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January 26, 2021
Medicine in Motion combating pandemic burnout through fitness, physical activity
School of Medicine students are motivating classmates to tackle stress and fatigue through fitness. UMass Medical School’s chapter of Medicine in Motion, a national nonprofit, is dedicated to addressing burnout in health care through exercise, interdisciplinary community building and philanthropy.
Full story »January 25, 2021A healthy microbiome builds a strong immune system that could help defeat COVID-19
In a piece written for The Conversation, Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, explains why the army of microbes living inside your gut is essential for fighting off threats, including the virus that causes COVID-19.
Full story »January 20, 2021Second-year medical students lead course on intersection between wilderness and emergency medicine
The student-led wilderness medicine optional enrichment elective teaches medical students how to identify and manage common injuries or emergencies that happen in the great outdoors.
Full story »January 19, 2021Second-year med student Angela Essa studying diet and hypertension in pregnant women
Angela Essa, SOM ’23, said she has “always been really curious about medicine and the biology of disease and how we treat it.”
Full story »January 18, 20212021 Martin Luther King Jr. Semester of Service awardees will address local health needs
The 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Semester of Service Award student projects address health disparities, including some worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Full story »January 15, 2021Construction of new building prompts parking changes beginning Feb. 8
Nearly 1,200 people who park on the UMass Medical School campus in Worcester will have their parking assignments changed on Feb. 8, as construction continues on the new education and research building.
Full story »January 15, 2021UMass Medical School develops ‘paraprobiotic’ to fight parasitic roundworms in humans
Raffi Van Aroian, PhD, and Gary R. Ostroff, PhD, and colleagues are developing an engineered bacterium that can be used to safely treat hookworms in animal models and is a potential therapeutic against the parasitic worm in humans.
Full story »January 13, 2021Brig. Gen. Sean Collins, PhD’09, appointed to Board of Trustees for Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke
Graduate School of Nursing alum and assistant professor of nursing Sean Collins, PhD’09, has been named a member of the Board of Trustees for the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke.
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January 12, 2021
Atalanta Therapeutics founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty members
Atalanta Therapeutics, a biotech founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty research scientists to pioneer treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, has launched with financing by venture capital fund F-Prime Capital and strategic collaborations with Biogen and Genentech.
Full story »January 12, 2021Nick Peterson and Samantha Tse named Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award recipients
Two MD/PhD students in the lab of Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, have each received Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards from the National Institute of Health.
Full story »January 11, 2021UMass Medical School students ready to serve on COVID-19 vaccination front lines
Graduate School of Nursing students taught more than 150 School of Medicine students to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to Worcester-area residents. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students will help track participants.
Full story »January 11, 2021Mammography expert finds deep-learning artificial intelligence may improve cancer detection
The journal Nature Medicine has published a study co-authored by Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD, finding that an artificial intelligence model for computer-aided reading of mammograms may improve the detection of breast cancer.
Full story »January 08, 2021GSN students conducting COVID-19 tracing efforts at Worcester State University
Two Graduate School of Nursing DNP candidates are helping a college community stay protected from coronavirus spread. Kelly Cutting, RN, FNP-C and Olivia Slezik, RN, AGPCNP-BC, both graduating in 2021, are aiding COVID-19 tracing efforts for Student Health Services at Worcester State University.
Full story »January 08, 2021Clinical trial of new magnetically controlled capsule endoscope, NaviCam, underway
David R. Cave, MD, PhD, has launched a clinical trial of a new magnetically controlled capsule endoscope that may provide an alternative to conventional upper endoscopy without the need for anesthesia.
Full story »January 07, 2021Researchers to study health care providers’ influence on COVID-19 vaccine acceptance
Kimberly Fisher, MD, and Kathleen Mazor, EdD, are preparing a study to evaluate ways for health care providers to talk with their patients about the new COVID-19 vaccines and support them in getting vaccinated.
Full story »January 06, 2021UMass Medical School students to administer COVID-19 vaccinations for Worcester area
UMass Medical School students are joining the “army of vaccinators” that Worcester Division of Public Health Medical Director Michael Hirsh, MD, has called upon to get the COVID-19 vaccines to as many in the community as possible.
