We all know that getting enough physical activity is good for our health, but for older adults, especially those who have chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, getting active can be difficult.

According to experts at the UofL Trager Institute/Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic, the benefits of movement for older adults are worth the effort. Activity can help them maintain physical and cognitive abilities, allowing them to continue to do the things they enjoy.

“Our bodies are very adjustable, and exercise is so beneficial. Older adults have a high risk of dying because they fall. They fall because they have lost muscle strength and they lose their balance,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the institute. “In order to improve muscle strength and improve balance, you need to do cardiovascular exercise and you need to do strength training.”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that older adults get 150 minutes of activity each week, along with two sessions of strength training. For people who have not been active in recent years or who may have conditions that make movement more challenging, that target can seem overwhelming.

The Trager Institute offers several opportunities to help older adults in the community get moving, including some recommended in a recent report published by HHS that focuses on strategies to help them get the recommended amount of exercise each week.

Among these are yoga and tai chi, which can help increase strength and balance. The institute offers hour-long yoga and tai chi classes two days a week. Classes are just $5 per session (or free for those who cannot afford the fee). The classes not only increase strength and balance, but provide social engagement, another important factor in healthy aging.

Mary Furlong Coomer, an 82-year-old West Louisville resident, has been participating in exercise classes and more at Trager Institute since late 2022. Although she was active for many years prior, she has found the art and fitness activities at Trager suit her needs well now as she returns to activity from pandemic lockdown and multiple joint surgeries.

“I have played tai chi and done yoga for decades, but I wanted to be sure not to overdo. The beginning tai chi and gentle yoga have helped me stay motivated,” she said.

Another strategy used at the Trager Institute is motivational interviewing, helping patients connect the desire to be active with things that matter to them, such as the ability to spend time with grandchildren.

As a former fitness instructor and through her own experience, Coomer said it helps to focus on the benefits.

“I found it boils down to one thing: Do what you will do and don’t kid yourself you have to like it. It’s discipline,” Coomer said. “You have to rewind back to that tiny pinhole of willingness and do the very least you can manage and still look yourself in the mirror. Experience has taught me that by trusting the process and pushing my sorry self out the door, I will be happy afterwards.”

Faul agrees that it’s OK to start slow in making changes to your activity level, but the important thing is to start.

“Small steps lead to bigger steps. Why don’t you just for today go and get the mail in the mailbox. And then why don’t you maybe walk two times around the mailbox before you pick up the mail? Little things that help people build some confidence that they can actually do something like this are really important,” Faul said.

Exercising with others is helpful for many people. Previously, LeRoy Chittenden taught yoga daily, but to regain his capacity after pandemic lockdown, he has been taking tai chi and yoga at Trager for the last several months and teaches chair yoga on Fridays. He said having others in class with him helps him stay on track.

“The only exercise I do by myself is walk. I need other people to make things easy,” he said. “To paraphrase Kermit — It’s not easy being old. Everything is twice as hard.”

It’s never too late to start moving more, Faul said, and small efforts can yield great benefits.

“You can start at 90 years old. Take the stairs – even if it’s slow, park further from your destination to increase steps,” Faul said. “It will be very helpful for your personal health and your mental health. You will not believe how valuable exercise is for mental health.”

An even more robust activity program is expected to be available at Trager Institute later this fall. Justin Dials, an exercise physiologist and assistant professor in the UofL Department of Health and Sports Sciences, is building an exercise-based program similar to cardiac rehabilitation, which he plans to launch later this year. The program will be a structured exercise plan designed as preventive medicine for older adults who are at risk for various age-related disorders, including but not limited to traditional risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Dials also plans to document changes in participants’ health over time.

“We want to see the effect of exercise training on limiting the natural effects of aging that we as humans experience. As we age, the chances for both physical and psychological disorders increase and can be improved with evidence-based practice, which will be the cornerstone of this new and unique program.”

Sarah Belcher, a rising junior at the University of Louisville, was recently awarded a Fulbright US-UK Summer Institute Award. She is only the second UofL student to receive this award. In addition to receiving this prestigious award, Belcher is also a G.E.M.S. (Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School) student.

Being a G.E.M.S. student has been one of the greatest blessings to Belcher. The G.E.M.S. program allowed Belcher to become a more well-rounded student. “Because of the security G.E.M.S. brings, I have been able to explore my interests outside of medicine, such as studying abroad with the US-UK Fulbright Commission,” said Belcher.

The US-UK Fulbright Commission expanded her perspective on how to serve her community through medicine. “The city of Glasgow where I studied had many initiatives focused on the social determinants of health I would like to work with here too,” said Belcher.

