Media Relations UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences  

This month marks the return of the Hard Head Patrol, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC’s annual community-based program aimed at educating children of all ages on the importance of wearing helmets while riding anything on wheels.

Intensive care units (ICUs) that have no or limited access to critical care doctors during the day can improve patient outcomes by having the specialists, called intensivists, staff the unit at night.

Colorectal cancer screening is effective at preventing cancer from developing in the left and right colon, and also prevents death due to the disease, according to the first U.S. endoscopic screening study.

Certain video games may be useful tools for psychological and physical therapy, according to University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers.

Medical experts and technologists from around the world will discuss the rapidly changing field of telemedicine, or eHealth, and examine best practices in applying this technology to improve both access to and the quality of patient care.

Amy Houtrow, M.D., M.P.H., an expert in the care of children with disabilities, has been named the new chief of the Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

UPMC CancerCenter, partner with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), has been recognized for its high quality by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Certification Program (QOPI).

A small, external bioreactor holding human cells pumped out an anti-inflammatory protein to prevent organ damage and other complications in a rat with acute inflammation caused by bacterial products in a model of sepsis.

A daylong symposium will focus on research that suggests early identification and intervention may positively influence outcomes in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

This conference will focus on the early phases of psychosis, given findings that suggest early identification and intervention may favorably influence outcomes in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.

Special advanced ultrasound images of the heart to determine the ideal location for implanting a biventricular pacemaker’s left ventricular lead can reduce the rates of death or hospitalization for some heart failure patients.

UPMC’s financial strength through the first nine months of fiscal year 2012 allows the region’s largest health care provider to serve the needs of the community while continuing to re-invest in the region.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the School of Medicine have now identified a molecule activated by this virus that, in animal studies, could be targeted to selectively kill the tumor cells.

Kidney complications during hospitalization are as frequent and as dangerous to patients as heart attacks, and the medical community must implement recently developed guidelines to better detect and respond to the problem.

UPMC’s Heart and Vascular Institute will offer free blood pressure, body mass index, cholesterol and blood glucose testing as part of its ongoing community outreach effort known as Check Your Heart.

The detection of certain gene abnormalities in the blood or tumor tissue of prostate cancer patients can predict the likelihood of relapse, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Two scientists from Harvard Medical School who have made important contributions to inducing tolerance of transplanted organs will receive the 2012 Thomas E. Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology.

10th Annual Girls on the Run 5K for girls in grades 3 to 8; 3rd Annual Kids Ribbon Race is a 50-yard dash for girls 7 years old and younger.

UPMC is inviting job-seekers in the Pittsburgh area to a job fair May 17 through 19 at 6425 Penn Ave., Bakery Square, Larimer.

Feet, muscles and bones take a tremendous pounding from hundreds of miles of training and then racing in a marathon such as Sunday’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, but little is known about how the heart reacts.

Day-long health fair for area seniors who will receive free evaluations including blood pressure, bone health, medication review and vision questions to assess balance and fall risks.

A reunion of children who have beaten the odds. A celebration of survival and quality of life for 200 former Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) patients, their families and the Magee NICU nursing and clinical staff.

Highmark and UPMC are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement in principle to provide for in-network access to all UPMC hospitals and physicians for Highmark Commercial and Medicare Advantage members until December 31, 2014.

An investigation into a potential cluster of a rare and mysterious blood disorder in eastern Pennsylvania has led University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) scientists to expand their questioning to next-of-kin.

Four University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) alumni will be recognized for their outstanding service in the field of public health at the school’s Alumni Awards ceremony tonight.

In recognition of their scientific contributions and accomplishments, three University of Pittsburgh faculty members have been elected to membership in the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

The incidence rate of wheelchair breakdowns has risen significantly from an already high statistic, and it continues to leave more and more people with spinal-cord injuries in precarious situations.

Public health leaders will sign the final construction beam for the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health’s new four-story laboratory pavilion.

Millions of stem cells derived from the bone marrow of healthy adult donors have been implanted in the brains of two stroke survivors at UPMC, one of two sites conducting a safety and dose escalation study of the technique.

A University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine research study will examine the role sleep plays in military couples’ relationships and their risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC will host the 7th Annual Pittsburgh Conference on Child Maltreatment, on Thursday, April 26 and Friday, April 27.

Tyler Haney has joined UPMC as the Vice President of Digital Strategy. Mr. Haney comes to UPMC from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where he led digital marketing efforts as the director of Interactive Marketing and Digital Strategy.

