Yasmeen Khalifa Managing Editor

In light of the recent decision to appoint Dr. Kirk Calhoun as president of the comprehensive institution composed of UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center at Tyler, The Patriot Talon interviewed UT Tyler Faculty Senate President Dr. Colin Snider and UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife on the merger, the change in president and future plans for the university.

For students who dont understand the merger between The University of Texas at Tyler and UT Health Science Center at Tyler, could you break down the purpose and process of it? Why merge the two entities, and how does the merger affect students?

ELTIFE: UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center Tyler are two great institutions located within miles of each other with missions to serve the educational and health care needs of the East Texas region. We believe that if we bring them together as one unified institution, we can scale their combined strengths to expand academic experiences for students, facilitate more collaborations and research across disciplines, and maximize the impact on a growing region of our state. Bringing these two institutions together will provide students, faculty and researchers the best possible setting to learn, teach, discover and train in a dynamic academic and medical environment.

This new integration will make UT Tyler quite unique in Texas, since very few universities in the state currently have a combined academic institution and health science center. When this realignment is complete, UT Tyler will offer a comprehensive slate of undergraduate, graduate, medical and other professional health degree programs. We believe it will appeal to more students and enhance the universitys ability to draw exceptional faculty, researchers and health care professionals.

SNIDER: I'm not privy to the full rationale for the merger, but combining two UT System institutions in the same city into one seems a logical choice that strengthens UT Tyler and merges the educational and medical missions of the two institutions in a more organic and symbiotic way while adding prestige to the institution more generally. In terms of its impact on students, I think it's a net positive, as it creates a greater pipeline for research for those interested in medical fields without taking anything away from students beyond medical fields in terms of either resources or educational opportunities.

Tell me about the Faculty Senates role in the merger between The University of Texas at Tyler and UT Health Science Center at Tyler, as well as the decision to appoint Dr. Kirk Calhoun as president of UT Tyler.

SNIDER: Faculty Senate and faculty more generally have been consistently updated on the process and plans for the merger, with the provost and president providing updates at monthly Senate meetings and also updating the Senate Executive Committee in regular meetings. The Steering Committee also shared a draft of the proposal to SACSCOC for the merger, and based on that document, the Senate passed a resolution in April confirming our support for the merger and maintaining the need for faculty to continue to play an active role in the process (you can see that document here).

As for the decision on Dr. Kirk Calhoun, the Faculty Senate had no role in that decision. The Board of Regents is the responsible entity for presidential appointments. In cases of a national search, there is an advisory search committee created made up of members of the campus and the community. In these cases, in policy with UT System rules, the Faculty Senate president on campus is a member of that search committee. However, given the unique situation of a merger of two institutions with extant presidents, this was not a search for a new president, and Faculty Senate had no role in the decision to appoint Dr. Calhoun.

Were faculty and staff consulted about the merger and change in president? If so, were they asked for their input? What was the general consensus?

SNIDER: The Board of Regents made the decision to merge the two institutions. Faculty were not consulted about the merger or the change in leadership prior to the announcement in December 2019, but faculty were quickly brought into the conversation and updated about it regularly after the announcement. In general, however, faculty support the merger, as it gives the university a chance to continue to diversify and grow as it serves the region and beyond.

President Tidwell met with the Faculty Senate recently to discuss the recent developments. Can you share any information from that meeting with us?

SNIDER: He has kept us updated about the merger, its timeline and its process at Senate meetings. The announcement regarding Dr. Kirk Calhoun was made after the last Senate meeting in May, but we will be having a meeting in July where Dr. Tidwell will speak to faculty and all in attendance as he has at every Senate meeting.

What will the extent to Dr. Calhouns control over UT Tyler look like? Will he be as involved in campus affairs as the current president? How will his time be distributed between the two branches?

ELTIFE: Since we will realign two institutions as one, it means there must be one chief executive officer or president of the entire organization. UT Health Science Center will become an administrative unit under the UT Tyler umbrella. We intend to name Dr. Kirk Calhoun as president of UT Tyler as we come closer to concluding the realignment process and accreditation and other approvals. As the president of an academic health center and chairman of UT Health East Texas, the regions 10-hospital health system, Dr. Calhoun is well-positioned to lead interprofessional programs at both schools, as well as the complicated process of establishing the states newest proposed medical school. He has been deeply involved in the Tyler and East Texas education, health, business and civic communities for almost 18 years. Calhoun will also oversee a team of academic and health executives, currently situated at UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center Tyler, and they will come together to bring great expertise to provide administrative, academic and operational leadership.

SNIDER: I'm not very familiar with Dr. Calhoun or his leadership style, but I know Senate leadership present and upcoming is looking forward to working with him and to ensuring that the culture of shared governance at UT Tyler continues and represents students and faculty well. I will say that when he becomes president, there will not be two institutions, but just the one with different schools, and I trust that he will dedicate his time and resources appropriately.

What kind of relationship do you expect Dr. Calhoun to have with students and faculty?

SNIDER: I hope Dr. Calhoun continues Dr. Tidwell's pattern of visibility on the campus and a willingness to reach out to and listen to students and faculty alike, maintaining the spirit of shared governance that has been so strong under Dr. Tidwell.

What is going to happen to President Michael Tidwell? Will he still be involved at UT Tyler? What is the state of his contract?

Eltife declined to comment.

Talk to me about President Tidwells strengths and weaknesses as president of UT Tyler. Were there any particular reasons or instances that led the board to decide to change presidents?

ELTIFE: President Tidwell has been an outstanding leader of UT Tyler for the past three and a half years, and we are deeply appreciative of his commitment to bring the two UT institutions together.

Now that there is one unified president for the two branches, what is there left to do in order to submit the Substantive Change Prospectus to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)?

ELTIFE: A transition team, which includes faculty and staff leadership from both UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center Tyler, has been hard at work on the prospectus. It is a complex project, and were fortunate to have tremendous expertise from the campuses and UT System collaborating on it. I believe we are in very good shape to finalize it and submit it to SACSCOC by the September 1, 2020 deadline. Afterward, the prospectus will undergo rigorous reviews, and site visits will be made to UT Tyler as part of the accreditation process.

Talk to me about the status of the upcoming medical school. Where is the board at in the process of getting the medical school up and running? What are the next steps? How long will the process take?

ELTIFE: Our most important priority at this time is to work with the Texas Legislature to seek its approval in the upcoming session. We believe we have an excellent case for a medical school in our region and were appreciative to the East Texas delegation for its early enthusiasm when we initially proposed the school. Beyond that, Dr. Calhoun is leading a planning phase. A committee that includes health care experts as well as representatives from both Tyler institutions are working to get initial documents ready that will need to be submitted to the LCME (Liaison Committee on Medical Education) next spring. Ideally, we hope to enroll the first class in 2023. At this time, we are pleased to have community and philanthropic support for the proposed medical school.

Where do you see the university in ten years? What is the boards vision for the university? With the change in president, will there be any other significant changes?

ELTIFE: In ten years from now, our hope is that UT Tyler will be a destination institution in Texas for students, faculty and clinicians. It will be a place where students can receive a high-quality undergraduate degree and advance to graduate school or medical school without having to leave the region. We envision an institution that will be deeply engaged with the East Texas region, understanding and addressing its needs and aspirations, playing a leadership role in making high quality health care accessible to more individuals and contributing immensely to the communitys economic vitality. We envision the new, combined capacity of both institutions to give it far more horsepower than having two separate ones. A community advisory committee is working with us to ensure that UT Tyler strategically serves the region in new ways it may not have considered before.

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Q&A with Kevin Eltife and Dr. Colin Snider - The Patriot Talon

Q. I've heard that walking could reduce my risk of breast cancer. Is this true?

A. Yes, it's true. Walking is not only a great form of exercise to help keep your heart healthy, it could potentially reduce your risk of breast cancer. One 2013 study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, found that women who walked seven hours a week an hour a day on average had a 14% lower chance of getting breast cancer when compared with women who walked three hours a week or less. The benefit was seen even in women who were at higher risk for breast cancer, including those who were overweight or who were taking hormone therapy. It's not clear how walking helps, but experts speculate that physical activity might help keep the body's levels of estrogen and insulin in check. Both of these hormones can fuel breast cancer, so regulating them more effectively could reduce your risk.

Subscribe to Harvard Health Online for immediate access to health news and information from Harvard Medical School.

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Can I outwalk breast cancer? - Harvard Health - Harvard Health

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The UNC School of Medicine (SOM) and UNC Health have launched the Heroes Health Initiative to help support the mental health of first responders and healthcare workers during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The app is available through the App Store/Google Play Store in the United States, free of charge to first responders, healthcare workers and their organizations.

For individual healthcare workers, the Heroes Health app delivers short mental health self-assessments each week, and displays symptom summary reports to help them better understand the state of their own mental healthand changes over time. The app also provides links to immediate support and mental health resources, emphasizing free and low-cost services.

For healthcare organizations that partner with the Heroes Health Initiative, the app provides a way to perform proactive worker outreach and the aggregate data necessary to identify times when/areas where more worker support is needed. Developed by the UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery, Google Cloud and volunteers across Alphabet, the universitys Heroes Health app and its launch was made possible by generous support from donors including One Mind, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bank of America, Lauder Foundation, and individuals.

How it works

For individual first responders and healthcare workers

Individual healthcare workers who choose to participate in the initiative download the free Heroes Health app to their iOS (Apple) or Android-compatible smartphone. Each week, the app notifies workers that a brief mental health symptom assessment is available, and evaluates symptoms in key domains such as sleep, stress, anxiety/worry, and sadness/depression.

Immediately after completing the survey, workers can view a summary report of their symptoms, and trends in their symptoms over time. The app also provides links to get immediate crisis support and other mental health resources, e.g. to improve sleep and stress. This resource list focuses on apps and services that are either free or offered at reduced costs to healthcare workers. The UNC website also lists mental health resources and discounts for healthcare workers on goods and services. Heroes Health receives no financial benefit or support from the goods or services listed.

For first responder and healthcare worker organizations

For organizations who partner with Heroes Health, the initiative helps the organization support their workers in several other ways. First, anonymous group-level summaries and trends in the mental health of workers in the organization, for different types of workers and units, are shared with unit and organizational leaders each week, to help them identify times/organizational areas that would benefit from additional support.

In addition, worker feedback on organizational communication and support to workers are provided to leadership each week, providing a valuable opportunity for workers to be heard during very stressful times. Finally, workers have the option to confidentially share their individual mental health summaries with an organizational mental health worker. This provides the organizational mental health worker with the opportunity to contact workers having symptoms to offer thanks and support, a conversation, or help setting up an appointment with a mental health professional. For workers in organizations partnering with Heroes Health, the contact number for this mental health support worker is also listed in the app, so that they can contact them for confidential support and resources.

