5 teams took home prizes in Pitt’s Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge

Five winners have been named in the University of Pittsburgh’s Sustainability in Healthcare Challenge.

Funded by the Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences, the Office of Multidisciplinary Innovations in the Health Sciences, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the competition is Pitt’s first funding opportunity to advance sustainability in health care.

Four winning faculty teams each received $40,000 to fund their projects:

• J. Peter Rubin, School of Medicine — “Reducing Operating Room Waste and Cost Through A New EMR Application that Promotes Surgeon Engagement, and Uses AI Monitoring for Instrument and Single Use Item Management”
• Markus Chmielus, Swanson School of Engineering — “Additively Manufactured Sustainable Filters for Healthcare Applications”
• Natasa Vidic, Swanson School — “Optimizing STAT Medevac Dispatch for Fuel Efficiency and Carbon Footprint Reduction”
• Isabella Angelelli, School of Medicine — “Development of a Resusable Pulse Oximeter Prototype Functional in Clinical Settings”

The $2,500 Student Award was given to William Schuck and his teammates Max Chiang, Marissa Varshine, Peter Vassil and Ellie Velasquez (pictured), for their project “Eco-Engineering the Future: Sustainable Prosthetics for Sustainable Healthcare.” Their team is a research group under the mentorship of Goeran Fiedler, assistant professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.

Photography courtesy of William Schuck