Rukiya Curvey Johnson, MBA, RUSH’s VP of Community Health Equity and Engagement, spoke on a panel for congressional staff this week alongside other leaders from the Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative at City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X College. Johnson discussed the value of career pathways, RUSH’s youth workforce development approach and partnering with school districts. After the panel discussion, the congressional staff toured RUSH to learn more about our pipeline programs and how our staff and care spaces pave the way for outstanding care.
Urmeka Jefferson, PhD, RN, associate professor, has been named a fellow of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) in recognition of her significant contributions to the health of women and newborn babies. Jefferson is one of 33 nurses who were selected to join the inaugural class of AWHONN fellows. Read more
Four RUSH respiratory specialists have been named top doctors by Chicago magazine. Prema Nanavaty, MD and Payal Patel, MD were selected by their peers as among the best in the Chicago area and honored in the magazine’s April issue. Read more
Lisa Sanchez-Johnsen, PhD, vice-chair for research and associate professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, RUSH Medical College, received the Distinguished Professional Career Award from the National Latinx Psychological Association at the association’s national conference. She was nominated for this award based on her career contributions in research, education and training, mentorship, service and professional practice in Latinx health equity.
Geri Narsete-Prevo, MSN, RN-HROB, CEFM, was honored with the Magnet Nurse of the Year Award for Transformational Leadership by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. An experienced and dedicated nurse who received her BSN and MSN from RUSH University College of Nursing and works in the labor and delivery unit, where she’s spent her entire 41-year nursing career, Narsete-Prevo received the award for leading a multidisciplinary care team that works to improve outcomes for patients who hemorrhage. Read more
In the Media
FOX 32 Chicago reported that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is saying no matter the risk, 40 should be the threshold for women to receive mammograms. “If we don’t offer these women screenings, we deny them all the benefits of early detection including a 30 to 40% decrease risk of dying from breast cancer, the chance for having a smaller lumpectomy surgery instead of a more invasive mastectomy and the chance of chemotherapy,” said Lisa Stempel, MD. Watch the segment
Roll Call reports that older adults are increasingly drinking excessively and dying of alcohol-related deaths, and the problem has been compounded by ageism, stigma, a lack of interest from policymakers and health care providers. “The number of specialists is declining, and the number of older adults is increasing,” said Erin Emery-Tiburcio, PhD. “Ageism plays a massive role in substance use in particular for older adults because health care providers don’t screen.” Read the article
The Catholic Health Association published an article by Ellen Carbonell, MSW, LCSW, about addressing the needs of caregivers within health systems. “Health systems are uniquely positioned to address their needs, given the care recipient’s reliance on caregivers for help with making and keeping appointments,” explains Carbonell. “RUSH embarked on an effort in 2019 designed to have a two-pronged effect: to change the ways the health system identifies and addresses the needs of family caregivers of older adults, and to provide education and support them to improve their and their care recipients’ well-being.” Read the article
A Texas judge has reversed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, an abortion medication. National and local news outlets spoke to RUSH experts about the reversal. “It’s a very safe medication and it’s highly effective in optimizing treatment of medical abortion, but also miscarriage management as well as helping improve outcomes with induction of labor for fetal demise,” said Sadia Haider, MD, to ABC News. RUSH experts also were featured in stories by Good Morning America and NBC 5 Chicago. Watch the segment
Hannah Barbian, PhD, appeared in a news segment on NBC-5 Chicago about the arcturus COVID-19 subvariant that could potentially cause conjunctivitis, or pink eye. “There are around 20 detections in Illinois, and at least a few of those coming from Chicago,” said Barbian. “There has been some mutations to this virus that might make it slightly more transmissible.” Watch the segment
Recent studies suggest Parkinson’s disease may occur in higher rates among Latinos, but Latinos are underrepresented in Parkinson’s research. Mitra Afshari, MD, took part in a panel discussion on WTTW’s Latino Voices about the issue. “There is actually a lot of symptomatic treatments for Parkinson’s disease,” said Afshari. “Ultimately, the disease results in a dopamine deficiency, and we are really lucky because we have been able to figure out how to give people back that dopamine.” Watch the segment
