February 2023
What is our secret ingredient? Two words: academic medicine. It’s our differentiator in the state and a difference-maker to our patients. This month, we’re celebrating all of our academic medicine teams. READ AND WATCH MORE>>
Minnesota just became the first state to mandate CMV testing in newborns! Dr. Mark Schleiss led a groundbreaking study last year that showed that CMV could be tested for with high accuracy, leading to early diagnosis in babies with the virus that can cause deafness in 20% of cases. His work helped catapult us to this exciting moment!
Five U of M medical students testified before the House Human Services Policy Committee in support of a bill that would prohibit conversion therapy for children and vulnerable adults in Minnesota. Macie Darden, Austen Ott, Sydney Lo, Senait Judge-Yoakam, and Katie Jeddeloh shared powerful testimonies that ultimately resulted in the bill passing the committee. It will next proceed to the House Health Finance and Policy Committee.
Department of Pediatrics assistant professors Casey Burrows and Megan Paulsen received Julie Ross Awards for Best Publications by Assistant Professors. The Julie Ross Awards honor late the late professor's drive to "provide concrete evidence of the impressive breadth and depth of scholarship and achievement of our faculty at all rank/track levels.” Dr.
The Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center is part of a network of nine national centers established by NIAID in response to the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. The center brings together collaborative investigators from the University and sixteen other institutions nationwide where work is underway to create a large armory of antiviral drugs to prepare for the next viral pandemic.
Drs. Logan Spector and Saonli Basu and their research teams have received NIH funding to pool childhood cancer data to be used globally to maximize risk prediction in children and infants. With data coming from all over the world, the U of M will serve as the data coordinating center for this massive genomic study with the potential to make an indescribable impact in the lives of children and families affected by childhood cancer.
Congratulations to Aditi Bapat, winner of the Frederick E. Shideman Student Leadership Award, which recognizes exemplary contributions to the Pharmacology community, made outside of the research lab, by a senior PhD student. This award is voted on by fellow MPaT students, and Aditi’s leadership in PGSO, the Steering Committee, and her overall leadership in the Pharmacology community made her a clear winner.
Dr. Jerica Berge ended 2022 with 12 NIH funded research projects totalling over $4M. Learn more about her approach to securing funding and working with learners to bring in new perspectives and give the next generation of researchers incredible on the job learning experiences.
The Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC) didn’t have to look far for their next CEO. Roli Dwivedi has been at CUHCC and the Medical School for 13 years, most recently as the interim CEO and chief clinical officer. Dwivedi’s leadership during COVID resulted in CUHCC standing up a mobile testing unit and expanding operations outside the clinic walls.
Chief Surgery Residents, Drs. Alexa Robbins and Steven Qi were each selected to receive a 2023 Gold Humanism Award in recognition of their exceptional teaching skills and commitment to the compassionate treatment of patients and families, students and colleagues. The award is granted to six resident physicians. Drs. Robbins and Qi were selected from over 270 nominations.
