Lisa Beittel, assistant dean for administration, chief of staff and instructor in psychiatry, has graduated from the Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Institute at Wellesley College.

Pediatrician Brian O’Sullivan commented for MedPageToday.com on a study that combined an educational intervention with regular feedback to pediatricians in an attempt to reduce inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to children treated for respiratory infections in an outpatient setting.

Pediatric cardiologist Darshak Sanghavi, MD, calls for legislation to make pulse oximetry screening mandatory for newborns in an essay for WBUR’s Cognoscenti blog.

Nature publishes Yoshihara discovery of two neurons that determine feeding behavior in fruit flies and may help neurobiologists better understand how the brain uses stimuli and memory.

UMMS Chancellor Michael F. Collins spoke to the Associated Press, the Boston Herald, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, the Boston TV stations and numerous other news organizations about Gov. Paul Cellucci’s commitment to the UMass ALS Champion Fund, which he helped launch in 2011.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Argeo Paul Cellucci, a devoted public servant who dedicated the final chapter of his life to raising funds to support the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s research into a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), died Saturday at his home in Hudson, surrounded by family, from complications of the disease. Gov. Cellucci was 65.
• Public memorial and funeral arrangements set for Gov. Cellucci
• Gov. Cellucci and UMMS: A slideshow

New ways to accelerate antibiotic development are urgently needed as superbugs multiply, according to Celia A. Schiffer, PhD, professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology and co-director of the UMass Institute for Drug Resistance.

Three projects have been awarded 2013 Pilot Studies in Community Translational Research grants from the Community Engagement and Research Section of the UMass Center for Clinical and Translational Science.