Its been more than seven months since Massachusetts confirmed its first case of coronavirus in February.

Businesses have since shut down and some have reopened. Some are nearing their eighth month of closure. Masks have become an everyday habit akin to tying ones shoe.

As change remains constant in some sectors, for coronavirus patients, not much has changed in terms of treatment.

As of Sunday, Massachusetts reported 125,479 cases throughout the pandemic. The statewide death toll stands at 9,100.

When people are diagnosed, they just have to wait at home wondering if theyre going to get sick and go to the hospital, said, Dr. David Sullivan, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. What were trying to do is stop the progression of the disease and stop from having to go to the hospital with treatment.

Once a patient arrives at a hospital theres still only so much doctors can do. While the world waits for a vaccine, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have partnered with the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester to develop a treatment to help patients ward off the virus early after diagnosis.

Theres plenty to do before the vaccine comes, Sullivan said. We know a vaccine is not going to be perfect. Theres going to be breakthroughs and we still need to come up with outpatient therapy.

The study, which will be conducted in part at UMass Medical School, looks at how blood plasma treatment can help patients early after diagnosis in battling off COVID-19, which has killed nearly 200,000 people in the United States.

The blood plasma treatment isnt new and has been used on illnesses in the past. Its effectiveness during this pandemic has been called into question, though. In August, the Food and Drug Administration held back an approval after top federal officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, criticized its effectiveness.

Unlike other treatments billed in the past, a plasma transfusion is safe for patients. Criticism only revolves around whether it successfully combats COVID-19.

However, Sullivan said past studies, like the one that drew hesitancy from government officials in August, focused on treatment after people had been hospitalized - meaning the virus was in advanced stages.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and UMass are focusing on plasma treatment for individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 but have yet to experience severe symptoms.

Sullivan believes if the plasma treatment is provided soon after diagnosis, it could fight off the virus before it strengthens.

Sullivan likened the treatment to a cup of water and a fire. A cup of water would have no problem dousing a lit match or two. However, the same cup would have little effect on a conflagration.

Were going to have the most reduction in the virus, the earlier we give it, Sullivan said.

The study is similar to groundbreaking research by Dr. Yang Wang at UMass. She and her team discovered antibodies that may provide effective immunity in the respiratory system against COVID-19.

Like Wangs research, the study Sullivan is leading focuses on passive immunity, rather than active immunity, which is how a vaccine works.

The plasma transfusion would come from a patient who has recovered from COVID-19. Because the recovered patient successfully defeated the virus, their plasma may be able to do the same thing for others. The plasma would aid the patient in fighting off the coronavirus before it strengthens and causes advanced symptoms.

The plasma treatment, Sullivan said, could provide immunity to the virus for up to two months. The study, funded by the Department of Defense, could be used to help first-responders, teachers or service members return to work with passive immunity to COVID-19.

If society is really going to start functioning, were going to need an outpatient therapy and thats what were trying to validate, Sullivan said.

Sullivan hopes to complete the study within a few months.

UMass Medical School is looking for volunteers for the study. Volunteers will be compensated $200, Sullivan said.

As Sullivan explained, the key to the trial is early treatment. Volunteers interested in participating must have been exposed to the virus within three days of contacting researchers. Those who tested positive must contact researchers within five days of diagnosis.

Those interested can contact Johns Hopkins at 888-506-1199 or http://www.covidplasmatrial.org to fill out the enrollment questionnaire.

Our important work continues even as the cases have waned here in Massachusetts. We are actively looking for patients who were either exposed to or just recently diagnosed with COVID-19, medical director of the UMass Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine Jonathan Gerber said.

Unlike a vaccine, plasma is available now and is inexpensive, Sullivan said. The treatment involves a single one-hour transfusion rather than two doses, which many of the late-stage vaccine candidates require.

A vaccine, Sullivan said, also comes with limitations. Some individuals who are immunocompromised will likely need the most time for a vaccine to respond in their bodies. It may not be effective for others.

We can deal with this virus, but we need people, when they have a COVID illness or exposure, they can make a difference, they can be part of the solution, Sullivan said. Participating in these trials is being part of the solution.