NBC-5 Chicago reports that people are suffering from seasonal allergies earlier than usual this year. “We really didn’t have a lot of snow this year, and the pollen didn’t have a chance to completely die out with the frost,” explained Sindhura Bandi, MD. “So we’re seeing things definitely pop up earlier than you’re used to.” Bandi also discussed sublingual immunotherapy tablets that are available for grass, ragweed and dust allergies. Watch the segment
When she entered the field of Alzheimer’s research a quarter century ago, Lisa Barnes, PhD, The Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, RUSH Medical College, was deeply disappointed to find few Black people like her family members with dementia were being studied. A rarity herself — as a Black female cognitive neuropsychologist — she’s spent her career quietly pushing back. Read the article
RUSH helped launch Family Connects, a Chicago Department of Public Health program, that provides home visits by a registered nurse to new moms and babies. NBC 5 Chicago profiled the program, speaking with a mother who had her child at the medical center and her RUSH nurse. “There’s a gap from their discharge time to their six-week appointment,” said Jessica Orozco, RN. “There’s education and resources that are needed within that time, and Family Connects goes in and bridges that gap.” Watch the segment
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about Candida auris, a deadly fungus spreading across the country at an alarming rate, particularly in nursing homes. Mary Hayden, MD, told CBS 2 that if your loved one is in a nursing home you should ask some tough questions including, “Have you had any patients with Candida auris in this nursing home, and if you have, what are the measures that you’re taking to try to prevent other patients from getting it?” Hayden also was interviewed by Newsweek about the prevalence of the fungus in Illinois. Read the article
According to a Twitter survey by Consumer Reports, more than 91% of people say they dry their hands after they wash them. The publication wondered if there is a better way to dry hands. “With air dryers, you run the risk of water, potentially contaminated with germs, being blown around,” explained Alexandra Seguin, MSN, RN. Most of the experts interviewed prefer to dry their hands with paper towels. Read the article
Puja Agarwal, PhD, the lead author of a study that found that people who followed the MIND and Mediterranean diets had fewer signs of Alzheimer’s disease, spoke to CNN, U.S. News & World Report, Prevention and Fox News about the study. “Doing a simple dietary modification, such as adding more greens, berries, whole grains, olive oil and fish, can actually delay your onset of Alzheimer’s disease or reduce your risk of dementia when you’re growing old,” Agarwal told CNN. The study, published in Neurology, was also covered in HealthDay.
The national cable news network News Nation reported that health experts are seeing more patients put off medical care due to high inflation. “The patients that are coming in have delayed care and so they’re actually sicker than what we were experiencing prior to the pandemic,” said Laura Zimmermann, MD. Read the article
An opinion piece on eating disorders by Taylor Hisey Pierson was published in Visible magazine. Eating disorders are complex illnesses that oftentimes require coordinated care from various areas, such as psychological, medical and nutritional. And for those who do receive treatment, 60% of individuals with eating disorders make a full recovery. Hisey Pierson is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project. Read the article
NBC 5 interviewed thoracic surgeon Nicole Geissen, DO, about how she repaired the hiatal hernia of a Northwest Indiana woman referred to her by a Franciscan Health physician. The interview took place in the RUSH Munster outpatient center. “There’s about 15 to 20% of the population that have hiatal hernias,” said Geissen. “Over the age of 50, that number skyrockets, to 55 to 60% of the population.” Watch the segment
Kruthi Parikh Shah, PharmD, provided workplace solutions for inclusion of people with disabilities in her opinion piece published by Newsweek magazine. “As an individual of Indian origin who was diagnosed with mild to moderate hearing loss at a young age, I can testify to the prevalence of stigma, bias and stereotypes associated with disabilities,” shared Shah. Read the article
CNN is following the story of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who suffered a stroke last May and has been hospitalized for the treatment of clinical depression. CNN spoke with Abigail Hardin, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, RUSH Medical College, about the connection between stroke and depression. “We know that folks with a history of depression…they’re at much higher risk of post-stroke depression,” says Hardin. Read the article
