Interview by Nicole Aschoff

For the better part of a year the world has battled SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that has killed nearly a million people and sickened tens of millions. In the United States the virus has wreaked havoc, particularly on older members of the population. Americans aged fifty-five and older account for more than 90 percent of the nearly two hundred thousand US COVID-19 deaths, while roughly 0.2 percent were people under twenty-five.

Efforts to quell the virus have brought additional pain. As of late August, roughly nineteen million Americans were out of work as a result of the pandemic, and food and housing insecurity has increased dramatically. But the pain caused by lockdowns has not been shared equally.

Elites have seen their stock portfolios balloon in value, and many professionals have been able to keep their jobs by working from home. It is the countrys poor and working-class households, particularly those with children, who have borne a disproportionate share of the burden. Lower-income Americans were much more likely to be forced to work in unsafe conditions, to have lost their livelihoods due to business and school shutdowns, or to be unable to learn remotely.

Jacobin editorial board member Nicole Aschoff sat down with two public health experts to discuss the challenge of keeping Americans safe without forcing working people to bear the lions share of pain and risk.

Katherine Yih is a biologist and epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School where she specializes in infectious disease epidemiology, immunization, and post-licensure vaccine safety surveillance. Yih is also a founding member of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group, a former and current member of Science for the People, and a long-time activist in farm labor and anti-imperialist struggles.

Martin Kulldorff is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Kulldorff has developed methods for the detection and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks which are used by public health departments around the world. Since April, he has been an active participant in the COVID-19 strategy debate in the United States, his native Sweden, and elsewhere. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

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We Need a Radically Different Approach to the Pandemic and Our Economy as a Whole - Jacobin magazine

Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have produced 29 players who ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Everyone from Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State) to Michael Strahan (Texas Southern) to Aeneas Williams (Southern), but if were honest, football at HBCUs is an afterthought these days.

Deion Sanders can change all of that.

Seriously.

Jackson State named him its 21st coach on Monday at an on-campus news conference full of the pomp and circumstance you would expect from Sanders and an HBCU, arriving behind a marching band, police escort and luxury SUVs for his formal introduction.

Before Sanders takes on his first college job, he will finish this season as offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School in South Dallas, where his son, Shedeur, plays quarterback and has committed to Florida Atlantic.

Sanders replaces John Hendrick, who was fired last month with a record of 6-9. Jackson State, which has not had a winning year since 2013, will start its season with the rest of the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the spring because of COVID-19.

Sanders, the only man to play in a Super Bowl and World Series, has always welcomed challenges.

This is one of the biggest challenges Sanders has ever faced because of the scrutiny that accompanies his new job and the critics waiting for him to fail, in part, because he didnt take a traditional path to getting this job.

After all, Sanders has never coached at the collegiate level.

Then again, neither had Todd Dodge when the University of North Texas hired him in 2007 after he won three consecutive state Class 5A championships at Southlake Carroll in suburban Dallas.

And neither had Gerry Faust when Notre Dame hired him in 1981 after 18 seasons at perennial powerhouse Moeller High School in Cincinnati, so precedence exists for this type of bold move.

This is what Ive been doing my whole life. Ive been called to take things to another level, Sanders said Sunday on his podcast 21st & Prime. What God is calling me to now, Im ecstatic. Its my people. Its my people I get to touch. A multitude of the parents are the same age as me.

I cant wait. Im so excited. I cant wait to touch the grass. I cant wait to put that whistle in my mouth. I cant wait to start drawing up plays.

The biggest question is whether Sanders can be CEO of a college program and manage more than 100 players, assistant coaches and support staff.

It all starts with his staff.

Sanders said he expects his staff to have eight assistant coaches who either played or coached in the NFL.

They must be grinders, because theres nothing glamorous about coaching college football. Youre either preparing for a practice, a game or recruiting. Downtime is for other people.

Sanders most important staff member will be his NCAA compliance officer because of the organizations draconian rules. Plus, any prominent player who signs with Jackson State is going to have his recruitment scrutinized like none other.

Now, Sanders made mistakes at Prime Prep Academy, the charter school he co-founded in 2013 that closed after months of controversy in 2015. Among a few issues with the school was financial mismanagement, according to an investigation by the Dallas Morning News in 2016.

Building a school from scratch is something Sanders doesnt have to do at Jackson State.

Sanders has made it clear he wants to recruit some of the nations best players. His name and credentials will get him in the home of almost any recruit.

And no better time exists for Sanders to recruit elite Black athletes to an HBCU.

In June, Makur Maker, a five-star basketball player, committed to Howard over UCLA, and in August, 6-foot-3 twin volleyball players Cimone and Bria Woodard changed their verbal commitment from Texas A&M to Howard.

Sanders has shown his commitment to HBCUs. He announced the HBCU combine earlier this year, which was organized to highlight 50 hand-picked athletes from HBCUs ahead of the NFL draft, but the event was canceled due to COVID-19.

Our country is fractured, and too many folks think its cool to cheer for Black athletes when they score touchdowns as long as they arent dating their sons or daughters or straying too far off campus.

What if Sanders signed some of the best college football players because he can sell the one thing Power 5 schools cant: a sense of community and belonging?

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At HBCUs, Black students get a sense of community that doesnt happen at predominantly white schools. History lessons go beyond Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. It can be hard to love yourself when you dont really know who you are and where you came from.

At an HBCU, its cool to be unapologetically Black and embrace all that means.

Why not? Isnt this the time? Sanders said. Isnt this the moment? Isnt this whats needed? To match what [Jackson State president Thomas Hudson] so eloquently said, its a match made in heaven. This is a God move.

Jean-Jacques Taylor, a native of Dallas, is an award-winning journalist who has covered the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL for 25 years and is president of JJT Media Group.

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Deion Sanders can sell recruits on one thing Power 5 schools cannot: community - The Undefeated

Q. My partner says I've been snoring lately. Are there any home remedies I can use to help me stop?

A. Snoring occurs when muscles in your airway relax during sleep, narrowing the airway and making your breath sounds louder as the air forces its way through. There are a number of strategies that can help. Try sleeping on your side instead of your back, which pushes your tongue to the back of your mouth. Clear nasal congestion resulting from allergies or a stuffy nose. Avoid alcohol (which may act as a sedative) and sleep medications known as benzodiazepines, which may cause your airway tissues to relax, making snoring worse. Losing weight can also help, because surplus tissue, caused by weight gain, can put pressure on and compress the airway, making snoring worse. However, if your snoring does not improve, your partner notices that you have periods during the night where your breathing -appears to stop, or you regularly feel drowsy during the day, it may be time to pay a visit to your doctor. You could have a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, which may require treatment.

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Is there a cure for my nightly snoring? - Harvard Health - Harvard Health

Medical students studying in a lab. Recent surveys indicate medical school applications have become more flexible in the pandemic, but potentially even more competitive. (Kaplan, Inc.)

Survey results show that the majority of medical school admission officers have made their admission process more flexible because of the impacts of COVID, but it hasnt made the process any less competitive.

The survey was conducted by Kaplan, a corporation that provides educational services to students and universities. It showed 93% of medical school admission officers and teams made their admissions process more flexible because of the pandemic.

Petros Minasi, the senior director of pre-health programs for Kaplan, said the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score submission deadline has been extended to January 2021 for people wanting to attend in the fall. Usually the test is taken in the spring; however, it was not being administered at all in May due to lockdowns.

Savanah Hardcastle, a BYU senior who took the MCAT this summer, said the first big change was the MCAT test dates getting pushed back. She said the normal timeline is to take the test in April or May and then start on your primary application.

So that was tricky because it was really hard to focus on the application while studying for the MCAT. So my application process kind of got pushed back as well because its hard to do both, Hardcastle said.

Medical schools have also accommodated for limited clinical and volunteer hours caused by social distancing regulations.

Traditionally pre-meds would say, I want to become a doctor, Im going to go volunteer at a hospital so I can shadow some physicians and see the clinical setting in person. Well right now, hospitals, for the most part, want to limit the number of people, Minasi said.

Hardcastle said she wasnt able to do many shadowing hours in hospitals because of COVID. She said this gave her and other students the opportunity to get creative with other ways to serve the community.

