Accolades

Jamie Hanson, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and research scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC), is the recipient of the 2019 American Psychological Foundation Robert L. Fantz Memorial Award.

The Fantz Award recognizes young researchers in psychology who have accomplished basic scientific research or scholarly writing in perceptual-cognitive development and the development of selective attention, and have investigated and written about the development of individuality, creativity and free-choice of behavior.

Hanson’s research focuses on how children and adolescents learn about their environments, how early life stressors impact their developing brains, and how brain changes can result in negative outcomes. His program consists of working with families, collecting data, connecting with communities and sharing information about brain and behavioral development.

Peter Strick, founding scientific director of the University of Pittsburgh's Brain Institute, was selected for a 2019 Krieg Cortical Kudos Discoverer Award in recognition of his contributions to the understanding of the cortical circuits involved in motor control.

He was presented the award by the Society for Neuroscience at the Cajal Club in Chicago. Each year, neuroscientists at senior, intermediate and beginning stages in their careers are honored by the society for outstanding research on the structure and connections of the cerebral cortex. 

Strick’s research focuses on four major areas: the generation and control of voluntary movement by the motor areas of the cerebral cortex; the motor and cognitive functions of the basal ganglia and cerebellum; the neural basis for the mind-body connection; and unraveling the complex neural networks that comprise the central nervous system.

Janice Pringle, founder and director of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy Program Evaluation and Research Unit, will receive the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation’s Excellence in Patient Care Award.

Pringle will be recognized for her work, which has helped to make a difference in Blair County, Pennsylvania. Pringle’s research helped combat opioid abuse and improved individual and population health outcomes in the county.

Pringle is also a professor of pharmacy and therapeutics in Pitt’s School of Pharmacy. Her research has helped develop health care policy research and briefs that have been used to inform policy development at both the state and federal levels.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine is the first dental school in the nation to establish opioid-free pain management guidelines for the vast majority of procedures performed in all of its clinics. The guidelines advocate that clinicians prescribe non-opioid pain-relievers first whenever possible.

The Appalachian corridor, which includes Western Pennsylvania, is a hot zone for opioid addiction. With deaths occurring every day from opioid abuse, and costs of rehabilitation care approaching $90,000 per hospitalization, deliberate strategies to minimize dental pain after treatment and eliminate the need for opioid pain relievers are now available to combat this public health crisis in the Appalachian region. 

“Pitt Dental Medicine is leading the way with the adoption of this new protocol by teaching our students and residents the best way to manage pain effectively without the unnecessary risk of opioid dependence,” said Bernard J. Costello dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “When these trainees move on to other practices, they’ll take these opioid-free guidelines with them.

The Healthy Lifestyle Institute (HLI) hosted its second annual summit on Friday, Dec. 6 on the Pittsburgh campus. The summit consisted of presentations and updates from researchers across campus on their work to transform lifestyle research into health and wellbeing for people in all stages of life.

Housed within the School of Education, HLI was founded in 2017 with a mission “to develop, translate and implement health and wellness programs” for the Pitt community and around the Pittsburgh region.

At the summit, HLI’s founding director John Jakicic (EDUC ’95G), introduced HLI’s Schools on the Move initiative, which will provide grants to support innovative physical activity programming at 43 K-12 schools in the Pittsburgh area.

“We’re asking teachers to get creative. We’re not just providing schools with basketballs and nets,” said Jakicic, who also serves as chair of the Department of Health, Physical Activity, and Exercise in the School of Education. “We’re really interested in seeing how these projects unfold.”

Nurse researcher and faculty member Grace Campbell (SOC WK ’85G, NURS ’94,’13G) is among an elite group of nurses included in the inaugural cohort of fellows of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses (ARN). 

Campbell is one of fewer than 20 nurses from across the United States who were selected for this inaugural cohort of fellows. Nurses were selected based on their leadership in rehabilitation nursing, as well as contributions, service and commitment to the specialty and the ARN. 

Campbell’s research focuses on the impact of chronic disorders on physical function and developing behavioral interventions to improve physical function. She is specifically interested in fall risk and fall prevention in individuals who are chronically ill, including those who are stroke and cancer patients. 

Catherine Palmer, associate professor in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders at Pitt, has been approved for a $2.23 million funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to study hearing aids’ role in participation in senior communities.

Through this three-year award, Palmer and her team in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) will find out if people are more satisfied with their social participation when more hearing support is available, and if people with hearing loss find their quality of life improves when they have access to hearing help more frequently.

Palmer’s study was selected for PCORI funding through a highly competitive review process in which patients, clinicians and other stakeholders joined clinical scientists to evaluate the proposals. Applications were assessed for scientific merit, how well they will engage patients and other stakeholders and their methodological rigor among other criteria.

Palmer is also director of the SHRS Audiology Program, director of the Center for Audiology and Hearing Aids at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the current president of the American Academy of Audiology. Other Pitt researchers who will work with Palmer in this study include audiology associate professor Elaine Mormer, occupational therapy associate professor Natalie Leland and physical therapy professor Charity Patterson.

The University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have been selected to create the National Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Family Support. 

Through a $4.3 million grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the center will serve as a national hub that leverages state-of-the-art research to improve the care, health and quality of life of all persons with disabilities and the families who support them.

The center, which builds upon 30-plus years of Pitt’s efforts in support of caregiving, is directed by Heidi Donovan, professor in the School of Nursing’s Department of Health and Community Systems; Scott Beach, interim director and director of survey research of the University Center for Social and Urban Research; and Bambang Parmanto, professor and chair of Pitt’s Department of Health Information Management in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

“The need nationwide for this center is huge. Despite the important role that caregivers provide to our health system, there are still gaps in knowledge in the field of family caregiving,” said Gabriela Prudencio, Hunt Research Director at the National Alliance for Caregiving. “Pitt and UPMC bring over 30 years of extensive research experience in this field and have been leveraging key relationships to translate research into programs and policies.”

Lia Winter (ENGR ’17) was recently a finalist in the 2019 Collegiate Inventors Competition. 

Winter’s entry is a trademarked patent of hers, the EasyWhip, a double-loop stitching apparatus that leverages removable, connected needle portions, resulting in a new whip stitching method that improves graft accuracy, reduces the need for costly revision surgeries and provides better overall outcomes for patients.

While studying bioengineering at Pitt for her undergrad work, she also volunteered in cancer research at the former Pitt Summer Academy, investigating the use of native immune cells to induce cell-mediated autophagy as a cancer therapy.