Ashton Glover Gatewood, 31, a member of the Choctaw Nation and descendent of both the Chickasaw and Cherokee Nations, has long lamented the glaring lack of Native American physicians. So she decided to become one.

Gatewood is a student in the inaugural class of the first tribally affiliated medical school in the United States, the Oklahoma State University (OSU) College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation. The school opened this fall on Cherokee land in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation's 14-county reservation in the rolling hills of rural Oklahoma, about an hour east of Tulsa.

First-year medical student Ashton Glover Gatewood, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, receives her white coat from Natasha Bray, DO, associate dean of academic affairs at the OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation.

"When I first read in the paper that OSU and the Cherokee Nation were starting this school, I knew I had to be a part of it," said Gatewood, an RN with an MPH degree who had been working as a public health nurse at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. "I want to help the Native community and know, as a physician, I'll have a larger platform and voice."

Tribal communities have long lacked resources and medical care. They face crushingly high rates of poverty, substance abuse, and suicide, as well as well as an increased incidence of chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. The coronavirus pandemic has further highlighted the healthcare disparities that affect these medically underserved people.

Medical educators have struggled for decades with little success to boost the number of Native American physicians and to train physicians to staff clinics for chronically underserved rural populations such as the Cherokee Nation. Nationwide, fewer than half of 1% of US physicians are Native American. In the first class at the new school, 22% identify as such.

"After we were removed from tribal lands and there were no teachers, we invested our treasury into teachers," said Bill John Baker, former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. "This is a natural progression. Just as our ancestors grew their own teachers 150 years ago, we want to grow our own doctors."

Many credit the creation of the school to Baker's vision. During his tenure as principal chief from 20112019, Baker made healthcare a priority for a population struggling with high death rates from cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Baker sold off the nation's private jet to help pay for healthcare services and allocated $300 million to refurbish rural clinics and create and equip a new state-of-the-art outpatient facility. The Cherokee Nation now operates the largest tribally operated healthcare system in the United States; 27% of its working physicians are tribally affiliated, according to a tribal spokesperson.

The investment in healthcare caught the attention of OSU leaders, who approached the chief with the prospect of opening a medical school on tribal lands. "It was a match made in heaven," Baker said. "We've been investing in our young people for quite some time, sending them to medical school at Harvard and Stanford and all over the country, but when we saw an opportunity to have a medical school right here and not have to ship our kids off, that made perfect sense."

Cherokee leaders feel lucky to have the campus on their land. "The symbol of having a medical school in our capital is just so powerful," said current Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr, who has helped oversee a continuing outflow of healthcare spending.

Hoskin says these moves came in response to years of governmental neglect. "We're not waiting for the federal government to meet its healthcare obligations to American Indian people and their sovereign governments," he said.

Students and medical school leaders say they are thoroughly impressed with how the Cherokee Nation is now handling healthcare in general, as well as COVID-19. Before the pandemic, the tribe built new clinics with high-grade ventilation and enough space to easily segregate infectious patients. The tribe also has its own COVID-19 dashboard. In addition to widely disseminating flu shots, it implemented a mask mandate early on. The state of Oklahoma still doesn't have one.

Many students are drawn to the school because of its location. "When they announced this partnership with the Cherokee Nation, I had five different family members send it to me," said Connor West, 24. "I think it was meant to be." Although he is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, West said he has never lived on tribal lands. He's thrilled to see signs around town written in both English and Cherokee, to see so many cars with Cherokee Nation license plates, and to be able to meet tribal leaders. "It's like being in Washington, DC, and meeting the president," he said.

The Cherokee Nation paid to construct the $40 million, 84,000 square foot building that will house the new medical school starting in January. Construction was delayed because of the pandemic. When finished, the halls will be filled with artworks by Cherokee artisans. The grounds will be landscaped with plants used by Cherokee medicine men and women, plants such as coneflower, yarrow, rattlesnake master, blue indigo, and elderberry.

An architectural rendering of OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Cherokee Nation.

Construction is almost complete on the 84,000 state-of-the-art facility, which will be ready for use in the spring semester of 2021.

The hope is that the physical building and its surroundings will reflect its ties to the community. The medical school sits on Cherokee land, but the agreement to form the school was signed by an additional four area tribal nations: the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole. All five tribes are providing funds for scholarships and clinical rotation sites within their tribal clinic systems.

Although the pandemic has put many of the school's plans on hold, courses will involve students interacting with and learning from Native elders and healers who are scheduled to be guest lecturers and will share wisdom with the new students. "We're hoping an unwritten curriculum will emerge from the healing practices of the Cherokee people," said Natasha Bray, DO, the school's associate dean for academic affairs and accreditation.

Decolonizing the medical school curriculum sits well with many Native American physicians. Areas of consideration include how to work with cadavers, something that can be traumatizing for more traditional tribal students, who often seek purifying ceremonies from healers after completing required dissections. "This is so exciting the Cherokee Nation is taking this on," said Gayle Din Chacon, MD, who served as surgeon general for the Navajo Nation and founded the Center for Native American Health at the University of New Mexico. "I think this will be a model for other tribes."

Opening during the pandemic has been challenging, especially because a major draw of the school is its focus on community. As is the case on other medical school campuses, students at the new school haven't been able to study together or hold parties after tests. When a number of students gathered on Zoom to be interviewed for this article, they commented that they had never before seen each other without masks on. "It's been so hard. They can't do all the bonding things young people would normally do," said Bray.

Students are being patient but are eager to proceed with the unique opportunities the school has offered, including spending time with Cherokee healers and volunteering in the community. Some had hoped to donate their time at nursing homes and other medical facilities. For now, their learning is a blend of remote lectures and in-person osteopathic and physical diagnostic labs, with reduced class sizes and social distancing.

Some students view lectures and study at home. Others, like Gatewood, who has a young child, come to campus and wear masks. The school is using empty Cherokee Nation medical office space while students await their January move-in date. Families were barred from attending the students' white coat ceremony on July 31. So far, there have been no cases of on-campus transmission of COVID-19, Bray said.

As chaotic as it has been, the students say they are very proud to be part of a historic class. "Once we move in, it will kick in that, 'I'm the first one to sit in this chair,' " said Caitlin Cosby, 21, a member of the Choctaw tribe. She was inspired to enter medicine after seeing treatment given to her sister, who was born without eardrums. "Being an inaugural class, we're all leaders."

Pandemic-related lessons in adaptability may prove valuable to those headed to work in the Indian Health Service, where physician postings are considered "unusually difficult" because of isolation and chronic understaffing, according to a 2018 U.S. Government Accountability Office report. "The fortitude and grit we're developing this year are really going to serve us well," Gatewood said.

