Featured Spotlights
What if you could experience full health until the very end of your life? University of Arizona researchers, led by Dr. Janko Nikolich-Žugich, co-director of the UA Center on Aging and Department of Immunobiology chair, think long-lasting immunity from disease might be possible — if the thymus and the T-cells it produces to fight infection can be brought back to work efficiently…
A trial will look at whether a naturally occurring compound, known as angiotensin 1-7, relieves cognitive deficits after heart bypass. University of Arizona collaborators include Sarver Heart Center director and chief of the Division of Cardiology, Dr. Nancy Sweitzer, physiologist Meredith Hay and psychologist Lee Ryan...
The chief of the UA Division of Cardiology and UA Sarver Heart Center director is the latest DOM faculty member spotlighted by the “Lo Que Pasa” newsletter and UA@Work. She is an expert in heart failure and transplant cardiology who also, we learn, is an avid knitter and—being a Wisconsin native—enjoys the good beer now available with so many craft breweries everywhere…
A large, bouquet-shaped molecule called surfactant protein A, or SP-A, may explain why obese asthma patients have harder-to-treat symptoms than their lean and overweight counterparts, reports a new study led by scientists at the University of Arizona and Duke University. Their results were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Among the authors are Drs. Monica Kraft and Julie Ledford…
Headed for an internal medicine internship and dermatology residency training program as a physician after graduation, Anthony Cervantes has had a lot of “enablers” in his life. For him, that’s a good thing. They’ve helped this U.S. Air Force Reserve Pararescue jumper born in Laredo, Texas, become the first in his family to graduate from high school, college and—now—medical school. In one generation, he’s taken his family from poverty to prosperity, all in service to others…
Kathryn Huber and Mariam Mostamandy, first-year medical students at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson are thick as thieves as co-leads this past year for the college’s Aging Interest Group, a student club for those interested in geriatrics. They share a lot of life experiences and are both headed this summer to UC San Francisco to do geriatrics-related research courtesy of Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) scholarships from the American Federation for Aging Research. They’re the 30th and 31st MSTAR scholars from the UA…
Two UA Division of Translational and Regenerative Medicine assistant professors are tackling personalized remedies to treat pulmonary hypertension — a form of high-blood pressure affecting arteries between the heart and lungs that ultimately leads to heart failure and death. Drs. Olga Rafikova and Ruslan Rafikov each received $1.92 million, five-year grants from a National Institutes of Health unit for differing research approaches—his metabolic, hers redox and gender-specific solutions…
Drs. Huthayfa Ateeli, Naser Mahmoud and Muna Omar—fellows in the UA Pulmonary & Critical Care Fellowship Program—took the top trophy at a medical knowledge contest at CHEST 2016, the American College of Chest Physicians’ annual conference. They more than doubled the score of their closest competitor at the Oct. 25 event in Los Angeles…
University of Arizona infectious diseases researchers led by Dr. Stephen Klotz and Shannon Smith have begun a project to address concerns in the city of Bisbee, 90 miles southeast of Tucson, about the insects, whose bite can trigger an allergic reaction and also transmit disease. Here is what they have found so far...
CyVerse collaborator Adam Buntzman, an investigator in the lab of Dr. Monica Kraft, a physician-scientist specializing in research of dysfunctional autoimmune response in asthma and chair of the UA Department of Medicine, has led an effort to harness supercomputers to create the first map of the human immune system…
UA researcher and interim BIO5 Institute director Jennifer Barton, PhD, who is leading a $1 million project funded by the National Cancer Institute, is identifying biomarkers and creating optical imaging tools to screen for a form of cancer often called a “silent killer”...
With a $1 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, Drs. Donato Romagnolo and Ornella Selmin, of the University of Arizona Cancer Center, are studying the impact of soy isoflavones intake and the risk of breast cancer.
UA College of Pharmacy alum Connie Chan, PharmD, and her work help make the local Petersen Clinic at Banner - University Medical Center Tucson among the top three care providers in the nation for patients suffering from HIV...
Dr. Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski cofounds an enterprise to develop a total body digital skin imaging system that modernizes the way physicians visually capture and compare skin irregularities by providing quick objective, high-definition images to aid in early detection of skin cancers and to diagnose and monitor other critical skin conditions.
The UA's Dr. Fernando Martinez wants to know why children on Amish farms are healthier, and his research could have far-reaching implications for asthma sufferers of all ages. Asthma affects 24 million Americans and causes breathlessness, chest tightness, wheezing, coughing and, in extreme cases, death...
The FlexTech Alliance team—which includes the University of Arizona Center on Aging, Interdisciplinary Consortium on Advanced Motion Performance (iCAMP) and Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA)—will be working to improve devices for the electronic wearable technology market...
Diabetic foot ulcers are more costly to treat than the five leading cancers. In response, UAHS physician-scientists David Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD, and Marvin Slepian, MD, have begun discussions with Cuban researchers to steward the FDA approval for a diabetic foot ulcer healing drug for use in the United States.
Dr. Heidi Mansour and her team investigate and design innovative treatments, including new drugs and advanced delivery mechanisms, for lung diseases with unmet medical needs. Their work on lung surfactants translates to therapeutic inhalation aerosols that led to advanced dry powder inhalers.
A UA researcher and clinician team has discovered that genetic mutations in a protein associated with asthma can affect a person’s susceptibility to a variety of lung diseases, and could lead to new treatments.
Cardiology's Dr. Marvin J. Slepian and Optical Sciences' James Wyant join those who have impacted quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Earlier this year, Dr. Slepian helped launch the Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation and he was recently recognized by NIH bioengineering unit...