Faculty Impact Profiles

Stephen B. Thomas, PhD

“An endowed professorship is one of the highest honors bestowed upon a member of the academy and the highest demonstration of institutional commitment.  For me to serve as the first Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice is a humbling experience, especially since Mr. Hallen is alive and well.  Community health and social justice encapsulate my entire career, and as such it felt providential to accept the position of Director for the Center for Minority Health in the Graduate School of Public Health and to hold a secondary appointment in the School of Social Work.  Every day I strive to live up to the meaning of community health and social justice by translating medical and public health research into interventions designed to promote health and prevent disease among the poorly served, underserved, and never-served segments of our society."

Stephen B. Thomas, PhD, is one of the nation’s leading advocates in the effort to eliminate health disparities based on race. He is the director of the Center for Minority Health and the Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.  Dr. Thomas is the first Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice.

Dennis P. Curran, PhD

“The Bayer Professorship has made a major impact on my career in a number of different ways. Because the Bayer company is so well known in Pittsburgh, it gives me instant local visibility.  And the Bayer company is one of the oldest and most well-known organic chemistry companies worldwide. (For example, they commercialized aspirin over 100 years ago.)  So it gives me instant visibility with essentially everyone in the international organic chemistry community. The Bayer Professorship has freed up time for research, and this has led directly to new research programs here in Pittsburgh as well as to international research collaborations in France, Japan, and elsewhere.  In addition, the funds provided by the Bayer Professorship have been most valuable in helping us to maintain a lively research program, especially in these days of very tight governmental funding.”

Dennis P. Curran, PhD, is the Bayer Professor of Chemistry at Pitt. He joined the faculty of the University's chemistry department in 1981. Dr. Curran has received numerous awards; authored more than 350 papers, 30 patents, and two books; and is well known for his work in at the interface of radical chemistry and organic synthesis.