Mark Roberts Appointed HPM Chair 2010 Dean’s Day Winners Foster Community Lecture Comparative effectiveness expert will boost GSPH’s Student research shines in Annual Alzheimer’s disease health-reform credentials. PAGE 16 annual competition. PAGE 15 forum educates caregivers. PAGE 19 The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health • Summer 2010 community outreach at gsph in this ISSUE 12 GSPH STUDENTS AWARDED GLOBAL TRAVEL GRANTS A Publication of the University of Pittsburgh COMMUNITY Graduate School of Public Health OUTREACH SUMMER 2010 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AT GSPH Linda Fletcher CIRCULATION MANAGER Jill Ruempler 6 DESIGN Mizrahi, Inc. PRINTING Hoechstetter DEPARTMENTS GSPH GRAD FOR INQUIRIES, FEEDBACK,OR NAMED COMMENTS, PLEASE CONTACT: 1 Message from the Dean Linda Fletcher SCHWEITZER 412-624-6325 2 Alumni News FELLOW [email protected] 12 Student News 16 Faculty News 18 Events PublicHealth Quarterly is published 24 Development four times per year for the alumni and friends of the University of Pittsburgh 25 Photo of the Quarter Graduate School of Public Health. PublicHealth Quarterly is printed on recycled paper using vegetable- 13 based inks. A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN DONALD S. BURKE, MD Over my career I have had the privilege of working with an incredibly diverse set of communities, ranging from upcountry Thai rice farmers to East coast urban gay activists to Congo jungle dwelling bush- This photo is one of my personal favorites and also represents community engagement. It was taken in a meat hunters to US Army battalion and village in the West Province of Cameroon. I am dancing with the village women in a celebration to mark the brigade commanders. In every instance beginning of a study of animal to human cross-species transmission of AIDS-like viruses. I have discovered that persons outside the health professions do genuinely care about health. Perhaps more importantly, In this all we have a very supportive partner with the new partnerships between GSPH in every instance I have met people who at the University level. The Clinical and and CTSI. You can read about them on are thoughtful, helpful, and down-right Translational Science Institute (CTSI) page 8. amazingly smart! I have always come away facilitates the translation of biomedical with a deeper understanding of the issue, research advances into clinical and public Speaking of cross-school relationships, even on topics where I considered myself health practice and policy—bridging the this issue also contains news about the to be “the expert.” Community engagement gap between research and community- appointment of Mark Roberts as chair isn’t just a box to check, nor a lip-service based practice. Specific aims of CTSI’s of the Department of Health Policy & ritual. It is an essential step in problem Community PARTners Program are to: Management. Mark comes to us from definition and planning for all meaningful the School of Medicine and is an expert in • engage community members in clinical public health research. data-driven health care decision-making research studies and the development and modeling. Cost containment through of clinical and translational research So the theme of this issue, community smarter treatment is more vital than ever agendas. outreach, is a natural for GSPH. Through in this era of health care reform, and Mark’s our integrated programs in education, • motivate health professionals to expertise will position the department research, and service, GSPH generates participate in evidence-based practice and the school as a leader in the kind of the evidence-based knowledge that that fosters the translation of research comparative effectiveness research that drives effective public health practice findings, to aid in the recruitment of policy makers will rely on as we progress and improves the management of health study participants, and to conduct toward making sure more citizens have interventions. Our school is home to clinical research. access to health care. centers and programs that reach out to the • encourage investigators to advance elderly, to school children, to those who This issue portrays some of the novel clinical and translational research by care for the environment, and those who approaches to community outreach being participating in education and communi- provide health care to people with HIV and taken here at GSPH and Pitt more broadly. cations initiatives with community AIDS. And by embracing community-based I think you will enjoy reading it. members and health professionals. participatory research, we bring together scientists, community leaders, and citizens, all of whom benefit from the insights gained One of my key goals when I became dean through the process. was to strengthen the relationship