Tuesday, December 20, 2022
COVID Vaccines Prevented 3 Million Deaths in the U.S., New Analysis Finds
In the two years since the first COVID-19 vaccines were given to patients in the U.S., the vaccines had the cumulative effect of preventing 18 million hospitalizations and 3 million deaths. That is based on a new modeling analysis conducted by a researcher at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and her colleagues. Results of the analysis were published by the Commonwealth Fund.
Friday, December 16, 2022
UM School of Medicine Surgeon-Scientist Named One of Nature’s 10 People Who Helped Shape the Science Stories of 2022
The world-renowned journal Nature, named Muhammad Mohiuddin, MD, DSc, Program and Scientific Director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), on its annual list of 10 people who helped shaped science in 2022. His pivotal work over the past three decades transplanting genetically-modified pig hearts into non-human primates led to the historic xenotransplant of a pig heart into a human patient this past January. The surgery was led by Bartley Griffith, MD, the Thomas E. and Alice Marie Hales Distinguished Professor of Transplant Surgery and Clinical Director of the Cardiac Xenotransplantation Program, who was also recognized by Nature for his ground-breaking efforts to move the field of transplantation into a new era.
Monday, December 12, 2022
University of Maryland School of Medicine Launches New Maryland Institute for Neuroscience Discovery (UM-MIND)
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, has announced plans to launch a new neuroscience institute that will accelerate translational research of the brain by facilitating interaction between basic and clinical scientists and enhancing collaborative research across the UMSOM and University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus.
Monday, December 12, 2022
About 1 in 100 Heart Disease Deaths Linked to Extreme Hot and Cold Weather Days
Exposure to extremely hot or cold temperatures increases a heart disease patient’s risk of dying, according to a new study published today in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. The global analysis of more than 32 million cardiovascular deaths over 40 years measured more deaths on days when temperatures were at their highest or lowest compared to more moderate climate days.
Monday, November 21, 2022
UM School of Medicine Empowers Faculty Members Through Recently Founded Academy for Career Development
Within a year of the launch of the Medical Education Leadership Academy (MELA) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), faculty members from across the School’s various divisions are expressing an overwhelmingly positive response to the Academy’s mission of creating an environment that fosters career development of a diverse community of nationally recognized leaders in medical education.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Unexpected Electrical Changes Seen in First Successful Transplant of Genetically-Modified Pig Heart
Ten months after transplanting the first genetically-modified pig heart into a human patient, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers continue to report on new findings from the landmark transplant. Their latest study demonstrates for the first time that unexpected electrical changes occurred in the pig heart transplanted into the patient David Bennett. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting this past weekend.
Monday, November 14, 2022
Brain Area Thought to Impart Consciousness, Behaves Instead Like an Internet Router
Tucked underneath the brain’s outer, wrinkly cortex is a deeply mysterious area, known as the claustrum. This region has long been known to exchange signals with much of the cortex, which is responsible for higher reasoning and complex thought. Because of the claustrum’s extensive connections, the legendary scientist Francis Crick, PhD, of DNA-discovery fame, first postulated in 2005 that the claustrum is the seat of consciousness. In other words, the region of the brain enabling awareness of the world and ourselves.
Thursday, November 10, 2022
University of Maryland Strategic Partnership Announces New Institute to Transform Medicine Using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Technologies
The University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) today announced a transformative partnership to establish the University of Maryland 3 - Institute for Health Computing (UM-3-IHC), which is being led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), in collaboration with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Montgomery County, Md. This new Institute will leverage recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and computing to create a premier learning health care system that evaluates both de-identified and secure digitized medical health data to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases in patients across the state of Maryland.
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Lishan Su, PhD, Invested as the UMSOM Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor for HIV Research
With his 92-year-old mother watching via live stream from the city of Qingdao, China, and an in-person audience of friends and colleagues gathered in Westminster Hall, Lishan Su, PhD, an internationally prominent virologist and immunologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Institute of Human Virology (IHV), was invested as the Charles Gordon Smith Endowed Professor for HIV Research. Dr. Su is a Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Microbiology & Immunology at UMSOM’s IHV, who also serves as the Director of the Division of Virology, Pathogenesis, and Cancer at the Institute.
Monday, November 07, 2022
UMSOM Class of 2025 Host Annual Auction in Support of Victims of Domestic Abuse & Trauma
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Class of 2025 Student Government has organized this year’s Annual Second-Year Medical Student Auction, a tradition that began 16 years ago.