Health Sciences In The Media

The former director of the FDA suggests starting to lift pandemic-related restrictions, including mask wearing. Shad Marvasti, MD, associate professor of family and community medicine at the College of Medicine in Phoenix – disagrees. Dr. Marvasti says the lifting of mask requirements is one of the reasons why that approach led to Arizona being the second highest in deaths per capita nationally.

Journalist Mike Masterson writes an op-ed that includes a section on COVID-19 variants and vaccines. Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, a professor and immunologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson, is quoted.

Mohab Ibrahim, MD, PhD, medical director of the UArizona Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center, explains how different topical pain medications like lidocaine work.

This article cites a University of Arizona Health Sciences study that found 67 percent of people who recovered from “mild or moderate” infections experienced long COVID symptoms more than 30 days after their positive test.

A $2.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will allow University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers to study the links between knee structure changes and clinical outcomes in people with osteoarthritis.

Mask-wearing in childcare programs is linked with fewer COVID-19-related program closures, new data released suggest. Paloma Beamer, PhD, a professor of public health and exposure scientist at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is quoted.

Innovations in Healthy Aging, is a collaboration across campus to enhance the lives of older adults through integration, partnerships, research and education. Kathleen Insel, PhD, RN, a professor at the UArizona College of Nursing, said they are finding aging isn’t a period of decline but a positive experience.

In December, the FDA authorized Evusheld, a monoclonal antibody combination designed to prevent COVID-19 in people who are seriously immunocompromised or who have had serious adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines. Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, a professor of immunobiology at the College of Medicine –Tucson, is interviewed.

Rubin Naiman, PhD, a clinical assistant professor of medicine and dream expert at the UArizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, says dreaming is healing. It’s kind of a "digestive process” — taking difficult experiences, like a breakup, and spelling them out to provide understanding.

Agnes Attakai, MPA, director of Health Disparities Outreach and Prevention Education at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, will speak at Health Affairs’s Racism & Health Virtual Symposium on Feb. 8.