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We can deal with this virus': In partnership with Johns Hopkins, UMass Medical School in Worcester needs vol - MassLive.com

Implanted medical devices can be used to treat a number of medical conditions, including regulating heart function or delivering electrical stimulation to targeted areas of the brain to treat essential tremors caused by Parkinsons disease. A new implantable device, to be designed and developed by scientists at the University of Minnesota Medical School, may be able to help treat common but serious mental illnesses like depression and PTSD.

A team of researchers, led by Alik Widge, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Universitys Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has been awarded a $6.6 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to develop the device, which would use electrical impulses to help misfiring brain rhythms fall into synchrony.

In a departure from the pace of typical academic research, this team which includes Widge; Greg Molnar, Ph.D., a medical device expert and associate professor in the Universitys Department of Neurosurgery; and Mahsa Shoaran, Ph.D., of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland has put the implant project on the fast track. They hope to have a device that is ready for first in-human use in as little as six years.

The size of the grant points to the projects promise, Widge said: The National Institute of Mental Health doesnt normally give out this kind of money. $6.6 million is a large grant for still a relatively junior professor.

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The grant, Widge said, is a vote of confidence for his team, which includes clinicians who understand the problem and an expert with deep background making and bringing to market next-gen medical devices. And, he added, the fact that the medical school is located in the Twin Cities gives his project an edge: We are the Silicon Valley of implantable medical devices.

Dr. Alik Widge

When Widge approached him with his idea, Molnar was immediately enthusiastic about its prospects.

Its a big deal, he said. It is the first grant Ive seen at the University that is truly focused on translation. This is not pie-in-the-sky long-horizon academic research, Molnar added. The end result of this project will be a device that has the potential to change the way mental illness is treated. The deliverable is going to be a working first-in-human-ready closed-loop deep-brain stimulation system. Thats impressive.

The technology for treating brain disease with implantable devices already exists: For many years, for instance, people with Parkinsons disease have been treating the debilitating tremors and other symptoms associated with the disease with a device called a neurostimulator that delivers electrical stimulation to areas of the nervous system that control movement, blocking abnormal electrical signals.

A Parkinsons neurostimulator works much like a heart pacemaker. Widge explained that his device, while it will be able to use much of the hardware designed for other implantable devices, will require specific custom electronics to work on a different, more targeted level.

This is a new mechanism of action different from anything on the market, he said. This is something that is designed to get at the biology of mental illness in a way that wasnt possible before.

Widge and his colleagues see mental illness largely as a physical disease of the brain that can be treated by altering the way different parts of the brain communicate with each other.

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Most mental illness addiction, PTSD, depression, anxiety, OCD all of these conditions in different ways are caused by breakdowns or in some cases too much communication between certain parts of the brain in certain sub-networks, he said. His teams device will use targeted electrical stimulation to help build healthy connections between different areas of the brain.

Widge likes to use computer metaphors to explain his device. If you have a program on your computer or phone that goes a little bit rogue, it cant let go of whatever resource it is using, he said. You get that spinning beach ball and the whole system blocks up. If you can just fix that one thing thats causing the problem, if we can close that one small program and make a little tweak, the whole system can get back into alignment and function better.

By taking this direct, physical approach, Widges device has the potential to upend the way mental illness is treated.

Greg Molnar

The U of Ms proposed device will use existing implantable device technology, but will require unique custom electronics to deliver targeted electrical impulses to the brain, Widge said.

Deep-brain stimulation hardware that was developed to treat Parkinsons disease cant do what we need it to do. It wasnt designed for that. It was built off a rewired cardiac pacemaker. We have the stimulation hardware, but we dont have the right signal processing yet.

His team will be involved in developing custom circuitry to precisely time stimulation relative to ongoing brain activity.

If the brain rhythms are in synch, one area is getting ready to fire as the volume of information comes in from the first, Widge explained, switching mid-stream to a sports metaphor. Think about the receiver or outfielder who knows when the ball is going to be coming to him and is standing there ready to catch it. The catch is effortless and they are right there where they need to be. Thats what brain synchrony does.

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While Widge is confident that mental illness can be treated with implantable electrical stimulation, he credits Molnar with helping him understand that his project could be developed and delivered in record time.

Widge had been working in an animal lab for years, experimenting with stimulation patterns that can achieve the kind of communication between brain networks that is needed for his device. One day, he was talking to Molnar, explaining that he knows his device can work in rats but he didnt know how to take the next step of getting it to work in humans.