The tribal partnership is considered a win-win for the Cherokee Nation and the surrounding community because it creates a pipeline to train Native physicians as well as help ease physician shortages in rural parts of Oklahoma. Oklahoma ranks among states with the fewest physicians per capita and the lowest life expectancy. Forty percent of the students in the inaugural class come from rural areas. When it comes to the school's mission, "it's a shared vision," said Dean William J. Pettit, DO. "The tribal leaders want to keep their population healthy, and we want to train rural physicians."

Although relationships between the Cherokee Nation and the federal government have at times been fraught, Chief Hoskin says his nation's partnership with the state university is a strong one. "When we find friends and neighbors with whom we can build coalitions," he said, "we prosper, and they prosper."

The school also hopes to create new residency programs at area tribal health networks in an effort to keep the students they train practicing in nearby rural and tribal areas. New physicians tend to set up practices near where they completed residency, Pettit said, so setting up rural and tribal residency options is key to increasing the state's rural physician workforce.

Although the medical school is a promising start, those working to increase the ranks of tribal physicians say the pipeline should start much earlier. "We have to get down to the middle school and high school level and mentor these kids. Sometimes they just have to hear, 'Yes, you can do this. Yes, you can take that next step,' " said Tim Ridgway, MD, dean and vice president for health affairs at South Dakota's Sanford School of Medicine, which has also been grappling with ways to increase enrollment of Native American medical students.

OSU has been doing precisely that kind of work. In a program called "Operation Orange," medical school faculty and students go into rural areas hoping to inspire students by letting them experience a day in the life of a medical student. "We let them hold a brain, hold lungs, put on splints and do intubations, things that will excite a younger person," Pettit said.

Din Chacon agrees that mentoring and better tribal education systems are critical. Currently, the system may not adequately prepare young students for the academic rigor and ability to ace standardized tests that they need to succeed in college and beyond. "It's not just 'open a medical school and they will come,' " said Din Chacon, who grew up in the center of the Navajo Nation in Chinle, Arizona. "We need to plant the seeds and prepare the field so we have enough good, healthy, competitive applicants to enter medical school."

Even as they look toward ways to improve the future, leaders of the Cherokee Nation are celebrating the potent symbolism of having a medical school rise on their land, the powerful coalition they are building with OSU, and the home-grown physicians they expect to see graduating for years to come.

Usha Lee McFarling is an American science reporter who has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, STAT News, and the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau. In 2007, she won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. Follow her on Twitter: @ushamcfarling.

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First-of-Its-Kind Med School Makes History - Medscape

Minister of State for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson.

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GROUND-breaking and construction on a new medical school in Grand Bahama expected to create some 200 jobs could start before the end of the year, according to State Minister for Grand Bahama Senator Kwasi Thompson.

Mr Thompson has indicated the principals of West Atlantic University School of Medicine are moving forward with legal documents for property in Freeport.

He said the medical school was approved and has signed a Heads of Agreement with the government.

They are moving forward with legal documents for property and its their desire to break ground and start construction before the end of the year, or as soon as they are able to complete the legal document.

That is a significant project in terms of the construction. So, we hope that we can move that forward, said Mr Thompson.

Last October, the principals of WAUSM signed a HoA for a new medical school in Freeport to be built in phases at an overall investment of $64.2m over a ten-year period.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis was in Freeport for the signing at the Office of the Prime Minister. It was the second major project approved and signed by government in Grand Bahama following Hurricane Dorian.

It was announced that Western Atlantic would lease about 50 acres of land from the Public Hospitals Authority to build a 98,000 sq ft medical school campus.

The project will be carried out in four phases and is expected to provide 150 jobs during peak construction with 200 permanent jobs available at completion in 2029.

Dorian and COVID-19 pandemic have delayed plans for the project. It had been announced that the first phase would be completed by September 2020 when the university is expected to hire between 50-75 Bahamians.

Minister Thompson also noted that government has approved a second new project in Grand Bahama proposed by Clean Marine.

We were also recently talking to a company called Clean Marine who is presently operating a facility in Shipyard and they are now looking at embarking on a new project, and so we are working with them as well.

We expect there would be some construction work as well for expansion to their existing facility, he said.

With unemployment at an all time high in Grand Bahama, Mr Thompson said the government is continuing to work with potential developers.

There are people who continue to call us every day with respect to inquiries for development for GB and that is part of our role to continue to see them through those processes. And we will continue to do that, he said.

The Tribune understands there are interests for the old Royal Oasis Resort property and Xanadu Beach hotel, which are located in Freeport.

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Work may start on medical school by end of the year - Bahamas Tribune

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Amid enhanced safety precautions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, medical schools across the country are relying more on virtual reality to help train future doctors and health care workers.

Multiple monitors in large classroom spaces at Kansas City University allow for social distancing, but students also are required to wear masks and time spent on campus is limited. Most lectures have moved online.

Access to in-hospital clinics often is limited as well because of COVID-19, which has led to an increasing reliance on virtual reality to teach future front-line health workers.

Brandon Bishop is a second-year medical student at Kansas City University.

When he's not listening to online lectures, you can find him suited up with goggles and controllers as he enters the virtual world of medicine.

"It kind of puts you in the hospital, so you can interact with the different things you normally would during a patient encounter," Bishop said.

With the controllers, Brandon can access the menu, select instructions for the virtual nurse and choose his treatment plan for the virtual patient.

"If I click on his head, I can communicate with him," Bishop said. "If I click on his body, then I can examine him, so you can do a heart exam, a lung exam."

The virtual session also provides feedback to the students about their performance and makes suggestions for improvement.

Virtual reality learning for medical students is not new, but the level of technology has become increasingly sophisticated.

The new Center for Medical Education Innovation at Kansas City University, which was completed earlier in 2020, was built to make the most of the new technology.

It proved to be a blessing when COVID-19 arrived, allowing Kansas City University students to remain engaged in state-of-the-art learning.

"Things like virtual reality, augmented and mixed reality, we're using life-like simulation with simulated mannequins," Kansas City University Provost of Health Affairs Dr. Darrin D'Agostino said. "We're actually integrating it into our systems courses, so when we're learning about the heart, we're also going to teaching them how to do the ultra sound of the heart."

Bishop has enjoyed the experience.

"Being able to go to the mannequin and actually listen to it and hear what it sounds like, it made difference," he said. "It made it a little more solid in our heads."

Even during the pandemic, medical school enrollment is at an all-time high.

The Association of American Medical Colleges reported a 17% jump in applications for medical school this year. Applications at KCU increased by more than 30%, so there's a waiting list.