Belcher fell in love with medicine while volunteering with her local hospital in high school; she began to feel at home in the hospital environment. Belcher’s comfortability in the hospital environment continues to grow as a G.E.M.S. participant by shadowing medical professionals and establishing a deeper commitment to medicine. “Having the opportunity to work with faculty and staff at the School of Medicine has made me feel more at home on the Health Science Campus,” said Belcher, “I am excited to be a medical student there.”

Belcher’s advice to other undergraduate students looking to pursue a career in medicine is to, “Do research, learn about health policy, study abroad, work with public health initiatives – these interests are not distractions from medicine but can make us more well-rounded physicians as we step into our careers.”

The University of Louisville and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid in Kentucky recently announced an endowed scholarship to increase access to care and improve health equity in Kentucky’s rural areas. The Anthem Medicaid Rural Medicine Scholarship will support up to four students at the UofL School of Medicine Trover Campus through a $100,000 gift from Anthem Medicaid that will serve students for years to come. A photo from a recent announcement event can be accessed here. 

The 2020-2022 University of Louisville School of Medicine Trover Campus Biennial Report found that all or part of 102 Kentucky counties are considered to be “health professional shortage areas.” Moreover, health care access researchers estimate more than 102,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in Kentucky lack sufficient access to a primary care provider. Moreover, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association’s 2022 Workforce Survey Report, Kentucky hospitals reported more than 13,000 vacancies across 13 professional groups in 2021. Shortages such as this, coupled with the state’s high prevalence of multiple chronic conditions, reinforce the need to expand the number of health care professionals in the Commonwealth.

This partnership between UofL and Anthem Medicaid will address Kentucky’s shortage of health care professionals and benefit the Commonwealth long-term.

“Anthem Medicaid recognizes the importance of reducing health care inequities by investing in the future health care workforce to ensure that communities across Kentucky have access to essential health services,” said Leon Lamoreaux, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid President in Kentucky. “We are proud to work alongside the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Trover Campus to improve lives and communities, and to ensure institutions on the front lines of health care education and training – especially in rural and underserved communities of greatest need – are equipped to continue to develop high-quality, hometown health care heroes.”

In 1998, the University of Louisville partnered with the Trover Foundation to establish the regional rural Trover Campus. For the first 15 years, the campus was one of only two regional U.S. medical school clinical campuses in towns less than 150,000 population. Fast forward to today, and the Trover Campus is ranked second among 40 rural programs by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

“The best way to get a doctor to a small town is to get a medical student from a small town and then train them in a small town,” said William J. Crump, associate dean of the UofL School of Medicine Trover Campus, summarizing the philosophy behind the program.

State Representative Wade Williams (R-KY) and State Senator Robby Mills (R-KY) joined in lauding the Anthem Medicaid Rural Medicine Scholarship.

“I’m excited by this groundbreaking partnership between Anthem Medicaid and the University of Louisville,” said Senator Mills. “Our state is in desperate need of new health care heroes, and this is but one innovative solution to help my constituents get the care they deserve.”

“Between a devastating tornado and extreme flooding, the Commonwealth has been through so much recently,” said Representative Williams. “It warms my heart to know partners like Anthem Medicaid and the University of Louisville are finding ways to not only solve the shortage of health care professionals needed before, during and after trying times, but also empowering the next generation of hometown health care heroes.”

Three students were selected for this year’s Anthem Rural Medicine Scholarship based on academic excellence and enrolled in the Rural Medicine Accelerated Track (RMAT). RMAT enables medical students to finish medical school in three years, reducing cost and time commitments for rural students who plan to open practices in small towns in Kentucky.

The 2023 recipients of the UofL-Trover Anthem Medicaid Rural Medicine Scholarship are Caitlan Jones, Bradley Watson and Emily Amyx.

“RMAT has afforded me the opportunity to return home sooner and start giving back to the community where I first fell in love with medicine,” Amyx said. “I am so grateful to Anthem Medicaid for the scholarship, their support and their commitment to RMAT.”

“I come from a family of farmers and coal miners, with some of the most humble and kind parents. It’s only fitting that I end up in rural medicine, and scholarship programs like this and RMAT are helping me get there,” Jones said. 

This announcement builds on Anthem Medicaid’s recent partnerships with several other institutions, including Eastern Kentucky University, Hazard Community & Technical College, Murray State University and Western Kentucky University. Since 2021, Anthem Medicaid has awarded more than $500,000 to higher education institutions to expand rural health care access across the Commonwealth.

Currently, Anthem Medicaid serves more than 178,285 individuals in the Commonwealth, including 42% of whom live in rural areas.

