Lebo alum receives award from Penn State
Dr. Jason Bacha, a 1998 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, was a recipient of the “Outstanding Science Alumni Award” from Penn State University on Oct. 6. This award is given by the Eberly College of Science and its Alumni Society to recognize and reward outstanding Penn State science alumni for their exemplary achievements as leaders in science and for the impact they have had and will continue to have on society, science students and their professions.
Bacha works for the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative & Texas Children’s Hospital Health Service Corporation in Mbeya, Tanzania. He currently serves as the medical director and co-clinical director for the site, where he supervises clinical research projects, oversees the program’s core pediatric HIV/AIDS activities, and has helped created additional clinical programs focusing on childhood tuberculosis, malnutrition and oncology care in Mbeya. In Tanzania, Bacha has cared for more than 3,000 children and adolescents, implemented psychosocial support groups for at-risk adolescents and families, worked with community empowerment and HIV prevention campaigns, and taught and mentored hundreds of local health care workers. He sits on Tanzania’s national childhood tuberculosis technical working group and has helped develop numerous national guidelines for pediatric care. Dr. Bacha’s passion for global health was sparked during his sophomore year at Penn State where he studied abroad in Australia and continued to grow through additional experiences working with children in Haiti, Kenya and Malawi.
Dr. Bacha’s community service and research excellence have been recognized on numerous occasions throughout his career, including with the Evan Pugh Scholar Award from Penn State in 2002, the Certificate of Research Excellence from the University of Michigan in 2007, the Outstanding Pediatric Resident Award from the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital in 2011 and the recipient of Mt. Lebanon High School’s Great Alumni in 2013. This award is given to the alumni who have worked to improve the lives of others, have been involved with community service and/or have excelled professionally.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in biology at Penn State in 2002, Bacha received a master’s degree in clinical research from the University of Michigan in 2007 and a doctoral degree in medicine from the University of Michigan in 2008. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital in Stanford, Calif., in 2011, where he met his wife, Dr. Liane Campbell.