Bishop said he's wanted to be a doctor since he was 5 years old. The COVID-19 pandemic only fuels his passion for a career in medicine and likely inspires others as well.

"Seeing that COVID is out there and seeing how it affects people and the way it impacts society, that's the reason I got into medicine," he said. "I want to make a difference."

Kansas City University staff acknowledges that virtual reality and augmented reality will never take the place of professors or completely replace a student's experience with real patients, but it's going to remain a key part of the curriculum even after the pandemic.

"Our accrediting bodies are mandating that we meet the same standards, so, although we are doing it differently, we're still meeting the standards that have been set for medical school and for our clinical rotations," D'Agostino said.

Bishop believes the education he's receiving, combining virtual reality with the chance to work with patients as he transitions to being a resident, will have him well-prepared for his chosen career.

"I think it'll give me a much better foundation," he said.

A foundation of saving lives and making a difference Bishop is building with his wife, Joelle.

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Medical schools increasingly turn to virtual reality amid COVID-19 pandemic - KSHB

Scott O'Connell|Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER UMass Medical School recently announced it has hired Marlina Duncan as vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion.

Duncan is currently the assistant vice president of academic diversity at Brown University, as well as associate dean of diversity initiatives in its Graduate School.

She previously worked on diversity programs at the Broad Institute in Cambridge.

In her current role, Dr. Duncan is a thought leader and trusted advisor to administrators, faculty and students, UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael Collins said, listing among her accomplishments the creation of a universitywide diversity and inclusion plan at Brown.

Duncan will assume her new post Dec. 28, according to the medical school. In that role, she will be responsible for overseeing the institutions diversity and inclusion office, and working with leaders across the medical schools programs and departments to ensure that diversity and inclusion remain at the forefront of the medical school, according to UMass.

QCC fundraiser

Citing greater than ever need among its students, Quinsigamond Community College has launched a fundraising campaign targeting alumni that will run until Dec. 1.

The GivingTuesdaygoal this year is to raise $30,000, in honor of the more than 30,000 alumni at Quinsigamond.

Money raised will go to programs and services on campus helping students in need, like the Student Emergency Fund, the on-campus food pantry, and various scholarships. Donors can specify where they want their donations to go, according to the college.

By donating to QCCs GivingTuesday campaign, you are helping a friend or a neighbor who may be one of the many front-line workers helping to keep us safe and our essential businesses operating, said Viviana M. Abreu-Hernandez, associate vice president for external affairs.

The need for monetary support has grown especially at Quinsigamond, according to the college, where students have lost jobs or had hours cut at their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey of students receiving help from the Student Emergency Fund, for example, nearly half became unemployed this year, while 72% of those who are still working lost hours.

Many of those students werent able to be helped by special federal aid the college received this year because they were ineligible, the college said.

If all of our alumni and everyone in the community who knows a QCC alumnus were to make a donation, we would more than hit our goal, Abreu-Hernandez said. QCC is not a just college in Worcester, QCC is Worcesters college, and by supporting our students you are supporting the community.

Information about the fundraising campaign can be found at http://www.QCC.edu/QCCGives.

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College Town: UMass Medical School hires vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion - Worcester Telegram

Its no secret that medical school is expensive. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the average medical school debt for students who graduated in 2019 was $201,490.

If youre considering medical school or youre already in the thick of it, its important to understand what to expect from the financing process and what your options are for debt repayment and reduction.

The average student loan debt for doctors and other medical school graduates sits at $201,490, a 3 percent increase from the previous year. Thats a far cry from $28,950, the average student loan debt for all graduating college students during the same year, according to the Institute of College Access and Success.

Here are some more details about the average debt after medical school:

In comparison, the average student loan balance for graduates with professional doctorate degrees for the 2015-16 school year (the latest data available) was $186,600, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Graduates with research doctorate degrees and masters degrees finished school with $108,400 and $66,000 in debt, respectively.

If you have federal student loans, including undergraduate and graduate loans, interest rates are updated every year. Private student loans, on the other hand, typically offer a range of interest rates, which are dependent on the borrowers creditworthiness.

Heres a history of federal student loan interest rates from the last several years:

As of November 2020, private student loan interest rates range from just under 2 percent to roughly 14 percent, depending on the lender and your creditworthiness.

Its important to understand that most student loans accrue interest while youre in school even if you elect not to make payments, and if you choose to continue that deferral through residency, the interest will compound. Once youre ready to make payments, the lender will capitalize the interest, adding it to your principal balance and increasing your monthly payment.

The standard repayment term for federal student loans is 10 years. If youre having a hard time keeping up with your monthly payments, though, you can extend your repayment schedule to up to 30 years with alternative repayment plans:

Private student loan companies set their own repayment terms, but most private medical school loans will allow to choose terms from five to 20 years. Of course, you can always refinance your loans to new terms as well, extending the payoff period. How long it takes you to repay your med school debt ultimately depends on your salary and other expenses.

You may find it difficult to work even a part-time job while youre in medical school, so you may need to rely on scholarships and grants to reduce your reliance on debt to get you through college.

However, once you finish school, youll have a few different options to reduce your student loan balance, or at least the amount of interest you pay on the debt.

The federal government offers student loan forgiveness to borrowers who work for a government agency or eligible not-for-profit organization. To qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, youll need to work full time for an eligible employer while making 120 qualifying monthly payments.

Once youve completed all of the requirements, your remaining debt will be forgiven with no tax consequences.

You can also achieve forgiveness by getting on an income-driven repayment plan and completing the repayment term. After 25 years of payments, your remaining debt will be forgiven, although the discharged balance is considered taxable income.

Federal agencies and state governments offer a variety of student loan repayment assistance programs. These programs arent technically forgiveness programs, because the benefit doesnt come from the lender, which is the U.S. Department of Education.

However, depending on the program, you could get tens of thousands of dollars in repayment assistance. The Association of American Medical Colleges maintains a list of state and federal programs you may be able to take advantage of.

One thing to keep in mind is that these programs typically only provide assistance to borrowers with federal loans. If you have private student loans, they may not be eligible.

Student loan refinancing is the process of replacing one or more existing loans with a new one through a private lender. Depending on your income and credit history, you may qualify for student loan refinance rates that are lower than what youre currently paying, which can save you money and reduce your monthly payment.

Youll also have the opportunity to shorten or extend your loan repayment term lenders typically offer terms ranging from five to 25 years.

Note, however, that if you have federal loans, refinancing may not be the best option if youre working toward forgiveness, a repayment assistance program or an income-driven repayment plan.

Whatever you do, its important to be proactive about paying off your med school debt. Research your options, especially forgiveness and repayment assistance programs, and choose the one that best suits your needs and financial goals.

