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Support For Each Other, COVID-19 News

August 31, 2020
Thank you for taking the time to check in with your colleagues. The start of the traditional school year brings new challenges, and it can be especially hard to appreciate how each one of us may be struggling. The strength of this Department lies in our ability to continue to...

Department of Medicine Grants & Funding: August 1 – August 31, 2020

August 31, 2020
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism Laura Young, MD, PhD, and Katrina Donahue, MD, MPH, received a PCORI grant to study the impact of COVID-19 on glucose monitoring in diabetes patients. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Silvia Kreda, PhD, was awarded an NIH SBIR Phase II grant to study molecules that enhance...

McEntee, Henderson Introduce New COVID-19 Elective For Internal Medicine Residents

August 31, 2020
By the middle of March, 2020, COVID-19 had upended the traditional training experience in the UNC Internal Medicine Residency Program. Didactic coursework and clinical skills training had to be quickly converted to an online format and clinical rotations were suspended as decisions were quickly made to ensure residents had meaningful...

Medicine’s “Value-Care Action Group” Introduces Specialized Inpatient Diabetes Management Services

August 31, 2020
Hospitalized patients with diabetes are dependent on hospital staff to monitor blood glucose, administer medications and deliver meals in a coordinated manner. Inconsistency in the timing of these tasks can increase the risk for hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. The UNC Department of Medicine’s Value Care Action Group (VCAG) has been working...

Second Episode of ‘Confronting the HIV Epidemic’ Launched

August 27, 2020
A new video series from Medscape includes compelling stories of people living with HIV and interviews with UNC School of Medicine’s Lisa Hightow-Weidman, MD, MPH, Kate Muessig, PhD, and Lina Rosengren-Hovee, MD, MPH, MS, of the UNC Behavior and Technology Lab in the division of infectious diseases. Learn more from...

Boynton Study Highlights Effectiveness of Messages from Public Health Organizations

August 27, 2020
A new national study led by Marcella Boynton, MD, assistant professor in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, and a member of the NCTraCS Education Team, used an experimental design to examine the effect of message source on reactions to coronavirus prevention messages. The study concluded that messages...

UNC Researchers Launch Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Treatments

August 26, 2020
UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases researchers have begun phase 2 and phase 3 evaluations of promising treatments for COVID-19. The UNC School of Medicine joins more than 25 initial sites participating in the clinical trials through ACTIV-2, a public-private partnership sponsored by the NIH’s National Institute of...

Herce, Barzin Describe the Need For Testing Events In Lee County

August 26, 2020
Michael Herce, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, and Amir Barzin, DO, assistant professor in the department of family medicine, were interviewed by the News & Observer while providing drive through testing in Lee County. The article reported the testing event was the fifth...

Researchers Argue Health Care Systems Should Use ‘Food as Medicine’ Interventions

August 25, 2020
Seth Berkowitz, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, co-authored a British Medical Journal analysis suggesting nutritional interventions delivered through health providers are associated with improved health outcomes. The analysis argues for increased implementation of “food is medicine” interventions in the health care system...

Boucher Tells Good Morning America the Nose Is Fertile Ground For Infection

August 25, 2020
Richard Boucher, MD, the James C. Moeser Eminent Professor of Medicine in the division of pulmonary diseases and critical care medicine was interviewed by ABC Good Morning America in a story that warns people about wearing masks that expose the nose. The story recognized Boucher’s research that mapped locations in...

Wohl Discusses a New COVID Vaccine and Treatment Studies on WRAL

August 25, 2020
David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, was interviewed by WRAL News discussing a new coronavirus vaccine and treatment studies. “We hear so much bad news about the coronavirus, but there are some glimmers of hope,” said Wohl.  “We all know we need a vaccine...

Bartelt Talks To CBS17 About Convalescent Plasma For COVID-19

August 24, 2020
Luther Bartelt, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, was interviewed by CBS17 for a news story about the effectiveness of using convalescent plasma for COVID-19. “To be able to answer the question fully, we need randomized control trials,” said Bartelt who is running a clinical...