Professional
Sharon McDermott, MFA
Associate Director, Outreach, Education, and Public Policy Division
mcdermotts@upmc.edu
Sharon F. McDermott, MFA, an educator for over 20 years, began teaching music in Shady Lane and Shadyside Presbyterian Pre-Schools in Pittsburgh, taught English literature at the University School, a college-preparatory high school and became a Visiting Lecturer of poetry writing at the University of Pittsburgh for five years until she joined the Center’s staff. In May 2005, she was awarded the Tina and David Bellet CAS Teaching Excellence Award, the highest honor given in the arts and sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. McDermott is also a published poet, recipient of both an artist award from The Pittsburgh Foundation in 2001 and a PA Council on the Arts grant in 2002. Her chapbook, Alley Scatting, was published in 2005 by Parallel Press out of the University of Wisconsin. Her ability to communicate the arts to others contributes to her ability to translate basic research findings at the Center into accessible information for health professionals and the general public.