I was able to get some of the young women in my ward who I also served with as a young womens leader to help me make a heart with phrases of love and encouragement. And then we pasted the hearts on the windows of the old folks home, Hardcastle said.

Medical schools are also accepting pass/fail grades for pre-requisite courses, which has not been the case in the past. Minasi said they will most likely allow pass/fail courses for some time due to the impact of COVID.

Another significant change has been the interview process for potential medical school students. Medical school interviews are normally in person, but this year schools had to adjust and many did virtual tours or campus walks, Minasi said.

According to the University of Utah School of Medicine admissions overview, because of COVID and local and state health guidelines, interviews would be virtual for the 2020-2021 application cycle.

Minasi said although there has been a lot of changes, the medical school admissions process is not getting any easier.

The accommodations have made it possible, and maybe more accessible, for applicants to continue the process despite the impacts of COVID. The Association of American Medical Colleges released a report showing the number of applicants is 17% higher than usual.

Were already seeing in this 2020 application year, an increase as far as the number of applicants. What were not seeing is an increase in the number of first year medical school seats. So its very possible that this year will actually be more competitive than others, Minasi said.

Link:
Medical schools tweak application process due to COVID-19 - Universe.byu.edu

More than 80 percent of U.S. physicians reported that people with significant disabilities have worse quality of life than nondisabled people, an attitude that may contribute to health care disparities among people with disability, according to recent research published in the February issue ofHealth Affairs.

The first-of-its-kind study surveyed 714 practicing physicians from multiple specialties and locations across the country about their attitudes toward patients with disabilities.

That physicians have negative attitudes about patients with disability wasnt surprising, said Lisa I. Iezzoni, lead author of the paper and a health care policy researcher at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). But the magnitude of physicians stigmatizing views was very disturbing.

For more than 20 years, Iezzoni has studied health care experiences and outcomes of people with disability and is herself disabled by multiple sclerosis diagnosed in 1980, her first year in medical school.

Only 40.7 percent of surveyed physicians reported feeling very confident about their ability to provide the same quality of care to patients with disabilities as their other patients received. And just 56.5 percent strongly agreed that they welcomed patients with disabilities into their practices. The physicians who reported being most welcoming to patients with disability were female and practiced at academic medical centers. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that people with disability receive equitable health care.

That most surveyed physicians did not give socially desirable answers about their perceptions of people with disability indicates their certainty in their beliefs, said Iezzoni. We wouldnt expect most physicians to say that racial or ethnic minorities have a lower quality of life, yet four-fifths of physicians made that pronouncement about people with disabilities. That shows the erroneous assumptions and a lack of understanding of the lives of people with disability on the part of physicians.

Our results clearly raise concern about the ability of the health care system to ensure equitable care for people with disability, added senior author Eric G. Campbell, professor of medicine and director of research for the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Studies of people with disability show that most dont view their lives as tragic.

Lisa I. Iezzoni

The paper cites examples from Iezzonis and others research demonstrating that individuals with disabilities often receive inferior care. Many surgeons assume, for example, that women with early-stage breast cancer who use wheelchairs want a mastectomy instead of breast-conserving surgery, believing that women with disability dont care about their appearance. And during the surge of the COVID pandemic in March, when resources such as ventilators were scarce, the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services felt compelled to issue a warning to health care providers that people with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of disability or perceived quality of life.

The research is a wake-up call for physicians to recognize their biases so they dont make erroneous assumptions about the values of patients with disability, thereby limiting their health care options and compromising care, said Iezzoni, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Studies of people with disability show that most dont view their lives as tragic, she added. Theyve figured out how to get around in the world that wasnt designed for them and view their lives as good quality.

The authors call for all levels of medical education, including continuing education for practicing physicians, to include training about disability. Currently, most medical schools dont include disability topics in their curricula. Implicit Association Tests (which measure unconscious bias) related to disability can also raise physicians awareness of how their perceptions about disability may be affecting how they practice medicine.

In future research, the investigators plan to explore the extent to which physicians perceptions about people with disability contribute to disparities in care, said Campbell. Our ultimate goal is to ensure equality in care for people with disabilities.

Funding for this research was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development.

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Survey finds doctors have negative perception of patients with disability - Harvard Gazette

By Saphia Suarez

Last Monday, faculty members from the Yale Section of General Internal Medicine helped open the doors of the New Haven Primary Care Consortium, beginning an innovative journey of collaborative medicine with the goal of revolutionizing primary care in the New Haven area.

The NHPCC is located at 150 Sargent Drive in Long Wharf, New Haven and is a partnership of Yale New Haven Hospital, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, and Fair Haven Community Health Center that will have critical input and leadership from Yale School of Medicine faculty.

This collaboration is unusual, says Bradley Richards, MD, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) and assistant medical director for the NHPCCs Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Adult Medicine Practice.

It is unusual to have two Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) under the same roof, says Richards, referring to the Cornell Scott-Hill and Fair Haven Community Health Centers. Thats the unique nature of what were doing here, where theres a lot of collaboration.

Unusual though it may be, discussions of this collaboration have been happening on and off for at least 30 years, says Patrick OConnor, MD, MPH, MACP, Dan Adams and Amanda Adams Professor of General Medicine and chief of General Internal Medicine.

The idea has been out there but it didnt gain traction until about three years ago, says OConnor.

Now that it has, the excitement across the department is palpable.

This is a great opportunity for us to work closely with our colleagues in the community, says OConnor. And undoubtedly it will be a two-way learning process. This unique partnership will combine the expertise of community and academic physicians and other health care professionals to the benefit of our patients and community more broadly.

For Brita Roy, MD, MPH, MHS, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) and director of Population Health for Yale Medicine, the excitement around this collaboration lies in the opportunity to improve population health.

The hope is that with all of these clinics merged together serving the lower income population in New Haven, well be able to really collaborate and coordinate to develop robust population health systems to better support our most vulnerable, says Roy.

She names the expansive data and resources from the networks of these three care providers as key to co-designing programs to improve systemsand, therefore, health outcomes.

OConnor agreed. The opportunity for us to leverage this collaboration and think creatively about building highly innovative approaches to population health is very exciting.

John Moriarty, MD, FACP, associate professor of medicine (general medicine) and program director for the Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program, is particularly excited about what this new consortium will mean for his residents.

Education in this environment will change, says Moriarty. One of the more effective ways to educate residents and students about primary care is to have a team-based approach to education, and understanding that high functioning primary care teams are made up of much more than the physician. Theres the pharmacist, the nurse, the medical assistant, etcetera. You need everyone working at the highest level to optimize care plans for patients. The NHPCC gives residents the opportunity to look at true inter-professional care at a high level.

One new aspect of that inter-professional care at the NHPCC is an integrated behavioral health team. This team includes psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers who will now work side by side.

In the past we've struggled to get patients the behavioral mental health care they need when they needed it, says Daniel Tobin, MD, FACP, associate professor and medical director of Primary Care alongside Laura Whitman, assistant professor of medicine (general medicine). So having access to an integrated behavioral health team is a significant enhancement. Theyre right next door, so if we have a patient who needs to see someone for an urgent behavioral health issue, we can send them right over.

And, says Moriarty, that integrated behavioral health will teach residents how to effectively care for patients, thereby improving the next generation of physicians in primary care.

So far, the response from patients has been a positive one.

I have seen quite a few patients in the new space already, says Tobin. I think everyones really excited, the space is beautiful, the physical plant is just a significant upgrade from what were used to, so everyones impressed.

Looking forward, OConnor is focused on creating a seamless patient transition from outpatient, inpatient, and community health care.

The transmittal of information in large medical centers like ours can be fragmented at times, says OConnor.

We want to build comprehensive teams who will assure that patients transition between the clinic, and the hospital, and the community with the goal of achieving high quality and cost effective care for the benefit of all patients and their families.

OConnor says he and his team are already beginning to design a more robust approach to seamless care as they simultaneously settle into the new NHPCC space and explore how this collaboration will elevate the collective care the consortium is able to provide to the New Haven community.

The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators and educators in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.

