Author: awesterb@bsdad.uchicago.edu

2018 Department of Medicine Distinguished Service Award Recipients


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Linda Druelinger,MD, Professor of Medicine & Chief, Section of Emergency Medicine and Michelle Le Beau, PhD ,the Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor and Director of the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center were honored with the Department of Medicine’s 2018 Distinguished Service Award . The Distinguished Service Award was launched in 2006 to recognize senior level faculty for their outstanding contributions to the clinical, research and educational missions of the Department of Medicine. The awards were presented by Everett Vokes,MD, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Annual Awards ceremony. Dr. Druelinger arrived at the University of Chicago in 1986 for her emergency … Read More

Lithium in tap water is not associated with risk for bipolar disorder, dementia


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Within the past year, two separate studies by researchers in Canada and Denmark have suggested that higher levels of lithium in drinking water are associated with lower rates of Alzheimer’s and dementia. But according to new research from the University of Chicago, the rates of mental health disorders instead seem to be influenced by regional demographics and available healthcare resources. Robert Gibbons, PhD, director of UChicago’s Center for Health Statistics, and an interdisciplinary team of students from his Statistical Applications course completed a class project on the effects of lithium levels in drinking water and published their findings in the May 2018 … Read More

Chicago’s Top Cardiologists 2018


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Seven faculty from the Department of Medicine, Section of Cardiology were named to Chicago magazine’s  list of Top Cardiologists. Cardiovascular Disease: Michael Davidson,MD Jeanne DeCara,MD Roberto Lang,MD James Liao,MD Atman Shah,MD Matthew Sorrentino,MD R. Parker Ward,MD   The  list was compiled by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a health care research and information company founded in 1991 by a former medical college board chairman and president to help guide consumers to America’s top doctors and hospitals. Castle Connolly’s nomination survey, research, screening, and selection process, under the direction of an MD, involves many hundreds of thousands of physicians as well as … Read More

Under certain conditions, bacterial signals set the stage for leukemia


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A new study by researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine shows that bacterial signals are crucial to the development of a precursor condition to leukemia, which can be induced by disrupting the intestinal barrier or by introducing a bacterial infection. More than 15 percent of people over the age of 60 develop TET2 (tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2) mutations in hematopoietic stem cells, which give rise to other blood cells. These are known as somatic mutations because they are not inherited, but instead occur by chance with age. These mutations are passed along to the progeny of the mutated cell during … Read More

Comprehensive Care Model Improves Care, Lowers Hospitalization


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Patients who need frequent hospitalization account for a disproportionate amount of health care spending in the United States. In 2012, the University of Chicago Medicine—funded by a Health Care Innovation Award from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation—began enrolling patients in a clinical trial designed to test an imaginative way to reduce such hospital stays. More More

Patricia Kurtz, MD Recognized with Gold Key Award


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Patricia Kurtz, MD , Associate Professor of Medicine (Section of General Internal Medicine) has been selected as a 2018 recipient of the Medical & Biological Sciences Alumni Association’s Gold Key Award in recognition of her 38 years of service to the Department of Medicine, Biological Sciences Division and The University of Chicago. Dr. Kurtz received her MD from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine (PSOM) in 1977, where she was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. She completed her internal medicine residency at Michael Reese Hospital in 1980 and upon completion was appointed as an instructor in … Read More

Tess Hogan,MD- Wins AGEM Gerson- Sanders Award


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Tess Hogan,MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Emergency Medicine) has been awarded the 2018 Gerson-Sanders Award from the Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine.  This award recognizes her extraordinary work and commitment to improving the care of geriatric patients in the Emergency Department. More

2018 Department of Medicine Innovations Grant Winners


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Two Department of Medicine faculty were named as the recipients of a 2018 Innovations Grant from the Center for Healthcare Delivery Science & Innovation at UCM’s 13th Annual Quality & Safety Symposium on May 2, 2018: Elbert Huang,MD, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine)  for his proposal entitled “Examining the Post-Crash Wreckage: Finding the What, Why, and How Behind Medication Error” Valerie Press,MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) for her proposal entitled  “ACT VALUE Program for Asthma and COPD: Ambulatory Care Transformation using Value-based Assessment and Learning or Under-recognized Etiologies: Asthma & COPD ” The Innovations Grant Program is a $100,000 program … Read More