William R. Wagner, Ph.D., professor of surgery, bioengineering and chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, has been named director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a joint effort of Pitt and UPMC, effective immediately.

As part of Donate Life America’s national campaign to register organ donors, 20 Million in 2012, UPMC will raise the Donate Life Flag in celebration of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education’s (CORE) "Flaunt Your Colors" day.

Every April, healthcare leaders nationwide encourage discussion about advance care planning as part of National Healthcare Decisions Day. UPMC is sponsoring community forums to encourage conversations with loved ones about wishes for end-of-life care.

Administrators and faculty from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine will travel to Tsinghua University School of Medicine in Beijing this month to participate in the first symposium hosted by the school.

Adults who have lost a loved one to illness, accident or suicide and who are having trouble coping with the grief may be eligible to participate in a University of Pittsburgh research study.

A hands-on, media-only tour of the new second floor – 3,500 square feet, nine examination rooms for a multi-specialty staff of 24 – devoted solely to assessing, treating, managing and researching all aspects of sports-related concussion

Researchers from UPCI and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed a mouse model that will allow scientists to study radiation-induced genetic changes and cellular defense mechanisms against radiation exposure at the same time.

Peptide vaccines in children with gliomas, the most common type of brain tumor, not only were well-tolerated but also showed evidence of immunological responses.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have a better way of understanding how a drug used to protect against and mitigate irradiation damage interacts inside human cells.

Today UPMC provided Insurance Commissioner Michael Considine with formal notice that contracts permitting Highmark to include certain UPMC hospitals in its commercial network will expire on June 30, 2012, initiating a one-year run-off period.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine’s 12th annual Dean’s Scholarship Ball raises money to provide tuition support to deserving dental students.

Prevention may offer new possibilities to reduce the global disease burden of depressive disorders, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Viewpoint written by faculty at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Aging Institute of UPMC Senior Services and the University of Pittsburgh Present 6th Annual Research Day

Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM), a program for high schools that seeks to reduce dating violence and sexual assault, is effective in discouraging teen dating violence and abusive behaviors.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Late Life Depression Program are seeking participants for a clinical trial that will study the effectiveness of medication combined with counseling.

The faculty, staff and students of the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences often are recognized by academic and scientific societies and other prestigious organizations for their significant achievements and exceptional leadership.

The staff of UPMC often are recognized by professional societies and other prestigious organizations for significant achievements and exceptional leadership.

ISMETT, operated by UPMC in Palermo, Italy, performed its first pancreatic islet-cell transplant on a man suffering from type-1 diabetes to prevent serious complications from the disease.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a cell-signaling pathway that plays a key role in increasing insulin secretion during pregnancy and, when blocked, leads to the development of gestational diabetes.

Patients who are treated for depression through a new collaborative care model after undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures showed improvements in mood and health and incurred lower health care costs.

Match Day is an annual event at which fourth-year students at the Pitt School of Medicine gather with faculty, friends and families to learn their residency assignments for the next year.

Mutations in a regulatory gene are present in two-thirds of uterine fibroids, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI).

Michael Schaab, 25, worked at Western Psych since 2008 as a milieu therapist, providing program development and group therapy.

Seven people are expected to survive injuries they sustained when a gunman entered the lobby of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) of UPMC today, said Donald Yealy, M.D., chief of emergency medicine at UPMC.

Steven A. Webber, MBChB, MRCP, chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, has been awarded the Peter and Ada Rossin Endowed Chair in Pediatric Cardiology.

Rabih Chaer, M.D., and Geetha Jeyabalan, M.D., will host a community education program focusing on the signs, symptoms and treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Family members of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) tend to be overly optimistic about the possibility of recovery despite being told that the prognosis is grim.

A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other neurological disorders, according to Pitt researchers.

The University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have entered into a partnership with Johnson & Johnson Corporate Office of Science and Technology (COSAT) to support translational research.

A new study from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine demonstrates that screening strategies vary widely — from 17 to 98 percent — in identifying women residing in nursing homes who are eligible for treatment of osteoporosis.

Early neurological indicators and symptoms can predict a protracted healing time in certain cases, according to specialists at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Local runners are invited to lace up their sneakers for the fourth annual Athletic Trainer River Run 5K and One-Mile Challenge on March 4, sponsored by UPMC Sports Medicine.

A newly approved vaccine to prevent pneumonia in adults might prevent more illness and be more economical than the vaccine currently in use, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Highmark has notified UPMC that Highmark’s Medicare subscribers will not have in-network access to UPMC East when that state-of-the-art facility opens in Monroeville in July 2012, despite previously announcing otherwise to its subscribers.