How it started

Dr. McLean and UNC School of Medicine

The Heroes Health Initiative was founded by UNC School of Medicine physician Dr. Samuel McLean, Research Vice-Chair in the Department of Anesthesiology and an attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine. As a practicing emergency physician and COVID-19 unit worker, and COVID-19 survivor who contracted COVID-19 and infected two of his family members, Dr. McLean understands firsthand the great challenges COVID workers face.

First responders and healthcare workers are facing a lot of challenges right now, Dr. McLean said. There is the personal risk of severe illness or death. Much worse, there is the anxiety and fear of infecting loved ones. This an even greater challenge for first responders or health workers who live with someone particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Its important to give first responders and healthcare workers a simple, quick way to regularly check in on their mental health and immediately find resources. It is also important to provide organizations with tools that help empower them to care for each other.

Academic collaborators

From his work as an NIH-funded researcher, Dr. McLean had experience performing smartphone-based mental health assessments from thousands of trauma survivors. He contacted a close collaborator, Ron Kessler, PhD, McNeil Family Professor at Harvard Medical School, and the two of them designed a brief smartphone-based assessment, using well-validated questionnaires, to assess key domains affecting COVID-19 workers, including sleep, stress, anxiety/worry, and sadness and depressive symptoms. McLean also enlisted a team of other collaborators who worked to develop the project, including:

Support from Google, One Mind, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Bank of America

Dr. McLean needed a technology partner to help build the app for the initiative. Alphabet was a natural choice since Dr. McLeans lab was already using Google Cloud. Volunteers from Google and X (Alphabets moonshot factory) donated their time to develop the app, and Google Cloud is providing free credits from their academic research program. The Heroes Health app is built on Google Clouds implementation of the FDAs open-source MyStudies platform, allowing it to scale based on demand.

Technical support was also provided by the Boston Technology Corporation. The app, which is operated by UNC School of Medicine, is HIPAA compliant and takes advantage of Google Clouds robust security and privacy protections to protect user data.

Heroes Health is the first initiative to focus on the mental health of COVID-19 healthcare workers, who are under extreme pressure in this pandemic. Our volunteers were honored to be able to support such a worthwhile and important initiative, says Obi Felten, head of getting moonshots ready for contacts with the real world at X.

National mental health and brain health research nonprofit One Mind has supported Dr. McLeans ongoing trauma research work, including the AURORA study. One Mind has been helping to raise financial support for the Heroes Health Initiative. Healthcare workers are working long hours in highly contagious environments, often without adequate safety equipment, and are expected to make life-saving decisions while deprioritizing their own health and the health of their families, said One Mind President Brandon Staglin. These demands place an enormous amount of stress on the physical and mental health of COVID-19 healthcare workers. Heroes Health will provide mental health support for our front-line caregivers and is an important demonstration of how private sector innovation is essential in our response to the pandemic.

The Rockefeller Foundation has also been a key supporter. Healthcare workers show up every day to battle COVID-19 and keep us all safe. Its grueling work, said Zia Khan Senior Vice President, Innovation, The Rockefeller Foundation. The Rockefeller Foundation, having supported public health innovations for over 100 years, is proud to join with Google and One Mind to support the UNC School of Medicine as they launch Heroes Health to extend mental health support to these frontline workers.

As a community and country it is important to come together to support those on the frontline taking care of our citizens with coronavirus, said Bank of America North Carolina Market President Charles Bowman. It was an easy decision to partner with The Rockefeller Foundation to fund an application of this type that will be valuable now and in the future to ensure healthcare workers can self-monitor and have access to the support and services they need and deserve.

Public support for Heroes Health App

The public can contribute to the ongoing support and national availability for Heroes Health by donating via this fundraising page.

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Heroes Health Mental Wellness App Launched by UNC School of Medicine & UNC Health - Business Wire

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matters to you in your college or grad school search.

For some aspiring doctors, the cost of medical school may be intimidating, especially if they are wary of taking out student loans. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to finance a medical education without going into debt.

Six-figure debt burdens are common among medical school graduates. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 70% of medical degree recipients in 2019 had used student loans to pay for medical school. The median amount of medical education debt for those graduates was $200,000.

[Read: How to Attend Medical School for Free.]

Among the 117 ranked medical schools that provided U.S. News with medical education debt data, which excludes undergraduate and other types of debt, the average among 2019 graduates who borrowed for school was $179,186.

But graduates of some schools had debt burdens well above the norm. At each of the 10 medical schools where students left with the most medical education debt, the average indebtedness exceeded $230,000.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific at Western University of Health Sciences in California tops the list, reporting an average indebtedness of $295,999 among its 2019 grads who borrowed student loans.

[Read: What Medical Schools Are Doing to Reduce Student Debt.]

Seven of these 10 schools are located in the Eastern U.S. Two are based in the Midwest, and one sits on the West Coast. Half of the schools are public, while the other half are private.

None of these schools placed among the top 40 in either the U.S. News ranking of research-focused medical schools or the ranking of primary care programs.

Story continues

Six of the schools on this list charged out-of-state students a higher tuition price for the 2019-2020 school year compared with in-state students. Tuition costs varied widely, ranging from a low of $21,472 for in-state students at West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine to a high of $93,537 for out-of-state students at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Med school hopefuls who are concerned about paying for school and taking on student debt should be aware that medicine is a lucrative career path. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median compensation among U.S. physicians and surgeons is "equal to or greater than $208,000 per year."

Attaining that earning power is time-consuming, though. Medical school typically lasts for four years, and the next step is usually a residency within a particular medical specialty, such as pediatrics. Doctors who have completed a residency sometimes opt to pursue a fellowship to gain additional expertise. Medical training is extremely rigorous, and the job of a doctor is a demanding one, so med school officials say it's important for premeds to think hard about whether medicine is the right profession for them.

Below is a list of the 10 medical schools where 2019 graduates with medical education debt had the highest average indebtedness. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.

School (name) (state)

Tuition (2019-2020)

Average indebtedness of 2019 graduates who incurred medical school debt

U.S. News research rank

U.S. News primary care rank

Western University of Health Sciences (CA)

$59,600

$295,999

94-122

94-122

Nova Southeastern University (Patel) (FL)

In-state: $54,580; out-of-state: $61,167

$286,876

94-122

94-122

New York Medical College

$54,580

$258,216

94-122

94-122

University of Illinois

In-state: $46,359; out-of-state: $93,537

$244,019

55 (tie)

58 (tie)

West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine

In-state: $21,472; out-of-state: $52,710

$240,672

94-122

94-122

Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (NJ)

In-state: $41,339; out-of-state: $66,324

$240,555

94-122

94-122

Eastern Virginia Medical School

In-state: $32,456; out-of-state: $56,382

$239,007

94-122

49 (tie)

Drexel University (PA)

$58,106

$236,679

91 (tie)

94-122

Ohio University

In-state: $36,342; out-of-state: $51,828

$233,339

94-122

94-122

Georgetown University (DC)

$53,598

$232,274

44 (tie)

87

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Medical School Compass to find debt statistics, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 188 medical schools for our 2019 survey of research and primary care programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Medical Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The tuition and debt data above is correct as of July 14, 2020.

More From US News & World Report

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10 Medical Schools Where Students Leave With the Most Debt - Yahoo! Voices

New York Medical College White Coat Ceremony

Dear Future Physicians,

I write to you today about what it is to have more than just a voice.I write to you about having something to say that you communicate with the whole and essence of your being. Yet, in truth, to have a voice, one must bring ones whole being along with it.

There will be times when that voice will be soft, still, barely heard over the confusion and distractions that seem to surround us.Other times that voice will be a clarion call, so loud that everyone around you will hear your message. But in both cases, the message will be the same.It will tell you and those for whom you care that you are present, that you are able, and that you are willing to bring yourselfyour whole selfto the task at hand, to the people for whom you are responsible.

A profession is so much more than an occupation.You do not simply take up space or occupy your time during the day.You certainly do not just submit to the whims and directions of your employers.A professional is fiercely independent when it comes to making himself or herself accountable for what is required, yet, at the same time, a professional is part of a larger community of like-minded individuals who, together, uphold values and goals that they share.

As you embark on your journey to becoming a professional, you must first take note that you are not already there.Wanting to be a physician is not the same as being one.There is much to learnand not only the medical knowledge and clinical skills that you will utilize in your care of patients.Like any other transformation, you must undergo a process of self-reflection.You must continually ask yourselves whether the expectations of the profession will give you a sense of purpose or will it become a burden, whether the demands of being a doctor will weigh on you or build you up.You must think deeply whether the generations-old tradition can be made yours, how you can accept its ethos for the good that it engenders and commit to improving those faults where the tradition is still found lacking.These questions will never be answered in full, but as you develop your own sense of what it means to be a professional physician, the questions become easier.The divergence between what you want and what the profession wants from you become smaller.

Let me give you a roadmap for your journey. A professional has specialized knowledge, is prepared to utilize that knowledge for the sake of its purpose, and has an internal motivation to use that knowledge through a mandate of service.This latter component differentiates the professional from the professionally qualified.

In your years in medical school, the first two components come through instructionyour professors can teach you what you need to know and how to perform clinical activities.Of course, a more apt description would be that they can inform you of what you need to know and do, but you must learn them on your own.You are not buckets to be filled but rather individuals who must absorb the information and familiarize yourselves with the choreography of clinical practice.

Internal motivation, however, is different.One person cannot give another internal motivationprofessors can give incentives and rewards, like grades and recommendations, but they cannot instill in you the fire or the drive to want to be the best you can be for the simple reason that you expect it of yourselves.That part of your education must, by definition, be self-directed.That part of the journey cannot be paved or even treaded upon by anyone but yourselves.

You should know, however, that you are not alone.You do not have to figure this all out by yourselves.Because the medical profession has a rich history and strong community, you can look to othersboth from the past and in the presentas guides and mentors.Find doctors for whom being a doctor seems natural.Ask them to tell you how they struggled and how they overcame the overwhelm that becoming a doctor entails.Have them relay to you how they negotiate between conflicting priorities, such as when the demands of their personal lives butt up against those of their fiduciary responsibilities.

Dont only listen to their words, watch them, see them as the tell you with pride and satisfaction how becoming a doctor has made them the person that they are.Become envious of the passion that they have, the crows feet that reveal the deep happiness they have when they tell you of the time when they cared for a stranger.When they tell you about their failures, see how they try, but are unable to hide, not the embarrassment of disappointing colleagues but their shame of not living up to their own standards.If being a doctor were only an occupation, the entire being of these mentors would not speak to you.Their words will tell you different stories than the language of their bodies.Only in a professional does ones voice sing in harmony with ones being.Want that for yourselves, for only a life undivided is a life of full integrity.

