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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USA Today
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Tuberculosis is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in human history. Here’s why.
When most of us think of serious diseases that kill millions of people, the ones that come to mind are often the ones that get the most attention: cancer, COVID-19, heart disease and diabetes. But a disease that’s been killing a shocking number of people for over a century is tuberculous. Each year, tuberculosis kills some 1.25 million people globally and more than 10 times that number become infected with the disease annually, according to the World Health Organization. In fact, the disease is so prevalent that the organization has identified tuberculosis as one of the top 10 leading causes of deaths worldwide. “Since its identification in 1882, over 1 billion people have died from tuberculosis, making it one of the deadliest infectious diseases in human history,” says Richard Doyle, MD, PhD, a practicing physician and clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University. Doyle adds that anyone infected with TB can potentially develop the active form of the infection, but people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable. The good news is that even if one is dealing with the active form of the disease, TB is still curable—but it requires “a prolonged course of antibiotics,” says Doyle. These rounds of antibiotics usually last between four to six months, “and most people respond very well to treatment,” says Hewison. Still, because treatment requires a combination of multiple drugs, “it can be difficult for patients to remain adherent for such a long time, especially when the drugs often have unwanted side effects,” she says. To prevent this, “treatment should always first be guided by drug susceptibility testing,” Doyle says, “which can usually ensure the most effective medications are used.”
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Chicago Tribune
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Northwestern engineers develop tiny pacemaker, smaller than a grain of rice
A new, tiny pacemaker — smaller than a grain of rice — developed at Northwestern University could play a sizable role in the future of medicine, according to the engineers who developed it. Researchers unveiled the device, which they say is the smallest pacemaker in the world, in a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. Though the device is still years away from being used in humans, it could eventually be useful for infants with congenital heart defects and also for adults, the researchers say. “I think it’s really exciting technology that will change how electrical stimulation is done,” said Igor Efimov, PhD, a Northwestern experimental cardiologist who co-led the study. The device can be inserted with a catheter or syringe. After it is placed in or on the heart, it’s paired with another small, patch-like device worn on the patient’s chest. When the device on the chest detects irregular heartbeats it emits pulses of light into the chest that activate the pacemaker, delivering electrical stimulation to the heart. The device is designed for patients who need a pacemaker only temporarily. It dissolves into the patient’s body once it’s no longer needed.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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Shingles vaccine may protect against dementia, new study suggests
Getting vaccinated against shingles — a painful and debilitating condition that can flare up years after infection from varicella zoster — not only lowers the risk of infection, but may also offer some protection against dementia, a provocative new study suggests. The new research, published Wednesday in Nature, analyzed data from more than 280,000 older adults in Wales and found that people who received the original shingles live virus vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia of any type than those who were not vaccinated. The most important take-home message from the Stanford study is that getting vaccinated might lower the risk for dementia, said Aarati Didwania, MD, a professor of medicine and medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Exactly how the vaccines might protect against dementia isn’t clear, Didwania said. “But it’s an intriguing question,” she added. “Is it by decreasing inflammation or preventing the virus from reactivating?” There’s certainly a good reason for getting vaccinated, Didwania said. “Shingles is a terrible, painful and debilitating condition that can lead to horrendous long-term pain,” she said.
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Chicago Tribune
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Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital uses dual chamber pacemaker implant to aid patient
Jerry Karzen has had many successes as both a tennis player and a coach. Now he is getting the chance to extend those accomplishments with the assistance of a new generation of pacemaker. January, Karzen was one of the first patients to receive a new dual chamber leadless pacemaker now offered at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital. The device received Food and Drug Administration approval in 2023 and went into use inside the Northwestern medical system last summer. Karzen discussed the situation initially with his primary care physician and soon they connected with his friend and fellow tennis player, Nishant Verma, an electrophysiologist at Lake Forest Hospital and associate professor of medicine (cardiology) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Verma said one main difference of this pacemaker is that it is inserted through a small incision in the leg and not the arm. He added that in a traditional pacemaker, there is a battery under the skin and then there are wires that connect to that battery. The wires are connected through a vein under the collarbone that leads into the heart and plug it into the battery that is sitting in the chest. Verma said the dual-chamber pacemakers might not be right for every patient as it depends on the type of heart issue someone faces. In addition, given its recent debut on the market, safety data is still being collected, and it is yet to be determined how long the device will last. Yet overall he remains pleased with the initial results in Karzen and his other patients.
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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.