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What is the average medical school debt? - Bankrate.com

You could say Nicole Belliard Martuscelli followed her dreams to Hollywood, but not in a typical sense. Her journey towards becoming an international medical student in the US began as a teenager. In her homeland Brazil, she attended an American high school and took an affinity towards learning English which she used to propel herself towards her goals.

Martuscelli first made the bold leap from to the US during her junior year. She enrolled in a high school in Florida (home of the city Hollywood, as well as outlandish news stories), thus laying the groundwork for her life in the US. It was challenging at first; the language and cultural barriers were greater than I expected, and I ended up self-isolating in school and not enjoying it as much as I should have, the 23-year-old tells Study International over e-mail. Despite the challenges, she completed high school and went on to university andapply to medical schools in the US.

Thats when her experience turned around.During my undergraduate years at the University of Miami (UM), I met people from much more diverse backgrounds and developed a strong support system with my new friends. I had such a great experience there, living alone for the first time, learning in a way I never thought I would, and having access to amazing research labs and facilities that would never have been possible back in Brazil, she shares.

Today, Martuscelli goes beyond her medical studies at Pennsylvanias Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) at Thomas Jefferson University to mentor young people who are lonely or unsure, as she once was. She does this as part of F-1 Doctors, a free student-led initiative for international applicants of the medical degree (MD), Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), or residency programmes in the US.Here, this passionate international medical student in the US shares tips and memories from her time in the US.

Nicole Belliard Martuscelli is a second-year medical student at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Source: Nicole Belliard Martuscelli

Originally, I decided to study in Florida because it was one of the closest places I could be to Brazil, and my parents could actually live with me there. Additionally, the weather and culture in Miami are not so different from Brazils. I really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world as well as having access to Brazilian markets and restaurants in Miami, which made me feel more at home. Additionally, I loved my community at the University of Miami and I truly had the best years of my life there.

Now I am in Philadelphia. I never imagined living in a cold state as I am not a huge fan of this weather. However, I have really enjoyed the city and the people I met here. Everyone is extremely friendly and, so far, I have been impressed by how much I enjoy it here.

I graduated from UM with a BS in Biochemistry and Nutrition, and I currently study medicine at SKMC. I have always been drawn to the sciences and, since high school, I have had an interest in medicine. When I arrived at the University of Miami, I picked biochemistry as a major because it was an area that would allow me to study both biology, chemistry and a little bit of physiology; I saw it as a way of exploring the sciences further, and I was right.

I ended up doing neuroscience research for three years while at UM and learning a lot about nutrition, genetics, biology, chemistry and even psychology. During my undergraduate years, I spend numerous weeks shadowing physicians and fell deeper in love with the profession. Those experiences as well as other pivotal interactions I have had throughout the years were what led me to apply to medical school. Today, Im a second-year medical student and I could not be happier with the decisions Ive made so far.

My favourite moments in both the UM and SKMC have been meeting new people and spending time with my friends. I deeply value my relationships, and thankfully I have been able to cultivate amazing ones throughout the years.

When shes not studying, Nicole channels her passion towards travel, dance, and cats. Source: Nicole Belliard Martuscelli

My number one recommendation is for people to give themselves time and be patient. It takes a long time for you to adapt when moving to a new location, let alone a new country. You need to be patient with yourself to learn the language and the ways of life in this new location. I think it is also important to have a good support system, so remaining in contact with family and old friends is huge when adapting to a new situation. It can be scary and overwhelming to have such a huge change in your life when youre alone.

Another thing I would say is to believe in yourself and hear what your conscience is telling you. Believe that you can achieve your goals and that you will adapt, but at the same time, listen to your limitations and be kind to yourself. Theres a long road ahead, and remaining true to your essence should be your priority, the rest will fall into place eventually.

I would also like to encourage any international students out there thinking of going to school for medicine, dentistry and nursing in the US to check out F-1 Doctors. It is a volunteer group comprising pre-medical/dental students, medical/dental students, residents, and attendings that allows students to give and receive free advice from other international students undergoing similar situations.

I plan on advancing my studies and continuing to build and support my family. Academically, my next step is to study for board exams so that I can apply to residency programmes in two years. For now, I plan to remain in the US for residency, but Im always open to new adventures and opportunities.

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International medical student in the US followed her dream from Brazil - Study International News

This article is part of Harvard Medical Schoolscontinuing coverageof medicine, biomedical research, medical education and policy related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the disease COVID-19.

Surviving severe COVID-19 may depend on the quality of patients antibody development and response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease, according to new research findings from Galit Alter, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues.

Get more HMS news here

The study, published in the journalCell, used a systems serology approach to profile the antibody immune responses of 193 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The research team compared responses from patients with moderate disease and severe disease, as well as patients who died from COVID-19.

While all patients developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the way the antibodies developed, or evolved, differed between the three groups. For patients who didnt survive the disease, the antibody response never fully evolved.

There was a significant defect in the development of IgG antibodies, which may be essential in the early control and elimination of the virus, said Alter, who is a core member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and co-leads the pathogenesis working group of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness.

Here, we were able to see the global impact of this defective IgG evolution, resulting in a compromised ability to promote essential viral clearing immune functions, Alter said.

In a mature immune response, antibodies both block infection and direct the immune system to kill infected cells. To guide the killer immune response, antibodies attach to the Fc receptor, a docking site specific to antibodies that is found on all immune cells. Without strong Fc-receptor binding, antibodies may fail to grab and destroy the virus following infection.

Compared to survivors, patients who died from COVID-19 had antibodies that never fully developed the ability to strongly bind toFc receptors and therefore may not have been able to fully trigger immune-killing activity.

Alter and colleagues also found that survivors immune systems could recognize and target an area of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein known as the S2 domain. The S2 domain is found in other coronaviruses that infect humans, so patients whose antibodies can target it may have preexisting immunity to the S2 domain of SARS-CoV-2 because of exposure to other, common coronaviruses.

Patients with antibodies that can recognize S2 domains on different coronaviruses may be able to use this preexisting immunity to generate killer antibodies faster and sooner following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

If we can further understand the importance of cross-coronavirus immunity, researchers may be able to design vaccines able to counteract a much broader range of coronaviruses, said study co-first author Tomer Zohar, graduate student at MIT.

In further studies, Alter and colleagues are working to better understand the nature of protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2, including partnering with COVID-19 vaccine developers, with the aim of helping to bring an end to the pandemic.

Study co-first authors also include Carolin Loos, Stephanie Fischinger and Caroline Atyeo.

Adapted from a Mass General news release.