When you read about the medical profession, inquire not only of the challenges and complexities of current health system or the opportunities that future biotechnology and medical advances will bring.Learn about the history of medicine and of its relationship with society, religion, and philosophy through time.Let the lessons of history speak to you as an insider, as one who intends to carry that history forward into the future.See physicians of old as spiritual family members with whom you share a common bond.Appreciate how they have given you their inheritance of knowledge and professional purpose for you to pass down to others.Do not ignore even those family members who make you shudderwhose cruelty to others in the name of medicine have tarnished the family name for generations.Remember them to rectify the professions reputation.While you may be able to disavow them, you will not be able to disown them, since the world will remind you how you share their name.

Only at the end of your medical school training will you actually enter the medical profession.For the four years of your training, you will be somewhere in betweennot simply a student, not quite a doctor.When you wear your white coat, people will treat you according to what your coat signifies to them.They will most likely not know that its true significance falls somewhat short of what it projects.Do not be fooled by their misconceptions.It is easy to think that the coat makes the professional.The most valuable lesson to learn from your white coat is humility.While many define this virtue as a vice, it is one of the most valuable tools in your metaphorical black bag.Humility is not a low view of ones own importance; it is a recognition both that you can be better than you currently are and that you cannot succeed alone.Wear your white coat with pride in the goals that you have set for yourself and not in what you have not yet achieved.Let this sense of pride in who you will become join with the humility of knowing who you currently are so that together they push you forward, give you reason to learn more and try harder.The apprentice only becomes a master when he or she can be trusted with the craft.

When you do finish medical school, you will take an oath of initiation.At this point, your voice proclaims the message of your profession.An oath is much more than a personal promise or an employment contract, just as a professional is different from a neighbor or employee.Oaths, like the professionals who proclaim them, have moral weight that transcends the agreement that the relevant parties make.An oath binds its maker through a public declaration and in the name of something greater.While a broken promise hurts the intended benefactor, a forsaken oath hurts both the intended benefactor and the one who foreswears it.Most importantly, unlike promises or contracts, which are declarations of intention, an oath is a performative utterance.It is the first act that you will carry out as a physician.It is the act of declaring who one is, not simply what one intends to do.As such, an oath, just like becoming a professional, does not so much change the future as it changes the meaning of the future for the one who declares it.

As you go through your next years in medical school and you begin to recognize that your personal goals and values align with your professional ones, you will realize that your profession is your platform and your purpose.A platform because it is the raised structure that holds you and your message above the fray so that you can lead others with a clear and understood standing of authority.A purpose because it will help you determine how far you may go, for whom you undertake responsibility, and how meaningful the effort is to you.

Take these years to develop your voiceto give it something worth saying.Learn the knowledge and develop the skills that that you will need to become the authority that the profession and your future patients will demand that you become.Most importantly, take time to reflect.Make the profession your own and at the same time give your whole selves to it.Learn how to merge your voice with those that came before so that you can be heard individually yet in harmony.Learn to speak not from a script but from your heart, with all the strength that you can muster.Only then will your message speak to everyone around you.

I wish you the very best on your journey.

Sincerely,

Ira Bedzow

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Open Letter To Medical Students On The Road Ahead To Becoming Professional Physicians - Forbes

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) Millions more children in the U.S. learned Friday that theyre unlikely to return to classrooms full time in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic as death tolls reached new highs.

It came as many states particularly in the Sunbelt struggled to cope with the surge and governments worldwide tried to control fresh outbreaks. In a sign of how the virus is galloping around the globe, the World Health Organization reported nearly a quarter-million new infections in a single day.

In the U.S., teams of military medics were deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deluged by coronavirus patients. The two most populous states each reported roughly 10,000 new cases and some of their highest death counts since the pandemic began. Big numbers in Florida, Arizona and other states also are helping drive the U.S. resurgence thats forcing states to rethink the school year.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out strict criteria for school reopenings that makes classroom instruction unlikely for most districts. The Democrats rules mandate that students above second grade and all staff wear masks.

Texas gave public schools permission to stay closed for more than 5 million students well into the fall. Under the guidelines, schools can hold online-only instruction for up to the first eight weeks, potentially pushing a return to campus in some cities until November.

Most Chicago children would return to the classroom just two days a week and spend the other three days learning remotely under a tentative plan outlined by officials from the nations third-largest school district. A final decision for fall classes for the districts more than 300,000 students wont come until late August.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, announced she will override school districts and require students to spend at least half of their schooling in classrooms, drawing criticism from the state teachers union.

The uncertainty about the way to safely restart schools has parents like Ivette Garcia of Orange Park, Florida, struggling with what to do. When she learned her school district only had two options this fall, in-person or virtual lessons, she decided to keep her kindergarten son home. She plans to schedule instruction before and after work, with her parents reinforcing education in between.

The schools start date is less than 30 days away. And I dont feel that theres a very great plan in place that makes me feel comfortable enough to send my baby to school and then return back to our family dynamic, Garcia said.

Several states have been reporting record numbers of COVID-19 this week, contributing to a surge in the national death rate. The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths has risen 34% from two weeks ago, while the case count in that period shot up 43%.

Texas reported a record 174 new deaths, and more than 10,000 additional cases for the fourth consecutive day. Californias nearly 10,000 confirmed cases were its third-highest daily total, and it recorded 130 deaths during a week of seesawing infection numbers.

Florida reported 128 new deaths Friday and 11,345 additional cases.

There were signs across the Sunbelt that the virus was stretching authorities capacity to respond. The medical examiners office in metro Phoenix has gotten portable storage coolers and ordered more to handle an influx of bodies reminiscent of New York City at the height of the pandemic there.

In Houston, an 86-person Army medical team worked to take over a wing of United Memorial Medical Center. In California, military doctors, nurses and other health care specialists were being deployed to eight hospitals facing staffing shortages.

Some hospitals in South Carolina also were being squeezed: The number of patients with COVID-19 is increasing rapidly, while nurses and other workers are getting infected when they are off work, said Dr. Wendell James, a senior vice president with Prisma Health who is based in Greenville.

The majority of the illness we see in our nursing staffs and our support staff is community spread, he said. Almost all of it I cant control.

In Florida, Miami-area authorities began stepping up enforcement of a mask requirement. Code and fire inspectors have authority to issue tickets of up to $100 for individuals and $500 for businesses not complying with guidelines to wear masks and practice social distancing. Police already had that power.

Shaun Alley, assistant manager of Blue Collar, a Miami comfort food restaurant, said all of the customers eat outside on picnic tables and are asked to wear masks when not eating.

We tell people flat out: Either you comply or we have the right not to serve you, he said. We havent had any issues so far.

At least half of all states have adopted requirements for wearing face coverings.

But in Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has banned cities and counties from requiring face coverings. He sued Atlanta late Thursday to prevent it from defying his order, and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she was prepared to go to court to maintain the requirement.

Globally, confirmed cases surpassed 14 million, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University, and COVID-19 deaths topped 600,000. WHO reported a single-day record of new infections: over 237,000. Experts believe that the true numbers are even higher.

Indias total confirmed cases surpassed 1 million Friday, the third-highest in the world behind the United States and Brazil and its death toll reached more than 25,000. That followed an announcement Thursday that Brazils confirmed cases exceeded 2 million, including 76,000 deaths.

The surge in India where experts believe the vast majority of cases are still being missed drove home concerns over the readiness of some countries to cope with outbreaks that could test feeble health care systems.

In sub-Saharan Africa, which already had the worlds greatest shortage of medical personnel, nearly 10,000 health workers in 40 countries have been infected, WHO said.

Health officials in Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries earlier in the pandemic, asked Barcelonas 5.5 million residents to stay home as much as possible to stem the viruss spread.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson charted a different course, announcing that as of Aug. 1, the government would no longer ask people to avoid public transit or work from home.

The U.K.s official death toll, which stood at more than 45,000, has for several weeks been the highest in Europe.

___

Crary reported from New York. Associated Press reporters around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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Millions of kids told full return to school in fall unlikely - The Associated Press

Becoming a doctor requires a lot of time and effort, and it often involves going into debt. So potential physicians need to seriously consider whether the benefits of a medical career outweigh the challenges.

"People may think they have an idea of what a doctor is -- prestige, respect from others, and excitement. But when they get to the job itself, while it certainly can be all of those things, not everyone is going to have the same experience," Dr. Andrew Moore, a gastroenterology fellow at the University of Chicago, wrote in an email. "Some people realize very late that being a doctor isn't everything they thought it would be, and once they've started their training, they feel stuck because they've accumulated so much student loan debt and have to finish what they started in order to be able to pay it back."

[Read: How to Decide Between Medical School and Another Health Care Degree Program.]

Someone seriously contemplating medical school should shadow doctors and conduct informational interviews with individuals who have medical training, Moore suggests. An important difference between medicine and other health care professions, Moore says, is that physicians have an unusually high degree of independence.

Moore adds that although medical training is demanding and "can be a very lonely process," a medical career has the potential to be profoundly rewarding. "Once training is over, you have a very unique set of skills that can make huge impacts in society and people's lives."

Moore recommends considering whether there is any other profession besides medicine that would be more fulfilling, "because if there is, then the financial and social sacrifices (of medical training) will become personal burdens rather than means to accomplish your career goals."

The consensus among individuals with medical training is that it isn't appropriate for someone whose primary motivation is earning a high salary.

"I was always told not to go into medicine if I want to be rich!" Dr. Nicholas Jones, a renowned Atlanta-based plastic surgeon, explained in an email. "I feel this is partially true because for the hours you have put in, the sacrifices you have made, you could have done a million other things to make money. A career in medicine is a lifelong commitment and you do it because you genuinely care about people."

Dr. Edward Halperin, the chancellor and CEO of New York Medical College, says that working as a physician is "the closest thing to sacred work" that someone can perform outside of a house of worship. "The relief of pain, amelioration of suffering, and helping people to avoid, to the extent possible, premature death is holy work," he wrote in an email.

Dr. Karen M. Murray, associate dean for admissions at New York Medical College's School of Medicine, describes medicine as "a calling." Improving the conditions of patients is a rewarding aspect of the profession, but doctors may encounter frustrating situations.

"For example, I will recommend treatment for a problem but the insurance company will not cover the cost of the therapy and the patient is caught in the middle because they cannot afford the therapy on their own," Murray wrote in an email. She suggests that the opportunity to "provide a needed service" is one of the perks of being a doctor, while dealing with the commercialization of health care is one of the downsides.

The financial cost of medical training is worth assessing, experts say.

Dr. Anita Srikameswaran, program director of the University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, chose to use her medical degree in a nontraditional way by working as a medical writer, but she notes that this unconventional career path might not have been feasible for her if she had received an expensive medical education. Srikameswaran earned a medical degree from the University of Manitoba, a public school in Canada, and later a journalism degree at Northwestern University in Illinois.

"I was fortunate that I was able to make that transition," she says, adding that her career flexibility would have been limited had she carried a significant student debt burden from medical school.

[Read: Why Medical School May Not Be the Path for You.]

Srikameswaran says that potential medical students should think about how much money they will need to spend "up front" to finance a medical education and consider "what it might mean on the back end" in terms of how much money they will need to earn.

