Pictured is the first Black woman to be appointed dean of Howard University College of Medicine, Dr. Andrea Hayes Dixon. Photo Courtesy of Howard University Hospital.

Andrea Hayes Dixon, M.D., FACS, FAAP is now the first Black woman to be appointed as Dean of Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM).

After the announcement of her appointment was made on Sept. 22 by Howard Universitys newsletter, The Dig, Hayes Dixon officially began her role on Oct. 3 as the new dean of HUCM. This addition increases the number of academic deans who are women at Howard University to 11.

This is one of Dr. Hayes Dixons many firsts, as she has a track record of making history. In 2006, she was the first Black woman to become a board-certified pediatric surgeon in the U.S. and became the first woman to serve as chair of the Department of Surgery at Howard in 2021.

Ill be able to use my knowledge and experience here at Howard College of Medicine because of all of the adverse circumstances that have happened to me that Ive overcome, Hayes Dixon said. And I can use those experiences to help other students and trainees overcome some of the things that they may be encountering.

Hayes Dixon has many plans shed like to implement for HUCM, such as adding more outstanding faculty to the college of medicine. What excites her the most, however, are her students. I think Howard medical students are a really important set of students. Many of them in fact this was the only medical school that they were admitted to and they are very motivated to do well, she said.

She is also excited to provide a special environment for students where they are able to think creatively with medicine. I believe research is the way we can change how we treat patients in the future and I would like to inspire the next generation of physicians to think outside the box as they say, to try to be able to provide cures for several illnesses that we dont even think are curable today, she said.

According to 2021 data by the Association of American Medical Colleges, a nonprofit organization focused on educating others on health, out of all of the deans at U.S. medical schools, 22 percent of them are women in permanent positions. 12 percent of deans in permanent positions at U.S. medical schools are in racial/ethnic groups that are underrepresented in medicine.

Representation is very important to Hayes Dixon for a multitude of reasons. Its really important for the healthcare system to have representatives from every race, religion and nationality. I think because when youre ill, youre very stressed and you want to be in the most comfortable environment possible, and if you see someone who looks similar to you, whos your physician, it makes you more relaxed and helps you get through whatever illness it is, she said.

Toni Jenkins, 28 year-old, third-year medical student at HUCM from Charlotte, North Carolina spoke on the importance of representation in the medical field.

Having different perspectives is essential in having appropriate health care and having good health outcomes if you cant connect with your patients then youre not going to give them the best care possible, Jenkins said.

Jenkins was excited to hear of Dr. Hayes Dixons appointment, but she thought it was usual for Howard to prompt historical firsts.

I think Howard is known to have many firsts. When we think of civil rights leaders, we think of the vice president of the United States [Kamala Harris]. Howard is just known to be kind of that platform for building people into those types of positions,.. so I feel like Dr. Dixons position as the first female dean at Howard College of Medicine is a first but its not uncommon for Howard to have firsts. Jenkins said.

Roger A. Mitchell Jr. M.D. is a full tenure professor and chairman of pathology for Howard University College of Medicine. He believes that the future of leadership in medicine is enhanced with Hayes Dixon becoming the dean at HUCM.

[Howard University] College of Medicine started in 1868 and since then we have not had a female woman who is the dean and so I think its monumental. Then her as a person you know, I think shes pragmatic and shes thoughtful. Shes a strong physician and pediatric surgeon, but on top of that she has 20 years of experience with a basic science molecular lab. So I think you know shell be a huge asset to the college of medicine. Mitchell expressed.

Alicia Edwards, 29 year-old, second-year medical student at HUCM from Savannah, Georgia finds the appointment of Hayes Dixon to be affirming for her journey through medical school.

Im really excited, I came to Howard because I wanted to see representation. I wanted to see myself in medicine. I wanted to just see that, so its a constant reminder that I can do it too, she said.

Hayes Dixon succeeds former dean Hugh Mighty, who has served as dean of HUCM since 2015. Mighty expressed excitement for the appointment of Hayes Dixon in a statement on Howard Universitys newsletter The Dig.

This is an exciting moment in the history of the College of Medicine as we look forward to the continued rise of the University in training the next generation of medical leaders and providers, he said.

Hayes Dixon expressed that her appointment will be one of many in changing the trajectory of leadership in medicine.

I think you know that maybe not just my appointment but my appointment in addition to many other female deans appointments across the country will really change how medical education is viewedthis historic position will allow not only other black female doctors who want to be deans but also the majority population to really understand that we can lead as well if not better than others in the position before. Hayes Dixon said.

Hayes Dixon studied religion at Dartmouth College, a private university in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she earned her bachelors degree. She also attended the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where she earned her Doctor of Medicine (M.D.).

She previously worked as surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery at University of North Carolina (UNC) Childrens Hospital. She was also a professor of pediatric surgery and surgical oncology at UNC. Hayes Dixon is also a researcher and has been leading a basic science laboratory for about 20 years according to Dr. Mitchell, which focuses on rare sarcomas and maintains clinical research efforts.

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Howard University College of Medicine Appoints Their First Black Woman Dean - The Hilltop Online

Most sixth graders dont know what they want for lunch, much less what they want to be when they grow up. But first-year MUSC College of Medicine student Joshua Kim wasnt like most sixth graders. While most of his friends were playing video games or watching their hometown Chicago White Sox win the World Series, Kim was reading up on a pediatric neurosurgeon named Ben Carson.

In particular, it was Carsons work separating conjoined twins that most fascinated a then 11-year-old Kim. So, for his year-end class project, he dressed up in scrubs and latex gloves and gave his report on Carson. And a flame was lit.

Kims father, a successful podiatrist with a passion for his work, had already piqued an interest in the middle schooler, so it was practically inevitable that he would be drawn to medicine.

During high school, Kim never wavered on his dream of following in Carsons footprints by becoming a pediatric surgeon, but an undeniable talent for making things with his hands took him on a few detours along the way.

I always wanted to figure out how things work and make the next big thing, he said.

In high school, he taught himself how to build jet-powered rockets. (Yes, you read that right.) In undergraduate school at Northwestern University, he made a fully functioning Ironman suit so detailed that you would have sworn it came from the Marvel Studios props department. And thats when an idea was formed: What if he was able to combine his love of building things with his passion to heal?

I feel like I was always balancing this duality between medicine and design. It just took me a while to realize I didnt have to choose one or the other, he said.

After receiving his undergraduate degree, Kim was accepted to the Segal Design Institutes Engineering Design Innovation Masters Program at Northwestern University. It was there that he took his creations to the next level. There was the gadget to help people who were recovering from strokes, the device to speed up the time a cancer patient spent going through radiation, the pediatric-focused injection device that aimed to decrease anxiety caused by getting a shot.

I saw just how powerful human-centered and empathetic design could be in the health care field, he said. And I just wanted to keep making more things to help.

With the ink still wet on his diploma and a prestigious job offer already in hand, he was poised for his next big move. But a professor asked Kim if, before making any career decisions, hed do him one favor and meet with a former colleague of his first. So Kim sat down with MUSC oncologist, David Mahvi, M.D., and a fork in the road quickly appeared.

It was just immediately evident that he saw the world through a different lens, Mahvi said. He looked at things from a design standpoint, which is so refreshing in the medical field. He just came at things from a totally different angle.

So Mahvi offered him a job.

Within a month, Kim moved to Charleston and found himself working alongside Mahvi and Michael Yost, Ph.D. The task: leverage his unique skills and help create the Human-Centered Design Program at MUSC. The program would teach its students how to blend medicine, design and technology to make health care better. Kim lent his design expertise and passion for medicine to get the program up and running immediately.

Now in its third year, Kim designed a lot of the curriculum that exists in the program today. He even did a fair amount of teaching along the way.

When I came here, I literally had no teaching experience, he laughed. But now its something I really enjoy.

Well, enjoyed. Right now, Kim is on the other end learning right now. The first-year medical student has embarked on the second part of his master plan this time looking to add a hands-on element to his health care contributions.

The act of going to medical school and, in turn, temporarily stepping away from the Human-Centered Design Program something Mahvi always knew was something Kim aspired to do has proven bittersweet for both.

He has been really important to me, Kim said. He made me feel like I was one of his own kids that he was sending off to college.

Mahvis father-like pride is evident: Its crazy to think, but Josh became an educator within the Department of Surgery that transcended MUSC. He actually did Grand Rounds. Thats unheard of for somebody whos not a surgeon.

This means Mahvi is left with a gaping hole to fill in the program. Our hope is to bring him back one day so he can help us grow it even further, he said. I see him as this bridge between design and health care. There just arent that many people out there like him.

Kim shares his hopes.

I really hope I find time to come back and work with the program again. Marrying these two worlds together is so exciting, he said. Yes, Im in medical school right now, but Im always thinking ahead to whats next. Im a designer, a maker, a dreamer. Thats the core of who I am. So, Im always going to be thinking about innovation and how we can bring those innovations to life.

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Inventor-turned-medical student thinks good design just might be the key to improving health care - Medical University of South Carolina

The work details the steps of a complex signaling cascade, showing that pain neurons engage in direct cross talk with mucus-containing gut cells, known as goblet cells.

It turns out that pain may protect us in more direct ways than its classic job to detect potential harm and dispatch signals to the brain. Our work shows how pain-mediating nerves in the gut talk to nearby epithelial cells that line the intestines, said study senior investigator Isaac Chiu, associate professor of immunobiology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS. This means that the nervous system has a major role in the gut beyond just giving us an unpleasant sensation and that its a key player in gut barrier maintenance and a protective mechanism during inflammation.

Our intestines and airways are studded with goblet cells. Named for their cup-like appearance, goblet cells contain gel-like mucus made of proteins and sugars that acts as protective coating that shields the surface of organs from abrasion and damage.

The new research found that intestinal goblet cells release protective mucus when triggered by direct interaction with pain-sensing neurons in the gut.

In a set of experiments, the researchers observed that mice lacking pain neurons produced less protective mucus and experienced changes in their intestinal microbial composition an imbalance in beneficial and harmful microbes known as dysbiosis.

To clarify just how this protective cross talk occurs, the researchers analyzed the behavior of goblet cells in the presence and in the absence of pain neurons.

They found that the surfaces of goblet cells contain a type of receptor, called RAMP1, that ensures the cells can respond to adjacent pain neurons, which are activated by dietary and microbial signals, as well as mechanical pressure, chemical irritation or drastic changes in temperature.

The experiments further showed that these receptors connect with a chemical called CGRP, released by nearby pain neurons, when the neurons are stimulated. These RAMP1 receptors, the researchers found, are also present in both human and mouse goblet cells, thus rendering them responsive to pain signals.

Experiments further showed that the presence of certain gut microbes activated the release of CGRP to maintain gut homeostasis.

This finding tells us that these nerves are triggered not only by acute inflammation, but also at baseline, Chiu said. Just having regular gut microbes around appears to tickle the nerves and causes the goblet cells to release mucus.

This feedback loop, Chiu said, ensures that microbes signal to neurons, neurons regulate the mucus, and the mucus keeps gut microbes healthy.

In addition to microbial presence, dietary factors also played a role in activating pain receptors, the study showed. When researchers gave mice capsaicin, the main ingredient in chili peppers known for its ability to trigger intense, acute pain, the mices pain neurons got swiftly activated, causing goblet cells to release abundant amounts of protective mucus.

By contrast, mice lacking either pain neurons or goblet cell receptors for CGRP were more susceptible to colitis, a form of gut inflammation. The finding could explain why people with gut dysbiosis may be more prone to colitis.

When researchers gave pain-signaling CGRP to animals lacking pain neurons, the mice experienced rapid improvement in mucus production. The treatment protected mice against colitis even in the absence of pain neurons.

The finding demonstrates that CGRP is a key instigator of the signaling cascade that leads to the secretion of protective mucus.

Pain is a common symptom of chronic inflammatory conditions of the gut, such as colitis, but our study shows that acute pain plays a direct protective role as well, said study first author Daping Yang, a postdoctoral researcher in the Chiu Lab.

The teams experiments showed that mice lacking pain receptors also had worse damage from colitis when it occurred.

Given that pain medications are often used to treat patients with colitis, it may be important to consider the possible detrimental consequences of blocking pain, the researchers said.

In people with inflammation of the gut, one of the major symptoms is pain, so you might think that wed want to treat and block the pain to alleviate suffering, Chiu said. But some part of this pain signal could be directly protective as a neural reflex, which raises important questions about how to carefully manage pain in a way that does not lead to other harms.

Additionally, a class of common migraine medications that suppress the signaling of CGRP may damage gut barrier tissues by interfering with this protective pain signaling, the researchers said.

