University of Pittsburgh Department of Epidemiology
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University of Pittsburgh Department of Epidemiology
About
Faculty Bio

Ronald E. LaPorte, PhD

Professor
Department of Epidemiology
111 Parran Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh,PA 15261
Voice: 412-383-7244
E-mail: ronlaporte@aol.com

Research Interests

I am a Cognitive Psychologist turned epidemiologist. My primary interest is the application of Internet Technology to the prevention of disease. The concept is simple, since 1950 there has been 25 year world wide improvement of life expectancy. At least 20 of the year increase has been due to prevention. Most of prevention is merely the sharing of knowledge, prevention education. We are harnessing the Internet to improve knowledge sharing and prevention. We have created the Supercourse which has over 65,000 faculty world wide. We are sharing our knowledge by collecting the best PowerPoint lectures of prevention and science, and making these available through an open source lecture library (www.pitt.edu/~super1) I have published over 462 papers, and am Director for Disease Monitoring and Telecommunications at our WHO Collaborating center.

Education
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, New York

 B.A. (Psychology), 1971
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA

 M.S. (Psychology), 1974
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA

 Ph.D. (Psychology), 1976
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA

 M.S.Hyg. (Epidemiology), 1980


Appointments and Positions
Sept. 2007-Present, Director

 Multidisciplinary Masters of Public Health Program
Feb 1990 - Present, Professor

 Department of Pediatrics (Secondary Appointment)
July 1990 - Present, Professor

 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh. Primary areas of interest, Internet, and health.
November 1983 - July 1990, Associate Professor

 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh. Primary area, the epidemiology of insulin dependent diabetes. Secondary areas include reproductive epidemiology, physical activity and injury.
July 1979-83, Assistant Professor

 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh. Areas of research the analysis of incidence trends in insulin dependent diabetes, relationship between alcohol consumption, lipoprotein levels and coronary heart disease and epidemiologic measurement of physical activity.
August 1976 - June 1979, Post doctoral Fellow

 Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of June 1979 Public Health, University of Pittsburgh. Received training in chronic disease epidemiologyFaculty Advisor: Lewis H. Kuller, M.D.
September 1974 - August 1976, Teaching Fellow

 Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh. Responsible for teaching statistics, research design and human psychology courses.
August 1971 - August 1974, Graduate Research Assistant

 Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh. Conducted research in human learning and motivation. Designed, supervised data collection, and analyzed research projects.
Honors

  • Best of the Web in Science (Science Magazine)

  • Lilienfeld Award, Lifetime Achievement in education APHA, 2006

  • Kelly West Award as Leading Diabetes Epidemiologist American Diabetes Association, 1988.

  • Top 50 graduates of the Graduate School of Public Health in the last 50 years

  • Distinguished Teaching Award, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.

  • Director, Disease Monitoring and Telecommunication, World Health Organization Collaborating Center (1988 present)

  • PI, WHO Multinational Project on Childhood Diabetes (1990 1999), 155 centers in 70 countries

  • Co-PI of the Global LEA (Lower Extremity Amputation) Project involving 23 countries.

  • Faculty Member, World Health Organization, International Diabetes Epidemiology Training Course, Cambridge, England, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999.

  • Scientific Program Chairman, Diabetes Epidemiology Council, ADA (1983 1985).

  • Former Associate Editor, Diabetes Care.

  • Member, American Epidemiology Society

  • Rated in the top 100 web pages by PC Magazine.

  • Top six health projects in the Global Information Infrastructure Awards, 1998.

Students: 30 Ph.D. students


Publications

  1. LaPorte, RE, Silnk, M, Mbanya J-C., Hilary King BMJ 2008;336:839

  2. LaPorte RE, Omenn GS, Serageldin I, Cerf VG, Linkov F.Related A Scientific Supercourse. Science. 2006 Apr 28;312(5773):526

  3. Dodani S, Pandav C, Siribaddana S, LaPorte RE, Pokharel P; South Asian Health Preventionists Association (SAHPA). Hope of prevention training in South Asia. BMJ. 2004 Jul 31;329(7460):293-4.

