Health Sciences In The Media

Continuing coverage: Glen Fogerty, associate dean of admissions and recruitment at the University of Arizona College of Medicine — Phoenix, talks to "The Show" co-host Mark Brodie about the rise in applications to medical school due to the so-called "Fauci Effect."

Continuing coverage: In advance of the 65th anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis, Tucson businesswoman Ginny Clements has given $8.5 million to the University of Arizona Cancer Center.

Arizona continues to have one of the highest COVID infection rates in the country, and a Tucson zip code has one of the highest case counts in the state. Researchers on the University of Arizona’s COVID modeling team said the 85706 zip code has remained a hot spot since Nov. 1, 2020.

The pandemic has disrupted almost everything in our lives, including the quality of our sleep. Michael Grandner, PhD, the director of the Sleep & Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, talks about what his expertise can tell us about sleeping and dreaming during a global crisis, and tips for better "sleep hygiene."

Pain is a subjective response with multiple features and components, said Frank Porreca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Scott Sherman, MD, PhD, and Torsten Falk, PhD, both associate professors in the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, have developed a method of using ketamine in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The university has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Pharmather Inc., a subsidiary of Newscope Capital Corporation, for the development and commercialization of the method.

Mind controlling microchips and permanently altered DNA are two widely shared conspiracy theories about what the COVID-19 vaccine might do to anyone who takes it. Dr. Elizabeth Connick, an infectious disease expert at the University of Arizona says neither one of those things are true. She's so confident, in fact, that she already took the first dose of Pfizer's vaccine.

As each month passes amid this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the daily number of infections has continued to march in one direction only—steadily upward. Dr. Joe K. Gerald, associate professor of Public Health Policy and Management at the University of Arizona, said, “For most states, (the data indicate) that viral transmission is broadly increasing. Reporting national estimates only has limited utility because each state is fighting its own COVID-19 battle. The U.S. figures then reflect in a rough sense the average win/loss ratio among the fifty states weighted by population."

Los Angeles County has been so overwhelmed it is running out of oxygen, with ambulance crews instructed to use oxygen only for their worst-case patients. Arizona, once heralded for turning the corner after a summer surge, now has 69 of every 100,000 residents hospitalized with the virus — the highest rate in the country. "The virus is just basically transmitting almost uninhibited through our population,” said Dr. Joe Gerald, who has been tracking the spread of the virus and was among those urging a shelter-in-place order.

Health experts say the number of COVID-19 cases is just going to rise as the weeks progress, due to holiday gatherings and travel. Beth Smith, senior director of marketing and communications at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, says in order to save lives, they need to change the perception that COVID-19 isn't that deadly. Other health officials in the Valley agree.