In September 2009, the H1N1 swine flu had arrived in Portugal, Spain, and the UK, so France braced itself for cases of the infection.

Indeed, the number of people in France with respiratory symptoms soon increased. But they did not seem to have H1N1. France registered only sporadic positive tests for the new swine flu for most of that September and the first half of October. When H1N1 finally took hold in France, it was much later in the fall than expected. And that got scientists thinking: Why?

A flurry of papers since then have narrowed in on a beguiling hypothesis: The pandemic flu was deflected by the common cold.

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For many people, Covid-19 has revealed, in terrifying detail, the bizarre nature of viruses. Beneath the surface of our daily lives is a constantly shifting ecology of pathogens that often behave in unexpected ways. In France in 2009, infections by rhinoviruses, which usually cause colds, were spiking when H1N1 was expected to arrive, and when they petered out, the pandemic flu took off. Since then, studies have found that instances in which people have two viruses at once are rarer than chance alone would predict. That suggests that having one protects you from the other, at least for a while somehow.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, cases of many other respiratory infections have plummeted. This is likely a result of social distancing protocols, but its also possible that viral interference, the phenomenon of viruses affecting each other, may be involved. This insight could offer a head start on fighting future pandemics. With a deeper understanding of our viral ecology, what if, someday, we could use viruses against each other?

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In recent years scientists have developed a much more sophisticated picture of what bacteria do to us and for us. Theyve been exploring how our health is shaped by the mix of beneficial and dangerous bacteria in our microbiomes. Now viruses may merit a reexamination as well.

The idea that viruses might interfere with each other is old as old as vaccination. Edward Jenner, the English doctor who helped develop the practice of inoculating against smallpox in the 18th century, noticed it. Inoculation involved infecting a person with the milder cowpox virus. But if the patient had herpes, then it did not work as well. It was as if having two active infections at once altered how the immune system responded.

Over the next two centuries, scientists reported more and more situations in which it was clear that infections didnt operate in a vacuum. One 1950 review article even called it a well-known fact that having one virus could inhibit the growth of another.

The topic is not frequently discussed these days, though. Viral interference that protects people can be difficult to study and is generally overlooked, says Stacey Schultz-Cherry, an infectious disease researcher at St. Judes Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Thats because, she explains, situations in which simultaneous infections cause a worse prognosis are so much better known. The flu, for instance, is notorious for opening the door to bacterial pneumonia. Small studies from the beginning of the pandemic suggest having both the flu and Covid-19 is worse than having either alone.

But the worst-case scenarios might mask something profound about what often happens as our immune systems encounter viruses all day, every day, says Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens Hospital. Viral infections may actually protect people from other viral infections or bacterial infections by stimulating immune responses, by keeping our innate immune system on its toes all the time, with these constant little pushes and nudges, he says. They are like training for us, he suggests.

Adaptive immune defenses target specific pathogens, and these are what protect us after weve been vaccinated. But innate immunity is more all-purpose. After studying the H1N1 flu, Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues released a paper in October suggesting that once the innate immune system is activated by one pathogen, the body can repel another invader.

To model what might have been happening during the swine flu pandemic, the researchers grew human airway tissue in the lab and infected it with rhinovirus. Then, three days later, they gave it the H1N1 flu. They were intrigued to see that the flu virus just fizzled out, and they determined that the rhinovirus had switched on a number of genes that produce innate immune proteins. Suspecting that molecular messengers called interferons had flipped those switches, they treated the tissues with a drug that blocked interferons and ran the experiment again. Lo and behold, the influenza grows just fine, says Foxman. Interferons produced to fight the rhinovirus had been beating back the flu.

A number of viruses trigger the interferon response, and its possible that any of them could make the body put up stiff resistance to a new infection for some period of time. For instance, the team didnt test whether having the flu first would stop a rhinovirus in its tracks, but its plausible, says Foxman. That might explain why flus and colds have alternating peaks every year. There are a lot of reasons why one virus might take center stage over others, including human behavior, school schedules, and climate. But you really wonder if viral interference is one missing piece of that equation, Foxman says.

In the current pandemic, the same questions are at play. While social distancing and masks are reducing the incidence of seasonal flu, perhaps the prevalence of Covid-19 is cutting it down further. Or, says Schultz-Cherry, maybe the flu would have slowed down Covid-19. Theyre questions that can only be answered with further research, but they are worth asking.

Because the new research demonstrates how one infection can stop another, it hints at the possibility of unusual new therapies somewhere down the road. One can imagine viruses engineered to provoke just enough of a response to protect us against more dangerous things for, say, the next week a benign infection to block an immediate threat. On a more practical level, says Schultz-Cherry, a protective interferon response might someday be generated in just the right places in the body by something like a nasal mist. For people at high risk, interference might provide a shield.

On the larger scale, these immune responses are the result of eons of coevolution between humans and viruses. Is it possible that after our long dance with these self-replicating snippets of genetic code, there are viruses that do us more good than harm? Mina suspects that medical researchs focus on the negative outcomes of viral infections may have blinded us to that reality.

We miss these beautiful interactions that probably, evolutionarily, are completely working for and with us as humans, and not against us, he continued. The microbiome is a great example. . . . We saw bacteria everywhere and thought, maybe theyre good. Turns out theyre essential.

Veronique Greenwood is a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and National Geographic, among other publications. This article was originally published by The Boston Globe.

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A viral mystery: Can one infection prevent another? - STAT - STAT

The CUNY School of Medicine is an expansion of City College's Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, which was founded in 1973.The medical school houses a novel 7-year BS/MD program and one of the oldest physician assistant programs in the US. It is the only school in the US that has eliminated the MCAT as a barrier to access to medical careers and integrates medical education within the undergraduate curriculum. It is the only public medical school in Manhattan and is known for producing excellent and diverse health professionals who are leaders in providing primary care and serving in health professional shortage areas.

"The CUNY School of Medicine at City College is one of our great contributions to New York society and I am thrilled that it is poised to benefit from the visionary leadership of Carmen Green," said Dr. Vincent Boudreau, president of The City College. "Dr. Green comes at a pivotal time in our national deliberations about public health and the need to serve the whole people. Her background positions the School of Medicine to be a critical voice in that conversation."

Green joins CSOM from Michigan Medicine, the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, one of the world's premier research universities with 19 schools and colleges nationally ranked for excellence in education, research, and clinical care. Green, tenured at U-Michigan, is a pain medicine physician and anesthesiologist.

While at U-Michigan she held several senior faculty positions including:

At U-Michigan, Green completed an anesthesiology residency and pain medicine fellowship. She is considered one of the top pain doctors in the country by US News and World Reports and a top doctor and anesthesiologist. She provided care for patients at Michigan Medicine's Back and Pain Center.

Green's health policy and research interests focus on pain, disparities, and the social determinants of health. She is also an expert in minority and women's health, aging, and diversity in academic medicine.Dr. Green was also the Director of the Healthier Black Elders Center at the NIH-funded Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research. Her published articles focused on the "unequal burden of pain" shouldered by minorities and race-based disparities in hospital security calls, and are considered foundational.

A graduate of U-M Flint (BS) and Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MD), Green is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha National Medical Honor Society. As a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy fellow at the National Academies, she worked in the US Senate on the Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee and the Children & Families Subcommittee where she was instrumental in developing the National Pain Care Policy Act, included in the Affordable Care Act and passed by the US Congress (2010).

Among Green's numerous honors for community and scientific service are the John Liebeskind Pain Management Research Award and the Elizabeth Narcessian Award for Outstanding Educational Achievements. She was the inaugural Mayday Pain and Society fellow, a Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine fellow, and a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. She serves on advisory boards for the NIH, US Secretary for Health and Human Service, and American Cancer Society and is frequently invited to speak to national and international audiences including at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference Center in Italy.

Green will also be the Anna and Irving Brodsky Medical Professor and Professor in CCNY's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. She takes up her appointment as CSOM Dean in Oct. 2021.

Contact: Jay Mwamba, 212.650.7580, [emailprotected]

SOURCE City College of New York, Office of Institutional Advancement and Communications

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CCNY appoints Carmen Renee' Green, MD and health policy expert, new Dean of CUNY School of Medicine - PRNewswire

The Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was featured prominently in a story that aired on PBS Newshour on Oct. 13.

Part of an ongoing series called Rethinking College, the story described how, since the start of the pandemic, theres been a surge of interest in health sciences programs from nursing to medicine to public health. The segment noted that many medical schools are seeing double-digit increases in applicants since the pandemic began and that the Jacobs School saw a 40% jump in the number of applications for the class that started at UB in August.

The story also mentioned that this phenomenon is often dubbed the Fauci effect, after Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who has guided much of the nations pandemic response.

But in an on-camera interview, Dori Marshall, director of admissions in the Jacobs School, noted that such an effect was unlikely to be the cause behind the spike in applications, since applying to medical school is not something people can do on the spur of the moment. Its really a process that takes years to get themselves ready to apply to medical school, she said.

The piece included an interview with Ming Lian, a first-year student at the Jacobs School, who worked on her medical school applications for two years.

Marshall noted that the increase in applications was more likely due to the fact that the pandemic caused medical schools to move the entire process, including interviews, online. The expense of flying here was gone, she said.

Lian agreed. Being able to do it virtually and at home saved me quite a bit of money, she said, adding that allowed her to apply to more medical schools.

That virtual aspect had a major effect, in particular, on increasing the numbers of applications from first-generation college students like Lian, who moved to the U.S. from a village in China when she was 13 years old.

The story reported that last year, UB saw a 59% jump in the number of applications from first-generation college students, a demographic that has long been underrepresented in medical schools.

Lians reaction when she found out she had been accepted? That was incredible, she said. That was an incredible feeling.

The story already has received significant viewership. According to Nielsen ratings at the program's website, 2.7 million people watch the program each night. The website has nearly 2 million unique visitors; its Youtube channel has 2.77 million subscribers, and this story has received more than 5,700 views so far. And the story was tweeted from a Twitter account that has 1.1 million followers.

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UB featured in PBS Newshour story - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo Reporter

AUSTIN, Texas A new engine that aims to improve health and prosperity for 1 million vulnerable people in Texas and beyond by 2030 has been co-established in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Dell Medical School atThe University of Texas at Austin. The Impact Factory, a first-of-its-kind, cross-sector collaboration, will foster civic innovation, entrepreneurship and service learning beyond the classroom.

Led by joint LBJ/Dell faculty member, pediatrician and entrepreneur Dr. Michael Hole, The Impact Factory will tackle longstanding social problems, such as poverty and inequality, in new ways through civic innovation and entrepreneurship. Hole and his team are already making a difference: One hunger-facing program under the Factorys umbrellahas delivered almost 800,000 pounds of food to nearly 26,000 people since its launch in spring 2020.

