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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NBC
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People who naturally stay up late may have worse heart health than early risers
Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, calls herself a “flexible owl.” That is, she can stay up late or wake up early as needed.
The good news, Zee said, is the unhealthy behaviors common to night owls that contribute to poor heart health are modifiable. The downside is some of them are harder to change than others.
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TIME
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Since Lung Cancer Is So Deadly, Why Don’t More People Get Screened?
“The current guidelines for lung cancer screening are based on a very outdated model for risk assessment,” says Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and executive director of the Canning Thoracic Institute at Northwestern Medicine. “It presumes smoking is the only cause of lung cancer. Anyone exposed to secondhand smoking, air pollution, or radon—risk factors that are well established—doesn’t have any way of getting screened.”
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ABC News
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‘Night owl’ lifestyle may bring higher risk of heart disease: Study
Researchers then calculated each person’s heart health using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) score. These factors include four health behavior, diet quality, physical activity, sleep duration and nicotine exposure, and four health factors, including blood pressure, body mass index, blood sugar and blood fat levels.
“These are the factors the American Heart Association has identified as cardiovascular disease risk factors,” Kristen Knutson, associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine specializing in sleep and circadian rhythm research and fellow at the American Heart Association, told ABC News.
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Wall Street Journal
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Here’s What Happens When You Stop Taking Ozempic and Wegovy
“I think your body composition is likely to change,” says Dr. Robert Kushner, an obesity-medicine specialist and professor emeritus at Northwestern University.
Kushner says he’s only had a handful of patients who were able to keep their weight off long-term after stopping a GLP-1 medication. In addition to your appetite roaring back, there is also the psychological impact of gaining weight back, which can lead to people feeling defeated and less likely to exercise.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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A Northwestern nanotech pioneer debuts a first-of-its-kind robotic probe for in-utero surgery
A new, hair-like robotic probe developed by Northwestern University researchers is the first device of its kind that can safely enter the uterus and monitor a fetus’ vital signs during in utero surgery.
It is being developed by Dr. John Rogers, who directs Northwestern’s Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and the Querrey Simpson Institute for Translational Engineering for Advanced Medical Systems, and Dr. Aimen Shaaban, a pediatric and fetal surgeon at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
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NBC Chicago
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New device developed at Northwestern could allow for safer fetal surgeries
Working with doctors at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Northwestern University researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind device that can track a fetus’ vital signs during surgery. “The surgeons in this context are operating blind…they don’t know in any significant way how the fetus is responding to the surgery,” said Professor John Rogers, whose team of biomedical engineers managed to cram an array of medical sensors onto a space smaller than a shoelace.
The probe is a soft, plastic-like filament that combines electronics with robotics to deliver real-time data to fetal surgeons during the most delicate of operations. “This is a game changer,” said Dr. Aimen Shaaben, who along with Rogers authored the initial study.
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New York Times
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Memory and Speech Are Their Everyday Struggles. Then They Get to Sing.
Recent research on music and cognition seems to back her up. Borna Bonakdarpour, the director of the music and medicine program at Northwestern University in Chicago, said by phone that there was a growing body of scientific literature supporting music as a treatment for neurocognitive disorders.
“With neurological diseases like dementia, a lot of patients do have anxiety, because of feeling lost,” Bornakdarpour said. “Music can help regulate emotions. After listening to music, the brain slows down, and it goes from a chaotic situation into an alpha rhythm, which is more meditative, and more receptive.”
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US News & World Report
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Heart Disease, Stroke Are Top U.S. Killers, Report Says
Heart disease and stroke are America’s top killers, a new American Heart Association (AHA) report says.
Troublingly, more than 80% of young and middle-aged adults show early risk of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, according to the report.
“These numbers should ring alarm bells, particularly among young adults because that’s a snapshot into our future,” said Dr. Sadiya Khan, an associate professor of cardiology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
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NPR
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Deaths from heart disease have dipped but it’s still #1 killer in the U.S.
A new report points to a decline in heart disease and stroke deaths, but cardiovascular disease remains the top cause of death in the U.S. Lifestyle changes could delay or prevent about 70% of cases.
Sadiya Khan, MD, Magerstadt Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, told NPR: Improving high blood pressure with medicine has never been easier. There are so many inexpensive therapies available. And getting blood pressure under control can add years to life, as well as prevent heart disease, stroke and dementia.
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New York Times
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Heart Disease and Stroke Behind Quarter of All Deaths in U.S.
Heart disease, which includes heart attack and heart failure, has been the leading killer of Americans for more than a century. Things started improving in the 1970s; less cigarette smoking, new medications for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and interventions like stents and bypass surgery contributed to a major decline in deaths over decades.
But progress slowed around 2010, as mortality from types of heart disease other than heart attack increased and risk factors like obesity and Type 2 diabetes increased. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted access to care and increased the short- and long-term risks of heart attack, said Dr. Sadiya Khan, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University and vice-chair of the committee that wrote the new report. Deaths from cardiovascular disease surged to 932,000 in 2021 and to 942,000 in 2022.
