EngAGE is a new pilot project helping adults 65 and older stay active with a little assistance from Amazon’s voice-controlled speaker Alexa. The project is part of a 14-week research effort that’s underway at the University of Chicago Medicine to see whether Amazon Alexa’s technology can coach older adults through daily exercises designed to increase their mobility, balance and stay active while at home. This is something especially vital for those who’ve recently been hospitalized and to help avoid disability and falls. “I can order physical therapy to jump-start rehabilitation, but, unfortunately, most people don’t continue the exercises on their … Read More

Vineet Arora,MD, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine.  Dr. Arora is an academic hospitalist and medical educator who specializes in improving the learning environment for medical trainees and the quality, safety and experience of care delivered to hospitalized adults. She serves as Associate Chief Medical Officer for the Clinical Learning Environment at the University of Chicago Medicine and Assistant Dean for Scholarship and Discovery at the Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Arora’s work bridges clinical medicine and medical education to transform the learning environment and the quality of care … Read More

Exposure to violence can negatively impact a person’s physical and psychosocial health, according to two new studies co-authored by University of Chicago Medicine social epidemiologist Elizabeth L. Tung, MD. The studies were based on in-person surveys of more than 500 adults living in Chicago neighborhoods with high rates of violent crime, and in predominantly racial and ethnic minority groups. The results were published Oct. 7 in the October issue of the policy journal, Health Affairs. The first report, “Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Violence Exposure in Urban Adults,” found that social isolation and loneliness were associated with limited physical activity, not … Read More

Billings Auditorium, a center of communal learning for students and faculty at the Pritzker School of Medicine, is not the newest, flashiest, or best-lit of the many large, tiered classrooms on the University of Chicago campus. It is, however, revered as a venue for addressing some of the challenges that most affect human lives. How to strengthen the doctor-patient relationship. How to improve equity in the US health care system. How to reduce violence, increase reproductive justice, use technology for the good of our patients. Billings Auditorium is an important gathering space for grand rounds, influential speakers, and the box … Read More

University of Chicago researchers have received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to study how the molecular activity of the microbiome changes in response to the environment. The research will develop and validate tools to study transfer RNA (tRNA), a molecular Rosetta Stone that translates the genetic information encoded in DNA into proteins that perform basic biological functions. New sequencing technology and bioinformatics software will help scientists analyze the activity of bacteria in the microbiome of various settings and how they respond over time to changes in their environment, such as availability of nutrients or competition from other microbes. … Read More

More HIV testing will be available in the Chicago area, thanks to a five-year, $4.5 million federal public health grant recently awarded to the University of Chicago Medicine. The grant, for the hospital’s Expanded HIV Testing and Linkage to Care (xTLC) program, will allow the hospital to increase the number of HIV tests it administers on the South and West sides of Chicago, and for the first time, offer testing in suburban Cook County. The program will be expanded into UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, and Howard Brown Health Center, an LGBTQ organization with sites … Read More

Patrick Wilson, PhD, professor of medicine (Section of Rheumatology) and a group of researchers from three other institutions have received a Grand Challenge for Universal Influenza Vaccine Development grant – a $12 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Flu Lab. The group will receive up to $2 million over two years to pursue an innovative research project that will help develop a flu vaccine that protects broadly against many strains of the virus. Wilson heads a collaborative effort including four other research teams led by Sarah Cobey, PhD, associate professor of ecology and evolution at UChicago; … Read More

The Department of Medicine is pleased to announce the appointment of Diana Bolotin, MD, PhD as Chief of the Section of Dermatology effective August 1, 2019.  For the past 17 months, Dr. Bolotin has been serving the Department of Medicine and the Section of Dermatology in an interim capacity where she has demonstrated remarkable leadership, fortitude and thoughtful academic vision. Under her leadership, the Section of Dermatology has already realized remarkable success including the recruitment of three outstanding faculty members, Drs. Mark Hoffman, Oluwakemi Onajin and Victoria Barbosa, as well as clinical growth at both UCM onsite and satellite clinics, … Read More

It’s estimated that more than 130 people die every day from opioid-related drug overdoses. Particularly at risk are people transitioning through the criminal justice system, many of whom may already be struggling with complex issues spanning mental health, family instability and job and housing insecurity. In order to understand how best to reduce opioid addiction and overdoses in this vulnerable population in prisons and other justice settings, the University of Chicago Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $17 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Infectious disease researcher John Schneider, MD, MPH, a professor of medicine and public … Read More