Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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CBS News Chicago
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Northwestern Medicine hopes to improve treatment for AFib using an Apple Watch
Researchers at Northwestern Medicine plan to give Apple Watches to thousands of people as part of a health study. The study is geared toward patients with atrial fibrillation, or AFib, the most common type of heart arrhythmia. The condition is characterized by fast and regular heartbeats from the atria, or the two upper chambers, of the heart. This new study looks at how an Apple Watch can monitor a person’s heartbeat, then tell them to take their medications when needed — instead of every day. “So we believe that not only with the strategy where we reduce the amount of blood thinners will reduce the risk of bleeding from, will reduce the cost of taking a pill every day — but will also improve the quality of life,” said Rod Passman, MD, a cardiac electrophysiologist at the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and the director of the Center for Arrhythmia Research at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Participants must have their own iPhones, but Apple Watches will be provided through a contribution from Apple itself.
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ABC 7 Chicago
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‘People will die based on these decisions’: Trump administration cuts funding for many HIV studies
The NIH has eliminated funding for dozens of HIV-related research grants, according to a US Department of Health and Human Services database that was updated last week, halting studies and threatening patient care across the country. Several researchers said the cuts put a stop to hopes of ending HIV in the US and around the world. For researchers and their work, the immediate future is uncertain and the long-term future feels bleak. Michelle Birkett, PhD, a psychologist and associate professor in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University, said the NIH canceled grant funding for a project that looks at disparities in HIV. She had just finished hiring people for the work and was about to start data collection when her school informed her that the funding had been eliminated. The NIH never contacted her directly, Birkett said. Birkett said she is looking for other funding, but the competition will be stiff. “A lot of my colleagues received terminations in the last few days,” she said. “I just worry about the viability of this work going forward.”
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Chicago Tribune
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Orland Park comedian Tim Cavanagh back to laughing after pancreatic cancer nearly took his life
Tim Cavanagh, 71, is a nationally known comedian from Orland Park who at one time was backed up by Drew Caray, co-headlined with Dennis Miller and backed up by Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld, among others. He opened 2021, however, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on Jan. 2. He went through hell, having a bunch of internal organs taken out and spending 26 days in a hospital. But he survived a disease that, according to pancan.com, carries a survival rate of 13%. Cavanagh said when he was trying to get his confidence back, Northwestern Medicine psychologist Stacy Sanford, PhD told him that “affirmation” was a huge step in the recovery process. Cavanagh is taking part in a cancer survivor’s walk and 5K for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center on June 1 in Grant Park. He raised $6,500 last year and wants to top that. To help his cause, visit nmgive.donordrive.com/participant/Tim-Cavanagh-2025.
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New York Times
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Using a ‘Tiny Bit of Math’ May Improve Your Heart Health, Study Suggests
Many people use a smartwatch to monitor their cardiovascular health, often by counting the number of steps they take over the course of their day, or recording their average daily heart rate. Now, researchers are proposing an enhanced metric, which combines the two using basic math: Divide your average daily heart rate by your daily average number of steps. The resulting ratio — the daily heart rate per step, or DHRPS — provides insight into how efficiently the heart is working, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association. The study found that people whose hearts work less efficiently, by this metric, were more prone to various diseases, including Type II diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. “It’s a measure of inefficiency,” said Zhanlin Chen, a third-year medical student at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and lead author of the new study; his coauthors included several Feinberg faculty physicians. “It looks at how badly your heart is doing,” he added. “You’re just going to have to do a tiny bit of math.”
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New York Times
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The Worst Habits for Your Back, According to Spine Surgeons
Research shows that over a third of U.S. adults have experienced back pain during a three-month period — but few treatments actually work, according to a new study that analyzed hundreds of trials. One tip, don’t play pickleball without warming up first. Alpesh Patel, MD, MBA, a spine surgeon at Northwestern Medicine, often sees patients “running into trouble” with activities such as pickleball, paddle tennis and golf. “Many people think of these as low-risk sports,” Dr. Patel said. But these activities, he said, can be jarring on the spine and often involve abrupt twisting. For the spine, “flexibility is key,” Dr. Patel said. So build in a warm-up and stretching routine before and during these sports, recommended Dr. Patel. “For example, with golf, add a low back and chest stretch every three holes.”
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WebMD
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Why Uncertainty Makes Us So Anxious, and How to Deal With It
Uncertainty can leave you worried, scared, and angry. And that’s natural. It’s also stressful, but experts say you can learn to deal with all the what-ifs and reduce that stress. Fear of the unknown underlies anxiety, psychologists say. Our brain views uncertainty as danger since there’s no way to know what’s coming up. “Our ancestors needed to be cautious about being in unpredictable situations in order to stay safe,” said Jacqueline K. Gollan, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “But in today’s world, this response can be overwhelming as we face all types of uncertainty.” Gollan tells anxious patients: “The anxiety response isn’t a sign of something wrong with you. It’s actually your brain acting like it’s supposed to.” The key, she said, is “learning to work with the natural responses rather than fighting them.’’ To build your tolerance: Learn what you can control, calmly assess risk, and avoid imagining worst-case scenarios.
