Burden vention compared to patients who underwent a gastric FEB 2020 | ONLINE JOURNAL sleeve operation. of Disease Study 2017 data reveals that sepsis—the body’s potentially NATURE COMMUNICATIONS fatal response to infection that injures its own tissues and FEB 2020 | ONLINE JOURNAL NATURE STRUCTURAL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY organs—is associated with one in five deaths worldwide, AUG 2019 | VOL 26 | ISSUE 8 largely in low- or middle-income countries. SENIOR AUTHOR: Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Computational and SENIOR AUTHOR: Bennett Van Houten, PhD, Systems Biology Richard M. Cyert Professor of Molecular Oncology, CELL Synteny-Based Analyses Indicate that Sequence Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology AUG 2019 | VOL 178 | ISSUE 4 Divergence Is Not the Main Source of Orphan Genes Damage Sensor Role of UV-DDB during SENIOR AUTHOR: Daniel Kaplan, MD, PhD, De novo Emergence of Adaptive Membrane Proteins Base Excision Repair Professor of Dermatology from Thymine-Rich Genomic Sequences Beyond detecting DNA damage caused by ultravi- De novo genes, born from noncoding regions of the olet exposure, the ultraviolet-damaged DNA-binding Cutaneous TRPV1+ Neurons Trigger Protective genome, may trigger more species-specific and bene- (UV-DDB) protein can also scout for oxidative DNA Innate Type 17 Anticipatory Immunity ficial traits in organisms than previously thought. damage and, in turn, help DNA repair molecules to fix Pain-sensing nerves in skin could also detect patho- damage often buried deep in chromosomes. gens, triggering an immune response to fight infections.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 29 RESEARCH | NOTEWORTHY GRANTS | INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

REGENERATING DAMAGED MUSCLE Rethinking Pioneering Regrowing muscle tissue is a much sought- after ability because, when more than 20% Research (and Care) Grants of a muscle is damaged, as is common in combat injuries, tissue can’t regenerate, and 2020 a stiff scar forms. That’s why a $22 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency here is a time for tradition and a time— (DARPA) grant is supporting a multi-institu- a now—for transformation. To meet tion research team, led by Pitt, to develop a the challenges of deadly diseases like device that combines artificial intelligence, COVID-19, H1N1, and sepsis, Pitt’s School bioelectronics, and regenerative medicine to of Medicine and UPMC are advancing regrow muscle tissue. research and clinical practice with a new twist on research: randomized trials Tconcurrent with patient care. Centered in the newly formed Office of Health DIVERSITY AND PALLIATIVE CARE Care Innovation, the initiative is headed by Derek VISION RESTORATION SUPPORTED The importance of palliative care is reflected in Angus, MD, MPH, Pitt’s inaugural associate vice Restoring lost vision could lie in understand­ing its expanded availability in hospitals across the chancellor for health care innovation and UPMC’s how the eye and the brain work together country. However, palliative care specialists chief health care innovation officer. and using this knowledge to advance brain- are most often not minorities. In response, “The goal must be a system that has a more computer interfaces and novel genetic tech- a $250,000 award from The Arthur Vining integrated approach to learning while doing,” nologies. Pitt’s Department of Ophthalmology Davis Foundations is supporting an initiative Angus wrote in a May edition of the Journal of the is pursuing this research with the support of for minority physicians led by the UPMC Palli- American Medical Association, calling on clini- a $6 million grant from the Richard King ative and Supportive Institute and School of cians and researchers to “lean in” and expand their Mellon Foundation. Medicine faculty to foster career paths in palli- approaches to testing and trying new therapeutics. ative care at minority-serving medical schools. “We like to use the analogy of a stadium,” To do so, the program, in part, sends UPMC explains pulmonologist Christopher Seymour, palliative care physicians to those institu- MD, MSc, one of a cadre of physician-scientists MANAGING PAIN AND OPIOID MISUSE tions for mentoring faculty on how to better who are associated faculty in the new office. “In Key research for treating pain associated incorporate palliative care into student and traditional clinical trials, you build a stadium, you with the lower back, end-stage renal disease, resident education. play one game, and you tear it down. Our approach osteoarthritis, and other conditions has been is to build a stadium and play lots of games.” bolstered by $32 million in NIH grants to Formally known as the Randomized Embed­- Pitt and UPMC researchers studying opioid ded Multifactorial Adaptive Platform (REMAP) (see misuse and pain management. As part of FUNDING VACCINE DEVELOPMENT page 8), the approach is less program and more NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term To help combat today’s pandemic, an inter- purpose—one that percolates through day-to-day (HEAL) initiative, the nine grants received national, academia–industry partnership has clinical decisions in patient care and includes support research on sleep and opioid use, generated funding for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine quality-improvement activities, new treatment prescription medication misuse in young development. The intergovernmental orga- paradigms, and computer modeling, all connected adults, in utero opioid exposure and neuro- nization Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness with electronic health records. logical development, and other areas. Innovations (CEPI) has committed nearly In essence, the new office is a conduit for $5 million to a consortium led by the Institut innovation that unites the extensive biomed- Pasteur research center in Paris, collab- ical sciences, public health, and health policy orating with Themis in Vienna and Pitt’s research based at Pitt with UPMC’s vast clinical REGENERATIVE REHABILITATION AND TRAINING Center for Vaccine Research. The funding and commercial expertise. Using pretrial simula- Integrating regenerative medicine with reha- aims to support vaccine research and phase I tions, various therapeutic, behavioral, or quality bilitative medicine can better assist people clinical trial rollout. improvement strategies can be explored to iden- with disabilities, which is a primary goal of the tify trial designs that can quickly be adapted to Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation and changing conditions. Training (AR3T). With a five-year, $5 million “We work closely with the Clinical and Trans- grant, NIH has renewed support for AR3T, lational Science Institute and Department of which comprises a multi-institutional network Biomedical Informatics at Pitt, as well as UPMC of laboratories at Pitt, Stanford University, Enterprises and clinical analytics, to take the the University of Texas at Austin, and the research that Pitt wants to test in an integrated, Mayo Clinic. multicenter way to move the science forward,” says Seymour, associate professor of critical care medicine. “It’s exciting,” he adds. “There aren’t too many opportunities in the U.S. where a health care system and clinical efforts can fuse with research.”

30 | NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HONOREE

What was the first thing you said when you Q found out and to whom did you say it?

A colleague congratulated me by email. By mistake, I looked at the A American Academy of Arts and Sciences online and didn’t see my name. [Pitt structural biology department chair and NAS member] Angela Gronenborn called, and I kept telling her that she was mistaken— until I saw a flood of congratulatory email messages from friends/colleagues who are NAS members. I ran to my husband and elder son and told them I couldn’t think of any scientific recognition that could make me happier.

Your research in protein dynamics has many potential Q applications. What are you working on now and why?

I have always wanted to understand how proteins and biomolecular A systems undergo structural changes during their biological activities. These changes are called conformational dynamics. We developed network models and analytical methods for predicting the structural changes that proteins can undergo while retaining their fold and stability. Establishing the link between biomolecular structure and function, through dynamics, is crucial. Understanding the dynamic capabilities of proteins encoded by their Bahar Reflects on Coveted structure also opens the way to designing modulators of function that would alter the dynamics for therapeutic purposes—hence the broad applicability of NAS Honor for Scientists our methods in drug design and discovery.

What future directions do you anticipate Ivet Bahar, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Q for your investigations? John K. Vries Professor, and chair of computa- tional and systems biology, discusses her 2020 I have always been driven by translation to biomedical applications. A election to the National Academy of Sciences A machine-learning algorithm we developed (Ponzoni and Bahar, PNAS (NAS), one of the highest honors a scientist can 2018) is now available in a new server, called Rhapsody. Our plan is to receive. Responses have been edited for length further extend it to facilitate applications in precision medicine. We also think and clarity. implementing fundamental theory and methods into computational tools/soft- ware is very important for enabling efficient use by the broader community. For example, our ProDy interface for predicting and analyzing protein dynamics has been downloaded more than 2 million times to date and has more than 130,000 users worldwide. New components to ProDy make it applicable to a wide range of areas from molecular mechanics to pharmacology.

In the past decade, I’ve focused on understanding neurobiological systems dynamics and, specifically, on neurotransmission at the molecular level—how neurotransmitters are transported by membrane proteins across cell membranes. Understanding how the deregulation of neurotransmitter transport and signaling may lead to neurodegenerative disorders (including drug addiction) is an important topic that needs significant work.

Other topics of interest are modeling protein-lipid interactions, including the molecular and cellular implications of lipid peroxidation events, understanding at the molecular level how the adaptive immune system responds to pathogens, and combining molecular- and systems-level quantitative methods for drug discovery and repurposing. For example, we recently started to understand the molecular origin of the cytokine storm observed in some severe COVID-19 patients, including children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (Chen, et al., PNAS 2020) in collaboration with Cedars-Sinai.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 31 RESEARCH | RESEARCH REGENERATIVE STARTUP

“We’ve PROFILE: KACEY MARRA, PhD licensed five patents Breakthrough Nerve Repair and have a portfolio

of products.” ince Kacey Marra, PhD, and Options for a clinical trial include enrolling a few Kacey Marra, PhD colleagues reported success- patients or doing a larger, multisite trial in collabora- fully regenerating portions tion with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. of damaged nerves using Peripheral nerves can regrow up to a third of an inch a polymer tube filled with on their own; but if the damaged section is longer than growth-promoting protein that, the nerve can get knotted into a painful ball called in January 2020, the tech- a neuroma. nology has inched a bit closer The most common treatment for longer segments to clinical trials in humans of nerve damage is to remove a skinny sensory nerve thanks to growth of an entre- at the back of the leg — which causes numbness in the preneurial kind. leg and other complications but has the least chance of “We have a startup and have being missed — chop it into thirds, bundle the pieces licensed the technology from together, and then sew them to the end of the damaged Pitt,” says Marra, a professor motor nerve, usually in the arm. But only about 40% to of plastic surgery and core 60% of motor function typically returns. faculty member of the joint Pitt-UPMC McGowan “It’s like you’re replacing a piece of linguine with a Institute for Regenerative Medicine. bundle of angel hair pasta,” Marra says. “It just doesn’t So far, tests in monkeys show that the biodegradable work as well.” nerve guide can promote enough nerve growth to bridge Marra’s nerve guide, by contrast, returned about 80% a two-inch gap between the nerve stump and its target of fine motor control in the thumbs of four monkeys. Smuscle. The guide has proven “comparable to, and in “Now that we feel we’ve developed a successful nerve some ways better than, a nerve graft,” says Marra. tube, we’re focusing our studies on therapies for the While the company, Nerve Repair Technologies, seeks de-enervated muscle to restore function even more,” she U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a clin- says, adding that previous experiments in rats (published ical trial in humans, Marra pursues funding. “We’ve in Muscle and Nerve, May 2019) found efficacy in licensed five patents and have a portfolio of products.” restoring some muscle function when rats were injected Finding angel investors is next on the agenda. with adipose-derived stem cells after nerve injury. The U.S. Department of Defense has funded the Marra team for the past 12 years and has great interest in seeing their work progress. Half of wounded Amer- ican soldiers return home with injuries to their arms and legs, which aren’t well protected by body armor, often resulting in damaged nerves and disability. Among civilians, car crashes, machinery accidents, cancer treatment, diabetes, and even birth trauma can cause significant nerve damage, affecting more than 20 million Americans.

32 “It’s like you’re replacing a piece of linguine with a bundle of angel hair pasta. It just doesn’t (Above) Microspheres containing a neural growth factor adhering to the nerve work as conduit during the manufacturing process. A cross-section image of the nerve conduit well.” embedded in microspheres. (Left) Photo Kacey Marra, PhD of the 5.2-cm nerve guide.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 33 RESEARCH | SPACE AGE KNOW-HOW

Developing Medical Technologies in Space

pace is the final frontier for explorers; McGowan Institute director and Distinguished and, increasingly, it is becoming a Professor of Surgery William Wagner, PhD, says place for new commercial enter- that the space station offers a unique platform for prises. For the biomedical industry, regenerative medicine. The microgravity environ- researchers are working to leverage ment distinctly affects the properties of certain microgravity to create products for materials and substances, enabling processes not patients on Earth. possible on Earth. Stem cells, for example, behave The International Space Station and reproduce differently in low gravity, Wagner (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory has says, and growing them in space might bolster teamed up with Pitt’s McGowan cellular therapies for a variety of diseases and condi- Institute for Regenerative Medicine to map out tions like traumatic brain injury and type I diabetes. Sthe most promising technologies for biomedical Microgravity also permits 3D printing of complex development and manufacturing in low Earth orbit. tissue structures that would collapse or deform The alliance is a key effort for the ISS National Labo- under full gravity. Miniaturized organ models repro- ratory as it works across many technological areas duce certain diseases in microgravity, potentially to increase the commercial use of space and builds permitting the study of treatments for conditions on decades of experimentation performed on the such as kidney failure and osteoporosis. space station. Given the cost and resources required to conduct The ISS National Laboratory and the McGowan space research, the partnership also focuses on Institute have enlisted a broad range of industry rigorous business analysis to determine which areas partners, other academic research centers, and of medical technology development are most likely government agencies to further expand the scope to benefit patients on Earth. of medical technology development on board the ISS and to focus on new microgravity research to demonstrate the value of the space environment.

