Representatives from the Indian Health Service and Massachusetts General Hospital — the teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School — visited South Dakota Urban Indian Health in Pierre recently to explore the possibility of bringing resident physicians to underserved Native health care centers in the state. Patrick Lee, HMS clinical instructor in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Matthew Tobey, HMS clinical fellow in medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, are quoted.
An interview with John Halamka, CIO for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, explores his argument for why health information exchanges should use an “opt-in to disclose” policy to safeguard patient data.
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard have developed a novel biomimetic strategy that delivers life-saving nanotherapeutics directly to obstructed blood vessels, dissolving blood clots before they cause serious damage or even death. The research was led by Wyss Director Donald Ingber, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at HMS, and Wyss Technology Development Fellow Netanel Korin.
Studying the stem cells of people with Parkinson’s disease can help point to better treatments, according to a study led by Ole Isacson, HMS professor of neurology at McLean Hospital. A portion of the research involved reprogramming patients’ skin cells into neurons — cells specific to the nervous system that are destroyed by Parkinson’s — and examining the neurons under different conditions.
The delirium that sometimes follows surgery may leave older heart patients with lingering problems with their mental function, including memory and attention, according to research from Hebrew SeniorLife, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.
Neighboring non-cancer cells may contribute to drug resistancesresist drug treatment, researchers report in Nature. Todd Golub and Levi Garraway of HMS, the Broad Institute and Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Ravid Straussman of the Broad; and Keith Flaherty of HMS and Massachusetts General Hospital are quoted.
Nearly two-thirds of American teenagers admit to having “anger attacks” that involve destroying property, threatening or engaging in violence, a new study found. And one in 12 has intermittent explosive disorder, characterized by chronic, uncontrollable fits of rage. Ronald Kessler, the McNeil Family Professor of Health Care Policy at HMS, is the lead author of the study.
A biotech company in Cambridge called Genocea believes it can create the first effective T-cell vaccines. Darren Higgins, HMS professor of microbiology and immunobiology, is a cofounder of Genocea.
A new health services business is looking to catch what its founder sees as an emerging third wave in the clinical application of genomics. Mark S. Boguski, HMS associate professor of pathology at the Center for Biomedical Informatics, is quoted.
