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

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Scott O'Connell|Telegram & Gazette

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

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

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

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

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

QCC fundraiser

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Experimental hormone therapy may speed recovery for COVID patients – Minneapolis Star Tribune

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DULUTH Every time the phone rang, it seemed to Kristine Smoley like more bad news about her husband, who contracted COVID-19 and was in a hospital intensive care unit on a ventilator because he couldnt breathe on his own.

Smoley was prepared for the worst when a nurse from Duluths Essentia Health called with hope albeit with risks and no solid evidence it would save her husband.

They asked if I wanted to consider signing off on an experimental treatment for him, Smoley said. A treatment that had never been done before.

Essentias Dr. Tim Rich and the University of Minnesota Medical Schools Dr. David Ingbar had studied for years whether a common thyroid hormone could be repurposed for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), an often fatal type of lung failure. The doctors received federal approval late last year to test the therapy, so when COVID-19 caused a sudden surge in ARDS, they were ready for their first patient Smoleys husband, Bob Schlicht.

It was scary, Smoley said. But I dont know that I really had an option. Because the other option wasnt good.

The turnaround that followed was so remarkable that Rich and Ingbar have advanced their research unique for a regional medical provider in a world of urban and academic COVID-19 studies to a phase 2 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study. The doctors have optimism about the impact their treatment could have amid the pandemic.

There has been a lot of highly technical science to understand this biology, but the elegance now is in its simplicity, said Rich, a pulmonologist. This is not a designer drug. This is something we know the lung needs and uses.

New therapies are needed against a pandemic that has caused 150,672 known infections, 10,334 hospitalizations and 2,475 deaths among Minnesotans. Only the antiviral remdesivir has received full FDA approval as a COVID-19 therapy for hospitalized patients, while treatments such as plasma infusions remain experimental and available only under emergency authorization.

Rich and Ingbar made a key discovery during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009, when families of those who died from influenza-related ARDS permitted autopsies. Rich found the victims lungs lacked T3, a thyroid hormone that would normally be detectable.

Ingbar said T3 reduces inflammation and coaxes epithelial cells in the lungs to absorb fluids which is vital for patients with ARDS.

A part of this acute lung injury with ARDS is the lungs get leaky, and they tend to fill with fluid, Ingbar said. That makes it really hard to get oxygen in or carbon dioxide out.

Schlicht was coughing and congested when Smoley dropped him at an emergency room in Grand Rapids on March 26, a few days after the retired couple cut cross-country travels short due to the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Schlicht, 68, was Itasca Countys first known positive case of COVID-19. Smoley watched medical staff garbed in full protective gear take her husband to an isolated room. He was transferred to Duluth within two days.

A few weeks later, Mary Ellen Evangelista found herself in a similar situation. Her brother, Tim White, was a corrections officer at the Moose Lake prison, where inmates and workers tested positive for COVID-19 in early April.

Evangelista, who lives in Georgia, urged White to call an ambulance after he spent a week getting sicker at home. He was placed on a ventilator in Duluth late that night because the virus led to ARDS.

Doctors told Evengelista that her 51-year-old brother might not survive and asked to try the thyroid hormone.

And every day, I just had a little more glimmer of hope, she said.

White spent more than a month in the Duluth hospital but has been back home since spring and is working to gain enough strength to return to work. Chest X-rays for months have shown healthy lungs.

This is really a much faster recovery than we see with typical ARDS, said Ingbar, noting that many survivors have lung scarring that can cause breathing problems for years and the need for supplemental oxygen.

White plans to visit his family in Georgia for the holidays. Evangelista choked up discussing the trip.

That hes going to be with us at Christmas was not a foregone conclusion back in April, she said.

Schlicht said he feels 100% healthy and has been helping build an event center near home for his sons upcoming wedding.

Each visit really puts in perspective how close we were to death, he said.

While the timing of recovery and abrupt reversal of symptoms suggest that T3 worked, doctors cant rule out that the men recovered due to other medical care.

The trial was paused for months following the treatment of Schlicht and White for a safety review, but Rich and Ingbar recently received the go-ahead to give the therapy to more patients in Duluth and plan to expand to three Twin Cities-area hospitals.

The next step to prove cause and effect is to recruit 68 patients with ARDS from COVID-19 or other causes for the FDA-approved study, and to compare 50 who receive supplemental T3 with 18 who receive standard care.

ARDS stems from a variety of causes, including heat, physical trauma or inhaled substances. Research showed that any such lung injury produces more of an enzyme that breaks down T3.

Theres a real local destruction of the hormone that explains why its concentration is so low, Ingbar said.

Doctors administer the hormone directly to a patients lungs through a breathing tube. That is a novel part of this study, as sick people have received thyroid hormones for years, but never straight into their lungs in this manner.

The Us Center for Translational Medicine is working to produce a patented powder T3 formulation. That inhaled or nebulized form would be cheaper and easier to administer, meaning more patients could receive it if it proves safe and effective.

Our hope is actually that this therapy should work for some other illnesses in addition to ARDS, Ingbar said. He and Rich may explore administering the treatment earlier to see if it prevents patients lungs from suffering distress.

Success of the ongoing study will be measured by whether supplemental T3 sops up enough lung fluid and allows for healthy blood oxygen levels. Rich said the overriding hope is not only survival but a return to life without chronic breathing problems and disabilities.

Any survival of ARDS, especially this COVID ARDS, is exciting, but its not enough to survive, Rich said. Its to not have the morbidity of a compromised lung for the rest of your life.

The recoveries of Schlicht and White will be featured in an upcoming medical journal. The two men, the first people in the world to receive this experimental treatment, met after Whites October checkup at the hospital where they spent so many sick days. They exchanged an elbow bump.

Im a very lucky man, White said, to be sitting here today.

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Experimental hormone therapy may speed recovery for COVID patients - Minneapolis Star Tribune

How COVID-19 threatens the careers of women in medicine – AAMC

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Before she heads out to teach at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Heather Christensen, PhD, preps for the at-home school day of her three children. After work, she makes dinner and does bedtime with the boys all under age 7 followed by work tasks until around 1 a.m.

But thats a lot better than early in the pandemic, when Christensen was educating her kids solo her husbands job cant be done from home making her math teacher, grammar expert, head chef, and school principal. Meanwhile, she was also figuring out how to redesign her medical school courses, which COVID-19 had driven online.

I had what felt almost like PTSD, with extreme fatigue and emotional exhaustion, she says. I couldnt keep doing it.

Now that Christensen has found other people to teach her children, the assistant professor is hoping to return to the research she set aside months ago research that is so crucial to her professional advancement.

Ive been incredibly frustrated, and my sentiments are repeated by almost every woman I speak to, from front-line COVID-19 workers to basic scientists to faculty members, she says. They all echo my frustration, but especially those with young kids.

As the pandemic upends so much in health care and society experts worry that COVID-19 could have dramatic effects on the careers of women in medicine.

Even before the pandemic, women physicians were earning 75 cents for every dollar their male counterparts made. Women also lag in leadership positions, comprising 25% of medical school professors and 18% of deans. And the ranks of women faculty of color have grown just 1 percentage point over the past decade. The research landscape is uneven as well, with women representing 41% of authors, a 2019 article reported.

Now, increased child care responsibilities, diminished opportunities for research and professional development, harassment in online settings, and hiring and promotional issues have women worried that their careers may take a hit for years to come.

Ive been incredibly frustrated, and my sentiments are repeated by almost every woman I speak to, from front-line COVID-19 workers to basic scientists to faculty members.

Heather Christensen, PhDUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine professor of medicine

While the full impact wont be known for months, women in medicine are already sounding the alarm. More than 20 women physicians and scientists recently warned that the pandemic could lead to a hemorrhaging of women from academia. In a recent survey, 46% of women medical students said they worry about COVID-19s effect on their careers, versus 36% of men. And a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) webinar noted that many academic jobs lost during the pandemic have been contract, nontenure-track positions jobs often held by women.

Gender inequities brought on by the pandemic must get addressed and soon, experts say. Its not just a social justice issue, argues Amy S. Gottlieb, MD, an associate dean at the University of Massachusetts Medical School-Baystate and the chair-elect of the AAMCs Group on Women in Medicine and Science steering committee. To thrive as a profession, we need to harness the talents of our entire workforce.