Given that CGRP is a mediator of goblet cell function and mucus production, if we are chronically blocking this protective mechanism in people with migraine and if they are taking these medications long-term, what happens? Chiu said. Are the drugs going to interfere with the mucosal lining and peoples microbiomes?

Goblet cells have multiple other functions in the gut. They provide a passage for antigens proteins found on viruses and bacteria that initiate a protective immune response by the body and they produce antimicrobial chemicals that protect the gut from pathogens.

One question that arises from our current work is whether pain fibers also regulate these other functions of goblet cells, Yang said.

Another line of inquiry, Yang added, would be to explore disruptions in the CGRP signaling pathway and determine whether malfunctions are at play in patients with genetic predisposition to inflammatory bowel disease.

Co-authors included Amanda Jacobson, Kimberly Meerschaert, Joseph Sifakis, Meng Wu, Xi Chen, Tiandi Yang, Youlian Zhou, Praju Vikas Anekal, Rachel Rucker, Deepika Sharma, Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps, Glendon Wu, Liwen Deng, Michael Anderson, Samantha Choi, Dylan Neel, Nicole Lee, Dennis Kasper, Bana Jabri, Jun Huh, Malin Johansson, Jay Thiagarajah, and Samantha Riesenfeld.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants R01DK127257, R35GM142683, P30DK034854, and T32DK007447); the Food Allergy Science Initiative; the Kenneth Rainin Foundation; and the Digestive Diseases Research Core Center under grant P30 DK42086 at the University of Chicago.

Jacobson is an employee of Genentech Inc.; Chiu serves on scientific advisory boards of GSK Pharmaceuticals and Limm Therapeutics. His lab receives research support from Moderna Inc. and Abbvie/Allergan Pharmaceuticals.

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Study Finds Unexpected Protective Properties of Pain | Harvard Medical School - Harvard Medical School

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Hi. I'm Art Caplan. I run the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine.

Many of you know that President Biden created a loan forgiveness program, forgiving up to $10,000 against federal student loans, including graduate and undergraduate education. The Department of Education is supposed to provide up to $20,000 in debt cancelation to Pell Grant recipients who have loans that are held by the Department of Education. Borrowers can get this relief if their income is less than $125,000 for an individual or $250,000 for married couples.

Many people have looked at this and said, "Hey, wait a minute. I paid off my loans. I didn't get any reimbursement. That isn't fair."

One group saddled with massive debt are people who are still carrying their medical school loans, who often still have huge amounts of debt, and either because of the income limits or because they don't qualify because this debt was accrued long in the past, they're saying, "What about me? Don't you want to give any relief to me?"

This is a topic near and dear to my heart because I happen to be at a medical school, NYU, that has decided for the two medical schools it runs our main campus, NYU in Manhattan and NYU Langone out on Long Island that we're going to go tuition free. We've done it for a couple of years.

We did it because I think all the administrators and faculty understood the tremendous burden that debt poses on people who both carry forward their undergraduate debt and then have medical school debt. This really leads to very difficult situations which we have great empathy for about what specialty you're going to go into, whether you have to moonlight, and how you're going to manage a huge burden of debt.

Many people don't have sympathy out in the public. They say doctors make a large amount of money and they live a nice lifestyle, so we're not going to relieve their debt. The reality is that whoever you are, short of Bill Gates or Elon Musk, having hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt is no easy task to live with and to work off.

Still, when we created free tuition at NYU for our medical school, there were many people who paid high tuition fees in the past. Some of them said to us, "What about me?" We decided not to try to do anything retrospectively. The plan was to build up enough money so that we could handle no-cost tuition going forward. We didn't really have it in our pocketbook to help people who'd already paid their debts or were saddled with NYU debt. Is it fair? No, it's probably not fair, but it's an improvement.

That's what I want people to think about who are saying, "What about my medical school debt? What about my undergraduate plus medical school debt?" I think we should be grateful when efforts are being made to reduce very burdensome student loans that people have. It's good to give that benefit and move it forward.

Does that mean no one should get anything unless everyone with any kind of debt from school is covered? I don't think so. I don't think that's fair either.

It is possible that we could continue to agitate politically and say, let's go after some of the healthcare debt. Let's go after some of the things that are still driving people to have to work more than they would or to choose specialties that they really don't want to be in because they have to make up that debt.

It doesn't mean the last word has been said about the politics of debt relief or, for that matter, the price of going to medical school in the first place and trying to see whether that can be driven down.

I don't think it's right to say, "If I can't benefit, given the huge burden that I'm carrying, then I'm not going to try to give relief to others." I think we're relieving debt to the extent that we can do it. The nation can afford it. Going forward is a good thing. It's wrong to create those gigantic debts in the first place.

What are we going to do about the past? We may decide that we need some sort of forgiveness or reparations for loans that were built up for others going backwards. I wouldn't hold hostage the future and our children to what was probably a very poor, unethical practice about saddling doctors and others in the past with huge debt.

I'm Art Caplan at the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Thank you for watching.

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Loan Forgiveness and Med School Debt: What About Me? - Medscape

As he assists doctors at a Missouri hospital as a medical scribe, Benedictine College senior Joe Roberts, 22, is getting experience that will help him become an emergency physician. Along with working in emergency medicine, he hopes to one day use his faith and knowledge of Catholic bioethics to help a hospital system more fully embrace the culture of life.

Roberts graduates from the Atchison, Kansas, college next spring and probably wont wait to start his formal medical training until a proposed Catholic-focused medical school opens on the Benedictine campus in 2026. But hes not ruling out attending the St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine because he loves the idea of training faithful doctors who share his hopes for medicine.

I do think [the proposed school] is going to transform medicine, said Roberts, who is from Littleton, Colorado. The hope for medicine to change, I think, comes with schools like this and students, like my classmates and myself, who want to really just go back to how medicine should be and thats to heal and restore relationships.

If plans to establish the St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine continue to go forward its initial step was last month its students will be the first in the world to receive training as osteopathic medical doctors with a grounding in Catholic theology and bioethics in the model of St. Pios care. The Kansas college already has a well-recognized nursing school.

Catholicism and the practice of medicine in faith are integral, part and parcel, to the medical school, said Dr. George Mychaskiw, the proposed schools founding president and CEO and an osteopathic physician who specializes in pediatric cardiac anesthesiology.

This is a medical school that is unapologetically and joyfully Catholic, that will stand for the sanctity of human life, from conception to natural death, and will put forth the clear Catholic position on the morality of certain practices of medicine, added Mychaskiw, who is based at the Ochsner-LSU Health Science Center in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The proposed school will be an independent, licensed, accredited, governed and financed entity co-located on the campus of Benedictine College. While it seeks funding and accreditation, the school has already received the support of Benedictine and Church leaders, the student and Atchison communities and Catholic osteopathic physicians.

The medical school completes the vision of Catholic Healthcare International (CHI) to expand St. Pios legacy of faith and health care in the United States, an effort named Casa USA, after the 1,000-bed hospital the saint founded that opened in 1956 in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.

Also part of Casa USA are plans for a prayer campus and hospital replicating St. Pios Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for the Relief of Suffering) that will include a home for the brain injured and a center for religious liberty for medical professionals. The other facilities are being developed in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan.

St. Pio focused on relieving suffering while acknowledging its redemptive, salvific and emotional and spiritual aspects, said Jere Palazzolo, CHIs founder and president and a hospital administrator who lives in St. Louis.

Padre Pio, the well-known Capuchin friar who bore the stigmata for 50 years until his 1968 death, saw each patient individually, which aligns with the more holistic osteopathic philosophy, Mychaskiw said, adding that he hopes the school will train as many as 180 compassionate doctors per year.

We need faithful Catholic physicians taking the good news to people who need it most, he said, people the American health system forgot about.

The schools founding comes as the number of students attending the 38 U.S. accredited osteopathic medical schools has grown 77% over the past decade, according to a 2022 report by the America Osteopathic Association (AOA).

Osteopathic doctors, or D.O.s, use the same conventional medical tools including x-rays, pharmaceutical drugs and surgery as M.D. or allopathic doctors, but have a different philosophical focus on more holistic health and prevention on all parts of a person, including their mind, body and emotions, according to WebMD. Osteopathic doctors also use a system of physical manipulations and adjustments in diagnosis and treatment, and 57% work in primary care, according to the AOA study.

Overall, there are 178,259 osteopathic physicians and students in the United States, according to the AOA study. By comparison, a 2019 report from the American Association of Medical Colleges revealed there are 620,520 active M.D. doctors.

The idea to establish a Catholic medical school near a faithfully Catholic U.S. college campus came around 2009, as CHI was seeking approval from leaders of Padre Pios hospital for the Casa USA idea.

In a conversation with CHI for an informational brochure, Cardinal Raymond Burke mentioned the importance of training faithful doctors. The St. Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering will train generations of physicians who understand and foster life, from conception to natural death, who love as Jesus loved and who are faithful to the magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, he commented this summer. It is a noble and just cause. Cardinal Burke is one of CHIs episcopal advisers and incumbent patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Mychaskiw read about the Casa USA plan and the goal of starting a medical school and contacted Palazzolo. Mychaskiw, an Eastern Rite Catholic, was interested in founding a faithful Catholic osteopathic medical school using the model he developed while founding four independent medical schools in proximity to larger college or university campuses.

The other medical schools, including Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, focus on areas of societal need for physicians, he said.

After approaching several other faithful Catholic schools, Mychaskiw and Palazzolo chose Benedictine. The colleges president, Stephen Minnis, immediately saw the synergy between the college and the proposed medical school, Palazzolo said.

A faithful Catholic medical school named for St. Pio, a patron saint of healing, will form physicians to maintain their faith and relate it to the practice of medicine in a secular society, Minnis said. It also will offer quality medical education as well as a focus on Catholic medical ethics and other Church teaching not offered at secular schools.

It also adds another level of prestige to the colleges reputation for success and excellence, Minnis said, noting also that the independent medical schools marketing efforts will also build awareness of Benedictine.

The medical school will automatically admit qualified Benedictine students, and Minnis said he expects an increase in the colleges enrollment of biology, chemistry and pre-med majors.

Not all Catholic medical schools in North America include faith in their programs, but the St. Pio medical school will be the only medical school in the world that is in accordance with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, explained Mychaskiw, referring to Pope St. John Paul IIs 1990 apostolic constitution on Catholic universities. In addition, the proposed school also will offer significant coursework in Catholic bioethics, theology of the body and theology of suffering, and students will receive spiritual direction in their own faith tradition.

Students will be taught clearly the Catholic moral positions on abortion, euthanasia and other practices, Mychaskiw underscored, adding that he is working with Benedictine to enable students to receive a masters degree in Catholic bioethics along with a medical degree from the medical school.

After the first two years of clinical education, students will train in the National Christian Clinical Network of hospitals and clinics, with doctors who are practicing, faithful Catholics, and complete rotations at the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in Italy.

The medical school also will work with Catholic health-care systems to develop residency programs in the areas most relevant to Catholic ethical concerns, including OB-GYN, psychiatry, pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine areas, Mychaskiw said.

The proposed medical school will cost at least $70 million, Mychaskiw said. Another $50 million will be needed for a building.

Benedictine Colleges commitment to renewing and transforming American culture through its education and formation makes it an ideal location for the medical school seeking to form future Catholic physicians, said Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of Kansas City, Kansas.

Today more than ever, we need a Catholic medical school committed to providing future doctors with scientific and academic excellence, high-quality training in medical ethics anchored in Catholic moral principles, and sound spiritual formation, he said.

Lester Ruppersberger, a retired osteopathic OB-GYN doctor from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, called the future graduates of the proposed school the future of health care in the U.S. They will learn early in their careers the ethical and moral truths about issues such as contraception, which he learned only after 20 years of practice, said Ruppersberger, who served as the Catholic Medical Associations 2016 president.

To know that these medical schools are starting out upfront philosophically and spiritually with being dedicated to the teachings of the Church, bodes well for the future, he said, adding, Any hospital that is modeled after the Casa in [Italy], that hospital will also subscribe to the same principles, and you will know which physicians will protect the lives of patients and not do abortions and not participate in physician-assisted suicide.

Brendan Rhatican, an osteopathic physician in his second year of residency in Lexington, Kentucky, said he also would have benefitted from courses on faithful bioethics in medical school but instead had to learn about them on his own. The need for them in medicine is great because secular bioethics are philosophically and anthropologically bankrupt, he said.

