COVID Proves Clinical Trials Must Proactively Recruit People of Color

 

Jo Wiederhorn, President and CEO of the Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY), writes in The Hill about the need to diversify clinical trial patient groups through proactive recruitment and reducing barriers. Take a closer look.

 

A rapid, at-home COVID-19 test under development in the laboratory of David Ho, MD, the Clyde’56 and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, will receive funding from the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The funding will accelerate deployment of the test, called CoV-SCAN. The project is the first winner of NYCEDC’s Rapid Testing Innovation Competition, which is dedicated to designing reliable and inexpensive tests for COVID-19. Take a closer look.

 

Soon after the first case of COVID-19 was reported in New York City last March, a group of about 10 physician-scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine met to discuss a pressing issue: there were no known treatments for severe cases of the disease. At the time, such cases had a dangerously high chance—around 25 to 40%—of leading to death or to lasting complications like severe lung damage. At the meeting, the enormity and the urgency of the situation came into stark focus. The infectious disease specialists anticipated that Weill Cornell Medicine, and New York City, could face the same situation as had overwhelmed hospitals in northern Italy—though they didn’t expect that it would happen as quickly as it did. Take a closer look.

 

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate, under development by UB spinoff company POP Biotechnologies and South Korean biotech company EuBiologics, is moving into human trials in South Korea. The candidate, called EuCorVac-19, is a liquid injection that can be stored and distributed at refrigerated temperatures, potentially making it easier to distribute and store than some current vaccines which must be frozen. Take a closer look.

 

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Rochester Regional Health (RRH) have begun a new clinical trial that will evaluate the safety and efficacy of a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine is currently approved for a two dose regimen. This study represents an important step in the development of long-term vaccination strategies to protect against circulating and emerging variants of the virus. Take a closer look.

 

Antibodies that guard against COVID-19 can transfer from mothers to babies while in the womb, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian researchers published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This discovery, published Jan. 22, adds to growing evidence that suggests that pregnant women who generate protective antibodies after contracting the coronavirus often convey some of that natural immunity to their fetuses. The findings also lend support to the idea that vaccinating mothers-to-be may also have benefits for their newborns. Take a closer look.

 

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) – in collaboration with several other universities – indicates that breastfeeding women with COVID-19 do not transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus through their milk, but do confer milk-borne antibodies that are able to neutralize the virus. The study, “Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, antibodies, and neutralizing capacity in milk produced by women with COVID-19,” published on February 9 in the journal mBio – analyzed 37 milk samples submitted by 18 women diagnosed with COVID-19. Take a closer look.

 

Inflammatory heart disease is a rare finding among professional athletes with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection, a large-scale study has found. The study, led by Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in collaboration with the major North American sports leagues and their respective players’ associations, was published online in JAMA Cardiology. Take a closer look.

 

Late last April, Rita Gist was feeling tired—“just a little off.” Worried that she had COVID-19, the 36-year-old Bronx mother of three promptly set up an appointment through Montefiore with her primary care doctor. Blood tests revealed the true cause of her fatigue: Ms. Gist had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a potentially deadly form of blood cancer. Within 24 hours of her diagnosis, she was undergoing the first of several rounds of treatment. Take a closer look.

 

As many know, this is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. I’m someone who has spent most of my career working to understand and treat colorectal cancer, so for me it takes on special meaning. But the significance runs deeper than that, and is particularly personal, because my family has experienced a long history of colorectal cancer; I had my own first colonoscopy as a precautionary measure when I was in my late 20s, and have now had a total of six. Take a closer look.

 

A team of researchers co-led by Michael Frohman, MD, PhD, of Stony Brook University, has identified an important cause of congenital heart disease. They discovered that certain loss of functions in the PLD1 (Phospholipase D1) gene causes congenital right-sided cardiac valve defects and neonatal cardiomyopathy. Their findings are detailed in a paper published early online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Take a closer look.

 

Parent education programs and interventions that begin shortly after the birth of a child have been shown to significantly impact parenting behaviors that support social and academic engagement for children growing up in poverty, according to a study led by pediatricians and psychologists across the country, including NYU Grossman School of Medicine, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and the University of Pittsburgh. Take a closer look.

 

Xiu-Min Li, M.D., M.S., professor of microbiology and immunology and otolaryngology at New York Medical College, is studying the use of botanical formulations to treat asthma and food allergies, especially in children. Observing an association between asthma and elevated levels of immunoglobulin E (IgE), the antibody that the immune system produces in response to an allergen, as well as a rise in IgE in response to certain foods, like peanuts, Dr. Li has concentrated on developing herbal remedies that treat inflammation. Take a closer look.

