One Health Day
2025 Recap
Plenary talk: The Brain, Climate Change, and The Future We Choose by Ann Christine-Duhaime
Ann-Christine Duhaime, Senior Pediatric Neurosurgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and Nicholas T. Zervas Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School discussed the brain, climate change, and the role of medicine in approaching planetary health.
2024 Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge Winners Presentations
The 2024 Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge winners gave presentations highlighting progress on their research in the past year.
2025 Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge Winners Announcement
4 winners were announced for the 2025 Sustainability in Healthcare Competition. 1 project was awarded the grand prize of $50,000 and 3 projects received $25,000 each. Congratulations to the 2025 winners!
$50,000
- Flipping the Paradigm: Using lessons from a comparative assessment of surgical supplyuse in high and low resource settings to develop a Green OR pilot at UPMC – Drs. Jennifer Makin, Nat Jones, Noe Woods, Amanda Artsen, Pamela Moalli, and Neha Shetty
$25,000
- DRDIN-MPS: A Sustainable, Patient-Specific Microphysiology Platform for Diabetes DrugDiscovery – Drs. Ipsita Banerjee, Chandan Sen, Michael Boninger, Raghunath Bommana Reddy, and Erin Parlow
- Reducing Lab Plastic waste through Reuse of “Single-Use” Consumables – Dr. David Gau,Dr. Melissa Bilec, Grace Tuan, and Dylan Shields
- Closing the Loop: A Multi-Layer Mask System to Capture, Convert, and NeutralizeAnesthetic Gases – Drs. Nitin Agarwal, Shaunak Patil, Janam Patel, and Ayesha Waheed
Student Competition: Sustainability in Healthcare Winner Announcement
We are excited to announce four student competitions focused on sustainability in healthcare.
Participants at One Health Day voted on the best posters in each category during the poster session. The winners were announced at the end of the day. Additionally, two funding awards were given to students who submitted a video of a sustainability project idea. Congratulations to the 2025 winners!!
Sustainability in Healthcare Student Research Presentation & Poster Competition
Students were asked to submit an abstract about completed research related to sustainability in healthcare.
Winning Research
Research Presentations
- Characterizing the Patient Population of Interfacility Helicopter Transfers to UPMC Facilities – Rami Homsi, School of Medicine
- Developing a Scope 3 Greenhouse Gas Inventory – Trent Stross, Computational Biology
Research Poster
- Prototyping a Sustainable Pulse Oximeter for Pediatric Cases – Natalie Ceccarelli, Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
Sustainability in Healthcare: Student Education Poster Competition
Students were invited to submit an educational poster on the topic of sustainability in healthcare.
Winning Poster
- From Waste to Whitening: Using Eggshell-Derived Hydroxyapatite as a Sustainable Alternative to Amalgam and Composite Fillings – Maahi Soni, School of Public Health
Sustainability in Healthcare: Student Implementation Poster Competition
Students were invited to submit a poster on a sustainable healthcare project they implemented.
Winning Poster
- Composting Used Animal Food and Bedding – Kelly Barko, School of Medicine
Sustainability in Healthcare: Student Research Competition
Health Science Student Sustainability Funding
Students were invited to submit an idea to promote environmental, economic, and/or social sustainability in their school. Winning proposals received $2,500 to fund their projects.
Winning Projects
- Incorporating a Sustainability Framework in Bioengineering Laboratory Educations – Aqsa Owais & Tyler Johnston, Bioengineering
- Eat Well & Waste Less: Sustainable Cooking and Composting Education for Health Science Students – Cynthia McMahan, School of Medicine
Student-Led Activity
Kelly Barko, a PhD student in the School of Medicine, organized and led an activity to get participants thinking about sustainability in their everyday lives.