Inter-Organelle Contact Drives Calcium Transfer
Inter-organelle contacts drive calcium transfer from lysosomes to mitochondria, findings that lay out a possible therapeutic blueprint for neurological disorders.
New Leadership in Medical Education
Diane B. Wayne, MD, has indicated that she would like to step down as vice-dean for medical education; Marianne Green, MD, will succeed her. Sandra Sanguino, MD, MPH, has been named senior associate dean for Medical Education, and Joshua Goldstein, MD, has been elevated to senior associate dean for graduate medical education.
Analyzing Plasma Can Classify Brain Tumors
Measuring epigenetic signatures in blood plasma could help classify brain tumors, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.
New Center Tackles Primary Care for Older Adults
Northwestern Medicine will launch an Older Americans Independence Center, joining a network of centers across the country that investigate ways to maintain or restore independence in older adults.
Davis Named Chair of Pediatrics
Matthew Davis, MD, a pediatrician and internist with a focus on family health and community impact, has been named chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Feinberg and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Students Share Perspective on Inclusion Task Force
Maya Jackson-Gibson, a fourth-year medical student, and Warren McGee, a fourth-year student in the Medical Scientist Training Program, reflect on their time on Feinberg’s Task Force on Inclusion and Bias.
Media Coverage
Can You Protect Kids from COVID-19 at School?
“This isn’t the time to find loopholes in the guidelines,” said Taylor Heald-Sargent, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine outside Chicago. “The CDC guidelines are just that, they’re guidelines, and it’s really the nuances that make the difference.”
University of Washington forecasts 300,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths
On the positive side, medical professionals have a better understanding of what they are dealing with, said Dr Khalilah Gates, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. “We don’t know all of it, but it’s not the fear of the unknown anymore,” she told Reuters.
Health illiteracy is nothing new in America. But the pandemic magnifies how troubling it is.
One in five people struggle with health information, says Michael S. Wolf, director of the Center for Applied Health Research on Aging at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. “It’s easy to misunderstand [medical information],” says Wolf, who is also founding director of the medical school’s Health Literacy and Learning Program. Some will be too ashamed to say so while others won’t realize they missed a critical detail.
Double Lung Transplants Save Lives of Sickest COVID Patients
“Mayra and Brian wouldn’t be alive today without the double lung transplants. COVID-19 completely destroyed their lungs and they were critically ill going into the transplant procedure, making it a daunting undertaking,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program.