Festschrift to Honor Pitt Epidemiologist Lewis Kuller

Lewis H. Kuller

By Kathryn Duda

Internationally renowned University of Pittsburgh epidemiologist Lewis H. Kuller will be honored with a Festschrift March 28 and 29. The event will celebrate his three decades of contributions to the understanding and prevention of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

The events will bring together current and former colleagues, students, and friends, marking Kuller’s 30 years of leadership of the Department of Epidemiology in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH). Kuller has recently stepped down from that position to head the department’s Center for Healthy Aging and pursue his own research interests.

The Festschrift (a German term connoting a celebration) will begin with a Friday evening reception, dinner, and “roast” at the University Club, hosted by Thomas Detre, distinguished service professor of health sciences and psychiatry at the University.

Saturday’s events will be introduced by Arthur S. Levine, the University’s senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. Some of the nation’s leading figures in public health and epidemiology will participate.

Participants, and the titles of their presentations, are:

• Jeremiah Stamler, professor emeritus, Northwestern University, “CVD Epidemiology Lessons from the Last 30 Years”;

• David Schottenfeld, the John G. Searle Professor of Epidemiology and professor of internal medicine, University of Michigan, “Historical Perspective on Advances in Cancer Epidemiology”;

• Russell Tracy, professor of pathology and biochemistry, director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Biological Research, University of Vermont, and senior associate dean for research and academic affairs, University of Vermont College of Medicine, “Inflammation and Vascular Disease: Are we our own worst enemies?”; and

• Tamara Harris, chief, geriatric epidemiology section, National Institute on Aging, “The Epidemiology of Aging: A 30-Year Perspective.”

An evening cocktail party March 29 at The Andy Warhol Museum will cap the festivities, with proceeds benefiting the Lewis H. Kuller Scholarship Fund, which has been established to attract and support GSPH epidemiology students.

Kuller came to the University of Pittsburgh as chair of the GSPH’s Department of Epidemiology in 1972, following a distinguished career at Johns Hopkins University.

At Pitt, he developed major research programs in cardiovascular disease and hypertension, women’s health, diabetes, cancer, aging, dementia, and the role of inflammation in various diseases.

For more information, call 412-624-3056.