34 | TB’S NEW SHOT

PROFILE: JOANNE FLYNN, PhD

Improving TB Vaccination Effectiveness

“The reason the intravenous route is so mproving the protective power of the tuberculosis vaccine could effective is that dramatically reduce TB burden and deaths. In recent years, tuber- the vaccine culosis has killed more people across the world than any other infec- travels quickly tious disease, even though a vaccine is widely available. The Bacille through the Calmette-Guérin (BCG) tuberculosis vaccine uses a live, weakened bloodstream to form of TB bacteria and is typically injected under the skin. But the the lungs, the vaccine is not very effective and leaves some susceptible to infection. lymph nodes, Simply changing the vaccine’s route of administration might and the spleen, drastically boost its effectiveness, however. Describing their work in and it primes Nature, researchers from Pitt and the National Institute of Allergy the T cells before and Infectious Diseases found that, in nonhuman primates, intra- it gets killed.” venous vaccination produced superior TB protection. JoAnne Flynn, PhD “The reason the intravenous route is so effective is that the vaccine travels quickly through the bloodstream to the lungs, the lymph nodes, and the spleen, and it primes the T cells before it gets killed,” explains senior author IJoAnne Flynn, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. “When we compared the lungs of animals given the vaccine intrave- nously versus the standard route, we saw a 100,000-fold reduction in bacterial burden. Nine out of 10 animals showed no inflammation in their lungs.” To test the method of administration’s effects, Flynn and collaborators separated the nonhuman primates into groups: unvaccinated, standard human injection, stronger dose and standard injection, mist, injection plus mist, and stronger dose administered intravenously. Six months later, the researchers exposed the nonhuman primates to TB and monitored them for infection. The intravenously vaccinated animals all had BCG and activated T cells in their lung tissue. The other animals had no detectable BCG in lung tissue, and their T-cell responses were only modest. Virtually no TB bacteria were found in the lungs of the intravenously vaccinated animals, and only one primate in this group developed lung inflammation or disease. The researchers hope to eventually test intravenous TB vaccination in humans, but they’re first studying whether lower doses of intravenous BCG could provide equally robust TB protection. The larger dose can cause side effects, primarily temporary lung inflammation. Before human translation can occur, however, the method must also be proven safe and practical; intravenous vaccination requires more skill to administer and can also more readily cause infection.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 35 RESEARCH | RESEARCH IMPROVING TRANSPLANTS

PROFILE: FADI LAKKIS, MD

“ Knowing exactly how Minimizing Chronic the innate immune system plays a role Organ Rejection opens the door to developing very

specific drugs, which breakthrough immune system finding could allows us to move help minimize organ transplantation compli- cations. While transplants have saved countless away from broadly lives, for some patients, chronic rejection of immuno­suppressive transplanted organs can cause future compli- cations. It’s been almost six decades since drugs that have immunosuppressive drugs made organ trans- significant side plantation a clinical reality, yet many organ recipients will still need a second transplant effects.” in their lifetimes. Fadi Lakkis, MD Using a genetically modified mouse model, Pitt researchers and their collaborators at Houston Methodist Hospital recently found that the innate immune system may be able to “remember” foreign cells — an ability previously thought exclu- sive to the adaptive immune system. This finding, described in Science, could Aultimately help prolong transplanted-tissue survival and prevent the need for second transplants. “Knowing exactly how the innate immune system plays a role opens the door to developing very specific drugs, which allows us to move away from broadly immunosuppressive drugs that have significant side effects,” says senior author Fadi Lakkis, MD, Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Frank and Athena Sarris Professor of Transplantation Biology, and scientific director of the Starzl Trans- plantation Institute. Innate immune cells are the first to detect any foreign agents in the body; and they activate the adaptive immune system, which “remembers” various invading viruses, bacteria, and other agents in order to quickly impede them if they reemerge. This process is vital to immunity; but it also results in transplanted organs’ eventual rejection, even with immunosuppressive drugs. Innate immune cells like monocytes and macrophages haven’t been thought to possess immunological memory. However, the researchers found that these cells’ capacity to remember foreign tissues is as specific as that of adaptive immune cells, like T cells and B cells. Using molecular and genetic analyses, the researchers showed that the paired Ig-like receptor-A (PIR-A) molecules were essential to the innate immune cells’ memory. By blocking PIR-A molecules with a synthetic protein or genetically removing them from the host animal, the cells’ memory was abolished, enabling transplanted tissues to survive for much longer. Essentially, the murine innate immune cells, after being exposed to foreign tissue, could initiate an immune response if exposed to that same foreign tissue again. Beyond improving transplant outcomes, this finding could have implications for treating cancer, autoimmune conditions, and other diseases, says senior author Martin Oberbarnscheidt, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery. Further understanding of innate immune memory mechanisms could lead to developing targets for improving effective immune responses against tumors or restoring self-tolerance in autoimmune diseases.

36 With grateful appreciation for their generosity, we acknowledge the following individual, corporate, and foundation donors DONORS whose contributions of $1,000 or more to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, and UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, have supported us in our academic, research, and clinical missions.

Thank you.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 37 DONORS

“He was gentle, calm, had a Zen-like persona, and a warm, caring personality,” remembers Dr. Singh. “He was a people person; and I sought advice from him, especially when he held his administrative role at the VA. He was a great listener and was fair and impartial in his feedback.” Dr. Singh has since heard about Dr. Caines’ own experiences when he arrived in Pittsburgh from Trinidad and thinks they may have influ- enced Dr. Caines’ desire to help other students. In an interview for Pittsburgh History in 1995, Dr. Caines describes his reception by colleagues at the School of Medicine in the late 1960s: “I ran straight into racism full, square, and PROFILE: LLEWELLYN HYACINTHE, MD, MBA center. There were some white professors in the department who point-blank refused to teach me anything, who hid materials from me, and Pay It Forward it was very clear that their intentions were that I should not succeed. My reaction to them was probably similar to what you would find from most immigrants, which is that we viewed these hen Llewellyn Hyacinthe, MD, MBA, was a medical as roadblocks [that] one would have to overcome. student at the University of Pittsburgh, a mentor unex- So my philosophy was to turn every negative pectedly came into his life at a time when he most needed experience into a positive experience.” him. He believes that this mentor, Myrven Caines, MD, Dr. Hyacinthe benefitted from Dr. Caines’ helped him stay at Pitt, get his medical degree, and enjoy desire to turn his negative experiences into a decades-long career as a physician and educator. positive ones for the students he helped. To Now associate professor and director of operations, honor the commitment and dedication of Dr. Department of Urology, SUNY Downstate Health Caines, who died in 2014, Dr. Hyacinthe has Sciences University, and staff urologist, University established the Myrven Joseph Caines, MD, Hospital of Brooklyn, Dr. Hyacinthe describes his first Fund for Medical Diversity to support the year of medical school as a “daily struggle.” He didn’t grow up with a particular interest in science School of Medicine’s Office of Diversity, Equity, or medicine; he just had a desire to help people and solve problems, and his parents were keen on and Inclusion. Whim being a doctor. “From my position now, I realize how much of “Probably like many medical students, I was having trouble putting together all this data they a sacrifice he made for us. I have enjoyed virtu- were throwing at us every day,” recalls Dr. Hyacinthe. “I really felt isolated and didn’t feel as if ally every day of my career as a physician, as a there were any teaching faculty members I could go to to help me transform all this data into urologist, so I’m very thankful. I can’t imagine information that would help me become a physician.” ever doing anything else,” says Dr. Hyacinthe. In Dr. Hyacinthe’s second year, Dr. Caines contacted him and other Black and Brown students “My main motivation is to just pay it forward; in his class. He began meeting with them for an hour over lunch in his office every day, after their it’s impossible to pay it back. I look around morning lectures and before their afternoon lab classes. and African American males—we’re still a rare “My first-year knowledge was lacking,” says Dr. Hyacinthe. “So, we’d review organ systems species in medicine, unfortunately, so I’m trying and disease processes, and he helped bring me up to speed. He gave me the pathway to catch up to do my part to address it. Dr. Caines certainly and to build up that foundation so I could move forward. Being able to pull all that information did his part.” together gave me confidence that I just didn’t have. More than anything, he gave us support and reassurance. I’m not sure I would’ve finished Pitt if not for his intervention.” At the time, Dr. Caines was an associate professor of pathology and associate director of labo- ratories for the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center and had his own busy schedule. Jagjit Singh, MD, assistant professor of pathology, is a former colleague of Dr. Caines and knew him in the mid-1980s when Dr. Caines was mentoring Dr. Hyacinthe.

38 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report | INDIVIDUAL

INDIVIDUALS Kay F. Barker and Walter D. Barker Diane L. Boron and Walter W. Boron C. Dale Cameron Dr. Shirley R. Baron Courtney Bost and Robert Bost Beth Campbell and Carl L. Campbell Marian P. Barron and Peter J. Barron Jane Bower and James N. Bower, MD Vena J. Campbell and Larry C. Sonia Barros and Michael C. Barros Barbara I. Bowser and Gary K. Campbell Bowser Sr. Patricia H. Canfield,MD , and Venus A. Hadeed, MD, and Antonio A. Anthony G. Poli and Rosalie Barsotti Thomas N. Canfield Achkar, MD Edward J. Barvick, MD Angella Velvet Bradick Jeff and Kanika Capel Nancy L. Aitken Dr. Eric B. C. Bass Jeffrey R. Grieb and Sara M. Bradley, MD Janet F. Cappy Yuki Aiyama, MD James E. Bauer, MD Patricia Brady-Fugitt Steve N. Caritis, MD Judith L. Albert, MD, and Anthony B. Katherine H. Bayer and Daniel Fiorillo, MD A. Bayer Bunny Bragdon and Robert W. Robert J. Carmazzi and Christine Bragdon, MD Carmazzi Saud S. Albugami Dorothy B. Beckwith and G. Nicholas Gayle Martin and William C. Alexander Beckwith III, Trustee Allyce M. Brand Pamela Kay Carpenter and David K. Carpenter Karen A. Alfano and Nicholas J. Alfano MaryBeth Belka Joyce Brand and Edward J. Brand, MD Paul Branum Richard G. Cassoff, MD Nourah A. M. TH. Alghanem and William T. Belko and Lynne Rowan George W. Causey Trust Ebraheem J. Alghanim Belko, Esquire Geraldine H. Brause and Barry D. MD Lou and Millie Cestello Jameel Abdulla Al-Jishi, PhD Judith C. Bellin Brause, MD Barbara R. Chait and Gerald E. Chait Barbara A. Allen and David W. Allen Kathleen L. Bendel and James Frank W. Bregar, D. Bendel Laura R. Champagne and Lloyd P. Michelle Aloe and Andrew Aloe Stephanie Brenner and Laurence Catherine M. Bender, PhD Harvey Brenner, MD Champagne Jr., MD Rachel and Nduka M. Amankulor, MD Paul G. Benedum Jr. Nancy B. Brent, MD, and David A. Wing K. Chan and Cheuk K. Chan Patrice J. Americus and Robert L. Brent, MD Jane P. Charlesworth and Ernest E. Americus Reneé J. Benson Sheryl Broadhurst and Jeffrey Charlesworth, MD Joan G. Ammer, MD William L. Benson Sherwood Broadhurst Judith S. Charlson and Murray T. Carolyn J. Anderson, PhD Stacey L. Berceli and Scott A. Barbara Ann Brooks Charlson, MD Berceli, MD, PhD Maureen M. Anderson and Eric N. Loretta A. Brooks and Daniel H. Shirley M. Chervenick and Paul A. Anderson, Esquire Dr. Ann R. Berenfield and Leonard H. Brooks, MD Chervenick, MD Berenfield Stephanie Anderson David E. Brougher, MD Richard A. Chesnik, Esquire Tori Anderson/ Walk with Tori Kathy Berkowitz and Stuart Berkowitz, MD Rachel F. Haft, MD, and Jeffrey S. Homer D. W. Chisholm and Gertrude Richard P. Anton, Esquire, and Bonnie Brown, MD K. Chisholm B. Anton James S. Bernier and Maria N. Bernier, Esquire Martha I. Bruce, PhD Rushir J. Choksi, MD, and Neha A. Patricia Louise Argyros and Gregory J. Choksi, MD Joan Bigley and Thomas G. Bigley, Jill and Adam Brufsky, MD, PhD Argyros, MD Trustee Jodi and Seth Brufsky Tsz-Ming Chow, MD Deanna M. Armstrong, MD Amy S. Bille and Matthew C. Bille Kay M. Brummond, PhD Betty Christopherson Robert M. Arnold, MD Timothy R. Billiar, MD Kathryn F. Bryson and Michael Tim D. Oury, MD, PhD, and Bruce Arnoldt Charleen T. Chu, MD, PhD Marcel Binstock, MD A. Bryson Leslie Aron and Ben Aron Roberta M. Churilla Haley Jo Birmingham Carol Olmert and Alan P. Burckin, MD Elizabeth Aronson and James Paula A. Ciliberti Denise Birsic and Daniel J. Birsic, Lisa and John Burke Aronson, MD Esquire Katrina D. Butela and Shawn T. Tanyia Z. Harrison-Clagette and Donna M. Artz Vaughn S. Clagette, MD, Trustee Patter Birsic and Thomas E. Birsic, Butela, MD Mark Ashley, MD Esquire Carolyn M. Byham and William C. Andrew J. Clark Nancy A. Aspiotes and Nicholas G. James D. Bittel Jr. Byham, PhD Linda W. Clark and G. Reynolds Clark Aspiotes James M. Blake Ann W. Cahouet Jay W. Cleveland Jr. Egil Aukrust and Rose Tao Aukrust Ruth E. Blake Fredrick R. Nene and Candace Cain Eric Close and Kelly B. Close, MD Elaine Axelson and Alan A. Mrs. Donald Blechman Michael Andrew Caines, MD Melissa R. Cognetti, MD, and David M. Axelson, MD Cognetti, MD Maryrose Benkoski Block Jordan Calaguire Lesley E. Baer and David G. Baer, MD Nancy and Steve Cohen Norman Wolmark, MD Rosemarie Calandra and Carole A. Baierl , and Eva Tansky Blum, Esquire Frank Calandra Jr. Seija L. Cohen Terry Williamson and Nancy Baily Jeffrey S. Blum, Esquire, Trustee Joseph E. Calderone Jr., MD Scott Coker Emilie Zielinski Baker and Stephen Karen L. Blumen, Esquire Nancy S. Caldwell Marcia R. Colvin and Dr. David F. Duane Baker, MD Colvin *Gertrude Blumenschein, MD Jeanne C. Caliguiri Jodi B. Baldridge and Paul L. Mary Ellen Callahan, Esquire, Trustee Gail F. Combs and William G. Baldridge, MD Mary Ann and Chuck Bogosta Combs, MD Clifton W. Callaway,MD Aldo W. Balestra Robert W. Kraemer and Marguerite , PhD, and Patricia S. Callaway Thomas D. Ziegler and Colleen Carolyn V. Baney and Richard N. Bonaventura, MD Conner Ziegler Lori and Steven Callen Baney, MD Michael J. Bonidie, MD William S. Conover II Carol Cambridge and Joseph Robert E. Barber David Borofka Cambridge Patricia L. Conrad and John F. Conrad Robert Bargiel Tara A. and Jason J. Borofka Loretta L. Conti and Philip P. Conti Jr.

*BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL’S NAME INDICATES THE PERSON IS DECEASED 39 DONORS | INDIVIDUAL

Thomas G. Cooney Sr. Kelly Ann Dickison Christine M. Fulton and George A. Margaret R. Gallagher Margaret Cooper and James Cooper John A. Disegi Fechter Stephen J. Gardner Vera J. Cornes and Cleon L. Dennis M. Domsic John H. Feist, MD Herb Garrison, MD, and J. Lynne Cornes, MD Alda M. Gonzaga, MD, and Ankur A. Vivienne Felberman Ivry Garrison, MD Charles L. Cost Doshi, MD Anita Feldman and Gerald E. Feldman Clara F. Gauthier Dr. Patricia L. Krainz and Bruce M. Patricia A. Dotter Ralph A. Ferber and Linda M. Ferber H. Arnold Gefsky, Esquire, and Coull, MD Imelda Dougherty Malcolm Ferguson Adrien B. Gefsky Mary S. Counihan, MD, and Peter J. Thuy Bui and Gerry Douglas Arlene Butera Ferrante David A. Geller, MD Counihan, MD Karen Downing Laura K. Ferris, MD, PhD, and Robert Deborah Genstein and James M. Marion Love Couzens and William U. L. Ferris, MD, PhD Genstein Couzens Susan B. Doyle and The Honorable Michael F. Doyle Jean Y. Fetch Amie Gentile and Bryan Gentile Margaret Cowburn Jan Drappatz, MD James D. Fett, MD Elizabeth A. Gentile and Joseph P. Barbra L. Cox Gentile Ann M. Dugan Pamela Fields and Darin Fields Carolyn C. Coyne, PhD Natalie Gentile Colleen J. Dunwoody* Sheila R. Fine Mary F. Crawford Elizabeth T. George and Thomas R. Louis H. Dupart, Esquire, and Margaret L. Fischer and Gary S. George Ruth Ann and Daniel Crawford Theresa M. Dupart, Esquire Fischer, MD *Ruth P. Gerber Laura Lynne Cregan and Kevin M. Mary Lou and Richard Durr Joan Fisher Cregan, MD Cheryl Gerson Americus Stephanie K. Dutton *Leslie E. Fisher Gail L. Crimaldi and Albert A. Elinor Getz and James F. Getz Crimaldi, MD, PhD Patricia K. Eagon, PhD Audrey Hillman Fisher and Timothy O. Fisher Paula Giglio Rose Crisanti and Vincent A. Crisanti Colleen K. Ebbert, MD, and Thomas J. Ebbert Meghan E. Fitzpatrick, MD Sarah F. Gillman, MS, CSW Molly Crooks and Thomas G. Crooks Dean W. Eckenrode Eleanor M. Flanagan and Hugh J. Margaret Gilmartin and Richard C. Nancy Hickcox and Lawrence S. Gilmartin Jr., MD Daniel I. Edelstone, MD Flanagan Crossett, MD M. Lisa Gismondi and John P. Pat A. Edney and John J. Edney, MD Curtis D. Fleming and Kimberly T. Patricia A. Cullinan and Stephen A. Fleming Gismondi, Esquire, Trustee Cullinan Gary Lee Eggenberger Richard A. Flinn, PhD Tammy S. Shields and Mark T. Anne M. Curtin and William M. Karen K. Egorin Gladwin, MD Curtin, MD Gilbert Floyd Sr. Gary Eiben Stephen A. Glickman Lori M. Dabrow and Steve M. Dabrow Edward L. Foley, MD Carol A. Eibling and David E. Lee Glunt and J. Roger Glunt, Trustee *Dorothy H. Forman David B. Dalzell Jr. Eibling, MD Mary L. Godleski and John J. Geraldine O. Dando and Ted E. Leticia J. El Naggar and Shaaban F. Robert E. Forman Godleski, MD Dando, DMD El Naggar Stephen A. Fornoff and Wendy B. Deanna L. Goff and Daniel Goff Fornoff Joan B. Darby and James D. Darby Jr. Tracy Elder and Lee E. Elder Steven H. Cohen and Nancy B. Mohini Dasari, MD Graeme W. Eldridge and Diane D. Richard E. Forrest Gold-Cohen Randi and *L. Van V. Dauler Jr. Eldridge Malgorzata Fort and Edward T. Fort Lisa A. Golden, MD, Trustee Benjamin J. Davies, MD, and Sarah Liberty El-Kadi and Matt El-Kadi, MD, Dorothy C. Fox and Louis J. Fox, JD Vickie Good PhD, FACS Davies, MD, DDS John Framel and Phyllis John H. Goodish and Katherine Selene L. Davis and Arnold A. Davis Kathleen G. Lokay and Peter G. McCanna Framel Schussler Goodish Ellis, MD Thomas M. Davison, MD, and Christian L. Allison and Jane K. France Sandra G. Goodman and Lee S. Nancy N. Davison Arnold M. Epstein, Esquire, and Elie Francis, MD, and Lanie K. Goodman Barbara A. Epstein Kathy Sabec Dax Francis, MD Linda B. Goorin *Jane M. Epstine Sven de Jong and Elizabeth S. de Jong Gary Frazier Vikram C. Gorantla, MD Marie Erlbaum and Eric R. Mary Pat Friedlander, MD, and Eric J. Janet DeBlasio and Pasquale V. Erlbaum, MD Mary Ellen Gosman and Dr. James H. DeBlasio Friedlander, MD Gosman *Virginia Esaian-Noga Dale W. Deist and Barbara A. Deist Summer G. Friedlander and H. Duffy Patricia L. Grealish and Daniel P. Jeremiah T. Escajeda, MD Friedlander Robert T. Deithorn Grealish Francisco Silveira Escobar III, MD Sherwood C. Friel Andrew DeJaco Thomas Grealish Jacob Esquenazi, MD Regina L. Friend and Douglas S. Friend Allison S. DeKosky, MD Janice Ugaki and R. Douglas Kenneth L. Euler, PhD Christopher C. Fromme and Karen C. Greally, MD Debra K. Demchak and William S. Fromme Demchak Barbara S. Mensch and Mark Evans Robin E. Greco and Richard J. Katherine Furbee Greco, MD Nicole Engle-DeMonaco and Nicholas Sally A. Evans and Terry L. Evans, MD Bonnie S. Green A. DeMonaco, MD Richard G. Evelyn Jill Fusaro Laurence B. Green David S. DeRose and Johnette DeRose Roy Faigenbaum Annie Futrell and J. William Futrell, MD Sara R. Greenhill, MD, FCCP Tara Desai and Ravi Desai Dr. Stefano Falconi Henry J. Gailliot Cynthia B. Gregg Cameron Dezfulian, MD Jeffrey Bartlett and Jonie Farrar Karen R. Roche, MD, FACS and R. Kent Kristina E. Gregory Rajeev Dhupar, MD, and Katharine A. Kristen K. Farrell and Michael J. Farrell Galey, DMD Dhupar Capt. James W. Grinter III

