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May 1, 2008

Obituary: Deborah J. Aaron

Deborah J. Aaron, an associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Health and Physical Activity, died April 23, 2008. Aaron, who was 51, had been battling cancer.

Aaron earned a master’s degree in public health at Pitt in 1991 and added a PhD in epidemiology in 1994. She then served a post-doctoral fellowship in public health and information technology with Ronald LaPorte and completed a master’s degree in information science in 1997.

With LaPorte, Aaron was among the developers of the Supercourse online repository of public health lectures. His remembrances of her, along with a growing list of tributes, have been posted on the site at www.pitt.edu/~super1/deb.htm.

Jere Gallagher, associate dean in the School of Education, recalled Aaron’s helpfulness and selfless concern for her fellow faculty members’ progress. “She worked with everybody,” Gallagher said. “She helped them to the next level.”

Epidemiology professor Andrea Kriska remembered Aaron as a truly kind person. “She never stepped on toes moving forward,” Kriska said.

She also characterized Aaron as a solid researcher. “She knew her stuff and she spoke with data behind her,” Kriska said.

Aaron wasn’t afraid to dive into areas of research that others wouldn’t, Kriska said, noting that among Aaron’s research grants was funding for studies on lesbian health.

Nina Markovic of the School of Dental Medicine attended graduate school with Aaron and they later became co-PIs, working together on lesbian health research, including the ESTHER study. Markovic said that study was the first federally funded research project that included clinical data collection comparing cardiovascular risk factors between lesbian and heterosexual women.

Markovic said Aaron’s work had global reach. In addition to the Supercourse project, which “influenced the health and well-being of people of every nation,” Markovic said, their lesbian health research necessarily prompted them to make connections in other cities including Boston, San Francisco and Chicago.

Markovic said Aaron’s illness forced the cancellation of a sabbatical this spring. She had planned to expand collaborations to Australia, where national health data that includes sexual orientation is available.

On a personal level, Markovic said that Aaron “demonstrated it was okay just to be a nice person. She was a genuinely nice person.”

Fellow research collaborator Michelle Danielson of the Department of Epidemiology said she and Aaron became fast friends as graduate students and that the friendship continued as their academic careers at Pitt developed in parallel.

She recalled Aaron as meticulous, organized and a consummate professional as well as an effective mentor to many students — not only at Pitt, but also those at other universities who had similar scholarly interests.

“She set the bar high and she was quite demanding, but she was fair and supportive. Her students were absolutely prepared,” Danielson said, adding that Aaron’s master’s and PhD students were among the best to come out of the department.

As a mentor, Aaron gave her students opportunities to network and to present research at meetings, Danielson said. She shared her data so her students could write papers and “really fostered their growth,” she said.

Beyond her career, Danielson said, Aaron loved to travel, loved her pet dogs and cats and was very close to her family.

She is survived by her mother, Joyce A. (Marshall) Aaron; and sisters Sue A. Aaron, Teresa Fitzgerald and Becky Park.

A memorial service is set for 1 p.m. June 13 in Heinz Chapel, with a reception to follow in the lower lounge of the William Pitt Union.

Memorial donations are suggested to the UPMC Cancer Centers Patient Assistance Fund, Development Department, UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Suite 1B, 5150 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh 15232 or to support graduate students in Aaron’s department by contributing in her name to the School of Education, Office of Development, 5613 Posvar Hall.

—Kimberly K. Barlow


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