Story continues

Practicing doctors say one of the greatest aspects of their jobs is the conviction that they are helping others. "Physicians can help patients both mentally and physically, can save lives, and improve quality of life," Dr. Nikhil R. Nayak, a Virginia-based neurosurgeon, wrote in an email. "As humans, our careers and professions are a major part of our daily lives and identities, and I take deep satisfaction in knowing that my daily job involves helping other people and performing a greater good."

Nayak notes that future doctors need to be patient, because after graduating from college they will need to devote years to preparing for a medical career. People "who cannot keep the long term goal in sight or have difficulty delaying gratification may find the career path unappealing," Nayak warns.

Although medical training takes a long time, individuals who are persistent enough to finish discover that medical expertise is a highly marketable skill.

"From a professional standpoint, there is significant job security as well as financial security," Nayak says.

[See: 5 Things to Do Before Applying to Medical School.]

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary among U.S. physicians easily exceeds $200,000.

Dr. Allison Rogers of Kentucky, a family medicine physician who is not currently practicing medicine but is teaching aspiring doctors, says one benefit of a medical degree is that it is a credential in high demand throughout the U.S. Rogers says recruiters frequently contact her, and she notes that doctors can typically find work in whatever region they prefer.

Searching for a medical school? Get our complete rankings of Best Medical Schools.

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How to Decide If Going to Medical School and Being a Doctor Is Worth It - Yahoo Finance

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question youd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: Weekly Coronavirus Questions.

The best laid plans of coronavirus caregivers can go kaflooey.

When Marie Loveheim was recovering from COVID-19, alone in her apartment in Washington, D.C., she didnt have a thermometer. So her son bought her one.

It registered a fever of 107.

Was I dead? she wondered.

Thermometer number two came from her daughter, who ordered it as part of a grocery delivery from a supermarket.

But what came was a meat thermometer. Lovenheims sister suggested she check to see if she measured medium-rare.

When a loved one gets sick, our gut response kicks in like second nature: Provide as much care and comfort as possible. Send a thermometer, a soup, you pick: It feels like a no-brainer.

But how do you care for a loved one struck by a fast-spreading virus that means its high risk to have face-to-face contact with a patient lest you get sick yourself?

NPR spoke to medical professionals and COVID-19 recoverees about the trial and error of caregiving: What works, what doesnt and what might provide hope and humor even at the unlikeliest of moments.

To begin, there are the practical considerations.

Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Womens Hospital, says if a loved one has COVID-19, the first step is home isolation. If possible, the infected family member should remain quarantined in a separate room where they will eat and sleep, and they should use a separate bathroom.

Its OK to go into the infected partys room to drop off food, Sax advises, but both the patient and the caregiver should wear a mask, and if possible, an inexpensive plastic face shield or lab goggles to cover your eyes in addition to your nostrils and mouth eyes are a potential entry point for the virus.

For milder cases, at-home treatment largely addresses the symptoms.

Given that we dont have any verified therapy that we can give people early on in the course, our main management is focused on symptomatic relief for coughs, fevers, muscle pains and the like, says Harvard Medical School physician Dr. Abraar Karan. Over-the-counter Tylenol for fevers and pain, or anti-cough medications are both options for people who dont have significant medical conditions that would prevent them from taking these medications.

Sax says its a good idea to go into your loved ones room three or four times a day, say hi and see how theyre doing. Its completely fine to prepare food for them; just make sure to wash the dishes and your hands afterward with soapy water. You should check temperatures twice a day and expect a higher number in the afternoon than early morning.

Another helpful tool is a pulse oximeter, which can be used to measure oxygen levels. Look for numbers in the high 90s to 100s when monitoring your loved one. A number in the low 90s is alarming, Sax and Karan say, and if those are the results youre noticing, seek medical attention for your loved one. But you shouldnt be falsely reassured by good numbers either, medical experts warnand there are some noted problems with getting good readings to begin with.

Dr. James Aisenberg, a gastroenterologist and clinical professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March and has since recovered. For him, it was important to keep the communication flowing with his physician and keep meticulous notes on his condition and recovery progress.

The caregiver should have a physician or a health-care contact whom they can email because its a bumpy and long recovery process, Aisenberg says. Its very helpful to have someone to reach out to for reassurance and counsel who knows the natural history of the coronavirus infection, who can say Thats a red flag, come to the hospital.

Sax says that at home, there are some clear things to watch out for when it comes to symptoms: if your loved one has a harder time breathing, if fever is spiking (especially in older people), if theres delirium or signs of dehydration like fatigue, dizziness or overly-yellow urine.

Because the recovery process is slow, taxing and done in isolation, Aisenberg says it was important for him to find nourishing moments of human connection with family between the stretches of alone time.

You want to be together in a moment where you cannot touch each other; to be close at a moment where you cant physically be close, he notes. Because both parties the patient and the family need that closeness. So the most important thing for a caregiver is to be attentive, supportive and presentbut observe social distancing (at least 6 feet even with a mask on) and hygiene.

Though it may be hard to physically connect while you have the virus, our sources whod coped with COVID-19 found moments of joy in video chats, phone calls and other expressions of love and care, from cards to homemade soup to gifts of food and flowers.

Dr. Jasmine Eugenio, a pediatrician in Los Angeles, California, who recovered from COVID-19, says she was brought to tears when people drove past her bedroom window to wave hello. And when she got a mango, it was an epiphany!

I lost my sense of taste until Day 6 when I asked for a mango and the taste exploded in my mouth, Eugenio says. That led her to fresh fruit and popsicles.

Dr. Madhuri Reddy, a geriatrician at Harvard Medical School and Hebrew SeniorLife, stresses its important for caregivers to take care of themselves too,

Be easy on yourself, says Reddy. This is a difficult time for everybody and caretakers provide such an immense service.

Pranav Baskar is a freelance journalist and U.S. national born in Mumbai.

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Children in an elementary school class wear masks and sit as desks spaced apart as per coronavirus guidelines during summer school sessions at Happy Day School in Monterey Park, California on July 9.

Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

A study of 2,000 children and teachers at a school in the German state of Saxony has found very few coronavirus antibodies among them, suggesting that schools and young people do not play as big a role in transmission as previously feared.

The study was carried out in May by theMedical Faculty of the TU Dresden and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and the results of the first test phase were released Monday.

The results showed that out of 2,045 blood samples collected from students and teachers from across 13 secondary schools in the region only 12 samples were found to contain antibodies against Covid-19.

Tests were carried out in several schools where there had been known outbreaks of the virus, and 24 of the participants had at least one confirmed coronavirus case in their household. Nonetheless, only one of those 24 participants was found to have antibodies, the study noted.

It is the largest study in Germany to date and was carried out after the country reopened schools after lockdown, with the aim of assessing how many students and teachers carry antibodies against the virus and how its spread changes over time.

The results showed that"the dynamics of virus spreading have been overestimated," the universities said, adding that the study suggested that schools did not become the coronavirus "hotspot" after reopening, as had been feared.

"The numbers provide information about the current immunity status of teachers and students ... (and) provide important clues as to how school operations can continue after the summer holidays," theMedical Faculty of the TU Dresden said in a statement Monday.

"Corona cases were confirmed in three of the schools examined.Nevertheless, above average antibodies were not detectable among the teachers and students of the institutions concerned, which suggests that the schools have not developed into hotspots," the statement noted.

Professor Reinhard Berner, director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, said the study suggested that children did not spread the virus as much as had been believed.

"We are going into the summer vacation 2020 with an immunity status that is no different from that in March 2020.Of the more than 2,000 blood samples examined, only 12 were able to detect antibodies, which corresponds to a share of well below one percent.This means that a silent, symptom-free infection in the students and teachers we examined has so far occurred less frequently than we had suspected," he said.

Speaking at a news conference Monday, Berner reportedly stated that"children may even act as a brake on infection," according to Reuters, saying infections in schools had not led to an outbreak and that the spread of the virus within households was also less dynamic than previously expected.

"These results of the investigation provide evidence that virus transmission in families is not as dynamic as previously thought,"Berner said in a comment within the study.

"More than 20 of the examined subjects had at least one proven corona case in the family;however, antibodies were found in only one of these study participants, which would mean that the majority of schoolchildren did not go through an infection themselves despite an infection in the household.This finding must also be taken into account when it comes to deciding on measures to limit contact."

He added thatthe study was representative for the state of Saxony, however, which has a relatively low rate of infection compared with other parts ofGermany.

The study is the latest to analyze the presence of antibodies among individuals and there is an increasing amount of evidence to suggest that coronavirus antibodies might wane over time, as WHO officials noted Monday.

A U.K. study published Saturday suggested that immunity to Covid-19 may only last a few months, with research showing that the antibody response to the virus peaked around three weeks after the first onset of symptoms but then began to decline in as little astwotothree months.

Going into the methodology of the German school study in more detail, physicians from the Dresden University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus examined a total of 2,045 blood samples from schoolchildren and teachers from 13 secondary schools in Dresden and the districts of Bautzen and Grlitz.Of the 2,045 samples, 1,541 came from schoolchildren, mostly in grades eight to eleven (13-16 years old).

In addition, a total of 504 teachers participated, their ages ranged from 30 to 66 years.The proportion of male and female study participants was roughly the same among schoolchildren. Coronavirus cases were diagnosed in some of the 13 schools, the study noted.

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Schools have low coronavirus infection rate, German study finds - CNBC

DiLorenzo was with his wife, Suzanne Austin, the College of Charlestons new appointed provost, at approximately 6:15 a.m. when two men armed with a handgun demanded money from the couple in downtown Charleston.

DiLorenzo was shot during the robbery attempt and was taken to a local hospital, where he died, according to a police report. Austin wasnt injured.

The investigation is ongoing.

Late Friday night, Charleston Police announced the arrests of two juvenile males. The suspects, ages 15 and 16, have both been charged with murder and attempted armed robbery. One is also charged with possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a violent crime.

The news, which broke around noon Friday, sent shockwaves across UND and the Greater Grand Forks community. The incident became national news, with at least one national network reporting it during a 5:30 p.m. newscast.

DiLorenzo, 63, retired as provost of UND on June 1 after having been at the university for seven years.

His death comes six weeks after he retired from UND and a few weeks after he and his wife moved to Charleston.

Joshua Wynne, former interim president of UND and dean of the medical school, remembered DiLorenzo for his hard-working nature and commitment to UND.

To earn your retirement and then six weeks later be gone is incredibly sad, Wynne said. I'm sure he was working until the minute he walked out the door and locked it.

He cared deeply about UND, Debbie Storrs, interim provost at UND, said. "He encouraged us to think differently, look forward and envision a better university. He was committed to equity and hired many women into leadership positions.

Storrs said DiLorenzos new adventure was abruptly ended.

It is hard to put to words the sadness, especially in the world we live in today, she said. He will be missed. His impression on UND is felt, and we will continue to think forward.

