Obituary: Deborah J. Aaron / Pitt professor and researcher in health and physical activity
Died April 23, 2008Saturday, April 26, 2008
By Bill Schackner
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Deborah J. Aaron, a University of Pittsburgh professor and researcher died after a battle with cancer Wednesday at her Churchill home. She was 51.
Dr. Aaron came to Pitt in 1994 and was an associate professor of health and physical activity in the school of education, university officials said.
She explored a range of subjects related to health and physical activity and how those attributes differed within populations. One of her main areas of inquiry was health disparities between lesbians and nonlesbians, a focus in which her work gained national prominence, said Jere Gallagher, an associate education dean at Pitt.
In 2003, Dr. Aaron and colleague Sandra Quinn, associate dean for student affairs and education at Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health, delivered findings of the first comprehensive survey of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in Allegheny County. The study found that in areas from family life, to health care, to spirituality, the needs of that population were going unmet.
Research papers by Dr. Aaron appeared in a range of scholarly publications, including the Journal of Adolescent Health and Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Dr. Gallagher said.
"She was a really wonderful person," said Education Dean Alan Lesgold, noting that she would be remembered fondly as a mentor to her graduate students.
"All faculty care or else they wouldn't be in this business, but some care more than others," he said. "She was certainly at the top end of that spectrum."
A 1974 graduate of Brookville High School in Jefferson County, Dr. Aaron enjoyed sports, including softball, and rode a motorcycle, friends said. She applied her health knowledge to keeping her co-workers and others in Oakland fit by helping to bring to the university the concept of the "Walking Health Bus."
The 30-minute loop mapped out by Dr. Aaron began and ended at Trees Hall atop Cardiac Hill. People would join the "virtual bus route" and then leave it depending on where they worked or lived.
Surviving are her mother, Joyce A. Marshall Aaron of Brookville, and sisters Sue A. Aaron of Brookville, Teresa Fitzgerald, and Becky Park, both of Summerville, Jefferson County.
Visitation will be today from 7 to 9 p.m. and tomorrow from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at McKinney Funeral Home, 345 Main St. Brookville. A Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday in St. Nicholas Church in Crates, in Limestone, Clarion County. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. June 13 in Heinz Chapel on the Pitt campus.
Link to original article »