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Yale Internal Medicine Partners with Two Federally Qualified Health Centers in Innovative New Care Consortium < Internal Medicine - Yale News

The Indiana Historical Society is collecting documents from Hoosiers ahead of an exhibit and online archive for Indianapolis' bicentennial. Indianapolis Star

With the city celebrating 200 years, the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis assigned profiles of civic leaders, including the late Dr. Frank Lloyd. I recalled him as a prominent doctor, medical researcher and the first African-American president of Methodist Hospital.

He was all that, but also as a quiet and effective civic leader. He joined with a handful of others who transformed Indy from minor- to major-league status.

Born in South Carolina in 1919, Dr. Lloyd graduated from Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He served as a Rockefeller Fellow at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, teaching at Columbia University.

Paying respects: Indy's black history makers

Coming to Indianapolis, he established his medical practice, delivering babies and doing research in gynecology and obstetrics.

Dr. Lloyd became one of the first African-American doctors on staff at Methodist Hospital in 1954. He launched a new era as director of medical research in 1963, laying the groundwork for Methodist to become a teaching/research facility in addition to patient care.

In 1981, Dr. Lloyd became the first African-American president of the hospital. Leading the hospital through a major expansion, he hoped Methodist could become an Indiana version of the famous Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Photo of Dr. Frank Lloyd, president of Methodist Hospital, 1992(Photo: Rich Miller, Indianapolis Star)

The hospital pioneered the states first adult open-heart surgery in 1965, then the use of an artificial kidney in 1966, and kidney transplants in 1972.

He also taught at medical schools as a visiting professor. In his spare time he joined other civic entrepreneurs who put Indianapolis on the national map beyond the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and high school basketball.

He was a great physician, said a subsequent Methodist Hospital president, Sam Odle. But he also understood the bigger context of the community the need for African-Americans to have access to information, financial capital and quality education. He was a quiet, reflective man. He didnt wear his smarts on his sleeve.

He was the first chairman of the White River State Park Development Commission, paving the way for the downtown park as an anchor for urban renewal. He also served as co-chair of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, the key organization for the citys revitalization in that era.

He was the key founder of the Midwest National Bank, expanding lending opportunities when traditional banks restricted lending to African-Americans.

He joined with other investors to start radio station WTLC-FM, offering a new African-American perspective in the radio market. He served as president of the Metropolitan Planning Commission during the 1970s, as city fathers were laying the groundwork for the citys growth spurt in subsequent decades.

He also was one of the founding members of 100 Black Men, for mentoring young African-American men.

Sam Jones, then the president of the Indianapolis Urban League, summed him up this way on Lloyds death in 2002: He was a giant among men, not just African-American men, but a giant among men, period.

RussPulliam is associate editor of The Star. Follow him on Twitter at RBPulliam@twitter.com. Email him at Russell.Pulliam@indystar.com.

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Op-ed: Doctor, mentor to Black men, urban renewal champion. Frank Lloyd was that and more - IndyStar

Andrew Whitaker has spent his undergraduate career at Washington University in St. Louis giving back.

A biomedical engineering major at the McKelvey School of Engineering, he has danced and played with kids who have cerebral palsy so they can put on a dance recital through Dance CPSR (Cerebral Palsy Sports Rehabilitation).

A two-sport athlete in football and track, he has spent weekends with kids on the autism spectrum, guiding them through exercises to improve coordination and social skills through the Bear Cubs running program.

An Annika Rodriguez Scholar, he has traveled to Honduras for a week, helping doctors assist patients with basic medical needs through a program called Global Brigades. He also has been involved in the McKelvey Takes Responsibility Campaign and WU BLAC.

Yet when Whitaker who recently was selected as one of 22 college football players from all three NCAA divisions for the prestigious Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team is asked what, if any, of these experiences had the most meaning for him, he responds, Whatever Im doing now.

Right now, that would be his work with the local nonprofit Asthma & Allergy Foundation of St. Louis, helping kids afflicted with a disease of the lungs that is even more dangerous in this time of COVID-19.

What began as an internship this past summer has turned into a project near and dear to this defensive backs heart. With the help of the Gephardt Institute for Civic & Community Engagement, for which he also serves as a Bob and Gerry Virgil Civic Scholar, Whitaker spearheaded a project to send medical supplies to every school district in the St. Louis area. He set up and managed a website through the foundation that school nurses could access and request kits to have on hand. And when the kits were ready to send, he enlisted his football teammates to help assemble boxes.

It was good to know that when schools opened this fall, there were kids with asthma who had a fighting chance against COVID because of these kits, he said.

All from a senior who, like his teammates and classmates, admittedly is having the toughest year of his undergraduate career. Much of his campus life this semester has been experienced from his nearby campus apartment, and the football team only recently began socially distanced practices on Francis Olympic Field. Hes also just starting to work out with the track team.

The whole year has been humbling, and it gives you so much time to reflect on what matters, he said, referring not only to the pandemic but also the social unrest that erupted this summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Im a senior in college, and I dont want to waste any more time, he said. Simply being around friends is meaningful the games we play, the meals we eat together. These things really matter.

And as a senior on the football team, as a captain on the track team, I now feel like if I can inspire someone, I should, he said. If I can share my experiences about being Black and get my teammates to look at things through a different lens in terms of the social injustices going on, I will.

Whitaker, a native of Cincinnati, said medical school is likely in his future, but he hopes to take a year off after he graduates to travel, maybe participate in an international fellowship of some kind, and figure out his next step.

More information about the Good Works nomination is available here, including an opportunity to vote him team captain through Nov. 22. Meanwhile, the honors keep coming. Whitaker also recently was named a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy, awarded by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. Like the Good Works award, it spans all NCAA divisions and recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.

He continues to take all the accolades and honors in stride. You never expect to be honored at all when youre simply helping people, he said.

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Washington People: Andrew Whitaker | The Source | Washington University in St. Louis - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

By Jennifer Micale

October 29, 2020

Pressured by her parents to study medicine, Nisha Gandhi 93 was determined to become an actuary instead. But the math majors equation for life worked out differently after she joined Harpurs Ferry, Binghamton Universitys student volunteer ambulance service.

It became an obsession. I lived in Delaware Hall, next to where the ambulances were kept, she said. I found I really enjoyed doing emergency and critical care more than being at a desk and doing math problems.

To fulfill her new dream, she did a year of graduate school to tackle her pre-med requirements, then enrolled in a Caribbean medical school before training in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Today, Dr. Nisha Gandhi is director of the medical-surgical intensive care unit at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey.

Theres nothing like being at the bedside and taking care of patients. Thats how you learn critical care, she said.

A screenshot from the Harpur Physician Alumni Panel, Greys Anatomy vs. Reality, held Oct. 23, 2020, on Zoom. Image Credit: Jennifer Micale.

Interested in a health career? Check out your options via pre-health professions advising, or listen to first-hand accounts of life in medicine with the Physician Alumni Lecture Series.

Biological sciences is a popular major for future doctors, but as Gandhis story shows, its not the only one. Dr. Adam Fox 92, the event moderator, graduated from Harpur with a degree in political science. Hes currently an associate professor of surgery and section chief of trauma at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the Eric Munoz Trauma Center at University Hospital in Newark.

Contrary to popular belief, getting a less than spectacular grade in one of your classes wont completely sink your medical school application. However, there are some limits, Fox explained.

I did not do amazingly well in college and I went to podiatry school before I got my grades up, Fox explained. But there is a big push to look at how people do with tests. If they feel you cant pass the boards, its a strike against you because residency and fellowship programs get dinged for it. You have to prove you can succeed in a very rigorous academic environment.

Having a compelling story behind your medical school application can help you stand out, especially if you have a bad grade or two, advised Dr. Desmond Sutton 10. His own story is particularly interesting: both he and his twin brother attended Binghamton and have since become physicians after attending different medical schools. Along the way, Sutton discovered his passion in high-risk obstetrics, and hes now in the last year of a fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at Columbia University.

