University of Pittsburgh Health Policy and Management

The Department of Health Policy and Management’s Vice Chair for Education and MHA and MHA/MBA program director Kevin Broom, MHA, MBA, has been promoted to professor. “This promotion serves as recognition of Broom’s outstanding leadership in the field,” said HPM Professor and Chair Julie Donohue, PhD. “Through scholarship, teaching and service, he has shaped health management and public health education not just here at Pitt but around the country.” As Vice Chair for Education, Broom oversees all the Department’s academic programs while also serving as the point person for the MHA and MHA/MBA programs. “Dr. Broom deeply cares about the students in the program, often going out of his way to make sure we have all the tools we need to succeed,” said Jamie Goldman, a third-year MHA/MBA student. “His experience in the field has been so valuable because it helps prepare us for what to expect as residents and then after graduation.” A leader in the field of health care administration, ...

HPM student Myles Chung (MHA ’27) has been named a recipient of the Albert W. Dent and Foster McGaw Graduate Student Scholarship by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). Named for educator and hospital administrator Albert W. Dent , who was named the first African American fellow of ACHE and Foster G. McGaw , the founder of the American Hospital Supply Corporation, the scholarship is awarded to just 15 graduate students studying health administration each year. “Part of what made me decide to apply was learning that the scholarship is named after Albert W. Dent,” said Chung. “That legacy meant something personal to me given the career path I’m pursuing.” While it's his name on the award list, Chung says it’s not just about him but the mentors who have helped him succeed, calling their support invaluable. “Having successful people believe in you and take the time to advocate for you means everything,” he added. The scholarship is reserved for students enteri...

The Health on the Hilltop Fair offered services and resources to the local community. (Credit: Maria Pardo) Health care access and affordability are among the biggest barriers facing Americans today. More than a third (36%) report putting off care in the past 12 months because of cost, and 43% say they’ve delayed filling prescriptions because of cost. Second-year MPH student Maria Pardo was originally hired as additional support at Hilltop Pharmacy in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood. Still, when her boss, pharmacy owner Alex Rothey, PharmD (PHARM ’18), learned she was pursuing her MPH, the conversation turned to how they could help the community.  “We wanted to do this health fair to allow the community to gain access to resources that they might not have easy access to,” said Pardo.  “We also wanted to introduce people to local clinics and organizations that specialize in serving medically underserved populations.”  The fair featured on-site health screenings and res...

Title card for the Healthy Dialogue podcast. (Courtesy: JAMA Network) HPM alumnus  Derek C. Angus, MD, MPH, FRCP, (MPH '92), has held many titles during his distinguished clinical and academic career, but never figured a podcast host would be one of them. “I was asked to do it by JAMA’s editor-in-chief, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo,” said Angus, who is Senior Editor at JAMA. “I decided that I should say ‘Yes’ for three reasons: I cared about the problem of how to make science more accessible to broader audiences.   I was also about to step down as department chair and knew I’d have more time on my hands, and as part of my ‘post-chair’ life, I thought it would be good for my neuroplasticity to take on a task for which I really had no training.” With that, Healthy Dialogue was born. The goal for each episode , according to Angus, is to host conversations with leading experts on important topics in health and health care and make the content accessible and digestible to a broa...

Patient safety is as much a concern for many health care professionals as curing medical ills. In its annual Patient Safety Fellowship , the Jewish Healthcare Foundation posed the question: “What if safety was baked into the care model to prevent issues from happening in the first place?” JHF Patient Safety Fellows at a session. (Courtesy: Jewish Health Foundation) HPM MPH student Katie Walters was among the 23 emerging health care professionals taking part in the 9-week course. “In each session, we heard from patient safety experts across the country,” she said. “For most of the sessions, we reviewed the 'Safe by Design' white paper and the recommendations provided by the Coalition for Advancing Safer Healthcare (CASH).” Sessions involved participants working in groups to practice concepts covered in the paper and a site visit to the WISER Institute to see how education and simulation can be used to improve safety in every step of care. Teams were also tasked with showin...