Christianity has so much to offer bioethics and medicine, said Rhatican, who is specializing in radiology in part because other specializations may pressure him to violate his conscience. I just feel like the time is so right for it, when no one can stop from making ethical decisions, but [many dont know] how to think about even the most basic ethical dilemmas, and the Church has so much to offer.

An unapologetically Catholic medical school will not be without critics, Palazzolo predicted, but it could revolutionize health care.

The medical school completes this whole concept that we have, the whole mission, because it allows us to bring faithfully trained physicians out into the community around the world, he said. Its going to be the grassroots. Theyre going to go out into the community, into the hospitals and have that influence that this is the way that Catholic health care should be provided and delivered.

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Following in the Medical Footsteps of St. Luke and Padre Pio - National Catholic Register

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Scientists Uncover Nearly All Genetic Variants Linked to Height - Harvard Medical School

The poster and oral presentation winners of the Wayne State University School of Medicines ninth annual Vision Research Workshop have been announced.

The workshop, held Oct. 12, was presented by the Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, and the Kresge Eye Institute.

Presentation winners included:

Poster Presentations

First place: Nicholas Pryde, Assessment of NanodropperTM eyedropper attachment

Second place: Bing Ross, Mechanism of Preferential Calcification in Hydrophilic Versus Hydrophobic Acrylic Intraocular Lens

Third place: Pratima Suvas, Expression, Localization, and Characterization of CXCR4 and its ligand CXCL12 in herpes simplex virus-1 infected corneas

Oral Presentations

First place: Ashley Kramer, A comparative analysis of gene and protein expression in a zebrafish model of chronic photoreceptor degeneration

Second place: Jeremy Bohl, Long-distance cholinergic signaling contributes to direction selectivity in the mouse retina

Third place: Zain Hussain, Diagnostic and Treatment Patterns of Age-Related Macular Degeneration among Asian Medicare Beneficiaries

Mark Juzych, M.D., chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, and director of the Kresge Eye Institute, gave welcome remarks.Linda Hazlett, Ph.D., vice dean of Research and Graduate Programs and vice chair of the department, provided an overview of research.

The keynote speaker giving the annual Robert N. Frank, M.D., Clinical Translational Lecture, was Reza Dana, M.D., M.P.H., the Claes H. Dohlman Chair and vice chair for Academic Programs in Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, who presented New Ways of Doing Old Things: Translational Investigations in Management of Common Corneal and Ocular Surface Disorders.

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Winners of ninth annual Vision Research Workshop named - Wayne State University

In the past century, Henrietta Lacks has, arguably, done more to advance medicine than any other person. She played a material role in the development of polio vaccines, cancer treatments, HPV vaccines, and mapping the human genome. This young Black woman died from cervical cancer in 1951. It was cells taken during her cancer treatment that became one of the most powerful research tools ever, but she did not know about or give permission for their retrieval. What can we learn from such wrongs committed in the name of science?

In January 1951, a few months after giving birth to her fifth child, Henrietta Lacks, a 30-year-old Black woman, became concerned about a lump on her cervix. This, and unexplained vaginal bleeding, led her to seek medical attention.

She went to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, the only hospital in the area that would provide treatment to Black people at that time.

Doctors there diagnosed a particularly aggressive form of cervical cancer. She did not tell her husband or family, informing them only that she had to go to the doctor for medicine.

The standard treatment at the time was radium therapy. During her first treatment, under sedation, the surgeon took a tissue sample from her tumor. He passed this on to the head of tissue culture research at Johns Hopkins, Dr. George Otto Gey.

When Henrietta Lacks sought care at Johns Hopkins University one of the few segregated hospitals to serve Black patients in Baltimore, MD, at the time a biopsy of her cervical cells was extracted to diagnose her cervical cancer. The original doctor did not keep her sample for his own research but immediately shared it broadly with the larger scientific community. In 1951, the informed consent process as we now know it did not exist to protect patient privacy, rights or govern scientific and clinical research.

Dr. Maranda C. Ward, assistant professor and director of Equity, Department of Clinical Research and Leadership, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University

Taking cell samples for research was routine practice at the time, and doctors rarely asked patients for consent. As a result, most patients were, like Henrietta, completely unaware of what would happen to their cells.

The cells that doctors took from Henriettas tumor were then placed in a culture medium, labeled HeLa to identify them. The researchers expected that, like most cell samples, they would multiply a few times, then die.

After her first treatment, doctors discharged Henrietta from the hospital, and she went back to work in the tobacco fields, oblivious to the fact that doctors had taken her cells for research purposes.

In the lab, the HeLa cells not only remained alive, but multiplied at an astonishing rate.

Dr. Gey informed colleagues that his lab had grown the first immortal cell line, and shared samples of HeLa cells with them.

What was done to her, the reuse of her information, the attaching of her name to the cells the HeLa cells are named after her thats a massive violation of her privacy. All of those practices are of a bygone era where consent and privacy were just not taken as seriously or even thought about at all.

Dr. Sean Valles, director and associate professor, Center for Bioethics and Social Justice, Michigan State University

Although Henriettas initial treatment led to the tumor shrinking, by September, her cancer had spread to many of her internal organs.

Henrietta Lacks died, aged just 31, on October 4, 1951, unaware that she had unwittingly left behind an extraordinary legacy.

Some 70 years on, the cell line from the original HeLa cells is still proliferating. In that time, more than 11,000 research publications have involved HeLa cells.

In 1953, two researchers from Tuskegee University cultured HeLa cells, and mass-produced them for use throughout the United States in the development of the first successful polio vaccine.

Later in the 1950s, researchers used the cells to investigate the effects of X-rays, and to develop a method, still used today, of testing whether cells are cancerous.

Cells from the HeLa line have also been sent into space, used to investigate the effects of space travel and radiation on human cells, used to determine how Salmonella causes infections, to investigate blood disorders, to advance understanding of HIV, and in unraveling the secrets of the human genome.

Only some of the research stated that HeLa cells had been used.

Most pertinently, given that Henrietta Lacks died from cervical cancer, HeLa cells were vital in discovering how HPV causes cervical cancer, and in the development of the vaccine against HPV.

It is particularly troubling that, as Dr. Valles stated: In the U.S., Black women have especially poor outcomes with cervical cancer, because thats why she went to the hospital in the first place. Theyre seeing the doctor, but theyre not getting treated in a timely way.

Dr. Harald zur Hausen, an author on the HPV study, went on to win the 2008 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on viruses and cancer.

This was just the first of three Nobel prizes from research using HeLa cells, the others being for research on telomeres in 2009, and live viewing of cellular growth in 2014.

Unlike almost all other cell samples, HeLa cells continued to replicate in cell culture and the line has survived for more than 70 years. So what was it about these cancer cells that made them so powerful?

Although scientists do not fully understand what gives HeLa cells their unique properties, research has shown that there are three ways in which HeLa cells are different from normal human cells:

Whatever the reason, HeLa cells have proved a vital tool in biomedical research.

Henrietta also experienced the untreated effects of syphilis on the birth outcomes of her children before seeking out care for unexplained abdominal pain, which doctors described as impacting her disease prognosis once they identified her cancer. So, racism, gender oppression, and poverty most certainly shaped her life chances and opportunities for health.

Dr. Maranda Ward

Henrietta Lacks cells played a material role in work that led to three Nobel prizes and many other scientific discoveries but they were used and shared without consent from her, or from any member of her family.

At the time, permission was neither required, nor sought, for cells to be used for research.

This was normal procedure in the 1950s, as Dr. Valles pointed out: There was non-consensual research happening everywhere, because consent didnt really matter, but it always happens to be the case that people being burdened by this, people being taken advantage of, disproportionately end up being Black Americans [] something happens, and it works out worse for this population.

The billion-dollar industry tied to the immortal HeLa cell line is yet another example of how the U.S. has exploited and profited off the bodies of Black people. Once informed consent processes established that obtaining and researching the HeLa cells was unethical because it violated human rights, privacy, and bodily autonomy, its continued use represented a blatant disregard for Henriettas humanity, let alone scientific integrity and ethical conduct of research.

Dr. Maranda Ward

For around 25 years, researchers used HeLa cells without any acknowledgment of where they had originated.

Then, in 1976, a reporter, Michael Rogers, uncovered the origin of the name HeLa, revealing in Rolling Stone magazine that the cells were from Henrietta Lacks.

And it was only then, long after her cells had been shared around the world and played a part in many medical breakthroughs, that her family became aware of what had happened.

Some years later, Rebecca Skloot, an investigative journalist, picked up the story. She contacted Henriettas family, who were at first reluctant to talk to her. Eventually, she persuaded Henriettas youngest daughter, Deborah, to provide personal insight into her mothers story.

Skloots book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, was published in 2010, and made into a film in 2017.

Following the publication of her book, Rebecca Skloot established the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, with the purpose of [h]elping individuals who have made important contributions to scientific research without personally benefiting from those contributions, particularly those used in research without their knowledge or consent.

Several of Henrietta Lacks descendants have been helped by the foundation one small step, perhaps, in making reparation for the wrong done to Henrietta Lacks.

In the U.S., the Common Rule, instigated in 1981 and updated since, sets out ethical guidelines for biomedical and behavioral research involving humans. Among other issues, it covers compliance, record keeping, and, most importantly, informed consent.

A 2013 paper described the role of informed consent in research as the [b]asic ethical principle behind informed consent legalities is to protect the autonomy of human subjects which states that welfare and interests of a subject participating into clinical research are always above the societys interests and welfare. Medical research directed towards treatment advances for societys benefit and betterment can never be built on sacrificing the rights and health of research participants.

However, as Dr. Ward noted, the consent system is imperfect:

Current consent procedures are highly varied and therefore remain inadequate. This partly explains why the U.S. health goals (Healthy People 2030) include a new aim to attain health literacy. We recognize that we will not be able to eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity if patient populations do not know where to access credible health information or make sense of the information they do receive for what it means for their own health.

I do believe not enough attention is paid to the right to refusal as a part of informed consent nor is the idea that you can change your mind and withdraw participation at any point without any effect to the relationship with the clinical team or type of care you receive, she added.

Henrietta Lacks, like so many others, had no right to refusal.

Henrietta Lacks was taken advantage of and the fruits of her body were taken without her knowledge and without her consent, and even after all these decades of improvements of the American medical system and the system worldwide, somehow still, people who are black Americans, like Henrietta Lacks, are still disadvantaged.

Dr. Sean Valles

This is just one case that has damaged trust in medical science among Black, American Indian, and people of color, in general, in the U.S.

It came in the midst of the Tuskegee Syphilis study where between 1932 and 1972 doctors denied treatment to Black men with syphilis even after penicillin was identified as an effective cure so that they could study the course of the disease.

More recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom people of color were at far greater risk of mortality than white people. In the U.K., Black African men were 3.7 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white men.

And according to the CDC, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Hispanic or Latino individuals were around twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white people.

Has there been an effort to earn back that lost trust? Dr. Valles is not convinced, asking: What has the biomedical system, whether its individual hospitals, like Johns Hopkins University Hospital, or any other university hospital, what have they done to earn the trust of people who dont trust them?

Currently, most research is carried out in white, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic (WEIRD) people. Scientists have acknowledged that such data are not representative, and that research must include data from diverse populations.

These are the privileged social identities that default as the standard of health within Westernized medicine and codified as metrics for what gets valued. Until scientists and researchers center the experiences of Black women the most disrespected and categorically disadvantaged U.S. group racial injustice and therefore uneven and unfair opportunities for health will persist.

Dr. Maranda Ward

Henrietta Lacks was taken advantage of because, perhaps, doctors thought she did not matter. Her cells were just tools for research. We might hope that such attitudes are a thing of the past, but inequity still exists.

Dr. Ward commented: Medical and scientific research needs to first understand what equity is before they can apply an equity lens to their research. Equity has become a buzz term for some resulting in it being used erroneously and interchangeably with concepts of diversity and inclusion.

If a researcher understands that macro social issues such as segregation, mass incarceration, poverty, and racism are at the root of unfair health differences, their research will be designed to mitigate social and economic barriers that patients face when accessing healthcare let alone accessible and ethical research. This is what equity looks like, she added.

Henrietta Lacks became known because of the wrong done to her in the name of science. Perhaps her most lasting legacy will be to raise awareness of the inequities in health provision and research and lead the way to a fairer, more inclusive healthcare system.

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The story of Henrietta Lacks and the uniqueness of HeLa cells - Medical News Today

The importance of undergraduate surgical education

Undergraduate medical education is designed to enable future doctors to attain the knowledge and skills needed to ensure they are competent junior doctors. Upon graduating, junior doctors are expected to be able to contribute to the safe care of patients [1]. However, undergraduate surgical education specifically is more complex due to the practical and labour-intensive requirements of the experience. The website of the Royal College of Surgeons England has useful aids for surgeons who will be teaching medical students. It provides a more uniform curriculum so that all students attain the same core competencies irrespective of the institution. These can be found for each surgical subspeciality [2].