Many people typically take a gap year or several before medical school, but that wasnt the case for Colin Pritchard and Alexandra Dolgetta. Pritchard, who graduated from Binghamton in May 2020, just started classes this fall at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he is part of the Rural Medical Scholars Program. Dolgetta, who graduated in 2018, is now starting her rotations as a third-year medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

If you decide against taking a gap year, be prepared for interviewers to ask you about it, Dolgetta said. Once you get to medical school, the experience will be overwhelming, no matter how well you prepared, she said.

The first two years involve heavy studying; Dolgetta hit the books between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. every day, with few breaks. She is enjoying her third year with its clinical rotations far more.

You do all of this work to get into medical school. None of that compares to the work you do in medical school. It is truly daunting, she said. The hard work truly begins when you get here. Youll be surprised at your capacity.

Sometimes, people decide to go into medicine to make money which is entirely the wrong reason, the panelists said.

While doctors are well-compensated, the debt burden is real, said Sutton, who started applying for 10-year loan forgiveness programs during his residency. That debt burden might influence your choice of specialty; Gandhis husband became an anesthesiologist rather than a pediatrician because he realized that he wouldnt be able to pay off his loans before retirement if he chose the latter path.

Medicine is also immensely stressful. Trauma surgeons such as Fox deal with life-and-death scenarios, all-nighters and grieving families on a regular basis. Gandhi, who has three children, has missed family events and celebrations.

The tests dont end with medical school, either, panelists said. To maintain their board certifications, physicians need to retest for them every 10 years and theyre grueling eight-hour exams, Gandhi explained. She should know: she has four board certifications that she must test for.

Shadowing and internships are good ways to find out if medicine is a good fit for you. Pritchard shadowed a colorectal surgeon in Sayre, Pa., as well as the local doctor in his small hometown. Dolgettas best shadowing experience came through the Summer Physician Mentor Program, which paired her up with a Harpur College alum. After five years, they still keep in touch, she said.

Medicine is immensely challenging, but it is just as fulfilling to people who have the mission and the passion, according to panelists.

You have to want to do it. Enjoy it, live it, love it, Gandhi said of medicine.

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Becoming a doctor: Physicians and med students talk about what it takes - Binghamton University

A MEDICAL school has become the first in the UK to live-stream a human dissection as part of a new virtual teaching technique.

Year two and medical neuroscience students at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) witnessed a brain being removed.

They also had an introduction session where they explored the muscles and bones of the chest.

Social distancing restrictions as a result of the pandemic have forced universities online, blending curriculum with a mix of face-to-face and virtual teaching.

Staff at BSMS have implemented a blended medical curriculum to ensure students still receive face-to-face teaching in key clinical area and also benefit from digital innovations to support their learning.

One of these innovations has been to bring the dissecting room, a highly regulated space, to students via streaming.

The procedure had been carefully planned, considering the Human Tissue Authority regulations, and only involved donors who had consented to the activity.

Professor Claire Smith, head of anatomy, said: In responding to the current restrictions, it remains imperative that medical and surgical teaching continues.

In anatomy teaching, Covid-related restrictions have been compounded by the medical school only receiving half the number of donated cadavers for teaching. We are so fortunate to have donors and my thoughts are always with those who have suffered loss at such a difficult time.

This new innovation has meant the donors wish to educate and inform future generations can still occur, albeit in a slightly different way.

It is not only medical students who are benefiting.

Last month, a week-long course was arranged by Dr Jag Dhanda, using the live stream to demonstrate surgical procedures on cadavers with virtual reality (VR).

Multiple camera angle perspectives in the virtual reality view were live-streamed to 350 surgeons from 26 countries around the world.

Surgeons were able to view the surgical techniques on cadavers through virtual reality headsets that allowed them to choose the camera angle perspective they wanted by moving their heads.

One student who attended the brain dissection said they gained a lot from the experience.

He said: Its definitely a learning curve with all the new tech tools, but I really felt that I gained incredibly valuable experience by being present during the session.

I know that I speak on behalf of all the medical neuroscience students when I say that we are very grateful for the opportunity to be included in something like this.

See the original post:
Human brain dissected live in front of medical school students - The Argus

The first semester of medical school aims to lay a foundation of knowledge on which medical students can grow into physicians. Among the key foundational pieces laid in those opening months of training is a familiarity and understanding of the human body, often introduced through anatomy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted much of the opening months of medical school from in-person learning to online learning for many preclinical medical students. Still, at some schools, when it comes to anatomy, there is no digital replacement for the real thing.

At the Heritage College, cadaveric anatomy is a priority, said Isaac J. Kirstein, DO, a dean at the Cleveland campus of Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OUHCOM), which is a member school of theAMAsAccelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium. There are two key reasons for this. First, the cadaver is the medical students first patient; the students engage with the humanism of the experience, and it forms their professional identity. Second, to truly learn osteopathic principles requires an understanding of anatomy that simulation alone cannot provide.

Learn five tips to survive first-year anatomy.

Opting to offer in-person anatomy meant putting in place several safety protocols. Students spend less time in labsroughly a half day per weekand learn in smaller groups. Instead of performing dissections, cadavers are dissected prior to students arriving in the lab.

Theres a lot to be said for learning the art of dissection to help students pick up some basic techniques, Dr. Kirstein said. We are confident that can be learned during their second year.

OUHCOM first-year medical students began anatomy in late August. Even without dissection, working with a cadaver, rather than attempting to learn the body via some sort of simulation medium, has proven valuable.

Its really important that we learn the 3D aspect to a body versus simply learning from a textbook, said Ashley Aslo, a first-year student at OU. Trying to conceptualize in our brains, its really important to understand that theres layering. And on the other hand, not just science but also being introduced to our first patient and understanding that these people donated their bodies for us to learn fromlearning how to respect them was really important. By doing anatomy in person, we have learned all of those aspects.

As far as any potential safety concerns students might have, Aslo said the systems put in place have largely negated them for her.

Its a scary time, Aslo said, but she believes the university has done an amazing job of adhering by social distancing rules while providing the opportunity to get a good education.

Medical schools will continue to adjust to disruptions related to COVID-19, balancing safety concerns with ensuring that students are appropriately trained to care for patients, families and communities.

The AMA has curateda selection of resourcesto help residents, medical students and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic manage the shifting timelines, cancellations and adjustments to testing, rotations and other events at this time.

See original here:
As med ed goes remote, gross anatomy offers in-person learning - American Medical Association

Medical school merits support

Although there is a need for exploratory discussion and civil debate on city budgets, it was with chagrin and incredulity that I read that during a City Council meeting, Edinburg Councilman Gilbert Enriquez entertained the idea to axe the annual contribution to the UTRGV Medical School. It was also reported that Councilman Jorge Salinas agreed and stated that these millions of contribution dollars were unnecessary.

Budgets are essential and staying within the budget is also essential, especially during our pandemic times; however, as someone who has been educated in the Rio Grande Valley as well as taught science here as a result of this education, I fear that todays dollars and cents of a balance sheet would never be able to equate to the long-term health and education of our community.

What have our contributions to UTRGV Med School through our tax money already secured? According to Veronica Gonzalez, UTRGV vice president who defended the contribution from Edinburg at a later Edinburg meeting:

More than 1,000 faculty and staff members hired and 221enrollment and graduated in its fist class.

Opened several medical clinics in Edinburg.

Set up a COVID-19 lab for testing and drive-thru sites that are still operating, and the lab can give results in 24 hours.

Contract tracers for the coronavirus have also been hired.

Nowhere will our tax money be spent better and receive higher dividends and long-term rewards than in the continued support of the UTRGV Medical School through the annual donations as promised from all the RGV cities. Our local cities as Edinburg have already contracted their support with a memorandum for 10 years, and we should stay committed as the current pandemic has proven that investment to be sound investment.

Diane Teter

Edinburg

Hoping for other rallies

I read about the area rallies in support of the guy convicted of running a fake university con; convicted of using a fake charity to pay for his legal bills and a fulllength portrait of himself; puttingterrified little Mexican kids in cages and losing track of their parents; being accused of multiple sexual assaults; stirring up racial hatred and violence nationwide; gassing peaceful protesters to create a photo op holding up a bible to dupe credulous evangelicals; asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end health care for 20 million people; being personally responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people by lying about the pandemic; etc. Yeah, that guy.