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Fox 32 Chicago
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Northwestern study tests if wearables can cut AFib patients’ need for blood thinners
Can wearable technology help patients with an irregular heartbeat and change how they live with it? Northwestern University is trying to find out — and they may need your help. Angelina Brown knows all too well what it’s like to have an irregular heartbeat. Her atrial fibrillation, or AFib, has required her to take blood thinners for years. Northwestern Medicine researchers want to talk to thousands of patients like her. “There’s a lot of excitement around this trial. This is the largest trial where we’re using consumer grade electronic devices to personalize medical care,” said Rod Passman, MD. Passman and his team at Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute want to know if a wearable – like an Apple Watch – can help reduce the need for blood thinners. “We’re looking for patients who are taking a blood thinner today and they may have very infrequent episodes of atrial fibrillation (AFib) either on their own, because they’ve changed their lifestyle, or they’ve been put on medication, or had a procedure like ablation, and now their AFib is gone. Currently, those patients still take blood thinners for the rest of their lives. So we’re offering patients the opportunity to stop their blood thinners in a tightly-controlled setting and see if we can personalize their care instead of treating everyone the same, where everyone takes the same dose of the same blood thinners for the rest of their lives. We’re wondering if there are some patients where we can simply target the therapy only during a high-risk period,” said Passman.
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ABC News
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A common blood test for ovarian cancer is more likely to fall short for Black and Native American women
A common blood test for ovarian cancer is more likely to fall short for Black and Native American women, according to a new study. In 2022, more than 13,000 people died from ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer may not be as prevalent as breast cancer, but it is more deadly. The likelihood of survival for someone diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago is 91%. For ovarian cancer, that survival rate decreases to 50%. The poor survival rate of ovarian cancer can be due to delayed diagnosis, according to Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine, who is not associated with the study. One of the challenges of diagnosing ovarian cancer are the vague symptoms, which include nausea, feeling bloated, early satiety, and abdominal distension, according to Simon. Simon agree more research in diverse populations is needed to determine better markers for ovarian cancer. “We need research to represent our population,” said Simon.
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US News & World Report
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Study Finds Better Way For Smartwatches to Track Health
Folks frequently use their smartwatches to monitor their daily step count, aiming to get enough physical activity to improve their health. But smartwatches are tracking another measure of health that could prove even more important, a new study suggests. Smartwatches also capture a person’s average daily heart rate, and dividing that by their daily number of steps provides a more reliable measure of a person’s heart fitness than either number on its own. “The metric we developed looks at how the heart responds to exercise, rather than exercise itself,” lead researcher Zhanlin Chen, a medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a news release. “It’s a more meaningful metric because it gets at the core issue of capturing the heart’s capacity to adjust under stress as physical activity fluctuates throughout the day,” he added. “Our metric is a first attempt at capturing that with a wearable device.” For this new study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 7,000 American adults who provided Fitbit data and their electronic health records to an National Institutes of Health research program. Results also showed that elevated heart rate per step was more strongly associated with heart disease diagnoses than either daily heart rate or step count alone, researchers said. Based on these findings, researchers said that heart rate per step could be used to identify people who might benefit from more heart health screening, or from exercises that would improve their heart function. The metric is simple enough that people can calculate it on their own, Chen said, or it could potentially be included in smartwatch apps.
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Yahoo! News
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8 natural ways to lower your blood sugar, from yoga to apple cider vinegar
Blood sugar was once considered something people only focused on when they had diabetes. But the explosion in popularity of medications that affect blood sugar, like Ozempic and Wegovy, along with over-the-counter blood glucose monitors, has raised general awareness of the role blood sugar plays in several areas of health. If you’re one of the 38.4 million Americans with diabetes, it’s understandable that blood sugar management be a big part of your life. But doctors say that it’s important to pursue natural ways to manage your blood sugar, even if you’re on medication. One of the best ways to naturally lower your blood sugar is ramping up your fiber intake. “Fiber-rich foods will help with glucose spikes after meals,” Anthony Pick, , clinical assistant professor of endocrinology at Northwestern Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. That’s because your body can’t absorb or break down fiber, he explains. Some supplements may help to lower your blood sugar, with Pick recommending berberine, myo-inositol, alpha-lipoic acid, cinnamon powder and chromium as options to consider.