Perioperative care should be covered in its entirety. This is important for aspiring surgeons and future general practitioners and physicians who are likely to manage patients during the pre-operative workup of patients as well as in their post-operative recovery and beyond [3]. The need for multidisciplinary team involvement and effective communication between the different specialities is evident. Surgeons and anaesthetists should be in regular dialogue with general practitioners regarding patients who are due to undergo surgery and require optimisation of chronic or acute conditions that may have adverse impacts on prognosis [4].

This is specifically laid out in the General Medical Council (GMC) of the United Kingdoms agreed-upon "outcomes for graduates". This states that students who graduate must show competency in diagnosing, investigating, and managing clinical presentations across the community and in secondary care [5].

This is especially important as most newly qualified doctors in the United Kingdom rotate through surgical specialities [6]. Therefore, they need to be prepared for practice [7]. However, the learning needs are typically not comprehensively addressed. This is believed to be largely due to the gap between the theory taught and the limitations in practical, experiential learning [3]. Ultimately, this means that new graduates are unfamiliar with the all-encompassing clinical knowledge and skills required in treating patients with surgical conditions. As a result, newly qualified doctors have reported that they feel they are not as well prepared to manage emergency surgical on-calls and surgical placements as they are in dealing with medical placements and on-calls, even prior to the outbreak of the pandemic [8].

The aims and objectives of the systematic review were to review all appropriate current feedback regarding students impressions of undergraduate surgical education during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, both from qualitative and quantitative forms. The aims were as follows: (i) review innovative teaching delivery implemented by UK medical schools/universities during the pandemic to ensure the GMC graduate outcomes and similar pre-pandemic student experiences were minimally derailed; (ii) review students experience of these innovative teaching delivery methods; (iii) review whether undergraduate surgical education will likely progress with the use of technology discussed in this review.

This systematic reviews scope will focus on undergraduate medical students of any year group who are subjected to surgical education modules. Since this is not an original study, we will follow strict inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure appropriate studies are included. There will be no limitation to population size, geographical location, or social demographics. Any study which has qualitative or quantitative feedback will be analysed and included.

The purpose of this search was to identify all eligible studies featuring the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate surgical education.The present systematic review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.In June 2022, a comprehensive search was conducted for all non-grey literature published using the online platforms PubMed, MEDLINE, and Scopus. No similar articles were found in the Cochrane Library.

The following search termswere used to ensure all appropriate studies were captured: "COVID-19" or "coronavirus*" or "2019-nCoV*" or "SARS-CoV-2" or "COV-19" or "outbreak" or "pandemic" or "novel coronavirus" and "surgical" and "education or curricul*" and "undergrad" and "virtual learning" or "online learning" or "e-learning" or "remote learning" or "distance learning" or "blended learning" or "electronic learning" or "teaching" or "online teaching". In addition, all relevant studies published up to and including June 2022 discussing the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate surgical education were included. There was no dedicated publication time limitation as such, but by definition, as COVID-19 began in late 2019, all studies were limited to 2019 onwards. We further supplemented our search by exploring the reference list of all the included articles for additional eligible studies.

The aim was to include all published articles that discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate surgical education. All study designs were retained due to the limited number of meta-analyses and the lack of historical data. In addition, due to the limited number of papers, all papers were subject to a full-text review. This included randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, case series, and case reports. Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome (PICO) criteria were further specified to determine certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. The population was specifically medical students. All other studies focused on physicians, non-medical students, and school education reports, and other healthcare professionals such as dentistry, nursing, or veterinary were excluded. The intervention included innovations in surgical education used to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. All prospective or retrospective studies, non-randomised comparison studies, and case series were considered for inclusion. If more than one study was conducted at the same institution, the article with the most complete or recent data was selected. Basic science or animal studies, expert opinions, and grey literature were excluded.

All potentially relevant articles were identified via the search strategy, and no further pertinent studies were identified when references were reviewed. Following the exclusion of duplicates, a total of 96 articles were included, and an additional six were identified that were not highlighted in the original search, totalling 112. All studies were subject to full-text review by the author, which led to 18 studies being included in this systematic review (Figure 1).

Participants in the studies reviewed included 1,529 medical students and addressed various areas of pedagogy such assynchronous and asynchronous online teaching, blended teaching, live virtual shadowing, and augmented reality (AR) teaching. The number of students participating in each study was between six and 763. One study did not disclose the number of students involved; however, it was included due to the impactful feedback. The next section will discuss the 18 relevant studies to assess the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate surgical education as seen in Figure 1.

Online Teaching

Most of the studies that will be discussed contain a mixture of synchronous virtual teaching and asynchronous internet-based teaching. However, for the benefit of this review, the author will encompass these forms of delivery of pedagogy as "Online Teaching". This will comprise all virtual teaching that does not include live shadowing clinical environments or patient encounters.

In a study by Pettitt-Schieber et al., when reviewing students' understanding of the subspeciality surgical course, a four-point Likert scale found a post-course score of 3.3 +/- 0.5 vs. a pre-course score of 2.0 +/- 0.8. All sessions were held over Zoom (Zoom Video Communications, Inc., San Jose, CA). Feedback in qualitative and quantitative forms was collected following the synthesis of questionnaires by each speciality. Eighteen virtual surgical electives (VSEs) were carried out with a minimum of two iterations of each surgical speciality. Out of the 67 students who filled out feedback forms, 67.2% and 25.4% reported feeling "very comfortable" and "comfortable", respectively, when using the Zoom videoconferencing software. In addition, 98.5% felt the course objectives were met either "very well" or "well" [9].

Schmitz et al.s study had an experimental group that was required to utilise online platforms, while the control group received book chapters related to these specific anatomical regions.An interactive platform was synthesised for the online material to enable the teaching of operative techniques and skills. After examination, the students in the video group scored a higher percentage of correct answers (0.67 vs. 0.60)[10].

Chandrasingheet al.s study recruited 754 students via Facebook for an online teaching session [11]. Junior medical students presented the basic science on specified topics, while more senior medical students discussed a clinical case. Over 98% of the respondents felt that the discussions improved their clinical understanding. Also, 96% scored 4 or above (out of 5) on the question of how well they felt the sessions ran [11].

Shin et al. found that virtual case-based discussions improved medical students confidence in independently conducting initial assessments for surgical patients. For example, 16 students would each take a history and orally request examination findings from the tutor who acted as the patient. This was highlighted by a pre-course and post-course understanding with a Likert score of 2 and 4 out of 5, respectively [12].

At the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, a two-week VSE that involved direct interaction with the surgical faculty and self-directed learning was created. This involved didactic synchronous and asynchronous methods of teaching and a skills lab facilitated by the Zoom videoconference app to aid in the teaching of basic surgical skills. Of the 14 participating medical students,91% felt the course met their learning needs very well or well. Pre-course and post-course understanding scores highlighted that 27% reported a good understanding of general surgery, and 100% reported either a good or very good understanding, respectively. In addition, 82% reported increased interest in general surgery [13].The same institution synthesised a one-week virtual urology course, which consisted of interactive lectures, case-based discussions, and surgical reviews conducted via video. All nine medical students reported an increased understanding of the common urological conditions by an average of 2.5 points on a 10-point Likert scale. The majority of the students (56%) also responded by stating they had an increased interest in urology, while 22% reported a decreased interest [14].

Williams et al. conducted a study in Philadelphia, USA. They enrolled 10 senior medical students who undertook a two-week synchronous and asynchronous virtual urological surgery clinical rotation.This included pre-recorded lectures, video content, self-directed problem-based learning modules, an online discussion board, and real-time case discussions via videoconferences to name a few.

Median Likert scores out of five pre-course and post-course were as follows for each domain: overall knowledge (pre-course = 3and post-course = 4);naming urological conditions: (pre-course = 2and post-course = 4.5); urological evaluation confidence (pre-course = 2and post-course = 3.5); urology consult confidence (pre-course = 3and post-course = 5) [15].

Pang et al. conducted a study in the USA analysing the students' perspectives on a virtually informed consent activity. The majority of students stated they felt their ability was satisfactory or above on completion of the module [16].

A study by Newcomb et al. reviewed six medical students who attended a two-hour virtual class designed to improve their communication and rapport-building skills through video platforms. As an outcome, four out of the five student participants graded the class as "A+" [17].

A study by McGann et al. with 60 students responding to the feedback on an online basic surgical skills course they attended revealed that 83.7% felt the teaching was satisfactory, and the course either met or exceeded their expectations [18].

A study by Quaranto et al. on interactive remote basic surgical skills sessionsfound an improvement in the 31 participating medical students confidence scores in suturing and knot tying. Knot tying and suturing improved on completion of the course from 7.9 to 9.7/18 and 8.0 to 13.8/30, respectively [19].

A survey in India looking into students feedback regarding their online teaching experience yielded some adverse results. A total of 389 students completed the questionnaire, and 71.98% felt that the overall online classrooms adversely affected their learning. In addition, 93.32% felt their practical learning suffered, and 60.93% felt their theory learning was adversely affected [20].

In Co et al.s study, before the pandemic, 30 final-year medical students were taught basic surgical skills face-to-face. The same group was then invited to attend an online web-based surgical skills learning (WSSL) session via Zoom with the same tutor, and the feedback was evaluated via standardised questionnaires [21]. The result indicated that 73.4% of the students felt that learning and demonstrating surgical knot-tying WSSL was no more difficult or easier than the face-to-face session. Of the students, 10% felt that WSSL was easier to follow than the face-to-face sessions. Of the students, 40% highly recommended WSSL with a score of 9 or greater out of 10, while 50% gave a score of 6-8 out of 10 [21].

Blended Teaching

Blended teaching involves integrating traditional tutor-led classroom activities with technology [22].Lindeman et al. studied 29 participants impressions of blended learning. Feedback regarding the blended course and face-to-face teaching using a five-point Likert scale was 3.80 vs. 3.52 for the lecture series. Teaching effectiveness was 4.30 vs. 3.93 [22].

Live Virtual Shadowing

This section will cover studies that discuss the use of technology in the live clinical environment.In Byrnes et al.'s study, a two-week virtual elective was offered to medical students at the University of Pennsylvania in which six participated [23].The virtual elective is comprised of the following three major components:

Virtual operating room (OR): The attending surgeon would wear a head-mounted GoPro camera (GoPro, Inc.,San Mateo, CA) allowing students to watch the procedures and communicate with the surgeon.

Telehealth: It allowed surgeons to have students join them when conducting video conferences with patients. Students could conduct the initial consultation with the patient and then report back to the surgeon.

Virtual didactics: Students would present patients at the virtual multidisciplinary head and neck tumour board.

On the five-point Likert scale, the average student rating of the telehealth sessions was 4.2, the virtual operating room was 4.0, and the overall virtual didactics was 4.5 [23].

At the same institution, a virtual otolaryngology surgery rotation, which comprised livestream interactive surgeries, virtually run small group didactics, and outpatient telehealth visits were synthesised. The findings were that the virtual elective was not a suitable replacement for a true experience in the clinical environment. However, students responded that they felt the virtual week gave them more one-on-one time with senior surgeons compared to traditional electives and that they could see more of the operation than if they were in the operating theatre [24].

Across the USA, the Vanderbilt Otolaryngology online medical student experience was a virtual coursethat enabled online grand rounds, teaching led by residents, and simulated "on-call" sessions. The average Likert score out of 5 was 4.05 for demonstrating interest and 4.62 for supporting students during the pandemic. Demonstrating average knowledge score was 3.57 [7].

Augmented RealityTeaching

Augmented learning is a learning medium in which the environment adapts to the learner[25].Luck et al. used the HoloLens headset (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) that utilises a mixed reality optic display capability to supplement a "surgeons eyes", allowing the 60 student participants in a series of remotely-delivered simulated ward rounds.

Feedback came from 47 students. Of the respondents,90% "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that AR could improve undergraduate surgical training. They recommended and would like to see the HoloLens AR workshop continue post-COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, 85% of students responded that they enjoyed the AR workshop (Table 1) [25].

There has been a drift from traditional didactic classroom teaching to a student-centred learning environment. As a result, the principles that guide education delivery have drastically changed over the past few decades [27]. Acquiring feedback from students involved in educational activities has become integral; hence, this systematic review only includes studies where student feedback was recorded.

