Media Coverage

Northwestern Study Explores Asthma Drug as Possible Treatment for Aggressive Cancers

Dr. Bin Zhang from Northwestern Medicine discusses new research suggesting the asthma medication Singulair could help fight aggressive forms of cancer alongside existing treatments.

“We tried to figure out how the immune system actually failed in the cancer patient. We see hope because this is already an FDA-approved drug, and I think it will safely and quickly move into clinical trials.”

‘Silent killer:’ A New Kind of Blood Pressure Medication Was Just Approved by the FDA

A new blood pressure medication has been approved in the U.S., but this one isn’t quite like others that help treat hypertension. Dr. Sadiya Khan, a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine, told NBC Chicago the new drug is “really exciting for anyone that has high blood pressure.”

“There aren’t a lot of therapies that can really target that hormone specifically, and this appears to do so in a very effective way with numbers where we were seeing about 10 points lower blood pressure in the clinical trials,” Khan said.

Heart Disease May Start in the Womb, New Study Finds

A new report reveals that a child’s future heart health could be partially shaped before they are born.

“Before this study, we knew that mothers’ health during pregnancy influenced their children’s health,” Dr. Nilay Shah, a lead researcher of the study told FOX Local. “What our study shows is that the child’s exposure to these cardiovascular and metabolic conditions while in utero may influence their heart health decades later when they are young adults.”

Asthma Drug Shows Promise in Slowing Tumor Growth, Researchers Say

Cancer is sneaky. Tumor cells can learn how to evade treatment. And they can trick the body’s own immune system. That’s when a patient’s prognosis worsens. But in a Northwestern lab, after years of work at the bench, there’s new hope in a bottle.

Bin Zhang, MD, PhD is a cancer immunotherapy researcher at Northwestern Medicine. “We do see tumor actually shrink after treatment,” he said.

Dr. Jeffrey Kopin: What to Know About Ebola Outbreak

Dr. Jeffrey Kopin, Chief Medical Officer for Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital, joins Jon Hansen, filling in for John Williams, to talk about how concerned we need to be about hantavirus and Ebola, how some people on weight loss medication are seeing ‘muscle wasting,’ the importance of being able to talk candidly to your primary care physician, and when you should think about consulting a urologist.

What to Know About Hantavirus — Local Risk, Response and Readiness

Hantavirus is not necessarily a new disease, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 890 cases between 1993 and 2023. But the cruise ship outbreak is different from previous cases in North America. Passengers on the ship, which embarked from Argentina in early April, carry a type of hantavirus known as Andes virus.

“The Andes virus … is a completely different virus, and can transmit person to person,” said Dr. Robert Murphy, a professor of infectious diseases and executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Northwestern University Engineers Develop Wireless Polygraph to Detect Stress

Northwestern said the device was designed especially for patients who cannot verbalize or otherwise communicate discomfort from stress, such as infants and some elderly patients. The device could also diagnose sleep disorders without bulky la equipment, monitor mental health conditions over time, and sense early signs of medical complications, the university said.

“Sometimes, the body manifests signs of stress before a person is consciously aware of it,” Northwestern’s John A. Rogers, who led the device development, said in a news release.

Dr. Jim Adams: Seniors on GLP-1s, Social Media Health Advice

Dr. Jim Adams, Chief Medical Officer at Northwestern Medicine, joins Lisa Dent to discuss recent health headlines.

He shares whether seniors should take GLP-1s and if people should trust health advice from social media influencers.

Could the Hantavirus Outbreak Become the Next Pandemic? Northwestern Expert Weighs In

Northwestern Medicine infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Angarone stresses the importance of monitoring updates as health officials continue investigating hantavirus.

“There are big differences between the Hantavirus outbreak thats going on on the cruise ship and the Covid pandemic,” Angarone said.