Theoretically, the pandemic could offer women physicians increased professional opportunities. Women have been at the forefront of efforts to track down much-needed personal protective equipment, for instance. Mostly, however, experts point to causes for concern.

Child care tops the list. Even before the pandemic, women physician-researchers did more parenting and domestic work than men in similar positions, totaling 8.5 additional hours per week.

Now women are doing even more at home, says Kimberly Templeton, MD, University of Kansas Medical Center professor and past president of the American Medical Womens Association. I worry that they will dramatically reduce their work hours or leave medicine entirely.

But experts also worry that COVID-19 threatens promotion prospects for women with no child care concerns. Thats in part because women get tapped more often to do less-valued tasks, such as writing patient education materials.

Then theres the concern that women have been stymied in publishing, which is so crucial to landing tenure. In fact, the portion of women lead authors in 2020 on COVID-19-related papers was 23% lower than their representation among lead authors in 2019.

It seemed like I kept hitting dead ends, and the men were getting the support. They often have large networks and a lot of resources.

Cynthia Derdeyn, PhDEmory Vaccine Center researcher and professor

Women in academic medicine bear a bigger load of teaching and patient care, notes Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, senior author of the study and a professor at the University of Michigan Medical School. So the transition to virtual care and virtual teaching has created all these demands that are disproportionately falling to women, making it harder to publish.

Cynthia Derdeyn, PhD, had high hopes of contributing to COVID-19 research. After all, she runs a lab at Emory University that researches vaccines and infectious diseases. But, she says, it seemed like I kept hitting dead ends, and the men were getting the support. They often have large networks and a lot of resources.

Experts also fear that women are being hit hard in the online world, where the pandemic has driven so much work.

Women more than men tend to rely on nonverbal communication, and thats hard to do virtually, says Templeton. I worry about women being acknowledged and fully participating in virtual meetings, where its tough to read the room.

Templeton has particular concerns about women of color. She points to a recent webinar for women residency applicants, where many questions came from African American participants wondering how to wear their hair during virtual interviews. Its frustrating that with all that students are facing this year, they also have to worry about unconscious biases related to their appearance, she says.

In addition, women are losing out on vital networking opportunities as conferences move online, notes Eve Higginbotham, MD, vice dean for inclusion and diversity at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Women really need those sidebar conversations they get at in-person meetings, she says.

But most worrisome to Jagsi is the harassment that can harm women in the online world.

Since the pandemic in particular, weve seen a move toward using Twitter for communication, which leads to responses not just from the professional community, but from the public, she says. Twitter has opened up a number of my female colleagues to requests for dates, vulgar remarks, and really aggressive comments.

If you want your research papers to get noticed and cited, youd better have a Twitter presence, she says. But its the wild, wild west of what people will say to you.

Twitter has opened up a number of my female colleagues to requests for dates, vulgar remarks, and really aggressive comments.

Reshma Jagsi, MDUniversity of Michigan Medical School professor

Experts are working to address the ways the pandemic threatens progress for women in medicine. Here are some of their suggestions.

Step up for parents

Given increased and often unequal responsibilities at home, institutions need to provide women with flexible schedules and robust child care supports, experts argue.

Medical schools and teaching hospitals are trying to help. Indeed, 62% of institutions that provided child care before the pandemic expanded such services after it hit, according to a recent AAMC webinar.

Institutions that dont provide direct child care are assisting in other ways. The University of Florida College of Medicine connects staff and students to nearby nanny agencies, for example, and has negotiated discounts with local child care facilities.

At the University of California, San Francisco, leaders joined with the YMCA to create daylong learning camps in August. So far, some 100 children have attended, mostly from families of health care providers.

Shift promotion processes

To counter potential gender imbalances, institutions must rethink how they reward academic and organizational effort. Gottlieb encourages women to list pandemic-related service work on their CV and performance evaluations, for example.

But perhaps the biggest question is how to handle tenure clocks as COVID-19 hobbles credential-building work. Already, many institutions allow staff to request an extra year before coming up for tenure. Others have taken a much bolder approach: automatically stopping the clock for all candidates (with the option to opt out). Thats the case at Florida State University College of Medicine and Emory University School of Medicine, for example.

Templeton applauds the move. Women often have difficulty requesting something they need, she says. We may think that its just our personal issue, so we dont want to bother anybody. We too often dont feel empowered to speak up.

Actively level the playing field

Last month, leaders in internal medicine published suggestions for protecting women from the fallout of COVID-19. Among their recommendations was to proactively help women advance their careers.

Templeton points to one recent example: Women Orthopedic surgeons created a series of in-depth webinars for women medical students focusing on how best to handle virtual interviews for residency slots.

Also crucial this year is helping junior faculty build their careers through such supports as sponsoring them to present virtually at national conferences, Gottlieb says. At Michigan Medicine, for example, leaders have continued to fund conference registrations and professional society membership despite pandemic-related budgetary pressures.

You cant be what you cant see. So, if women leave medicine or they dont get promoted to leadership positions, Im afraid were at risk of losing future generations of women physicians.

Kimberly Templeton, MDUniversity of Kansas Medical Center professor

When leadership positions do open up, Gottlieb urges decision-makers to focus on equity, such as publicizing opportunities in places where diverse candidates will see them. Lets also make sure interview committees include women and individuals who are underrepresented in medicine, she says.

Higginbotham emphasizes another aspect of equitable hiring and promotion: training those in charge to avoid unconscious biases. At Penn Medicine, she notes, all 5,000 leaders have already received such training.

Pay attention

Finding solutions starts with identifying problems, so leaders advise monitoring how women in medicine are faring. Already, NASEM is exploring COVID-19s impact on women in medicine and science, looking at five domains, including their mental health.

In terms of medical schools and teaching hospitals, options include reaching out to women to assess their concerns. At Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, for example, the office of diversity arranged monthly calls for women faculty of color to discuss shared COVID-19-related issues and brainstorm possible solutions.

Gottlieb also urges closely monitoring areas where women tend to lag, like compensation. At the Medical College of Wisconsin, despite a hold on salary increases, leaders are continuing to monitor compensation to ensure equity down the road. Such attention is essential, Gottlieb notes, given that women physicians have one of the largest gender pay gaps in the entire U.S. labor market.

As they peer into the future, observers worry about the long-term fallout for women from COVID-19-related obstacles.

You cant be what you cant see, says Templeton. So, if women leave medicine or they dont get promoted to leadership positions, Im afraid were at risk of losing future generations of women physicians.

Meanwhile, Jagsi hopes that this years negative impact could actually lead to a positive turning point.

A year ago, we created a curve depicting womens progress as department chairs and deans. Based on that, we drew a forecast, which shows that if we dont change the curve, it will be 50 years before we reach parity. And now, because of COVID, it looks like the curve will actually change for the worse.

Maybe that fact will be so worrisome that people will unite to push the curve toward equity more quickly, Jagsi says. Thats my hope.

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How COVID-19 threatens the careers of women in medicine - AAMC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those anchors are very important for us, he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finch Therapeutics Presents Data from Its Positive PRISM3 Trial of CP101 in Recurrent C. difficile Infection at Two Leading Medical Conferences -…

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Oct. 28, 2020 11:00 UTC

SOMERVILLE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc. (Finch), a clinical-stage microbiome drug development company, reported today the presentation of results from the positive PRISM3 trial of CP101 for the prevention of recurrent C. difficile infection (CDI) at the United European Gastroenterology Week (UEGW) and the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Annual Scientific Meeting, two leading gastroenterology conferences held virtually this month. The data presented expand on the positive topline results previously reported from PRISM3, a randomized, placebo-controlled, multi-center, Phase 2 trial, which demonstrated that CP101 met the primary efficacy endpoint with a statistically significant improvement in the prevention of recurrent CDI compared to placebo.

The presented PRISM3 results show that CP101 resulted in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the prevention of recurrent CDI when evaluated in a broad patient population, including participants enrolled after their first recurrence and participants enrolled with any guideline-approved CDI diagnostic method, said Colleen Kelly, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a Principal Investigator in the PRISM3 trial at the Lifespan Physician Group Gastroenterology. Demonstrating positive results in this broad population is exciting because it provides compelling evidence to support the potential use of CP101 early in the disease cycle and increases the generalizability of the results to real-world clinical practice.

