A new study by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that 255 COVID-19-related deaths could have been prevented during the Alpha and Delta waves had vaccine coverage been more equitable across 52 of Chicago’s zip codes. William Parker, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary/Critical Care)  as well as Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago, conducts research on the allocation of health resources. He became interested in studying vaccine coverage in Chicago after witnessing the initial COVID-19 vaccine rollout. “I felt it was important to rigorously quantify the consequences of inequity in vaccine coverage,” Parker said. In … Read More

Over the past decade, researchers have made great strides in the development and administration of cancer immunotherapies, which use the body’s own immune system to treat disease. However, the therapies don’t work for every person or with every type of cancer, and gaps in our understanding of exactly how the body mounts an anti-cancer immune response has slowed progress toward making them universally effective. In a new study, researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University of Amsterdam have brought insight into one crucial step in the anti-cancer immune response process: T cell priming. Previous … Read More

Dean Kenneth Polonsky, MD recently announced  the winners of this year’s annual Distinguished Faculty Awards for the Biological Sciences Division. Since 2011, the BSD Faculty Advisory Committee (FAC) has been honoring fellow faculty members for their contributions to our collective missions of excellence in education, research, diversity and inclusion, program innovation, service to the community and patient care. Winners from the Department of Medicine are: Distinguished Leader in Diversity and Inclusion Monica Peek, MD, Ellen H. Block Professor for Health Justice (General Internal Medicine) Distinguished Investigator Bhakti Patel, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine) Distinguished Leader in Program … Read More

Shellie Williams, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine) has been named as the inaugural recipient of the Richard Payne Leadership Award from the Hastings Center and Cunniff-Dixon Foundation. Dr. Williams is joining a very special community of 55 physicians over the last 12 years who have been chosen as leaders in the field of palliative care. Dr. Williams practices both geriatric and palliative medicine. Her clinical focus is primarily with aging dementia patients in underserved communities on Chicago’s South Side. She is a dedicated teacher, advocate, and researcher who focuses much of her work on addressing access and education disparities for … Read More

Dr. Olufunmilayo Olopade, the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and the founding director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health, was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences on April  29, 2002 in Washington DC.  Election to the National Academy of Sciences is a widely accepted “ mark of excellence” in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.  Dr. Olopade joined the Department of … Read More