40 *BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL’S NAME INDICATES THE PERSON IS DECEASED Debra Grishkat Kim Henderson and Mark Henderson Edward W. Jew Jr., MD Brooke N. Klatt, PhD, and Brian A. Bette Gromis and Robert Marvin Cindy A. Henderson and Richard M. Janis C. Johnson and Jonas T. Klatt, MD Gromis, MD Henderson Jr. Johnson, MD Andrew J. Klein, MD Mary J. Groppe and Carl W. Sarah J. Heppenstall and C. Talbot LaVonne C. Johnson *Eugene J. Klein Groppe Jr., MD Heppenstall Jr. Lynn M. Johnson and Mark L. Cary H. Klein and Kathryn U. Klein Glen S. Gross and Rhonda I. Gross Robert M. Hernandez Johnson, MD *Ruth Ann Eisner Klein Mustafa K. Gül Linda Hertzberg and Richard W. Murray C. Johnson Barbara Kleyman and Thomas R. Ina Gumberg and Lawrence N. Hertzberg, PhD Richard H. Johnson Kleyman, MD Gumberg Francoise Hibbs and John B. Kathryn Johnson and Thomas G. Joseph R. Knechtel Hibbs Jr., MD Joan Gurrentz and Rodger Gurrentz Johnson, MD James T. Knox Tracy G. Hill and J. Craig Hill Linda J. Gustafson and Richard P. Susan A. Johnson and William R. Cynthia R. Koch and Robert L. Koch II Gustafson Margaret M. Hill and John B. Hill, MD Johnson Arlene E. Fleck and John G. Barney C. Guttman Mary L. Hill and Thomas M. Hill Bradford D. Johnston, MD Kokales, MD William H. Guy II, PhD, and Victoria E. Johanna M. Seddon, MD, ScM, and Dorothy J. Johnston and Gerald S. Jaya Kondaveeti and Dr. Kotayya Guy, MD Ralph W. Hingson, ScD, MPH Johnston, MD Kondaveeti Maria Koenig Guyette, MD, and John F. Hinkey and Patricia J. Hinkey Marilyn S. Johnstone and Graham F. Karen and Joseph Konefal Francis X. Guyette III, MD Johnstone, MD David J. Hirsch and Therese O. Hirsch Geraldine Kosanovich and Nicholas S. Amy P. Haemmerle and Marcus J. William A. Hite Raymond E. Joll Kosanovich Haemmerle, MD Nancy Tseng Ho and Dr. Chien Ho Mary Jones and Channing Jones Robert Cook and Roberta J. Kostick Frances Haer Carol W. Hoch and David R. Hoch Jesse Mason and Gail Reede Jones, MD John F. Kraus, MD Nancy Hamilton David L. Hodge Lisa Jones and Robert T. Jones Jr., MD Paulette L. Krause and John R. Shahla Hamoodi and Abdulla N. Sheryl S. Jordan and Michael F. Jordan Krause, MD Hamoodi Paul J. Hoffman, MD, and Kristin Robbins Hoffman,MD Ellen F. Judy and Kevin D. Judy, MD Lawrence M. Kulla, MD Mary Anne D. Hanna and Howard W. Hanna III Robert E. Hoffmaster Harriet Kalin and Joshua Kalin, MD Roop D. Kumar Barbara J. Hannan and Robert Susan S. Hogarty Kevin M. Kane, MD, and Irene G. Nagen D. Kurukulasuriya W. Hannan Diane P. Holder, Trustee, and Gerald D. Kane, PhD Mary H. Kishner and James P. Kathryn Z. Harbrecht and Brian G. Holder, PhD Vanita Kapoor and Nitin Kapoor, DO Kushner, MD Harbrecht, MD Catherine B. Holman and Bruce E. Marsha B. Karp and Robert Karp Mary Ann LaCarte and John V. Mary Anne Hardesty and John R. Holman Simone F. Karp LaCarte Hardesty Jr. Sy M. Holzer, Trustee Richard B. Kasdan, MD Deb and Bob Ladley Jaishree Hariharan, MD, and Sundaram Coleen S. Holzinger Catherine M. Lafferty and William L. Hariharan, MD Loreta Matheo, MD, and Dr. Robert E. Elmer J. and Ethelreda Holzinger Kass Lafferty George K. Harrah Jr. and Barbara F. Michael S. LaFrankie Harrah Janis Holzman and Stephen R. Patricia J. Kassling and William E. Holzman, MD Kassling Verna R. Laman and David Donald J. Harrington Nancy Solimine Honbo and Ken Shoji Lois S. Kaufman Laman, MD John L. Harrington, MD Honbo, MD Amy M. Kelleher and Dennis J. Frances S. Lancaster and Stewart L. Mary Lou Harrison and Edward I. Manami Honda, MD Kelleher Lancaster, MD Harrison Susan Hootman and Barry D. Charles F. Kelley Jr., MD Michelle Langer and Mark Langer Rosanne I. Harrison Hootman, MD Robert M. Kemper III Ann Marie Langerholc Cary Hart Robert F. Horsch, MD Don S. Kennedy Margaret D. Larkins-Pettigrew, MD Peggy B. Hasley, MD, and Stephen K. Dolores Hughes and Thomas E. Mark E. Kennedy Louis A. LaRose Hasley, MD Hughes Jr., MD Kathleen H. Kent and Rodney D. Kent Patricia A. Larson and Christopher E. Caryn Hasselbring, MD Kevin Hugo Larson, DMD, MD John Hauber and Marcy Hauber David Demoise and Erin E. *Aura R. Hulme Kershaw, MD Jennifer N. Larson, MD Katie A. Haynes Gene Abramov and Britton Hunter Marco G. Patti, MD, and Melina R. Martin B. Laufe, MD Timothy Hazel and Elizabeth Wright William S. Hunter and Sue S. Hunter Kibbe, MD *Harold A. Lauterbach Hazel, MD Calvin T. Iida, MD Andrew S. Kim, MD William Lawson Dennis Lynn Headings, MD Linda Ionta and Joseph A. Ionta Peter K. Kim, MD Jacqui F. Lazo and John S. Lazo, PhD Shari Heald and Rick Heald Joy Irvin and Chris Irvin Saki Kimura Donald J. Sadler and Alberta M. Lee Eileen R. Heenan Anna Ivey Alicia M. King Jae H. Lee, MD Brockton J. Hefflin,MD Tija C. Jacob, PhD A.J. Conrad Smith, MD, and Janet Grace J. Lee, MD, and Joon Sup Ruth C. Hefflin Joseph James Kinnane, MD Lee, MD Barbara A. Heigl James Jancik Donna L. Kipp, Esquire Peggy L. Lee, MD Jeffrey S. Heinle, MD, and Sheila K. Marsha L. Kirik Kathleen M. Lee and Robert E. Heinle, MD Florian Jeantieu Janet F. Kirk and Andrew W. Kirk Lee, MD *Theodore R. Helmbold,MD Jae-Ho Jeong, MD, PhD Joseph E. Kiss, MD

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 41 DONORS | INDIVIDUAL

Freya Elizabeth Hory Lee, PhD, and Richard M. Mann, MD Katharine G. McCullough and The Nancy J. Minshew, MD William Lee, MD Chronis Hazi Manolis and Diane A. Honorable Samuel A. McCullough Martha Mitchell and Charlie Mitchell Anita P. Legler and Robert C. Legler Manolis Maria McCutchen and Andrew Shelley C. Mix and Troy D. Mix McCutchen Marina Persic Lehn, Esquire, and Maribel Manzari and H. J. Manzari Raymond J. Moncini Kenneth M. Lehn, PhD Nancy A. McDonald Cheri J. Manzinger and Joseph Jane C. Montgomery and Derwood H. Nathalie and Mario Lemieux Manzinger Jr. Nancy C. McGinley Montgomery Anne Gendler and David Leib Janet R. Markel Audrey A. McGinnis and Gerald E. Harry B. Moore McGinnis Robert A. Leininger and Judy Leininger Pamela E. Markovitz and Alvin Delynne J. Myers, MD, and John J. Joel Lennen and Kathleen C. Lennen, Markovitz, MD,FACP Beverly B. McGowan and John A. Moossy, MD McGowan, MD Esquire Nikol Marks and Stanley M. Jeffrey L. Morby and Jacqueline C. Jeanne M. Leonard and Edward E. Marks, MD James H. McGraw IV and Jane Morby Love McGraw Leonard II, MD Myrna Marlowe BeeJee Morrison Susan McGuinn and Martin G. Astro Jhong and Anita B. Timothy B. Morrow and Carol A. Sally Moses Leon-Jhong, MD Marmo McGuinn Elizabeth H. Moy, MD Cynthia B. Lesker Lucine O. Marous Christine L. McHenry, MD David McKamish John M. Musacchio and Linda L. Susan T. Silversmith and Lawrence F. *Curtis R. Marquard Musacchio Leventon *Helen B. Marquard Janet McKamish and Dennis McKamish Volker Musahl, MD, and Tina Sandra Levin Sheldon Marstine Musahl, MD William McKendree The Children of Sally Levin Cathy A. Mary and John Mary Barbara L. Myers and Eugene N. Charles C. Cohen and Michele M. Susan F. Levine and Aaron M. Carl Maskiewicz Myers, MD Levine, MD McKenney, MPH, JD Aaron C. Mason, MD Wendi Nachwalter and Richard S. Alan H. Levy, PhD Carrie McKenzie Nachwalter, MD Myrna R. Mason and Mark E. Mason Anne Lewis McKernan Living Trust Marlene Naft Michael W. Mason Evelyn Pei Hua Li Tommie M. McLaughlin Mary J. Nagel and John R. Nagel, MD Alina Sanson Massaro and Joseph A. Stephen J. McMahon and Deborah K. Sissy Lieberman and William K. Massaro III Guy M. Nardella Jr., MD, Lieberman, Trustee McMahon, MD and Dorothy P. Nardella John R. Pearson and Margaret M. Carol Limbach and Mark Limbach Timothy L. McNickle and Cynthia A. Patrick Narduzzi Mateer McNickle Jenny M. Lin Constance Nassif and James A. Nassif Rachel J. Givelber, MD, and Michael A. Patric R. McPoland, MD Li-Shei Lin, MD, PhD Mathier, MD Marie and David Navikas Cynthia S. McQuillis and Robert F. Chih-Tsung Kang, PhD, and Steve Matusch, PEng, MBA McQuillis Sue A. Neal and David J. Neal Li-Yin Lin, PhD Elizabeth Maxwell-Schmidt, MD Kathleen W. McSorley and David Jenna Neiterman R. C. Lin, MD, and Shiow-Bih Lin, MD Rebekah Mazariegos and George V. McSorley Bruce Nelson Lt. Col. Patrick Lindauer and Mary M. Mazariegos, MD Diana Prufer and Daniel A. Joel B. Nelson, MD Lindauer, DDS Medalie, MD The Honorable Romano L. Mazzoli Ross J. Nese Jr. and Carol D. Nese David W. Litzinger Andrew M. McAlpin, MD Anne R. Medsger and Thomas A. Medsger Jr., MD Dana Schaer Nestel and Daniel A. Edward T. Liverani Trudi L. McAuley and Clyde E. Nestel Renata Lob and Dr. Edgardo Lob McAuley, MD Amita D. Mehta, MD, and Dhaval R. Mehta, MD John W. Newman Paula Lockhart *Althea McCalmont Arthur S. Levine, MD, and Linda S. Julie Lendvay Newton and Douglas K. Rose D. Losken and Wolfgang Cynthia McCann and Robert Melada Newton Losken, MD J. McCann Helen Mendel Mary W. Nice and John A. Nice Frank J. Lotito Pamela K. McCarter and Jackson H. Richard B. Meredick Jr., MD Kerri Nielsen and Thomas Nielsen Jean M. Loubeau, MD McCarter, MD Grace F. Messer, CRUT Theresa L. Nimick-Whiteside, PhD Annette M. Luchini and Gary R. Sarah J. McCarthy-Reiland Tracey Messer Marjorie J. Nord and Roland E. Luchini Mary M. McCartney Nord, MD Sherwood S. Lutz Paula K. McCartney and Thomas J. Michael F. Michelis, MD, and Mary Ann Michelis, MD Kristin E. Novak and Dr. Justin M. Jeanne F. Fritch and Ella E. Lyons McCartney Novak Bruce A. McClane, PhD Ann N. Migliore and Philip J. Carole A. MacMullan Migliore, MD Beatriz Delgado Ochoa and Juan B. Jennifer McClure and A. Gregory Ochoa, MD The Honorable John A. Maher III, Vanessa and David Morehouse Trustee McClure, MD Marsha R. Oeler and Robert P. Oeler Anne Mosites Miller Jean M. Malinic, DMD Helen A. McConaghy and John R. Lois A. Pounds Oliver, MD McConaghy, MD Cedric B. Miller, MD Rebecca E. Mancoll, MD *Tom W. Olofson Marella McConnell and Calvin W. Julie A. Miller Lawrence W. N. Weber, MD, and McConnell Melinda M. Olson and David C. Olson Ellen M. Mandel, MD Marcia M. Miller and Thomas B. Miller Elizabeth H. McCormick and Jeffrey M. Bert W. O’Malley, MD Natalie D. Miltenberger Claudia Mandurino McCormick Pamela Ziegler and Scott Opitz Takafumi Minato Daniel Mann Anne-Marie B. McCoy, MD, and Corie A. Opperman and Fane W. Amy Mann and Gavin Mann Matthew S. McCoy, MD Diann R. Minderlein and James Opperman Minderlein

42 *BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL’S NAME INDICATES THE PERSON IS DECEASED Foundation Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Disorders in the Department of Neurology, professor of neurology and of psychiatry, School of Medicine, and of clinical and translational science. Pitt scientists know more than a little about hard work and innovation, too. In addition to other research advances, Pitt is the home of Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB), invented and developed by a team of researchers led by Chester Mathis, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Professor of Radiology PET Research, and William Klunk, MD, PhD, Distin- guished Professor of Psychiatry, Levidow-Pitts- burgh Foundation Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Disorders in the Depart- ment of Psychiatry, and codirector, ADRC. In addition to making possible the early diag- nosis of Alzheimer’s disease, PiB should help clinicians monitor the disease’s progression. PiB works by binding to telltale beta-amyloid PROFILE: JOHN TIPPINS plaque deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s. These plaques are thought to kill brain cells, and their presence differen- Family Foundation Remembers Its Patriarch tiates Alzheimer’s disease from other demen- tias. PiB can be injected into the bloodstream of patients, and specialists can then use PET imaging to locate the plaques associated with ohn Tippins comes from a family that knows well the value of hard work and inno- Alzheimer’s. Before Pittsburgh Compound B, vation. His grandfather, Leon Tippins, the first of11 children to go to college, moved it was possible to confirm Alzheimer’s disease to Pittsburgh to find a job in his field of electrical engineering. In1923 , he ended up only after a patient’s death at autopsy. starting a small family business, Tippins Machinery Co., in reconditioning used mining The Tippins Family Foundation supports machinery. John’s father, George, was also an electrical engineer. numerous areas of research at Pitt, including When George returned to Pittsburgh from serving in World War II, he wanted to help cancer and urology, but ADRC has become an his father build the company. His father let him take the lead in 1946, and George built unofficial focus. And, like George Tippins, John a two-employee company into a nearly 300-employee strong company that became the and his family support the research being done world leader in refurbishing, designing, and building rolling mills and other equipment in Western Pennsylvania. for the steel and metals industries. By the time he retired, he held more than a dozen “We really want to try to help solve the patents for machines and metals processes. real problem for humanity, if we can,” says George Tippins was also known for being the major investor in the acquisition of Allegheny John Tippins. “It’s wonderful that we have an Ludlum Steel Corporation, the nation’s largest stainless steel producer at the time, from its organization like Pitt right here that is truly parent, Allegheny Ludlum Industries. His investment was widely credited as saving the steel outstanding.” company from being sold to out-of-state financiers who planned to close it and sell it piecemeal to foreign companies. He was board chair and majority owner of Allegheny Ludlum Steel from 1980 through 1986, by which time the company was once more successful and growing into a world leader in the stainless and titanium steel markets. Sadly, George Tippins was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in his later years. Even though he knew it was too late for him to benefit, he had the foresight, again, to create a family foundation before he died in 2005. “He wanted to endow the foundation to do good things,” says John (now a managing director at Stonewood Capital Management, after the family business was sold). “The three areas the foundation supports are entrepreneurialism (one of the recipients is the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence), general philanthropy, and Alzheimer’s disease research.” Though the Tippins Family Foundation supports numerous Alzheimer’s disease research initia- tives, it is a large supporter of a research powerhouse in its own backyard, the University of Pitts- burgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), led by Oscar Lopez, MD, Levidow-Pittsburgh