Original post:
Defective Evolution | Harvard Medical School - Harvard Medical School

LUBBOCK, Texas Medical schools across the country have seen an increase in applications amid the pandemic, and its no different at Texas Tech. On Wednesday, students explained how COVID-19 had inspired them to go into the field.

It has only increased my desire to go into medicine because I really feel that I want to do a job that is needed and is wanted, said Chuck Guerra, a second-year student at Texas Techs School of Medicine.

As Lubbock county remains a major COVID-19 hot spot, more medical students like Guerra are eager to get on the front lines.

Obviously, I dont want a pandemic to be happening, but when one happens the need is greater, and that makes me want even more to be doing the work that I want to do, said Guerra.

Texas Techs Health Sciences Center has seen a 20 percent increase in applications just this year.

Across the country, medical schools have seen a 15 percent increase, according to the School of Medicines Dean Steven Berk.

The great thing about the 20 percent increase in students applying to medical school is that theyre not afraid of the pandemic, said Dr. Berk. In fact, they see a call to honor or a call to duty.

The school has also changed its curriculum to include more information about COVID-19 and public health as a whole.

Its even made me see ways that Im helpful, even now, especially in my second year, said second-year medical student Jaclyn Jones. We had some lectures on COVID. And that was incredibly helpful to be able to have those, and then even just in day to day conversations, to be able to address times when somebody kind of put something up there that wasnt 100% accurate, and be able to correct that information in the moment.

From creating more advanced telemedicine to greater public health awareness, the medical world has changed significantly during this pandemic. Dr. Berk explained that Texas Tech is doing as much as they can to ensure their students are prepared once they go into the workforce.

I think weve emphasized public health and will emphasize public health even more in the future. So that students are ready for whenever that next pandemic may occur, said Dr. Berk.

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UMass Medical School has hired a new vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, the Worcester school announced Friday.

Photo | Courtesy | UMass Medical School

Marlina Duncan

Marlina Duncan joins UMass Medical School from Brown University in Providence, where she's the assistant vice president of academic diversity in the school's Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. She was also Brown's associate dean of diversity initiatives in its graduate school, and previously directed diversity initiatives, education and outreach programs at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, a biomedical research center jointly operated by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In Duncan's new role at UMass, she will oversee the diversity and inclusion office, and partner with diversity leaders across its academic schools, business units, and academic and administrative departments, UMass said. Her work will include ensuring goals outlined in the school's 2025 strategic plan are met.

Duncan has a doctorate of science education degree from UMass Amherst.

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MARTINSBURG Hoping to address the emotional and mental toll months of isolation and stress have had on the community at large, behavioral health leadership at West Virginia University Medicine East is hosting a Mini Med School program, Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic, to offer tools and advice toward weathering the storm in the coming winter months.

According to a release from the hospital system, WVU Medicine East and the WVU Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center Eastern Campus are sponsoring the virtual community program on mental well-being during a pandemic in hopes of helping curb some of the lesser-talked-about mental effects of the pandemic on both adults and children.

Co-leading the program with Michael Ang-Rabanes, assistant clinical professor and the medical director of psychiatry, Stephanie McGraw, training director for the doctoral internship program and assistant clinical professor through the school of medicine, said the pandemic has created a myriad of issues that are not as easily address with current restrictions.

What I know is that human beings, during times of stress and distress, never outgrow their need to turn to others. We are hard-wired for human connection, McGraw said. So now, we are confronted with a time where those innate evolutionary needs are also what puts us at risk for a life-threatening illness that really threatens our emotional health and well-being. The longer that we continue in this pandemic, individuals mental and emotional resources are being depleted, and that puts that them at an increased risk for developing psychiatric conditions like depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation or completed suicides.

According to McGraw, the strategies behavioral health professionals would typically recommend to help individuals cope with kind of stress - like exercise, being outdoors and spending time with loved ones- are not readily available due to the pandemic.

So its important for us to think as a community and a people to best meet everyones physical, psychological and emotional (needs) to weather this storm. And thats what we hope to do in Tuesdays presentation, McGraw said.

According to McGraw, some symptoms behavioral health professionals have noticed in both children and adults as a result of COVID-19 have included people reporting not feeling like themselves; a sense of emptiness; feeling tearful; struggling with feelings of helplessness and hopelessness; further isolation; increased anxiety; increases in impulsive behavior; and an increase in irritability.

We are noticing that some of these symptoms have presented during our initial surge, but there were a lot of protective things going on that time. As COVID lingers and we gear up for winter, we are noticing that people are feeling more depleted, and that puts them at an increased vulnerability for feeling these symptoms and may lead them to respond in a number of ways, such as indulging in risky behaviors; some may choose to decide theyre over COVID and choose to engage in behaviors that puts them, their loved ones and community at increased risks; or some may begin isolating even more.

McGraw said it is their hope to cover not only the basics of self-care during this unprecedented time, such as sleep, diet, exercise and meditation recommendations, but to offer other sources of connection and care to help people withstand the seasonal depression and anxieties seen typically as the winter months kick in, on top of the COVID-19 stresses being experienced already.

The virtual mini-medical school program is being offered free to the public as a community service of WVU Medicine and the WVU Health Sciences Center and will be broadcasted via the WVU Medicine Easts Facebook page on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m.

Closed caption will be offered for the hearing impaired.

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'Coping with COVID' Mini Med School to help address pandemic's unseen effects - Martinsburg Journal

A third-year OUWB medical student has been recognized by the American Heart Association for his research into the use of potentially life-saving equipment and training in K-12 schools.

M3 Eddie Ford received the Young Investigator Award from the American Heart Association as lead author on Characterizing Impact of State Legislation on Cardiac Arrest Outcomes at K-12 Schools.

The study sought to determine the effectiveness of state-level legislation requiring placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in schools, along with CPR training and development of emergency response plans (EAPs).

Ford received the award in conjunction with the American Heart Associations Resuscitation Science Symposium 2020, a virtual event held Nov. 14-16.

The best thing about being a teacher is to have smart, motivated students, who work hard, ask good questions, and bring enthusiasm to a project such as this one, said Robert Swor, D.O., professor of emergency medicine, OUWB.

Ford is extremely grateful to receive the award.

There were a lot of people who helped with the project so it does feel really nice to have the hard work weve done validated, he said. Hopefully, this will help bring a better spotlight on these issues.

Researching cardiac arrest incidents

Ford worked as an EMT for two years before he began medical school, and after he earned a bachelors degree from University of Michigan.

With that background in emergency medicine, Ford became interested in the research project involving cardiac arrest at K-12 schools during an internship between his first and second years in medical school.

