Dr. Katherine M. Detre has been named a distinguished professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health, in recognition of her many acheivements. A leading expert in epidemiological analysis, she has designed and led large-scale health studies undertaken across the country.
She was born Katherine Maria Drechsler, in Budapest, Hungary, in 1926, and as a student in Hungary at the end of World War II, devoted herself to her studies to help cope with the loss of some of her closest family members during the war. She trained at Pazmany Peter Medical School, Budapest, before setting off for Canada in 1949 under an International Student Service Award. She graduated with an M.D. from Queen's University Medical School, Ontario, in 1952, and worked at Kingston General and Military Hospitals before completing her residency in Internal Medicine at Queen Mary Veterans Hospital in 1956. She moved to America in 1956 and married Dr. Thomas Detre. She attended Yale University, where she specialized in biometry, the application of statistics to biological sciences. She earned her Master of Public Health degree at Yale University 1964, and her doctorate in 1967.
Dr. Detre is a professor in the department of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, and was recently named Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology in the Graduate School of Public Health. This prestigious honor, the highest university title awarded a faculty member, recognizes "extraordinary, internationally-recognized scholarly attainment." Her achievements, recognized by this award, span Dr. Detre's continuing career as a medical researcher.
Specifically, Dr. Detre has won grants for expansive studies of coronary artery disease and diabetes. In the year 2000, the National Institute of Health, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and several private sources, funded a study she designed and led with one of the largest grants in the history of the University of Pittsburgh, amounting to 70 million dollars. The study takes in forty areas nationwide and involves three thousand patients. The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health contributed the largest sum, amounting to 52.2 million dollars.