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 43 DONORS | INDIVIDUAL

Deborah S. Orens and Jeffrey D. Orens Cary O. Poropatich, MD, and Ronald K. James S. Reynolds *Anne Salmon and *The Honorable J. Ellen M. Ormond, PhD Poropatich, MD Kristin Burns Reynolds and John D. Quint Salmon Susan M. Orringer and Mark B. Elizabeth S. Porter, MD Reynolds IV Pablo J. Sanchez, MD Orringer, MD Marsha A. Poster, PhD Dawn Amy Rhee and John C. Marjorie K. Sandoval Sandy and Gene O’Sullivan Wesley W. Posvar Jr. Rhee, MD Susan C. Santa-Cruz Mary E. Othic and Christopher Othic Lesley L. Potash and Marc A. Potash Lawrence S. Rich and Betty Sue Rich Jeffrey P. Sarmonis David L. Blinn, MD, and Donna M. James L. Poth Jr., MD Dr. John E. Richardson Athena Sarris Ottoviani Carolyn Powell and E. Reid Powell William E. McKahan and Ruth A. Ronnie C. Parker, MD, and Melissa I. Riesenman, EdD Jennifer Paisley Mary L. Pranzo, PhD Saul C. Daniel Riggs Vasso E. Paliouras and Constantine S. Richard A. Prather and Margaret L. Charolette J. Saunders Paliouras Prather, DO *Paul M. Rike, MD Samantha J. Scalise and Mark R. Scalise Alicia M. Palladino, PhD, and Michael J. Robert E. Price Jr. and Denise R. Price Anne K. Ringham Diane C. Schachner, MSN, RN, and Palladino, PhD Thomas W. Trimm and Patricia A. Mona Riordan and Robert W. Riordan Thomas J. Schachner Edna F. Panbakker Prozzi Dr. Linda S. Kardos and Howard M. Irwin A. Schafer, MD Mary Panitch and Howard Barry Edward V. Puccio, MD Robbins, MD *Marion Weinman Schafer Panitch, MD Dr. Raman S. Purighalla and Uma Christopher F. Robertshaw Martha S. Scheeren Daniel Paquin Purighalla, MD Marc B. Robertshaw Patricia A. Scheller Kay B. Pareso and James D. Pareso, MD Janet K. Quint Donald F. Fink and Benjamin C. Mikell Schenck and A. William Sun C. Park and Sang C. Park, MD Jay S. Rabinowitz, MD, and Mindy G. Robertson, PhD Schenck III Vida Cecilia A. Passero, MD, and Rabinowitz Jeffrey B. Markel and Carol L. Holly Schlossmann and Bradley S. Christopher J. Passero, MD Sally Rabinowitz and Ronald Robinson Schlossmann Scott R. Patrick Rabinowitz, MD William Henry Robinson III, Esquire, Christopher C. Schmidt, MD and Toni Lynn Robinson Kate L. Patrick and Stuart K. Patrick Nancy L. Rackoff, Esquire, and Robert E. Steele and Marisa S. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth L. Payne William H. Rackoff Roger Roble Schmitt, MD Henry M. Pelusi Kathryne G. Raclin and Jonathan S. Kathleen D. Rockey and Charles E. *Fritz N. Schneider Raclin Rockey Kathleen J. Pelusi and John H. Pelusi Jr., Katherine M. Scholl Margaret V. Ragni, MD, MPH Ann A. Rogers Trustee Kathleen Schulien and Anthony J. Revathi Pennathur and Arjun Dorothy L. Raizman, Esquire Sandra B. Rogers Schulien Pennathur, MD Rosemarie and Kiran Rajesenan, MD Jane M. Rollman and Bruce L. Cynthia Schumann and Glen E. Marshal D. Peris, MD, and Anna A. Mary L. Ranck and Sidney Graydon Rollman, MD, MPH Schumann Peris, PharmD Ranck Jr., MD Joanne K. Romboski Dorie S. Schwab and Thomas Michael A. Perkovich Ned and Sally Randall Jeffrey A. Romoff A. Schwab Diane Peterson Mathis John G. Rangos Sr. Greta Rooney and Arthur J. Rooney II, Jeffrey J. Schwalm Suzanne K. Morrissey, MD, and Rama K. Rao Trustee Margaret A. Schwarz, MD, and Daniel P. Petro, MD Hariklia E. Raptis and Anastasios Glenda Root Dr. Roderich E. Schwarz Mark Petros and Jill Petros Raptis, MD, PhD, FACP Joan Rosenfeld and David L. Lana J. Scolieri and Michael J. Christine J. and Robert A. Pietrandrea Carol Rasnak Rosenfeld, MD Scolieri, MD Anne M. Pilewski and Joseph M. Edie Rath and David Rath Margaret Quinn Rosenzweig, PhD, and Sun K. Scolieri, MD, and Paul Michael H. Rosenzweig, Esquire Scolieri, MD Pilewski, MD Diana M. Rath, MD, and Frank E. Giuseppe Pilolli Rath Jr. Karen and Anthony Ross Lari M. Scorza, MD *Anna Piocquidio Linda Ray Michael J. Rossi Joyce S. Scott and Charles N. Scott Beth H. Piraino, MD Diane H. Raymond and James I. Gayla Margolin, PhD, and Steven Craig H. Scott, MD, and Evelyn S. Rottman, MD Scott, MD Christopher C. French and Jodi A. Raymond, MD Pitchok P. Sudhakar Reddy, MD Diane D. Rowe and Clifford R. Rowe Jr. Marilyn A. Scott Shayna F. Pitt and Bruce R. Pitt, PhD Anu Reddy and Dr. Raj Reddy Gordon Lisker and Nancy A. Rozendal Katherine R. Screen Caryn Pizon and Anthony F. Taruna Reddy Joshua T. Rubin, MD, and Pamela J. Bonnie J. Seaton Rubin Pizon, MD John C. Regan Steven A. Burton, MD, and Tracy Thomas C. Rumsey Robin Seewald, MD Lori Plung and Louis B. Plung Scott C. Reinhart, MD Terri and *Jim Polacheck Sandra I. Ruscetti, PhD, and Francis W. Anita A. Seifert and Edward W. Seifert Randall S. Remahl Ruscetti, PhD Ann Poling and Harry E. Poling, MD Charles J. Seigel, MD Michaela Remtulla, MD, and Rahim A. Layla B. Saba and Samir F. Saba, MD Harriet Pollack and Stephen J. Remtulla, MD Stewart Sell, MD Pollack, MD Michael H. Sable in honor and *Joan D. Shanahan Susan L. Greenspan, MD, and Neil M. memory of his beloved late wife Dorothy J. Pollon and Neal M. Pollon Resnick, MD Catherine Marie Heaney Barbara B. Shapira Barbara G. Poolos and C. J. Poolos, MD Amy S. Rex and James Caldwell Michael B. Saggese William G. Sharra III, MD Rex Jr., MD Renee M. Porada Frazier, Esquire Annie Sahel and José-Alain Sahel, MD Sharon Sharratt and Thomas Sharratt Matthew R. Porembka, MD Dr. Kathleen W. Reyes and Vincent E. Reyes, MD

44 *BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL’S NAME INDICATES THE PERSON IS DECEASED Herbert S. Shear, Trustee, and Vera R. Sperling, MD, and Dr. Mark A. Dung L. Thai,MD , PhD Richard L. Walton and Amanda L. Barbara S. Shear Sperling Ruchira N. Thakor and Dr. Nitish V. Walton Mark D. Sheehan, MD Jane E. Spielmann and John M. Thakor Thomas A. and Nancy K. Wandrisco Laura Shelly and Rev. Marshall K. Spielmann, MD Harold D. Thomas Jr.,MD Peter M. Ward, MD Shelly Ada G. Davis and Joseph M. Spirer Ann E. Thompson,MD Anne D. Washburn, MD, and W. Dr. Ann C. Shelly and Robert K. Shelly Michael S. Srodes, MD Mark E. Thompson,MD Kenneth Washburn Jr., MD Peter E. Sheptak, MD, and Gracia V. Karen Staley and John A. Staley V Paul Tine Ronnette Watters-Benamati Sheptak Diane S. Standish and N. Graham Kathy P. Tosh and Joseph N. Tosh III, Evan L. Waxman, MD, PhD Gene V. Sherman, MD Standish, PhD Esquire Larry D. Webb John G. Sherman Linda D. Steed and David L. Steed, MD Barbara E. Trachtenberg Rita Weber and Martin Weber Kitty Mathis-Shildt and Richard A. Beverly E. Steinberg and Jeffrey Karen S. Trackler and Richard T. *Donald P. Wei Shildt, MD Steinberg Trackler, MD Yuling L. Wei Timothy R. Short Barbara J. Steiner and Louis A. Steiner Kien T. Tran, MD, PhD Richard B. Weisband and Mary Ellen L. Elissa M. Sichi and Harry J. Sichi Sharon Steinfurth and Adam Donna J. Salsburey, MD, and Weisband Steinfurth Ann Donovan-Sierra and Michael A. Tranovich, MD Arnine Weiss and Jeffrey P. Weiss,MD Gustavo Sierra Elaine and Jim Steinfurth Thomas J. Tredici,MD Marcia J. Weiss Randi B. Sigal and Michael B. Theodore Stern Edith K. Trewin Reina K. Welch and Robert L. Welch Sigal, MD Maxine B. Stevens, MD Jeffrey Lawrence Warhaftig,MD , and Officer Dominic J. Welton Susan L. Silverman and Arnold B. Jeffrey K. Cohen, MD, and Ellen C. Amanda Clair Trimpey, MD Silverman Stewart, MD Thomas Koester Welty, MD, and Edith Serena Troiani and Giuseppe Fortuna Roberts Welty, MD Elizabeth L. Silvers and Stewart A. Mary N. Stewart Silvers, MD Susie Tsai and Mark C. Tsai, MD Mark R. Werts and Carol L. Werts Lori J. Stofman and Guy M. *Richard K. Tucci Richard L. Simmons, MD Stofman, MD, FACS Thomas J. Whalen Diane Z. Tucker Virginia C. Simmons and Richard P. Frank E. Stone II and Kerry B. Debi Wheeler Simmons, Trustee Stone, MD Heidi Mattila and Jari Tuomala Joan Wheeler H. Joyce Simmons and Wayne S. Susan K. Stonebraker Kasper Tuomala Simmons Lance and Melanie White Ron Stout and Christine M. Stout Marian C. Turkel, RN, PhD, and M. Michael J. White, MD Benjamin W. Simon and Joanne Brooks Turkel Ross Simon Dorthea G. Stover and Richard L. Linda T. Whitford Stover Paul C. Turkeltaub, MD Jeremy Simon, MD, and Karen R. Mary A. Whitney and Alan L. Simon, MD Carol A. Strausbaugh Thomas C. Valenza,MD Whitney, MD Debra P. Sindler and Mark A. Sindler, Nancy H. Sumkin and Jules H. Stephanie Valetich, Esquire Ann D. Whitney and Timothy M. Esquire Sumkin, DO Richard J. Van Allan, MD Whitney, MD Norman A. Sindler Nancy Nan-Szu Sun, MD Lucie M. Van der Veer and Hugh G. Barbara M. Wible and LeRoy C. Gurmukh Singh, MD, PhD, MBA Henry D. Sundermann Jr. Van der Veer, Esquire Wible, MD Rabi Sinha John P. Surma and Elizabeth L. Surma, Bethann Vanscoy and Gordon J. Bruce Wiegand Trustee Vanscoy, PharmD, MBA, CACP Renee Oliver and Lloyd Slaton Jr. Thelma J. Wigton Urvashi Surti, PhD, and Shailesh John M. Vautier Suzanne M. Slisz and Bernard F. Slisz Becky Wild and Thomas Wild Shashikant Surti John Vetere James Smail and Nancy L. Smail Beth Wild Patricia J. Swansiger and Robert J. Lee A. Viard Meredith A. Smart and Lawson Swansiger, MD Jamie Wilen Charles Smart, MD Dario A. Vignali, PhD, and Kathleen Sheila Duignan and Michael I. Wilkins Linn McCarthy Swanson Vignali Carl L. Smith, MD Jeanne M. Williams and Lawrence E. Julie F. Sweeney, Esquire, and Susan J. Vines Janice A. Smith and David A. Smith Michael T. Sweeney, Esquire Williams Dolores Viverette and J. Franklin Pamala A. Ferron, MD, and Barth L. Dr. Jack D. Smith and Georgia M. Frank J. Swetlech Viverette, MD Smith Wilsey, MD Sandrina K. Swider and Matthew G. Gerard Vockley, MD, PhD Thomas A. Smock Swider Kathleen C. Wilson and James A. Sharon L. Volpatt and Raymond A. Wilson, MD Rebecca C. Snyder Elaine M. Sylvester and Walter R. Volpatt Sr. Sylvester Jr. Leticia Wincko and Jeffrey T. Lee F. Snyder and Sally M. Snyder Sandra M. Volpe Wincko, MD Ida M. Tafel Sandy L. Snyder Virginia M. Balderston, MD, and Barbara H. Winslow Valerie Tatalovich and Wayne N. Patricia S. Snyder and William I. Theodore VuchinichIII , MD Linda Winter and Robert R. Winter Snyder Tatalovich Nancy A. Wagner and The Honorable Susan E. Wisneski and John T. Jane Spangler Cynthia A. Tatar and Barry S. Jack Wagner Tatar, MD Wisneski Jr., MD Sheryl B. Wein and Jeffrey W. Spear, Anne M. Walsh and Christopher J. Thomas Witomski,MD Esquire Douglas B. Taylor Walsh, MD Lois E. Wolfanger Catherine Specter Jonnie Lynn Tedrow Deborah A. Walsh Sally and Craig Wolfanger James Spencer, Esquire Lisa Teel and Larry Teel Edward H. Walter *Esther F. Teplitz, MD Pattie C. Woo and Savio L. Y. Woo, PhD, DSc