Molnar, with his deep background working in the implantable device industry and consulting with Minnesota companies specializing in developing the technology, was enthusiastic about Widges idea. He told Widge, whod been lured to the U of M from Harvard and MIT, that Minnesota was the perfect place to see his project through to completion.

Greg said, We have four contract medical device manufacturers in the Twin Cities alone, Widge recalled. He explained that in our ecosystem in this state, what weve got is a set of companies that have the individual parts of an implantable neurostimulator on their shelves ready to mix and match. This is where the Only in Minnesota story comes in.

Once Widge and his colleagues develop the custom electronics needed for their device, Molnar explained, theyll have their pick of medical device manufacturers primed to take the next step.

All these companies do is wait for someone to come up to them and say, I have a new medical device idea. I need a prototype made, Widge said. Once we build that one chip that runs the device, the rest is all available off the shelf. We just need to pick the right manufacturing partner to integrate our innovation with what they know how to do up to FDA standards.

Support from the University of Minnesotas MnDRIVE initiative aimed at boosting academic research and development in the states medical technology industry also gives Widge and Molnar hope that their device can be developed and tested in a relatively short period of time.

That kind of support, Widge said, is why I moved here. I was at Harvard and MIT before I came here, but they could not do what we can do here in Minnesota. This would not have happened if I had stayed in Boston.

That kind of overwhelming support for research, Molnar added, will help the team move their research to practical application in record time.

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This isnt your classic, Lets do this for five years, more research is needed, academic project, he said. This is taking discovery and literally, with my expertise, putting it into hardware.

At Medtronic, Molnar said, We dealt in reality. We wanted to make a product. With this project, the opportunity for collaboration with academia and industry is going to make this grant real.

Widge said that having Molnar on his team makes him feel that an accelerated timeline for his devices development is achievable. At the end of this grant I think well be ready for the animal test that will make it ready for the first in-human in five years. Thats warp speed for the medical device industry.

Widges optimistic clinician hat tells him that odds are the first version of the device the team builds will work. But that process will take a few years. You have to first test it in a pig or a sheep, but then it would be ready for human use, he said. My pessimistic research-engineer hat says, Nothing you build will work the first time. You will need to re-build several versions.

That said, Widge remains optimistic that this device could be ready for human use in record time. Im assuming that in six or seven years we will be doing pilot human clinical trials. This is something thats needed by so many people, so I am thrilled to think that it could become a reality in a relatively short time.

A new approach to therapy for people struggling with mental illness is a big, unmet need, Molnar said, and because of this he sees many possible uses for the device going forward.

In the future, he explained, This device will be used for treating depression and all the spectrum of symptoms of mental illness. This will have a huge impact on the quality of life for millions of people.

One group of people who could benefit from his device are those suffering from PTSD, Widge said. In people with PTSD, he explained, there is a part of the brain called the amygdala that is involved with fear and emotion. The prefrontal cortex provides the context. In PTSD, signals from the prefrontal cortex dont get through to the amygdala regardless of context. What we can do with this device is restore that communication, get those two reactions to work together and do what theyre supposed to do.

While the device will help put brain communication back into synch for people suffering from a range of mental illnesses, it will not be a one-and-done therapy. People with the device will still likely need to work with a psychotherapist to understand how best to respond to stress or life change, Widge said: Our system will have to combine with certain forms of talk therapy.

And just like any other implantable device, ongoing care is needed to help patients heal.

This is no different than any other implantable device, Widge said. If you get a knee replacement you will get 3-6 months of physical therapy to help you learn how to walk and strengthen those muscles. Its the same with our device.

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U of M research team hopes to develop an implantable device to treat mental illness thanks to a $6.6 million grant - MinnPost

By Rob Zapple| For StarNews Media

Late Friday afternoon, officials released a 160-page agreement detailing the final terms for selling county-owned New Hanover Regional Medical Center to Novant, a private, non-profit health-care system based in Winston-Salem.

Well over a year after a possible sale was announced, important questions remain. Though there are many, here are 10 essential questions I believe must be addressed before the county moves forward with the proposed $1.5 billion sale.

1. Why are local taxpayers giving Novant $200 million?

The agreement requires the county to pay $200 million to go toward future benefits for current NHRMC employees. Once the sale closes, those workers will be employed by Novant and will have no direct connection to the government of New Hanover County. If Novant buys NHRMC, it becomes responsible for all aspects of ownership. If compensation for employees needs to be enhanced, that is the responsibility of Novant, not of New Hanover County taxpayers.