Hope soon to read about rallies in support of his victims.

Ed Chaney

Laguna Vista

Questionable information

The New York Times recentlyran an extensive storyexposing the state ofTexas incredibly flawedsystems in place to trackand report COVID-19 deaths.Essentially, the evidenceshows that because ofan archaic system thatvaries from one countyto another, we are notprovided accurate informationabout the number of COVID-19cases, the number of deathsand the manner in whichthe various health departmentsclassify a COVID-19death.

Original post:
LETTERS: Medical school merits support; Hoping for other rallies; Questionable information; Trump good to minorities - Monitor

A few years ago, I found CrossFit. Since then, I have spent a large share of my free time training and improving my health and fitness. As with any sport, there was a large learning curve. However, as I trained, my mind and body adapted. I made strides both athletically and mentally that I never thought were possible. I never imagined that this preparation and development would translate to a seemingly opposing task: medical school.

The Triumph of the Generalist

No one will deny that specialists are important. You dont want a general surgeon performing surgery on your high grade astrocytoma. Specialists spend decades of their lives honing in on the very specific and detailed task they perform. As a result, they push the boundary of human capabilities and are no doubt the best at their specific task.

CrossFit is different. It is centered around constantly varied movements. Unlike the three point shooter who can rely on his shot or the offensive lineman and his strength, to succeed in CrossFit one has to be good at many things. It combines Olympic weightlifting with running, gymnastics with swimming and demands such a breadth of training and talent that it defies specialization. Given this, an athlete cannot rely on their strengths to push them to success, but has to instead focus on their weaknesses. In order to be successful, one cannot shy away from their weaknesses they must attack them.

When I began medical school, I quickly saw the similarities. Students are thrown into such a breadth of content that there is no way to be an expert. In our short pre-clerkship years, we have to learn the anatomy, physiology, embryology, biochemistry, pathology, genetics and the pharmacology of one of the most complex machines in the universe: the human body.

As I began my studies, I quickly found that although it was easier to study the subjects I was already competent in, this is not what would help me improve. If I wanted to really move the needle on my academic success, I would have to instead make the choice to lean into my weaknesses. For me, this was my clinical skills and comfort in a medical environment. Because of this, I tried to gain extra hands on experience as soon as my schools curriculum allowed. Just like getting extra reps in the gym, I knew the more times I practiced, the more comfortable I would become.

In medical training, we work to learn about the big picture before we can narrow in. We have to spend our time taking lessons from the generalists of the world and lean into the skills that we struggle with. This is the way to improve and have a well-rounded medical education. While my time may come in the future to specialize, Im going to spend the next few years chipping away at my weaknesses as I know it will make me a better physician no matter what specialty I enter.

Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

As a sport that prides itself on pushing the body to its physical limits, CrossFit athletes have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. The hours spent at the gym, track, pool and lake are draining. The workouts where your legs are screaming and youre gasping for any breath of air to fuel your body are daunting, pushing your body to the brink of its capabilities.

As CrossFit athletes push through the pain, the body adapts in many ways, from the muscles to the lungs. In science we call this hormesis, or an organisms ability to adapt to challenges and improve its fitness. The most important adaptation, however, happens between the ears. In Alex Hutchinsons book Endure, about the physical limits of performance, he says that the body sets the limits, and the brain dictates how close you can get to those boundaries. It is the mind that ultimately leads to success.

While there isnt the same level of physical pain preparing to become a physician, the mental toughness required is equally as daunting. As medical students, we spend years working to learn all we can with the end goal of helping patients live better lives. We sacrifice and study when we dont want to. We miss out on enjoyable experiences. But each of us has the power to adapt and thrive in times of discomfort.

Channeling the Voice in Your Head

In every CrossFit workout, there is a moment of time when your brain says to stop. As the body pushes itself to its limits, a voice in your head says that youre pushing too hard. It will use scare tactics to tell you that youre not in good enough shape or that you cant continue to push on. Even though these thoughts are not wanted, they continue to flood into our minds. In these moments, you have to make a decision. Do I stop? Or do I keep going?

When Dr. James Gills, a renowned ocular surgeon and endurance athlete who has completed six Double Ironman Triathlons was asked how he keeps his mind strong enough to endure such lengthy competitions, he responded by saying that, Ive learned to talk to myself instead of listen to myself. What Dr. Gill means is that when we are left to our own thoughts, we hear the voice in our head that says we arent good enough that we dont have the skills or the motivation in order to be successful. While we would not willingly choose to have negative thoughts, they often flow effortlessly into our consciousness. We can try to suppress them, but ultimately they continue to win. However, trying to suppress them is not our only method of defense. If we choose to talk to ourselves with positive affirmations instead, we gain back some of that control.

Research is now being conducted on the benefit of positive thoughts and affirmations. Self-help experts have even begun to suggest exercises such as gratitude journaling and positive affirmation walks. We are beginning to realize that we have the power to combat our negative thoughts by consciously speaking out against them.

In medical school, there are many pressures placed on us, and it is common to have self-doubts. Imposter syndrome is endemic and if we dont take an active role in working against our thoughts, they can easily take over our consciousness. This is where we can begin to talk to ourselves instead of just listening. By doing this, we can begin to recognize how our negative thoughts distort our thinking, and work to change the narrative we tell ourselves each day.

The Power of Habit

Change doesnt happen overnight. As much as we want to be the person that bursts onto the scene and immediately succeeds, more often than not, it takes years of continual effort and dedication to reach your goals. This is true in CrossFit, and even more so in medicine.

Social reformer Jacob Riis once said, When nothing seems to help, I look to the stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did itbut all that had come before. In order to be successful, we must give continual effort for sustained periods of time. We might not get immediate feedback, but we must continue to press on.

Whenever we begin something new, we are flooded with motivation and energy, but that inspiration only lasts so long. Soon, we settle into the mundane and begin to struggle to put consistent energy into being successful. This is where the power of habit comes in. In James Clears book, Atomic Habits, he explains that, you do not rise to the levels of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. As humans, we are habitual creatures. We build routines that can either propel us to success, or leave us always wishing we could be more.

As soon as you receive your white coat as a medical student, the motivation to become the best physician you can be is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, the long days of studying begin to wear on us. Reading textbooks becomes mundane and motivation begins to dwindle. This is where we need to build habits to stay on track. Whether its setting a block off each day to study, or placing your phone and distractions in the other room, building habits when motivation begins to fail is how we will continue to move towards our goals.

When I began CrossFit, I always heard people talk about it being a transformative experience, but I now know first hand that the lessons I have learned from this sport have improved my ability to weather the storms of a career in medicine. Something that began as a way to stay fit and enjoy my free time, has altered how I experience the world around me. I now have a unique frame to face the challenges and opportunities that medical school brings.

Image Credit: Photograph provided by Caleb Sokolowksi.

Writer-in-Training and Columnist

Wayne State University School of Medicine

Caleb Sokolowski is a second-year medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. In 2018, he graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of science in Human Biology. Caleb is interested in medical ethics, policy, and education. In his free time, Caleb participates in number of activities including sports, CrossFit, paddle boarding and cycling.

Leading the Rounds: The Medical Leadership Podcast

As physicians, we are immediately thrust into a leadership position from the moment we finish medical school. Despite this, most medical students will obtain little formal leadership training. We seek to improve our leadership abilities as burgeoning physicians. We developed this podcast to challenge ourselves to explore ideas in leadership development and how they apply to medical training. We hope to educate and motivate others to further develop themselves as leaders in healthcare.

See more here:
How CrossFit Prepared Me for Medical School in-Training, the online peer-reviewed publication for medical students - Pager Publications, Inc.

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRNE, "Sorrento") announced the public release of the results of its multicenter, open-label, Phase 1b Study to Evaluate Safety and MTD of Epidural Resiniferatoxin Injection for the Treatment of Intractable Cancer Pain, at the 14th Annual Pain Therapeutics Summit held virtually from September 21 to 22, 2020. Data was presented by Srdjan Nedeljkovic, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesia,Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women's Hospital.