Ford said the study was very unique and that the research team involved knew of only one other project somewhat similar in scope.

In short, the study looked at out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survival rates involving the use of AED and/or CPR, specifically in the K-12 setting.

Further, the study examined the existence of laws regarding AED/CPR in all 50 states, a process that required Ford to spend many hours of research in Oakland Countys law library in Pontiac.

The study found that the majority of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in K-12 settings typically involve an adult needing the life-saving techniques, though Ford notes that when a student is involved it tends to draw more attention in the media.

For example, the study looked at 314 cases of in-school cardiac arrests in 2017 and 2018 (based on data from the National EMS Information System). The average age for those cases was 46.7 and almost 80 percent were more than 18 years old.

Further, Ford said the most significant finding from the study was that there was no increase in bystander CPR or AED placement in states with legislation.

Essentially, he said, findings from the study highlight the importance of non-legislative initiatives, such as grassroots education efforts, which can be found throughout the country.

A great deal of heart

Ford learned of the award when he received a congratulatory letter in October from Benjamin Abella, M.D., co-chair, Resuscitation Science Symposium and professor and vice chair for Research, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

The Young Investigator Awards are chosen based on the priority score of your submitted abstract, which scored very highly when reviewed by our seasoned abstract reviewer group, he wrote.

Swor is listed as a co-author on the study along with Patrick Karabon, biostatistician, OUWB, N. Clay Mann, Ph.D., University of Utah School of Medicine, and Monica Goble, M.D., C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital.

Swor said Ford was extraordinarily deserving of the AHA Young Investigator award, and I was thrilled to hear that he was a recipient this year.

Eddie was a joy to work with on this project, put a great deal of heart into the project, and did a great job following up to bring the abstract to fruition, said Swor.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, marketing writer, OUWB, atadietderich@oakland.edu.

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketingwebpage.

NOTICE: Except where otherwise noted, all articles are published under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You are free to copy, distribute, adapt, transmit, or make commercial use of this work as long as you attribute Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine as the original creator and include a link to this article.

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Former United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, traces his interest in the power of human connectionto his parents.

Murthys father grew up in dire poverty in a small farming village in India, often going without enough to eat. Against all odds, both of his parents attended graduate school and immigrated first to England, then to Canada, and later to the United States, where they started a medical practice.

It was through their deep commitment to the well-being of their patients that Murthy learned the power of authentic human connection.

Thats what keeps us whole, Murthy said during a session at Learn Serve Lead 2020: The Virtual Experience on Nov. 17. Thats what keeps us fulfilled and healthy. Its whats guided me throughout my life.

During the session, which centered around Murthys recent book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, Murthy was also honored as the 2020 recipient of the Vilcek-Gold Award for Humanism in Healthcare, which recognizes a foreign-born individual who has had an extraordinary impact through their professional achievements. The session was facilitated by Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, founder and director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Childrens Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiativeand the 2019 recipient of the Vilcek-Gold Award.

Murthy recalled a story from his childhood when his parents woke him and his sister up in the middle of the night and strapped them into the car to drive to a trailer park. His parentshad just learned that one of their patients had passed away from cancer, and they wanted to be sure his wife wasnt grieving alone.

He remembers seeing his mother, dressed in a traditional Indian sari, wrapping her arms around the crying woman, whose family had lived in the United States for generations. In that moment, their commonalities outweighed their differences, he thought.

Its important, especially now as both a pandemic and a tense political climate threaten to pull people further apart, that everyone treat each other as fellow humans.

We all feel better when were giving and receiving love. We all feel worse when were living in fear, Murthy said. These are the things that actually unite us as human beings.

But it can be particularly challenging to put this into action, he added, as modern life makes it easy for people to create social silos only listening to and interacting with people who think the same way that they do.

How can we create opportunities for people in our country to actually get to know one another? Murthy said. You build a relationship first. Snarky posts on Twitter never change anyones mind.

The issues that plague Americans in general loneliness, emotional pain, and burnout are even more pronounced among physicians. This worries Murthy.

He emphasized the benefits for medical students and physicians of creating daily rituals that are grounding, even if theyjust thinkabout what they are grateful for while they brush their teeth.

Those anchors are very important for us, he said.

But the impetus for creating a better environment for health care workers doesnt lie solely with the individuals; it must start at the top.

Weve had a culture that tells us somehow that struggle is a sign of weakness, Murthy said. We have to create a culture where it is actually OK to be vulnerable.

He added that, to create real change, institutional leadership must reexamine their commitment to structures that place more emphasis on billing, correcting clinical deficiencies, and procuring funding than on improving patient care.

When was the last time you heard of somebody being promoted to tenure at your medical school because they were amazing at patient care and they build great relationships? Murthy said. The message that we send the newest members of our profession is that that stuff doesnt matter that what matters most is your publishing, your bringing in funding, thats what drives change in medicine. And the truth is thats not why most people got into this profession. We got in here to be a part of peoples lives, to spend time with patients, and to help people heal.

Improving the health of patients will also have to go beyond treating their ailments.

For clinicians, it can be disheartening to have a patient whose health and well-being is impacted by something that the clinician has little control over such as access to healthy food, housing, or other social determinants of health, Murthy said.

Thats why health systems should recognize the need to create community partnerships and give doctors the time and bandwidth to be engaged in making changes to the factors that impact their patients health.

We have to do this, not only for the well-being of our patients, but we have to do it to sustain our profession, because we cant endure more and more years of doctors burning out at the rates that they are, Murthy said. We have an opportunity to reflect, reevaluate, and change direction to build the kind of culture in medicine that we need and that our trainees, in particular, truly deserve.

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Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, reflects on the power of our shared humanity - AAMC

When Courtney Soliz was in a terrible car wreck in high school, she got an up-close look at the medical field. That experience inspired her to pursue a career in medicine to help others the same way doctors and nurses helped her.

Everyone, from doctors and nurses to my physical therapists, made it a personal goal to see me recover, Soliz said. They put in so much effort and pushed me to heal. They never let me fall, and it really showed me how being there for others is so important.

Soliz, who lives in Victoria, recently was named the Fall 2020 Outstanding Undergraduate Student for the University of Houston-Victoria School of Arts & Sciences. Kaila Sevilla of Houston was named the schools Outstanding Graduate Student.

Courtney and Kaila are two examples of the many incredible, intelligent students we have at UHV, said Beverly Tomek, interim dean of the UHV School of Arts & Sciences. They have put so much effort into earning their degrees, and I am proud to see them and all of our graduates move into the next phase of their lives.