The 16th annual UPMC Children’s Ball will take visitors to “faraway lands” where they’ll explore international cultures, and fill a “passport” with stamps from around the world, all inside the Carnegie Science Center.

A University of Pittsburgh School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) researcher who is a renowned expert in rehabilitation and assistive technology has been awarded the 2011 Mentor Award of the AAAS.

UPMC is the first hospital in the region to successfully implant a newly FDA-approved valve in patients suffering from severe aortic stenosis.

The class emphasizes improving health through moving more and consists of low impact cardio as well as balance and strengthening routines designed for each participant by a personal trainer.

Max D. Cooper, M.D., a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University, will deliver the inaugural Eberly Distinguished Lecture, “Evolution of Adaptive Immunity.”

The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) has been awarded $194,400 over three years by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) to expand minority high school student participation in summer research programs.

World Day of the Sick is a global observance held annually since 1992 to remind the faithful to pray for those who are sick as well as the alleviation of human suffering and to recognize and honor those who work in health care and as caregivers.

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel will shear his famed beard for the second year in a row in support of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Nearly 250 physicians, scientists and patients from around the world will meet in Pittsburgh May 10 to 11 to discuss the current and emerging research and clinical practices for treating ovarian cancer at UPMC’s 2012 Ovarian Cancer Symposium.

The cost of medications through Medicare’s subsidized prescription drug program varies from region to region across the United States largely due to the use of more expensive brand-name drugs, according to a study led by researchers from GSPH.

UPMC will dedicate the Giving Life Wall, a photomontage on permanent display at UPMC Presbyterian hospital that honors those who selflessly gave the gift of life to a loved one through organ donation.

The 2012 Carnegie Science Center Award winners were announced Feb. 2 at the Carnegie Science Center. The awards were established to recognize and promote innovation in science and technology across western Pennsylvania.

UPMC’s financial strength through the first half of FY12 allows the region’s largest health care provider to increasingly serve the needs of the community while continuing to re-invest in the region.

UPMC Health Plan is introducing 8 new affordable health care coverage plans for individuals that provide 100% coverage on preventive care, health savings account options, and more. Pricing for this comprehensive coverage is as low as $2.46 a day.

Mitral valve repair in the elderly is safe and should be considered not as a last resort but as a treatment option for patients over 65 suffering from mitral regurgitation, according to findings of a large, multicenter study.

Of the growing number of businesses promoting hookah tobacco smoking on the Internet, fewer than 1 percent included a tobacco-related warning about the practice on the first page of their websites.

Burn Survivor Sunday, now in its 18th year, allows burn survivors treated at the UPMC Mercy Gertrude P. and Donald C.W. Birmingham Trauma and Burn Center to reunite and celebrate their survival with members of their care team.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified a protein that governs a key molecule involved in orchestrating the balance between tumor growth and tumor suppression.

Vocal health seminar for church choirs and vocal teams.

Dr. Gordon J. Vanscoy White Coat Ceremony, marking student pharmacists’ entry into the profession.

Neil Resnick, M.D. and Janice L. Pringle, Ph.D. have been selected by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for its inaugural group of Innovation Advisors.

First Niagara will transform the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Eat’n Park Atrium into a winter wonderland and host a Snowflake Dance.

UPMC has successfully moved all of its electronic transactions with suppliers to an electronic data interchange (EDI) solution from Toreion Corp. of Ontario, Canada.

Rachel Berger, M.D. M.P.H., a member of the Child Protection Team at the Child Advocacy Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has been appointed to the Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection.

Direct Energy will host its second annual winter carnival, “Afternoon on the Midway,” for patients and families at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

An informational session for high school students and their parents and teachers reviewing research and experiential learning opportunities at the University of Pittsburgh.

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC is offering winter and spring classes for children and adults at several locations throughout the greater Pittsburgh area.

Sesame Street Live characters Elmo and Super Grover will make a stop to visit with patients at their bedsides at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.

Guest chef, Judith Balk, M.D., at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, will host a dinner party for those who have had or are considering bariatric surgery.

Four current and three former University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine faculty are among 20 world-renowned intensivists who are the first to be selected to receive the Society of Critical Care Medicine's highest honorific.

Mice bred to age too quickly seemed to have sipped from the fountain of youth after scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine injected them with stem cell-like progenitor cells derived from the muscle of young, healthy animals.