“I can do things you cannot; you can do things I cannot;
together we can do great things.”  —Mother Teresa

Dear Pitt Med Readers,

Pittsburghers often proudly describe their city as one of neighborhoods. In my few years here, I’ve come to know it as a city that is also quite neighborly—where people are willing to reach out to one another with an abundance of goodwill. That neighborly ethos has seeped into our academic community as well, contributing to a remarkably rich intellectual environment.

Here in Oakland, we are fortunate to have an excellent academic neighbor in Carnegie Mellon University, whose faculty members are the medical school’s most frequent external collaborators—to the tune of almost $16 million in research funding last year alone. Beyond generating significant grant funding, bringing together the complementary expertise of the two institutions creates extraordinary teams whose work is often game-changing.

Consider some of these exciting breakthroughs: Adam Feinberg’s lab team at Carnegie Mellon designed and built a 3D-printed version of a developing heart that began pumping spontaneously, as hoped. And in Marco Capogrosso’s lab at Pitt, research volunteers who’d been paralyzed by stroke gained use of their arms and hands again in an experimental intervention. Both projects involved investigators from both universities.

It’s important to point out that at the heart of these collaborative breakthroughs are students and trainees of both institutions. Each year, dozens of students from Pitt Med and dozens from Carnegie Mellon enroll in a range of formal research programs jointly sponsored by the universities. Many graduates consider both schools their alma maters. We are proud to be preparing this next generation of innovators.

The faculty leaders of these teams are some of the world’s most respected and promising scholars in medicine, nanotechnology, neuroscience, rehabilitation, biology, computation, philosophy, psychiatry, bioengineering, robotics and other fields. I encourage you to read our cover story, “Not just neighbors,” to learn more about the leading biomedical investigators coming out of these joint programs.

We are delighted to have a stellar academic partner within walking distance. Stay tuned for more reports. I fully expect our alliance will grow even stronger and more fruitful.

Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD
Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences
John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine

Read more from the Winter 2024 issue.