Highlights of the PRISM3 results shared at UEGW and ACG virtual conferences include:

We are enthusiastic that the PRISM3 results demonstrate that CP101 has the potential to fulfill the need for an oral drug that breaks the cycle of CDI recurrence early and prevents the debilitating effects of recurrent CDI on patients lives, said Zain Kassam, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer at Finch. Leveraging CP101s Breakthrough Therapy designation, we look forward to continuing to engage with the FDA on the next steps necessary to bring CP101 to patients suffering from recurrent CDI.

About CP101

CP101 is an investigational, orally administered microbiome drug that Finch is developing for conditions linked to microbiome dysfunction. With 42 billion doses of antibiotics administered globally each year, resulting in widespread damage to the microbiome, research suggests that microbiome dysfunction is associated with the pathogenesis of a wide range of serious medical conditions. CP101 is designed to deliver complete microbiome communities in orally administered, enteric release capsules. CP101 is rigorously tested and manufactured under Good Manufacturing Practice conditions. CP101 is in late-stage clinical development for the prevention of recurrent C. difficile infection. Finch plans to deploy CP101 to other conditions linked to microbiome disruption, starting with the evaluation of CP101 as a treatment for chronic hepatitis B.

About Finch Therapeutics

Finch Therapeutics is developing novel microbiome drugs to serve patients with serious unmet medical needs. Finchs Human-First Discovery platform enables reverse translation from clinical data to engineer the composition of the microbiome based on disease-modifying mechanisms. Finchs platform uniquely enables development of both complete microbiome communities and rationally selected consortia to restore microbiome functionality and resolve conditions driven by dysbiosis, or disruption of the microbiome. Finchs lead candidate CP101 is an investigational, orally administered microbiome drug with Fast Track and Breakthrough Therapy designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of recurrent C. difficile infection. Finch is also developing FIN-211 for the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder and CP101 for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. Finch has a strategic partnership with Takeda Pharmaceuticals focused on the development of microbiome drugs for inflammatory bowel diseases.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201028005138/en/

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Finch Therapeutics Presents Data from Its Positive PRISM3 Trial of CP101 in Recurrent C. difficile Infection at Two Leading Medical Conferences -...

COVID proves better pay and housing are quickest ways to better health – Houston Chronicle

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The best way to maximize your chances of surviving COVID-19 without hospitalization is to be healthy when you contract it.

Pre-existing conditions such as respiratory problems, vascular disease, obesity, and diabetes exacerbate the coronavirus health effects. Most of us know that so-called comorbidities raise the odds a person will end up hospitalized by the disease. And most of those conditions are preventable.

Personal fitness influences how well we tolerate most illnesses and injuries. Employers who provide health insurance know they can bring down costs by encouraging workers to take better care of themselves. But the best way to do that is not how most people might assume.

The land of the free is the land of the unhealthy, at least when compared to other societies with similar resources. The latest Global Burden of Disease Study reveals a nation where young children die at shockingly high rates, life expectancy is short, and disease-free years are too few.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Hospitals gouge private health insurance to care for others

The mortality rate for mothers and infants in the United States is 6.5 per 1,000 births, compared to 4.9 in other wealthy countries. The number of years the average American lives in good health is 65.5 and getting shorter due to rising rates of obesity and heart disease. The average Japanese enjoys 20 additional good years.

While other countries have seen dramatic increases in life expectancy, Americans have seen no improvement in a decade.

Americans made up more than half of the worlds overdose deaths in 2019. U.S. doctors over-prescribe opioids, rehab programs do not use the best methods, and street drugs are laced with dangerous additives. But drug abuse and chronic disease are symptoms of larger problems that go beyond medical intervention.

Research has shown that social, economic and behavioral factors are far more critical than medical conditions in determining our quality and length of life, something reinforced by the latest Global Burden of Disease Study published in The Lancet medical journal this month.

An exclusive focus on health care is a mistake, the editors wrote. Health is created from a broader prospectus that includes the quality of education (primary to tertiary), economic growth, gender equality, and migration policy.

Limited access to fresh food, smoking and drugs, moldy housing and lack of transportation damage more peoples health than genetics. Life expectancies in Texass wealthiest census tracts are 17 years longer than those in the most impoverished areas, the National Center for Health Statistics found.

Research shows 80 percent to 90 percent of a persons health is determined by non-medical factors.

More than 88 percent of companies that employ more than 200 workers include so-called wellness programs with their health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. But since most of the incentives focus on medical conditions, not social issues, wellness programs have shown limited benefits, according to most studies.

The problem is health insurers and employers are reluctant to address the so-called social determinants of health. They do not want to pay higher wages, remediate mold in homes, cover taxi fare to quality grocery stores, subsidize rent in better neighborhoods or provide access to better schools.

The Houston-based Episcopal Health Foundation gave $2.6 million to the Dell Medical School in Austin to research how non-medical issues affect public health in Texas. Experts hope to determine exactly how best to save money on health spending by raising living standards so that everyone benefits.

Of all the factors that determine whether or not a person or population is healthy, medical care is actually a pretty small piece, Elena Marks, the foundations CEO, told a Rice University webinar.

In 2018, the U.S. spent $3.5 trillion on health care; only 2.6 percent was spent on social factors, according to federal data. European countries that spend twice as much on social services have far healthier populations.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: The economy will recover faster if Texans contain COVID

The consequences for employer-based health programs could be dramatic. Could paying higher wages to improve a workers living standard result in lower health care costs and less missed work? Might a weekly farmers market with cooking lessons lead to fewer hospitalizations and money saved?

When it comes to COVID-19, social factors are driving the pandemic, with poor people who live in substandard housing without access to healthy food and routine health care getting the sickest. If we address those issues beforehand, no pandemic or any other crisis would cause as much economic damage.

We saw this during Hurricane Harvey and now were seeing it during COVID. Its time to do something about it, Marks said.

Ultimately, the best way to improve our collective health is to lift people out of poverty, provide them with a quality education and ensure an equitable stake in the nations health. Prevention is always cheaper than a cure.

Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com

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COVID proves better pay and housing are quickest ways to better health - Houston Chronicle

Renown, UNR Med working to finalize new ‘destination health’ partnership – Northern Nevada Business Weekly

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RENO, Nev. For 50 years, Renown Health and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine have had a long history of working together to improve healthcare in Northern Nevada.

This year, the notorious 2020, when an unprecedented pandemic hit every corner of the globe and caused more than 1 million deaths, Renown and UNR Med recognized they could better serve Reno-Sparks if they did more than occasionally collaborate.

Were now at a pivotal point where we believe we could advance the work that were doing together, Dr. Anthony Slonim, CEO of Renown, said in a phone interview with the NNBW. And well be better if we advance it together for the benefit of the community.

With that, in late August, Renown Health and UNR Med announced their intent to develop a long-term partnership that both entities say will greatly enhance the states medical education system while expanding clinical research capacity across greater Northern Nevada.

Our strategic plan that we created with our board calls into execution the focus on what were calling destination health programming, Slonim explained. We want to be the place where through amazing clinical care and service we are keeping people who need to be cared for in our community, right at home.

And you cant do that if you dont have a medical school with you. You have to have the research and the training capabilities because it makes everybody on the team better. It allows you to recruit better, it allows you to educate better. It raises the bar for everybody.

Slonim pointed to Renown and UNR Meds previous collaboration in pediatrics as an example of what high-level partnerships can produce. UNR Med doctors and residents provide care in general pediatrics (and a host of other services) at Renown Childrens Hospital, which opened in 2009, the first and only childrens hospital in the region.

Were doing the same thing in other services cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience care as we continue to demonstrate that world-class kind of care, Slonim noted.

Bringing those high-level services will not be possible without the school of medicine developing new residency training programs, fellowships and clinical research studies, said UNR Med Dean Dr. Thomas Schwenk andaccess to Renowns large health system would enable UNR Med to do just that.

It opens a host of possibilities, he told the NNBW. And all of those feed back to increasing the access to care and increasing the high-level nature (of care) and to develop care that does not now exist in the community.

Both organizations in early September executed a Letter of Intent for their partnership, said Schwenk, who later presented it to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) Board of Regents, which gave its stamp of approval.

Currently, the entities are in a due diligence phase of laying out and examining the partnerships governances, financial flow and operational structure, Schwenk said, as well as culture, employment, human resources and other details.

Once ironed out, a final agreement between UNR Med and Renown will be taken to their boards for approval in December or January.

If approved, implementation details would be fine-tuned through the first half of 2021, with the goal of officially launching a partnership by July 1, Schwenk he said.