2. Why is NHRMC negotiating a sale of county assets?

NHRMC is not a county agency. It is a nonprofit organization that leases facilities and other assets from the county to operate a healthcare system. The land, buildings, equipment, and cash reserves all are owned by the county. The sale is a deal between New Hanover County and Novant Health. Why has NHRMC and its executive team played such an outsized role in advocating for a sale and negotiating an agreement? Who is advocating for the citizens of New Hanover County?

3. When will UNC partnership begin?

After Novant brought on UNC Medical School as a partner in the proposal, there has been extensive discussion about its role, including increasing graduate education at NHRMC and establishing a UNC Medical School branch here. Although the agreement specifies a financial commitment, there is no timeframe, meaning theres no guarantee when any of the new programs/services will begin or if they will happen at all.

4. Who will control $1.25 billion?

Of the $1.5 billion sale proceeds, $1.25 billion will be used to establish a nonprofit community foundation. The initial board members who will oversee the foundation must be identified in the final agreement and made public prior to the final vote. The diversity and regional representation of this board are of great interest to the public. Residents of New Hanover County have the right to know who will be managing the fund and how the proceeds from investments it earns will be used.

5. Will Novant have undue influence?

Under the agreement, a new local board will be established to oversee NHRMC. Appointments to the board will be subject to the approval of the larger Novant Health corporate board. One duty of the local board will be to appoint six of the 11 members of the Community Foundations board -- a group that will control $1.25 billion of New Hanover County taxpayers money. Since the Novant Board must ratify all nominations to the local board, it effectively has majority control of the new Community Foundation. Why would we give Novant Health, a Winston-Salem based private corporation, that much influence? How do we guarantee local interests are protected?

6. Why is NHRMCs strategic plan not public?

The majority of the financial commitments made by Novant are based on the nearly $2 billion NHRMC officials say is needed to fund initiatives in the plan. The public, however, has not been allowed to see it. This plan has been in the works for three years. There likely are areas that need to be updated or even removed, possibly changing important financial elements of any sale. Are we sure the price is accurate? Why not redact details on competitive health-care activities as allowed by state law and make the plan public?

7. Why is local control not an option?

NHRMC is a nonprofit corporation. It operates the health-care system, but the county owns the assets and appoints NHRMCs board. That makes NHRMC a component unit of New Hanover County and means it is subject to state laws that tie its hands in certain cases, such as expanding into other counties. But if the county were to transfer all assets to NHRMC and get out of the hospital business, an independent NHRMC could combine its cash and reserves -- estimated at $550 million -- and focus on a revised strategic plan. It could negotiate directly with UNC School of Medicine and UNC Health on expanding that partnership, grow at a slower pace, live within its means, and serve the needs exclusively of Southeastern North Carolina, not the needs of Novants three-state region.

8. What if Novant changes hands?

The current language in the Letter of Intent allows Novant Health to sell NHRMC at any time without approval of the new local Hospital Board, if Novant merges or is acquired by another entity. After ten years, Novant Health has the unrestricted right to sell any or all of NHRMC assets to any other healthcare system without the approval of the local Hospital Board. A sale or merger of NHRMC to another healthcare system would mean the contractual guarantees Novant Health is providing to New Hanover County could be renegotiated by a new Owner.

9. Medicaid expansion would change everything

What happens if the legislature passes Medicaid expansion? With the upcoming election, it is a possibility. That would pump billions of health-care dollars into North Carolina and provide a major financial shot in the arm for NHRMC. Why are we rushing to finalize a sale in October when something will take place a few weeks later that could dramatically change NHRMCs financial outlook? Wouldnt waiting until after Nov. 3 to see if the political landscape changes be the responsible thing to do?

10. The timing is bad

Why are we rushing to sell NHRMC at this time? The possibility of a sale was announced in July 2018. Since that time, our nation has become gripped by an unprecedented health crisis and periods of civil unrest. We face extraordinary challenges on many fronts. No homeowner would sell their house in the middle of a hurricane. Why are we selling our countys most valuable asset in the middle of a national crisis?