between the Graduate School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, and other academic partners at Pitt, so I am extremely pleased PUBLIC HEALTH QUARTERLY • SUMMER 2010 1 ALUMNInews ANNUAL GSPH ALUMNI AWARDS Each year, the GSPH Alumni Society bestows two awards upon deserving alumni. The Distinguished Alumni Award is given annually to alumni who have made a significant contribution to the field of public health. This year’s awardees are: Madalon O’Rawe Amenta, DrPH ’78, MPH ’68 Health Services Administration/Public Health Nursing Madalon O’Rawe Amenta dedicated her Some of her many professional honors career to community nursing. She was include the Heart of Hospice Award from most recently the executive director of the National Hospice Organization in 1998; the Hospice Nurses Association and the National Hospice Organization President’s National Board for Certification of Hospice Award of Excellence for a publication in the Nurses. She has also served as editor of The Hospice Staff Training and Development Hospice Journal, the scholarly publication of Category for the manual Quality Assurance the National Hospice Organization. She has for Hospice Patient Care, 1988; American taught community health nursing at Penn Journal of Nursing Book of the Year in the State and the University of Pittsburgh Gerontologic Nursing Category for Nursing Madalon Amenta accepts her Distinguished School of Nursing. Care of the Terminally Ill, 1986; the Yale Alumni Award from GSPH Alumni Society president Eric Hulsey. University School of Nursing Distinguished Amenta was the founder and chair of Alumna Award, 1982; and the Leading the the executive steering committee of the Way Award from the Hospice and Palliative Pennsylvania Hospice Network in 1979–80. Nurses Association, 2005. She convened and set the agenda for the founding meeting and guided the organization through by-laws drafting and acceptance, membership development, incorporation, and election of the first board of directors. She was subsequently elected president of the network and served in that capacity until 1983. 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Ronald Kathren, MSc ’62 Ronald Kathren was unable Radiation Health to attend the Alumni Dinner, so his long-time friend and colleague Ronald L. Kathren is professor emeritus Allen Brodsky ’66 (and of pharmaceutical sciences at Washington 2004 Distinguished Alumni State University and president of The Award Winner) accepted Kathren Group, Inc., a safety and health on his behalf. Brodsky brought a photo of physics consulting firm formed in 1999. Kathren to share with the He earned his undergraduate degree at assembled dinner guests. the University of California, Los Angeles in 1957. His career has greatly influenced radiation management policies at the local and national levels. Clareann Bunker, PhD ’84 Among his many honors are the Elda Epidemiology E. Anderson Award for outstanding contributions to health physics; the Health Clareann Bunker is an associate professor health studies are the establishment of a Physics Society Founders Award; the Arthur in the GSPH Department of Epidemiology. cohort of Nigerian civil servants in the early F. Humm, Jr. Award of the National Registry She joined GSPH in 1981 as a graduate 1990’s to study cardiovascular disease. of Radiation Protection Technologists; student assistant after earning her MPH The study has been expanded to study the Herbert M. Parker Award from the at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene osteoporosis, and breast and prostate Columbia Chapter of the Health Physics and Public Health. She pursued her PhD, cancer. Bunker also established a popula- Society; and election to Delta Omega graduating in 1984. She was awarded her tion-based cohort of approximately 3,000 and the Society of Sigma Xi. In 1995, he first research grant from the National men from the island of Tobago to study was named Hartman Medalist and Orator Institutes of Health in 1985. Her honors prostate cancer. This cohort study was by the Radiology Centennial and was include 1980 election to Delta Omega, the expanded by several additional research the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished national public health honor society; and grants to study musculoskeletal disease Scientific Achievement Award of the Health 1984 selection as a University Scholar at with a particular focus on genetics, and to Physics Society. the University of Pittsburgh. establish new cohorts including a family study and a study of older women. Kathren has authored or co-authored more Bunker has published more than 100 than 170 articles in the refereed scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. Her More recently, the Tobago study has a new literature, numerous technical reports research has focused on global health