We are extremely encouraged by the results of this initial study. Even in patients with high levels of pain, RTX given via an epidural injection has been found to reduce pain intensity without having any long-term adverse safety consequences, said Associate Professor of Anesthesia, Srdjan S. Nedeljkovic, M.D. from the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Womens Hospital at Harvard Medical School. The patient population had intractable pain that did not respond to other standard therapeutic approaches, including opioids. The addition of RTX to the management of patients with intractable advanced-stage cancer pain offers the prospect of reducing suffering and improving quality of life for this underserved patient population.

This multicenter, open-label study enrolled 17 adults with intractable moderate to severe cancer pain. Subjects were treated with a one-time epidural administration of RTX at escalating dose level cohorts, ranging from 0.4 g to 25 g in 3 ml saline, in seven cohorts. The first participant in each cohort served as the Sentinel subject. The first two dosing cohorts (0.4 g and 1.0 g) each included one subject. Subsequent cohorts proceeded with three subjects each (2, 4, 8, 15 and 25 g).

Enrollment of dose escalation cohorts has completed, with 17 subjects receiving RTX. 65% were women and 35% were men. The median age was 58 years (range 28-82 years). The baseline numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) average score was a mean of 6.8 (standard deviation (S.D.) of 1.65), and the baseline NPRS worst score was a mean of 7.9 (S.D. of 1.26).

No dose-limiting toxicities were reported. Dose escalation was completed at 25 ug. The most frequently reported treatment-emergent adverse event was transient post-procedural pain that was described in 47.1% of subjects. Post-injection-associated pain was managed with traditional short-term pain medications on the day of RTX injection. Typically, the RTX-associated pain following injection subsided before the 8-hour post-injection assessment and resolved within 24 hours in all subjects. Transient and reversible adverse events reported in at least two RTX-treated subjects were nausea (17.6%), vomiting (17.6%), and headache (17.6%). A total of 15 serious adverse events (SAEs) were reported, but none were deemed by the investigator to be related to RTX treatment. Most adverse events were attributed to the underlying cancer diagnosis.

Clinical efficacy (CE) was assessed at three efficacy levels: CE30, CE50 and CE70, defined as a 30%, 50% and 70% decrease in pain, respectively, for three consecutive days from the original baseline NPRS score of 6/10.

A positive outcome was observed in the lowest dose of RTX administered (0.4 ug) at the CE30 efficacy point. A dose-response relationship was observed, with the majority of responders at the 15 ug and 25 ug dose levels. Of the 17 subjects, 11 achieved the CE30 prespecified efficacy end-point using NPRS scores. Day 90 results for all RTX doses pooled are shown below:

PK data revealed no detectable drug in plasma in 15 of the 17 subjects. Minimally detectable levels of RTX were seen in 2 of the 17 subjects, in each case only at the initial post-injection time point.

RTX administration was well-tolerated when given as a one-time epidural injection at doses up to 25 ug. Preliminary clinical pain improvement was observed in the dose-escalation phase. Based on the results, though the protocolallowed exploration of a 35 mcg dose for this indication, adose beyond 25 mcg was not deemed necessary to qualify the safety and clinically meaningful efficacy of the drug. These preliminary data support further study of epidural RTX in a broader patient population with what would be considered moderate to severe pain associated with cancer in this orphan indication.

For access to the poster associated with the scientific presentation, please visit Sorrento Investor Relations Site

Sorrento intends to rapidly advance to larger scale trials and expects to submit a request to proceed with a multicenter, blinded, controlled Phase 3 trial to the FDA in the upcoming weeks.

About Resiniferatoxin (RTX)

A thousand times hotter than pure capsaicin (16 Billion Scoville units versus 16M), and with a high affinity for afferent pain nerves, resiniferatoxin binds to TRPV1 receptors and selectively ablates the nerve endings responsible for pain signals experienced by patients1. Delivered peripherally (into the joint space) the transient nerve ending ablation effect can have profound clinical benefits lasting for months to years (as shown in canine studies2).

RTX-001 was a multicenter, open-label dose escalation Phase 1b study to assess the safety and define the maximally tolerated dose of resiniferatoxin administered via the epidural route for the reduction of moderate to severe pain signal intensity associated with advanced cancer.The Phase 1b study was a dose-escalation protocol in which cohorts of patients received increasing doses of resiniferatoxin until the maximum tolerated dose was achieved. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the safety of resiniferatoxin and identify the recommended Phase 3 dose. The secondary objective was to assess the preliminary efficacy of resiniferatoxin measured by assessing changes in the intensity of pain using the NPRS score, a widely used proprietary validated pain scale.

RTX is not approved for clinical use by regulatory authorities. Safety and efficacy have not been established.

More information on this trial can be found at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03226574).

About Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

Sorrento is a clinical stage, antibody-centric, biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to treat cancers. Sorrento's multimodal, multipronged approach to fighting cancer is made possible by its extensive immuno-oncology platforms, including key assets such as fully human antibodies (G-MAB library), clinical stage immuno-cellular therapies (CAR-T, DAR-T), antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and clinical stage oncolytic virus (Seprehvir, Seprehvec).Sorrento is also developing potential antiviral therapies and vaccines against coronaviruses, including COVIDTRAP, ACE-MAB, COVI-MAB, COVI-GUARD, COVI-SHIELD and T-VIVA-19; and diagnostic test solutions, including COVI-TRACK and COVI-TRACE.

Sorrento's commitment to life-enhancing therapies for patients is also demonstrated by our effort to advance a first-in-class (TRPV1 agonist) non-opioid pain management small molecule, resiniferatoxin (RTX), and ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. RTX is completing a phase 1B trial for intractable pain associated with cancer and a phase 1B trial in osteoarthritis patients. ZTlido was approved by the FDA on February 28, 2018.

For more information visit http://www.sorrentotherapeutics.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release and any statements made for and during any presentation or meeting contain forward-looking statements related to Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc., under the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the expectations for Sorrento's and its subsidiaries' technologies and product candidates, including, but, not limited to, resiniferatoxin (RTX), the clinical potential of RTX, timing for commencing larger scale trials for RTX, timing for completion and submission of a request to proceed with any Phase 3 trial for RTX and the possibility of proceeding to a Phase 3 trial. Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to: risks related to Sorrento's and its subsidiaries', affiliates and partners technologies and prospects, including, but not limited to, RTX; risks related to seeking regulatory approvals and conducting and obtaining results of clinical trials; costs associated with clinical trials; risks that prior test, study and trial results may not be replicated in future studies and trials; the clinical and commercial success of RTX; the viability and success of using RTX for treatments in certain therapeutic areas, including for the treatment of intractable pain associated with cancer; risks related to the global impact of COVID-19; and other risks that are described in Sorrento's most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sorrento's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors set forth in those filings. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement in this press release except as required by law.

Media and Investor Relations

Alexis Nahama, SVP Head of RTX Program.

Telephone: 1.858.203.4120

Email: mediarelations@sorrentotherapeutics.com

Sorrento and the Sorrento logo are registered trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. G-MAB, COVI-GUARD, COVI-SHIELD, COVIDTRAP, T-VIVA-19, COVI-MAB, ACE-MAB, COVI-TRACK, and COVI-TRACE are trademarks of Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

ZTlido is a trademark owned by Scilex Pharmaceuticals Inc..All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 2020 Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC398431/ 2 Sorrento Therapeutics (Ark Animal Health) internal data (on file)

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Sorrento Therapeutics Releases Positive Results of Phase 1B Trial of Resiniferatoxin (RTX) Epidural in Cancer Patients with Reported Intractable Pain...

The late Anne Marion and the Burnett Foundation have made a $25 million gift to establish The Anne W. Marion Endowment in support of the operations of the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine in perpetuity.

This transformational gift will provide funds to support students, faculty and programming for the medical school, the school said in a news release.

With a mission to transform health care by inspiring Empathetic Scholars, the gift is a catalyst that will enable the School of Medicine to be a leader in medical education, delivery of care and scholarship and necessary skills for complex health care issues, including the challenges of providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I am inspired by the vision of the School of Medicine to transform medical education. This school is bringing considerable advances and innovations that are reshaping curriculum and preparing its graduates to better serve the community. I am pleased to make this gift, Mrs. Marion said before her death in February.