Prior to the pandemic, synchronous distant education (SDE) was used widely in varied health science cohorts with higher overall satisfaction compared to traditional education [28].

On reviewing the literature, it is clear to see that existing teaching and learning technologies, which include hardware and software in many institutions, were enhanced in an attempt to mitigate the negative impacts the COVID-19 pandemic was having on undergraduate surgical education.

Distance learning delivered online can typically be done in two formats: asynchronous and synchronous. Asynchronous involves techniques such as recorded videos, podcasts, and other miscellaneous e-learning content accessible to students at any time. In contrast, synchronous teaching involves, but is not limited to, live virtual classrooms and video conferences [29].

A combination of both synchronous and asynchronous pedagogy is termed the flipped classroom. This allows both the benefits of interaction in synchronous and the flexibility of asynchronous to be experienced by the students [1]. The author's view is derived from the literature and experiential learning. This variation is one of the keys to maximising educational performance. Varying the delivery method of the teaching content and adding new innovative media is of value to students, as long as it is implemented effectively. This view is supported by the positive feedback from the studies discussed in this review and the single study that yielded adverse feedback regarding the use of distant-based learning. When the adverse outcomes from Ray et al.s study were critiqued, the reason was poor implementation [20].

Four specific types of technology, i.e., online teaching, blended teaching, live virtual shadowing, and ARteaching, used to mitigate the lost face-to-face learning time were reviewed. These pedagogy methods fall into the online distance education (ODE) category. ODE allows greater flexibility with location and time, increasing convenience for all involved stakeholders [29]. ODEs cost-effectiveness compared to classroom-based learning is also noteworthy [29]. This type of teaching may not only help bridge a deficit but also provide an opportunity for improved learning away from traditional teaching environments. Being able to replace certain aspects of the curriculum with asynchronous, readily available teaching material, which students can access at their convenience, is advantageous for all stakeholders. Pre-recorded videos, if created appropriately and comprehensively, at most may need periodical updates [30]. Online learning assists students in becoming familiar with the inevitable transition into the web-based medical world and the digital health technology that will be more prevalent as time passes [29]. Regarding digital health technology, research has shown comparable clinical outcomes found in person and telehealth post-operative visits [17]. Therefore, if it is integrated into surgical care, students must be exposed to and familiar with the technology to ensure they are competent when graduating.

The student feedback regarding the variations of online teaching they received has been largely positive. Population sizes varied between six and 754. Outcome measures were varied and subjective. However, the most commonly assessed outcome measure was pre- and post-course "understanding" using either a five- or 10-point Likert scale. All but one of the studies have shown a statistically significant improvement in all the domains in which they have collected feedback. It is clear that outcomes cannot be solely attributed to pedagogy reliably. Other factors include but are not exclusive to the facilitator not being experienced or well prepared, the content of the teaching not being at an optimum and appropriate level, the teaching not meeting the learning outcomes, and so on. The need to teach particular video-based communication skills to ensure future clinicians have the necessary skills to build rapport with patients and their next of kin is evident. This is especially important in this commonly two-dimensional distant communication method. In an interview with Association of American Medical Colleges, Neal Sikka, MD, discussed the evolving need for telemedicine training in medical school. He stated that "there really is an art to providing a good video consultation that needs to be taught, just like we teach bedside manner and patient interviewing skills" [17]. Students are required to learn how to be empathetic and show attention when separated from patients by a video screen. The lack of direct eye contact and appropriate physical contact can be mitigated to a degree by increased vocalisation of empathy and other appropriate verbalised emotional responses. Experts in medical education have aptly named this "digital empathy", and there has been a recommendation to include this in the undergraduate curriculum along with the advised increased practice in telemedicine [31].

On the whole, the general perception of medical students who received online surgical education was that they attained both what they needed and wanted [32]. However, for students to be able to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to pursue a career in a specific speciality, they need to discern whether the daily work of a said speciality fits in with the students professional and personal aspirations. Distance learning is limited in this aspect of education [24].

Undergraduate surgical education is more challenging for inexperienced medical students with access to delicate clinical environments where highly specialised skills are practisedwhile keeping patients safe. Achieving this throughout an entire cohort of medical students makes this even more challenging. Distance learning may provide a means of improving this difficult situation, although it cannot be considered a total replacement. Therefore, a continually thorough and thoughtful evaluation of the efforts made by various institutions during the pandemic is necessary and is the only way serial improvement in medical education will progress.

It is also important to note that in the studies included, only one study by Schmitz et al. had controls, and another study by Co et al. subjected the same group of students to the traditional face-to-face and online methods. This impacts the effectiveness of the online teaching method, which needs to be considered as the students have already been exposed to the teaching material and their baseline understanding had been altered. One could therefore argue that the results from this study could be met with caution. The remaining studies were observational in nature.

Meta-analysis could not be performed due to the heterogeneity of data as there are many other variables that could not be reliably controlled. These include but are not exclusive toinstitutions, the technology available, and student engagement/receptiveness to the technology offered.

Successful execution of remote learning courses needs significant technological input. All systems and software must be optimised, maintained, and function at both ends for the students and the teachers. This is even more sensitive when the teaching is synchronous.

With regard to video conferencing software, teachers may default to the technology available at the institution. However, it is also imperative that the students can install the software on their devices.

Regular feedback from all stakeholders, including the facilitators, is important to ensure the continual development of the teaching session.

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A Systematic Review of the Medical Student Feedback on Undergraduate Surgical Education During the Pandemic - Cureus

Faezeh Shahidinejad (Photo courtesy: Faezeh Shahidinejad)

Anti-government protests and demonstrations have continued in Iran over the past month, despite violent government crackdowns. The protests were sparked when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly and showing a small amount of hair, breaking Irans strict hijab rules. More than 200 people have died as of mid-October in the protests, the most extensive in decades in Iran. Many of the protesters are university and high school students.

Faezeh Shahidinejad is a University of Hawaii at Mnoa biology pre-med student and an alumna of Honolulu Community College. She graduated from high school in Iran in 2017 and came to Hawaii six months later with her mother and brother. Shahidinejad is closely following the news back home and is greatly affected by what she is witnessing.

It breaks me to see that people of my age and generation are dying only because they are peacefully asking for freedom, Shahidinejad said. I have friends who have joined the protests and they were beaten and tear gassed by the guards. It is hard for me to carry on and live a normal life here when I know that the people in my home are losing their lives every day. Young people with a future ahead of them are risking their lives to fight for justice and basic human rights. I know that if I was in Iran I would also be joining the protests and possibly risk my life.

Shahidinejad says she was personally stopped by the morality police several times when she lived in Iran and told to correct her hijab.

I was told that if I dont correct my hijab or my behavior that I would be arrested and taken away by them, said Shahidinejad I know other students from Iran are also affected by this situation. We do not have a way of contacting our family and friends, we do not know if they are safe or even alive.

Shahidinejad, her mother and brother came to Hawaii because her brother was almost 18 years old, and in Iran every 18-year-old male is required to serve in the military for two years. She and her brother were able to get visas because her mother is a U.S. born citizen. Shahidinejads intention was not to stay in America, rather she wanted to go back to Iran and attend a medical school. She brought her books with her to Hawaii to keep studying for the medical school entrance exam, and wanted to go back to Iran as soon as she received her green card, which took about a month.

However, after arriving in the U.S. she contemplated whether to stay or return home. Staying in the U.S. at the time meant starting over in academics. Shahidinejad was not able to transfer any advanced placement courses, and she was not familiar with the language or the process to even attend a university here. On the other hand, she could leave and return to Iran where she was almost ready to attend medical school. However, that meant Shahidinejad would give up on the freedom that she experienced in the short time she was in the U.S.

In the end I decided that having freedom and liberty as a woman was worth sacrificing my academic progress in Iran and starting over here in the U.S., Shahidinejad said.

After almost two years of working full time in a corporate office and learning English, she decided to go back to school and attended Honolulu CC for about three years, and was able to complete an associates degree in liberal arts with focus on natural science. Shahidinejad then enrolled at UH Mnoa in spring 2022. Aside from pursuing a degree in biology, she is a member of the Pre-Medical Association, Medical Student Mentorship Program, Health Occupations Students of America and CORPS Hawaii. Shahidinejad is also a learning assistant in the School of Life Sciences.

While she is excelling in the classroom, her thoughts continue to be with her people in Iran.

I want people to know that what is happening in Iran is not about religion or hating Islam. It is about women having the right to choose what they want to wear whether it is hijab or not. It is about people wanting to have a normal life and not being afraid to live a life that most people have around the world, Shahidinejad said. They need people like me and you who have the right to speech and expression to be their voice and bring attention to this crisis. Many major national news outlets do not cover what is happening in Iran for political reasons. That is why everyone else who has the resources and is able to talk about this issue needs to do so.

Shahidinejad said that by choosing to share her story means she will not be able to go back to Iran until the current regime is over. She said her name will be added to their list of people who need to be prosecuted for talking against the regime. She made this choice, however, to fight for freedom and justice even when it means she possibly can never return to her homeland again.

This is why I am using my voice and freedom to talk about this issue and be the voice of the voiceless, Shahidinejad said. This is about human rights, and it is a fight for freedom more than anything else.

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UH student from Iran is 'voice of the voiceless' for her people amid deadly protests | University of Hawaii System News - University of Hawaii

image:Of the 10 richest countries in the world, the U.S. ranks last in vaccination rates and first in both numbers and rates of COVID-19 deaths, view more

Credit: Alex Dolce, Florida Atlantic University

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), which was immediately endorsed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for new booster shots created to combat the most recent and highly prevalent omicron variants of COVID-19, specifically BA.4 and BA.5. Fortunately, these most recent and very highly prevalent variants, while more communicable, are less lethal.

In a commentary published in The American Journal of Medicine, researchers from Florida Atlantic Universitys Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators, provide the most updated guidance to health care providers and urge how widespread vaccination with these boosters can now avoid the specter of future and more lethal variants becoming a reality.

Of the 10 richest countries in the world, the U.S. ranks last in vaccination rates and first in both numbers and rates of COVID-19 deaths, said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.PH, senior author, first Sir Richard Doll Professor of Medicine and senior academic advisor, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. The dedicated health care professionals in communities and hospitals across the nation continue to try to address existing and new challenges of COVID-19. We must redouble our efforts to promote evidence-based clinical and public health practices, which should include vaccination of all U.S. adults and eligible children based on the most recent FDA and CDC guidance.

The authors point out that, compared with influenza, the mortality rate from COVID-19 is about 30 times higher. Further, a positive COVID-19 patient is likely to transmit to about six people compared with one or two for influenza. Finally, the boosters will reduce the risk of dying and hospitalization by more than 90 percent.

The most simple and straightforward newest guidance we can now offer to health care providers is that all individuals ages 5 and older should receive a booster shot, said Alexandra Rubenstein, first author, clinical research coordinator, Department of Neurology, Boston Medical Center, and an aspiring physician. Specifically, based on the recent EUAs issued by the FDA and CDC, those 5 and older may receive Pfizer bivalent boosters, and those ages 6 and older may receive bivalent boosters from Moderna. While the absolute risks of severe COVID-19 are low in youths, the benefit-to-risk ratio was deemed to be favorable in a 13-to-1 vote of independent external advisers to the FDA.

According to the authors, vaccines to prevent common and serious infectious diseases have had a greater impact on improving human health than any other medical advance of the 20th century. Nonetheless, since 2019, the percentages of children in the U.S. vaccinated against common and serious childhood diseases has decreased.

In the U.S., diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus or DPT immunizations have decreased from 85 percent in 2019 to 67 percent in 2021, said co-author Sarah K. Wood, M.D., professor of pediatrics and interim chair, Department of Womens and Childrens Health and vice dean for medical education, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. Recently, a young adult unvaccinated against polio in a neighborhood in Rockland County, New York, contracted a paralytic disease raising concerns that the loss of herd immunity may portend new epidemics of avoidable serious morbidity and mortality in the U.S. and worldwide.

Ironically, the authors note, virtually all Americans would seek effective and safe therapies for any communicable diseases. Most individuals routinely accept major surgery, toxic chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy for cancer, which result in a far greater number of side effects than are caused by vaccinations. The authors encourage health care providers to recommend a COVID-19 booster vaccine to all eligible patients to protect individuals and communities.