 

Mount Sinai researchers have raised concerns about significant exposure to marijuana secondhand smoke in New York City apartments. Data from a new study suggesting nearly one third of families smell marijuana smoke when their children are present raises concerns about the potential impact of legalized marijuana on vulnerable populations, particularly children, according to the researchers. Take a closer look.

 

In 2019, as New York state experienced its largest measles outbreak since the 1990s, Atif Towheed, PhD, OMS III, then a second-year medical student at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine-Middletown (TouroCOM), and his colleagues wondered: do health care workers’ opinions on vaccination impact public vaccination practices? Take a closer look.

 

At the beginning of an immune response, a molecule known to mobilize immune cells into the bloodstream, where they home in on infection sites, rapidly shifts position, a new study shows. Researchers say this indirectly amplifies the attack on foreign microbes or the body’s own tissues. Past studies had shown that the immune system regulates the concentration of the molecule, sphingosine 1 phosphate (S1P), in order to draw cells to the right locations. Take a closer look.

 

Further building on its strength in virology research, New York Medical College has recruited Christopher Whitehurst, Ph.D., who specializes in the study of the Epstein-Barr virus, to join the School of Medicine (SOM) and Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences as assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and of biochemistry and molecular biology. “New York Medical College has a long history of being at the forefront of virology research through its involvement in the development of the influenza vaccine,” says Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., SOM dean and professor of pharmacology and medicine. Take a closer look.

 

Samuel Márquez, Ph.D.—Professor in the Department of Cell Biology, Co-Discipline Director of Anatomy in the College of Medicine, and Director of Anatomy in the of School of Health Professions—was recently elected to the Board of the American Association of Anatomists (AAA). Founded in 1888, the AAA is a global membership organization for higher-education and biomedical research professionals who are experts in the anatomical and structural elements of health and disease. Take a closer look.

 

The Milton and Caroll Petrie Department of Urology at Mount Sinai has received a $3.8 million donation from philanthropist Robert F. Smith to launch the Robert F. Smith Mobile MRI Unit in partnership with the Mount Sinai Health System to support prostate health in the Black community. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, making it the most common cancer among men other than skin cancer. However, in the Black community the number is much higher—Black Americans are more than twice as likely to die from the disease. Take a closer look.

 

An Upstate Medical University assistant professor and researcher has been awarded a $1.1 million, four-year National Institutes of Health grant to study what makes tumor cells grow and spread throughout the body. Dimitra Bourboulia, PhD, assistant professor of urology and biochemistry and molecular biology, is principal investigator of the awarded project, “Regulation of the Extracellular Hsp90 Chaperone Machinery.” Take a closer look.

 

CUNY Med’s Associate Medical Professor, Dr. Andreas Kottmann, Assistant Professor, Dr. Rinat Abzalimov, Assistant Professor, Dr. Ye He, and CUNY Graduate Center Ph.D. student, Aria Walls, are the recipients of the 2021 CUNY Interdisciplinary Research Grant (IRG) for their proposal titled “Identify and Quantify SARS-CoV2 Spike Protein Caused Changes in Catalytic Activity, Substrate Specificity and Product Pattern of Brain Resident ACE2.” Take a closer look.

 

An Upstate Medical University doctor and researcher has been awarded a Department of Defense grant to continue testing if a dangerous brain condition can be treated through medication rather than surgery. Satish Krishnamurthy, MD, MCh, FAANS, is a professor of neurosurgery at Upstate and has been treating and studying hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, his entire career. Hydrocephalus commonly occurs after a brain injury sustained by those in the military, and in children who are born prematurely. Take a closer look.

 

Akinobu “Aki” Watanabe, Ph.D., assistant professor of anatomy in NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), has become the first New York Institute of Technology faculty to receive a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award. The Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award is one of the most prestigious and competitive NSF grants. Principal investigators can receive the award once in their career and can only submit a proposal up to three times. Impressively, Watanabe’s very first submission to the program was selected. Take a closer look.

 

The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (APBN) has named its 2021-2022 Research Award recipients with top honors going to John Q. Young, MD, PhD, of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. In an effort to develop a more robust, independent and effective education platform for psychiatry faculty and residents, Dr. Young will use the award to design a competency-based assessment (CBA) system that will help facilitate lifelong learning. Take a closer look.

 

Randomized clinical trials are the undisputed gold standard for determining whether a treatment protocol is effective for a specific disease or condition. But while seen as the best way to determine how effective a drug or vaccine is, RCTs, as they are known, aren’t designed to capture the nuances that distinguish how individual patients respond. Take a closer look.

 

Stony Brook University reached a major milestone in the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process on Thursday, February 18 when it administered the 25,000th vaccine at its state-run mass vaccination site. The site, established under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, opened on January 18. As the continued demand for COVID-19 vaccinations grows, Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine have responded to the community’s need. Take a closer look.