Were hitting the ground running, Hole said. Our scrappy, growing team is already scaling innovative programs and building an evidence base, cross-sector partnerships and talent pipeline for sustainable, positive change. America faces multiple crises, both longstanding and new, impacting peoples lives and livelihoods. Folks are hurting. Were in the arena now with a sense of urgency I hope is contagious.

Examples of projects in The Impact Factorys portfolio include:

The Impact Factorys core operations are fourfold:

Crafting solutions to todays complex societal challenges takes service-oriented leadership and an interdisciplinary lens, said David Springer, LBJ School interim dean. Through the Impact Factory, Dr. Hole and his team are disrupting the existing system to improve health and prosperity for all.

Social entrepreneurship is a critical mechanism for solving societal problems, said Dell Medical School Dean Clay Johnston, M.D. Michaels program creates a platform for impactful community interventions and also trains the next generation of creative leaders.

To learn more about partnership, research, learning, investment or volunteer opportunities, visit TheImpactFactory.org or email TheImpactFactory@austin.utexas.edu.

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New Civic Impact Initiative to Help Improve Health and Prosperity for Vulnerable Populations - UT News - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

In April, Sreya Pattipati, a pre-med student at the University of Pennsylvania, received a text from her aunt, a critical care specialist in India, where a dangerous second coronavirus wave was taking hold.

The waters are dark and deep at the moment. We are trying to hold on, the text read. My team and I are exhausted, depressed, and totally lost. I hope this ends soon.

Pattipati recently completed her first year virtually and has hopes to follow her aunt in a career in medicine. But the pandemics toll on health care workers physical and mental health, its exposure of serious gaps in the health care system, and her extended familys battle on the front lines in India has made her wary.

[The pandemic] made me deeply consider the profession that I wanted to go into, but I ultimately think it has motivated me more, she said. Her goal is to help decrease health disparities and increase access to high-quality care, and the pandemic highlighted those existing inequalities and how it was exacerbated, she said.

As it has for many of her peers, the pandemic has only confirmed her desire to become a doctor. Students studying medicine said they grappled with their career decision during the pandemic and had to reevaluate their reason for either sticking with it or switching paths.

Cody Ritz, a student at the Drexel University College of Medicine who recently completed his first year, couldnt help but second-guess his decision to become a doctor at the height of the pandemic.

It just felt like every other day, I was hearing some horror story or some burnout thing or some physicians taking their lives, because they couldnt handle the pressure, and seeing those things prompted me to search myself again and go back to my baseline motivations as to why I wanted to do medicine in the first place, he said.

The suicides of an emergency medical technician and emergency physician in New York City last year drew attention to the mental health crisis among health care workers. A Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted in February found that about 30% of health care workers considered leaving their profession, while more than half felt burned out going to work.

The poll also found that younger health care workers were more likely to suffer from a mental health issue, with 75% of respondents under age 30 reporting worry or stress due to COVID-19.

Ritz said being at the beginning of the journey to becoming a doctor made the chaos that much more intimidating.

Did I make the right decision? he would ask himself. Am I doing the right thing? Is this really what I want to commit to?

The pandemic also highlighted the reality of practicing medicine, Ritz said.

As a med student, sometimes you can be optimistic in how you look at medicine, he said. You have all these goals of how you might be able to make a difference ... and then you see people who are in the thick of it.

Stephanie Javier Fagbemi, who recently began her fourth and final year at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, said, A lot of people have given their lives practicing medicine, especially during the pandemic because they were such selfless people. I dont want to lose my life, but I want to be as selfless as that care for my patients as if they were my family.

Anthony Scarpone-Lambert, who graduated from Penns School of Nursing in May, spent his final semester of clinical rotations in the emergency department of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania during the pandemic. There, he saw up close the exhaustion and lack of support that nurses were experiencing.

A lot of the nurses I was working with in the emergency department were changing to go to other units or specialties because there were a lot of challenges in the emergency room that were really frustrating to nurses, he said.

That inspired Scarpone-Lambert to explore a side of health care he had never considered before: entrepreneurship.

I was just always noticing so many insufficiencies that I felt inspired to find solutions for and make more of an impact by creating solutions that make sense for the front-line health care workers, he said.

Instead of becoming a clinical nurse, Scarpone-Lambert will work full time on his company Lumify Care, which provides wearable LED night-lights that do not disturb sleeping patients for health care workers.

I really enjoyed clinical care, but I think for me, specifically, especially during the pandemic, I realized that I really needed to almost be more of a leader in making more of an impact through entrepreneurship, he said.

Despite the many stressors of the pandemic, students said the last year has reinforced their desire to pursue a career in health care.

Students pointed to how the pandemic has highlighted the need to invest in public health, expand insurance coverage, and increase health care access for underserved populations.

Seeing those health disparities in an even more amplified light in the past year with COVID reinforced that the field in which I saw myself doing the most good was in medicine, said Heta Patel, an incoming first-year student at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Applications to medical schools in Philadelphia, and nationwide, soared this last admissions cycle. Temples masters of public health program saw a 120% increase in first-year students enrolled in 2020.

Ritz plans to take a year off from medical school to pursue a masters of public health at Drexel. The pandemics exposure of the health care systems flaws encouraged him to explore ways to avoid catastrophes such as the COVID-19 pandemic in the future, he said.

Pattipati, who is majoring in health and societies with a concentration in public health, said that although her aunts experiences in India prompted her to consider the drawbacks of certain specialties particularly those at the front lines the pandemic has only strengthened her interest in the policy side of health care.

I think what really struck me with this pandemic is that a lot of it was preventable, and I think thats what I hope to work toward: no unnecessary casualties, she said.

The Future of Work is produced with support from the William Penn Foundation and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the projects donors.

Originally posted here:
Students studying medicine grapple with career path in light of pandemic: Did I make the right decision? - The Philadelphia Inquirer

More than six decades after Marion Hood was rejected by Emory Universitys School of Medicine, he received another letter from the school. This time, it was an apology for refusing to admit him into its medical program because he was Black.

Your rejection letter serves as a somber reminder that generations of talented young men and women were denied educational opportunities because of their race, and our society was denied their full potential, said the letter, which was sent in March and signed by Vikas P. Sukhatme, dean of the Emory University School of Medicine. An apology does not undo our actions. It is an acknowledgment of the pain that was caused by our school, and an opportunity for us to share our regret directly with you.

As part of its Juneteenth programming, Emorys School of Medicine on Thursday apologized to Dr. Hood, now 83, at a virtual event for students, faculty and staff members.

In 1959, Marion Hood received a letter of rejection for no other reason than the fact that he was Black. To those who understand the history of our country that should not be a surprise, the universitys president, Gregory L. Fenves, said at the event. This one individual and this one letter vividly shows the systematic injustice of that time and the legacy Emory is still reckoning with.

Dr. Hood decided to pursue medicine when he was about seven or nine years old, after accompanying his mother, who was a nurse, to the doctor.

At the event on Thursday, he told the story of how they were ushered into the practice through the back door of the building and waited in a room that had no furniture, only Coca-Cola crates to sit on. They waited until the last person was seen, then the doctor saw Dr. Hoods mother.

I was fuming, Dr. Hood said. I said to myself that if I was a physician, my mother and my kind would not have to go in through the back door, or wait that long just to be seen.

Dr. Hood eventually went on to study medicine at Loyola University in Chicago and has had a long practice as a gynecologist and obstetrician in Atlanta.

He decided to apply to Emory after he graduated from Clark College, now known as Clark Atlanta University. During his graduation ceremony, Clark, a historically Black university, awarded an honorary degree to an Emory University professor.

Emory was yet to be desegregated, and wouldnt accept its first Black student until 1963.

I thought, he can come to my school and get an honorary degree and I cant put my foot on his campus, Dr. Hood said. I didnt think that was quite right.

He had already applied to Howard University and the Meharry School of Medicine in Nashville, and then decided to apply to Emory. A week later, on Aug. 5, 1959, he got a letter signed by the director of admissions at the time saying he was rejected.

I am sorry I must write you that we are not authorized to consider for admission a member of the Negro race, said the letter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. I regret that we cannot help you.

In determining how to apologize to Dr. Hood, Emory offered him an honorary degree. He told school officials he didnt need a degree anymore but the opportunity to tell his story to marginalized students appealed to him.

Dr. Hood said in an interview on Friday that it was important for people to know that, although he did get accepted to medical school eventually, he still faced discrimination.

He still has the rejection letter framed in his basement where only friends can see it.

He used to have it in his office, where he would use it as a reminder to new medical students about how far weve come, and how far we have to go, and how the cycle repeats itself.

Originally posted here:
Emory Apologizes to Medical School Applicant Rejected Because He Was Black - The New York Times

BALTIMORE, Feb. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, announced today that Jill RachBeisel, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, has been appointed to serve as the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, effective immediately. Dr. RachBeisel has served as the Department's Interim Chair for the past two years and was previously Acting Chair and Vice Chair of the Department. A prominent leader at UMSOM, she has garnered tremendous support among faculty and staff for her efforts to forge partnerships among various entities in an effort to strengthen mental health services provided to patients and the community at large. Dr. RachBeisel will be named The Dr. Irving J. Taylor Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry, when she is invested March 18.

The appointment of Dr. RachBeisel was recommended by a Dean-appointed Review Committee led by Peter B. Crino, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology, and Rodney J. Taylor, MD, MPH, Professor and Chair, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. After extensive review, the committee unanimously recommended to Dean Reece that she be considered for the permanent chair position.

For more than 20 years, Dr. RachBeisel has played an increasing role in leading the Department's clinical and academic activities, and in leading the integration of the UMSOM's Department's academic programs with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), as well as with the State of Maryland and City of Baltimore.

"Dr. RachBeisel is a tremendous leader and has had an enormous impact on the department during her terms as Interim Chair, Acting Chair, and Vice Chair. She has built lasting bridges between UMSOM and UMMS/UMMC, as well as bridges between UMSOM and the community at large which have benefitted greatly from her efforts to expand mental health services to those in need, " said Dean Reece, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. "She is highly respected across our academic community and has demonstrated unwavering and effective leadership throughout the years. Her gift for building partnerships between researchers and clinicians to create innovative and highly successful initiatives is remarkable and highly desirable."

Under her leadership as Interim Chair, Dr. RachBeisel has focused on building vital and lasting collaborations to strengthen the Department's infrastructure to support faculty growth and development, and the fusion of research and clinical agendas.

"Dr. RachBeisel is a phenomenally talented clinician, educator and mentor to our medical trainees and behavioral health specialists," said Bert W. O'Malley, Jr., MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). "She has been a guiding light and inspiration to our hospital staff during this stressful time of the global pandemic. Her passion for designing programs that span a spectrum of settings and for partnering with colleagues to provide integrated behavioral care expertise is invaluable."