Were creating a new entity, he said. Its not just us joining Renown or Renown joining the school. Its actually a new integration of what you might call an academic health system or a teaching-and-research health system. What we get to do, if this goes through, is have a much larger influence on the care and the community.

The integration, Schwenk said, would make Reno-Sparks an even more attractive area to companies considering relocating or expanding to the region.

This is what new businesses want to see when they move into the community, and this is what employees want to see when they are recruited to the community, he said. And so I think, ultimately, this is about the quality of life, the quality of the business climate, and the overall economic success of the community. And healthcare is a major driver of that.

According to Renown and UNR Med, their planned integration resembles other partnerships such as Yale New Haven Health System, Penn Medicine, RWJ-Barnabas-Rutgers and the Washington University-Barnes Jewish Health System in St. Louis.

I think the world of healthcare now is built on collaboration and partnership to improve the way that weve historically delivered on care, Slonim said. So, were very excited to partner with the medical school. We think it will not only make the school better, it will make Renown better. And together, we think we can bring a higher level of care to the community as we move forward.

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Renown, UNR Med working to finalize new 'destination health' partnership - Northern Nevada Business Weekly

Abstracts now accepted for Medical Education Research and Innovation Conference – The South End

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The Wayne State University School of Medicine will hold its second annual Medical Education Research and Innovation Conference on Dec. 8 to showcase completed and in-progress medical education research and innovation projects conducted by students, residents, staff and faculty.

Last years inaugural conference saw more than 80 posters and oral presentations submitted, said Jason Booza, Ph.D., assistant dean of Continuous Quality Improvement and Compliance.

The virtual conference will take place from 2 to 6 p.m.

Featured speakers include Holly Gooding, M.D., associate professor of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine and co-director of the Harvard Macy Program for Educators in the Health Professions; and Anna Cianciolo, Ph.D., associate professor of Medical Education at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and editor in chief of Teaching and Learning in Medicine.

Submit abstracts for a completed or in-progress project using the links below:

Medical Education Research:Research related to the learning process that occurs within a medical education setting. Topics include, but are not limited to, learner characteristics, optimizing the learning process, assessment and evaluation, professional development, instruction design, technology in the learning environment and wellbeing. Research at any level (undergraduate, graduate, practitioner, faculty) of medical education is welcome. Medical education research can also include quality improvement projects.

Medical Education Innovation: Innovative curricula that address a current issue within medical education. The innovation should be based on learning principles and be designed to meet a specific need. Examples include, but are not limited to, health and wellness, quality improvement, patient safety, interprofessional education and service learning. You can submit a project as Works in Progress," which includes research and innovation projects that are being developed or have yet to be completed. In place of results in the abstracts, please submit your analysis plan and lessons learned thus far.

To attend the conference, RSVP here.

Contact Dr. Booza @ jbooza@med.wayne.edu for additional information.

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Abstracts now accepted for Medical Education Research and Innovation Conference - The South End

Couples share heart disease risk factors and behaviors – Harvard Gazette

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Risk factors for heart health, such as smoking, unhealthy diets and minimal physical activity, may seem personal, but for people who are married or in a domestic partnership, the behavior patterns of one person may be strongly linked to the patterns of the other.

A new study led by investigators from Harvard-affiliatedBrigham and Womens Hospitalassessed cardiovascular risk factors and behaviors of more than 5,000 couples who took part in an employee wellness program offered by Quest Diagnostics. The team used several metrics to classify people as having ideal or non-ideal risk factors and behaviors, finding that in 79 percent of couples, both people fell into the non-ideal category for cardiovascular health, with most sharing unhealthy diets and getting inadequate exercise. The findings point out the potential importance of addressing healthy behaviors for both people in a relationship. Results are published inJAMA Network Open.

We know a lot about cardiovascular risk factors for individuals but not for couples, said corresponding authorSamia Mora of the Brigham Divisions of Preventive Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine. We expected to see some shared risk factors, but it was a surprise to see that the vast majority of couples were in a non-ideal category for overall cardiovascular health.

Mora and colleagues examined data from Quest Diagnostics, which offered a voluntary health assessment program to its employees. Researchers analyzed data from 5,364 couples (10,728 individuals) who joined the program between October 2014 and August 2015. The researchers determined whether each individual was in the ideal, intermediate, or poor category for each of the American Heart Association-defined Lifes Simple 7 (LS7) risk factors and behaviors. The LS7 include smoking status, body mass index, physical activity, healthy diet score, total cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose. The team also gave each participant an overall cardiovascular (CV) health score. Data were collected from questionnaires, examinations and laboratory tests.

When examined individually, more than half of the participants were in the ideal category for three LS7 risk factors and behaviors: smoking status (never smoked), total cholesterol (<200 mg/dL), and fasting glucose (<100 mg/dL, Table 2). But more than a quarter of the individuals were in the poor categories for BMI, physical activity, and CV health score. Only 12 percent of individuals were in the ideal category for CV health score.

Rather than thinking about interventions for individuals, it may be helpful to think about interventions for couples or whole families.

Samia Mora, Brigham and Women's Hospital

When both people in the couple were considered together, more than half of couples shared all LS7 risk factors and behaviors as well as CV health score.When one member of a couple was in the ideal category, the second member was more likely to be in the ideal category for all factors except for total cholesterol. But 79 percent of couples were both in the non-ideal category for CV health score, largely driven by unhealthy diet and inadequate exercise.

The team did find that when one partner had quit smoking, lost weight, increased their physical activity or improved their diet, the other partner was more likely to have done so. But over the five-year study period, the health of couples, risk factors and behavior patterns remained relatively unchanged overall. Apart from modest changes in blood pressure and fasting glucose, the team found no significant changes in factors.

The authors note that some of the data in the study comes from self-reporting, which can be inaccurate, and that the longest duration for follow up was five years. The study only examined data for employees who chose to participate in the companys wellness program, but it was a diverse population. The team found some variation by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location.

Our data suggest that risk factors and behaviors track together for couples, said Mora, who is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Rather than thinking about interventions for individuals, it may be helpful to think about interventions for couples or whole families. And its important for people to think about how their health and behaviors may influence the health of the person(s) they are living with. Improving our own health may help others.

Mora has served as a consultant for Quest Diagnostics for work outside the current study. Four co-authors are employees of Quest Diagnostics.

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Couples share heart disease risk factors and behaviors - Harvard Gazette

Tracking the Spread – Harvard Medical School

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

Recent U.S. outbreaks of COVID-19 have been detected following in-person attendance atfootball games, which have the potential to become super spreader events, according to research using artificial intelligence tools.

Using an AI-basedCOVID-19 Outbreak Detection Tool, researchers atMassachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School,Georgia Tech and Boston Medical Center noted that 17 of 33 NFL and NCAA games played by late September with fans in attendance were located in counties with rising COVID-19 cases at the time of the game.

Get more HMS news here

One of those games, the Denver Broncos vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Empower Field in Denver, took place on Sept. 27.

Our model indicated that the county where the game was played had a COVID-19 doubling time of two to three weeks and nearly 700 total new cases in the county during the week before the game was played, said Jagpreet Chhatwal, assistant professor of radiology at HMS and associate director of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment.

This example highlights how officials may use this tool to make informed decisions on the safety of future in-person attendance by taking into account both past week trends as well as predicted trends, Chhatwal said.

Because the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association have made the decision to play games amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers have extended the use of the COVID-19 Outbreak Detection Toolto incorporate NFL and NCAA football games. The model can help public officials and team owners in their decision-making regarding in-person attendance.

The tool provides predicted trends such asthe COVID-19 doubling time, or the number of days it takes for COVID-19 cases to double, andhow fast COVID-19 cases are increasing in counties with NFL or NCAA stadiums that have hosted games or might host games in the future.

The investigators will add information on the attendance numbers for each game, which can indicate the potential risk of infection spread in surrounding communities.

Public health officials can work alongside team executives to continuously assess the situation of the county where the games are being played, along with neighboring counties, to guide their decision-making with respect to when to allow fans back in the stadiums, whether to allow fans from other counties and states to attend and when to discontinue fan attendance, said Asmae Toumi, a data analyst at the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment.

Officials can also view the individual stadium capacity as well as the total stadium capacity of the county or state, which can inform decisions on how many fans can attend, Toumi said.