Each semester, professors from UHVs three schools select outstanding graduates to be honored during commencement. UHV will hold two sets of commencement ceremonies for 2020 graduates after the spring ceremonies were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first three ceremonies will be Dec. 12 at the Leonard E. Merrell Center, 6301 S. Stadium Lane in Katy. The second set of ceremonies will be Jan. 9 at Faith Family Church, 2002 E. Mockingbird Lane in Victoria. Ceremonies at each location will be at 10 a.m. for UHV School of Arts & Sciences graduates, followed by School of Business Administration graduates at 1 p.m. and School of Education, Health Professions & Human Development graduates at 4 p.m. A livestream of the ceremonies will be available at http://www.uhv.edu/graduation.

Looking back at her life after the wreck, Soliz is amazed at how far shes come. When it happened, she was four months away from graduating from Victoria West High School. Instead, she had to homeschool the last part of high school while she was recovering.

After she received her diploma, she spent her freshman year at Victoria College in a wheelchair. In addition, some of the medications she was taking made it difficult to stay awake during the day. But through it all, she continued working toward her degree. Although she originally planned to transfer to the University of Texas at San Antonio, Soliz decided to go to UHV after she took a few classes while also enrolled at VC.

UHVs faculty members are wonderful because they push their students while also helping them understand and apply difficult concepts, she said. The biology faculty, especially Daniel White and Hashimul Ehsan, taught me how to study well and see how everything was connected. It was clear that their main goal is to help their students reach graduation and succeed.

When she transferred to UHV halfway through her sophomore year, Soliz began studying every morning on the third floor of the UHV University Center, where she became friends with Jesse Pisors, vice president for advancement and external relations. Pisors helped her make other connections on campus, and she eventually worked as a tutor for other students and even spoke during a UHV donor event.

At the end of the fall semester, Soliz will receive a Bachelor of Science in biology. After she graduates, she plans to take the Medical College Admission Test in March so she can apply to medical school. She wants to go into emergency medicine.

For Sevilla of Houston, UHV was the only school to which she applied because she wanted to study forensic psychology. However, the program was different than what she expected.

I had studied forensic science and psychology separately, so I was expecting some focus on criminology and looking at how and why someone commits crimes, Sevilla said. Instead, the program was more focused on mental health and how to offer treatment to people, which is something I want to do.

As part of her practicum, Sevilla worked at the Jester prison unit in Sugar Land. During her time there, she did interviews with inmates and took part in mental health examinations, checkups and checked how medication was affecting them. The overall goal was to ensure that prisoners adjusted to prison with few issues.

The experiences she had during her practicum were eye-opening and helped Sevilla set a goal for her future career. When she graduates at the end of the fall semester with a Master of Arts in forensic psychology, she plans to apply to doctoral programs in clinical psychology. Eventually, she hopes to work at a hospital, mental health clinic or prison.

Ill be happy as long as I can help underprivileged people move forward, she said. Ill be taking what I learned at UHV and my practicum experience with me as I pursue my doctorate, and Im looking forward to being able to help people who really need it.

Receiving the Outstanding Graduate Student award was a welcome surprise for Sevilla, and she is grateful for everyone who supported her through her studies, especially her classmate, Kathy Crumpler, and her practicum supervisor, Danielle Todaro, a UHV adjunct faculty member.

Soliz also is grateful to those who have supported her, including her classmate, Keir Walker; Sara Thurmond, a UHV Student Success coach and foster care liaison; her boyfriend, Alfred Garcia; and her family. She is one of four graduates in her family this semester. Her mother will be graduating from college, and two of her siblings will be graduating from high school and middle school.

Im so grateful to everyone who has supported me and to UHV, Soliz said. The environment at UHV is so welcoming, and I can tell that everyone wants to see the students succeed.

The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.

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Several Harvard Law School professors and affiliates have agreed to assist President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.s transition to the White House as members of agency review teams, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's transition team announced Tuesday.

The teams will spend the upcoming months learning the operations of each governmental agency to ensure a smooth transition on Inauguration Day. The Biden-Harris transition team aimed to recruit talented professionals with experience in numerous policy areas, according to its website.

The teams have been crafted to ensure they not only reflect the values and priorities of the incoming administration, but reflect the diversity of perspectives crucial for addressing Americas most urgent and complex challenges, the website reads.

Law School professor Richard J. Lazarus will serve as a volunteer on the Department of Justice team. This team is also responsible for reviewing eight other agencies, including the Federal Election Commission, the Commission on Civil Rights, and the National Council on Disability.

Lazarus currently teaches courses on torts and environmental law. He has brought 40 cases before the United States Supreme Court, respresenting the United States, state and local governments, and environmental groups.

Lazarus also served as the Executive Director of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission, a group tasked with investigating the causes of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mark Wu 95 Vice Dean for the Graduate Program and International Legal Studies at the Law School will volunteer with the team focusing on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the U.S. Trade and Development agency.

Prior to entering academia, Wu worked as an economist at the World Bank in China and as the Director for Intellectual Property in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the World Trade Organization Chairs Programme, a body dedicated to fostering understanding of the trading system among academics and policymakers in developing countries.

Wu, who also serves as the Faculty Co-Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, is the only faculty member to have received both the HLS Student Government Teaching and Advising Award and the Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence.

Oneida Indian Nation Visiting Professor Robert T. Anderson will volunteer with the Department of the Interior team. The team will also review seven other commissions, including the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and the Commission on Fine Arts. Anderson has served as a visiting professor at the Law School since 2010 and a professor at the University of Washington School of Law since 2001. Previously, he served as associate solicitor for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior, as well as counselor to Secretary of the Interior Bruce E. Babbitt and co-lead of the Department of the Interior team during President Barack H. Obamas transition to the White House. Anderson is also a co-author and Executive Editorial Board member of Cohens Handbook of Federal Indian Law.

Executive Director Joseph Goffman and Guest Fellow Cynthia J. Giles of HLSs Environmental & Energy Law Program will both serve as volunteers on the Environmental Protection Agency team, which will also review the Chemical Safety Board.

Current and former Harvard spokespeople including Jonathan L. Swain, Senior Director of Media Relations and Communications for the University and Harvard Medical School professor Atul Gawande also joined Biden's transition team. Swain will lead the Small Business Administration team, and Gawande will serve as a member of the Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board.

Staff writer Kelsey J. Griffin can be reached at kelsey.griffin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @kelseyjgriffin.

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Biden Recruits Harvard Law Faculty For Transition Team | News - Harvard Crimson

President Donald Trumps 139th lawsuit may come at the hands of his arch-nemesis Governor Andrew Cuomo if he keeps the COVID-19 vaccine away from Black and Brown communities. (Photo: Getty Images)

President Donald Trumps 139th lawsuit may come at the hands of his arch-nemesis Governor Andrew Cuomo if he keeps the COVID-19 vaccine away from Black and Brown communities, in what proves to be a fitting end to a tumultuous four-year run.