  4. Yamey, G. The professor of "telepreventive medicine", BMJ 2004:328:1158

  5. LaPorte RE Recruiters and academia. Nature 2004;428:876

  6. Ardalan A, Linkov F, Holakouie K, Noji E, LaPorte R Bridging Schools of Public Health between Iran and the US: Teaching and sharing about the Bam Earthquake. Lancet 2004:9423

  7. Chotani RA, LaPorte RE Linkov F, Dodani S, Ahmed D, Ibrahim KM. Just-in-time lectures: SARS. Lancet 2003 361:1996

  8. LaPorte RE Oh where oh where did our paragraphs go. BMJ Dec. 22, 2003 (letter)

  9. Shubnikov E, LaPorte RE, Linkov F, Lovalekar M. Why do biomedical journals reject the scientific method? BMJ 22 Apr 2003

  10. LaPorte RE, Linkov F, Villasenor T, et. Papyrus to PowerPoint (P2P) : metamorphosis of scientific communication. BMJ 2002:325; 1478-1481

  11. Linkov F, LaPorte RE. Globalization of prevention education: Reaching 136 countries with a Golden Lecture. Lancet 2003;362:1586

  12. LaPorte, RE, Sekikawa A, Sa E, Linkov F, Lovalekar M: Whisking Science into the classroom. British Medical Journal. 2002;324:9

  13. LaPorte RE, Sauer FW, Saad R, Shubnikov E. Bioterrorism and the Epidemiology of Fear. Lancet Infectious disease 2002;2:326

  14. Husseni A, Saad R, LaPorte R Health Supercourse to end Arab isolation. Nature 2002;417:788

  15. LaPorte RE, Linkov F, Villasenor T, et. Papyrus to PowerPoint (P2P) : metamorphosis of scientific communication. BMJ 2002:325; 1478-1481

  16. Linkov R, LaPorte RE. Can ebooks help to cross the digital divide? (letter) BMJ Oct. 18, 2002

  17. Linkov R, LaPorte RE. Can ebooks help to cross the digital divide? (letter) BMJ Oct. 18, 2002

  18. Husseini A, LaPorte RE. Islam with the internet could do much to prevent disease. BMJ 2001; 323:694

  19. Sekikawa A, Randolph L, Sa ER, Acosta B, Aaron D, Sauer F, LaPorte RE. Problem: Boring Lectures, Solution: New Web Formats BMJ http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/320/7232/432

  20. LaPorte RE, Sauer F, Dearwater S, Aaron DJ, Sekikawa A, Sa ES, Shubnikov E. Towards an Internet Civil Defense. (Lancet, Infectious Diseases;2001:1, 125-7)

  21. LaPorte RE, Randolph, LM Jr. Sauer F, Sekikawa A, Aaron D. Information dominance over disease. letter Lancet.2000:8;1370-1

  22. Supercourse Faculty. Global Cooperation in Higher Education. Nature Medicine, 2000, 6, 358

  23. The Reincarnation of Biomedical Journals as Hypertext Comic Books Nature Medicine 1998,4

  24. Dorman JS, LaPorte RE, Stone RA, Trucco M. Worldwide differences in the incidence of Type I diabetes are associated with amino acid variation at position 57 of the HLA DQ Beta chain. Proc Nat Acad Sci. 1990;87:7370-7374.

  25. LaPorte RE for the Global Health Network. Internet server with targeted access would cure information deficiency in developing countries. BMJ 1997;314:980

  26. LaPorte RE. Patterns of disease: Diabetes mellitus and the rest. Brit Med J 1995;310:545-546.

  27. WHO Directors of Collaborating Centers and Key NCD OFficials. Shanghai Declaration of Non-Communicable Diseases. British Medical Journal 1993;306:588.

  28. DiaMond Project Group on Social Issues. Global regulations on diabetics treated with insulin and their operation of commercial motor vehicles. Brit Med J 1993;307:250-253.

  29. LaPorte RE, McCarty DJ, Tull ES, Tajima N. Counting birds, bees, and NCDs. Lancet 1992;339:494-495.

  30. Tuomilehto J, Tuomilehto Wolf E, Virtala E, LaPorte R. Coffee Consumption as trigger for insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in Childhood. Br Med J 1990;300:642 643.


University of Pittsburgh Department of Epidemiology