U.S. News & World Report spotlighted a new study by RUSH researchers that found that while Black children are more likely to develop asthma, they’re less likely than white children to be evaluated for eczema by an allergist. “We already know that Black children have higher rates of asthma,” says Ellen Stephen, MD, allergy/immunology fellow. “But the atopic march has just not been studied in Black children as widely as it has in white children.” Read the article
Fox 32 Chicago reported on new college-level classes that are homework and exam free. The purpose of the “do nothing” courses is for students to pay attention to their well-being. Sheila Dowd, PhD, told Fox that well-being comes when we unplug and enjoy the world around us. Watch the segment
Healio reported on a RUSH review of quality improvement initiatives that showed how cost savings and a smaller environmental footprint may be achieved when hospitals and health care systems implement key operating room quality improvement strategies. “What we wanted to do was put together this information in a way that it would be practical and useful for those who are interested in implementing greening the operating room initiatives at their own institutions,” explained Gwyneth A. Sullivan, MD, MS. Read the article
“The American breakfast is toxic for people,” said cookbook author and television show host Andrew Zimmern in an article for the Tasting Table, which also was published on MSN. Instead, Zimmern promotes the protein-heavy, well-balanced, larger Japanese breakfast that keeps him fueled all day long. Christy C. Tangney, PhD, added that frontloading the day with protein staves off unhealthy snack choices throughout the day and boosts metabolism.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many states gave new authority to nurses, physician assistants and pharmacists, often dropping or loosening requirements for physician supervision during the emergency. The Atlanta Journal Constitution examined the struggle to make those changes permanent. “You can’t be OK saying in the midst of a crisis, ‘Because you’re highly skilled in your profession, we’re going to remove the barriers of care, but now that we’re out of the crisis, we’re going to put the barriers back in place because now you’re dangerous,’” said Jennifer M. Orozco, MMS. The story was shared in Cox newspapers across the United States. Read the article
After the release of the Tyre Nichols’ police beating video, CBS Chicago provided advice from experts on how to process watching the trauma. “It’s okay to express to our children our own worries or our own concerns,” said Amanda Seanior, LCPC. Watch the segment
Monique Colbert, NP, appeared on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight. She discussed hypertension in the Black community during the “Black Voices” segment. Black Americans have disproportionately high rates of severe hypertension. “Discussion is key because although they may feel it’s bad news, once we have that discussion, we can also do treatment,” said Colbert. Watch the segment
Nancy Reau, MD, was interviewed by The Healthy @Readers Digest for an article about the role the liver plays in detoxifying your body, and how you can support its function with lifestyle habits. The article also was published on MSN.
Research & Publications
Medscape covered a presentation by Jie Li, PhD, at the Society for Critical Care Medicine 2023 Critical Care Conference about results of a study on prone positioning for COVID-19 patients. Li stated that use of prone positioning for nonintubated COVID-19 patients (awake prone positioning) is more comfortable for patients, and it entails no additional cost. Also, awake prone positioning is less labor intensive than prone positioning for intubated patients. Read the article
RUSH researchers found that older men who reported being the victims of financial fraud saw their blood pressure rise — and remain elevated for years after the incident. More than 5 million older adults in the United States are victims of financial schemes, says Melissa Lamar, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist in the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center who led the study. Read more
Around Rush
Haimanot (Monnie) Wasse, MD, MPH, has been named chief of the Division of Nephrology in the Department of Internal Medicine, effective January 1, 2023. As chief of nephrology, Wasse will oversee a division responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients’ kidney disease and conditions related to kidney care across the care spectrum. She will also be responsible for the division’s clinical, academic, educational, research, and community missions.
RUSH has received a gift from the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics to establish a center for new clinical trial and translational research efforts for rare neurodevelopmental disorders. The RUSH F.A.S.T. Center for Translational Research will be directed by Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, MD, PhD, to serve as the global headquarters for training young investigators. Read more