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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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Vaccine Rates, Herd Immunity ‘Going in the Wrong Direction’
The prospect of rising deaths from the flu coming in December and January, combined with a drop in the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations among children has a Northwestern Medicine infectious disease doctor worried about the cost of vaccine fatigue. “This is all going in the wrong direction. Not only are we having this bump up in flu cases and hospitalizations, but we are having fewer people get vaccinated. It’s the wrong time to slack off,” Robert Murphy, MD, executive director of the Robert J. Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said in a statement. Murphy warns that while people are tired of vaccines, with the most recent availability of what would be the 5th shot of COVID-19 vaccine to be recommended by the CDC, now is not the time to give up on them. “We have barely seen the influenza virus for the last one or two years, due to COVID-19 restrictions. We might have lost some of our previously acquired immunity due to the lack of viral circulation. Additionally, we now have pediatric populations that have never experienced this virus,” Ramon Lorenzo Redondo, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, added in the statement.
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The Washington Post
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New Weight-Loss Drugs Work, But Who’s Paying
After decades of failure, weight loss drugs seem finally poised to become big pharma’s newest blockbuster category. The enthusiasm is merited. These newer drugs offer more profound and sustained weight loss than any of the medicines that came before them. People are eager to try the new treatments. “The demand is overwhelming the workforce,” says Robert Kushner, MD, who specializes in obesity medicine at Northwestern Medicine. Also worth considering: The story about the long-term safety of this new generation of drugs is still being written. Past experience in the weight-loss arena has shown that side effects can emerge after the drugs hit the market. That worry is compounded by the drugs being potentially used in situations where there’s no evidence for their efficacy or safety.
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Associated Press
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Mindfulness worked as well for anxiety as drugs in study
Mindfulness mediation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first head-to-head comparison. The study tested a widely used mindfulness program that includes 2 1/2 hours of classes weekly and 45 minutes of daily practice at home. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or daily use of a generic drug sold under the name Lexapro for depression and anxiety. After two months, anxiety as measured on a severity scale declined by about 30% in both groups and continued to decrease during the following four months. The study “is reaffirming about how useful mindfulness can be when practiced effectively,” said psychologist Sheehan Fisher, PhD, an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.
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The Washington Post
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Did pandemic stress change women’s periods?
During the pandemic, many women experienced high levels of stress as they took on a disproportionate share of child care and housework and dropped out of the labor force in large numbers. Now, a new study suggests that all of this extra stress may have changed women’s menstrual cycles in a variety of ways. Stress can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle in a number of ways. The stress hormone cortisol can affect the body’s production of estrogen and progesterone, which are reproductive hormones that influence the menstrual cycle. Stress-related factors, such as poor nutrition, weight gain, weight loss and poor sleep, also can play a role. Nicole C. Woitowich, a medical research assistant professor at Northwestern University, found a similar association between period changes and pandemic stress in 2020 after conducting an online survey of 210 women. Because it wasn’t a representative sample, the findings aren’t conclusive. But Woitowich said both studies, conducted a year apart, suggest that the pandemic affected women’s stress levels and menstrual cycles over a long period of time. “Women have really borne the brunt of the pandemic, from multiple facets,” Woitowich said. “From being the primary care giver, from dealing with remote learning, and often times working while navigating that as well.”
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TODAY
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A looming ‘tripledemic’ could make for a rough winter. Which states may be hit hardest?
With the flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) surging early this year, ahead of an expected increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitals should plan to be overwhelmed this winter. Experts told TODAY it’s likely that a potential “tripledemic,” as some are calling it, may hit some parts of the country harder, or at the very least, sooner. The tripledemic of 2022 refers to the possibility that COVID-19 and and seasonal influenza will surge as RSV, a common virus that primarily effects children under 1 and older adults, continues to send kids to the hospital. Even though flu and RSV may be a bit early, it’s typical in winter to see a surge of these viruses, Michael Angarone, DO, associate professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, told TODAY. But this year is likely to be different: “What we are worried about is having the typical cold and flu seasons combined with SARS-CoV-2,” he said. The real fear around a tripledemic is the possibility that the three viruses will peak at the same time and inundate hospitals, filling every bed and stretching staff thin.
