Jason (Jake) Dechant, PhD, MA
Associate Director, Health Humanities and Social Sciences (HHumSS)
Professional Statement
Dr. Dechant is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Promotion & Development and serves as the Director of Science Education Laboratories within the School of Nursing.
His primary focus is on developing high quality educational methods within the undergraduate curriculum and the mentorship of undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants. He has been at the school since 1997 and is passionate about the success and progression of students as they transition from basic to clinical sciences.
Dr. Dechant’s primary research areas include developing and assessing new educational tools that can be implemented in the teaching laboratory. His current project is testing personalized interactive computer graphics programs in the Anatomy & Physiology Teaching labs. Other areas of interest include researching anatomical variation of the human musculoskeletal system and the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals on athletic performance.
He has co-taught Literature and Science with Dr. Jeff Aziz for six years. This Honors course relates to the literature, history, and ethics of human cadaver usage in the study of medicine.
Dr. Dechant is co-host for a humanities-based podcast Remains to be Seen, which explores medical history and culture, engaging both academic and public audiences. This podcast has broad dissemination with thousands of downloads and streams since its inception.
Dr. Dechant is a member of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society and the Pennsylvania Public Health Association and serves as a faculty consultant for Pearson Education.
Appointments
- Assistant Professor Department of Health Promotion & Development School of Nursing
- Director of Science Education Laboratories School of Nursing
- Assistant Director of the Program in Health Humanities and Social Sciences (HHumSS) Institute for Bioethics
- Core Faculty Institute for Bioethics
Education and Training
- PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2012
- MA, University of Pittsburgh, 1996
- BA, University of Pittsburgh, 1994
Professional Interests in Bioethics
Representative Publications
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Jason Dechant, Andrew Wright a, Lydia Strattan, Cynthia Chew, Julia M. dos Santos. (2025) Testing personalized interactive computer graphic programs at Anatomy and Physiology teaching laboratory. To be presented at Human Anatomy and Physiology Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, May 2025.
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dos Santos J.M., McPike A. a, Heck T., Oppong R. a, Dechant J, Dunbar-Jacob J., (2025) Endocrine Disruptors in Type 2 Diabetes: A Translational Analysis of the Influence of BPA and BPS on Metabolic Parameters and Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance. American Physiology Society. April, Baltimore
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dos Santos J.M., Zhu, A. McPike, J. Dechant, and J. Demirci. (2025) Biomonitoring Endocrine Disruptors Chemicals in Human Milk: A New Approach for Understanding Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Women Living in Environmental Justice Areas. To be presented at Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, Orlando. March 2025
Recent Funding
- Type: 2024 Innovation in Education Award
- Funding Agency: University of Pittsburgh
- Title: “Improving simulation in the Anatomy & Physiology teaching laboratory using personalized interactive computer graphics programs”
Media
- “Remains to be Seen” This podcast is supported by the Medical Humanities Curriculum at the University of Pittsburgh in the Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences.
- Podcast Descriptor: “We know where the bodies are hidden. An anatomy professor, an English professor, and a future med student talk about the history of the human body in medicine, anatomy, and culture. Topics discussed may include medical museums, anatomical grave-robbing, organ transplantation, disability studies, unusual bodies, prosthetics, implants, body modification...whatever catches our interest (and we are interested in some rather odd things)”.