The Department of Psychiatry received research and service grants totaling $43 million for fiscal year 2020 from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere. Dr. RachBeisel worked with Dean Reece to establish the Vice Chair of Research and appointed Gloria Reeves, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, to serve in this role. Other successful efforts include the establishment of the "Foundation Academy" to assist faculty in learning the intricacies of working effectively and successfully with non-profit foundations and to help prepare successful grant submissions. A newly established and formalized Mentoring Program for all new and mid-level faculty was also implemented to enhance faculty growth, professional development, and promotion leading to enhanced clinical and research success.

Dr. RachBeisel is the first woman to chair the UMSOM Department of Psychiatry. Immediately after assuming the interim chair position, Dr. RachBeisel established the Department of Psychiatry's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, chaired by Anique Forrester, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. The committee has focused on developing a training curriculum and diversifying the hiring of faculty and staff. They also have collaborated on efforts to retain new hires and maintain momentum to facilitate change. With support from a highly engaged faculty and resident group, Dr. RachBeisel also created a DEI lecture series that began last fall and will run through FY21.

"I am proud and honored to be taking the permanent helm of this department with its devoted faculty and staff," said Dr. RachBeisel. "Together we have risen to the challenges of the past year and have worked as a united team to sustain our programs and meet the increased needs of our patients and the campus workforce during the pandemic and the movement against racial injustice."

Heralded for her clinical achievements, Dr. RachBeisel helped spearhead the 2019 opening of two new state-of-the-art units-an adult inpatient behavioral health unit and the adult day hospital program at the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus (MTC). The programs, designed to optimize patient experience and safety, are led byStephanie Knight, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of Psychiatry at MTC. They are staffed by nurses, social workers, occupational and recreational therapists, addiction, counselors, and clinical nurse educators.

Dr. RachBeisel has also played a key role in developing a new partnership with other Baltimore area hospitals to strengthen and expand the crisis response infrastructure and community-based services to Baltimore City and its three surrounding counties. The Greater Baltimore Regional Integrated Crisis System (GBRICS) Partnership will enable UMMC to expand its Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) programs for adults and children, statewide tele-mental health program, and extensive addictions care program.

"Dr. RachBeisel has been instrumental in helping us develop and implement robust and evidence-based programs to provide expert, compassionate, team-based care for our community, including the citizens of West Baltimore, the City of Baltimore, and the region," said Alison Brown, MPH, President, University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus. "We are so excited to have her continue permanently in this leadership role."

Serving as a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry since 1989, Dr. RachBeisel began her career in the field of acute psychiatric care, emergency psychiatric interventions, and quality management in the hospital setting. She received her BS Degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Carlow College in Pittsburgh, PA, and her RN Certification from the Western Pennsylvania School of Nursing. She then went on to complete her medical degree in 1985 from Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine. She completed her Psychiatric Residency Program at the University of Maryland Medical Center in 1989, serving as chief resident during her fourth year.

During her tenure at the UMSOM, Dr. RachBeisel has held numerous leadership positions at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and served as the Division Director for Community Psychiatry at the University of Maryland Medical Center, overseeing 200 staff and physicians and providing a range of community mental health services. Through collaborations with the Division of Psychiatric Services Research, she became focused on the study of implementation of evidenced-based care for persons with a serious mental illness. In addition to her Division responsibilities, Dr. RachBeisel has been Chief of Clinical Services for the Department of Psychiatry since 2014, providing oversight of program development, performance improvement, and collaboration with the research divisions within the Department.

About the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Now in its third century, the University of Maryland School of Medicine was chartered in 1807 as the first public medical school in the United States. It continues today as one of the fastest growing, top-tier biomedical research enterprises in the world -- with 45 academic departments, centers, institutes, and programs; and a faculty of more than 3,000 physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals, including members of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a distinguished two-time winner of the Albert E. Lasker Award in Medical Research. With an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion, the School of Medicine works closely in partnership with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Medical System to provide research-intensive, academic and clinically based care for nearly 2 million patients each year. The School of Medicine has more than $563 million in extramural funding, with most of its academic departments highly ranked among all medical schools in the nation in research funding. As one of the seven professional schools that make up the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, the School of Medicine has a total population of nearly 9,000 faculty and staff, including 2,500 students, trainees, residents, and fellows. The combined School of Medicine and Medical System ("University of Maryland Medicine") has an annual budget of nearly $6 billion and an economic impact more than $15 billion on the state and local community. The School of Medicine, which ranks as the 8th highest among public medical schools in research productivity, is an innovator in translational medicine, with 600 active patents and 24 start-up companies. The School of Medicine works locally, nationally, and globally, with research and treatment facilities in 36 countries around the world. Visit medschool.umaryland.edu

About the University of Maryland Medical Center

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is comprised of two hospital campuses in Baltimore: the 800-bed flagship institution of the 14-hospital University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) -- and the 200-bed UMMC Midtown Campus, both academic medical centers training physicians and health professionals and pursuing research and innovation to improve health. UMMC's downtown campus is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, neurosciences, advanced cardiovascular care, women's and children's health, and has one of the largest solid organ transplant programs in the country. All physicians on staff at the downtown campus are clinical faculty physicians of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The UMMC Midtown Campus medical staff is predominately faculty physicians specializing in diabetes, chronic diseases, behavioral health, long term acute care and an array of outpatient primary care and specialty services. UMMC Midtown has been a teaching hospital for 140 years and is located one mile away from the downtown campus. For more information, visit http://www.umm.edu.

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dr-jill-rachbeisel-appointed-chair-of-the-department-of-psychiatry-at-the-um-school-of-medicine-301227492.html

SOURCE University of Maryland School of Medicine

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Dr. Jill Rachbeisel, Appointed Chair Of The Department Of Psychiatry At The UM School Of Medicine - Herald-Mail Media

Just 10 years ago, Rowan University could describe itself as a well-regarded state university with a nationally ranked engineering program and a proud history as a teachers college.

Today, Rowan is a dramatically different institution: an R2 public research university and a model for strategic change. For two years running, Rowan has been recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education as the nations fourth fastest-growing public research university.

Enrollment nearly doubled between 2008 and 2020, the result of a careful investment in research, while remaining focused on building high-quality undergraduate programs designed to meet the needs of a fast-changing world.

To get here, Rowan broke norms, operated like a business and maintained a laser focus on controlling costsfor both the University and its students.

Affordability is critical, said President Ali A. Houshmand, Ph.D. As a state institution, we have the obligation to provide access, affordability and a quality education to everybody.

Unique partnerships, creative thinking

Through unique partnerships with two community colleges, Rowan University forged new pathways toward a bachelors degree at a significant cost savings for students, without sacrificing quality.

In turn, Rowan shared its name and reputation with the independently operated colleges, now Rowan College of South Jersey and Rowan College of Burlington County.

Creative thinking also fueled a public-private partnership between investors, Rowan University and Glassboro, home to the Universitys main campus.

Out of 26 acres of mostly privately owned student rental properties came Rowan Boulevard, a mixed-use cityscape that rapidly met the Universitys need for modern student housing and academic space, while attracting new businesses and visitors to a revitalized downtown. Today, that bold investment and public-private partnership has raised local tax revenues for that space from approximately $200,000 a year to more than $4 millionall through private investment.

In 2012, New Jersey passed legislation to restructure its medical and health sciences educational system, designating Rowan as its second comprehensive public research university. That summer, Rowan opened Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, N.J., the states first new medical school in 35 years.

Dedicated to urban health care and community service, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University has been ranked among the top 10 most selective in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. In 2019, the school won the prestigious Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Engagement from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the accrediting body for U.S. medical schools.

In 2013, in accordance with state legislation, the University integrated the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, N.J. Rowan is now one of only three universities in the country offering both the M.D. and D.O. degrees, doing its part to address the looming physician shortage by producing more than 250 new physicians each year.

Nurturing research

Spurred to further innovate, Rowan expanded its research division, attracting fast-rising faculty interested in solving real-world problems through applied research. Ten of its researchers are recipients of the National Science Foundations CAREER Award, among the countrys most prestigious recognitions for early-career faculty.

The Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering continues to rank among the nations best engineering programs and is now 17th in its category, according to U.S. News & World Report. In just three years, nine projects from engineering faculty earned national funding from the NSF Innovation Corps program, designed to bring researchers ideas to the marketplace.

In 2018, Rowan received classification as a Carnegie R2 doctoral university with high research activity, a distinction shared with just 135 universities of 4,300 institutions of higher education. Its academic programs now include 90 bachelors, 48 masters, two professional and eight doctoral degree programs. More graduate programs are under development.

Throughout its growth, according to Georgetown Universitys Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, Rowan University never lost sight of its mission to prepare undergraduates for the workforce, particularly first-generation students.

By seeking new sources of revenue, affiliating with other colleges, and looking for ways to grow enrollment without taking on the added cost of building and maintaining more than it had to, Rowan was able to carefully manage the bottom line, the report concluded.

Undeterred by the onset of the pandemic, the University aggressively planned for the safety and well-being of the University and opened in fall 2020 with a hybrid learning model, as well as housing for 4,100 students who opted to live on campus. In the earliest days of the pandemic, faculty and student researchers raced to produce face masks and intubation shields for local health care providers in desperate need of personal protective equipment.

Continuing along that effort, the University recently pivoted on short notice to open a COVID-19 vaccination center staffed with student and faculty volunteers. About 2,400 front-line health care workers received their first dose during its first two weeks of operation.

Right where we want to be

In the Universitys recent accreditation review, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education gave Rowan glowing remarks in all areas, stating that Rowan is a model for institutional transformation. Unsatisfied with incremental growth and change, the institution continues to press forward, leapfrogging traditional thinking and innovating higher education.

While planning for the future, the University remains ever mindful of its roots: an institution founded to prepare its students for much-needed jobs. As a top 100 public research university, Rowan is an economic driver in its region, focused on practical research and creating new pathways to fit students of every backgroundso that every student can obtain a higher education degree and an opportunity for a better future.

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Fourth-fastest growing: Right where we want to be - Rowan Today

Stressing the humanity in medical humanities

UCI center offers compassionate perspectives on health and disease

by Jim Washburn

Suffer well may not be as inviting a salutation as Live long and prosper, but it was ideal for the title of a seminar series launched by the UCI Center for Medical Humanities in the fall of 2019. The idea around Suffer Well was to have speakers explore ways that suffering can become a portal to a more fulsome understanding of the human experience, says center director James Kyung-Jin Lee. To the extent that we can, we should alleviate suffering, but suffering can bring you a unique connectivity with other human beings. Albert Schweitzer, who himself suffered chronic illness even as he cared for other people, spoke of that as a brotherhood of those who bear the mark of pain.

Unfortunately, the series was truncated because of the pandemic. But, Lee notes, the surfeit of suffering caused by COVID-19 has brought a sense of immediacy to other topics the Center for Medical Humanities covers in its curriculum and research: How does a doctor find a positive, honest way to talk with a terminally ill patient about death? What can be learned from the journals of patients who have trod that one-way path? Do the racism and sexism of earlier medical practices echo through the pandemic response today?