Why we need to wait

I want to be absolutely clear. I am not opposed in principle to selling NHRMC to Novant Health. There is much in the proposal to like, including the financial windfall, which, if governed wisely and inclusively, could be transformational for our community. But it is an incredibly complex transaction with many interwoven and moving parts. We need to spend as much time as is necessary to thoroughly -- and publicly -- address some very important issues that remain. We need an agreement that the entire community can embrace.

If in six months we reach a deal that's in the overall best interest of county residents, I will support it. But we are not there yet. This is perhaps the most consequential decision in the countys history. We have to get it right.

Rob Zapple serves on the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.

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OPINION, Rob Zapple: 10 reasons we don't have all the facts needed to vote on NHRMC sale - StarNewsOnline.com

BRONX, N.Y., Sept. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The first study comparing the immune responses of adults and children with COVID-19 has detected key differences that may contribute to understanding why children usually have milder disease than adults. The findings also have important implications for vaccines and drugs being developed to curb COVID-19. The study was published today in Science Translational Medicine and was conducted by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM), and Yale University.

The study involved 60 adult COVID-19 patients and 65 pediatric COVID-19 patients (less than 24 years old) hospitalized at CHAM and Montefiore Health System between March 13 and May 17, 2020; 20 of the pediatric patients had the novel multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). The patients' blood was tested for the presence of several types of immune cells, antibody responses, and the inflammatory proteins, known as cytokines, that immune cells produce.

Children with COVID-19 fared significantly better than adults. Twenty-two adults (37%) required mechanical ventilation compared with only five (8%) of the pediatric patients. In addition, 17 adults (28%) died in the hospital compared with two (3%) of the pediatric patients. No deaths occurred among pediatric patients with MIS-C.

"Our findings suggest that children with COVID-19 do better than adults because their stronger innate immunity protects them against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the disease," said co-senior author Betsy Herold, M.D., chief of infectious diseases and vice chair for research in the department of pediatrics at Einstein and CHAM. Kevan C. Herold, M.D., C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunology and of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, was the other co-senior author on the study.

People have two types of immunityinnate and adaptive. Innate immunity, in which immune cells respond rapidly to invading pathogens of all kinds, is more robust during childhood. Adaptive immunity, the second type of immune response, is more specific and features antibodies and immune cells that target specific viruses or other microbes.

Compared with adult patients, pediatric COVID-19 patients in the study possessed significantly higher levels of certain cytokines associated with the innate immune response. This suggests that young people's more robust innate response protects them from developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)the hallmark of severe and often fatal COVID-19 cases. One cytokine in particular, known as IL-17A, was found at much higher levels in pediatric patients than in adults. "The high levels of IL-17A that we found in pediatric patients may be important in protecting them against progression of their COVID-19," said Dr. K. Herold.

Both pediatric and adult COVID-19 patients were found to make antibodies against the coronavirus' spike protein, which the virus uses to latch onto and infect cells. Those spike-protein antibodies include neutralizing antibodies, which block the coronavirus from infecting cells. Counterintuitively, the researchers found that neutralizing antibody levels in adult COVID-19 patients who died or required mechanical ventilation were higher than in those who recoveredand significantly higher than levels detected in pediatric patients.

"These results suggest that the more severe COVID-19 disease seen in adults is not caused by a failure of their adaptive immunity to mount T-cell or antibody responses," said Dr. K. Herold. "Rather, adult patients respond to coronavirus infection with an over-vigorous adaptive immune response that may promote the inflammation associated with ARDS."

The findings have important implications for COVID-19 therapies and vaccines. "Our adult COVID-19 patients who fared poorly had high levels of neutralizing antibodies, suggesting that convalescent plasmawhich is rich in neutralizing antibodiesmay not help adults who have already developed signs of ARDS," said Dr. B. Herold. "By contrast, therapies that boost innate immune responses early in the course of the disease may be especially beneficial."

As for vaccines, Dr. B. Herold notes that most vaccine candidates for protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection are aimed at boosting neutralizing-antibody levels. "We may want to consider assessing vaccines that promote immunity in other ways, such as by bolstering the innate immune response," she said.