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 45 DONORS

So, years later, when Mr. Garcia was on a fishing trip and heard of an orthopaedic cancer physician at the University of Pittsburgh with a story just like Johnny’s, he told Mr. Hardesty, who realized the physician was Kurt Weiss, and a reunion was set in motion through mutual acquaintances. Kurt Weiss, MD, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, welcomed the Hardestys and the Garcias to his Pitt lab to reconnect with his parents and to show them his transformation from bone cancer survivor to surgeon and cancer researcher, codirecting the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery’s Musculo- skeletal Oncology Laboratory, dedicated to the study of bone and soft tissue tumors. “Kurt brought us up to speed on his research,” says Mr. Garcia. “The question still looms: How does that cancer metastasize from bone to the Kurt Weiss, MD, cancer survivor and researcher, friend of the Hardesty and Garcia families, lung or other parts of the body? He seems to and grateful recipient of their support for his sarcoma research be making headway on that.” Mr. Hardesty credits Mr. Garcia with coming PROFILE: JOHN GARCIA & JOHN HARDESTY up with the idea for them to create the Osteo- sarcoma Research Fund in Johnny’s memory to support Dr. Weiss’ research. The fund has been An Inspiring, Grateful Reunion essential for Dr. Weiss’ lab, which he codirects with Rebecca Watters, PhD, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery. “Dr. Watters and I had originally planned hen John Garcia was a student at West Virginia University, to save this donation for a rainy day,” says he decided to look for a summer job. John Hardesty hired Dr. Weiss. “Well, that was before COVID-19, him to work over the summers, and it was the beginning and now it’s raining! The pandemic has been of a decades-long friendship. Over the years, Mr. Garcia difficult for everyone, and scientists are no would eat meals, go on vacations, and spend holidays exception. Thanks to the Hardesty and Garcia with the Hardestys, who welcomed him as a member of families, we have been able to keep the lights the family. Mr. Garcia got to know Mr. Hardesty’s son, on in the lab. We are grateful beyond words Johnny, very well. for their friendship, kindness, and generosity.” In 1998, Johnny was a student at the University of “My wife, Cathy, and I are truly grateful for Georgia when Mr. Hardesty received a call from the the physicians and care we have received at the university’s clinic with a message to pick up Johnny right away. What Johnny suspected was University of Pittsburgh and UPMC over the only a sore leg from playing touch football was actually something more serious. A quick visit to years,” says Mr. Garcia. “We have a great deal a physician in Morgantown confirmed a grim diagnosis. of appreciation for their work. It was great for W me to see Dr. Weiss’ research facility. When “Johnny was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, a cancer that begins in the bones,” said Mr. Hardesty. “The doctor told me my son was probably not going to live. That’s when I said, ‘Well, you walk through that lab and see what they’re that’s bullshit.’” doing, you want them to have the best and be the Mr. Hardesty sought recommendations to get the best care for Johnny and ended up taking him best. That’s what motivates us to help with these to Shadyside Hospital (now UPMC Shadyside). During Johnny’s time in the hospital, the Hardestys programs. Dr. Weiss is a special guy, and his staff were befriended by the Weisses, another family whose son, Kurt, also had osteogenic sarcoma as a truly reflect his passion. In my mind, it is not teenager. Kurt and Johnny endured similar chemotherapy, operations, and leg amputations, and a coincidence that a conversation on a fishing their parents bonded over their sons’ diagnoses and treatments. trip with my friend Ken Marino regarding “Mary Anne, my wife, and Mrs. Weiss went through many of the same sufferings together,” Dr. Weiss and Johnny reunited the families after says Mr. Hardesty. all these years.” Kurt eventually received treatment in a clinical trial that put his cancer into remission. After “We’re praying that Dr. Weiss can find a cure numerous attempts at treatment, Johnny went home to Morgantown. One of the last times he left for osteogenic sarcoma,” says Mr. Hardesty. his bed was to go downstairs and visit with Mr. Garcia and his family. About two and a half years “Kurt has dedicated a significant amount of his after his diagnosis, Johnny died. life and time to doing research on a cancer that “To watch that young man and what he went through in those years—he never lost faith, never he and my son both went through. We’re glad lost his sense of humor,” says Mr. Garcia. “His strength was just incredible.” to be a part of supporting research.”

46 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report | INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION

*Dana C. Wood ORGANIZATIONS AOTrauma North America Centre for Neuro Skills Inc.– Sarah S. Woodings and Robert T. ArtSci Health Solutions Bakersfield Woodings III, Esquire Asia Carpet & Decorating Co. CERTIFY Global Inc. Shailen G. Woods, MD, and Barrett I. Assist America Inc. CET Training LLC Woods, MD Charles E. Kaufman Foundation 1994 Steel Factory Corporation Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca Anne R. Woods and William A. sul Cancro Charles F. Spang Foundation Woods, MD 84 Lumber Company AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP Chartwell Pennsylvania LP Patricia Kolling and Mark E. A Breath of Hope Lung Foundation Worshtil, MD A Glimmer of Hope Foundation The Audrey Hillman Fisher Foundation Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Aura R. Hulme Irrevocable Trust Foundation *Leo Yakutis Sr. AACN Foundation Autism Speaks Inc. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Linda Darby Yankes and Joseph Robert AbbVie Inc. Disease Foundation Inc. Yankes Jr., MD AVI Foodsystems Inc. Acceleron Pharma ChronoTrack Systems Corp Dr. Betty Yao Awesome Events Acorda Therapeutics Chubb Charitable Foundation Stephen D. Yarabinetz and Elaine A. The Ayco Charitable Foundation Yarabinetz Aesthetic Plastic Surgery of Pittsburgh Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Bakery Square Holdings LP Injury Research Stephanie A. Yoder and Bradley A. AGA Research Foundation Bakery Square & Walnut Capital Yoder, MD AI Solutions Inc. Citizens United for Research in Bayer Epilepsy Marlene E. Yokim and John A. Yokim AIM at Melanoma Foundation The Breast Cancer Research Clark Patterson Lee Scott Drabert and Stephen L. Yoset Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy Foundation Clear Thoughts Foundation Kathleen J. Yost and Richard O. Alphabet City Management Co. Yost, MD Bellator Sport Worldwide LLC Cleveland Brothers Equipment Co. Inc. ALS Association Betty Lou Yount Trust The Benevity Community Impact Fund Clyde & Co Alzheimer’s Association Jian-Min Yuan, MD, PhD Margaret J. Biddle Charitable Trust CNX Resources Corporation American Academy of Child & Big Burrito Restaurant Group Christopher Yunkun and Adolescent Psychiatry Coherus Biosciences Inc. Dawn Yunkun Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation American Academy of Otolaryngology- Committee to Elect Wayne Fontana Kimberly S. YunKun Head and Neck Surgery Binational Science Foundation Community Foundation of Western PA Fr. Kenneth Zaccagnini American Association for Cancer The Birmingham Foundation & Eastern OH Anne Zacharias and Sam S. Zacharias, Research Bishop McCort High School Community Liver Alliance Trustee American Association for the Study BNY Mellon Foundation of Comptec Inc. of Liver Diseases Ornella Pagliano and Hassane M. Southwestern Pennsylvania Conquer Cancer Foundation of the Zarour, MD American Association of Boston Scientific Cardiac Rhythm American Society of Clinical Cristi G. Zavatsky and Joseph M. Immunologists Management Oncology Zavatsky, MD American Cancer Society Inc. Bowser Automotive Inc. Consult USA Jonathan Zdziarski American College of Medical Brain Cancer Awareness 5K, Limited Conti Family Foundation C. James Zeszutek Toxicology Breast Cancer Alliance Cosmich, Simmons & Brown PLLC JingJing Zhang, MD American Diabetes Association Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Cost Company Dandan Zheng American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Brooke High School CPL Architects & Engineers Anton and Janet Zidansek American Foundation for Surgery of BRP US Inc. Crawford Consulting Services Basil J. Zitelli, MD, and Suzanne D. the Hand Bruce E. Dice & Associates PC Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Zitelli America American Heart Association Inc. Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Kathleen Zoldos and Jozef F. CSN Group LLC Zoldos, MD American Lung Association Buckeye Partners LP Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Brian S. Zuckerbraun, MD, and Noel S. American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle The Buncher Company Society Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Zuckerbraun, MD, MPH The Jack Buncher Foundation The American Orthopaedic Society Therapeutics Incorporated for Sports Medicine The Burroughs Wellcome Fund Cystinosis Research Foundation American Parkinson Disease Bye Bye Birdies Damon Runyon Cancer Research Association Inc. Byham Charitable Foundation Foundation American Sleep Medicine Foundation C.F. Roe Slade Foundation Dana C. Wood Revocable Trust American Society for Pharmacology Cabaniss, Johnston, Gardner, Dumas & Daniel and Glenda Root Family and Experimental Therapeutics O’Neal LLP Foundation American Society of Hematology Camelot Communications Group Darger Errante Yavitz & Blau LLP American Society of Nephrology Incorporated Dealers Auto Auction of the Rockies American Textile Company Cancer Data Initiative Deborah A. Walsh Trust American Venous Forum Foundation Carnegie Mellon University DeHay & Elliston LLP Amgen USA Catholic Diocese of Wichita Deloitte The Ann & Frank Cahouet Foundation Celgene Corporation Dempsey Construction Inc.

*BEFORE AN INDIVIDUAL’S NAME INDICATES THE PERSON IS DECEASED 47 DONORS | CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION

Deno F. Barsotti Family Fund Gailliot Family Foundation The Institute for Transfusion Medicine Malady & Wooten Inc. Dermatology Foundation Gallagher Bassett Service Inc. Jacobs & Wallace PLLC Marbury Group Design Alliance GE Foundation Jacqueline E. Bayley Foundation Margaret Hardy Trust Dialysis Clinic Inc. Genentech USA James B. Tafel Trust Margaret L. Stevens Foundation The Walt Disney Company Foundation Genzyme Corporation Jane and Tom Tang Foundation for Mark Foundation for Cancer Research Dollar Bank Foundation Gertrude Blumenschein CRUT Education Markovitz Family Trust Donegal Insurance Group Gertrude E. Hellerman Charitable Janssen Biotech Inc. The Marstine Family Foundation Dorothy L. Lappin Foundation Trust Fund Jennmar Corporation Mascari Warner Dinh Architects Dorsey & Whitney LLP GIST Cancer Research Fund Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Mascaro Construction Company LP Doyle for Congress Committee The Gloria and Thomas R. Kitchen Jewish Healthcare Foundation Massaro Corporation Memorial Foundation Dr. Gordon J. Vanscoy CLAT TR JG Direct Mail Marketing Inc. McElhattan Foundation Goldman Sachs & Company Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP John A Nigro Inc DBA C S Kim Karate McGivney Kluger & Cook PC Gordon & Rees Scully Mansukhani DSF Charitable Foundation John G. Rangos Sr. Family Charitable The McKamish Family Greater Horizons Foundation Easley & Rivers Inc. Medtronic Inc. Greenfish Marketing LLC DBA John H. Jr. and Kathleen J. Pelusi The Raymond and Elizabeth Bloch Wild West Bass Trail Family Foundation MehaffyWeberPC Foundation Grey NY John Nesbit Rees and Sarah Henne Melanoma Research Foundation Elizabeth Equipment Services LLC Griifols Rees Charitable Foundation Memory Finders Elizabeth Louise Glasgow Foundation Harold D Thomas Jr Living Trust Joseph M. Spirer Charitable Lead Mendel E. & Sylvia G. Solomon Emelie Renziehausen Trust Unitrust Charitable Trust HDJ & Associates Inc. Emma Clyde Hodge Memorial Fund JPT Architects PC The Merck Foundation Head For The Cure Foundation Endocrine Society Just Pour It LLC Mesothelioma Applied Research Helen Mendel Survivors Trust Equitrans Midstream Foundation Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Foundation Hemophilia Center of Western Ernst & Young K & I Sheet Metal Inc. Michael Mosier Defeat DIPG Pennsylvania Foundation Ernst & Young Foundation Katherina A. Miller Trust Henderson Brothers Incorporated Microsoft Corporation The Ethel Vincent Charitable Trust The Mary Kay Foundation Henry Clay Frick Rodgers Trust Microvascular Therapeutics LLC Eugene J. Klein and Ruth A. Klein Henry L. Hillman Foundation KCIC LLC In Escrow for Dana Charitable Remainder Trust Companies LLC Mid Atlantic Capital Corporation Heritage Valley Medical Group–31 Extracorporeal Life Support Kelly Family Foundation The Milbank Foundation Highmark Organization Kenmawr Real Estate Investments LP Miscellaneous Anonymous Donor The Hillman Company ExxonMobil Foundation Kenneth Rainin Foundation Montour School District The Hinchman Foundation Eye & Ear Foundation The Klingenstein Third Generation Morby Family Charitable Farrell Family Charitable Foundation Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Foundation Foundation Inc. Cancer Research established by Michael J. Farrell Knights Templar Eye Foundation Inc. Morgan Stanley Global Impact Hoff Enterprises Inc. Funding Trust Federated Investors Inc. Koncept Inc. Holman Webb Lawyers Adelaide Mount Lebanon Travel Hockey Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Koppers Inc. Homestead District Lion Club Association The Fine Foundation Kosanovich Revocable Living Trust Howard Hanna Company Muscular Dystrophy Association Inc. First National Bank of Pennsylvania Kurt J. Lesker Company Hunter Legacy Family Foundation The Nancy Taylor Foundation for Flaherty & O’Hara PC The Kurtz Family Foundation Chronic Diseases Inc. The Huntington National Bank Flight Attendant Medical Research Kyowa Kirin Inc. NARSAD Research Institute Inc. Institute Husch Blackwell LLP The Laerdal Foundation for Acute National Eczema Association Fondation Leducq IBM Employee Services Center Medicine National Organization for Rare Foundation Fighting Blindness Image Associates Inc. Latrobe Specialty Metals Disorders Foundation for Physical Medicine Immucor Laurel Mountain Production LLC National Philanthropic Trust and Rehabilitation Immunomedics Leech Carbide National PKU Alliance Michael J. Fox Foundation for Incyte Corporation Parkinson’s Research Life Sciences Research Foundation National Psoriasis Foundation Inc. Innovative Municipal Products Lilly Oncology NBBJ Francis Family Foundation (US) Inc. Lodi Bass Team NCMIC Foundation Franco Associates LP International Anesthesia Research Frank Calandra Inc. Society Lostritto Family Foundation New Era Cap Foundation Friends of Susan Merison International OCD Foundation Louis and Sandra Berkman Foundation The New York Community Trust Fritz N. Schneider Revocable Trust Interstitial Cystitis Association Love Family Foundation Inc. New York State Amateur Hockey Association Inc. Frontstream of America Inc. Lumbar Spine Research Society Nhk Japan Broadcasting Corp. The Fund for Charitable Giving Involta LLC Lupus Research Alliance Nokia The Futrell Foundation ITW Foundation MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni Inc.

48 Normandy Industries Inc. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. UPMC NSABP Foundation Inc. Roesch Family Charitable Trust Susan G. Komen for the Cure UPMC Enterprises One Hope Foundation Romie Lane Pet Hospital System One Holdings LLC UPMC Pinnacle One Mind for Research Rotary Club of Monroeville Team Beans LLC UPMC Centers for Rehab Services Orthopaedic Research and Education Rucker Family Charitable Trust Team Danielle Urology Care Foundation Foundation Russo’s Marina Inc. Tesaro Usher 1F Collaborative Inc. O’Toole Scrivo Fernandez Weiner The Ruttenberg Family The Bruce & Barbara Wiegand Vanguard Charitable Van Lieu LLC S&T Bank Family Foundation Vascular Cures Oxford Development Company S. Reed Family Charitable Foundation The Cambia Health Foundation Vasculitis Foundation P. J. Dick Incorporated Saiseikai Takaoka Hospital The ChadTough Foundation Vautier Communications Inc. PAA Foundation Salinas Police Officer Association The Cleveland Foundation Verastem Oncology PACS1 Syndrome Research Foundation Samuel and Emma Winters Foundation TheCM Group Vertical Solutions Inc. Parkinson’s Disease Foundation Sarcoma Foundation of America Inc. The Community Foundation of VitalTalk Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition Harrisonburg and Schwab Charitable Fund Volpatt Construction Corporation People-Centered Research Foundation Rockingham County Scleroderma Foundation von Briesen & Roper, s.c. Pharmacyclics LLC The Design Alliance Architects Searle Scholars Program Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease LLP Philip V. & Anna S. Brown Foundation The Doug and Carol Goin Family Serving Other Souls Foundation W. L. Gore & Associates Inc. PhRMA Foundation Shady Lady Studio LTD The Giorgio Foundation Wabtec Corporation Pirates Charities Shear Family Foundation The Karp Family Foundation Wabtec Foundation Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey League Shell Oil Company Foundation The Legacy of Angels Foundation Walnut Capital Management Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine Foundation ShellyLyons Public Affairs & The Leigh Tison Charitable Trust Watson Chevrolet Communications Pittsburgh Magazine The Leo And Anne Albert Watters’ Enterprises Inc. Shirley Hobbs Martin Memorial Fund Charitable Trust Pittsburgh Penguins Wayne Fusaro Pancreatic Cancer Shirlie and Owen Siegel Foundation The Pittsburgh Foundation Research Fund Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation The Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds The T. Rowe Price Program for Western Pennsylvania School for Pittsburgh Pirates Foundation Inc. Charitable Giving the Deaf Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Simons Foundation The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust Westmoreland ICS LLC Pittsburgh Steelers LLC Sinars Slowikowski Tomaska LLC Thompson Hine LLP Wheeler Family Charitable Foundation Plastic Surgery Foundation Mark Sindler Law Thompson Public School Whitehall Foundation Incorporated District No. 61 PMCenters USA & Consult USA Slagle Family Foundation The Whiting-Turner Contracting PNC Charitable Trust The Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Company Smail Auto Group Research & Education PNC Financial Services Group WiesnerMedia LLC Smith & Nephew Inc. TIAA Charitable Inc. Incorporated William C. Alexander & Company Snyder Associated Companies Inc. Tina’s Wish Pond North LLP The Woiner Foundation The William I. and Patricia S. Snyder The Tippins Foundation PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Foundation Woodings Industrial Corporation Promobilia Foundation Titusville Elks Lodge No. 264 of the The Society for the Psychological Study Benevolent & Protective Order of Worrell Corporation Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation of Social Issues Elks of the USA Wyoming Way LLC DBA Coughlin’s Law Pyrotechnic Management Inc. Society for Vascular Surgery Tom W. Olofson Family Foundation XVIVO Perfusion R & D Watters Septic Service Inc. Solot and Karp Family Foundation Toyama Prefectural Central Hospital Youman & Caputo LLC R. P. Simmons Family Foundation The Frank E. Rath Spang & Company TriState Capital Bank YourCause LLC Charitable Trust Raymond James Charitable The Trivedi Family Foundation The E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation Specter Perpetual Charitable Trust RCG Fight Management Truck Insurance Exchange The Zoll Foundation Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP Reinecke Family Charitable Tucker Ellis LLP Foundation St. Clair Hospital Turftenders Inc. Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc. St. John’s Lutheran Church UBS Donor Advised Fund RenovaCare Inc. Sunday School Every effort has been made to ensure United Initiative to Cure Brain Cancer the accuracy of these records. Any errors Research to Prevent Blindness Stanley M. Marks Blood Cancer Research Fund Foundation or omissions may be brought to the Rheumatology Research Foundation The Stanley Medical Research Institute United Way of Greater Atlanta attention of the University of Pittsburgh Ri.MED Foundation Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement’s Steelers Charities United Way of Greater Philadelphia Richard King Mellon Foundation and Southern New Jersey Donor Relations and Stewardship: Stephen & Julia Harmelin Family 412-624-8247 or [email protected] Rizza Engineering Inc. Foundation United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania RM Creative The Stephen A. Cullinan Trust United Way of the Capital Region Robert I. Glimcher Family Foundation Agreement

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 49 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

DEANS INSTITUTES AND CENTERS DEPARTMENTS

SENIOR VICE CHANCELLOR FOR THE HEALTH AGING INSTITUTE DEPARTMENT OF ANESTHESIOLOGY AND PERIOPERATIVE MEDICINE SCIENCES AND JOHN AND GERTRUDE PETERSEN DIRECTOR: Toren Finkel, MD, PhD DEAN OF MEDICINE: Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD CHAIR: Aman Mahajan, MD, PhD, MBA VICE DEAN: Ann E. Thompson, MD, MCCM EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Mark E. Hudson, MD, MBA BRAIN INSTITUTE VICE CHAIRS: SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR: Peter L. Strick, PhD ASSOCIATE DEANS PhD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Arthur S. Levine, MD Basic Science — Yan Xu, Academic Affairs — Saleem Khan, PhD Clinical Operations—Mark E. Hudson, MD, MBA Admissions and Financial Aid —Beth M. Piraino, MD Clinical Research — Jonathan H. Waters, MD CENTER FOR MILITARY MEDICINE RESEARCH Continuing Medical Education —Barbara E. Faculty Affairs and Education — David Metro, MD DIRECTOR: Ronald K. Poropatich, MD Barnes, MD, MS Pain Medicine — Ajay D. Wasan, MD, MSc Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Student Affairs — Professional Development — Chenits Pettigrew, EdD CENTER FOR VACCINE RESEARCH Tetsuro Sakai, MD, PhD, MHA Faculty Affairs — Joseph E. Losee, MD DIRECTOR: W. Paul Duprex, PhD

Faculty Development — Ora A. Weisz, PhD DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS Global Health Education and Medical Student CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL CHAIR: Michael J. Becich, MD, PhD Research — Peter J. Veldkamp, MD, MS SCIENCE INSTITUTE VICE CHAIR: Gregory F. Cooper, MD, PhD Graduate Medical Education — Gregory M. Bump, MD DIRECTOR: Steven E. Reis, MD Graduate Studies — John P. Horn, PhD DEPARTMENT OF CARDIOTHORACIC SURGERY Learning Environment — Evelyn C. Reis, MD DRUG DISCOVERY INSTITUTE Medical Education — Jason Rosenstock, MD CHAIR: James D. Luketich, MD DIRECTOR: D. Lansing Taylor, PhD Medical Scientist Training Program — VICE CHAIRS: Richard A. Steinman, MD, PhD Benign Lung Diseases — Pablo Sanchez, MD, PhD Medical Student Research — Donald B. DeFranco, PhD INSTITUTE FOR CLINICAL Cardiovascular Services—Victor O. Morell, MD RESEARCH EDUCATION Postdoctoral Affairs — Darlene F. Zellers, PhD Clinical Affairs — Inderpal Sarkaria, MD DIRECTOR: Doris Rubio, PhD Student Affairs — Alda Maria Gonzaga, MD, MS Women’s Health Research and Reproductive DEPARTMENT OF CELL BIOLOGY Sciences — Yoel Sadovsky, MD INSTITUTE FOR PRECISION MEDICINE CHAIR: Alexander D. Sorkin, PhD DIRECTOR: Adrian Lee, PhD VICE CHAIR: Simon C. Watkins, PhD ASSISTANT DEANS Admissions — Kanchan H. Rao, MD MAGEE-WOMENS RESEARCH INSTITUTE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTATIONAL AND Clinical Education — Raquel A. Buranosky, MD, MPH DIRECTOR: Yoel Sadovsky, MD SYSTEMS BIOLOGY Human-Based Simulation Education — CHAIR: Ivet Bahar, PhD Reed Van Deusen, MD, MS McGOWAN INSTITUTE FOR VICE CHAIRS: Learning Environment — Wendy Mars, PhD REGENERATIVE MEDICINE Educational Programs — James R. Faeder, PhD Medical Education — Cynthia Lance-Jones, PhD DIRECTOR: William R. Wagner, PhD Faculty Affairs — Panayiotis V. (Takis) Benos, PhD Medical Education Technology — James B. McGee, MD PITTSBURGH INSTITUTE FOR DEPARTMENT OF CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE Medical Scientist Training Program — NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES CHAIR: Derek C. Angus, MD, MPH JoAnne L. Flynn, PhD; DIRECTOR: J. Timothy Greenamyre, MD, PhD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Rachel Sackrowitz, MD, MBA Satdarshan S. (Paul) Monga, MD Medical Student Research — VICE CHAIRS: THOMAS E. STARZL TRANSPLANTATION INSTITUTE Judy C. Chang, MD, MPH; Brad Dicianno, Academic Affairs — Jeremy M. Kahn, MD, MS MD, MS; John R. Fowler Jr., MD; Janel SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR: Fadi G. Lakkis, MD Clinical Affairs and Quality Improvement — Hanmer, MD, PhD; Rebecca P. Hughey, PhD; Scott Gunn, MD Cynthia Lance-Jones, PhD UPMC HILLMAN CANCER CENTER Education — Lori Shutter, MD Veterans Affairs — Ali F. Sonel, MD DIRECTOR: Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD Faculty Development — Douglas White, MD, MAS Pediatric Critical Care — Robert Clark, MD Research — John Kellum, MD VASCULAR MEDICINE INSTITUTE Resuscitation Research — Patrick Kochanek, MD DIRECTOR: Stephen Chan, MD, PhD VICE CHAIR — Sachin Yende, MD, MS VICE CHAIR EMERITUS — Michael Pinsky, MD