University of Louisville researchers have received $11.7 million to study microorganisms throughout the body, including the mouth. What they find could lead to better understanding and treatment of a range of chronic conditions.

The five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an extension of a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant awarded in 2018 to study the connection between those microorganisms — such as bacteria, yeasts, fungi, viruses and protozoans — and disease. The work could lead to discoveries in, among others, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, diabetes, periodontitis and colorectal cancer.

The grant will support research by three faculty members focused on microorganisms in the mouth, GI tract and the blood-brain barrier, said Richard Lamont, principal investigator for the grant and chair of School of Dentistry Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

“Collectively, these three projects provide innovative approaches to an increased understanding of the host-microbe interface as it defines health and disease and these advances will establish the basis for new therapeutic approaches,” Lamont said.

The School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology & Immunology also is involved in the COBRE research, including interim chair Haribabu Bodduluri, the center’s co-director.

“An essential feature of these awards is the support of shared resources for development of new research areas,” said Bodduluri. “In the past few months since the renewal, we were awarded supplemental funding to the COBRE that enhances the research core facilities and initiates a novel ‘Team Science’ project.”

Gerry Bradley, interim university provost, said the NIH grant allows UofL to further the COBRE’s groundbreaking research, development of new innovations and training the next generation of scientists.

“This huge commitment from the government reinforces that UofL is one of the top dental schools in the United States in terms of the value of research work conducted here and research funding dollars,” he said.

The original COBRE grant allowed UofL to establish an interdisciplinary research program to study associations linking microbiome with inflammation and disease. The grant provides junior research faculty with seed funding to build potential for independent research funding. The first five faculty researchers involved are successfully continuing their research with other financial support.

“As a top-tier research institution, UofL works to expand understanding and find solutions to important problems,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. “The work of Drs. Lamont and Bodduluri, along with their team, for example, could lead to life-changing therapies, treatments and more that could dramatically improve the lives of people living with numerous conditions.”

Kevin Sokoloski, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and participant in UofL’s initial COBRE grant, said the program helped his research by connecting him with a robust scientific community focused on inflammation and pathogenesis.

“Our ongoing involvement in the COBRE program has accelerated our success and continues to enhance our scientific mission,” Sokoloski said.

The newly funded researchers are:

• Fata Moradali, (Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases), who will address periodontitis, a common condition driven by a synergistically virulent bacterial community that triggers destructive inflammatory responses in the periodontal, or gum tissues.
   
• James Collins, (Microbiology & Immunology), who will investigate the GI tract pathogen C. difficile, an evolving organism whose ability to cause disease can be enhanced by the nutritional microenvironment. 
   
• Yun Teng, (Department of Medicine), who will focus on the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Increased permeability of the BBB accelerates the aging process and the progression of age-related diseases.

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) on Wednesday recognized the University of Louisville for its exemplary community engagement project Age-Friendly Louisville, a partnership of UofL’s Trager Institute, Metro Louisville, AARP and the Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency Area Agency on Aging (KIPDA).

“UofL is committed to its role as an engaged institution passionate about partnering and collaborating with external constituencies and communities. This partnership between the university’s Trager Institute and its partners is a win-win for both UofL and the community,” said Douglas Craddock Jr., UofL’s vice president for community engagement. “The university benefits from engaged scholarship, and our elderly citizens receive necessary services that help them live their best lives.”

In 2015, the Trager Institute led efforts to support Louisville's participation in the Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities by AARP and the World Health Organization (WHO), resulting in Louisville becoming the 120th U.S. Age-Friendly city.

With 40 percent of Louisville’s population projected to be 60 years or older by 2050, creating an environment where seniors could age well in place was essential to promoting well-being and ensuring the city continues to thrive. The Trager Institute guided the creation of a strategic plan using a needs assessment and participatory community engagement approaches, including listening sessions, concept mapping methods and presentations to the public.

“The Trager Institute started on this journey in 2015 to engage community partners in the vision of Age-Friendly Louisville. Community-based organizations, local government and residents across Louisville have worked tirelessly on the strategic plan to realize the dream of becoming age-friendly for all regardless of one’s age or abilities. It has been such an honor to engage in this collaborative leadership,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute.

The Trager Institute partnered with Metro Louisville, AARP and KIPDA to successfully implement Age-Friendly Louisville’s long-term plan to address the needs of the aging population and promote inclusive and accessible communities for people of all ages and abilities.

The internal nominating process for the award was coordinated by UofL's Office of Community Engagement, which provides coaching and mentoring to faculty prior to final submission. UofL has been recognized for all five award nominations submitted in the past. These awards help to enhance UofL's national profile in community-engaged scholarship.

