Four Pitt health sciences faculty members in the School of Medicine and the School of Public Health were among the 15 faculty members University-wide to be honored with a 2024 Chancellor’s Distinguished Award.
These honors acknowledge their exceptional work and dedication.
Each recipient received a letter from Chancellor Joan Gabel, a $2,000 cash prize and a $3,000 grant to support their work. Awardees will be recognized at the Faculty Honors Convocation on Friday, April 5 at 3 p.m. in Carnegie Music Hall.
Thuy D. Bui, professor of medicine, School of Medicine, received a Distinguished Public Service Award for her unwavering efforts serving as a faculty mentor for the Refugee Health Advocacy Project and the medical director at the Birmingham Free Clinic; directing the Social Medicine Fellows Program in the School of Medicine and the Global Health and Underserved Populations track in the Pitt/UPMC internal medicine residency program; volunteering as Prevention Point Pittsburgh’s lab director; and facilitating student and resident rotations at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Malawi. Her distinguished, decades-long career has been celebrated with many awards for improving lives.
Marie K. Norman, professor of medicine, School of Medicine, and of clinical and translational science, received a Distinguished Teaching Award for her role as the founder and director of Pitt’s Innovative Design for Education and Assessment Lab. She was also recognized for her contributions to the design and implementation of five online Institute for Clinical Research Education programs that target underrepresented minority researchers and mentors.
Anne B. Newman, Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and UPMC Professor of Geroscience, School of Public Health, received a Distinguished Research Award in the senior category for her work on the epidemiology of aging and interventions to promote health aging through strategies like cardiovascular disease prevention. Peers said the work of Newman, director of the Center for Aging and Population Health, is an “exemplar of the best of scientific accomplishments,” and that she is “truly a giant in clinical and population research among older adults.”
Mehret Birru Talabi, assistant professor of medicine and assistant dean for the Medical Scientist Training Program, School of Medicine, and associate program director of the UPMC Rheumatology Fellowship, received a Distinguished Research Award in the junior category for her contributions to the field of reproductive rheumatology, which have led to the development of a new paradigm for addressing reproductive health within subspecialty medicine and in vulnerable and high-risk populations. Her peers cited her work as providing a “strong moral compass and attention to social determinants of health and reproductive justice in our field” and predict that it will continue to transform clinical practice and theoretical approaches in rheumatology and subspecialty medicine more broadly.
Left to right: Thuy D. Bui, MD, Marie K. Norman, PhD, Anne B. Newman, MD, MPH, and Mehret Birru Talabi, MD, PhD