About Us

Stefanie Altieri Dunn, Ph.D., is a Quality Data Analytics Expert at the Wolff Center at UPMC. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA in neuroscience and psychology. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Pennsylvania State University and spent the latter part of her graduate years studying jointly at the University of California, Los Angeles. Thereafter, Stefanie completed 3 years of postdoctoral work at the John G. Rangos Sr. Research Center at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Stefanie’s research career focused on her interests in brain development studying the effects of antidepressant use during pregnancy as a graduate student and genetic determinants of auditory system development as a postdoctoral fellow. She presented her findings through 10 primary author or co-authored peer-reviewed journal publications and at national and international conferences. She also was awarded grant funding through an F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Importantly, her 10 years in research allowed her to develop invaluable skills in study design, data analysis, and interpretation that she looked forward to applying when she joined the quality data analytics team at the Wolff Center in 2016. During her first five years at the Wolff Center, Stefanie specialized in performing quality improvement and program evaluation analyses and assisting with manuscript preparations on her findings. She also conducted literature reviews on various quality initiatives and was involved with monitoring/reporting operating performance for quality metrics and US News related projects.  In March 2022, she joined the Wolff Learning Academy team and assists with oversight of the Nurse Excellence Survey, NDNQI submission, nurse certifications, My Nursing Career tool building, and continued support for literature reviews to facilitate learning and best practice in quality improvement. Stefanie is passionate about continuously expanding her skillset and sharing her knowledge with others.