Clinical trials offer important treatment options for some patients and, now, newly passed legislation permits low-income Illinoisans to participate at no extra cost. Researchers design clinical trials to safely test new drugs, devices, vaccines or ways of using known treatments. Well-structured clinical trials require the collection of large sample sets. If a clinical trial leaves out segments of the population, disparities in care could worsen. “In order to get broad representation in clinical trials and achieve health equity, we need to remove as many barriers as possible,” said Blase Polite, MD, a medical oncologist at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. … Read More

Investigators at the University of Chicago Medicine have found that women are less likely to be represented as chairs and reviewers on study sections for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), based on data from one review cycle in 2019. The results, published on Feb. 15 in JAMA Network Open, have implications for the distribution of federal scientific funding. The NIH is the top source of federal funding for biomedical research in the U.S., providing critical support and guidance on the nation’s research programs. The study sought to understand the gender distribution on NIH study sections, where scientific experts meet several times … Read More

The 6th Annual Janet D. Rowley Research Day will take on a new dimension this year with several engaging virtual activities.  Starting today and running through March 15, more than 70 posters will be available to view on a virtual platform. We encourage you to spend time looking at the truly exciting investigative work being performed across the Department of Medicine. Visit the poster session website at : https://epostersonline.com/jrrd2021 Username: jrrd2021; Password: jrrd2021!

Jing Chen, PhD, currently the Janet Davison Rowley Professor of Medicine, has been named as the Janet D. Rowley Distinguished Service Professor in Cancer Research. Dr. Chen joined the Department of Medicine in 2020, after serving as professor and R. Randall Rollins Chair in Oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine and leading the Cell and Molecular Biology Research Program at the Winship Cancer Institute there. He is also currently the director of the Cancer Metabolomics Research Center. Dr. Chen’s research aims to understand cancer metabolism by focusing on the relationships between metabolic and cell-signaling networks, with the goal … Read More

Please click below to view the Department of Medicine Women’s Committee Fall/Winter 2020/2021 Newsletter,     UC DOMW News Fall/Winter 2020/21 FINAL

Jessica Robertson, Senior Clinical Research Coordinator in the  Section of Hematology/Oncology has been named as the recipient of the 2020 BSD Rising Star in Leadership Staff Excellence Award. Jessica spearheaded and leads an anti-racism committee committed to facilitating ways to identify and eradicate racism, inequality, and its effects in the workplace. In a short period of time, she created and implemented a vision for the Committee on Anti-Racism (COAR), developed a mission statement, and organized subcommittees who will establish action plans that go beyond supportive words. The BSD Excellence in Staff Awards were established to recognize staff whose talents and … Read More

Stacie Levine, MD, Professor of Medicine & Chief, Section of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine has been awarded the 2021 Gerald Holman Distinguished Service Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in recognition of her important contributions as part of the national Entrustable Professional Activities and Curricular Milestones Work Group that created and published Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for hospice and palliative medicine fellowship programs. Since joining the faculty in 2002, Dr. Levine successfully led efforts to build a clinical palliative medicine program in order to improve the clinical care for our seriously ill patients.  She also led … Read More

Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine in the Section of Hematology/Oncology, has been honored as a Giant in Cancer Care for Prevention/ Genetics by Onc Live. Dr. Olopade is the consummate physician-scientist with sustained and impactful translational research in genetics that spans more than two decades.  She is a pioneer in cancer genetics whose body of work has focused on the molecular genetics of breast cancer progression.  Her seminal contributions have provided an understanding of the root causes of aggressive breast cancer in young women, especially young women of African ancestry across the Diaspora. … Read More