Such dark tones are only part of the palette that the medical humanities bring to the study of illness, wellbeing and the states in between. Programs in medical humanities are not uncommon, but they generally exist within medical schools and are limited in scope. UCIs center, officially inaugurated in 2018 after gestating as an initiative for a few years bridges the School of Humanities, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts and the School of Medicine via a unique, interdisciplinary approach to health that encompasses research, curriculum development and community engagement. It has also offered undergraduate minor and graduate emphasis programs since 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Insofar as medicine is interested in the care of human bodies, Lee explains, the humanities and the arts also ask questions about bodies and embodiment but ask them in different ways that can shed new light on what stories our bodies tell.

Lee is an associate professor in UCIs Department of Asian American Studies. Hes also an Episcopal priest, which as much as anything spurred his passion for medical humanities. His pathway to priesthood included more than 400 hours of chaplaincy internship at a downtown Los Angeles hospital.

He recalls walking the halls of the oncology and surgery wards, talking with the patients, families and hospital workers. Im trained as a literary critic, but I was thoroughly ill-equipped to attend to the stories I witnessed there, Lee says. There was a whole other set of observational and analytical tools that I needed to develop in order to really be present for those very difficult stories that I had the privilege of hearing.

Lee became director of UCIs Center for Medical Humanities in 2019. He succeeded founding director and history professor Douglas Haynes, who along with family medicine professor Johanna Shapiro and the deans of the involved schools (Georges Van Den Abbeele and Tyrus Miller, humanities; Michael J. Stamos, medicine; and Stephen Barker, arts) were the prime movers in bringing the center into being.

While Haynes is now UCIs vice chancellor for equity, diversity & inclusion, his continuing work as a historian has included tracing the evolution and codification of the medical profession in the British Empire and the U.S.

He says the centers inception was a confluence of many things. Development of the proposal for it started around the time the Affordable Care Act was implemented, which elevated attention to healthcare in general and prompted people with research interests in health, healing and well-being to begin asking new questions.

We didnt know how large a community was forming here or how intersecting their interests were until we started having brainstorming sessions about the center, Haynes says. Its consequential when you get faculty who are very habituated to their own schools and professional disciplines to feel sufficiently open to the value of interdisciplinarity that theyre willing to step into this uncomfortable space that had never been done before.

The conditions for the center were there, he adds, but it made all the difference when Chancellor Howard Gillman, who was UCI provost at the time, launched an interschool excellence initiative. He created a very significant incentive to explore the possibilities, and thats what moved us forward, Haynes says.

The campus event announcing the center in 2018 included dramatic reenactments of scenes from Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Since then, courses and research have varied widely, from how issues of health and medicine have been depicted on the theatrical stage from ancient Greece to the present day to how the nuclear age shaped impressions of health and medical care.

Sometimes the courses hold up an unflattering mirror to the history of medicine, in which the practices leading to medical developments were often no more advanced than the prejudices of their times. For example, Lee says, the foundations of obstetrics and gynecology in the 19th century emerged principally through the work of physician James Marion Sims, who performed experiments on enslaved women, obviously with no notion of consent. You have to wonder if history like that, Tuskegee and other events factors into the generalized skepticism toward vaccinations in Black communities today.

History professor Adria Imada, who teaches both undergraduate and graduate medical humanities courses, sometimes draws from her book An Archive of Skin, An Archive of Kin: Disability and Life-Making During Medical Incarceration, about the forced sequestration of persons with Hansens disease (leprosy) in Hawaii.

She also uses media and film in her classes, some taken from the arts, such as paintings, and others that might be framed as art, such as news footage from 1990 of people leaving their wheelchairs to crawl up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to demonstrate their lack of access. That may not have been on a theatrical stage, Imada says, but it was definitely a political stage, and it had profound outcomes in the fight for disability rights.

Insofar as medicine is interested in the care of human bodies, the humanities and the arts also ask questions about bodies and embodiment but ask them in different ways that can shed new light on what stories our bodies tell.

Many of the medical humanities students are looking toward careers in medicine. Dean Wong 19 pursued the medical humanities minor while majoring in psychology & social behavior. He says the course descriptions in the medical humanities syllabus were what made him choose UCI over other universities.

Wong now works at the UCI School of Medicine as a medical student coordinator, is one of the organizers of a Flying Samaritans medical clinic in Mexico and hopes to eventually earn a medical degree. He says his classes in medical humanities prepared him more than he had imagined.

Says Wong: Some of the memoirs that we read were very raw and made me realize that this is life for many people their struggles as patients dealing with the inequities of the healthcare system. It really made me want to become a voice for those people.

Originally published in UCI Magazine, Winter 2021

Images:Adria Imada teaches a Medical Humanities 1 course;UCI Center for Medical Humanities director James Kyung-Jin Lee; andFounding director and history professor Douglas Haynes. Photo credits: Steve Zylius / UCI

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Stressing the humanity in medical humanities - UCI News

As a medical student, do you ever wonder what its like to specialize in preventive medicine? Meet AMA member Ricardo Correa, MD, an endocrinologist and a featured physician in the AMAsShadow Me Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from physicians about life in their specialties. Check out his insights to help determine whether a career in endocrinology might be a good fit for you.

The AMA'sSpecialty Guidesimplifies medical students' specialty selection process, highlights major specialties, details training information, and provides access to related association information. It is produced byFREIDA, the AMA Residency & Fellowship Database, which allows you to search for a residency or fellowship from more than 12,000 programsall accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Learn more with the AMA about themedical specialty of endocrinology.

Shadowing Dr. Correa (@drricardocorrea)

Specialty: Endocrinology.

Practice setting: Academic and VA hospital.

Employment type:Employed by a university and veteran hospital in Phoenix.

Years in practice:Five.

A typical day and week in my practice: My typical day starts with walking early in the morning as part of my daily exercise. Then I go to work where I divide my time into clinical, research activities and education (between staffing trainees, giving lectures to medical student and the administration of the fellowship program). Then I go back home to have some organizational meetings and spend the rest of my time with my family and relax.

In a typical week, I usually have some days where I have my own clinic and staff the fellows clinic other days. There is part of my week that I dedicate to my research and write grants and manuscripts. In addition, I dedicate between 1.52 days for the fellowship program, my activities to diversity and inclusion and an extra half day to teach medical students. During the weekend, I volunteer some hours in an underserved clinic where I worked as the medical director. One weekend a month, I also go to my military drill as per my U.S. Army Reserve responsibilities.

The most challenging and rewarding aspects of endocrinology: Endocrinology is the perfect combination between science and medicine. Many of our patients, if we find out that they have a hormonal abnormality, we are able to replace them and help the patient feel excellent. The most challenging aspect of my patient population is that we deal with chronic conditions like diabetes and sometimes patients dont like to follow our recommendation, so we need to increase medication. Another challenging thing is that diabetic medication is expensive, and some patients cannot afford them. You feel frustrated when this happens.

The most rewarding aspect of endocrinology is many things. Seeing how you can change the life of a patient because you are treating their condition has no price. Dealing with underrepresented minorities and making them feel good and providing them the best care for their chronic condition is very special for me. Discovering new ways to manage patients through research is also very rewarding in my life.

How life inendocrinology has been affected by the global pandemic: We moved to telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been a positive and negative aspect of this. The positive is that the patients who have a chronic condition like diabetes and obesity are more compliant with the appointment. This translates to us seeing them more frequently, plus they are compliant with the medication.

The negative side is that more complex conditions that need to be seen in person sometimes are not coming in and we dont do a full physical exam. In the area of teaching, the learning has changed because the fellows dont have the opportunity to see all the patients face-to-face.

The long-term impact the pandemic will have onendocrinology: The impact is that we are now doing telemedicine. I always see the good part of everything and for us, having telemedicine is very beneficial for the patients with diabetes and obesity because they are more compliant with the appointment and the treatment. Also, some of the social determinants of health can be addressed during the telemedicine visit and we are doing that. I see that the future will be a mix of telemedicine and face-to-face visits.

Three adjectives to describe the typical endocrinologist: Creative, passionate and caring.

How my lifestyle matches, or differs from, what I had envisioned: The life that I have as an endocrinologist, scientist and educator is what I envisioned when I was in medical school. I have time to make change not only for my patients but also to the population near my area, in the country and to the next generation of physicians. My work-life balance is fine because I have time that I dedicate to my family. I am very happy because I am doing what I really like and that makes my work very easy.

Skills every physician in training should have for endocrinology but wont be tested for on the board exam: The most important skill that trainees should have for this specialty is being creative. It is about always trying to find the answer to a problem as well as correlating symptoms with laboratory and imaging work, making a diagnosis and finally giving them the most appropriate treatment. Hormonal world is not an easy world. There are many things that are difficult to make a diagnosis and many symptoms that overlap. Being creative and always thinking outside the box will need to be a must for the ones that are thinking about endocrinology.

One question physicians in training should ask themselves before pursuing endocrinology: The questions that you should ask yourself if you are planning to come to endocrinology are:

If you answer yes to the questions above, you are ready to become an endocrinologist.

Books every medical student interested in endocrinology should be reading: The two most important books of endocrinology cover the basic concept of endocrinology:

The online resource students interested in endocrinology should follow: Endotextit is an online book that covers the entire endocrine world and is free. I always look for any of the common conditions in the best evidence-based medicine source which is Dynamed. Many of the answers for endocrinology can be found there. The amazing thing is that everything that comes from research has been appraised and they give you the level of evidence.

On social media, there are several accounts including @ypsendo, @endojournalclub and @medscapeendo that provide information about endocrinology. Finally, I follow the Endocrine Society, Endocrine News, American Association of Clinical Endocrinology, American Diabetes Association, American Thyroid Association, and American Society for Bone and Mineral Research on social media because they all really care about education and promote endocrine learning.

Quick insights I would give students who are considering endocrinology: Endocrinology is a fascinating world. You can achieve many goals in your life. You can be an expert clinician, an amazing scientist and an outstanding educator. You can discover things that will change the future of medicine. I really recommend everyone that has an interest in endocrinology to explore the possibility. We need a lot more people like all of you. If you have any questions, I am available to talk to all of you about this.

Mantra or song to describe life in endocrinology: Puedes llegar, (You can make it) by Gloria Stefan.

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What it's like to specialize in endocrinology: Shadowing Dr. Correa - American Medical Association

Photo by Mitchell Atencio | The State Press

"University officials credit the success to their transdisciplinary approach to major problems, claiming a different path of solutions than traditional research." Illustration published on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.

ASU has ranked 6th in the nation for research expenditures among universities without a medical school in the 2019 fiscal year.

The National Science Foundation recently released its annual Higher Education Research and Development rankings for research expenditures among universities nationwide.

In the 2019 fiscal year, ASU's expenditures totaled $639.6 million, almost $22 million more than the previous year.

A University press release said much of the funding has come from investments by federal agencies including NASA and the NSF as well as local grants and philanthropic contributions among others.

