Stitt-Fischer named head of Environmental Health and Safety

Molly Stitt-Fischer has been named director of Environmental Health and Safety, replacing Assistant Vice Chancellor Jay Frerotte.

Stitt-Fischer has been with the Department of Environmental Health and Safety since December 2010, most recently served as Pitt’s Biosafety Officer, where she managed biological and research laboratory safety  inspection programs for the University.

Frerotte will continue to serve as assistant vice chancellor and will work closely with Stitt-Fischer until his planned retirement in January. He has been with the University since 2002.  

Stitt-Fischer’s work has included management of a laboratory safety team and has served as the University's lead authority on matters related to research safety. During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, her interpretations and recommendations were critically helpful to supporting successful emergency operations at Pitt.

Prior to joining Pitt, Stitt-Fischer worked as a fellow and associate biosafety officer within the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. Before that, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Pitt’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health in the Graduate School of Public Health. 

She has numerous professional certifications and publications, and earned a B.S. in molecular biology from Allegheny College, an M.S. in toxicology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, environmental and occupational health from Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health.