Former UND Provost Tom DiLorenzo. (UND provided photo)

Gracie Lian, former student body president, said she was in a state of shock Friday after hearing the news.

He was always so warm and welcoming and ready to listen to the student voice, which I think was so important, Lian said, speaking of her time interacting with DiLorenzo. He really did care about student opinion on things.

Lian said she was especially impressed with DiLorenzos leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as he was wrapping up his final months at UND. She said he was always reaching out to student leaders to ensure they were comfortable with the plans.

Tom worked tirelessly to help better UND, Matthew Ternus, UND student body president, told the Herald.

He said DiLorenzo was always a caring person who was ready to listen.

Tom was a servant leader during his time at UND, he said.

DiLorenzo served under presidents Robert Kelley and Mark Kennedy during his time at UND. He also served under interim presidents Ed Schafer and Wynne.

He arrived at UND in 2013 and worked to advance and lead initiatives to increase student retention and improve graduation rates. He was a central figure in the development of UND's strategic plan.

Former UND Provost Thomas DiLorenzo is pictured in this 2016 file photo. Jesse Trelstad/ Grand Forks Herald

When his retirement was announced in February he was lauded for his work with UNDs budget and knowledge of the university.

With his superhuman work ethic, Tom gave his heart and soul to the university up until his very last day at UND, said UND President Andrew Armacost, who assumed the president's role in June. He led the universitys response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He initiated programs that strengthened ties between UND and the Grand Forks community. And to improve the academic experience for UND students, he implemented programs that have resulted in better graduation and retention rates. Tom did all that was asked of him and then more. It was the kind of person he was.

During his time as interim president, Wynne effectively had three jobs: interim president, dean of the medical school and vice president of health affairs. Wynne said DiLorenzo made those jobs a little easier.

I think it's a true statement to say that I would not have been able to do all three of those jobs if it were not for the outstanding efforts of Provost DiLorenzo, Wynne said. He was incredibly hard working, of high integrity and tried to do the right thing.

North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott said DiLorenzo was killed in an act of senseless violence. He said DiLorenzo was a key leader at UND.

He was a source of stability for UND, he said. He was also an intellectual leader in North Dakota as he pioneered new programs in robotics, cyber science and digital analytics.

Hagerott met DiLorenzo when Hagerott was serving at the U.S. Naval Academy Cyber Center, and said DiLorenzo was the first academic leader who encouraged him to return to North Dakota to serve in the university system.

Former UND President Mark Kennedy also expressed sadness Friday.

Tom cared, Kennedy said in a statement. He cared about his family. He cared about delivering on the mission of higher education to open up opportunities for students and the community.

DiLorenzo championed innovations that led to greater access to higher education for students, Kennedy said.

It was never about him, it was about the students, the faculty, the university, he said. The world is a better place because Tom lived.

Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski said the news of DiLorenzos death came as a great shock to our community. Bochenski said he and his wife, Jenny, are praying for DiLorenzos family and friends, as well as the many in Grand Forks that were fortunate to have known him.

Because of Dr. DiLorenzos dedication and the bonds he created, the path has been paved for a bright and prosperous future on campus and with UNDs partners, Bochenski said. Our community could not have been more blessed to have had such a strong advocate and leader.

Grand Forks City Administrator Todd Feland said he had the honor and privilege to work closely with DiLorenzo on a handful of strategic projects that are now hallmarks of the Grand Forks Town and Gown relationship.

Feland pointed to the internship program between the city and the university, research partnerships, the Coulee to Columbia infrastructure project and the Main Street GF Challenge as examples of those projects. Those projects would not have happened without DiLorenzos work ethic, greater-good attitude, and ability to work effectively with community stakeholders, Feland said.

He was a driving force in this community and this news hurts on a personal level, Feland said.

In a statement, College of Charleston President Andrew Hsu said DiLorenzo and his wife had moved to Charleston only a few weeks ago.

Tom was celebrated not only for his collaborative leadership style, but also his belief in experiential learning and how the city of Grand Forks served as an extension of the UND classroom, Hsu wrote. Given time, Tom would have seen parallels of that dynamic here in Charleston as well.

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UND campus in shock after recently retired Provost Tom DiLorenzo is killed in South Carolina robbery, arrests made - Grand Forks Herald

The conference is available to all students who wish to pursue a career in medicine.Credit: Sukhmani Kaur

Penn students are hosting a free, three-day virtual conference in August for people interested in pursuing a career in healthcare.

Featuring professional guest speakers and a research exposition, A Future in Medicine: National Pre-Health Conference will be held over Zoom as a substitute for similar events that have been canceled due to COVID-19, rising College junior and founder of the conference Alejandra Bahena said. The conference will run from Aug. 20 to 22.

The event is available to all students undergraduate and postgraduate who wish to pursue a career in medicine and endeavor to become a competitive candidate for medical school and other medical programs. Bahena said the event will consist of hourly presentations from professionals in the medical field, including Penn Medicine professor Lawrence F. Brass and CURF Senior Associate Director for Undergraduate Research Ann Vernon-Grey.

Students will listen to these presentations as well as share their own work in a research exposition.

Looking at the research symposium, I thought it was really cool, rising Haverford College sophomore Tien Vu, who plans to attend the conference, said. I did guided research with Haverford the summer before my freshman year, but it was super accelerated. I want to do more in-depth research.

Bahena said she started the conference because of the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine period and the ensuing shift to online learning, which limited access to resources she and other pre-med students had available during a normal school year, such as mentors and research opportunities.

Bahena hopes to make up for these losses by giving pre-med students access to professionals in the field and the opportunity to learn about each others research through the conference.

I wanted to use this challenge in my life as an opportunity to help students, said Bahena. For students to feel more prepared and motivated for the school year, and for students to have the opportunity to explore different medical career paths and achieve their professional goals.

Bahena came up with the initial idea of the conference nearly a month ago, and soon reached out to universities, including Haverford and the California Institute of Technology, and medical organizations to find sponsors and guest speakers. The team organizing the conference also includes rising College sophomore Hiba Hamid and rising College junior Jacqueline Friskey.

Get our newsletter, Dear Penn, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

Im applying to M.D./Ph.D. programs in May, 2020 CalTech graduate and conference attendee Alexa Lauinger said. I thought [the conference] would be helpful to get more information on the directions that those careers can go in.

Both Bahena and attendees said they hope the conference will continue in the future.

If [the conference] is annual that would be great, said Vu. Every year Id get to meet other people who are pre-health and learn from them."

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Penn students to host free, virtual pre-med conference in August - The Daily Pennsylvanian

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Hagemann, Mian, Miller-Thomas awarded fellowships for 2020-22

The 2020-22 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been named. They are (from left) Ali Y. Mian, MD, an assistant professor of radiology; Michelle M. Miller-Thomas, MD, an associate professor of radiology; and Ian S. Hagemann, MD, PhD, an associate professor of pathology and immunology, and of obstetrics and gynecology.

Ian S. Hagemann, MD, PhD, Ali Y. Mian, MD, and Michelle M. Miller-Thomas, MD, have been named the 2020-22 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The fellowship program was established in 2004 with a gift from Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb to advance medical education. The two-year fellowship provides recipients with dedicated time to focus on implementing innovative ideas into teaching and training that enhance the education of medical students and residents.

The dedication and commitment of the Loebs over the years have been an important driver of medical education at Washington University, said Eva Aagaard, MD, senior associate dean for education and the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Professor of Medical Education. Their unwavering support has encouraged and nurtured excellence in modern medical education. The Loebs have played a major role in the medical schools ongoing efforts to revise and update its curriculum.

The new curriculum will begin its rollout this fall with a focus on addressing health inequities locally and globally, integrating basic sciences and clinical experiences throughout all four years of medical school, and increasing professional and mental health support programs for students.

The Loeb Teaching Fellowships support the goals of the new curriculum with projects that emphasize compassionate medicine and innovation, Aagaard said. Not only will the fellows selected have the potential to significantly influence our students and residents, but the Loeb fellows innovative projects will positively impact the field of medicine. I am excited to see the projects develop and take shape.

The fellowship program also is supported by The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Hagemann, an associate professor of pathology and immunology, and of obstetrics and gynecology, will augment the medical schools admission process by creating situational video interviews exploring topics such as cultural humility, ethical reasoning, and resilience. Applicants will be able to complete this part of the interview process remotely. Current medical students will work with faculty and staff to create the interview prompts and evaluate the responses.

This project is particularly timely as the COVID-19 pandemic has increased interest in using technology to communicate remotely, said Hagemann, who serves as a subcommittee chair for admissions.

Its also innovative in that we are focusing on competencies that are essential for success in the medical profession but that have not been a dedicated focus of our admissions process, Hagemann said. Holistic admission practices have the potential to increase diversity in the medical profession. We are excited to have a new way to get to know our applicants better and to share Washington Universitys values as we select tomorrows leaders in biomedicine.

Miller-Thomas, an associate professor of radiology, and Mian, an assistant professor of radiology both in the neuroradiology section of the universitys Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology will collaborate on creating materials aimed at teaching the fundamentals of radiology. This information will be woven into the new curriculum at large.

Revising the medical schools overall curriculum has provided the opportunity to rethink how radiology is taught in our medical school, Miller-Thomas said.Radiology plays a major role in modern medical care.While most of our students will not become radiologists, nearly all will be engaged with medical imaging during the course of their careers.

Added Mian: The Loeb Fellowship will allow us to create an integrated and updated radiology primer that will also serve as a durable online resource for medical students. The project will support the course directors, bridge the preclinical and clinical years, and span across all phases of the new curriculum. We share the universitys goal of propelling our future physicians into practice, in part by gaining a systemwide understanding of radiologys role in patient care.

Washington University School of Medicines 1,500 faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is a leader in medical research, teaching and patient care, ranking among the top 10 medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Loeb Teaching Fellows announced - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Dr. Charles Murphy was one of the first physicians in New York State to treat the initial wave of patients who tested positive for Covid-19.

This was in early March at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where Dr. Murphy, a 33-year-old pulmonary and critical care fellow, worked with Dr. Nina Suda, a 33-year-old endocrinology fellow. The two had been dating for three and a half years.

I was so proud of Charlie because I know what a terrific, dedicated doctor he is and just how much he cares about his patients, said Dr. Suda, who met Dr. Murphy in June 2015 during their internal medicine residency at the Montefiore Medical Center / Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.

Believe me, said Dr. Suda, laughing, whenever I talk about Charlie, I could go on and on and on.

By late March, Dr. Murphy learned he had been exposed to the coronavirus, becoming one of the first physicians in the state to be sent home to quarantine. Dr. Suda began wondering just how long she could go on if the man she loved and was engaged to had contracted the virus.

When Charlie called to tell me what was going on, my heart just dropped to my stomach, she said. My mind just went blank. I had a million questions, and yet I was speechless.