Mrs. Marions family ties to the Fort Worth community date back nearly a century and include a long history of supporting the priorities of the city and its institutions. The Burnett Foundation has been a generous patron of the city investing significant resources to enhance the community in myriad ways.

I am beyond thrilled and grateful for this incredibly generous gift, said Stuart D. Flynn, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine. This historic gift will help us empower current and new generations of talented and diverse students and faculty to address the complex health care issues challenging our world. The foundations generosity supports our efforts to create physicians who are highly skilled and knowledgeable yet compassionate care givers.

The TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine received preliminary accreditation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in 2018 and started its first class of 60 students in July 2019. This support comes at a time when the medical school is beginning preparations for the next step of LCME approval, provisional accreditation.

The gift will support the operations of the school, which offers a novel educational experience, tailored to how students learn best, capitalizing on teamwork and active application sessions and assisting students to retain the knowledge they are learning, with the patient always at the center, the news release said.

This new medical school is training future physicians who will not only care for patients, but will provide care, empathetic communication with patients, and the critical thinking skills to lead in an industry that is always evolving and innovating, TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. said in the announcement. This gift will contribute greatly to current and future faculty and students. I am humbled and thankful that our late colleague and dear friend Anne Marion and the Burnett Foundation embraced our goal of creating Empathetic Scholars with this generous gift to support the School of Medicine.

UNTHSC President Michael R. Williams said at a time when innovation in medical education is not only needed, but also demanded, the gift will ensure that the M.D. School continues to grow its innovative curriculum.

This gift recognizes the vision we had to create a new and different school. I am appreciative of this generous support and thank both Anne Marion and the Burnett Foundation, Williams said.

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$25 million gift for TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine - Fort Worth Business Press

BREWSTER Second-year University of Washington School of Medicine student Antonio Guadamuz spent part of his summer serving the largely Latinx population of Brewster.

Born in Nicaragua and raised in Miami, Guadamuz knows exactly what racism looks and feels like.

Its the open stares in grocery stores. Its the awareness of being followed by store employees while doing your shopping. And unfortunately, it can lead to difficulty in getting a correct diagnosis when youre sick. Thats what drew the 33-year-old to medical school.

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, but it was a circuitous, complicated process because as a person of color, they assumed I had Type 2 diabetes, said Guadamuz, who explained current medical algorithms indicate Hispanics are at greater risk of developing the Type 2 form of the disease.

The frustration he experienced as a patient propelled him toward a career as a physician.

I see the potential to address the inadequacies in society, he said. Medicine meshes with my worldview and ideals about what I want to do with my life.

At the end of his first year at UWSOM in Seattle, Guadamuz had the opportunity to participate in a summer training program known by the acronym RUOP: Rural Underserved Opportunities Program; its open to all medical students between years one and two of medical school.

During the four-week summer program, students live in rural underserved communities, working alongside local physicians in hospitals, clinics and private practices.

Our students develop a profound appreciation of what life is like for physicians practicing rural medicine, said John McCarthy, MD, assistant dean for Rural Programs at UWSOM.

Guadamuz served in Brewster, population 2,300, working with Dr. James Wallace at Family Health Centers.

We serve all of Okanogan County and part of North Douglas County, said Dr. Wallace. Brewsters population doubles in size during harvest season. We have a huge influx of migrant workers from Mexico, Central America and even Jamaica. It adds a unique flavor to the cultural melting pot of the town.

Wallace, a North Carolina native, was drawn to underserved communities while in medical school at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

My medical school class voted me, Most Likely to Practice Rural Medicine in North Carolina, he laughed.

Okanogan County is a long way from North Carolina, but it meshed with Wallaces goals.

I was drawn to the needs of rural areas, he said. And serving in a community health center fits my vision of how I want to practice.

He was delighted to work with Guadamuz.

Antonio is one of the best students Ive had, said Wallace. He was thirsty for experience and very intentional in the clinical skills he wanted to learn.

While Wallace learned Spanish during his residency, he said watching Guadamuz converse easily with patients was eye-opening.

Seventy-five percent of my patients speak Spanish. They really appreciate someone who speaks their language, he said. Because Spanish is his first language, Antonio could convey empathy, humor and a depth of cultural understanding that I cant. Seeing him work with our Spanish-speaking patients was an experience that drove that home for me.

McCarthy understands how vital that kind of doctor/patient interaction is.

Its incredibly important to have providers with whom patients can identify. Much of what we do is based on trust and relationships, he said. This is easier when we have shared experiences.

Guadamuz was glad to be of service while he was learning about rural medicine.

I really enjoyed my time and training in Brewster. Its a beautiful area. he said. I received a great clinical education, and I was able to use Spanish frequently to help patients feel more comfortable.

But because of earlier small-town experiences, Guadamuz had some reservations.

I was apprehensive about being in a rural, conservative area, he said. Id already experienced stares and being followed in stores in my travels to smaller communities throughout the state. Rural areas often feel like unsafe, unwelcoming places for people of color.

Its a conundrum McCarthy is well aware of.

Our goal is to develop students into physicians who appreciate and respect diversity, said McCarthy. At the same time, its important to cultivate a workforce which mirrors the populace of the communities we serve. Ive seen patients light up when they see a provider who mirrors their culture and experiences.

However, attracting minority physicians to places they may feel unwelcome can be difficult. Wallace says conversations with medical students like Guadamuz are an important place to start.

Antonio helped me to recognize my own deficiencies and to explore ways to make up for them, Wallace said. Traditionally, the best health care wasnt available to people of color which led to worsening health outcomes. Were trying to hire health workers who are part of these communities to provide feedback about how to better serve our patient population.

To be clear, Guadamuz didnt feel unwelcome everywhere he went. Patients felt at ease with him, and the medical staff was very open to important dialog.

Racism is an uncomfortable topic, he said. But its an uncomfortable experience too, and its important to keep talking about it.

He valued observing how Family Health Centers is actively meeting the needs of the communities it serves.

When you are among only a handful of doctors in a small town, its important to build long-term relationships with patients, Guadamuz said. That was a key takeaway from my RUOP experience.

His hope is that conversations about discrimination will become part of a larger dialog that centers on the voices of the people most marginalized.

Wallace agreed, citing the dire need for physicians that fit their cultural population.

Antonio gives me hope that there are students out there who are endeavoring to explore rural areas despite the expectation that they might experience racism, he said. I appreciate that through RUOP and other rural programs, UWSOM is addressing two of the most vexing problems facing our societyracism and improving the physician workforce in underserved areas of our state.

Guadamuz feels its way to early in his medical education to know what kind of medicine he will one day practice, or where he and his family will settle, but he does know this: Wherever I practice I hope to have real conversations about how to address inequities in health care, and how physicians can better meet the needs of the entire community.

Cindy Hval is a freelance writer who writes for the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Link:
He speaks their language: UW medical student trained in Brewster this summer - wenatcheeworld.com

By Rob Zapple| For StarNews Media

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. When will UNC partnership begin?

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

4. Who will control $1.25 billion?

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

5. Will Novant have undue influence?

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

6. Why is NHRMCs strategic plan not public?

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

7. Why is local control not an option?

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

8. What if Novant changes hands?

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

9. Medicaid expansion would change everything

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

10. The timing is bad

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

Why we need to wait

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

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

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

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

Teenagers experienced less anxiety and felt more connection to school during lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A study from the University of Bristol examined how 1000 teenagers across 17 schools in the South West of England coped during lockdown when they werent attending school in person.

The students involved in the research were first surveyed in October of 2019, prior to the pandemic, as part of a wider piece of research into social media use and mental health and wellbeing in teens. In October, more than half (54 per cent) of 13-14 year old girls who did the survey showed signs they were at risk of anxiety, while 26 per cent of boys in the same age range showed signs they were at risk.

When the survey was repeated in May of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic which saw schools in the UK shut, the percentage of teens who were at risk of anxiety dropped by almost 10 per cent among girls to 45 per cent and dropped to just 18 per cent of boys.

