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Epidemiology
Epidemiology & Social Sciences
Laura Cassidy, MS, PhD

Laura Cassidy, MS, PhD

Professor and Director of Epidemiology; Associate Dean Global Health

Locations

  • Primary Appointment: Professor and Director, Epidemiology
  • Secondary Appointments:
    Founding Director of Masters in Global Health Equity
    Research Director, Institute for Health & Equity
    Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicineآ® (ELAM)
    Director, Surgical, Clinical, and Outcomes Research

Contact Information

Education

BS, Mathematics and Physics, University of Pittsburgh
MS, Biostatistics, University of Pittsburgh
PhD Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh

Biography

“I love interacting with my PhD students. They work closely with the community to address health disparities and improve health equity. This challenging work gives me a sense of pride in my students and ¾¨سم´«أ½.”
- Laura Cassidy


Dr. Laura Cassidy joined the Institute for Health & Equity in 2011 when she took over as Director of the PhD Program in Public and Community Health and the Division of Epidemiology. Dr. Cassidy is the Research Director for the Institute for Health & Equity.

Dr. Cassidy’s journey to ¾¨سم´«أ½ began in Pittsburgh, where she grew up. Both of her parents were academic researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Originally, her academic pursuit was in engineering, however, she found her passion was in math and healthcare. While working fulltime in the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, Dr. Cassidy earned the MS in Biostatistics and a PhD in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology.

While pursuing her PhD, her mentor’s child was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia and they developed a long-standing relationship with the pediatric surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. They collaborated on multiple manuscripts and shortly after receiving her PhD, she was awarded a grant through the Emergency Medical Services for Children to design a National Trauma Registry for Children. Dr. Keith Oldham was on her advisory panel and eventually recruited her to ¾¨سم´«أ½ to support research in general pediatric surgery and the pediatric surgical divisions of urology, cardiothoracic, otolaryngology, plastic surgery, and anesthesia.

Dr. Cassidy’s research experience is diverse, including managing a bladder cancer screening program in an underserved community of occupationally exposed workers for 15 years, evaluating community health departments, a Mid-Atlantic AIDS education training grant, health effects of radiation exposure in Russian workers, in addition to clinical outcomes research and registry development. She has been the PI on two federally funded grants focusing on pediatric trauma and has over 100 publications. In 2003, she traveled to a remote hospital in Haiti to evaluate data collection methods in that environment; and in 2010, she traveled to Nigeria to implement a web-based trauma registry that currently collects a culturally sensitive, minimal data set from multiple hospitals. Through this work, she gained valuable experience with complex data compiled from challenging and unique environments.

Dr. Cassidy has developed a family in her division among the faculty and staff. Under her leadership the division has grown from two faculty members and two staff to four faculty, two fellows, two post-doctoral fellows and seven full-time staff members. With the continuous learning opportunities at ¾¨سم´«أ½ she has been able to build upon and redesign the Public and Community Health PhD program to better foster academic learning and independent research.

In 2017, Dr. Cassidy was chosen for the prestigious Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) Program for Women. She is currently working on her ELAM project and building on our global partnerships.

Outside of ¾¨سم´«أ½, Dr. Cassidy serves as the President on the Board of Directors for the Milwaukee Center for Children and Youth, a community based organization designed to address gaps in services and provide programs to the underserved and impoverished populations in Milwaukee. Additionally, she is the Chair for the Research Committee for the Pediatric Trauma Society.

Honors and Awards

2016, Present Mentor of the Year-Graduate Student Award, ¾¨سم´«أ½
2016, Present Outstanding Graduate School Teacher of the Year, ¾¨سم´«أ½
2017-2018, Fellow-Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM)

Leadership Positions

  • Director, Division of Epidemiology & Social Sciences
  • Founding Director Master of Science in Global Health Equity
  • Research Director, Institute for Health & Equity

Publications

  • (Anguzu R, Walker RJ, Babikako HM, Beyer KMM, Dickson-Gomez J, Zhou Y, Cassidy LD.) BMC Public Health. 2023 Nov 17;23(1):2276 PMID: 37978467 PMCID: PMC10656909 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85176939609 11/18/2023

  • (Anguzu R, Cassidy LD, Nakimuli AO, Kansiime J, Babikako HM, Beyer KMM, Walker RJ, Wandira C, Kizito F, Dickson-Gomez J.) BMC Womens Health. 2023 Nov 08;23(1):584 PMID: 37940914 PMCID: PMC10634177 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85176043761 11/09/2023

  • (Anguzu R, Walker RJ, Beyer KMM, Zhou Y, Babikako HM, Dickson-Gomez J, Cassidy LD.) BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2023 Nov 03;23(1):767 PMID: 37924014 PMCID: PMC10623746 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85175710523 11/04/2023

  • (Georgeades C, Farazi M, Bergner C, Bowder A, Cassidy L, Levas MN, Nimmer M, Flynn-O'Brien KT.) Inj Epidemiol. 2023 Aug 21;10(Suppl 1):43 PMID: 37605186 PMCID: PMC10441698 08/22/2023

  • (Tomas C, Kallies K, Cronn S, Kostelac C, deRoon-Cassini T, Cassidy L.) Inj Prev. 2023 Aug;29(4):347-354 PMID: 36941050 PMCID: PMC10423504 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85152652779 03/21/2023

  • (Cassidy LD, Kenyon D, Ritchey J, Becenti D, Ayala A, Prather T, Mitchell-Box K.) Public Health Rep. 2023;138(2_suppl):3S-6S PMID: 37599446 PMCID: PMC10515978 08/21/2023

  • (Kohlbeck SA, Quinn K, deRoon-Cassini T, Hargarten S, Nelson D, Cassidy L.) Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2023;93(2):131-143 PMID: 36548072 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85147009637 12/23/2022

  • (Shour AR, Hamberger LK, Meurer J, Kostelac C, Cassidy L.) J Interpers Violence. 2022 Dec;37(23-24):NP22352-NP22374 PMID: 35098777 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85124171826 02/01/2022

  • (van Kesteren J, van Duinen AJ, Marah F, van Delft D, Spector AL, Cassidy LD, Groen RS, Jabbi SB, Bah S, Medo JA, Kamanda-Bongay A, van Leerdam D, Westendorp J, Mathéron HM, Mönnink GLE, Vas Nunes J, Lindenbergh KC, Hoel SK, Løvdal SM, Østensen MN, Solberg H, Boateng D, Klipstein-Grobusch K, van Herwaarden D, Martens JPJ, Bonjer HJ, Sankoh O, Grobusch MP, Bolkan HA, PRESSCO 2020 study group.) World J Surg. 2022 Nov;46(11):2585-2594 PMID: 36068404 PMCID: PMC9529684 09/07/2022

  • (Dellinger M, O'Keefe G, Poupart A, Stevens D, Thompson S, Meza A, Cassidy L.) WMJ. 2022 Jul;121(2):153-156 PMID: 35857693 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85134854295 07/21/2022

  • (Anguzu R, Cassidy LD, Beyer KMM, Babikako HM, Walker RJ, Dickson-Gomez J.) BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Mar 02;22(1):283 PMID: 35232438 PMCID: PMC8889632 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85125601498 03/03/2022

  • (Anguzu R, Kabagenyi A, Cassidy LD, Kasasa S, Shour AR, Musoke BN, Mutyoba JN.) PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022;2(4):e0000177 PMID: 36962157 PMCID: PMC10021164 03/25/2023

Publications of from the