After four years at the helm of the Center for Rural Health
Practice at University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Michael Meit is
stepping down to pursue rural health issues on a national
scale.

Meit explained he’s taking a position as a senior research
scientist in July with the University of Chicago in Bethesda,
Md.

“It was just a good position and it’s a nice step in my career,”
he said Tuesday. “I’ll still be doing public health and rural
issues. Being housed out of the Washington, D.C., area does give
more opportunity for national policy work.”

Meit’s work locally in the same field has drawn the admiration
of those he worked with.

“Michael has provided outstanding leadership for the Center,”
said Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford president. “The
exciting research projects that take place in the Center bring
much-needed national and local attention to rural health issues. I
commend Michael for relentlessly seeking to bring attention to
issues the rest of the nation would just as soon ignore.”

Dr. Lorraine Ettaro, visiting assistant professor of public
health, will serve as interim director of the Center beginning July
1.

“It will be a very smooth transition,” Meit said.

Describing his time in Bradford, Meit said, “It really has been
the highlight of my career. We partnered with (local businesses) to
make the community safer. We’ve done a lot of work training for
rural responders.

“Our efforts have made rural Pennsylvania safer,” he
reiterated.

Perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments while at the helm of
the Center was the publication of Bridging the Health Divide: The
Rural Public Health Research Agenda, Meit explained. The document
is used nationally to guide public health research.

“We were a leader in that,” he said. “It’s still used across the
country.”

Meit called the opportunity to work with Pitt-Bradford “a
blessing,” and said Bradford “is a nice community both on campus
and off campus.”

Meit has served as director of the Center since March 2002. In
May 2004, he was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on
Rural Health and Human Services, a group charged with advising the
secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on rural
health and human services issues.

U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who recommended Meit for that
appointment, praised Meit for his years of service to rural
Pennsylvania.

“Michael is a man of unique vision and extraordinary dedication,
and the Center for Rural Health Practice and the thousands of folks
it has helped have been well-served during the past several years
by his uncommon talent and expertise,” said Peterson. “He achieved
more for the Center than any of us could have ever imagined, and
those of us who live in rural Pennsylvania owe him a great debt of
gratitude for his contributions, his character and his
collaboration over the years.”

Meit began his career with the Pennsylvania Department of Health
as a program analyst. His work included policy analysis and
implementation and serving as officer on several projects.

In 1997, he joined the National Association of County and City
Health Officials in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Meit has served
as a speaker and moderator at a number of national conferences on
rural health and has had several journal articles published.

The Center is a cooperative effort with Pitt-Bradford, the
University of Pittsburgh’s Schools of Health Sciences, the UPMC
Health System and area hospitals and health care providers to help
identify and research issues of importance to the health of the
rural population.