A shortage of Covid-19 tests meant Dr. Murphy would need to isolate for two weeks, watching for symptoms.

Needless to say, I was very worried and very scared, said Dr. Suda, who was working an early-afternoon shift at an outpatient clinic at the hospital when she received Dr. Murphys frightening call. Charlie never called me at that time, she said. I knew something was wrong.

Dr. Murphy, who lived in the nearby Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, said he felt helpless in quarantine. It was a scary, uncertain time in my life, he said. It was so odd to be sitting at home and knowing I couldnt help those patients who had been counting on me.

He said his parents were helpful by dropping off food and other supplies at his front door. But, he added, It was really Nina who helped me keep my sanity.

Dr. Suda brought Dr. Murphy dinner most nights during his quarantine, which made me feel quite conflicted, Dr. Murphy said. Despite the fact that I really wanted to see her, I knew, as she did, that her presence put her at great risk of getting sick, or worse, he said. I would have never forgiven myself had anything ever happened to her.

But it didnt matter what I said or what I thought, Dr. Murphy said with a sigh, because she was not taking no, for an answer.

Both took many precautions. Each wore a surgical mask and stayed at least six feet apart. And when Dr. Suda, who lived on Manhattans Upper West Side, turned the knob on Dr. Murphys front door, she used a disinfectant wipe.

Other than following the standard safety procedures, I tried to act as normal as possible whenever I was around him during those two difficult weeks, Dr. Suda said. I didnt want to make him feel like he was radioactive.

But all Dr. Murphy was feeling from his first day of quarantine, until his last, was fine.

During the first five or six days, he had not developed any symptoms of the coronavirus, which was a very good sign, said Dr. Suda, who also was treating Covid-19 patients in April and May. By Day 14, he was emotionally spent but still exhibited no signs that he had contracted the virus.

Suddenly, she said, we felt this great sense of relief come over us, and we were thrilled to be going back to our normal, everyday lives.

Dr. Suda first took notice of Dr. Murphy during their orientation in 2015 at the Montefiore Medical Center / Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He had just returned from a trip to India, and she could just about see the flecks of sunshine still dancing on what she called his beautiful, dark complexion.

He already had the tall and handsome thing going on, Dr. Suda said. He also had this charming glow about him that made me curious about his ethnicity, but we both had very busy jobs ahead of us, so I let it go at that.

Dr. Murphy, who is 6 foot 2, says he is 100 percent Irish, and maybe Im like 10 percent Italian. Dr. Suda, 5-3, is of Indian descent.

The first time Dr. Murphy said he spotted her, I remembered thinking to myself, Man, I wouldnt mind going out with her. She was gorgeous.

They became friends, and both secretly hoped to be paired in the same medical rotation (a two-week span during which they would share the same patients and specific duties). And just maybe when their shifts were over, they could have dinner and drinks.

Incredibly, a whole year went by and we were never paired in the same rotation, Dr. Murphy said. It was hard to believe.

At the beginning of their second year as residents, in July 2016, they were finally paired in an exclusive medical rotation for the first and only time.

Once was all they needed. From a personality standpoint she was very easy to talk to, Dr. Murphy said. She was exceedingly warm and bubbly with a self-deprecating sense of humor, which I found very charming.

On top of everything else, she was so beautiful, he added. It only took a few short months for me to realize that everything I wanted in a woman was there right there in front of me and I knew she was the one I wanted to marry.

They began seeing each other before and after shifts, with plenty of subjects to cover, including education and family.

Dr. Suda graduated cum laude from Columbia, where she played four years of Division I tennis, and was a team captain. She also received a medical degree from Drexel.

Dr. Murphy graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received a medical degree from Louisiana State University in New Orleans. He also served as a Teach for America Corps member between college and medical school, from June 2009 to June 2011, teaching elementary special education in New Orleans.

Other than his overall intelligence, Charlie was such an interesting person to me, a world traveler with so much of his experiences to share, Dr. Suda said. He often challenged me on an intellectual level, which was very attractive to me.

The couple married on June 13, their originally scheduled date. But the presence of the coronavirus and all the social restrictions attached to it forced them to abandon plans for an elaborate, 250-guest wedding ceremony that was to be followed by a Western reception meaning I was to wear a white wedding dress and he a tuxedo at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City on the Hudson.

The couple decided instead to have a much smaller ceremony and reception on the backyard deck of the brides parents home in Kinnelon, N.J. Fifteen guests, including her parents, Dr. Abhay Suda and Dr. Anjuli Suda, and his, Julia Murphy and George Murphy of Fairfield, Conn., and others via Zoom, watched as the bride and groom stood before Pratap Singhal, a Hindu priest.

Though the couple opted not to exchange vows, the grooms mother read the Thomas Moore poem In the Morning of Life. The bride said it was chosen for its bittersweet sentiments, given Covid.

When June 13, 2020

Where The home of the brides parents in Kinnelon, N.J.

No Scrubs The bride wore a handmade ivory silk bridal lehenga and veil with zardosi, sequin and crystal embroidery. Typically in an Indian wedding the bride wears all red and maroon, but since this was a fusion wedding we wanted both cultures to be represented, the bride said. The groom wore a custom ivory banarasi brocade sherwani, keeping the consistency with maroon accents on the collar and wrist.

The Attendants The grooms best man was his fraternal twin brother, Tom Murphy. The maids of honor were the brides sister, Dr. Nisha Suda, and her cousin, Raveena Suda.

First Dance The couples first dance was to Barfly by Ray LaMontagne.

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Paired During a Medical Rotation, and Then in Life - The New York Times

The largest school systems in the country will likely have very different starts to the upcoming school year.

Earlier this week, Los Angeles announced that when classes resume Aug. 18, students will be fully remote indefinitely.

Come September, New York City plans to begin the year with a hybrid model, with students attending school both in-person and online, the city announced last week.

An entrance to Public School 159 is seen locked in the Queens borough of New York City, July 8, 2020.

The updates come amid a nationwide debate over the reopening of schools during the coronavirus pandemic. Teacher unions have pushed back against reopening, particularly in states where COVID-19 cases are on the rise.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has advised that this year's goal should be for students to be "physically present in school" if it is safe for students and staff -- with proper precautions in place and a remote learning backup plan should an outbreak spring up.

Much of the decision-making about whether to reopen schools is likely to come down to the daily positivity rate, or infection rate -- a measure of how prevalent the virus is in a given neighborhood or city. Cities with a low daily positivity rate may be able to reopen schools, with caveats, while those with a high rate of new infections may not be able to resume in-person learning.

New York City and Los Angeles demonstrate how two cities in very different stages of the pandemic are approaching reopening schools.

After peaking in early April, COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations have been on a steady decline in New York City, which could enter phase 4 of the state's reopening plan as early as next week. Los Angeles County, meanwhile, has reported record cases and deaths in recent days, and has been rolling back some of its reopening plans.

"You can't reopen schools where there is broad community transmission, just because it will only add fuel to the fire," said ABC News contributor Dr. John Brownstein, an infectious disease expert at Boston Children's Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School. "If you kept case numbers down and the percent positive down, then there are strategies you can put into place to open schools in a safe way."

Dr. Taison Bell, a critical care and infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia, told ABC News he would not feel comfortable with schools opening in communities with high rates of transmission.

"The most important thing is the level of viral activity in the community," he said. "We don't know as much about kids, but we know that there is high transmissibility between adults.

In announcing the plan for New York City's public school system and its 1.1 million students, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the approach "maximizes in-person instruction while protecting health and safety of our students and educators."

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks to the media in New York City.

The preliminary plans have schools forming cohorts of students that will come in-person on set days at a reduced capacity that takes social distancing recommendations from the city's health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into account. That could look like at least half the student population in the classroom five days every two weeks, or one-third of students in person five days every three weeks. The optimum classroom size is between nine and 12 students, Chancellor Richard Carranza said. In 2019-20, the average class size was 26.1 students, according to the city's Department of Education.

Families can opt for all-remote learning -- but most likely will not. According to a city survey of 300,000 parents, 72% prefer sending their children back to school if safety measures are in place. Faculty with underlying medical conditions that might make in-person learning risky can also apply for accommodations, Carranza said.

When schools do reopen, students and staff will be screened upon arrival for symptoms. The city has not elaborated on what that will look like in its reopening plan, only that it will be based on the "latest health guidance." School spaces themselves will be reconfigured to allow for physical distancing and there will be a designated "isolation room" should someone become ill. HVACS and air conditioners will have improved ventilation, everyone will be required to wear face coverings and all rooms will have hand sanitizer. Each night, the buildings will be sprayed with a disinfectant. More information is expected in the coming weeks on diagnostic testing and contact tracing protocols, as well as extracurriculars.

All this is based on whether the city continues to limit community spread of COVID-19. This week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that schools in the state can reopen if the daily coronavirus infection rate in phase 4 regions is under 5% and must close if the rate surpasses 9%. Those percentages are based on World Health Organization recommendations for community transmission, a spokesperson for the governor's office told ABC News.

The positivity rate in the city has held steady recently at around 2%.

"New York can create a more nuanced opening approach based on what happens in a community," Brownstein said. "All the components of that strategy" -- from monitoring for illness, social distancing and mask-wearing to ventilation and the hybrid learning model -- "are core public health activities that we have been thinking about all along."

Clustering -- keeping the same group of students with the same staff and limiting mixing -- is also key, the doctor said, since screening measures may not catch pre-symptomatic transmission.

Social distancing and mask-wearing will pose challenges, especially for younger children, Brownstein noted.

"It is not going to be 100% enforceable, but every little bit that is done can reduce transmission," he said. "The more that we can do, the more that transmissions will be reduced, the more cases will come down, hospitalizations will come down and ultimately deaths."

Hybrid models can provide flexibility, Bell said, but there is a level of uncertainty. For example, if too many parents choose to send their children to school, it could complicate the models.

Since New York City announced its plans, Philadelphia has also said it will start the year with a hybrid approach. Its test positivity rate is around 2%.

The positivity rate in the Los Angeles area was approaching 10% when superintendent Austin Beutner announced that the Los Angeles Unified School District would be starting the school year remotely.

"The health and safety of all in the school community is not something we can compromise," he said. "The news about the spread of the virus continues to be of great concern."

That decision can be at odds with the needs of the district's nearly 700,000 students and their families, Beutner acknowledged. Through surveys, parents have said their children had struggled to learn online after schools closed in March.

LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner speaks during a press conference at Western Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, June 5, 2019. Mayor Eric Garcetti, school board members and labor leaders gathered to discuss the loss of Measure EE, a parcel tax for school financing, in the polls and how they will fight to find money for the school district.

Weighing the risks of no in-person instruction, a new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine advised that schools prioritize reopening in the fall, especially for students in kindergarten through fifth grade -- for whom distance learning can be a struggle -- and for those with special needs. The study noted that children risk falling behind academically through remote learning, which could "exacerbate" inequities.