Other co-authors are Vama Jhumkhawala, a first-year FAU medical student; and Mark DiCorcia, Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and assistant dean for medical education, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine, as well as Dennis G. Maki, M.D., Ovid O. Meyer professor of medicine, director of the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit and an internationally renowned infectious disease clinician and epidemiologist from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Maki and Hennekens served together for two years as lieutenant commanders in the U.S. Public Health Service as epidemic intelligence service (EIS) officers with the CDC. They served under Alexander D. Langmuir, M.D., who created the EIS and epidemiology program at the CDC, and Donald A. Henderson, M.D., chief of the virus disease surveillance program at the CDC. Langmuir and Henderson made significant contributions to the eradication of polio and smallpox using widespread vaccinations and public health strategies of proven benefit.

- FAU -

About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:

FAUs Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 156 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAUs commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The Consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology. The colleges vibrant research focus areas include healthy aging, neuroscience, chronic pain management, precision medicine and machine learning. With community at the forefront, the college offers the local population a variety of evidence-based, clinical services that treat the whole person. Jointly, FAU Medicines Primary Care practice and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health have been designed to provide complete health and wellness under one roof.

About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visitwww.fau.edu.

The American Journal of Medicine

Literature review

People

Newest guidance and evidence for health care providers: COVID-19 and other vaccines

3-Oct-2022

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Needs and challenges for COVID-19 boosters and other vaccines in the US - EurekAlert

On what had been a happy day in February 2014, 13-year-old DeAndre Knox was attending a birthday party at a friends home in Indianapolis when a stray bullet ripped through a window and struck him in the head.

At a hospital, the internal bleeding was so excessive that the left side of his skull had to be removed in order for his brain not to erupt, recalls his mother, DeAndra Dycus. Months later, he had surgery to have part of his skull replaced and had a tube placed in his head to drain his cranial fluids.

DeAndre lived but eight years later, he cannot walk or talk. His ongoing struggles have included multiple hospitalizations and surgeries, physical and mental therapy, and bouts of pneumonia stemming from the progression of lung injuries.

Life never goes back to the way it was, Dycus said recently after visiting her son at a hospital near their home, where he was being treated for a particularly devastating case of pneumonia. She says the total cost of his care is in the millions; the psychological toll is incalculable.

DeAndre is among the more than 80,000 people who each year survive firearm-related injuries more than double the 40,000 who are killed by gunshots annually, according to studies including a 2020 report led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM).

Most of what we hear related to the gun violence epidemic in this country is centered around deaths. Theres relatively little attention paid toward survivors of firearm injuries, notes Zirui Song, MD, PhD, associate professor of health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School, who has studied the cost of gun injuries. The connotation is that the people who did not die are generally okay. We tend to forget about them.

Many are not okay. While some are treated quickly in emergency departments (EDs), perhaps getting a flesh wound stitched, others face significant, costly, and sometimes painful medical procedures spanning months, years, or lifetimes. Some must forever cope with damaged organs, impaired or removed limbs, chronic pain, or psychological trauma.

The injuries and the long-term morbidity affect the patients, their families, and society, says Chadd Kraus, DO, DrPH, FACEP, an emergency physician and researcher at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, who has studied the types of injuries and care resulting from mass shootings.

Getting and analyzing detailed data about gun injuries in the United States is particularly difficult. For starters, there is no government database of firearm incidents nationwide unlike those databases designed to provide details about every plane accident and every fatal motor vehicle accident. For nearly 25 years, Congressional spending bills provided no dedicated federal funds to study gun injuries, until 2019, leading to several new projects that are limited in scope.

In addition, the expenses for any individual patient are difficult to fully track, not only within a hospital system but especially across various providers outside of hospitals, including primary care doctors, specialists, home health aides, and therapists.

Were functioning in a data-limited zone, says Thomas Weiser, MD, MPH, a trauma surgeon and clinical associate professor of surgery at Stanford Health in California.

The existing data do show that while self-harm is the leading cause of firearm deaths in the United States, most gun injuries (fatal and nonfatal combined) are caused by assaults and accidents. Researchers have used various records, such as databases of insurance payments and ED visits, to dig deeper into the financial impact of those injuries. Among their findings:

Initial costs are high. Immediately after shootings, most victims are treated only in the ED: about 50,000 a year, according to the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO). Another 30,000 are admitted for inpatient treatment.

ED care for firearm-related injuries averages $1,500 per patient, while initial care for those admitted as inpatients averages $31,000, which produces an annual total of $1 billion in initial medical costs, according to a 2021 GAO report. This is likely a significant underestimate, the report says, because the calculations do not include some expenses that are not tracked in patient discharge data.

One study that looked specifically at more than 704,000 people who arrived at EDs with firearm-related injuries found much higher costs. The study by Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, covering 2006 through 2014, found average per-patient ED charges of $5,254 a year, and inpatient charges of $95,887, adding up to $2.8 billion annually.

Costs keep mounting after initial care. A study of survivor care published in June, conducted by Song and fellow researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, found that medical spending for gunshot victims increased by an average of $30,000 during the first year after the injury four times higher than concurrent medical spending in a control group of patients without firearm injuries. With about 85,000 firearm injury survivors each year, that comes to $2.5 billion in extra spending for survivors in the first year, the study found.

Dealing with ongoing physical and psychological pain creates ongoing expenses. The study found that during the year after a shooting injury, survivors (compared with the control group) had a 40% increase in pain diagnoses, a 51% increase in psychiatric disorders, and an 85% increase in substance use disorders accompanied by increased pain and psychiatric medications.

The pain extends to family members. Dycus says she and her other son have periodically received mental health care related to DeAndres condition. When your loved one survives, youre on a roller coaster of emotions, she says. You have hope and faith for his survival, then thats taken away when his condition deteriorates.

Readmissions are another significant cost. The GAO report says that up to 16% of survivors with an initial inpatient stay were readmitted at least once because of the injury, with average costs of $8,000 to $11,000.

The firearm type and shooter intent affect the severity of injuries. A study led by the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa found that the most expensive average admission costs were for legal interventions, mainly as shootings by police ($33,462 per admission), and shootings with assault weapons ($32,237), while the lowest cost was for unintentional injuries ($16,975).

Injuries from mass shootings are especially severe and costly. Mass shootings account for a minority of gun-related injuries, but the medical costs for those injuries average $64,976 per person, according to a study published in May by Kraus and other researchers from EDs and trauma services across the country. The study looked at 403 patients from 13 incidents over seven years. It included all injuries, such those sustained by falling while fleeing the gunshots, as well as health care use after initial treatments.

Costs go beyond medical care. The medical expense estimates dont reveal the full costs of firearm injuries, because expenses are also borne by other institutions involved in the cases, such as police departments, justice systems, social services, and employers. Firearm injuries cause ripples of costs way outside the health system, says Corinne Peek-Asa, MPH, PhD, who was lead author of the Iowa study on firearm types and shooter intent and is now vice chancellor for research at the University of California San Diego (UCSD).

A study released in July by Everytown for Gun Safety estimated that gun violence produces an economic consequence of $557 billion a year, including long-term medical care, criminal justice system resources, lost wages, lower worker productivity, and diminished quality of life for victims and their families.

The expenses for treating gunshot survivors are spread out among people and institutions, and some of the expenses never get paid.

A study published in 2019 by researchers at Stanford Health (including Weiser), looking at six years of patient data, found that the government takes on almost half of all hospital expenses. Out of $5.47 billion in costs during the study period, Medicaid and Medicare paid $2.5 billion, while private insurance and self-paying patients each accounted for $1.1 billion.

Dycus says one expense Ill never forget came on a statement from her insurance company showing what it was charged by a company that airlifted DeAndre from a rehabilitation center to a hospital to treat a medical emergency: $75,000.

What happens when patients dont have insurance? In the Johns Hopkins Medicine study that looked an initial ED and inpatient care, researchers noted that more than half of the 704,000 patients studied were uninsured or self-paying. That often left hospitals to absorb the expenses as uncompensated care.

Researchers studying the financial impact of gun injuries hope their findings can help spur the development of strategies and policies to reduce and better treat the injuries.

The findings provide evidence to support a business case for reducing gun violence, says Peek-Asa at UCSD.

Your taxes, my taxes, are used to pay for the injuries to these patients, says Weiser, noting that most of the costs are borne by the federal and state governments, which jointly fund Medicaid. The state has a vested interest in understanding the financial implications of policies around firearms.

The researchers stress that their call to reduce gun injuries is not a call to ban guns. In fact, Peek-Asa and Kraus are gun owners.

I live in rural Pennsylvania, where gun ownership is common, including among physicians. Kraus says. I think of the implications of this research in terms of harm and risk reduction.

Reducing the risk of firearm injuries could include policies that involve manufacturing, marketing, and storing weapons, training gun owners, and defining who has access to the weapons that cause the most severe and expensive injuries, the researchers say.

As for providers, the researchers hope that knowing about the type of physical and mental health care that firearm injury survivors and their families need can enable hospitals and doctors to better prepare for and coordinate that care.

That can mean putting resources into programs for survivors and family members of survivors to head off the downstream consequences of nonfatal firearm injuries, Song says. Such as better coordination between primary care and mental health care, so that when we take care of a firearm injury survivor, its not just about the physical wounds. And it could mean better coordination with other specialists.

The September issue of JAMA focuses significantly on firearm injuries, with viewpoint articles that call for a national data system to track injuries and deaths; for academic medical centers to step up efforts to address firearm violence; for businesses to get more involved in reducing gun violence for employee health and corporate financial reasons; and more.

Knowing the impacts of gun violence firsthand, Dycus has become an activist to help victims and educate the public. She volunteers with Moms Demand Action, founded and directs Purpose 4 My Pain, a resource hub to support families affected by gun violence, and created and leads an advocacy and support program in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for nonfatal shooting and violence survivors.

Her main message to society: Injured lives matter. Dont forget about them just because they lived.

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The cost of surviving gun violence: Who pays? - AAMC

The 2022 Mens March Against Domestic Violence returned to an in-person march since 2019.

The 28th annual Mens March Against Violence started outside the steps of Honolulu Hale, and for the first time since the pandemic, involved groups marching in the streets on October 6. Roughly 100 men participated in the 2022 March Against Violence.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than 10 million women and men are physically abused by an intimate partner each year.

The traditional route going down Beretania, Bishop and King Streets is one Jerris Hedges, dean of the University of Hawaii at Mnoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), has walked down before in previous marches. His upbringing has led him to become one of the many community leaders involved in the Mens March year after year.

When I grew up, my brother, mother and I dealt with a father who used violence to address some of the issues he had, Hedges stated during his news interviews that previewed the march. He had a tendency toward violence, but he also had a severe health condition that made it difficult for him to do daily activities, and he was also dealing with psychological and physical stressors in his life. Its not too dissimilar from what many families who have domestic violence issues have to deal with.

For his tireless commitment, Hedges was honored this year by the Domestic Violence Action Center with the Distinguished Citizen of the Year award.

The Mens March Against Violence Committee noted the significant difference Hedges made at an institutional and community level throughout his tenure as dean. Organizers expressed gratitude for the earnest, important and inspired way Hedges addresses domestic violence and demonstrates his convictions about this problem to the community, colleagues and Hawaiis health care systems.

Im very pleased to receive this recognition, but I realize Im receiving it on behalf of the entire University of Hawaiis efforts and, in particular, that of the medical schools efforts to contribute to domestic violence awareness, Hedges said.

Since being appointed JABSOM dean 14 years ago, Hedges prioritized training future doctors to recognize the warning signs of domestic violence and how to intervene properly.

Its one of the things I try to share with our medical students each year as we organize and work with other parts of the University of Hawaii, he said.

The annual march is always a somber one. Kelii Beyer from the Domestic Violence Action Center charted all the fatal domestic violence events in Hawaii since the previous march, and asked the audience on the Honolulu Hale grounds to never forget the names of the victims. After the sobering reminder that domestic violence is a problem that needs to be addressed, Hedges asked men, in particular, to step up.

Most perpetrators of domestic violence are men. As men, we need to establish good role models to not only help men who may try to solve their problems through violence but understand that theres a better way, said Hedges.

This was the last march Hedges will attend as JABSOM dean. He is preparing to retire next year, however, since he will continue to call Hawaii home, he pledges this years march wont be his last.

Families can stand up and do things to support those who suffer from domestic violence. Its essential, said Hedges.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact the Domestic Violence Action Centers helpline at (808) 531-3771 or visit DomesticViolenceActionCenter.org.

For more, go to the JABSOM website.

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Med school dean honored at Men's March Against Violence | University of Hawaii System News - University of Hawaii

BEIJING & BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. (HKEX:1228), a leading global biopharmaceutical company, with a foundation in China, committed to the research, development and commercialization of transformative rare disease and rare oncology therapies, announced that data from its gene therapy research agreement with the Horae Gene Therapy Center, at the UMass Chan Medical School, was presented at the 29th European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy Annual Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, today.