APLU also announced that four of its member universities have been selected as regional winners of the 2023 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. North Carolina State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburgh and Texas A&M University will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced at the 2023 APLU Annual Meeting in November.

Since 2007, APLU and the Engagement Scholarship Consortium, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, have partnered to honor the engagement scholarship and partnerships of four-year public universities. The award recognizes programs that demonstrate how colleges and universities have redesigned their learning, discovery, and engagement missions to deepen their partnerships and achieve broader impacts in their communities. The national award is named for C. Peter Magrath, APLU president from 1992 to 2005.

“Congratulations to the regional winners of the Kellogg Community Engagement Scholarship Awards and exemplary projects,” said APLU President Mark Becker. “Community engagement is a critical part of public universities’ mission and we’re pleased to highlight the work of institutions that are engaging communities to solve challenges. From the underserved areas of their communities and states to overlooked regions of the world, public research universities are engaging communities to solve the most pressing problems they face.”

A team of community engagement professionals from public research universities judged this round of the award. A second team will pick the national winner following presentations at the 2023 National Engagement Scholarship Conference.

University of Louisville Ophthalmology professor and lifelong learner Richard Eiferman recently launched a new and unexpected chapter in his career prompted by an unlikely catalyst – his Bernese Mountain dog, Teddy. The one hundred pound-plus dog needed ear drops for an infection, and it took three people to corral him to give him the medication.

“I just thought there has to be a better way,” said Eiferman.

In his seventies, Eiferman made the decision to embark on an online MBA program at the UofL College of Business to link his 40-year career in ophthalmology with his longtime research interest in developing a new medication delivery system.

“I’ve always been very interested in the business aspects of things, and we always had these research ideas that we’d never had the chance to bring to fruition, so I thought maybe we could put two birds together in one,” he said.

From his decades of experience with eye ailments, Eiferman recognized that a sustained delivery system was needed. “It’s particularly important in ophthalmology, because for example, if you have glaucoma, you have to take drops once or twice a day for the rest of your life, and compliance can be the biggest problem.”

Eiferman connected with a PhD chemist and the two investigated a long-acting sustained release way to deliver medication.

“We discovered a way to put drugs in a wafer that slowly dissolves over two-to-three months, so no drops,” said Eiferman. “It’s a totally new concept. We conducted tests on rabbits and sure enough, it worked beautifully.”

With the help of College of Business faculty, he submitted a proposal and won the top prize of $25,000 in a “Shark Tank” style contest sponsored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology in November 2022. That success led him to present at another contest in April 2023 at Yale University, and again he won the top prize, this time $265,000.  

Eiferman said that the UofL MBA faculty were incredibly receptive and supportive, teaching him a novel approach for his presentation to the Yale panel.

“This was different than any paper or lecture I’ve ever given,” he said. “Five slides and five minutes. I was fixated on the science and the chemistry, but they told me the panelists would want to know about  the market and how to make money from this idea,” he said. “They were 100 percent correct.”

With the patent and his newly formed company, Sustained Drug Delivery, Eiferman plans to use the prize money to fund a study at Michigan State involving beagles that have congenital glaucoma since the FDA requires two species studies, rabbits and dogs in this case. The experiments need to demonstrate the wafers are equivalent in efficacy to the traditional drops.

“We believe it will work and we can then ask for permission to test in humans and evaluate a certain number of people for a certain length of time,” he said. Once Eiferman completes that hurdle, the drug delivery system could be marketed as a device and not a drug, which can reduce the time between testing and approval.

Eiferman said he believes it could be a multi-million-dollar idea because of the technology’s broad applicability.

“In dentistry, for example, they could pack a socket following a tooth extraction or put it in sutures,” explained Eiferman. The other huge market is veterinary medicine to address a severe eye ailment that can make horses go blind.

In May 2023, Eiferman got to wear his green hood and walk at the university’s online MBA graduation ceremony.

“I never expected to be getting an MBA or starting a company in my 70s, but I wanted to prove I could still go to school and learn.”

It is with deep gratitude that we announce the retirement of Ron Paul, MD, vice dean of Faculty Affairs and Advancement, effective January 2024. We are very thankful for his nearly 33 years of academic service at the UofL School of Medicine and Norton Children’s Hospital, including over 25 years developing the Pediatric Emergency Medicine program and 8 years in the Office of Faculty Affairs. 