Collaborators include Zhaowei She, Zilong Wang and Turgay Ayer from Georgia Tech; Madeline Adee and Mary Ann Ladd from Mass General and Benjamin Linas from Boston Medical Center.

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Tracking the Spread - Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School Professor Lisa Iezzoni to speak at URI Oct. 27 on health care disparities and disability – URI Today

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KINGSTON, R.I. October 16, 2020 Lisa Iezzoni, M.D., a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, will speak Tuesday, Oct. 27, as part of the University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium, Challenging Expectations: Disability in the 21st Century.

Iezzoni, who is based at the Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, will give the online lecture, Healthcare Disparities for People with Disability at 7 p.m.

The link to the lecture can be found on the day of the event in the colloquium schedule, next to Iezzonis name. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Her early career focused on risk adjustment methods for costs and clinical outcomes and assessing quality of care. She wrote and edited Risk Adjustment for Measuring Health Care Outcomes, now in its fourth edition.

Iezzoni has conducted numerous studies for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health, the Medicare agency and private foundations. Since 1998, her research has focused on improving the experiences of and health care quality for adults with disabilities.

Her book, When Walking Fails, was published in 2003, and More Than Ramps: A Guide to Improving Health Care Quality and Access for People with Disabilities, co-authored with Bonnie L. ODay, appeared in 2006.

Iezzoni also spends much of her time advocating for people with disabilities. Representing the Boston Center for Independent Living, she chaired the Medical Diagnostic Equipment Accessibility Standards Advisory Committee for the U.S. Access Board from 2012 through 2013. Iezzoni is a member of the National Academy of Medicine in the National Academy of Sciences.

Gianna Carderelli, a University of Rhode public relations major and intern in its Department of Marketing and Communications, wrote this press release.

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Harvard Medical School Professor Lisa Iezzoni to speak at URI Oct. 27 on health care disparities and disability - URI Today

The Horror of Medical School Captured on Film – Medscape

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This Q&A has been edited for clarity.

What if the figurative terror faced by medical students was turned into literal, tangible horror?

Phillip Anjum, a third-year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio, wanted to find a new way to demonstrate the stress, anxiety, and isolation experienced by medical trainees. Drawing upon his background in film, he made History of Present Illness, a horror short that tackles med student burnout in a more visceral way.

We spoke with Anjum about what he hopes school administrators and others in medicine take from his project, as well as his experience of balancing filmmaking with becoming a doctor.

The first 2 years of medical school are rough. I don't think anyone has a smooth ride. I wanted to represent that in a way that was unique and also not in a way that is constantly sugarcoated by medical schools. I think all medical schools suggest that, when you come there, you are taken care of. You have your classmates and your advisors, and everyone is supporting you and you get through it. But when you actually get there, you realize that medical training in general is a very isolating experience.

I think there's no way that you can get around that, and I think the sooner that you realize that and develop ways to deal with the stress and anxiety, the sooner you can be successful in your training.

We all feel lonely. I think there's a lot of fear of physicians expressing their insecurities, expressing their shortcomings and saying, "I'm stressed. I'm depressed." I think I just wanted to get that out there through the film and say that everyone is struggling in some aspect. That's the biggest thing I wanted to capture.

Writer/director Phillip Anjum and actress Caitlin Wilson discuss a scene from the film.

Yes, that part always made me nervous! I think it's important to be critical of the administration, of your teachers, at times. I have had advisors who I love, people that I can talk to. That's not the point. The point is that especially with the COVID pandemic and with the ongoing protests there is definitely a feeling that support from the administration is lacking at certain times when we need it the most.

I wanted to make something that was critical and more than just saying something in an email. I think emails and words get brushed aside a lot more easily than a video piece that's speaking to someone emotionally. I wanted to say, "This is what it feels like. This is what it looks like when you're not there for a medical student."

I think, from the students, it's gotten pretty universal praise. Every single medical student or resident who has watched it has said that they have felt pretty similar at times. I've also gotten a lot of comments that every medical school seems to have a scary basement, which is a little bit unnerving...

In terms of the administration, I've kind of avoided spreading it too far, just because of the fear that it is critical. I've gotten a bit more measured responses from administration. I think there's a hesitancy from students to produce anything that's critical.

Medical schools could do a much better job of simply taking what the students say and then implementing that. I think a lot of our classmates feel that administration just doesn't listen. They say that they'll do something but then they don't actually do it. I would say more follow-through.

Actors Stephen Manos and Caitlin Wilson in a scene from History of Present Illness.

I do have a bigger project on the way. It's about the fourth year of medical school. It's almost the exact opposite of this short. History of Present Illness is a horror film. It's about feeling isolated. It's about feeling like you are on your own.

This other film, tentatively called A Place For Us, is about two medical students who are about to graduate. They're looking back on the people and the doctors that they have become. That one is more of a drama. It comes from a place of strength. It's meant to be a foil to History of Present Illness.

I think, for all doctors and providers, it's so much more important nowadays to have an awareness of your media presence. People need to be aware of how you can use a photo on Instagram or a TikTok video to your advantage in terms of providing clinical care, clinical information, and also just good PR. I mean, we've seen throughout this pandemic I won't go into specifics about anything political but there's definitely been a lot of back-and-forth from providers and non-providers in terms of advice about the coronavirus. I think that with better PR and better communication, you can swing what people listen to.

I feel like I'm urged to choose something medical, but... I'd recommend two films that really influenced me. One is Moonlight, which I really just love. In general, whether you're a provider or just whoever you are, I recommend that movie. It covers a lot of topics, like racial disparities, disadvantaged populations, healthcare insecurity, drugs, and just everything. It's a beautiful film.

Speaking of beautiful, the other one that I really love is the movie Biutiful. Both of those films are about men who struggle with who they are and what they want to do with their lives. I think that's something that speaks to me.

Editor's note: History of Present Illness was first published on in-Training.

Ryan Syrek, MA, is the section editor for medical student and resident content at Medscape.

Phillip Anjum is a third-year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He enjoys making films and spending time with his wife.

For more news follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube

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The Horror of Medical School Captured on Film - Medscape

Dan River High School student nominated for Congress of Future Medical Leaders – Chatham Star-Tribune

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KEELING Keeling girl Adrien Scott, a freshman at Dan River High School, is a delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders to be held Nov. 21 and 22.

The Congress is an honors-only program for high school students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The purpose of this event is to honor, inspire, motivate and direct the top students in the country interested in these careers, to stay true to their dream and, after the event, to provide a path, plan and resources to help them reach their goal.

Scott's nomination was signed by Dr. Mario Capecchi, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and the Science Director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists to represent Dan River High School based on her academic achievement, leadership potential and determination to serve humanity in the field of medicine.

During the three-day Congress, Scott will join students from across the country and hear Nobel Laureates and National Medal of Science Winners talk about leading medical research, be given advice from Ivy League and top medical school deans on what to expect in medical school, witness stories told by patients who are living medical miracles, be inspired by fellow teen medical science prodigies and learn about cutting-edge advances and the future in medicine and medical technology.

This is a crucial time in America when more doctors and medical scientists who are prepared for a future that is changing exponentially are needed.

The Academy offers free services and programs to students who want to become physicians or go into medical science. Some of the services and programs the Academy offers are online social networks through which future doctors and medical scientists can communicate, opportunities for students to be guided and mentored by physicians and medical students and communications for parents and students on college acceptance and finances, skills acquisition, internships, career guidance and much more.

The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists was founded on the belief that prospective medical talent should be identified at the earliest possible age and help these students acquire the necessary experience and skills to take them to the doorstep of this vital career.

Based in Washington, D.C., and with offices in Boston, the Academy was chartered as a nonpartisan, taxpaying institution to help address this crisis by working to identify, encourage and mentor students who wish to devote their lives to the service of humanity as physicians and medical scientists.

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Dan River High School student nominated for Congress of Future Medical Leaders - Chatham Star-Tribune

Birth of Baby Brother Ignites Medical Student’s Passion To Heal – UNLV NewsCenter

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Now in her second year at the UNLV School of Medicine, Paris Collier vividly remembers a day when she was just 4 years old, a day that started her on the path to becoming a physician.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, attempting to get a better look. My brother lay in his incubator, no bigger than my fathers hand, with tubes and wires covering his tiny body, she said. While the scene might create unease for most, for the first time since his birth, I felt a sense of relief. For weeks, my brother had been in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) fighting for his life as my family and I worried at home. Even at such a young age, I understood the situation was dire. This was the first moment I ever got to lay eyes on my newborn brother.