As if we needed any more drama in 2020, Cuomo called out the presidents plan to deliver doses of the vaccine from Big Pharma producers like Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer to private pharmacies citing flaws in the White House Coronavirus Task Forces distribution model.

Read More: Gov. Cuomo says we spend too much time trying to interpret Trump

Historically these medication distribution models have not worked in favor of Black and Brown people because they rely too heavily on hospitals and big box store pharmacies rendering it less likely for low-income, uninsured, and marginalized communities to get the vaccine.

Any plan that intentionally burdens communities of color to hinder access to the vaccine deprives those communities of equal protection under the law, said Cuomo during a Sunday service at Riverside Church in New York City.

Cuomo went on to suggest that the Trump administration meet the people in the middle by including churches and community centers in its distribution plan.

I wont hold my breath.

Read More: Trump COVID-19 official faces backlash for telling Michigan to rise up against restrictions

Black people are no strangers to being shut out from medical care. The withholding of the syphilis-curing drug, penicillin, to 300 Black men during the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiment serves as a constant reminder of this nations disregard for Black life.

While access to quality healthcare has improved for all people since 1932, when the experiment was first started, health disparities still remain. African Americans have the lowest life expectancy of any racial group 75 years old compared to 79 years old for white people.

The dubious distinction of early death is based on differences in our social determinants of health, the factors that govern our health. These differences are due to structural racism; historical and contemporary policies aimed at disproportionately segregating communities of color from equal access and opportunity to quality education, jobs, housing, healthcare, and equal treatment in the criminal justice system.

Diseases like COVID-19 do not discriminate, but they do spread more rapidly among those discriminated against.

Without having been a part of the task forces meetings its impossible to know if the proposed rollout of the vaccine was meant to intentionally leave out those who have been and continue to be impacted most by the virus. I want to believe that is not the case but given this administrations track record on matters of race its hard not to wonder.

If the plan is to leave out Black and Brown people when the vaccine becomes readily available it will be a monumental disaster at worst and a monumental disaster at best.

Ordinarily, vaccines are first given to those at the highest risk. Given that Black and Brown people make up the highest percentage of essential workers, one would imagine that they would be at the front of the line, not the back.

Read More: Parents mourn the loss of daughter, 5, after she dies from COVID-19

Any distribution of the vaccine should be based on risk and risk alone not race or class. Any other strategy loses sight of whats best for the nation, which is to build herd immunity as quickly as possible by vaccinating everyone. A truly effective and equitable plan should leave no group behind.

Achieving 95 percent immunity, the number most scientists say would make them feel comfortable about the state of the disease, is a tall task that requires the removal of all socio-economic barriers. If any group is left behind it will undermine the heroic efforts of the public health community.

New York Attorney General Letitia James referred to Trumps comments as vindictive and a ploy to enact vengeance on those who oppose his politics. I sincerely hope this is not the case, as our efforts should be focused on finalizing a safe, reliable and free vaccine; and mitigating vaccine hesitancy considering only 31 percent of Black Americans say they would take the new vaccine.

We are on the cusp of a pivotal moment in our history. Hopefully, we can put the childish rhetoric aside and focus on making America healthy again by doing whats right by eliminating barriers to vaccination for all.

Dr. Shamard Charlesis an assistant professor of public health and health promotion at St. Francis College and sits on the anti-bias review board of Dot Dash/VeryWell Health. He is also host of the health podcast, Heart Over Hype. He received his medical degree from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and his Masters of Public Health from Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Previously, he spent three years as a senior health journalist for NBC News and served as a Global Press Fellow for the United Nations Foundation. You can follow him on Instagram@askdrcharles or Twitter@DrCharles_NBC.

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Over the past seven months, Massachusetts residents have relaxed their adherence to COVID-19 prevention guidelines, according to a new survey conducted by researchers from Harvard, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Rutgers.

The report published Nov. 13 and titled The Trajectory of Health-Related Behaviors in Massachusetts analyzed survey data to characterize how individual behavior has changed in the state over the course of the pandemic.

Overall, the survey showed a substantial relaxation of many of the behaviors that helped slow the spread of the disease in the spring. Such behaviors include avoiding public and crowded spaces, frequent hand washing and disinfecting, and limiting contact with non-household members.

The survey also showed that people have increased participation in activities outside of their homes, such as going to restaurants and bars, exercising at gyms, and visiting friends.

In April and May, for example, the number of respondents who reported activities like spending time in close proximity to non-household members and going to restaurants in the past 24 hours was low, at 22 and 5 percent, respectively. By October, those figures had doubled and tripled, to 45 percent and 15 percent.

Matthew A. Baum, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and a researcher on the team, said the findings disappointed him.

But I wouldn't say it's surprising, he said. It's really hard for people to stay on their guard for a really, really long period of time. It's exhausting.

Mask-wearing is the only exception to the trend, having increased in Massachusetts since April. In October, 80 percent of respondents reported wearing a mask outside of the home, among the highest levels of adherence anywhere in the country, per the report.

The report on Massachusetts is the 24th in a series of research reports launched in March and entitled The State of the Nation: A 50-State COVID-19 Survey that aims to find links between social behavior and COVID-19 transmission in every state.

There was basically an almost complete lack of information around the country as to where the emerging hotspots were and how the virus spread, Baum said.

Though Baum said the series of reports isnt a true substitute for epidemiological data on virus transmission, he and fellow researchers thought it might be the next best thing.

Mauricio Santillana, another member of the team and a professor at Harvard Medical School, acknowledged that the desire to congregate and the tendency to become fatigued after months of isolation are natural.

We love congregating, and we'll do our best to do it, and that's part of humanity, Santillana said. Unfortunately, in this crisis, that will play against us.

David M. J. Lazer, a professor at Northeastern University and first author of the report, said the team also hopes to study how colder temperatures will affect social distancing behaviors and virus transmission rates this winter.

Tracking both the behaviors and attitudes around this will be important as we go through the winter, because part of the problem we're confronting is that we can't do the things we could do in summer, Lazer said. So how do people react to the constraints the environment like the climate is putting on us?

Though there may be new challenges this winter like spending the holidays away from family and increasing mental health concerns researchers said they hope to encourage Americans to stay vigilant about adhering to public health guidelines.

Preventable deaths may happen because of our fatigue, and so were trying to encourage people to not give up too soon, Santillana said.

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As Pandemic Wears On, Massachusetts Residents Have Increased Risky Behaviors, Survey Finds | News - Harvard Crimson