ASUs Knowledge Enterprise Executive Vice President Sally Morton said in the press release that ASU researchers are capable of solving major problems through their transdisciplinary approach. Morton began her new role Feb. 1 and is one of the successors of former lead Sethuraman Panchanathan, who is now the director of the NSF.

"I am confident we have the capabilities to discover impactful solutions to pandemics, climate change, cybersecurity and emerging health issues all of which will challenge humankind well into the future," Morton said in the release.

ASU's Biodesign Institute has also been at the forefront of COVID-19 research and testing in Arizona. The University has established over 100 testing sites across the state and developed a saliva-based test for faster results and more efficient testing.

COVID-19 research at the institute is led by Biodesign Director Joshua LaBaer. LaBaer said in the release that fast and easy testing is crucial for returning to in-person activities.

As we return to the workplace, schools and other daily activities, testing early and often is going to be the best way to help us prevent the spread of COVID-19, LaBaer said in the press release.

Another of the University's recent focal points is the Mastcam-Z. The camera system will provide visuals for Perseverance, the newest Mars rover, upon its landing this month.

The development of Mastcam-Z was led by researchers of the School of Earth and Space Exploration. The rover launched in July 2020 and will touch down on Mars later this month with Mastcam-Z at its head.

READ MORE: Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launches equipped with ASU-developed camera

The HERD rankings account for where and how much funding is spent at each university. In these rankings, ASU kept its No. 1 spot in expenditures for anthropology and rose to No. 1 in the fields of geographic and earth sciences as well as transdisciplinary sciences.

ASU also ranked fourth in social sciences and business management, 11th in psychology, 12th in electrical, electronic and communications engineering, and 14th in civil engineering.

The University also placed third among universities with NASA funding, 10th in health and human services funding, and 23rd for NSF funding.

Reach the reporter at gmlieber@asu.edu and follow @G_Mira_ on Twitter.

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Continue supporting student journalism and donate to The State Press today.

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ASU ranks 6th in research among US universities without a medical school - The State Press

This is the second part of a two-part article rebutting a commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Viewpoint, which claims school reopenings are safe. Part One can be read here.

The authors of the JAMA article could have also referenced recent news reports from Austin, Texas, that found positivity rates in schools had climbed over 20 percent. A study conducted by researchers in Michigan and Washington state found that when community infections were low, reopening schools did not seem to make the outbreaks worse. However, when infection rates climbed, schools did contribute to community spread.

A physician and public health professor at George Washington University, Dr. Leana Wen, offered a candid assessment, So, there are two issues: One is that we dont have enough contact tracers all across the country. The second problem is that the community prevalence is just so high that its going to be very difficult to sort out where the infections are originating from.

The CDC has acknowledged that most COVID-19 cases are caused by people who are either presymptomatic or asymptomatic but has deliberately failed to connect these findings to the dangers posed by such transmissions in schools.

Part of the answer to this important question was found in a study funded by the US military and published in the New England Journal of Medicine in December involving Marine recruits during quarantine .

A total of 1,848 recruits volunteered to participate in the study. The average age of these recruits was between 18 and 21, which is just older than high school students, making the results relevant to the question of the pandemics course in schools.

Before entering boot camp, the recruits quarantined for two weeks at home and then two additional weeks on a closed college campus. This involved wearing masks, socially distancing and undergoing daily monitoring of symptoms that included temperature checks.

The volunteers had SARS-Cov-2 PCR testing conducted within two days of their arrival, and again on day 7 and day 14, their last day of supervised quarantine. In the first two days, 16 recruits tested positive, but only one had developed symptoms. By the end of the second week, 35 more participants were found to be infected. Of the 51 volunteers that tested positive, only five had symptoms in the week before their test. That means that less than 10 percent of young adults in this well-controlled study presented with any symptoms.

Additionally, no SARS-CoV-2 infections were identified as a result of daily symptom monitoring. These findings have significant relevance to school openings and highlight that even under the best circumstances, identifying cases among young people will be challenging.

One essential factor that the Democrats, the CDC and the bourgeois press keep silent on is that school closures are a crucial mitigating measure to aid in curtailing community transmission. Teachers and students must have safe environments to conduct classes without fear of becoming infected. But the principal reason for school closures is to suppress the transmission of the virus to protect health systems and avoid further loss of life and spread of disease among the population as a whole.

President Biden and his nominee for education secretary, Miguel Cardona, have gone on record to say that school closures would not help mitigate the pandemic. But it is precisely here that the CDC and proponents of school reopening have avoided referencing the following studies delineating the public health benefit of closing educational institutions:

In a JAMA study published last July 29, the authors had found that statewide school closures in the first wave of the pandemic led to a decline in the incidence of COVID-19 of 62 percent per week. Similarly, mortality saw a 58 percent decrease per week. States that closed earlier saw the most significant relative change per week.

According to a study published in Science , looking at various government interventions used against COVID-19, the combination of the closure of schools and universities, limiting gatherings to 10 people or less, and closing most nonessential businesses reduced the reproductive number, R0, to below one. In other words, it led to an overall reduction in the number of infections in the community. Among the interventions listed, school closures and limiting gatherings to 10 people had the highest impact on mitigating the pandemic.

In a Nature study published in November that ranked the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 interventions, the cancellation of small gatherings, closure of educational institutions, border restrictions, increased availability of PPE and individual restrictions were statistically significant in reducing the reproductive number, R0.

A German discussion paper published last July that evaluated the effectiveness of school closures and other pre-lockdown COVID-19 mitigations across three countries, Argentina, Italy and South Korea, found that early interventions that included school closures reduced the total number of COVID-19 deaths and helped flatten the epidemic curve. The authors write, Our preferred estimatesthose that in the main analysis are obtained with the smallest root mean squared prediction errorindicate that the interventions prevented 84%, 29%, and 91% COVID-19 deaths in Argentina, Italy and South Korea, respectively, in comparison to a counterfactual projection. These results are robust across different specifications and show that the effectiveness increases the earlier interventions are enacted. ... The later schools were closed nationwide during the course of the pandemic, the lower the effectiveness of this measure.

The argument being put forth by the Biden administration and the Democrats is a deliberately misleading one. When they assert that school closures do little to halt the pandemic, they mean that without all other aspects of non-pharmaceutical interventions in place, school closures will do little to control community spread of the virus. The study published in Science corroborates that by itself, schools are insufficient to bring the reproductive number under one.

That is not an argument for reopening schools, but for making the closure of schools part of a whole-society effort to control the coronaviruss spread. The fight to prevent school reopenings must be conducted with the struggle to implement a lockdown of nonessential businesses, with full income support for all the workers and small business owners affected.

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The rapid developments of new variants of the coronavirus, such as the B.1.1.7 (also known as the UK variant), circulating widely in the US and many other nations, raises significant new problems for fighting the pandemic. The N501Y mutation in the spike protein of the variants has not only made them more contagious, but it also seems it makes the virus more lethal. There is some evidence that they may also be impacting younger people more severely.

Dr. David Strain, a British physician treating COVID-19 patients and an instructor at the University of Exeters medical school, has seen a rise in admissions to hospitals among younger people and women. He found that the average age of admission to the ICUs has declined from December to January.

After many months of genomic stability in the virus, suddenly, three distinct versions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on three separate continents have independently acquired similar mutations involving their spike protein. According to a new report published in Wired, that pattern is what scientists refer to as convergent evolution, and its a sign of trouble ahead. This means that separate SARS-CoV-2 viruses have acquired similar mutations that help them evade the human immune response. Examples of convergent evolution in nature include such concurrent and independent phenomena as the evolution of flight by bats, birds and insects.

Dr. Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist, explained that the variants becoming more infectious is a real benefit to them, from the standpoint of their survivability. They have arrived at the same solution to their dilemma at the same time. If random chance created these mutations, it would improve their odds to acquire the ability to invade as many people as possible. However, it appears that there are selective pressures to these mutations which aid the virus to evade a persons immune system. Vaccines could create these selective pressures as well, but they have been introduced too recently in the course of the pandemic to be the dominant factor presently. (See the link to the study: mRNA vaccine-elicited antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 and circulating variants .)

According to Dr. Goldstein, The convergent evolution of wilier versions of the virus might just be a consequence of so many poorly managed government pandemic responses, which didnt marshal sufficient resources or inspire the kind of collective action required to not just crush the initial curve, but keep it crushed.

However, as the virus runs rampant and governments attempt to vaccinate the population quickly in ways that violate protocols without containing the epidemic and looking to force schools open, the consequences could well be additional convergent evolutions that produce an extremely virulent strain of the coronavirus.

This danger was stated most succinctly last week by Dr. Katherine OBrien, director for Immunizations, Vaccines and Biologicals at the World Health Organization:

Risk of variants relative to the vaccines is ever greater when the transmission is very high in the communities. Not only because of variants that have occurred but because of the possibility of additional variants emerging under the pressure of vaccines. We have these amazing tools, and the urgency is to deploy them. But we risk something about those tools if we are also not suppressing transmission to the maximum degree possible where those tools can be effective is setting when there is limited transmission. We have to emphasize about the importance of really crushing transmission now while we are rolling out these new vaccines.

The ruling classes see school openings as necessary to maximize surplus value extraction out of the population. As Bidens top economic aide Brian Deese told a Reuters conference last month, We need to get the schools open so that parents can get back to work. The Biden administration and the Democratic Party, backed by the teachers unions and the Republicans, are playing with fire.

The well-being of the community cannot be left in the hands of any government that places the enrichment of the financial oligarchs over its populations well-being. The concerns being raised by teachers and workers worldwide are validated by the science that must guide humanitys struggle to rid itself of an economic system that not only is a dead weight on social progress, but threatens mass extermination on an unprecedented scale. The pandemic is such a scourge, with the contradictions of capitalism blocking a serious, science-driven response that prioritizes saving lives, not corporate profit.

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The media falsely claims schools are safe: What the science actually says (Part two) - WSWS

Abbi Bow, a second-year medical student at the University of Bristol, was just 19 when she began working at one of the citys hospitals on the Covid frontline.

I realise it is a young age to see and work with people on the edge of life, she said. And I do think a lot about the patients I looked after who didnt make it. I remember their names and faces. I dont know if that will ever leave me. Sometimes I see a person in the street who looks like a patient that died and it hits you youre back there with them.

But Bow turns this into a positive. After I become a doctor I will have already been exposed to so much. Learning how to cope with this now will be a benefit in the long term.

When they worked for their A-levels and dreamed of medical school, young people like Bow could not have imagined they would be caught up in a coronavirus crisis.

But more than 500 students from the University of Bristols medical school have donned PPE and worked alongside doctors and nurses in hospitals and GP practices during placements, as volunteers or as healthcare assistants. Many thousands more across the county have done the same.

Bow, now 20, took on a post as a healthcare assistant in April last year and juggles the job with her studies. She works intimately with patients, helping them wash, dress, eat and drink. Some cases stick in her mind.

