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Pregnant patients with a hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), such as preeclampsia or gestational hypertension, have an increased risk for ischemic heart disease, stroke, and venous thromboembolism within 12 years of their pregnancy and mortality within 15 years. In a general postpartum population, increased lactation duration has been associated with decreased risk of strong contributors of cardiovascular disease, including diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, coronary artery disease, and hypertension. Our preliminary results show a statistically significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure as early as 4 months postpartum in women with a HDP who lactated compared to those who did not, support the role of lactation in minimizing long-term sequelae in this high-risk population.

In the United States, there are pervasive disparities in receipt and quality of healthcare. This study aims to assess how parent perception of their child's healthcare can provide a framework for evaluating the quality and equity of family experiences of healthcare services in Allegheny County, PA. Using electronic survey demographics and validated scales, we were able to assess how parent race, parent employment, and child health insurance are associated with parent perceptions of access to care, trust in providers, and interpersonal processes of care.

Of the procedures that make up facial feminization surgery, frontal sinus setback has a particularly high impact on gender perception. Mixed reality (MR) is a nascent technology that allows a user to view and manipulate three-dimensional patient images while superimposing them on the patient. MR gives the ability to recognize deep anatomical structures, in this case the frontal sinuses, without making a single cut and we demonstrate utility here.

Patients portals are secure online websites that grant patients access to their Electronic Health Records. Although research has shown that its use is associated wtih improved chronic disease management, recent data show persistent disparities among different sociodemographic starte in cardiovascular disease outcomes. Using de-identified EHR data, we analyzed the risk of all-cause hospital readmission and ED visits among UPMC patients using the myUPMC patient portal.

Although human endometrial lesions are infiltrated with mast cells (MCs) and noxious colorectal stimulation increases neuronal activity in the parabrachial nucleus (PBN), it is unclear how MCs and the PBN contribute to endometriosis-associated chronic pelvic pain (EM-CPP). To address this gap in the field, we used a new non-invasive mouse model of EM. Our data revealed that 1) MC stabilizers may serve as effective therapeutics to treat EM-CPP and 2) parabrachial mechanisms may mediate the development of pelvic tactile allodynia in EM mice.