Media Coverage

Northwestern Medicine, among others, earned a score of 100 and designation as “LGBTQ+ Health Equity Leader” in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s fifteenth anniversary edition of the Healthcare Quality Index. “Driven by our patients first mission, we believe it is vital to create a safe and open environment throughout our health system for our LGBTQ+ patients, visitors and employees,” shared Dean M. Harrison.

According to several health experts, BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than omicron. Northwestern’s Dr. Michael Angarone, associate professor of medicine in infectious diseases, said the increased transmissibility could be particularly strong in close contacts of those infected, but it’s still to early to tell. According to Angarone, the symptoms for BA.2 are similar to those seen in many COVID infections. Northwestern Medicine’s Center for Pathogen Genetics and Microbial Evolution said the subvariant was found in a Chicago resident who tested for COVID-19 on January 18.

Bruce Willis will step away from his acting career due to a recent aphasia diagnosis. Dr. Borna Bonakdarpour, a behavioral neurologist with Northwestern Medicine, said about one million people in the United States currently had aphasia, which disrupts the ability to speak, read and write. They may also have trouble remembering the words for certain objects, said Dr. Bonakdarpour, which leads them to pause for long periods of time, often in the middle of their sentences.

The United States senate recently passed a bill known as the Sunshine Protection Act to may daylight saving time (DST) permanent, but the move may be harmful to our human health. According to Dr. Phyllis Zee, director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, “Of the three choices-permanent daylight savings time, permanent standard time or where we are now, which is switching between the two-I think permanent DST is the worst solution.”

A new study has revealed that rates of prediabetes among children have more than doubled over the past 20 years. Diabetes most commonly affects racial and ethnic minority communities because they are more likely to live in areas where there is a lack of access to healthy food. According to Dr. Kimbra A. Bell, a Northwestern Medicine internal medicine physician, “Our Black and Brown communities are more likely to have an abundance of fast-food restaurants and markets stocked with unhealthy processed foods as opposed to our white counterparts, where there tends to be a greater number of grocery stores and markets with an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Six months after having a double lung transplant to replace his cancerous lungs, Chicagoan Albert Khoury has no signs of cancer left in his body. According to Dr. Young Chae, a medical oncologist with Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine, six months after the transplant, “We’re thrilled with Albert’s progress. He doesn’t require oxygen and is leading a normal life.”

Airlines want to drop the federal mask mandate on flights, arguing that they are no longer necessary because of dropping infection rates. Mercedes Carnethon, vice chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said that for most healthy Americans who are vaccinated against COVID-19, eliminating masks on flights is unlikely to pose a serious risk. But the calculation changes if you’re seated near someone infected with disease.

A Chicago man underwent a seven-hour surgery to receive new lungs at Northwestern Medicine in September. According to Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine “For patients with stage 4 cancer, lung transplantation is considered a complete ‘no-no,’ but because [the patient’s] cancer was confined only to his chest, we were confident we could clear all the cancer during surgery and save his life.”

Moderna says early findings suggest the vaccine may protect against severe illness in kids just as it does in adults. According to Dr. Bill Muller of Northwestern University, a lull in COVID cases could be “the best time to get immunized because then you’ll be protected by the time the next surge starts.” Muller is a researcher for Moderna’s pediatric studies.

Northwestern Medicine surgeons have successfully performed a double lung transplant on a man with terminal lung cancer. His new lungs are now working well, and he seems to be cancer-free. Lung transplants should not replace standard treatments for lung caner, which can include surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, Northwestern chief of thoracic surgery.