The paper is titled "Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Hospitalized Pediatric and Adult Patients." Additional Einstein-Montefiore authors are: Carl A. Pierce, B.S., Clare Burn Aschner, Ph.D., Natalia Cheshenko, Ph.D., Benjamin Galen, M.D., Scott J. Garforth, Ph.D., Rohit K. Jangra, Ph.D., Erika Orner, Ph.D., Sharlene Sy, M.D, Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., and Steven C. Almo, Ph.D.; and Einstein Ph.D. students Natalia G. Herrera, B.S. and Nicholas C. Morano, B.S. Additional Yale authors are Aaron Ring, M.D., Ph.D., Paula Preston-Hurlburt, M.S. Yile Dai, Ph.D., and James Dziura, Ph.D.

About Albert Einstein College of MedicineAlbert Einstein College of Medicineis one of the nation's premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2019-20 academic year, Einstein is home to 724 M.D.students, 158 Ph.D. students, 106 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 265 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has more than 1,800 full-time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2019, Einstein received more than $178 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This includes the funding of major research centersat Einstein in aging, intellectual development disorders, diabetes, cancer, clinical and translational research, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Einstein runs one of the largest residency and fellowship training programs in the medical and dental professions in the United States through Montefiore and an affiliation network involving hospitals and medical centers in the Bronx, Brooklyn and on Long Island. For more information, please visit http://www.einstein.yu.edu, read our blog, followus on Twitter, like us on Facebook,and view us on YouTube.

About Montefiore Health SystemMontefiore Health System is one of New York's premier academic health systems and is a recognized leader in providing exceptional quality and personalized, accountable care to approximately three million people in communities across the Bronx, Westchester and the Hudson Valley. It is comprised of 11 hospitals, including the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital and close to 200 outpatient care sites. The advanced clinical and translational research at its medical school, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, directly informs patient care and improves outcomes. From the Montefiore-Einstein Centers of Excellence in cancer, cardiology and vascular care, pediatrics, and transplantation, to its preeminent school-based health program, Montefiore is a fully integrated healthcare delivery system providing coordinated, comprehensive care to patients and their families. For more information please visit http://www.montefiore.org. Followus onTwitter and view us onFacebook andYouTube.

SOURCE Albert Einstein College of Medicine

http://www.einstein.yu.edu

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Study Finds That Children's Immune Response Protects Against COVID-19 - PRNewswire

While my final semester at Michigan State University is much different than I could have ever anticipated, I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had the past three years. Being a Spartan means joining a family that I will forever be a part of, connected by the call of Go Green.

From going to Switzerland for a semester to being the President of the Council of Students with Disabilities, my time at MSU has allowed me to find my passions for my future careers.

Homecoming is very different this year, but I think that with the events going virtual there is an opportunity for more people to be involved than before. The Spartan Nation spans the globe, and the celebration of this timely tradition can now reach those who are not close to East Lansing. I am excited for the events and to be a part of this years court as the weeks festivities are more accessible.

Presently, I am planning on attending medical school and I want to work on disability advocacy in health care. From my time as an emergency medical technician in the local area, I have been able to meet incredibly inspiring practitioners and patients that push me to pursue these goals, even when it gets tough. Working through the pandemic has been incredibly taxing, but it made me realize just how much I want to help my community in a medical capacity.

With my time at Michigan State drawing to a close, the future outside of university grows near. I have made lifelong friends that I look forward to getting some Dairy Store ice cream with years from now. I hope to be able to come back for Homecoming with my family to experience a Spartan game day again. I am so glad that I decided to move across the country to attend college in East Lansing. Come December, I will graduate, virtually, with fond memories and a smile.

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Student view: Connected by the call - MSUToday

By Dana Korsen

The National Academy of Medicine today announced Stephen P. Hinshaw, PhD, as the recipient of the 2020 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, for basic and applied research on individuals with externalizing disorders, and for efforts to reduce mental illness stigma through youth-based programs and the promotion of humanization. The award, which recognizes Hinshaws achievements with a medal and $20,000, will be presented at the National Academy of Medicines virtual annual meeting on October19, 2020. Hinshaw is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, and a professor and vice chair for child and adolescent psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

Hinshaws work spans developmental psychopathology, clinical interventions with children and adolescents, and program development related to reducing the pervasive stigmatization of mental illness. He has led research programs and conducted studies investigating inattention and impulse-control problems in children, including the largest prospective investigation in existence of girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), now more than 20 years post-baseline. These studies have countered the contention that ADHD is an exclusively male condition and have galvanized the field regarding the confluence of heritable and contextual mechanisms.

