University Times

The Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) has established a center dedicated to occupational biostatistics and epidemiology. The mission of the center, based on an approach that is collaborative and multidisciplinary, is to build on the school’s success in developing and applying biostatistical methods to the study of workplace exposures.

Directed by Gary M. Marsh, professor of biostatistics at GSPH, the new Center for Occupational Biostatistics and Epidemiology (COBE) will focus on occupational studies to explore the long-term health effects of employment. Research will focus on occupations such as jet engine manufacturing and pharmaceutical production and workplace exposures to agents including formaldehyde, tungsten carbide/cobalt, chloroprene and human-made mineral fibers. The center also will investigate health outcomes in communities exposed to industrial pollutants or hazardous waste site materials.

“The more we can learn about occupational health risks, the better we can prevent and treat disease,” said Marsh, who works with major corporations and trade organizations on occupational and environmental health research and provides health maintenance organizations with biostatistical support programs for health outcomes research. “The COBE will allow us to more effectively integrate the fields of biostatistics, epidemiology, industrial hygiene and occupational health to conduct research and translate results directly into public health practice.”

COBE will reside within GSPH’s Department of Biostatistics. Deputy directors of the center are Ada O. Youk and Jeanine M. Buchanich, both faculty members in biostatistics.

For more information, visit http://cobe.biostat.pitt.edu/.