Category: Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine
Department of Medicine Grants & Funding: May 1 – May 31, 2021
Division of Infectious Diseases Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, PhD, received an NIMHD grant award for “A multidimensional digital approach to address vaccine hesitancy and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake among African American young adults in the South.” Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Michael Knowles, MD, received a grant award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation fo … Read more
Combating Vaccine Hesitancy Among Gen Z As COVID Cases, Hospital Admissions Tick Up
Shannon Carson, MD Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 account for a growing share of new COVID-19 cases and patients in hospitals — even as surveys show that group with a higher rate of hesitancy for the vaccine. “Young people need to understand that even if they get COVID, they can be symptomatic for quite some time — it can change their life, at least in the near term, … Read more
COVID-19 Reflections One Year Later
One year has passed since Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency for North Carolina due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and hospitals and health systems across the state had to pivot to take care of their patients. Jason Mock, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine, reflected on the past year in an ABC-11 news re … Read more
Antiviral Pill Could Alter the Fight Against COVID
William Fischer, MD The International Business Times reports on the drug molnupiravir, which has shown positive results in preliminary studies by significantly reducing infection of the virus in patients after five days of treatment. William Fischer, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine, and lead investigator of the … Read more
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Can COVID-19 Be Treated With a Pill?
William Fischer, MD William Fischer, MD, associate professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine, who led UNC trials to determine if Molnupiravir could be a possible treatment for COVID-19, was quoted in a CBS-17 News report about its potential to change the way COVID-19 is treated. “The secondary objective findings in this study, of a quicker decr … Read more
New Lung Cancer Screening Recommendation Expands Access But May Not Address Inequities
Ethan Basch, MD, Patricia Rivera, MD, and Louise Henderson, PhD Calling the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s newly released recommendation statement to expand eligibility for annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography a step forward, researchers say future changes should address equity and implementation issues. In an editorial published in JAMA, M. Patri … Read more
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Ridgeback, Merck Announce Preliminary Data of Potential COVID-19 Therapeutic
The findings reported on a secondary objective to reduce time to negative test result of infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus in individuals with symptomatic COVID-19. UNC School of Medicine’s William Fischer, MD, is the lead investigator on the study of Molnupiravir, the investigational drug also known as EIDD-2801. William Fischer, MD Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced prelim … Read more
Al-Qadi Receives CHEST Research Award
Mazen O. Al-Qadi, MD Mazen O. Al-Qadi, assistant professor in pulmonary and critical care medicine has received the Alfred Soffer Research Award for “Respiratory variation in right atrial pressure predicts right ventricular dysfunction in patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension.” This award is named in honor of Dr. Alfred Soffer, Master Fellow of the College, Editor-in- … Read more
Knowles Comments on Durham-Based Startup and Potential New COVID-19 Treatment
Michael Knowles, MD An NPR Blue Ridge Radio reports that a Durham-based life sciences company received promising test results on a new medical device that could become an in-home treatment for the coronavirus. Michael Knowles, MD, the Michael E. Hatcher Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicines, commented in a statement … Read more
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Deadliest Week for Coronavirus in NC Rolls On
Shannon Carson, MD WRAL.com reports the number of coronavirus-related deaths in North Carolina continues to spike, and the state on Thursday surpassed 9,000 deaths during the pandemic. Shannon Carson, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine, said virus-related deaths are the final metric to spike after infections and ho … Read more
Department of Medicine Grants & Funding: January 1 – January 31, 2021
Division of General Medicine Seth Berkowitz, MD, received a new, five-year R01 grant to broaden clinical studies of medically-tailored meal delivery. Division of Hematology Erica Sparkenbaugh, MD, was awarded a five-year, $2 million R01 grant from NIH-NHLBI to evaluate whether activation of beneficial PAR1 signaling can attenuate the chronic pro-coagulant state of sickle cell dis … Read more
Jain, Henderson Share Updates on Medical Student Education
Koyal Jain, MD, MPH, and Ashley Henderson, MD To all faculty, fellows and residents: It has been quite the year for all of us as we have all adjusted our schedules to accommodate the influx of Covid-19 patients. Medical students were briefly off clinical duties but thanks to School of Medicine and Department of Medicine leadership, they were back fairly soon with appropriate PPE … Read more