Quite recently I was helping care for a patient with Covid, said Bow. He was talking but clearly exhausted. His body was tired from fighting Covid. He didnt make it. Its heartbreaking, a very weird experience. Its almost as if the person disappears but the body is still there. His wife is now a widow, his child doesnt have a parent any more.

She helped another patient say goodbye to loved ones via a computer screen because they could not visit. I sat there most of the day holding his hand and playing his favourite music. I was this stranger in full PPE holding his hand but I like to think I brought some comfort.

A third patient Bow worked with was in a coma and looking extremely ill. Then I went in for a shift and she was sat up in bed eating yoghurt. I thought: That cant be the same person. She went over and chatted about the bright pink nail polish the patient was wearing, which her granddaughter had applied before she went into hospital. Its great to think the intervention from us worked and helped her body to fight back. Thats a sweet memory.

Bow remains optimistic. Its sometimes difficult. You wake up and its Groundhog Day. Were not seeing friends and family or going out for dinner or the gym, doing the things we love. Its good to hold on to the idea we will be able to do these things in the future. Once we can, I think well cherish them more.

Luke Ottewell, a 22-year-old fifth year student, has been placed at Gloucestershire Royal hospital helping junior doctors by carrying out tasks such as taking blood samples, inserting cannulas and ordering X-rays.

He was sent home to Spain from university during the first lockdown last spring. But I realised Id rather be here helping out. Ottewell returned in the summer and got stuck in.

Like his fellow fifth years, he has had to balance revision and caring for ill people. His routine as he prepared for his finals was to begin revising at 6.30am, work a 9am-5pm shift at the hospital and then get back to the revision from 5pm-9pm. It has been easier to get out of bed in the morning because of the desire to help out during a national emergency, he said.

Andrew Blythe, the director of the universitys medical programme and a part-time GP, said the students had been exposed to more trauma and stress than most of their predecessors.

Undoubtedly, they are seeing more sicker patients, he said. When they experience death for the first time it is a very powerful and moving experience.

A few have paused their studies because of physical or mental health issues but nobody has dropped out. Their experiences are going to have a profound effect on their whole understanding of medicine. I think for a lot of them the pandemic has motivated them.

Chanelle Smith, another fifth year student aged 22 working with critically ill patients at the Gloucestershire Royal, said her duties ranged from taking bloods to writing discharge summaries. She is about to begin working on the vaccination programme.

Were in a storm, she said. Its hard to remain positive but if we can come through this tunnel well all be so proud. Working in such challenging times makes you stronger. I think its increased my resilience. Its been nerve-racking, humbling, exciting but I feel Im more prepared to be a doctor.

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'We're in a storm': medical students on the Covid frontline - The Guardian

Breanna Ngyuen, 27, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, had just finished her second year of medical school coursework when the coronavirus pandemic took hold last spring.

Nguyen, of Orlando, FL, had been preparing to enter what many consider one of the most challenging and important years of the medical school journey, when students have several exams and complete clinical work in order to graduate.Instead, Nguyen decided to take a year off and conduct outside research because all in-person instruction and testing centers closed.

I know this caused a lot of stress for me and many of my classmates, and this was definitely one of the biggest challenges as a medical school student during the pandemic, Nguyen said.

Ngyuen says one of the things she misses most about in-person instruction was getting to interact with patients and classmates. Because Ngyuen is taking a year off, shes no longer in the same graduating class as when she began her medical school career.

With COVID and rotations together, it can get really isolating," Ngyuen said.

Ngyuen has been able to conduct in-person research at the Biomedical Science Tower in Oakland since the facilitys reopening in June, but the work requires physical distancing, temperature checks upon entering the building, and lots of sanitization.

Despite the hardships so many medical students have faced through the pandemic, Ngyuen said she's optimistic.

Overall Im extremely impressed with how adaptable everyone has been and how well people have been adhering to guidelines and so that we can keep each other safe," she said. "And progress our research at the same time. My research year has been really rewarding thus far, and Im looking forward to continuing out the year in the lab and returning to rotations in the late spring and summer."

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'A Lot Of Stress': Medical Student Shares Her Experience Through The Pandemic - 90.5 WESA

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare system has been strained to its limits as it attempts to accommodate a rapid influx of patients. Many hospitals are at or near capacity and facing issues related to understaffing. Meanwhile, a record number of pre-medical students submitted applications this year, hoping to one day join the medical field.

Medical school applications require both a rigorous course load as well as a slew of extracurriculars that often include research, clinical shadowing and volunteering. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, students are required to take the Medical College Admissions Test, a seven-and-a-half-hour standardized test on science fundamentals.

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly disrupted every part of the application process with classes and volunteer opportunities shifting online. MCAT exams were canceled and the format of the exam was shortened to accommodate these circumstances.

In order to learn more about how the pandemic impacted pre-medical students, the Daily Wildcat spoke with junior physiology major and Alpha Epsilon Delta social chair Nadia Clarke about her experience navigating both a competitive application process and a global pandemic.

Daily Wildcat: Can you tell me a bit about where you are in your pre-med journey so far?

Nadia Clarke: Im a physiology major and a biochemistry and public health minor, so I do have a majority of my credits done. I plan to take the MCAT in March, so Im currently studying for that. After that, Ill be applying, and the deadline for applications is towards the end of June, so I have to have everything completed like my applications, my rec letters, my MCAT scores before then. Im currently volunteering. Im currently doing research, all that good stuff.

DW: How would you describe how COVID-19 has impacted your ability to build an application for med school?

NC: A lot of the things I participated in were canceled. For example, all the undergrads were kicked out of the lab I was working with. So that was a little hard to hear. Then, I know Banner [Hospital] shut down. Ive been volunteering at the hospital since I was a junior in high school.

Im currently volunteering at a clinic in South Tucson. Its called Clinica Amistad, and theres a lot more precautions, obviously. We have to separate appointment times a lot more, and were doing temperature checks, and now everyone does a COVID-19 questionnaire prior to coming in to check for symptoms.

Im also a volunteer at another Tucson organization called Tu Nidito. I work with kids who are either grieving the loss of a loved one or are trying to make sense of a diagnosis. We would go in and sit with these kids and give them an environment where they feel comfortable to be able to talk about death and the permanence of death. But now, with everything happening and since they are so high risk, we have to do it over Zoom.

That can be extremely difficult because they are kids. As college students its been difficult enough for us to sit in front of a classroom for an hour-and-a-half, but to make a three-to-six-year-old try to sit in front of a Zoom and talk about subjects such as death; thats been especially difficult and heartbreaking overall.

DW: Schools across the nation have transitioned to mostly online learning. Do you feel like this has affected your academic experience?

NC: Its been weird because there have been pros and cons to being on Zoom. For example, I can be in multiple places at once. I can be writing an email, and I can be in a Zoom meeting. That has actually helped greatly because Im taking 26 credits. So its been a lot easier to focus on multiple things at once. Especially being a premed, that was one of the biggest difficulties being in person like you cant be at multiple places at once.

But while it has been nice being flexible, it has also been difficult because Im not getting in-person instruction. To even go as far to how the medical school process has changed for applications, a lot of times if youre getting interviewed, we would have MMIs which are Multiple Mini Interviews.

We would go and you would act out scenarios with the person interviewing you. Besides your MCAT score and extracurriculars, the interview is such a huge factor in you actually getting into med school. So not being able to have that emotional connection does make it a little bit more difficult. Its not the same as being in person.

DW: Being in a pandemic, we are seeing a bit more of the perspective and struggles of health care workers. Do you think this has impacted your attitude towards health care professions and what you want to do?

NC: Its really opened my eyes to how little people care about the actual health of health care workers even though frontline workers are praised at the moment.

You go on social media, you go on all these platforms and you see people partying one moment, and then you see a healthcare worker crying that they have to hold the hands of someone dying. Its such a weird dichotomy.

I think its been really tough to see people who are premeds just also not care. Thats the weirdest part for me. You will see some people just blatantly not care about the fact that theres a pandemic despite them wanting to go into a healthcare field which is so contradictory.

DW: What has your quarantine experience been like?

NC: I currently live alone. Its been really hard to be in a constant environment where I have to keep focusing. Ive been here for the last year just stuck in one place.

What Ive found helpful is going to the medical library on campus. Obviously, theyre really following the strict CDC [Center for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines. I think just changing up my environment every so often has really helped.

DW: Do you have any advice for pre-medical students that are feeling lost?

NC: Its been great how dynamic the healthcare field has actually been. I know over the summer, I participated in a few Zoom shadowing opportunities where you can go in and watch a health professional do their surgery. Coursera was offering courses for free, so you could go in and get a certificate regarding healthcare or public health.

Just finding those online resources and definitely being in contact with your advisors is helpful. Academically, if you want to do [a] small thing like declaring a minor, theres so many options, and that kind of gives you a bit of an edge.

Doing those small things really adds to your resume. One of the biggest things going into this cycle is [that] you cant just go in there and say, Well, it was the pandemic, so I couldnt do this.

Medical schools are flexible to a certain extent, but theyre not going to take that excuse. Theyre looking for the people who were able to adjust because thats what medicine is: learning to adjust and be flexible to whatever situation youre faced with.

For example, one thing that I did to counter the fact that I was not able to do research is I ran for social chair at AED. It has given me a level of leadership. All these things can accumulate into your application as examples of characteristics that schools want: hard work, drive and dedication. Thats what youre trying to portray, and theres so many ways you can do that. Yes, theres been a hindrance to the ability to do so, but theres always a way to work around that.

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Premed in a pandemic: The student perspective of applying to medical school in the age of COVID-19 - Arizona Daily Wildcat

Jaila Campbell, seen here as part of the Warrior Strong campaign, is a Wayne State University medical student and a graduate of the Post-Baccalaureate Program.

February is Black History Month through the United States. The Wayne State University School of Medicine has a storied history of African Americans of its own that dates back to a mere year after the medical school was founded. Joseph Ferguson, M.D., graduated from what was then Detroit Medical College, in 1869. He became the first Black man in Detroit and most likely in Michigan to earn a medical degree.

Fast forward more than 150 years, and the school hit another milestone in 2019 the 50th anniversary of the Post-Baccalaureate Program, founded in 1969 to ensure that qualified minorities continued to have the opportunity to enter medical school. It was the first of its kind in the nation. Initially launched to address the dearth of Black students entering medical schools, the free program immerses students into a year-long education in biochemistry, embryology, gross anatomy, histology and physiology. Many who graduated from the program were accepted into the WSU School of Medicine, but the program also served as a major pipeline for Black students into medical schools across the nation. Today, the program accepts students from a category deemed underrepresented in medicine, which includes African Americans, Hispanic/Latino, Native American and students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In between, the school continued to play a major role in addressing the physician workforce in America and bridging the gap in health disparities and health outcomes.