The study authors had expected to see an increase in anxiety due to the pandemic, and were surprised by what they found.

Due tothepandemic, resultant lockdown and school closures, it was really important to understand how young people had been affected by these changes.Thestudy provided a unique insight into how many younger teenagers feel withouttheday-to-day pressures of school life, Emily Widnall, lead author of the study and Senior Research Associate in Population Health Sciences at the University of Bristol's Medical School told Theravive.

Overall we found reductions in anxiety and rises in wellbeing but no large changes in depression inthemajority of students. We saw larger improvements in mental health and wellbeing for students who had poor mental health and wellbeing before lockdown. Students with low school, peer and family connectedness pre-pandemic, sawthebiggest improvements in mental health and wellbeing during lockdown. Students school connectedness also increased overall for both girls and boys, indicating that some ofthemeasures put in place by schools during lockdown were successful at nurturing connectedness, she said.

Boys were found to have a greater improvement in sense of well-being than girls. The students who had the lowest level of wellbeing prior to the pandemic saw the greatest benefit during lockdown, with their wellbeing scores increasing by 14 per cent.

The results of the study raise questions around the impact the school environment can have on the mental health of teenagers. Widnall says the findings shine a light on how younger teens may feel without the daily pressures they have at school like difficult peer relationships or academic pressures.

Improvements in mental health and wellbeing may be due totheremoval of stressors withintheschool environment, such as pressure of academic work, and challenging peer relationships. This study raises questions abouttherole oftheschool environment and its impact on teenage mental health, she said.

Although the students surveyed didnt attend school in person due to lockdown, both girls and boys said they felt a stronger connectedness to their school during this time. There were also significant increases in the number of teens who reported having opportunities to talk to their teachers.

Widnall says further research will be important to explore why young people felt more connected to their school during lockdown. One possible explanation is the use of digital platforms to engage with students.

The reduction in anxiety and improvement in well-being experienced by the students surveyed also coincided with notably greater usage of social media among girls. During lock down, 55 per cent of the girls surveyed said they spent more than three hours every day on social media.

Widnall argues this challenges the commonly held view that social media has a negative impact on the mental health of young people. She says her findings suggest that social media can help teenagers feel connected with others during a period when they are physically isolated.

Based on the findings of the study, Widnall says that when schools return to face to face learning, it will be important to address how the school environment can impact the mental health of students.

I think our take home message from this research would betheimportance oftheschool environment on teenage mental health and wellbeing and how we can support schools to make school culture more supportive of mental health, she said.

As schools fully reopen students mental health and wellbeing may have to be prioritised before catch up on academic work can be achieved. Our findings also reemphasisetheneed for more investment in resources for mental health support in schools.

Categories: Anxiety , Coping , Teens | Tags: teens, covid19, lockdown, remote learning, school closures, anxiety, connection, social media

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Less Anxiety And More Connection To School For Teens During Remote Learning - Theravive

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett

SPOKANE, Wash.Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine today announced that it has earned accreditation to launch its first residency program and is accepting applications immediately.

The WSU Internal Medicine Residency Program-Everett, based at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, is a three-year residency training program with a focus on primary care. Sixteen resident positions have been approved for the first year; 12 categorical and four preliminary positions will be welcomed in June 2021 with 12 more added each year over three years to cap at 40 total residency positions when fully supported.

This is an extremely proud moment for the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine and is something weve been working toward since the day we started the college, said Dr. John Tomkowiak, founding dean of the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. More residency programs in Washington increases the likelihood that students will remain in our state to practice medicine, and were so excited to launch this program in time for our first graduating class of medical students to apply and potentially continue their training with WSU.

Residency, also known as graduate medical education, is the three- to seven-year phase of medical education following graduation from medical school that prepares physicians for independent practice in a medical specialty. While about 43percent of medical school graduates practice in the state where they graduate, that number increases to 70 percent when they complete both their medical education and their residency in the same state.

We are thrilled to partner with the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine on this new program and welcome our first class of residents next summer, saidDr.Jay Cook, chief medical officeratProvidenceRegional Medical Center Everett. The mission to train medical students to serve our rural and underserved communities and increase the likelihood they will remain right here in Washington is well aligned with our goals and we look forward to making a marked impact on both through this residency program.

While residents of the WSU Internal Medicine Residency Program-Everett will primarily be based at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, they will have rotations with several area clinics and physician groups including The Everett Clinic,Snohomish Kidney Institute,North Sound Emergency Medicine, Western Washington Medical Group, and Providence Medical Group Northwest. Residents will divide their time between general medicine and subspecialty ward services, intensive care units, ambulatory care experiences, consultation rotations, emergency rooms and long-term care settings.

This program offers a unique opportunity for residents to gain experience treating patients from a wide range of racial, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as from the surrounding rural communities, which aligns with the colleges focus on serving Washingtons rural and underserved, said Dr. Jonathan Espenschied, associate dean of graduate medical education and continuing medical education. Providence Regional Medical Center Everett has been a terrific partner throughout this process and, as the primary clinical site for the residency program, it allows for the possibility to branch out into other rural and underserved areas in the region.

Dr. Matthew Hansen, an internal medicine specialist treating patients in the Everett area for the past six years, will serve as the program director leading operations, recruitment and education for the residency program.

I am honored to be WSUs first residency program director and to use my expertise and passion for medical education to expand internal medicine training in Washington, said Hansen. Like the inaugural class at the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, this first class of residents will get to help mold and shape this program for years to come, leaving a legacy for every future resident in this program.

The program received accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) after a rigorous two-year development process following the colleges initial ACGME accreditation as a sponsoring institution in 2018.

For more information about applying to the WSU Internal Medicine Residency Program-Everett or to learn more about the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, visit medicine.wsu.edu.

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WSU College of Medicine receives accreditation to launch first residency program in Everett - WSU News

Students from the Wayne State University School of Medicine will make up more than one-third of the student projects accepted to the Michigan chapter of the American College of Physicians Annual Scientific Meeting next month.

Of 84 student posters accepted from the seven allopathic and osteopathic medical schools across the state, 32 of them, or 38%, will be presented by School of Medicine physicians in training. The meeting will be held virtually Oct. 15-18. Students will present in categories that include quality improvement, clinical vignette and research.

Our students have always been exceedingly active, and the trend is for increased involvement of our students, said Professor of Internal Medicine Diane Levine, M.D., FACP. The joyous thing is, I believe that many of these represent people who are interested in going into Internal Medicine, and this helps advance their career.

Dr. Levine is the departments vice chair for Education, directs the Internal Medicine Clerkship and advises the Internal Medicine Interest Group at the school of medicine.

Weve always had wide participation in the American College of Physicians, but I think this year we seem to have done really well in acceptances in the abstract section for students, she said. Im really proud of our students and our faculty who have mentored them.

This years mentors include recent Wayne State University School of Medicine graduates who are now residents.

Our students are working collaboratively with residents as well as with faculty, she said. In addition to the usual rare cases and unusual cases, we did also see some aspects of medical error in a couple of these cases, as well as a significant number of fourth-year students participating, which may reflect the new curriculum with early clinical exposure.

ACP is a national organization of internists, the largest medical specialty organization, and the second-largest physician group in the United States. Its 163,000 members include internists, internal medicine subspecialists, medical students, residents and fellows.

Students scheduled to present work include:

Fouad Abdole

Madeline Adelman

Abdelwahab Ahmed

Noel Akioyamen

Joshua Brady

Connor Buechler

Fiona Clowney

Sawsan Edriss

Bassem Farah

Aria Ganz-Waple

Megan Harrison

Luke Horton

Inara Ismailova

Janice Lau

Eric Lisznyai

Lucia Luna Wong

Ahila Manivannan

Arif Musa

Hailey Olds

Aaron Panicker

Kelley Park

Jaya Parulekar

Dhruvil Patel

Daniel Quan

Tyler Russeth

Siri Sarvepalli

Vinoja Sebanayagam

Kathren Shango

Rebecca Sturgis

Bhavana Tetali

Chloe Theeuwes

David Tran

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Wayne State makes up nearly 40 percent of student presentations accepted to American College of Physicians annual meeting - The South End