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January 04, 2021
Student-led virtual wellness program provides companionship to older, hospitalized COVID patients
A new companionship wellness initiative at UMass Medical School is combating isolation and loneliness among COVID-19 patients 65 and older by having students virtually check in, comfort and emotionally support them at two Worcester hospitals.
Full story »January 04, 2021Chancellor Collins and President Meehan call for COVID-19 Vaccine Corps in Boston Globe op-ed
UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael F. Collins and UMass President Marty Meehan are calling for the creation of a national COVID-19 Vaccine Corps, in a Boston Globe op/ed published Friday, Jan. 1.
Full story »January 04, 2021‘My heart is in community health’ says Graduate School of Nursing student Helen Tsiagras
Helen Tsiagras, RN, Doctor of Nursing Practice student in the Graduate School of Nursing Graduate Entry Pathway Program, began her nursing career during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also serves as secretary for the Graduate Student Nursing Organization.
Full story »January 01, 2021Top story: Genomic analysis reveals many species may be vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2
A new study from scientists at UMass Medical School and the University of California, Davis, reveals that humans are not the only species facing a potential threat from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Full story »December 31, 2020Top story: UMass ranks fourth in nation-wide tech licensing survey
The University of Massachusetts ranked fourth among all U.S. institutions and third among universities for generating income from the licensing of faculty-derived discoveries and products in FY 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.
Full story »December 30, 2020Top story: Chancellor Collins in Boston Globe: Frequent COVID tests help keep communities safe
As colleges and universities plan for the return of students for the fall semester amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one important element in keeping everyone safe is frequent testing for the virus, according to Chancellor Michael F. Collins in a July 30 opinion piece published in the Boston Globe.
Full story »December 29, 2020Top story: From Kolkata to Worcester, GSBS student Kasturi Biswas drawn to science of the brain
Kasturi Biswas, a PhD candidate in neurobiology, traveled from her native India to Massachusetts to study at UMass Medical School.
Full story »December 28, 2020Top story: UMass Medical School receives $100 million in NIH grants to lead push for fast, accessible COVID-19 tests
UMass Medical School has been awarded grants totaling more than $100 million to coordinate the nationwide push for fast, accessible COVID-19 testing, playing a major role in the National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, or RADx, program.
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December 25, 2020
Top story: UMass Medical School confers 135 Doctor of Medicine degrees in virtual commencement proceedings
Virtual graduation proceedings took place months early, enabling members of the School of Medicine Class of 2020 to join the Massachusetts health care workforce immediately to help take on the unprecedented COVID-19 challenge.
Full story »December 24, 2020Top story: Silencing of an ALS gene safely delivered to patients in UMass Medical School study
UMass Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital are the first to safely treat two research participants with a synthetic microRNA, delivered into the spinal fluid, designed to silence a human disease-causing gene. Details of the treatment appear in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Full story »December 23, 2020Top story: UMass Medical School announces participation and enrollment for vaccine trial candidate against COVID-19
UMass Medical School is enrolling healthy volunteers to take part in a Phase II/III clinical trial testing whether a messenger RNA vaccine candidate can prevent infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Full story »December 22, 2020Video: Chancellor Collins extends holiday wishes; ‘brighter days ahead in the new year’
Chancellor Michael F. Collins is wishing the UMass Medical School community a happy holiday season and a healthy new year.
Full story »December 22, 2020Top story: Nine-story biomedical research and education facility to be built at UMass Medical School
UMass Medical School has received approval from the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees to build a nine-story biomedical research and education facility on the Worcester campus to support laboratory research growth and the educational enterprise.
Full story »December 21, 2020Top story: NIH research funding surges at UMass Medical School
National Institutes of Health research funding to UMass Medical School grew by 78 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, which began July 1. Grants and contracts from all funding sources increased by nearly 50 percent.
Full story »December 21, 2020Robert Finberg named distinguished professor of medicine
In recognition of his unique contributions to UMass Medical School, Robert W. Finberg, MD, has been named a distinguished professor of medicine.
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Inside the new mRNA vaccines for COVID-19
The new vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna use messenger RNA to stimulate the immune system to protect against COVID-19. These vaccines are the first of their kind and researchers at UMass Medical School are among the leading RNA biologists in the world.
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