The WSU School of Medicine was founded in 1868 by four Civil War veteran physicians. At the same time, the first medical school in the county that was open to all people, Howard University Medical Department, opened in Washington, D.C., under the direction of Civil War veteran and Commissioner of the Freedmens Bureau, Gen. Oliver Howard. One year later, in 1869, the Detroit College of Medicine and Howard University graduated their first Black physicians.

Albert Henry Johnson, M.D., became the third Black graduate of the Detroit College of Medicine, in 1893. Dr. Johnson was one of the founders of Dunbar Hospital, the first Black non-profit hospital in Detroit.

In 1926, Chester Cole Ames, M.D., graduated from the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery. He was the first Black physician to obtain an internship in Urology at a white hospital in Detroit, but he was never allowed to join staff. Dr. Ames was Detroit's first Black intern, resident and member of the Wayne University medical faculty. He cofounded three Black hospitals in Detroit, but was never granted privileges to practice his specialty in white hospitals.

Some 17 years later, Marjorie Peebles-Meyers, M.D., graduated from the Wayne University College of Medicine, the schools first Black female graduate. She was also the first Black female resident at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the first Black chief resident at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the first Black female appointed to the WSU medical faculty and the first Black female to join a private white medical practice in Detroit. After retiring, she began a second career as the first Black female medical officer at Ford Motor Co. World Headquarters. Dr. Peebles-Meyers received many awards and honors, including induction into the Michigan Womens Hall of Fame.

The same amount of time elapsed before Black physicians Thomas Flake Sr., M.D., Class of 1951; Addison Prince, M.D.; William Gibson, M.D.; and James Collins, M.D., were appointed to the staff at Harper Hospital, thereby integrating the Detroit Medical Center hospital staff.

Only five years later, Charles Whitten, M.D.,became the first Black physician to head a department in a Detroit hospital when he was selected clinical director of Pediatrics at Detroit Receiving Hospital. He was also a founder of the aforementioned Post-Baccalaureate Program.

In 1981, Alexa Canady, M.D., became the first Black neurosurgeon in the United States. Dr. Canady went on to serve as professor in the WSU Department of Neurosurgery. She was named one of the countrys most outstanding doctors by Child magazine in 2001.

Around 1988, two School of Medicine students Don Tynes, M.D. 95, and Carolyn King, M.D. 93, -- established Reach Out to Youth to introduce children 7 to 11 in underrepresented populations to the possibility of careers in science and medicine. Since then, the hands-on, workshop- and activity-focused program has been presented annually by the School of Medicines Black Medical Association, a chapter of the Student National Medical Association.

In 1995, Professor of Pediatrics and Sickle Cell Detection and Information Center Founder Charles Vincent, M.D., was appointed to the Membership Committee of the American Medical Association, making him the first Black doctor appointed to the committee in the AMAs 147-year history.

In 2017, Cheryl Gibson Fountain, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., a 1987 graduate, was named the president of the Michigan State Medical Society. The obstetrician/gynecologist served a one-year term as the societys first Black female president.

Last November, an anti-racism educational effort led by School of Medicine Class of 2024 medical student Cedric Mutebi and third-year Internal Medicine-Pediatrics resident Selena Rodriguez, M.D., aimed at stopping racial disparities through reimagined medical education won a $10,000 grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges. The grant allowed the team to develop Healing Between the Lines, a sub-curriculum targeting upstream structural inequities that drive downstream disparities.

Today, the push for more diversity, more inclusion and the elimination of health disparities continue to shape the future of the School of Medicine, from student-led efforts to longitudinal research projects dedicated to the health of Black Americans.

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Black History Month: Monumental moments at the WSU School of Medicine - The South End

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Professorship supports research into development of antifungal drugs, vaccines

Jennifer Lodge, PhD, the vice chancellor for research at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named the inaugural David T. Blasingame Professor.

Jennifer K. Lodge, PhD, the vice chancellor for research at Washington University in St. Louis and a leading expert in fungus that can cause a potentially fatal brain infection, has been named the inaugural David T. Blasingame Professor. She also serves as the senior associate dean for research and a professor of molecular microbiology at the School of Medicine.

The new professorship, funded by Washington University, was created to honor the extraordinary contributions of David T. Blasingame, who led the universitys Alumni & Development Office for 28 years until his retirement in 2018.

Lodge was named to the professorship by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor.

I am delighted to be recognizing Dr. Jennifer Lodge with a professorship honoring the legacy of David Blasingame, Martin said. Both of these distinguished individuals have long histories of extraordinary contributions to the university, and it is a pleasure to recognize those contributions with this professorship. The new professorship will support and facilitate the important work that Dr. Lodge continues to perform including her outstanding leadership of the universitys research programs during these unprecedented pandemic times as well as the vital research she has conducted over her long and distinguished career. At the same time, we are recognizing the dedication of David Blasingame in his tireless commitment to raising vital funds for the university over his many decades of service.

Lodge studies a type of fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans that typically causes lung disease that can spread through the blood to the brain in people. The fungal infection can cause meningitis in patients who are immune-compromised, and it kills an estimated 180,000 people each year. Her expertise is focused on the fungal cell wall, which is required for the fungus to grow and determine how the fungus interacts with the host. Understanding these processes could lead to new antifungal treatments and vaccines.

She is the author of over 75 scientific papers and, since 1997, her work has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In her administrative roles, Lodge also leads the massive research infrastructure across Washington University, and most recently has focused considerable efforts navigating the unprecedented circumstances and pressures the COVID-19 pandemic has placed upon the universitys research labs.

Not only is Dr. Lodge a talented and productive scientist, she has done extraordinary work in her leadership of research for the medical school and the rest of the university, including tremendous work during the pandemic, Perlmutter said. We could not have had more capable leadership supporting our research programs, often times with essential services that otherwise go unrecognized and especially during this unprecedented time. Research is an essential part of everything we do, and Jennifer Lodge has been incredibly skilled in supporting interdisciplinary research projects that bring together collaborators across many departments, securing new potential funding opportunities, and maximizing the benefits of the universitys continuing investments in research and the infrastructure required to support it.

Lodge is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology and the National Academy of Inventors. In 2014, she graduated from the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program at the university, and in 2015, she received the Academy of Science St. Louis Trustee Award. She has served as chair of the Group on Research at the Association of American Medical Colleges and serves on several editorial boards and NIH review panels.

It is an honor to receive this professorship recognizing the extraordinary contributions of David Blasingame, Lodge said. The support from the university will help continue my labs research into a debilitating and deadly infection. It also has been a tremendous honor to guide the extraordinary response of the universitys research community to this pandemic. Our researchers have spectacularly risen to the challenge posed by the virus from donating protective equipment to our front-line health-care workers, to pivoting work in their labs to focus on COVID-19, to adhering to our public health guidelines so that we can productively continue our important research mission.

Lodge earned her bachelors degree from Oberlin College in 1979 and her doctorate in biomedical sciences from Washington University in 1988. She continued her postdoctoral training at both Washington University and what was then Monsanto. She began her career at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where she went on to serve as associate dean for research, from 2005 to 2009.

In 2009, she joined the Washington University faculty in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and also became the School of Medicines associate dean for research. In 2014, she was named vice chancellor for research for the entire university. In this role, she oversees university investments in research on the Medical and Danforth campuses, and oversees research compliance, education, grants and contracts.

Blasingame

Blasingame, a native of Little Rock, Ark., arrived as a freshman at Washington University in 1965 and went on to earn a bachelors degree in psychology and then a Master of Business Administration. Blasingame served in the U.S. Army and then returned to the university in 1974 as associate director of alumni relations. He was director of development for the John M. Olin School of Business from 1978 to 1985 and then named associate vice chancellor for alumni and development programs. In 1990, he was appointed vice chancellor of the department, and in 2004, he became executive vice chancellor.

Blasingame has a long history of success in leading campaigns supporting Washington University. In 2018, when Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University ended, the program had raised more than $3.3 billion, surpassing the campaigns initial goal of $2.2 billion. His achievements in university advancement have been recognized with several awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in St. Louis and the Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

I am so grateful for this professorship established in my name and could not be more pleased for Jennifer Lodge to serve as the inaugural holder, Blasingame said. While at Washington University, I saw the incredible passion and commitment our faculty bring to their work, and I had the distinct privilege of sharing news of their tremendous accomplishments with our alumni and friends. To have my name associated with our facultys life-changing scholarship, teaching, and research and with an institution that has meant so much to me is a very special honor.

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

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Lodge named inaugural Blasingame professor - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

The Class of 2021 will continue the School of Osteopathic Medicines proud tradition of having approximately 10 graduates per year enter military residency programs. Eleven students slated for graduation in May 2021 matched into residency programs this month where they will serve in the United States Armed Forces while caring for soldiers, veterans and their families from Fort Bragg, North Carolina to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington.

As they celebrated this milestone, the students shared what lead each of them to pursue military medicine.

Air Force2LT Augustus E. FloydPsychiatrySan Antonio Military Medical Center, San Antonio, TXI have always had a fascination with military history and the experience of those who have taken up arms to defend our country.The psychological toll of warfare cannot be understated, and mental health fervently impacts the choices that affect every other aspect of wellness. I believe this career path will allow me to help improve the lives of service-members and empower them in our mission to win in air, space, and cyberspace!

2LT Hunter GalloglyFamily Medicine and Operational MedicineMike OCallahan Medical Center, Nellis Air Force Base, NVI chose military medicine because I truly believe the men and women who serve our country every day should be our first priority. Those in Uniform risk their health for this country, so I am happy and honored to be given the chance to serve those who serve.

2LT Ashley Murphy ShawObstetrics and GynecologyNaval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VAService:Itsanhonor to serve those who serve our country.Tradition:I will soon be the second Air Forcephysicianin my family.TheAir Force core values:Integrity first. Service before self. Excellence in all we do.

Army2 LT Peter V. ChoiFamily MedicineNational Capital Consortium, Fort Belvoir, VAI applied to Family Medicine at Ft. Belvoir in hopes of obtaining an excellent education and to be near family.

2LT Adrienne CourseyFamily MedicineWomack Army Medical Center, Fort Bragg, NCI chose Family Medicine because I want to be able to provide front-line, full-spectrum primary care and to serve others with a focus on compassion, solidarity, holism, and developing relationships. I have a passion for working directly with Soldiers and know continuing my medical education at Fort Bragg will allow me the opportunity to pursue a career in supporting military operations and to grow as an osteopathic physician in the military community.

2LT Rosina DardenPsychiatryWalter Reed Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MDI chose to be an army physician so I could serve and give back to the country that has afforded me so many opportunities. I am honored to be joining the Psychiatry program at Walter Reed and look forward to working with the men and women serving our country.

2LT Anthony LucidoPediatricsWalter Reed Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MDPediatrics has always been my specialty of choice since beginning medical school. I enjoy working with the patient population and feel the biggest impact on health is made in the earliest years of life. I have always felt a desire to serve a country which blessed me with so much. All my brothers and I are in the Army in one fashion or another, so it was only natural to continue the tradition.

