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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WGN
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Dr. Santina Wheat: Women Can Have Worse Allergies than Men
Dr. Santina Wheat, Program Director, McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, joins Wendy for this week’s health update. Dr. Wheat talks about allergies being worse for women, decreasing flu cases, and more.
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US News & World Report
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Most People Would Take A Blood Test For Alzheimer’s, Study Says
About 85% of primary care patients said they’d take a blood test that looks for the toxic proteins linked to Alzheimer’s, according to a report published April 15 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
These patients said they were interested even though nearly 3 out of 4 (73%) said they expect a positive test would cause them emotional distress. That’s because anxiety over Alzheimer’s can be overwhelming, lead researcher Andrea Russell, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, said in a news release.
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WGN
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Breaking Down the Newest Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines
In a surprising new study released today, the American College of Physicians says women should not begin mammograms until 50, and then stop getting them at age 74, and women only need screenings every other year.
“This is a great cause of concern,” says Georgia G. Spear, MD, MS, Chief of Breast Imaging at Northwestern Medicine. “All of the data suggests that annual screening with mammography for an average risk woman beginning at the age of 40 reduces her risk of dying from breast cancer by over 40 percent.”
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WGN
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What You Should Know About the Xanax Recall
Dr. Sterling Elliott, clinical pharmacist at Northwestern Medicine and assistant professor of orthopaedics at Feinberg School of Medicine, joins Lisa Dent to discuss the recall of Xanax, the popular anxiety medication.
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The Wall Street Journal
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When the Room Spins: Researchers Learn More About Vertigo—and How to Treat It
Of the many age-related problems that pose a risk to adults in midlife and beyond, so-called vestibular and balance disorders can be especially dangerous—and joy-depriving—because they increase the risk of falls and fractures and can lead people to restrict their own movement for fear of triggering another episode.
According to research at Northwestern University, vertigo and dizziness account for about one in 30 emergency-room visits, and the average patient is just over 50 years old.
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The Wall Street Journal
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When the Room Spins: Researchers Learn More About Vertigo—and How to Treat It
According to research at Northwestern University, vertigo and dizziness account for about one in 30 emergency-room visits, and the average patient is just over 50 years old.
But ER visits for vertigo commonly result in unnecessary diagnostic tests, adding to costs with limited added benefit, according to the Northwestern study, with 28% of patients receiving a CT scan. And patients may also be given medications after an episode including a type of antihistamine, but they have sedative effects that can cause more problems, such as falls.
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TIME
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Heart Disease Is Preventable. So Why Does It Kill So Many of Us?
Risk for most cardiovascular disease builds over years and often over decades. Yet we seem to be caught off guard when it happens; these heart events are often viewed as sudden or unexpected. What if we could, years or decades before, predict the likelihood that a cardiovascular event may happen? In fact, we can: the science, data, and tools are now available to do just this.
Written by Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, cardiologist and epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
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NPR Illinois
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Historic Decline in U.S. Overdose Deaths Threatened by Changing Street Drug Supply
As of October 2025, the most recent month where preliminary data is available from CDC, roughly 71,542 people had died in the U.S. over a 12-month period. That’s down dramatically from the 12-month peak of nearly 113,000 drug deaths recorded in August 2023.
“This is unprecedented and historic, for the longest consecutive months of decline,” said Lori Ann Post, a researcher at Northwestern University whose new paper in the American Journal of Public Health tracks the steady improvement. “That is awesome.”
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WGN
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New Targeted Therapy Gives Hope to Pancreatic Cancer Patients and Families
A new drug is offering hope and time for patients and their families and doubling the survival rate for one of the most deadly cancers.
Dr Deva Mahalingam is a Northwestern Medicine Oncologist. “There’s no real screening tool for pancreatic cancer, and so when it starts causing symptoms, typically patients come in with weight loss, abdominal pains, sometimes jaundice, the cancer is already more advanced,” Mahalingam said.
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TIME
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Two New Drugs Offer Hope for Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic tumors have traditionally not responded well to immunotherapies because the tumors tend to be full of fibrotic tissues that make it difficult for immune cells to infiltrate.
“We started seeing immune-cell infiltration around the tumor when we treated with the drug,” says Dr. Devalingam Mahalingam, associate director of clinical research at Northwestern University’s comprehensive cancer center and lead author of the study.
