Josh Imhof & Charlotte Shields-Rossi | news editor & a&e editor

When Urmi Ashar, assistant professor of Health Sciences at Duquesne, first met Mark Cantrell, the two immediately found common ground on one thing: their shared love of nature.

“One of the first things I had said when we had met was, ‘I’m happy to make the time for a meeting, but don’t get me seated in a room,’” Ashar said. “He smiled and said ‘We will get along great because I don’t like being indoors myself.’”

Cantrell died Aug. 26 in Nepal as a result of the deadly flooding and mudslides in the region, according to an email from Dean of the John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences Fevzi Akinci.

Cantrell was returning to Nepal after going on a Yatra, a spiritual pilgrimage to Mt. Kailash in Tibet, China.

He was 51.

Born on February 25, 1975, Cantrell first came to Duquesne in 2021 when he was brought on to serve as director of public health for the university. He held the role for one year before stepping down to serve as a United States Diplomat with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Still, he remained a part of the university as an adjunct professor until his death.

Laila Cronin, Duquesne public health alumna, met Cantrell while she was in high school in late 2021. When a family member found out that she was interested in studying public health, they helped her get in touch with Cantrell, who she said was happy to guide her.

Cronin, who was planning on applying to multiple universities, said that Cantrell was the reason she chose Duquesne.

“He was the only one that ever reached out about talking to me,” Cronin said.

Faina Linkov, associate Health Sciences professor at Duquesne, said this was not unusual for Cantrell.

“You really need to relate to students and make them feel like they belong … I heard from a couple of students that it was him that kind of solidified their decision to come to Duquesne,” Linkov said. “You don’t hear that often.”

Cronin had talked to very few professors before beginning college. She said she always thought of them as serious, but Cantrell wasn’t like that.

“He liked to crack a lot of jokes, [he was] very easy to approach,” she said. “He was so light-hearted about everything. It made it easy for him to joke about a lot of things and make you feel more comfortable.”

Although Cronin never had Cantrell as a professor, the two still kept in touch every now and then, calling and meeting in person. One time when the two were having a conversation, Cantrell brought up his plan to go to Peru.

“He is in his 50s and wants to live in another country for months. He must be very passionate,” she said she thought to herself.

Linkov said that she was always surprised at how engaged Cantrell could keep his students, especially when he was just starting out at Duquesne.

“I think for every person that I meet, there is typically a learning curve. It takes a while. It took me a year to settle in Duquesne,” she said. “For him, it was like he was always there.”

When he was there, Cantrell’s colleagues said he embraced all aspects of campus.

“We went up for lunch and then we just walked all through the different avenues in academic walk and the different avenues that you can because it’s a good workout, but we are also having a good conversation,” Ashar said. “That actually was the basis of our relationship.”

On these walks, she and Cantrell would often discuss the state of public health, how to better immerse students and what they could learn from smaller communities’ healthcare systems.

Cantrell would regularly travel the world with organizations like the World Health Organization and USAID, and would bring the knowledge he learned on those trips back to the classroom. He had a strong interest in teaching students about these systems, Linkov said.

“I think he had a very non-traditional sort of view about how to educate people, and so he was not thinking about traditional semesters,” Linkov said. “He was thinking more about kind of like short-term courses where you get exposed to local environments, local communities and you learn more.”

Ashar said this is why Cantrell joined USAID and also why it was so hard for him when the program was disbanded.

“I remember even at that time he had felt really upset, not about his job loss, but about the fact that we were leaving behind unfinished work and the communities that were dependent on us globally,” Ashar said.

Still, Cantrell did not let this sway him and remained a part of the public health community until his death, while continuing to look for new ways to advance the field. Ashar said this is what made him special.

“There are very few people I know, at least I have met, who can think about the big system that we are living in and it was a joy to get to know him,” she said. “Most people only focus on their jobs, their little part of the universe. He was different in that way.”

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu

Charlotte Shields-Rossi can be reached at shieldsrossic@duq.edu