In an oral presentation, Guangping Gao, Ph.D., Co-Director, Li Weibo Institute for Rare Diseases Research, Director, the Horae Gene Therapy Center and Viral Vector Core, Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems and Penelope Booth Rockwell Professor in Biomedical Research at UMass Chan Medical School, discussed the study that was led by the investigator Jun Xie, Ph.D., and his team from Dr. Gaos lab, and titled Endogenous human SMN1 promoter-driven gene replacement improves the efficacy and safety of AAV9-mediated gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in mice.

The study showed that a novel second-generation self-complementary AAV9 gene therapy, expressing a codon-optimized human SMN1 gene. under the control of its endogenous promoter, (scAAV9-SMN1p-co-hSMN1), demonstrated superior safety, potency, and efficacy across several endpoints in an SMA mouse model, when compared to the benchmark vector, scAAV9-CMVen/CB-hSMN1, which is similar to the vector used in the gene therapy approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of SMA. The benchmark vector expresses a human SMN1 transgene under a cytomegalovirus enhancer/chicken -actin promoter for ubiquitous expression in all cell types, whereas the second-generation vector utilizes the endogenous SMN1 promoter to control gene expression in different tissues. Compared to the benchmark vector, the second-generation vector resulted in a longer lifespan, better restoration of muscle function, and more complete neuromuscular junction innervation, without the liver toxicity seen with the benchmark vector.

This, the first data to be presented from the gene therapy research collaboration between CANbridge and the Gao Lab at the Horae Gene Therapy Center, was also presented at the American Society for Cellular and Gene Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting in May 2022. Dr. Gao is a former ASCGT president.

Oral Presentation: Poster #: 0R57

Category: AAV next generation vectors

Presentation Date and Time: Thursday, October 13, 5:00 PM BST

Authors: Qing Xie, Hong Ma, Xiupeng Chen, Yunxiang Zhu, Yijie Ma, Leila Jalinous, Qin Su, Phillip Tai, Guangping Gao, Jun Xie

Abstracts are available on the ESGCT website: https://www.esgctcongress.com/

About the Horae Gene Therapy Center at UMass Chan Medical School

The faculty of the Horae Gene Therapy Center is dedicated to developing therapeutic approaches for rare inherited disease for which there is no cure. We utilize state of the art technologies to either genetically modulate mutated genes that produce disease-causing proteins or introduce a healthy copy of a gene if the mutation results in a non-functional protein. The Horae Gene Therapy Center faculty is interdisciplinary, including members from the departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology & Physiological Systems, Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology, Neurology, Medicine and Ophthalmology. Physicians and PhDs work together to address the medical needs of rare diseases, such as alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, Canavan disease, Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases, retinitis pigmentosa, cystic fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, TNNT1 nemaline myopathy, Rett syndrome, NGLY1 deficiency, Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, maple syrup urine disease, sialidosis, GM3 synthase deficiency, Huntington disease, and others. More common diseases such as cardiac arrhythmia and hypercholesterolemia are also being investigated. The hope is to treat a wide spectrum of diseases by various gene therapeutic approaches. Additionally, the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School conducts clinical trials on site and some of these trials are conducted by the investigators at The Horae Gene Therapy Center.

About CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc.

CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. (HKEX:1228) is a global biopharmaceutical company, with a foundation in China, committed to the research, development and commercialization of transformative therapies for rare disease and rare oncology. CANbridge has a differentiated drug portfolio, with three approved drugs and a pipeline of 11 assets, targeting prevalent rare disease and rare oncology indications that have unmet needs and significant market potential. These include Hunter syndrome and other lysosomal storage disorders, complement-mediated disorders, hemophilia A, metabolic disorders, rare cholestatic liver diseases and neuromuscular diseases, as well as glioblastoma multiforme. CANbridge is also building next-generation gene therapy development capability through a combination of collaboration with world-leading researchers and biotech companies and internal capacity. CANbridges global partners include Apogenix, GC Pharma, Mirum, Wuxi Biologics, Privus, the UMass Chan Medical School and LogicBio.

For more on CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc., please go to: http://www.canbridgepharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements made in this article relate only to the events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the data on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. In this article, statements of, or references to, our intentions or those of any of our Directors or our Company are made as of the date of this article. Any of these intentions may alter in light of future development.

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CANbridge-UMass Chan Medical School Gene Therapy Research in Oral Presentation at the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) 29th Annual...

In an interview with HCPLive, Sanjiv Chopra, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, highlighted his predictions for the 5 key advances set to impact medical science in the future. Chopras predictions were part of his presentation at Pri-Med Midwest 2022.

You know, Niels Bohr, a Nobel Laureate physicist said 100 years ago, predictions are difficult, especially those about the future, Chopra said. I'm going to make those predictions. And the first one is artificial intelligence. I think a better name could be aided intelligence or augmented intelligence.

Chopra elaborated on this point, describing his view that certain clinicians will find the implementation of artificial intelligence technology useful and othersnamely radiologistsmay find that it replaces much of what they handle on a regular basis.

The second one is the microbiome, the gut microbiomeThird is CRISPR and gene editing, he explained. The fourth is messenger RNA. And the fifth, believe it or not, is the psychedelic revolution, mushrooms, and ketamine changing the landscape of people with anxiety, PTSD, people in hospitals, afraid of death.

The discussion shifted to another topic covered in Chopras Pri-Med presentation, namely addressing which takeaways Chopra felt were the most important from the recent Nobel Prize-winning idea that a bacterium in the stomach could cause peptic ulcer disease.

Who could have thought that a bacterium could survive in the harsh gastric acid environment of the stomach, and actually cause peptic ulcer disease, the renal disease he said. You know, we used to have a saying that wants an ulcer, always an ulcer, you could heal the ulcer crater, but the ulcer would come back, the ulcer diathesis would persist. Now when we eradicate H. pylori, people are cured of peptic ulcer disease.

Chopra further described the discoverys facets, including the 3 main causes of duodenal ulcer disease as well as the findings about H. pylori bacteria.

View the other Pri-Med Midwest 2022 coverage to find out more about these topics.

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Sanjiv Chopra, MD: What Are the 5 Most Impactful Medical Science Advances for the Future? - MD Magazine

The science behind climate change.

Health care and the outlook for Covid.

Corporate governance and investing.

The Rohrer College of Business convened a conference Oct. 14 to address a wide range of issues related to health care, the environment, corporate governance and investing amid staggering 21stcentury uncertainties.

Dubbed the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Conference, the daylong program in Business Hall was one in a series of events the college is hosting this year as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Among issues considered at the conference: the ongoing and increasing threat of climate change and its effect on business, investing and insurance; the imperative to address climate change now; and the persistent, if sometimes ignored, lingering danger of Covid.

Some of the roughly two dozen speakers scheduled throughout the day included Jordan Howell, associate professor of Sustainable Business at Rowan; Bob Bunting of the Climate Adaptation Center in Sarasota, Fla.; Annette Reboli, dean of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University; and Ken Lacovara, dean of the School of Earth & Environment at Rowan.

Bunting, a longtime Florida resident and climate researcher, said humanity has maybe 30 years to resolve the threat of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions or it faces a bleak future.

At this stage, he said, sea level will (continue to) rise for 200 to 300 years even if we dont put another carbon molecule into the atmosphere.

RCB Dean Susan Lehrman said the conference themes mirror those that the college is exploring in a series of events throughout its 50th year including sustainability, social responsibility, business ethics and climate change.

With this (first major) event, we wanted to show how important these topics are to our mission, Lehrman said.

She said the program developed in partnership with the Center for Responsible Leadership and the Global Interdependence Center in Philadelphia, where Rowan President Ali A. Houshmand is a board member.

Lehrman said the focus at Rowan on sustainability, social responsibility and protecting the environment has been led by Houshmand, including a university-wide initiative to hire faculty members to develop, advance and communicate solutions to the most pressing existential threats posed by the climate and biodiversity crises.

The topics under discussion today are important, not just in the College of Business but across campus and beyond, Lehrman said.

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RCB conference attendees weigh 21st century opportunities and challenges - Rowan Today

When you hear the word entrepreneur, your first thought might be of billionaires sending rockets into space whether that be Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson.

What do these entrepreneurs, who have practically become household names, have in common? Besides the fact that they are all males, the world that they inhabit appears steeped in showmanship, competitiveness and oversized confidence.

Perhaps the perception that innovation is a male-dominated domain has discouraged women from fully embracing entrepreneurship. Studies have shown that only 11.8% of U.S. inventors are women. The same disparity is also seen in the sciences. Women account for only 7% to 13% of awardees of small business grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Women who decide to become entrepreneurs face stiff challenges. They start companies with 50% less money and raise 66% less capital than their male counterparts, said MUSC chief innovation officer Jesse Goodwin, Ph.D.

-- Jesse Goodwin, Ph.D.

A new MUSC initiative STEM-Coaching and Resources for Entrepreneurial Women (CREW) will begin to address gender inequity in entrepreneurship with funds from a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. With this funding, STEM-CREW will offer mentorship, coaching and training opportunities to increase the number of women, especially underserved minority women, who not only become entrepreneurs but remain engaged in entrepreneurial activities throughout their careers.

The initiative will be led by Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D., the Kitty Trask Holt Endowed Chair for Scleroderma Research and director of the Advancement, Recruitment and Retention of Women (ARROW) program at MUSC, which seeks to advance the careers of women scientists. Feghali-Bostwick is an entrepreneur herself, having identified an anti-fibrotic peptide that has been licensed by a company.

-- Carol Feghali-Bostwick, Ph.D.

In addition to Goodwin, other STEM-CREW investigators include Angela Passarelli, Ph.D.,Tammy Loucks, DrPH, and Jillian Harvey, Ph.D. Passarelli, an associate professor of management in the College of Charleston School of Business and director of Research at the Institute of Coaching at McLean/Harvard Medical School, will serve as director of coaching. Loucks, the science development officer for the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute at MUSC, will be the communications director. Harvey, a professor in the MUSC College of Health Professions, will oversee program evaluation. Rachel Simmons will be the program coordinator.

Do we all pay a cost for inequity?

MUSC is one of the few institutions to track the number of women who engage in entrepreneurial activities, and the numbers reflect the disparity seen at the national level. Of MUSCs 800-plus inventors, only 33% are women, and 23% are women scientists.

Entrepreneurship is an engine to move something from simply being a great idea into a product or business that is generating beneficial impact, said Goodwin. That impact includes not just improved health outcomes but growth of the knowledge economy and the creation of high-paying jobs in the STEM field, she added.

Gender inequity could hamper the knowledge economy, explained Goodwin. Considering that half of the population of this country are women, if women are not fully participating, were missing out on significant opportunities, she said.

Why arent more women becoming entrepreneurs?

Unfamiliar with the details of how an idea is transformed into a product, some women fear the perceived risk. However, other factors also likely play a role in dissuading women from becoming entrepreneurs, said Feghali-Bostwick.

It might be risk aversion, or it might be that a lot of women don't like competition at that level, she said. Women don't usually promote themselves and their science as much as men. And some may lack mentors. If they don't see other women as role models and mentors in the entrepreneurship world, they might think its not feasible for them to get there. We need more women there as role models to show them it's feasible.

How will STEM-CREW increase the number of women entrepreneurs?

Because women often lack entrepreneurial role models, STEM-CREW will pair trainees with successful biomedical entrepreneurs. These mentors will share the wisdom they gained as they navigated the transition from researcher to inventor and started their own companies. They will familiarize them with the procedural aspects of the innovation pathway, helping to alleviate any anxiety over perceived risk.

-- Angela Passarelli, Ph.D.

But STEM-CREW will then go a step further and pair trainees with professional executive coaches for regular one-on-one sessions. Executive coaching is common in the corporate world, where it helps leaders to build their efficacy and resilience but remains underused in the academic world.

Feghali-Bostwick believes coaching is one of the most innovative aspects of the initiative and is grateful to have Passarelli, a leader in coaching, aboard.

Coaching makes training four times more effective, said Feghali-Bostwick. With mentoring, you have role models who have done this and show you the way, but they usually show you the way they did it. In contrast, coaching guides you to come up with your own answers on how to do it. It promotes self-efficacy.

It was Passarellis idea to strengthen the grant application by enhancing mentoring with coaching because she knew that it offered additional benefits to aspiring women entrepreneurs.

Coaching provides a confidential relationship, dedicated time and a skilled thought partner that helps aspiring entrepreneurs step back from their day-to-day responsibilities to explore what they most want to achieve, who they are, whats standing in their way and how to navigate a path to achieving their objectives, said Passarelli.