Though children were not allowed in the NICU, a nurse had agreed to let the little girl look at her brother for five minutes through a window.

My brother was born at just 27 weeks and spent two months confined to the NICU. I was so proud to be a big sister, but I felt helpless and scared. Will my brother live? Why are my parents crying? Why cant he breathe on his own? I wanted to know why and I wanted to help. Reflecting now, it was this moment that set me on a journey to an interest in medicine.

Today, her brother William, who was born with a number of allergies and asthma, is in college. While Collier describes him as a wonderful young man, she said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, he must be especially careful because of his underlying health conditions. He and my mom are staying home quite a bit.

It wasnt just that brief glimpse of her brother in the NICU that steered her toward a career in medicine. Going to appointment after appointment with him made me want to learn about the human body. I watched as a doctor could calm my mothers nerves or make my brother smile. I could feel the care and concern the physicians had, not only for the patient, but for our entire family. Throughout my schooling, I frequently pursued science opportunities to increase my knowledge. This ultimately led me to want to pursue a career in medicine.

A magna cum laude graduate of UNR, Collier majored in both biology and Spanish. She credits her love for the foreign language to both her grandfather and to teachers she had in grades K-12. My grandfather speaks Spanish fluently and was even a Spanish teacher before becoming a lawyer. I was able to start picking up the language from a young age and continued to study it in school. I saw an opportunity to serve a greater community by learning another language. I hope that my experience with the language and culture will help me to be a better physician for my patients.

During her sophomore year of college, Collier studied abroad in Costa Rica, shadowing at a local hospital in the town of San Ramon. While assisting with physical therapy exercises, watching live births, and observing several different surgical specialties, she was able to directly interact with patients and local health care workers. My experience was amazing, to say the least.

That experience in Costa Rica, which offers universal health care to its citizens, reinforced her belief that health care should be a right. I was privileged to have access to health care throughout my life, but for some people in our country that is not the case. I hope that as a future physician I can use my voice, my vote, and my platform to help move our health care system towards a better future.

Collier her mother is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company and her father works in the tech industry says she chose to attend the UNLV School of Medicine because she connected with the mission statement of the school. Nevada has been my home for many years and the UNLV School of Medicine is fiercely devoted to serving the state and especially underrepresented groups.

Though she misses much of the in-person study at the medical school because of COVID-19, Collier said the emphasis on virtual technology could translate to better care for patients. I think one positive thing that may come out of this pandemic is an emphasis on telemedicine. This can make providers more accessible to their patients. Transportation to appointments can be a huge barrier for patients. In the future, more providers will now be able to assess patients without having them come in person.

The emphasis on volunteer work during medical school is something Collier has long embraced. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, she was very active at Squires Elementary School, helping students with homework and art and outdoor activities. Volunteering at Squires was always the best part of my week. Her volunteerism was particularly on display during her undergraduate years, as she helped raise $60,000 for Renown Hospital in Reno the hospital she credits with saving her brothers life by organizing dance marathon fundraisers.

Collier, who was elected treasurer of her medical school class, is frequently asked how she was named Paris.

My parents said they wanted to give me a somewhat unique name. They dreamed of getting to travel the world someday. They got the idea to look at an atlas for names. They fell in love with the name Paris and the rest was history.

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Birth of Baby Brother Ignites Medical Student's Passion To Heal - UNLV NewsCenter

Projections Review: Psychiatry in Extremis – The Wall Street Journal

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For patients in the throes of serious mental illnessand for their familieslife can be hard, at times agonizing. Clinical care givers, repeatedly called on to provide insight and offer compassion, face their own wrenching difficulties. And yet the challenge of caring for the mentally ill can also be a call to action. So it was for Karl Deisseroth, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Stanford University whose memoir, Projections (Random House, 231 pages, $28), describes his experience as a clinician and researcher, offering up case studies from his practice and exploring the biological underpinnings of his patients conditions.

Dr. Deisseroth tells us that he entered medical school planning to become a neurosurgeon but found himself unexpectedly captivated by his student psychiatry rotation, drawn both to the human drama and to the scientific imperative to understand the mechanistic basis of psychological dysfunction. For many patients, he soon realized, nobody could give answers to the simplest questions about what their disease really was, in a physical sense, or why this person was the one suffering, or how such a strange and terrible state had come to be part of the human experience.

On his worst days, he says, he wanted to leave medicine entirely, unable to bear the extremes of suffering he was encountering. It is not just the magnitude of the pain but also its incessancethe unrelenting descent into the abyss, day after day, year after year. Yet on balance he found engaging with patients both intriguing and essential. In contrast to ailments like a fractured leg or a badly pumping heart, he notes, psychiatric problems cant be directly monitored. Its the brains hidden communication process, its internal voice, that struggles, he writes. There is nothing to measure except words, the patients communications, and our own.

At times, the words can be revealing. Winnie, an intellectual property lawyer, tells her doctors that she had started worrying about the information vampires around her and has taken to lining her room with metal to prevent a neighbor from accessing her thoughts. Her condition suggests the onset of schizophrenia. Then theres Mr. N., a dour older patient who can barely muster any words at all and evinces a lack of interest in his own granddaughter. These symptoms may point to the anhedonia of depression,the inability to find reward or motivation in lifes natural joys. Patients with a slippery condition called borderline personality disorder, we learn, are often emotionally manipulative and engage, entwine, and draw in others, as least for a time. Meanwhile, patients with autism, Dr. Deisseroth explains, struggle with the rate of information flow, a difficulty that complicates the many social interactions that are rich in data and require rapid processing.

Dr. Deisseroth is best known in scientific circles as a pioneer of optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers studying so-called model organisms (like fish or mice) to examine how particular neurons contribute to complex behaviors. First, through genetic engineering, specific brain cells are made responsive to light. Then scientists activate the cells using fiber-optic lasers threaded into the recesses of a living brain. Applying this approach in mice, for instance, researchers have shown that distinct groups of neurons are responsible for different components of anxiety, like rapid breathing and risk avoidance. For the author, these studies suggest a way to think about the precise separability of one element of an inner state.

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Projections Review: Psychiatry in Extremis - The Wall Street Journal

New nonprofit medical system in the works for NWA – Axios

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An aerial view of Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. Photo courtesy of Washington Regional Medical System

The Alice L. Walton Foundation and Washington Regional Medical System will create a new nonprofit medical system focused on training future doctors, the two organizations announced Monday.

Why it matters: NWA residents are leaving the area for specialty health care because the population is increasing faster than the area can get doctors, such as cardiologists, oncologists and neurologists.

Context: This was born out of the partnership announced last summer between the Alice L. Walton Foundation and Cleveland Clinic to assess specialty health care in NWA.

The big picture: Washington Regional wants to become a regional academic health system focused on training doctors beyond general medicine, president and CEO Larry Shackelford tells Axios.

Between the lines: A lot of the specifics are TBD. It's too early to say for sure whether this means new construction, such as a hospital or clinics, Shackelford says.

What's next: The foundation and Washington Regional will develop operational plans by the end of this year.

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Confronting race in diagnosis: Medical students call for reexamining how kidney function is estimated – AAMC

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Melanie Hoenig, MD, a nephrologist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, remembers the first time she seriously questioned the use of a patients race in the common clinical algorithm that helps doctors determine kidney function.

It was the first week of her renal pathophysiology class in 2015, and she was teaching her first-year medical students about the estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR). She explained its a common clinical formula that incorporates a patients sex, age, and race to approximate how well the kidneys function.

Cameron Nutt, a first-year student at the time, asked why the formula adjusted for race in a way that can make kidney function appear better than it actually is for Black people, who are at greatest risk for kidney disease of any racial group. He and two other students, Danika Barry and Leo Eisenstein, wondered about the use of a formula that made biological assumptions about race, which is widely recognized as a social construct.

These questions gave Hoenig pause. Why did they correct for race? What should they do if the patient is multiracial? And why were they using a formula that assumes better kidney function in a population group that disproportionately experiences kidney failure?

I think its really important to take a step back from the way we always do things and listen to our students.

Melanie Hoenig, MD, associate professor, Harvard Medical School, and a nephrologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

These are questions that medical students, faculty members, and clinicians at academic medical centers across the country have increasingly been asking as systemic racism has gained attention from institutional leaders.