50 DEPARTMENT OF DERMATOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGICAL SURGERY DEPARTMENT OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY CHAIR: Louis D. Falo Jr., MD, PhD CHAIR: Robert M. Friedlander, MD, MA CHAIR: Freddie H. Fu, MD, DSci (Hon), DPs (Hon) EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Surgical Services — EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRS: Paul Gardner, MD DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY Clinical Services — William Donaldson III, MD CHAIR: VICE CHAIRS: Cecilia Lo, PhD VICE CHAIRS: Academic Affairs — Ian F. Pollack, MD VICE CHAIR: Neil Hukriede, PhD Clinical Outcomes Research — James Irrgang, PhD Quality Improvement — Peter C. Gerszten, MD, MPH Community Outreach — Mark E. Baratz, MD Research — C. Edward Dixon, PhD DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE Education — MaCalus Hogan, MD UPMC Central PA — Raymond Sekula, MD, MBA CHAIR: Donald M. Yealy, MD Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery — W. Timothy Ward, MD UPMC Community Medicine — Joseph C. Maroon, MD Quality Management — Adolph Yates, MD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRS: Translational Research — Kurt R. Weiss, MD Clifton W. Callaway, MD, PhD DEPARTMENT OF NEUROLOGY Community Emergency Medicine — DEPUTY VICE CHAIR: INTERIM CHAIR: David A. Lewis, MD Richard J. Wadas, MD Orthopaedic Research — Nam Vo, PhD INTERIM EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Kenneth C. Nash, MD​ VICE CHAIRS: VICE CHAIRS: Clinical Operations — Charissa B. Pacella, MD DEPARTMENT OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY Academic Affairs — J. Timothy Greenamyre, MD, PhD Community Clinical Operations — CHAIR: Jonas T. Johnson, MD Education—Laurie Knepper, MD Marek A. Radomski, DO VICE CHAIRS: Research — Steven H. Graham, MD, PhD Compliance and Medical Documentation — Clinical Operations — Eric Wang, MD Safety and Quality — Partha Thirumala, MD F. Richard Heath, MD Education — Melonie Nance, MD Veterans Affairs — Paula R. Clemens, MD Education — Allan B. Wolfson, MD Quality and Patient Safety — Patient Safety and Quality — Paul E. Phrampus, MD Carl H. Snyderman, MD, MBA DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS, GYNECOLOGY, Research — Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD AND REPRODUCTIVE SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE CHAIR: Robert P. Edwards, MD INTERIM CHAIR: Marshall W. Webster, MD DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: MD Tracey Conti, CHAIR: George K. Michalopoulos, MD, PhD Obstetrical Services — Hyagriv Simhan, MD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRS: VICE CHAIRS: DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNOLOGY Anatomic Pathology — Samuel A. Yousem, MD Clinical Operations — John Fisch, MD CHAIR: Mark J. Shlomchik, MD, PhD Laboratory Medicine — Alan Wells, MD, DMSc Community Practices — David Badway, MD VICE CHAIR: Dario A.A. Vignali, PhD Diversity — Alexander Olawaiye, MD VICE CHAIRS: Education — Gabriella Gosman, MD Entrepreneurial and International Affairs — DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE Faculty Affairs — Sharon Hillier, PhD Rajiv Dhir, MD CHAIR: Mark T. Gladwin, MD Faculty Affairs — Isabelle Wilkins,MD Experimental Pathology — EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIRS: Gynecological Services — Harold Wiesenfeld, MD Satdarshan S. (Paul) Monga, MD Academic Affairs —Christopher O’Donnell, PhD Gynecologic Specialty Services and Referral Medical Education — Marie DeFrances, MD, PhD Clinical Affairs — Michael Donahoe, MD Physician Relations — John Comerci, MD Molecular and Genomic Pathology — Research — Yoel Sadovsky, MD Yuri Nikiforov, MD, PhD VICE CHAIRS: Clinical Research — Oliver Eickelberg, MD Diversity and Inclusion — Naudia Jonassaint, MD, MHS DEPARTMENT OF OPHTHALMOLOGY Education — Melissa A. McNeil, MD, MPH CHAIR: José-Alain Sahel, MD Departments continued Faculty Development — Ora A. Weisz, PhD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Veterans Affairs — Patrick J. Strollo Jr., MD Global, Clinical, and International — Ken Nischal, MD

VICE CHAIRS: DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY Clinical Operations (including Quality and Clinical AND MOLECULAR GENETICS Research) — Vishal Jhanji, MD CHAIR: Thomas E. Smithgall, PhD Digital Ophthalmology — Kunal Dansingani, MD Education — Evan L. Waxman, MD, PhD DEPARTMENT OF NEUROBIOLOGY Inpatient Care — S. Tonya Stefko, MD CHAIR: Peter L. Strick, PhD Patient Experience and Access — Joseph Martel, MD, PHD Research — Jeffrey Gross, PhD

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 51 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Departments continued DEPARTMENT OF PLASTIC SURGERY CREDITS CHAIR: J. Peter Rubin, MD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Joseph E. Losee, MD VICE CHAIR: Research — Kacey G. Marra, PhD DEPARTMENT OF PEDIATRICS This report was produced by the Office of Academic CHAIR: Terence Dermody, MD and Global Affairs, Health Sciences. DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY VICE CHAIRS: CHAIR: David A. Lewis, MD Margaret C. McDonald, PhD, MFA Basic Research — Carl Bates, MD VICE CHAIR: Clinical Affairs — Kenneth C. Nash, MD Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Clinical Affairs — Jeffrey Rudolph, MD and Global Affairs Clinical Research — Alejandro Hoberman, MD DEPARTMENT OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY Lisa Lorence Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — Loreta Matheo, MD CHAIR: Joel S. Greenberger, MD Director of Academic Programs Education — Noel Zuckerbraun, MD Faculty Development — Dena Hofkosh, MD, MEd International Affairs — A. Kim Ritchey, MD DEPARTMENT OF RADIOLOGY STAFF CHAIR: Jules Sumkin, DO Michele Baum ASSOCIATE VICE CHAIRS: EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Mitchell Tublin, MD Brandon Copp-Millward Clinical Affairs — Gaurav Arora,MD Keith Gillogly, MA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — VICE CHAIRS: Megan Hall, MPPM Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, MD, MPH Clinical and Academic Affairs — Mitchell Tublin, MD Robert Mendelson Education — Sunder Sims-Lucas, PhD Clinical and Translational Imaging Research — Maureen Passmore, MA, MFA Education — Arvind Srinath, MD, MS Ashok Panigrahy, MD Teekie Smith, MSW Faculty Development — Erika Friehling, MD Community Radiology — Kevin Auerbach, MD Cathy Steinitz Faculty Development — Rick Saladino, MD Education — Vikas Agarwal, MD William Tanner Faculty Development — Melissa Tavarez, MD Faculty Affairs — Frank Lexa,MD , MBA Quality Assurance and Strategic Special production assistance was provided by Development — Margarita Zuley, MD DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY AND Jaime Doswell and Karen Steffey, Office of Faculty CHEMICAL BIOLOGY Affairs, School of Medicine, and Rebecca Fink, CHAIR: Bruce A. Freeman, PhD DEPARTMENT OF STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement, University VICE CHAIRS: CHAIR: Angela Gronenborn, PhD of Pittsburgh. Academics — Sruti Shiva, PhD Biotechnology Development — DEPARTMENT OF SURGERY University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Francisco J. Schopfer, PhD CHAIR: Timothy R. Billiar, MD 401 Alan Magee Scaife Hall Faculty Affairs — Michael J. Palladino, PhD EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Andrew B. Peitzman, MD 3550 Terrace Street Graduate Education — Tija C. Jacob, PhD ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE VICE CHAIR: Brian S. Zuckerbraun, MD Medical Education — Donald B. DeFranco, PhD Pittsburgh, PA 15261 VICE CHAIRS: Precision and Translational Pharmacology — Academic Training — Matthew R. Rosengart, MD, MPH 412-648-8975 Steffi Oesterreich, PhD Clinical Services— Andrew B. Peitzman, MD www.medschool.pitt.edu Research — Ferruccio Galbiati, PhD Diversity and Inclusion — Emilia J. Diego, MD Research Operations — Edwin S. Levitan, PhD The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, Graduate Medical Education — Kenneth K. W. Lee, MD equal opportunity institution. Quality Integration — Jennifer Holder-Murray, MD DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE Research (Faculty)—Michael T. Lotze, MD AND REHABILITATION Surgical Oncology Services—Amer H. Zureikat, MD CHAIR: Gwendolyn A. Sowa, MD, PhD

VICE CHAIRS: DEPARTMENT OF UROLOGY Clinical Outcomes and Quality Care — CHAIR: Joel B. Nelson, MD Amy Houtrow, MD, PhD, MPH Faculty Development — Amy K. Wagner, MD VICE CHAIRS: Medical Education — Wendy Helkowski, MD Clinical Operations — Ronald M. Benoit, MD Outpatient Services —Christopher Standaert, MD Pediatric Urology — Glenn Cannon, MD Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine— Vice Chair — Stephen V. Jackman, MD Amy Houtrow, MD, PhD, MPH Research — Brad Dicianno, MD Strategic Planning and Development — Michael Munin, MD

52 PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ILLUSTRATORS John Altdorfer, page 46 Francesco Ciccolella, pages IFC, 25, 37 BOARD OF VISITORS (as of December 2020) Ariella Coler-Reilly, page 10 Ada daSilva, page 9 Joshua Franzos, pages 8 (top), 24 Alessandro Gottardo, page 15 Robert J. Alpern, MD Klaus Kremmerz, cover Ensign Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and Professor of Cellular and Erica Lansner, pages 1 (right), 38 Molecular Physiology, Yale School of Medicine Elan Mizrahi, page 3 Aimee Obidzinski/University of Pittsburgh, Jeffrey R. Balser, MD, PhD President and CEO, Vanderbilt University Medical Center pages 4–5, 21 Dean, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Rob Rogers, page 28 Gabrielle Rovegno/The Washington Post, page 18 Edward J. Benz Jr., MD Harriet Russell, pages 23, 33 (bottom right) President and Chief Executive Officer Emeritus, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Maria Zaikina, pages 27, 32, 35 Emery Neal Brown, MD, PhD Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering, Institute for Medical Engineering OTHER IMAGES COURTESY OF: and Science; Professor of Computational Neuroscience, Picower Institute for Learning Pages 1 (left), 13, 34: Getty Images and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute Page 6, 8 (bottom): University of Pittsburgh of Technology Page 7: Boris Birmaher (left) and Timothy Girard (right) Dennis S. Charney, MD Page 10: Ariella Coler-Reilly, c.design Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Professor of Psychiatry, of Neuroscience, Page 11: UPMC and of Pharmacological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Page 16: Stephanie Varelas President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System Page 17: Joe Murphy Page 22 (lower left): Julia Knight Julie A. Freischlag, MD Chief Executive Officer, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Page 22: Camille Davis (top left), Victoria Humphrey (top right) J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD Page 26: NASA Executive Vice President, University of Pennsylvania for the Health System; Page 31: Ivet Bahar Dean, Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Page 33 (top left and middle): Kacey Marra Page 36: Fadi Lakkis and Martin Oberbarnscheidt Steven L. Kanter, MD Page 43: John Tippins President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Academic Health Centers

Primary photography was taken prior to the Mary E. Klotman, MD pandemic. New photography was taken following Dean and Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, and R. J. Reynolds Professor, mandatory physical-distancing and face-covering Duke University protocols. Vivian S. Lee, MD, PhD, MBA President, Health Platforms, Verily Life Sciences

Lloyd B. Minor, MD Designed by Landesberg Design, Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean, School of Medicine; Pittsburgh, Pa. Professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, of Bioengineering, The report is printed on environmentally and of Neurobiology, Stanford University responsible, FSC Domtar Cougar paper. Arthur H. Rubenstein, MBBCh Printing by RR Donnelley, Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Pittsburgh, Pa. Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Jack D. Smith, MD Director of Orthopedics, Excela Health; Chair, Excela Health Orthopedic Surgery

Allen M. Spiegel, MD Dean Emeritus, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 2020 Annual Report 53 medschool.pitt.edu

p. 17

With the cancellation of most in-person events during the COVID-19 pandemic, the School of Medicine has reinvented how it celebrates its traditional milestone events.