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US News & World Report
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‘SAD Season’: Depression Risks Rise as Days Get Shorter
As the daylight hours shrink, people’s moods can wind up in the tank. Rest assured, you’re not alone. It’s the SAD season for those affected by seasonal affective disorder. That’s the depression, fatigue and withdrawal that shorter days and longer nights often bring. “The seasonal mood change can come in different shapes and forms,” said Dr. Dorothy Sit, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It can be a clinical diagnosis of depression, which we call SAD, but some people experience a milder form,” Sit said. “The clinical diagnosis means it is quite intense; it affects people all day for many weeks and can impact their functioning. In milder cases, people can feel a bit blah, but can push through. Still, functioning will feel a bit harder.” Besides feeling sluggish, people may be hungrier, crave carbohydrates, eat more and gain weight. They may also feel less motivated and find less enjoyment in activities. A major remedy for SAD is starting the day with bright light therapy. Sit recommends a unit that produces 10,000 LUX of white light to be used in the 30 minutes after waking up. “The treatment provides an uplift in the mood, improves a person’s functioning and may completely resolve their symptoms,” she noted. “It’s even effective for non-seasonal depression, depression in pregnancy and in certain people with bipolar depression.”
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ABC 7 Chicago
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How daylight saving time impacts seasonal depression
Daylight saving time ends overnight Saturday when clocks turn back an hour. That means an extra hour of sleep. But it also means it’ll be darker earlier in the evening and that could impact people dealing with seasonal depression. Dorothy Sit, MD, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine joined ABC7 to share more on how to deal with the time change. Dr. Sit said light is an important cue for our body clocks. Behaviors and functions of the body such as sleep-wake patterns, digestion, physical activity, body temperature, stress responses and nightly release of melatonin (a natural hormone for sleep), all vary in accordance to daily or circadian rhythms that are highly responsive to light. he said sleep experts generally understand that standard time is in closest alignment with our body’s rhythms and adhering to standard time as long as possible (preferably year-round) is expected to produce positive health benefits. The shorter, darker days related to the change in seasons to fall and winter, is linked to seasonal depression, Dr. Sit said, adding that the time change from daylight saving may certainly compound the seasonal symptoms.
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USA Today
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Latinas have long been targeted by abortion misinformation. It’s getting worse, experts say.
The Latino community has been targeted by false information that’s meant to discourage abortions. Ahead of midterm elections, experts are raising the alarm. Experts say the Latino community has been targeted by false information about abortion and pregnancy. Intended to discourage abortions, such focused misinformation is not new but experts say it has increased since the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade – the 1973 landmark case that constitutionally established the right to abortion in the U.S. One of the most important and enduring ways to dispel misinformation within the community is to have conversations with family members, said Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, an OB-GYN at Northwestern Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It takes literally a village to try to stamp out this disinformation,” she said, “because it’s so deeply rooted in so many places and it’s hard to avoid.”
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NPR
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Doctors and advocates tackle a spike of abortion misinformation – in Spanish
Abortion is safe and an essential component of comprehensive health care, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. With Roe struck down as of June 24, individual states determine abortion access — and abortion is currently legal in a majority of U.S. states. n recent months, doctors and reproductive rights advocates say they’ve seen a surge in abortion-related misinformation repeated in conversations among the Latino communities they serve. Some worry that this onslaught of false messages may discourage pregnant Latinas from seeking medical care when they need it — even in places where abortion remains legal. Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, a Latina ob-gyn at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, says widespread disinformation is creating fear among the Spanish-speaking Latina patients who come to her seeking abortions. Even though Illinois is an abortion safe haven, she says patients have told her they fear that getting the procedure will result in legal jeopardy.” I see patients that are fearing the repercussions of getting an abortion not to just themselves, but to their family and loved ones,” she says.
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Chicago Tribune
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Northwestern performs first heart transplant in Illinois using ‘heart-in-a-box’ device
For the first time in Illinois, surgeons have successfully taken a heart that stopped beating inside a patient and transplanted it into another person with the help of a new, fictionlike device. Surgeons at Northwestern Memoria Hospital announced Wednesday that they performed a heart transplant on October 12 using a machine nicknamed “heart in a box.” It’s an advance that doctors hope will make more hearts available for transplant. About 3,400 people across the country are now waiting for heart transplants, including 182 in Illinois. The heart-in-a-box device, however, allows surgeons to use hearts from donors who suffer circulatory death, which is when the heart and respiratory system shut down. After the heart stops beating, surgeons have about 30 minutes to retrieve it and place it in the device. The device then resuscitates it and keeps it beating by pumping warm, oxygenated blood through it, until it can be transplanted into a donor. The patient who received the heart at Northwestern is doing well, and was preparing to go home early this week, said Dr. Benjamin Bryner, associate director of heart transplantation and mechanical support, and director of the expanded donation program at Northwestern Medicine’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and assistant professor of cardiac surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “I think it’s one of the most significant advances in heart transplant in a few decades,” Bryner said. “It opens up a lot of hearts that were sort of discarded.” Bryner estimates the device could increase the number of heart transplants by about 20% to 30% at Northwestern and across the country. Northwestern now performs about 30 to 40 heart transplants a year, Bryner said.