And even as some experts have spoken out against the use of race in estimated GFR and other clinical algorithms for years, medical students have proven to be a powerful force in bringing about change recently.

I think its really important to take a step back from the way we always do things and listen to our students, Hoenig says. Having students ask probing questions makes me a better everything better clinician, human, mother, teacher, and so on.

The formula for estimating GFR now used by most laboratories was developed by a group of physicians and researchers in 1999 based on observations from a study that included 1,304 White people and 197 Black people. The researchers found that, on average, the measured GFR of study subjects who were identified as Black was higher than other groups GFR, which the researchers took to mean that the formula underestimated the level of kidney function in Black people. So, they added a race correction that assumes Black patients have a higher estimated GFR than the formula would suggest. The formula was updated a decade later in a project that looked at 10 studies that included 8,254 people, and it was further validated in 16 studies that included 3,896 people. The researchers were unable to explain the reason for the differences in kidney function between Black and non-Black people. Some researchers said the underestimation of GFR in Black people could be because they believed they have higher muscle mass.

Critics of the use of race in the formula at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine argue that muscle mass can vary widely among individuals within the same race; the assumption that Black people are biologically different from people of other races is not backed by evidence and reinforces erroneous assumptions; to categorize people as either Black or not-Black fails to account for the diversity of the patient population; and the formula can lead to overestimation of kidney function for a Black patient, potentially delaying care.

The implicit acceptance of GFR race correction reinforces antiquated colonial myths that there is something fundamentally different between races, wrote four physicians in an opinion for the San Francisco Examiner. These are the same fallacious narratives that have been invoked throughout history to justify horrendous acts such as slavery and indigenous genocide, on the scientific basis that the persecuted race was biologically inferior to whites.

But some nephrologists, including the lead researcher on the development of the formula, Andrew Levey, MD, caution against removing race from the equation before more extensive research is done because it could lead to unintended consequences.

All of us should be asking what are the ultimate questions we all care about: Why are there disparities in care? How can we do a better job to make sure that every patient that is in front of us gets the best care?

Lesley Inker, MD, MS, an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine

Some have proposed eliminating the race coefficient, but this would induce a systematic underestimation of measured GFR in blacks, with potential unintended consequences at the individual and population levels, Levey and other physicians wrote in an article published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology in August. We propose a more cautious approach that maintains and improves accuracy of GFR estimates and avoids disadvantaging any racial group.

These unintended consequences could include unnecessarily discontinuing medications such as metformin, an oral diabetes medication, which could lead to prescribing more expensive interventions with potential side effects, such as insulin, says Lesley Inker, MD, MS, an associate professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston and an author of the article.

She and other researchers have been working for years on developing an alternative way of estimating GFR that does not include demographics and are analyzing the implications of eliminating race from the formula.

All of us should be asking what are the ultimate questions we all care about: Why are there disparities in care? How can we do a better job to make sure that every patient that is in front of us gets the best care? Inker says.

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) announced in July that they would form a joint task force to study and make recommendations on the use of race in GFR estimation, with initial recommendations expected later this year.

Black people are three times more likely than non-Hispanic white people to experience kidney failure and are less likely to be identified as kidney-transplant candidates, according to the NKF and ASN. They noted that the current formula is widely accepted and provides reliable and accurate information on kidney function but also that race is a social rather than a biological construct, and the inclusion of race in the formula ignores diversity within racial groups.

Because of the complexity, its a discussion thats been around for quite some time, says Tod Ibrahim, executive vice president of the ASN. In 2020, with the twin challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recognition or willingness as a country to really confront systemic racism, it became clear we needed to accelerate that discussion.

Ibrahim says the task force will rely on expert testimony and will seek to learn from academic institutions that have already made the move to eliminate race from GFR estimation.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston officially removed the use of race in estimation of GFR in 2017. Around this time, students at several other universities started the many-months process of lobbying for the change.

At the University of Washington (UW), questions from medical students inspired the creation of a working group that included the students and nephrologists as well as perspectives from social scientists and other interested groups. After a process that stretched over two years, the university dropped race from its estimated GFR equation on June 1, 2020.

One of the joys of working at an academic medical center is seeing generations of people that interface with the academic medical center and bring in fresh ideas bring in a fresh set of eyes to look at old problems, says Rajnish Mehrotra, MD, MS, interim head of the Division of Nephrology at UW and the editor-in-chief of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. It keeps us on our toes.

While many medical schools have historically been hierarchical, a culture shift seems to be occurring that has inspired medical students to challenge the status quo, according to Oluwaferanmi Okanlami, MD, MS, an assistant professor of family medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and urology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

The culture and the climate of when I was a student didnt really give room for questioning, says Okanlami, who has been an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. We were meant to assume what we were being taught is true [now,] people feel more empowered to assert their own truth and question others.

One of the joys of working at an academic medical center is seeing generations of people that interface with the academic medical center and bring in fresh ideas bring in a fresh set of eyes to look at old problems. It keeps us on our toes.

Rajnish Mehrotra, MD, MS, interim head of the Division of Nephrology at UW and the editor-in-chief of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

Karampreet Peety Kaur, now a fourth-year medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, was one of the students who took on the initiative to create change. Kaurs effort began with doing her research. She and other students reached out to the students at Harvard who had already successfully removed race from the formula at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and read up on the related literature.

We wanted to make sure we were thinking about race in the right way, Kaur says. "The scientific literature shows that race is a social construct rather than a biologic variable that reflects genetic differences ... and that fueled our questioning of the use of race.

Throughout the nearly two-year process, Kaur leaned on her own position as a student to pose questions and respectfully challenge the conventional thinking within the various departments.

The result: Vanderbilt removed race from the estimation this summer.

As medical students, our job is to be curious and to learn, Kaur says. By using that role to our advantage, we were able to have meaningful conversations with people who certainly know more about the kidney than we do.

While the use of race in the estimated GFR has gained national attention, it is not the only clinical algorithm that incorporates race.

Darshali Vyas, MD, a second-year resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, worked with two other physicians to assess more than a dozen examples of algorithms that incorporate the patients race and potentially direct health care resources away from people of color.

Vyas and the others identified potential inequities in algorithms that estimate risk for heart failure, of complications for vaginal birth after a cesarean section, and of complications and death in cardiac surgeries, among others. In each of these cases, Vyas found that the algorithms had the potential to steer people of color away from care, whether it be because their risk for heart failure was underestimated or the risk of complications from surgery were overestimated.

The article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, garnered national attention and prompted the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee to call on medical professional associations to issue new guidance that corrects misuse of race in clinical algorithms. Already, the NIH Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network, which provides the calculator to estimate the risks of vaginal birth after a cesarean section, has begun to develop a new calculator that doesnt include race.

Its important that the next steps involve policy change, Vyas says. I think that will in many cases require re-approaching the evidence and being open to creating new tools and amending tools that might have been in place for a long time.

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Confronting race in diagnosis: Medical students call for reexamining how kidney function is estimated - AAMC

The MCAT: What aspiring medical students should know – Study International News

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According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the number of students applying to enter medical school in 2021 is up 17% from last year. Most are motivated to join the field that is currently at the forefront of creating solutions for COVID-associated challenges.

At Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, applications for admission to the class of 2025 are up more than 35% compared to the same time last year. At Boston University School of Medicine, theyve risen by 26%. And at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, admissions officers have seen applications increase by 27%, reports the AAMC.

In fact, nearly two dozen medical schools have seen applications jump by at least 25% this year, according to AAMC data. So far, there are more than 7,500 additional applicants nationwide, according to data from the AMCAS. Thats an increase of nearly 17%.

Medical school aspirants all over the world are witnessing the challenges being faced by healthcare workers and the suffering of those infected. Those with a lifelong passion for the field have been inspired by the heroism and are ready to take the leap and get involved.The first step to do so usually involves a standardised exam.

Third year medical students at The Gordon Center for Research In Medical Education, University of Miami, attend a class where they work with Harvey, the cardiopulmonary patient simulator. Source: Joe Raedle / Getty Images / AFP

For medical admissions, it is the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) a multiple-choice, computer-based exam that is a prerequisite for admission to medical schools across the US and Canada. Every year, over 85,000 sit for the exam.

The MCAT is developed and administered by the AAMCand serves as a tool for medical schools to compare qualifications and determine the preparedness of a candidate for over 90 years. Scores are typically assessed alongside academic records and supporting materials.