At a briefing Wednesday on reopening schools, Dr. Annette Anderson, deputy director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, said the organization knows of more than a dozen states that have not addressed equity within their plans.

Closing schools might mean missed meals and unreliable broadband internet at home could limit academic access. But there are risks to opening too soon as well, experts say.

"By not controlling this pandemic at a high level, you are putting the risk of not even opening altogether," Brownstein said. "And that [will] lead to a bigger impact on low-income populations."

Parents Angelina Hayrapetyan, 38, and Again Nazliyan, 34, participate in a protest highlighting inadequacies in their children's online education outside the Glendale Unified School District Headquarters, amid the outbreak of COVID-19, in Glendale, Calif., July 13, 2020.

One approach may be to prioritize children who need to attend in-person classes the most, Bell said. In New York City's plan, where in-person learning could be just one day a week, there are additional models that could allow for in-person attendance five days a week, and other models for schools serving students with disabilities, the mayor said.

Schools may also look to make up for lost time. Where possible, the Los Angeles school district is looking to add one-on-one tutoring after school and on Saturdays to help students "accelerate their progress," Beutner said.

The Los Angeles school district plans to have final plans on at-school programs by the first week in August. When it does eventually bring students back to the classroom, the district has said it plans to test students and staff regularly and conduct contact tracing, along with other practices such as wearing masks and social distancing, Beutner said, noting that places that have "done the best in responding to the virus" -- such as South Korea, Denmark, Germany and Vietnam -- have followed all of those measures. Beutner estimates it will cost about $300 a year, per student, to test students and staff weekly, as well as family members of those who test positive for the virus.

Cars line up for coronavirus testing at Hansen Dam Recreation Center, July 7, 2020, in Los Angeles.

"Ideally, doing testing on all children and staff before starting school would be best," Bell said, adding that, unfortunately, there may not be the infrastructure to do that.

In addition to Los Angeles, other cities where COVID-19 cases have been increasing have recently announced that the school year will be completely remote to start. These include Houston, Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco and Nashville.

During this time of crisis, "parents will be less anxious if there is a plan," Bell said.

Still, deciding whether to send your child to school, if you have the option, is also "tough," said Brownstein, who lives in the Boston area and said he plans to send his two children back.

"There is low community transmission in Massachusetts right now. It makes sense to let our kids get the education that is so valuable," he said. "My logic changes dramatically when test positivity is high, hospitalizations are high and mortality data is increasing. It depends what state that parent lives in right now."

A sign states, "We miss our Short Avenue Families," at the closed Short Avenue Elementary School in Mar Vista, Calif., on July 13, 2020. Los Angeles campuses will not reopen for classes on Aug. 18, and the nations second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice, because of the worsening coronavirus surge in the state, Supt. of the Los Angeles Unified School District Austin Beutner announced.

Schools could be involving parents in the process, such as bringing them in to see the classroom environment, Anderson said. "Right now, schools must convince parents and teachers that returning to schools is safe," she added.

For now, all eyes will be on the data, especially for cities that plan to follow a hybrid approach.

"Only the future will show us which plans are the most effective," Bell said.

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How the country's largest school systems, NYC and LA, are planning for the fall amid the pandemic - ABC News

Few are as passionate as Yen about the possibility of a world with far less cyclical bleeding. Its my crusade, said Yen, who also co-founded and runs Pandia Health, a birth-control delivery company. This is my moonshot. People who have periods spend an average of 2,300 days of their lives menstruating. If more people chose to silence their periodor even just dial down the volumethat would mean a decrease in iron deficiency (which women experience at far higher rates than men), and even fewer plastic tampon applicators littering landfills.

Yen envisions the period of periods soon coming to an end. But even though menstruation is often messy, painful, and expensive, its a meaningful fixture of adulthood for some, and one that can be hard to let go of.

Gabrielle, a 24-year-old who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, got her first period in fourth grade. (The Atlantic allowed her and others in this story to use their first name only, to protect their privacy.)

It felt incredibly, incredibly unfair, she told me, to have been the first among her friends to menstruate. There were all these little moments where it was embarrassing and bad and painful and weirdsneaking off to the bathroom with bulky pads stuffed in her shirt, swimming while on her period, learning how to use tampons. Then, at 20, Gabrielle got a hormonal IUD (intrauterine device) for birth control and, as a side effect, stopped getting regular periods. It feels really good to not worry about keeping the bathroom well stocked or missing a day of work, she said. I will keep getting an IUD until Im ready to get pregnant.

Read: The tampon: a history

Today, any doctor will tell you there is no medical necessity for periods unless youre trying to conceive. The body preps for pregnancy by thickening the uteruss lining, like a bird building a nest for her eggs; hormonal birth control prevents pregnancy, in part, by keeping the uterine lining from ever building up. Many of the roughly 19 million Americans who rely on the pill, the shot, IUDs, implants, patches, or rings see a change in their periodoften its lighter, but it can also disappear altogether. In clinical trials, more than 40 percent of the Liletta IUDs users no longer menstruated by the end of the products six-year life. More than half of people who get the Depo-Provera shot every three months will become amenorrhoeic within a year, and almost 70 percent in the second year. And anyone using the pill, patch, or ring can safely skip scheduled withdrawal bleeding.

But getting a lighter flow as a side effect of birth control is different from choosing a contraceptive method in the hopes of turning off a period completely, and there are all sorts of reasons someone would want to do so. The cost of so-called feminine products can add up to thousands of dollars over a persons lifetime: A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of low-income women surveyed in St. Louis couldnt afford menstrual-hygiene products during the previous year. (This study, and others cited in this story, did not specify whether participants included trans men or nonbinary people who get periods). Amenorrhea can be a medical necessity for people with certain health conditionssuch as those born without an intact uterus and vagina. Its also a treatment option for heavy bleeding or otherwise painful periods, which afflict about one in five women, and can help relieve symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 6 to 12 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age. Or, a period simply may be one burden too many, especially during a pandemic: A tweet in March proclaiming that menstrual cycles also need to be suspended until this ordeal is over started racking up hundreds of thousands of likes.

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No One Has to Get Their Period Anymore - The Atlantic

Aegean Airlines announced that cabin crew and employees will undergo preventive diagnostic tests for Covid-19 every fifteen days.

The tests will be performed in collaboration with the Laboratory of Clinical Virology of the Medical School of the University of Crete, one of the designated COVID-19 Reference Laboratories in Greece.

This initiative by AEGEAN, aims at further enhancing the health and safety of passengers and crew and is part of the additional precautionary measures already taken by the company for the new, adapted travel experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our people are our strength, which is why protecting their health is always our utmost priority. From the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, following the guidelines of the State and the competent authorities, we implemented enhanced health measures at all stages of the travel journey, and initiated additional precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our passengers and employees. In this effort, we are pleased to collaborate with the Laboratory of Clinical Virology of the Medical School of the University of Crete. We are also proud that through this initiative, we associate with such a remarkable scientific and research institution in Crete, said Panos Nicolaidis, Ground Operations Director at Aegean.

The sampling will be held at the airliners ground bases in Athens, Thessaloniki and Heraklion in Crete.

The Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Virology of the Medical School of the University of Crete, Professor Giorgos Sourvinos, stated: From the very beginning of the pandemic, our Laboratory has offered its services for the laboratory control of COVID-19 by carrying out thousands of molecular tests. The collaboration of our Laboratory with AEGEAN, as part of the Preventive Molecular Testing Program for COVID-19, is a special honour while it also highlights the companys high sense of responsibility and human-centred approach, both for its staff and its passengers. The Laboratory of Clinical Virology would like to thank AEGEAN for its trust. We strongly believe that with our know-how and competent scientific staff, we will assist AEGEAN in achieving the objectives of the Program.

Aegean Airlines new A320neo lands at Athens airport

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Aegean Airlines Will Test Cabin Crew And Employees For Covid-19 Regularly - Greek City Times

The ability to recognize faces is a complex neurocognitive skill with important social implications. A disorder that impairs that ability, which, according to some estimates, affects more than 2 percent of the population, can lead to isolation and anxiety and impair personal and work relationships.

The traditional view of this face blindness disorderprosopagnosia in scientific parlancehas held that it arises from deficits in visual perception. Under that view, individuals with face blindness are unable to visually distinguish the features of faces presented side by side and unable to determine whether the faces are the same or not.

Now a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the VA Boston Healthcare System shows that face blindness may arise from deficits beyond visual perception and appears to involve glitches in retrieving various contextual cues from memory.

Get more HMSnewshere

The results, published July 5 ahead of print in the journal Cortex, suggest that the traditional view of face blindness as a purely visual perceptual disorder may be reductive, the researchers said. Further, they reveal that successful facial recognition requires recollection, or the recall of relevant contextual details about a person, such as their name or profession.

The new findings can help explain a mystifying discrepancy in face blindness research: People with the condition often fail to visually identify familiar faces, but many also perform normally on visual-perception tests.

This inconsistency has always hinted that there may be other factors at play that go beyond visual perception, said study senior author Joseph DeGutis, HMS assistant professor of psychiatry at VA Boston. Our findings suggest that one important deficit beyond perception is face recollection.

The ability to recognize a face requires two forms of memory: Recollection and familiarity. Recollection is the retrieval of contextual information upon seeing a facea fellow shopper greeting you in the store and you recognizing them as the person you met through work a few weeks back. Familiarity, on the other hand, is a fuzzier feeling of knowing without any contextual information, the researchers explained. Think of the fellow shopper looking vaguely familiar but without any of the relevant details that tell you how you know them.

The findings can help inform the design of techniques to boost face recognition in people with developmental prosopagnosiaa form of face blindness that is not caused by brain injury, poor vision or neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.

Our results underscore that prosopagnosia is a far more complex disorder that is driven by more than deficits in visual perception, said study first author Anna Stumps, a researcher in the Boston Attention Learning Laboratory at VA Boston. This finding can help inform the design of new training approaches for people with face blindness.

The research team is currently working to design one such experimental program in the VA Boston laboratory where the work was conducted.

The study involved 6o people, ages 18 to 65, half of whom had lifelong face blindness.

The participants were asked to perform a series of facial-recognition tasks by studying and then identifying sets of faces that the participants had not seen prior to the study.

Participants were asked to study 60 faces shown on a computer screen, one at a time. The participants were then shown a scramble of 120 facessome of them already seen during the study session and some completely new.

To tease out the differences in recognition memory between participants with and without face blindness, DeGutis and colleagues measured their degree of confidence in classifying each face as old or new on a scale of 1 to 6. Correctly identifying a face as old with high confidence reflects the use of recollection, the researchers said, whereas correctly identifying a face as old with less confidence reflects the use of familiarity.

Compared with participants who had face blindness, people without it were significantly more confident that they had seen these faces before. However, those with face blindness were still able to correctly identify many of the faces they had seen before, although with less confidence. In other words, when trying to recognize a face, participants with face blindness relied on familiarity, the vague sense of knowing or having seen someone before without specific contextual information. In contrast, individuals without face blindness relied on recollection.

