News

Buoyed by research including retrieval of the largest asteroid sample ever brought to Earth, advancing a vaccine for Valley fever to human clinical trial – the world’s first against fungal infection to reach this stage – and mitigating effects of extreme heat, University of Arizona officials project research activity exceeded $1 billion in fiscal year 2024, which ended June 30, and are submitting this data to the National Science Foundation for review. 

The DOM Division of Hematology & Oncology chief and interim clinical affairs director and associate director of clinical investigations at the University of Arizona Cancer Center joins the Association of American Cancer Institutes’ Physician Clinical Leadership Initiative Steering Committee.

The University of Arizona Cancer Center hosted a memorial event Nov. 12 for founding member and visionary leader, David Alberts, MD. A prior center director who oversaw creation of the Skin Cancer Institute, Dr. Alberts died July 2, 2023. The event featured remarks of guests (including Drs. Jennifer Bea and Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski), and his family was presented a plaque.

The careers of faculty members — Drs. Mohanad Al-Obaidi, Tara Carr, Michel Corban, Sima Ehsani, Justin Hayes, Olivia Hung, Neha Jaswal, Elizabeth Juneman and Bijin Thajudeen — were lauded at the Faculty Promotion Celebration event. See the mini-photo gallery.

The Department of Medicine’s Drs. Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, Jennifer Carew and Aaron Scott earn mentions with this NIH/NCI-funded T32 training program for post-graduates interested in cancer research at the University of Arizona Cancer Center.

Parkinson’s disease causes difficulty in movement and balance, but its cognitive symptoms receive less attention and have no good treatments. A U of A College of Medicine – Tucson team, including Lalitha Madhavan, MD, PhD, a neurology associate professor with a dual appointment in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine, hopes to change that.

Department of Medicine faculty, residents and students excelled at this year’s American College of Physicians chapter event hosted in Tucson, with DOM honors for Internal Medicine Physician of the Year, Educator of the Year, and Student of the Year, plus top prizes in poster contests in four of five student categories and a resident category. Poster entries, registrants and sponsorships also broke records.

The Division of Nephrology co-hosts inaugural symposium with Department of Surgery, offering 3.0 CMEs for clinicians across southern Arizona interested in the latest information on kidney transplants, the most commonly transplanted organ. Nearly 40 clinicians attended. See the mini-photo gallery.

With a record number of posters from medical students and residents, a new Great Debates contest added to the Doctor’s Dilemma and poster/oral vignettes contests, and a point-of-care ultrasound training session, the state chapter of the American College of Physicians event is building excitement, says ACP-AZ Education Committee Chair and DOM Associate Professor Dr. Indu Partha. See the schedule, who’s speaking – and register today!

Four Department of Medicine faculty members were among nine awardees at the Second Annual Awards Dinner for the U of A Cancer Center, hosted Sept. 4 at The Graduate. Five more were among the nominators. See who they are.

Five Department of Medicine faculty participate in Pima County Medical Society Career-Building Bootcamp, Sept. 28, share their views on inaugural event and the importance of community networking with medical students, residents and other early-career physicians. In other news, PCMS Board nominations close Nov. 6.