The exam is broken down into four sections: Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems (95 minutes), Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (90 minutes), Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems (95 minutes) and Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior (95 minutes). Applicants can expect to spend over 7.5 hours taking the MCAT, with optional breaks scheduled in between.

The MCAT is designed to test students in general chemistry, organic chemistry, general biology, biochemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. A high score in the MCAT is crucial to stand out in a competitive applicant.

The test is structured in a way that tests an applicants skills and critical analysis and reasoning as well. Applicants will need to know what they are in for before studying for the test itself and copious amounts of preparation is key to achieving an above-average score.

When it comes to scoring, it is important to target your goals based on which medical schools you are planning on applying to. Each MCAT section is scored from 118 to 132, with the mean and median at 125. A total score ranges from 472 and 528, with the mean and median at 500. Results are rendered 30 to 35 days post-exam.

The top 10% often achieve a score between 514 and 528. In order to secure a score in this range, participants should spend around three to five months preparing before their test date. Kaplan recommends between 300 and 500 hours of test prep to excel.

In 2021, there will be 31 MCAT testing dates between Jan. and Sept. On the week of Feb. 15, 2021, registration will officially be open for those who wish to take the test in Apr., May, or June.

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The MCAT: What aspiring medical students should know - Study International News

I Am Worth It: Why Thousands of Doctors in America Cant Get a Job – The New York Times

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The 61 percent match rate for international students may understate the problem, some experts say, because it does not account for medical students who receive no interview offers. With those students included, the match rate for international medical students may drop as low as 50 percent.

Residency program directors said that in recent years they had increased their efforts to look at candidates holistically. Straight As in college and perfect test scores does not a perfect applicant make, said Dr. Susana Morales, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Were interested in diversity of background, geographic diversity.

Some international medical students struggling to match have looked for alternative pathways into medical work. Arkansas and Missouri are among the states that offer assistant physician licenses for people who have completed their licensing exams but have not completed residency. Unmatched doctors, eager to use their clinical skills to help in the pandemic, said that they had found the opportunity to serve as assistant physicians particularly meaningful during the crisis.

After she failed a first attempt at a licensing exam, then passed on her second try, Dr. Faarina Khan, 30, found herself shut out of the matching process. Over the past five years, she has spent more than $30,000 in residency application fees. But with an assistant physician license, she was able to join the Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team in the spring, helping out in medical facilities where staff members had tested positive for coronavirus.

Hospitals need to realize that there are people in my position who could show up to work in the next hour if were called, Dr. Khan said. I didnt go to medical school to sit on the sidelines.

Legislation allowing for similar licensure is being considered in a handful of states. This position typically pays about $55,000 per year much less than a physician might earn which makes it challenging to pay off loans, but it allows for medical school graduates to keep up with their clinical training.

Dr. Cromblin, in Prattville, Ala., felt a similar urge to join the Covid-19 frontline in the spring. She had defaulted on a loan and had little in her bank account, but as soon as she received her stimulus check she bought a plane ticket to New York. She spent the month of April volunteering with the medical staff at Jamaica Medical Center in Queens.

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I Am Worth It: Why Thousands of Doctors in America Cant Get a Job - The New York Times

Leading Human Immunology and Infectious Disease Experts to Join UM School of Medicines Institute of Human Virology – Newswise

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Newswise Baltimore, MD, November 12, 2020 Robert C. Gallo, MD, the Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and Co-Founder & Director of the UMSOMs Institute of Human Virology (IHV), announced today that a team of leading scientists in human immunology, virology and stem cell biology, led by Lishan Su, PhD joined IHV on October 1 with academic appointments in the UMSOM Department of Pharmacology. As part of the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund (MEIF) to recruit top research faculty and a donation to IHV from the Charles Gordon Estate, Dr. Su has been named the Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor for HIV Research. Dr. Su will also head IHVs Division of Virology, Pathogenesis and Cancer.

The team will include a 12-person Laboratory of Viral Pathogenesis and Immunotherapy with two faculty appointments as well as major public and private sector research funding.

Dr. Gallo made the announcement in conjunction with University of Maryland School of Medicine Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA and Margaret M. McCarthy PhD, James & Carolyn Frenkil Deans Professor, Chair of the Department of Pharmacology.

Dr. Su is one of the most successful active basic researchers in America, said Dr. Gallo, who is also Co-Founder and Chairman of the International Scientific Leadership Board of the Global Virus Network. His research is groundbreaking, and we are so pleased to have him join IHV and lead our Division of Infectious Agents and Cancer, which under his sound leadership, will flourish.

Dr. McCarthy added:Dr. Sus continuing ground-breaking work in HIV and Hepatitis B will be a huge asset to the Department of Pharmacology. I look forward to working with him on advances that could open the door to new therapeutics.

Dr. Su was a faculty member in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill since 1996. He received his BS degree in Microbiology from Shandong University, his PhD degree in Virology from Harvard University, and did his post-doctoral training in Stem Cell Biology & Immunology at Stanford University. He worked as a senior research scientist at SyStemix/Sandoz (Novartis), focusing on HIV-1 pathogenesis and stem cell-based gene therapy in humanized mice and in patients.

I am excited to continue and expand my research programs at the Institute of Human Virology (IHV), said Dr. Su. I have long been impressed by the Baltimore-DC area's research centers with great basic and clinical research programs. IHV, co-founded and directed by Dr. Robert Gallo, is one of the first research institutes in the U.S. to integrate basic science, population studies and clinical trials to understanding and treating human virus-induced diseases. The Department of Pharmacology, headed by Dr. Margaret McCarthy, in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has been outstanding in developing novel therapeutics including breast cancer drugs. I look forward to working with my new colleagues at IHV and the Department of Pharmacology, and across the University of Maryland School of Medicine, to expand and translate my research programs to treating human inflammatory diseases including virus infection and cancer.

Dr. Su has extensive research experience in human immunology, virology and stem cell biology. Dr. Su made important contributions to several areas of human immunology and infectious diseases, particularly in studying human immuno-pathology of chronic virus infections. His lab at UNC-Chapel Hill published important findings in identifying novel virological and immunological mechanisms of HIV-1 pathogenesis. Furthermore, his lab established humanized mouse models with both human immune and human liver cells that support HCV or HBV infection, human immune responses and human liver fibrosis. In recent years, Dr. Sus group discovered, and focused on, the pDC-interferon axis in the immuno-pathogenesis and therapy of chronic HIV & HBV infections. The group also started investigation of the pDC-IFN axis in tumor microenvironments and in cancer immune therapy.

Im so pleased to welcome Dr. Su to our faculty. His work advances the mission of the School of Medicine, which is to provide important new knowledge in the area of immunology and chronic disease to discover new approaches for treatments, said Dean Reece, who is also University Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. Dr. Sus stellar research capabilities will provide vital opportunities for collaboration across our Institutes and Departments.

About the Institute of Human Virology

Formed in 1996 as a partnership between the State of Maryland, the City of Baltimore, the University System of Maryland and the University of Maryland Medical System, IHV is an institute of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is home to some of the most globally-recognized and world-renowned experts in all of virology. The IHV combines the disciplines of basic research, epidemiology and clinical research in a concerted effort to speed the discovery of diagnostics and therapeutics for a wide variety of chronic and deadly viral and immune disorders - most notably, HIV the virus that causes AIDS. For more information,www.ihv.organd follow us on Twitter @IHVmaryland.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

The University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 and is the first public medical school in the United States and continues today as an innovative leader in accelerating innovation and discovery in medicine. The School of Medicine is the founding school of the University of Maryland and is an integral part of the 11-campus University System of Maryland. Located on the University of Marylands Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine works closely with the University of Maryland Medical Center to provide a research-intensive, academic and clinically based education. With 43 academic departments, centers and institutes and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians and research scientists plus more than $400 million in extramural funding, the School is regarded as one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the U.S. with top-tier faculty and programs in cancer, brain science, surgery and transplantation, trauma and emergency medicine, vaccine development and human genomics, among other centers of excellence. The School is not only concerned with the health of the citizens of Maryland and the nation, but also has a global vision, with research and treatment facilities in more than 30 countries around the world. For more information, visitwww.medschool.umaryland.edu.

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Leading Human Immunology and Infectious Disease Experts to Join UM School of Medicines Institute of Human Virology - Newswise