Coaching is particularly crucial when "the mentors lived experience differs from that of their proteges, she explained.

Quite frankly, what works for a man doesnt always work for a woman, she said.

In addition to regular meetings with their coaches and mentors, trainees will complete an online entrepreneurship class that was recently created by the College of Graduate Studies and receive lay communications training that will help them learn to make effective pitches to potential investors. STEM-CREW will also organize a quarterly speakers series, featuring successful entrepreneurs in the state and beyond and will hold an annual conference in Charleston.

Who is eligible for STEM-CREW?

Each year, STEM-CREW will accept 20 senior postdoctoral fellows or junior faculty into the program. Applications are encouraged from any institution in South Carolina, as most of the activities and offerings can be completed online. As one of STEM-CREWs goals is to increase the number of underrepresented minority women entrepreneurs, applications from historically black colleges and universities are especially welcome. As the program matures, applicants will also be accepted from institutions in other states in the region that are eligible for Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) because they have historically had low levels of NIH funding.

-- Tammy Loucks, DrPH

For us to have this in South Carolina and make it available to other IDeA states, I think it speaks to the whole concept that MUSC has for innovation and impact and influence, said Loucks. It ties nicely into that overarching mission that we have as an institution and really speaks to the role that we have for the state.

Paying it forward

Beginning in its third year, STEM-CREW will choose five trainees each year to be trained as coaches themselves. These women can then pay it forward to other women at their own institutions, helping to increase the number of women who will benefit from the program.

I want potential applicants to know that they will not only gain training and an entrepreneurship mindset to support their career development, but they have the opportunity to now turn around and become, themselves, the mentors and the coaches, said Feghali-Bostwick.

That is Goodwins favorite part of the program.

In addition to liking that this program is designed by women for women, I love that it aims to support a cohort of women down this path, which in turn will create a set of role models for future female entrepreneurs, she said.

How do I apply for STEM-CREW?

The STEM-CREW program will accept applications through Nov. 30.To apply, please visithttps://redcap.link/crewprogram. Please address all inquiries toarrows@musc.edu. Those accepted for the program will be notified by December, and participation will begin in January 2023.

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Changing the face of innovation | MUSC | Charleston, SC - Medical University of South Carolina

The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the continuing health disparities in communities of color and the need to invest in more research to address those disparities, said Dr. Montgomery Rice.

ATLANTA (PRWEB) October 17, 2022

Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) today published the latest edition of its "Danforth Dialogues" podcast, featuring a deep dive into the medical schools innovative research programs during a conversation between MSMs President and CEO Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, Senior Vice President for External Partnerships and Innovation Dr. Sandra Harris-Hooker, and Dr. Rick Kittles, Senior Vice President for Research.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the continuing health disparities in communities of color and the need to invest in more research to address those disparities, said Dr. Montgomery Rice. Since our inception, Morehouse School of Medicine has been on the frontlines of medical research to help improve health outcomes for African Americans, Latinos, and other underserved communities in the country.

Dr. Harris-Hooker, who headed MSMs research program before assuming her new role, noted that the schools research efforts were modest during its early years as a two-year institution. We started with a portfolio that was, at best, $300,000 to $400,000, she said. Today, we have a comprehensive and robust research program. We ended our last fiscal year with well over $84 million in research projects.

Dr. Kittles is one of the countrys leading genetics researchers and is known for his pioneering work in tracing African American ancestry though DNA testing. Honored and humbled, to be in his new role, Dr. Kittles noted in the podcast the unique role for medical research at Historically Black Medical Schools to help improve health equity in communities of color.

It is our responsibility as individuals who came from these communities to go back and serve and improve the health of our communities, he said. Very few investigators outside of our communities can do that.

Launched earlier this year, Danforth Dialogues focuses on the leadership lessons from the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic and their broader implication for society. Named after the historic Danforth Chapel on the Morehouse College campus, the podcast series features a cross-section of guests and topics.

To hear this edition of the podcast, click here. For more information about the Danforth Dialogues leadership series, click here.

To listen and subscribe to the Danforth Dialogues podcast, click here.

For more information about Morehouse School of Medicine, please visit MSM.edu.

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About Morehouse School of MedicineFounded in 1975, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is among the nation's leading educators of primary care physicians, biomedical scientists, and public health professionals. An independent and private historically-Black medical school, MSM was recognized by the Annals of Internal Medicine as the nation's number one medical school in fulfilling a social missionthe creation and advancement of health equity. Morehouse School of Medicine's faculty and alumni are noted for excellence in teaching, research, and public policy, as well as exceptional patient care. MSM is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award doctoral and master's degrees. To learn more about programs and donate today, please visit http://www.msm.edu or call 404-752-1500.

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Morehouse School of Medicine's "Danforth Dialogues" Podcast Focuses on the School's Innovative Research Programs - PR Web

MADISON, WISCONSIN,October 18, 2022 In an effort to improve experience and health outcomes among patients of diverse backgrounds, GHC-SCW is proud to announce it has awarded the2022 GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarshipto three local college students. This is the first year of the scholarship program.

The three winners are:

The scholarship recipients will be recognized at a luncheon. Media are welcome to attend.

2022 GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarship Luncheon

Thursday, October 20

11:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.

GHC-SCW Capitol Clinic

675 W Washington Ave, Madison

As part of GHC-SCWs larger effort to reduce inequities in healthcare,the goal of the GHC-SCWPre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarshipis to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities through recruitment of healthcare professionals with diversebackgrounds, which includes offering financial and mentorship opportunities to medical pre-professionals of color. In addition to each recipient receiving a $5,000 scholarship, the students will also have anon-site shadowing experience at GHC-SCW.

To provide the best care to our communities, healthcare systems need to invest in diversifying their providers and care teams, said Kingsley Gobourne, GHC-SCW Chief Equity and Engagement Officer. That investment starts upstream with ensuring more diverse candidates can navigate the financial barriers in their path. Our scholarship will by no means erase those barriers, however, we hope to add to the pool of resources available to make that journey attainable.

In 2021, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)declaredracism is a serious public health problemthat has a negative health impact on communities of color, contributing to a disproportionate mortality rate. The CDC reportstheaveragelife expectancyamong Black or African American people in the United States is four years lower than that of White people.

It is crucial for our time that the diversity of health care professionals reflect the diversity of the patients they care for and the diversity of the profession we stand for, saidSalmaSalama, GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarship recipient.I am so thankful for organizations like GHC that recognize this issue and choose to act by creating opportunities for students like me. I greatly look forward to being a role model for minority children, students and professionals alike.

From working in a hospital and listening to patients stories, Ive learned that most patients(unsurprisingly) prefer seeing providers that reflect the spectrum of identities that make up their communities, including race, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and disability status, said AhmedIbrahim, GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarship recipient.Witnessing people who look like me suffer from a system sworn to protect them inspired me to pursue a career in medicine.

Promoting diversity in healthcare can lead to cultural competency and healthcare providers ability to offer services that meet their patients unique social, cultural and linguistic needs, said DuncanAsaka, GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarship recipient.In short, the better a patient is represented and understood, the better they can be treated. Diversity in healthcare will ensure that elements such as background beliefs, ethnicities and varying perspectives are represented in the medical field.

GHC-SCW believes a commitment to encouraging individuals who identify as BIPOC(Black, Indigenous, People of Color)to become healthcare providers will help break down barriers and improve health outcomes forracial and ethnic minoritygroups.

Diversity in medicine has tangible benefits that positively impact patient care, said Laureine Lacossiere, GHC-SCW Physician Recruiter. While Wisconsin has some troubling health disparities that increasingly fall along racial lines, were taking small steps in the right direction to increase representation in our future providers and change the health outcomes for our wider community.

The 2022 GHC-SCW Pre-Professional Medical Diversity Scholarship was open to students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or Hispanic/Latinx who are currently enrolled in medical school (including residency) or physician assistant, and nurse practitioner programs in Wisconsin. Students submitted essays related to the importance of diverse healthcare providers in diverse communities.

Wisconsin needs more primary care providers from diverse communities, said Alison Craig, MD, GHC-SCW Senior Medical Director. Supporting a path to primary care careers builds a better tomorrow for our state. I am fully convinced that Wisconsin will be healthier as these talented, compassionate scholars put on their stethoscopes and care for patients in the years ahead.

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Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin: Awards three medical diversity scholorships to local students - Wisbusiness.com

Greg Mason / The Spokesman-Review

Statistically, the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine enrolls higher numbers of American Indian and Alaska Native students compared to other medical schools nationwide.

That's not saying much, Leila Harrison admitted.

Harrison, the College of Medicine's senior associate dean for admissions and student affairs, pointed to how WSU's number of enrolled American Indian and Alaska Native students has ranged as high as approximately 5% of the total student population. By comparison, the annual nationwide rate in that span has hovered around 0.7%, according to Association of American Medical Colleges data.

"When you say that, you would think that it's a big number," Harrison said. "It's still a small number, and that needs to change."

The College of Medicine is hoping to do so by expanding a program that offers conditional acceptance into WSU's medical school to students from federally recognized tribes.

Since 2020, WSU has partnered with the Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine in Portland and the University of California, Davis School of Medicine to offer the Wy'east Post-Baccalaureate Pathway.

As part of the program, the College of Medicine has granted conditional acceptance to up to four students per year who first attend a 10-month program at OHSU in Portland.

Starting in 2024, WSU will host its own pathway program on the Spokane campus thanks to a five-year, $3.4 million federal grant that will allow for more enrollees and for WSU a more direct connection with program participants.

"The amazing part of that is we get to have our own faculty train them. We get to immerse them into our own learning environment and learning community," said Harrison, who has spearheaded WSU's program pathway efforts. "For them, they get to know us better as an administration and our current student body. They get to become more familiar with the resources that are available to our medical students."

Before getting involved in Wy'east, the WSU College of Medicine founded in 2015 was not established long enough to create its own pathway program.

Harrison said OHSU reached out around 2018 to see if WSU was interested in Wy'east, thereby giving participating students options to attend medical school either at WSU Spokane, OHSU or UC Davis in Sacramento. WSU's first Wy'east cohort was picked in 2020.

The 10-month program in Portland prepares participants for the first year of medical school with anatomy and epidemiology coursework, clinical shadowing, research and Medical College Admission Test preparation.

Moving to Portland for 10 months' of classes before moving again to Spokane was a barrier for many prospective applicants, however. Lexie Packham, who is entering her second year at the College of Medicine, had to move from Utah to Portland for Wy'east before finally landing in Spokane to attend WSU.

"That was a bit inconvenient for my husband who had to be switching jobs a lot," said Packham, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. "It would've been nice to do Wy'east at the school that I was going to attend afterwards."

A new $3.4 million grant, funded over five years from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will allow WSU, OHSU and UC Davis to each operate their own pathway programs for Native students.

WSU's program, which will come online in fall 2024, will have a new name reflective of local tribes, Harrison said. WSU also plans to enroll more students and will attempt to make it a certificate or degree program.

"These are not necessarily going to be courses that are already existing," she said. "Part of this is building, working with our current faculty to build coursework that is applicable to this level of student that is sort of pre-preparation for the medical curriculum."

Wy'east students, as well as those participating in WSU's future program, must be enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, regardless of race or ethnicity, and must have a bachelor's degree. State law prohibits WSU from considering race or ethnicity for admissions.

Harrison said the grant also allows WSU to hire additional program staff.

"It's really kind of bringing them into that College of Medicine family that we have and the overall culture that we have," she said. "They already become part of us, so that way, when they matriculate into the medical school, they are already comfortable. They already have that knowledge and trust rather than transitioning and building it brand new."

Packham said Wy'east gave her a pathway to pursue her dream after her initial applications into medical school were rejected.

"It's really important that WSU has a program like Wy'east to get Native people involved in medicine because I know a lot of Native people who are interested in working in health care," she said. "It's hard because they don't ever see a Native doctor."

Packham had applied to medical schools after studying microbiology at Brigham Young University. While she wasn't accepted, two of the schools WSU and OHSU referred her to the Wy'east program.

As a result, Packham said her first year at WSU felt like review after learning much of the material in Wy'east, which due to the conditional acceptance provided a "low-stakes environment" for her to learn.

"That really helped me have a mindset of just trying my best and not being a perfectionist about things," she said, "because the point of school, the point of medical school, is to keep failing until you really understand the coursework and the medical skills. That shift with Wy'east really helped."

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WSU College of Medicine to Expand Conditional Acceptance Program to Enroll More Native Students - Centralia Chronicle