Hinshaw has been principal investigator of the Berkeley site for the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD since 1992, and his core work with this study revealed the mediation of behavior change at school by enhanced parenting practices. The overall impact of his work has been far-reaching, spurring revisions of national and international guidelines for ADHD assessment/treatment by organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.K.s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Additional research conducted in collaboration with health economist Richard Scheffler, PhD, revealed that in states enacting consequential accountability legislation to boost achievement test scores, rates of ADHD diagnosis quickly increased for youth at or near the poverty level. This work has received international acclaim, integrating the psychobiological underpinnings of ADHD with the reality of school-based policies that may spuriously increase rates of diagnosed prevalence.

Hinshaws teaching and mentoring have also had major impact. He has mentored new generations of innovative investigators in child/adolescent mental health, having taught thousands of undergraduates (many of whom have gone on to leadership roles in clinical, research, and policy-related efforts) and hundreds of doctoral students.

Before attending graduate school, Hinshaw directed residential summer camps and alternative schools for youth with mental and developmental disabilities. He has continued to direct summer treatment and research programs for youth with ADHD, as well as longitudinal investigations into adulthood. Linking efforts with foundations and nonprofit organizations, Hinshaw has developed models of action- and contact-based high-school clubs to overcome mental illness stigma and formally evaluated such efforts, in addition to publication of narrative works on his familys experiences with serious mental illness.

In addition, Hinshaw has spurred the development of innovations in multidisciplinary research and training initiatives across UC campuses and beyond. Hinshaw is co-director of the UCSF-UC Berkeley Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center, and he directs the UCLA-UC Berkeley Awareness and Hope (stigma reduction) component of the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge.

Dr. Hinshaws work on ADHD has truly changed the field in many ways, impacting the treatment for millions of youth with ADHD in the U.S., let alone others internationally, said National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau, MD. His rigorous, multilevel research on child and adolescent mental health, deep engagement in treatment-related efforts, and his essential work regarding mental-health stigma and related policy in addition to remarkable leadership and mentorship of young scientists make him most deserving of this important recognition.

Hinshaw has also received top international awards for his work in clinical psychology, applied psychology, child development, basic research in psychology, and child/adolescent psychiatry.

Since 1992, the Sarnat Prize has been presented to individuals, groups, or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in improving mental health. The prize recognizes without regard for professional discipline or nationality achievements in basic science, clinical application, and public policy that lead to progress in the understanding, etiology, prevention, treatment, or cure of mental disorders, or to the promotion of mental health. As defined by the nominating criteria, the field of mental health encompasses neuroscience, psychology, social work, nursing, psychiatry, and advocacy.

The award is supported by an endowment created by Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat of Los Angeles. Rhoda Sarnat was a licensed clinical social worker, and Bernard Sarnat was a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and researcher. The Sarnats concern about the destructive effects of mental illness inspired them to establish the award. This years selection committee was chaired by Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The National Academy of Medicine(NAM), established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute are among the nation's foremost resources in the fields of child, adolescent, adult, and geriatric mental health. Together they constitute one of the largest departments in the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, with a mission focused on research (basic, translational, clinical), teaching, patient care, and public service.

UCSF Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences conducts its clinical, educational, and research efforts at a variety of locations in Northern California, including Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and Clinics; UCSF Medical Centers at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay, and Mount Zion; UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland; Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center; the San Francisco VA Health Care System; UCSF Fresno; and numerous community-based sites around the San Francisco Bay Area.

The UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences, established by the extraordinary generosity of Joan and Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill, brings together world-class researchers with top-ranked physicians to solve some of the most complex challenges in the human brain.

The UCSF Weill Institute leverages UCSFs unrivaled bench-to-bedside excellence in the neurosciences. It unites three UCSF departmentsNeurology, Psychiatry, and Neurological Surgerythat are highly esteemed for both patient care and research, as well as the Neuroscience Graduate Program, a cross-disciplinary alliance of nearly 100 UCSF faculty members from 15 basic-science departments, as well as the UCSF Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, a multidisciplinary research center focused on finding effective treatments for Alzheimers disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinsons disease, and other neurodegenerative disorders.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSFs primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area.

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Hinshaw receives National Academy of Medicine's Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health - UCSF News Services