Media Coverage

A study following more than 1.3 million premature babies born in Florida found that two-thirds of those born at only 23 or 24 weeks were ready for kindergarten on time, and almost 2 percent of those infants later achieved gifted status in school. “What excites me about this study is that it changes the focus for the clinician and families at the bedside from just focusing on the medical outcomes of the child to what the future educational outcomes might be for a child born early,” Craig Garfield, the first author of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics and medial social sciences at Northwestern Medicine, said in a statement.

Staying up late to cram for an early exam may not be doing college students any good, according to a new study focused on college students and their sleep patterns…Kristen Knutson, an associate professor of sleep medicine at Northwestern University and expert in sleep patterns and their relation to health, said the study emphasized an aspect of sleep that people don’t usually think about: regularity.

Most women have heard of the Kegel, a toning exercise that involves raising and tightening the pelvic floor, that everyone from OB-GYNs to Pilates instructors have called the path to pelvic floor health since the 1940s… Dr. Kimberly Kenton, director of the Women’s Integrated Pelvic Health Program at Northwestern Medicine, said she never recommends strengthening exercises until women have had their pelvic floor muscles evaluated by a professional.

Not getting enough sleep or getting poor quality sleep is associated with a lot of negative outcomes, Phyllis Zee , MD, PhD, Chief of Sleep Medicine in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told NBC News BETTER. The bottom line, she says: “If you want to enjoy healthy aging get sufficient sleep and at the right time.”

“Douching is one of those things we have been trying to get out of women’s sort of ideas about hygiene for a long time,” said Dr. Angela Chaudhari , an obstetrician-gynecologist at Northwestern Medicine. “We actually do think douching is harmful.”

Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine last year tapped a psychiatrist to launch a confidential, 24-hour hotline solely for residents and fellows at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. A hospital-wide peer support program also is in the works, said Dr. Joan Anzia , residency program director for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Anzia said doctors often experience that “secondary trauma,” but instead of talking about it, “you tough it out. You don’t share with others when you don’t feel adequate. … It’s a culture of medicine of needing to be the team leader, of not showing vulnerability, of having to be strong for the patient and the team.

There is no scientific basis to the idea that a period indicates the body is shedding toxins, Lauren Streicher , associate clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told Shape magazine. “A menstrual cycle is natural the purpose of it is to achieve a pregnancy. That’s it. Period,” Streicher said.

An all-female team of researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and McCormick School of Engineering has managed to use a 3-D printer to create a fully functioning prosthetic ovary in mice. The artificial organ has the potential to change the way human infertility is treated. Featuring Teresa K. Woodruff and Dr. Monica Loranda

In another step forward in the world of 3-D printed tissues, U.S. scientists report they’ve created a “bioprosthetic” ovary in a mouse using the technology — and the mouse has given birth to healthy pups. “These bioprosthetic ovaries have long-term, durable function,” said researcher Teresa K. Woodruff , of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

In another step forward in the world of 3-D printed tissues, U.S. scientists report they’ve created a “bioprosthetic” ovary in a mouse using the technology — and the mouse has given birth to healthy pups. “These bioprosthetic ovaries have long-term, durable function,” said researcher Teresa K. Woodruff , of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.