2 LT R. Logan PhillipsInternal MedicineMadigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WAI chose military medicine because I have always valued giving back, both to my country and to its people. Serving in the military has always been a goal of mine, so serving the military as a physician has been a great opportunity for me to be able to combine the two ways to serve.

NavyJon McGill, ENS MC USNREmergency MedicineNaval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VAI am very excited to get the opportunity to start my career in the Navy in my top choice program and specialty. I have always had a desire to serve my country. Upon learning about the ability to do so while pursuing a career in medicine, I did not hesitate to sign up. The Navy particularly holds a special place in my heart as my father was also a Physician in the Navy Medical Corp. I am proud to be able to follow in his footsteps with all he has provided me. Emergency Medicine has been my passion since beginning my journey into medicine. First as and EMT and next as an Emergency Room Technician, I am extremely excited to continue my career in a field I love and enjoy.

ENS, Joseph McNamaraTransitional ResidencyNaval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VAInspired by a long line of Naval officers in the family, military medicine immaculatelypairs my own passion of serving others through medicine with this rich tradition offering a chance to help those who may sacrifice everything for our country.

ENS John PetersenInternal MedicineNaval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VAI really look forward to being at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth again after I had an away rotation there. I chose medical training in the Navy because of the unique experiences and training. The patients and the people you get to work with are great.

Class of 2019 Alumnae, Air Force Captain Julia Timm Intili, an internal medicine resident at Brooke Army Medical Center, shared her pride in having more Campbell graduates heading into military medicine.

Im proud we have so many Class of 2022 Camels heading to train in our military hospitals!

I love training at a military hospital. We were able to participate in Operation Warp Speed and were among the first to get the COVID vaccine. We get patients from war zones and deployments overseas, as well as World War II veterans with no shortage of war stories.

It is a privilege to serve these heroes, and I am well prepared thanks to my education at CUSOM. I always appreciated CUSOMs respect for the military, especially given its close proximity to Fort Bragg and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

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Eleven Class of 2021 members will enter military medicine residency | News | Campbell University - Campbell University News

As hospitals nationwide struggle with the latest COVID-19 surge, its not so much beds or ventilators in short supply. Its the people to care for the sick.

Yet a large, highly skilled workforce of foreign-educated doctors, nurses and other health practitioners has gone largely untapped due to licensing and credentialing barriers. According to the Migration Policy Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., about 165,000 foreign-trained immigrants in the United States hold degrees in health-related fields but are unemployed or underemployed in the midst of the health crisis.

Many of these workers have invaluable experience dealing with infectious disease epidemics such as SARS, Ebola or HIV in other countries, yet must sit out the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic highlights licensing barriers that predate COVID-19, but many believe it can serve as a wakeup call for states to address the issue for this crisis and beyond. Already, five states Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and New York have adapted their licensing guidelines to allow foreign-trained health workers to lend their lifesaving skills amid pandemic-induced staff shortages.

These really are the cabdrivers, the clerks, the people who walk your dog, said Jina Krause-Vilmar, president and chief executive officer of not-for-profit Upwardly Global, which helps immigrant professionals enter the U.S. workforce. They also happen to be doctors and nurses in their home countries, and theyre just not able to plug and play into the system as its set up.

Thats left doctors such as Sussy Obando, whos 29 and from Colombia, jumping through hoops to become physicians in the United States. In 2013, Obando graduated after six years of medical school in Colombia, then spent a year treating patients in underserved communities. But when she arrived in the United States, her credentials and experience werent enough.

Licensure guidelines vary by state. But foreign-trained doctors typically must pass a medical licensing exam that costs them more than $3,500 and then complete at least a year of on-the-job training, known as a residency, in the United States. For many, including Obando, that means brushing up on English and learning the relevant medical terminology. She also needed U.S. clinical experience to qualify for a residency, something that U.S.-trained doctors achieve through rotations during medical school.

If you dont know anyone in this field, you have to go door-to-door to find somebody to give you the opportunity to rotate, Obando said.

She tried emailing Hispanic doctors she found online to see whetehr she could complete a rotation with one of them. She ended up paying $750 to enter a psychiatry rotation at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston.

I tried to go into internal medicine, Obando said. But because psychiatry was less expensive, I have to go for that.

She also worked for almost a year as a volunteer at Houstons MD Anderson Cancer Center, and is now assisting with clinical trials for COVID vaccines at the Texas Center for Drug Development. She has applied for a residency through a national program that matches medical school graduates with residency slots. But its difficult for foreign-trained physicians to secure a spot because many are earmarked for U.S. med school graduates. And many residency programs are open only to recent graduates, not those who finished medical school years ago.

Its competitive for people who trained in the United States to get into a residency program, said Jacki Esposito, director of U.S. policy and advocacy for World Education Services, a nonprofit that helps immigrants find jobs in the United States and Canada. If youre trained outside the United States, its even harder.

Thats why states such as Colorado have eased the requirement for a residency during the pandemic. Early on, Colorado officials realized they couldnt license doctors and other health workers because coronavirus lockdowns had canceled required licensing exams. Under an executive order from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in April, state officials created a temporary licensing program, allowing medical school graduates to begin practicing under supervision for six months and then extended that through June 2021.

Officials created a similar pathway to temporary licensure for foreign medical school graduates who lacked the minimum year of residency.

Colorado also created temporary licenses for foreign-trained nurses, certified nurses aides, physician assistants and many other health professionals. All of those licenses require supervision from a licensed professional and are valid only as long as the governors public health emergency declaration remains in effect.

The state relaxed the scope-of-practice rules for those health workers, too, allowing them to perform any task their supervisors assign to them.

So if youre an occupational therapist, you can give vaccinations as long as they are delegating to you, and theyre confident you have the skill and knowledge, said Karen McGovern, deputy director of legal affairs for the professions and occupations division for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies. You can exceed your statutory skill and practice to what needs to be done during the pandemic.

Through mid-December, the state had received 36 applications from foreign-trained doctors seeking temporary licenses, though only one applicant met all of the criteria.

New Jersey, in contrast, received more than 1,100 applications for temporary medical licenses last year.

Michigan also issued an executive order allowing temporary licenses, but it later was rescinded.

Many of the medical professionals stuck on the sidelines have skills and experience that would be invaluable during the pandemic.

Victor Ladele, 44, finished medical school in Nigeria and treated patients during a drought in Niger in 2005, in the midst of the Darfur genocide in Sudan in 2007 and after a civil war in Liberia in 2010. His family moved to the United States a few years later, but Ladele was recruited to help with the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. What he thought would be a three-month stay turned into a two-year mission.

Now back in Edmond, Oklahoma, working with a U.N. program that helps new business ventures get off the ground, Ladele has found that the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic parallel many of his past experiences. He saw how a program for Ebola contact tracing told people with a cough or fever to call a hotline, which would direct them to a care center. But as soon as the initiative went live, rumors began to spread on social media that European doctors at the care centers were harvesting organs. It took months of outreach to tribal and religious leaders to instill confidence in the system.

He has seen similar misinformation spread about COVID and masks.

If, in Oklahoma, the public health officials had done outreach to all the pastors in the churches and gained their support for masking, would there be more people using masks? Ladele said.

Ideally, he said, he would like to spend about half of his time seeing patients, but the licensing process remains a challenge.

Its not insurmountable, he said. But when I think of all the hurdles to credentialing here, Im not really sure its worth the effort.

Upwardly Global which has offices in New York, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco helps health professionals navigate that unfamiliar application and credentialing system. Many foreign-trained health workers have never had to write rsums or interview for jobs.

While the pandemic has temporarily eased entry in five states, Krause-Vilmar and others believe it could be a model to address workforce shortages in underserved areas across the country. As of September, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration had designated more than 7,300 health care shortage areas, requiring an additional 15,000 health care practitioners.

Weve had a crisis in access to health care, especially in rural areas, in this country for a long time, Krause-Vilmar said. How do we start imagining what that would look like in terms of more permanent licenses for these folks who are helping us recover and rebuild?

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering health issues.

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Amid COVID-19 shortage of doctors, other health workers, foreign-trained professionals are left on the sideli - Chicago Sun-Times

Doctors are taught an average of 1percent of their total lecture time in medical school learning about nutrition, and now one doctor, Dr. Michael Greger, is out to change that by encouraging students toenroll in an extra outside course in nutrition. The average time spent learning about "food as medicine" falls far short of the National Research Councils recommendation for a baseline nutrition curriculum, according to anew reportpublished by The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, which has acknowledged: "Nutrition plays a critical role in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases, and diet is one of the most significant risk factors for disability and premature death in the United States." Neither the federal government, which helps fund medical schools nor accreditation organizationswhich validates themenforce any minimum level of diet instruction, so Greger decided to do something about it, by launching a course to teach med students how to talk to patients about the importance of nutrition in disease prevention and cure.

Given to students in Germany, the 11-part nutrition course, which Dr. Michael Gregeris an advisor to, is called ThePhysicians Association for Nutrition(PAN) International. The purpose of PAN is to teach medical students nutrition and increase awareness in the medical community of the power ofplant-based nutritionfor treating and preventing diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Taking place in Munich, the online course hasmore than 2,700 medical students signing up for the 11-part series so far. The organizers are hoping to expand it to the rest of the world.

The firsttime the course was offered, nearly2,500 people attended, mostlymedical students from Germany. The event's Medical Director, Niklas Oppenrieder MD, says: This record number of attendees shows us that nutrition and nutritional medicine need to be a much more central part of medical education and healthcare. Thats what we are working for at PAN.

The 11-partIss Das!(Eat That!) series has been organized almost exclusively by volunteers from the PAN University Groups and brings together renowned experts from diverse specialties of medicine and nutritional science. The online talks will take place between November 2020 and January 2021 and will cover topics such asnutritional medicine in cardiology,food and the climate crisis, andgastroenterology and the microbiome.

A patient who presents with heart disease, type 2 diabetes or even some forms of cancer (such as colon, or hormonally linked cancers such as breast and prostate) are likely to never hear a word about how changing their diet can help them get healthier, along with taking vital life-saving medicine, according to research. As prevention and intervention, doctors like Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn have used dietary changes to help treat patients facing heart surgery, to the point where signs of the disease have been reversed by adopting a whole-foods plant-based diet.

How does this affect you? The next time a doctor tells you that you need to go on medication, ask about nutrition. No one is suggesting we turn our backs on science, medicine and life-saving drugs or medical progress, but "Let thy Food Be thy Medicine" is as old as theHippocratic Oath. Food should be a tool in the kit of all doctors facing lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation. Studies have shown a whole-food plant-based diet low in oil can reverse symptoms of heart disease. Ask your doctor if this is an option for you.

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Doctors Don't Learn Nutrition. One MD is Out to Change That - The Beet