Taken together, these findings suggest that people with face blindness use different memory processes for face recognition.

The results, the researchers said, demonstrate that successful face recognition requires more than a vague familiarity with a facea sense of having seen a face before but without recalling any other details to place the face. Memory researchers call this inability to identify a familiar face out of context butcher-on-the-bus phenomenon. Though everyone experiences this from time to time, for people with true face blindness this can happen frequently, as often as multiple times a day.

Our findings suggest that people with developmental prosopagnosia use a different memory system when trying to learn and remember faces and that system is less optimally suited for the task of recognizing faces, DeGutis said.

Additional authors on the study include Elyana Saad, David Rothlein and Mieke Verfaellie.

The research was supported by the National Eye Institute (grant RO1EY026057).

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More than Meets the Eye - Harvard Medical School

For immigrants, a medical appointment is never just another routine errand. Instead, it is a challenge, a test of strength, one that provokes anxiety at every step. Will the receptionist understand my accent, or flash a toothy, disingenuous smile while asking me to repeat myself for the third time? Will the doctor ask my own child to translate my diagnosis for me, or attempt to explain using broken phrases learned from a college language class? Should I mention my traditional herbs, or will I be chastised for using fake medicine?

Immigrant patients face countless barriers constructed by the medical system, encompassing issues related to limited English proficiency (LEP), health literacy and cultural differences. Nearly 14 percent of the U.S. population are immigrants, and over 25 million individuals have LEP. Unfortunately, the medical system at-large provides subpar accommodations to these patients. Based on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services standards, all hospitals are required to provide language services to LEP patients. Yet, in practice, there is inconsistent compliance to these requirements, and these protections have come under attack. Appallingly, over 30 percent of hospitals provide no language services at all.

However, its not merely language differences at fault. Instead, the underlying structure of medicine fails to account for the diverse backgrounds of the patients we treat on an everyday basis.

The issue originates in how we collect and represent information about our patients. Medicine largely relies on race-based markers to determine disease prevalence and to categorize our patients. Often a patients country of origin and migration history is nowhere to be found in the medical records. While nearly all hospitals collect data about race and ethnicity, more than half do not even collect rudimentary information about birthplace.

As I scroll through patients electronic medical records, I am presented with demographic variables at the top of each file, including ethnicity, race and religion. Yet based on these characteristics, I, an American-born individual, appear to have the same needs as my mother, who grew up amongst the turmoil of Chinas Cultural Revolution and who relies on my assistance to understand her diagnoses.

We must also continuously question why we distill the complex heterogeneity and diversity of our backgrounds into inflexible racial categories. As medicine grapples with using race in clinical algorithms, we should evaluate how this impacts our immigrant patients.

During my clinical skills training in medical school, I received extensive guidance on how to gather a patient's social history, detailing everything from their relationships to their occupation. But what about migration experiences? These migration histories are often complicated and a source of trauma. Yet medical students barely receive any education on the best practices to collect this sensitive, yet crucial, information. As clinicians, we may also encounter situations when it is in the patients best interests to minimize explicit documentation of immigration status. However, all physicians should be equipped with an understanding on how to discuss migration history, archive this information if safe to do so, and recognize how this information impacts patients medical care.

Unfortunately, throughout my formal preclinical education, I have not once heard how patients countries of origin affect their health riskseven though several diseases primarily afflict immigrants.

Hepatitis B is one. While the estimated U.S. prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is only 0.3 percent, in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) it is 8.3 percent. AAPIs make up 5 percent of the U.S. population, but account for more than 50 percent of Americans with chronic HBV. The CDC officially recommends that anyone born in high-prevalence regions, including many countries in Africa and Asia, should be actively tested for HBV. However, this recommendation depends on physician awareness to be implemented, which can be difficult to achieve. As my parents medical advocate, I was shocked to discover that my mother was never immunized nor screened for HBV, even though my father was infected with it, it has a high prevalence in China, and it can be transmitted through families. This oversight heightened her risk of severe complications, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Another example is Chagas disease, one of the most common causes of cardiomyopathy in Latin America. The medical literature advises physicians to suspect Chagas in every patient coming from Latin America with chronic heart failure, and screening data suggest that 1.24 percent of Latin American immigrants are infected. However, many physicians never consider the risk of Chagas disease, lack knowledge about it and often fail to treat it before debilitating complications appear.

The fact that these insidious diseases and their impact are rarely discussed in preclinical medical education demonstrates how immigrant health issues are devalued and underemphasized. Clinical algorithms with guidelines for screening and care for immigrants, including the CDC Refugee Health Guidelines and CareRef tool, are available in some clinics, but should be more routinely incorporated into medical education and practice.

Just like countless first- and second-generation immigrant health care providers, I was motivated to pursue medicine because of my familys dismal experiences in the medical system. I wanted to be part of the change, someone who delivers the compassionate and comprehensive care that I wish my parents had received. However, now that Im in medical school, I feel inadequately prepared to take on this enormous task.

So, medicine, please teach me how to care for immigrant patients. Dont just teach me about cultural competency. Instead, empower me with the tools to provide nuanced care for each individual and their distinctive stories. Educate us on how to use medical interpreters in a manner that centers the patient. Standardize the collection of migration history into a patient's social history and medical records. Train medical providers and students how to conduct targeted screenings based on their patients immigration background.

If we pride our nation as a land of diversity, lets ensure that the medicine we practice reflects these values.

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Medical Students Should Be Taught How to Care for Immigrant Patients - Scientific American

Data collected from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that from 2018 TO 2020 UNDs medical school ranked in the 100th percentile higher than any other school in the database for the fraction of its graduating medical student class to identify as American Indian. In recent years prior to 2018, the school ranked in the 99th percentile.

In its nearly 50-year history, the INMED program has produced almost 1,000 American Indian health professionals, including more than 250 physicians.

I like to say that an organization like the UND SMHS (School of Medicine and Health Sciences) is characterized by not just what it says, but also by what it does, Joshua Wynne, vice president for Health Affairs at UND and dean of the medical school, said in a statement. The INMED program is a testament to our commitment to deliver on the imperative to move toward more health equity implicit in former President Nixons Special Message on Indian Affairs.

Nixon gave that policy speech 50 years ago this month on July 8, 1970.

Donald Warne, director of the INMED and master of public health programs at the UND medical school, said the policy speech not only paved the way for reversing the federal governments termination policy, which had rescinded the sovereignty of American Indian tribes, but strove to improve American Indian health in several ways.

Warne said people, including his students, are sometimes surprised to hear that Nixon was instrumental in promoting tribal sovereignty. The 1970s was an important decade for indigenous rights, including taking over management of schools from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and improved access to and control over tribes' health care needs. The 1970s also brought the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which reversed a law that had made indigenous religious practices illegal in the 1880s.

In the 1970s, it was kind of a renaissance of American Indian policy and law, Warne said.

Nixon's policy reversal also played a direct role in creating UNDs Indians Into Medicine program, which was founded in 1973. The program was originally established through federal appropriations. The programs mission is to improve American Indian health and produce more American Indian health care providers, from physicians and physical therapists to occupational therapists and public health researchers.

I think without federal support, this would not be as successful as it is, Warne said, noting there is a long way to go to address disparities in education and health. But at least at UND, we're doing our part.

The medical school is also launching a new doctoral program in indigenous health, the first of its kind.

I think in many ways, the University of North Dakota is well positioned to be the national leader in medical education, and public health education and doctorate level, health professions education really for many years to come, Warne said. Our starting point is really a national leader, but I envision a lot more growth from here as well.

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UND continues to lead the nation in American Indian physicians - The Dickinson Press

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This article was exclusively written forThe European Sting by Mr. Abdul-Rahman Toufik, originally from Ghana and currently a third year medical student at Sumy State University, Ukraine. She is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSAs view on the topic, nor The European Stings one.

The study and practice of medicine has always been an integral part of the life of man. Records of practices from as late as 500AD 1500AD have been discovered and coined down by archaeologists and researchers alike. As mankind reached into the stages of industrial revolution in the early 1200s, so did the improvement in other fields follow suit medicine included. The first ever medical school in the USA established in 1765 in the University of Pennsylvania went on to admit students wishing to pursue a course in the field.

Admission at that time was quite unique as most of the admitted were the majority from more prominent backgrounds. Their minority counterpart rarely had such opportunities as studies then was more practical based and the resources used in practical work and research was quite expensive. People started to have the opportunity to delve into medicine both men and women, old and young. The earliest records of admission into medical schools has shown that the majority of the admitted were men with women making up only a few. As the years progressed this has not been the case anymore. There has however been always been discrimination against some of the applicants. The earliest of such recorded were women back in the late 90s. As this practice almost became the norm, a law was passed in the 1970 in the US which addressed discrimination against women thereby paving the road for them to pursue their dream of being a medical practitioner.

In contrast to the situation back then in the USA and most parts of the world, white women in the UK have more chances of being admitted to medical schools than their ethnic counterparts as stated by McManuss analysis conducted in 1998 concerning admission to medical schools in the UK. Caribbeans remain more disadvantaged than African and Indians less than their Pakistani and Bangladesh counterparts. Even if their grades were brought into account, that gave no assurance of some of them getting a chance to be admitted. In addition, according to McManus analysis, student who in their motivation letters did not give or show earnest interest in the field were not considered for admission. The same goes for older applicants. There has been cases of this in the US and other parts of the world.

Moreover, a study conducted by Yale university researchers in the US found that some students of different genders, race and sexual orientation were discriminated against not only by their fellow students but by the medical faculty as well. Most of the affected were female, multiracial, lesbian, gay and bisexual students.

The world is now a globalized place with people from almost all ethnic backgrounds, gender, age and sexual orientation found in every part it. Knowledge and expertise in a particular field is something everyone is capable of if given the proper guidance and resources. One of such fields is the medical field and it is a very crucial field for the continued survival of mankind.

References

1)Cole, S. (1986). Sex discrimination and admission to medical school, 1929-1984. American Journal of Sociology, 92(3), 549-567.

2)McManus, I. C., Richards, P., Winder, B. C., & Sproston, K. A. (1998). Clinical experience, performance in final examinations, and learning style in medical students: prospective study. Bmj, 316(7128), 345-350.

3)Hill, K. A., Samuels, E. A., Gross, C. P., Desai, M. M., Zelin, N. S., Latimore, D., & Boatright, D. (2020). Assessment of the prevalence of medical student mistreatment by sex, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation. JAMA Internal Medicine, 180(5), 653-665.

About the author

Abdul-Rahman Toufik comes from Ghana and is currently a third year medical student at Sumy State University, Ukraine and the academic committee chairman for the national Union for Ghanaian Students in Sumy.

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Are medical students with equal access to the medical profession? - The European Sting