Paul has been a professor of Pediatrics at the ULSOM since 1991, serving as the Pediatric Emergency Medicine division chief for 25 years and the medical director of Norton Children’s Hospital Emergency department for 14 years. He established the Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship program at Norton Children’s Hospital and was chair of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship directors national committee. Paul sat on the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Emergency Medicine executive committee for 12 years and was chair of the committee from 2020-2022.

A strong advocate and instrumental in achieving many changes for the betterment of the ULSOM faculty, Paul’s commitment was undeniable. His efforts include a newly revised Personnel Document, expanding promotion pathways, meeting LCME accreditation requirements for faculty policies and procedures, creating more efficient Annual Work Plans and Performance Reviews and enhancing the award nomination processes for faculty awards. During his years of academic service, he produced 27 peer-review publications, 60 non-peer reviewed publications, 25 scientific presentations at national meetings and 66 invited presentations.

“Dr. Paul’s commitment to our faculty has been unrelenting throughout his time leading our faculty affairs team,” said interim dean Bumpous. “We will miss his thoughtful leadership and extraordinary ability to operationalize strategic endeavors that create a lasting impact on the lives of our faculty .”

Paul completed medical school at the University of Louisville in 1983, he completed a residency in Pediatrics followed by a Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Children’s Memorial Hospital. He will be requesting both an Emeritus Professor Appointment and a (gratis) Clinical Professor appointment with the ULSOM department of Pediatrics in order to continue teaching on a voluntary basis.

“I am very grateful for all the opportunities I have been given working at the University of Louisville School of Medicine,” said Paul. “Anything that I have accomplished in my leadership roles in Pediatric Emergency Medicine or in the Office of Faculty Affairs has been because I have had a great team working with me to meet the needs of our pediatric community and our faculty.”

Due to the important nature of his role as vice dean of Faculty Affairs and Advancement and the constituents it serves, the School of Medicine will be advancing an internal search immediately. The first step in this process is to develop a comprehensive search committee. Once a search committee has been formed, notification for application will be sent. The anticipated date of replacement is November 2023.

Cancer patients may have a better chance of recovery thanks to a discovery by a research team at the University of Louisville. In a new preclinical study, they have found that an existing drug, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for another disease, also may improve success rates for cancer immunotherapy when the two are used in combination.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are a promising form of cancer immunotherapy, treating cancer by activating the patient’s own immune system. While patients whose cancer responds to ICI treatment experience excellent results, a large percentage of patients fail to respond to the therapy. One of the causes of poor response is due to the presence of certain immune cells within the tumor that lead to elevated levels of adenosine, a compound found naturally in cells that causes immune suppression when present in high levels.

In the new study, the UofL researchers have enhanced the response to ICI therapy by combining it with PEGylated adenosine deaminase, a drug already approved by the FDA that reduces levels of adenosine. The study, led by Kavitha Yaddanapudi, associate professor in the Division of Immunotherapy, the Hiram C. Polk, Jr., MD Department of Surgery and researcher with the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center, was published June 30 in Science Advances.  

Using lung, melanoma and breast cancer animal models and patient cell samples from the Brown Cancer Center biorepository, the team showed that when PEGylated adenosine deaminase is used in combination with ICI therapy, cancer-fighting T cells become more active, thereby attacking the tumor.

“This is a very exciting discovery. We found one particular mechanism by which the adenosine levels were going up in the tumors and what we can do to mitigate it,” Yaddanapudi said. “And when we combine this drug with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, we get a very nice synergistic effect in the tumor control.”

PEGylated adenosine deaminase is FDA approved for lifelong use in children with immunodeficiency to increase their immune function.

“This is a drug that has been FDA approved for use in kids for a different disease and now we are repurposing it for cancer, so we hope it can quickly go into the clinic to confirm its ability to enhance immunotherapy in patients,” Yaddanapudi said.

“If it turns out to be an effective drug, it subverts both a natural defense mechanism against inflammation (elevated adenosine) and is an already approved agent (by the FDA),” said John Eaton, professor emeritus in UofL’s Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology & Toxicology and study team member and co-author.

The discovery has the potential to further reduce deaths from cancer, according to Jason Chesney, director of the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center.

“ICIs have markedly improved the long-term survival of certain cancer patients and have reduced cancer death rates across the world,” Chesney said. “Many cancer patients do not respond to ICIs, but Dr. Yaddanapudi’s exciting discovery opens the door for human trials combining ICIs with PEGylated adenosine deaminase to overcome this resistance.”

The University of Louisville School of Medicine welcomed its newest class of aspiring physicians during its annual White Coat Ceremony on July 30 at the Galt House Hotel. The ceremony, a time-honored tradition, marked the official start of the incoming first-year medical students into the medical profession.

Jeffrey Bumpous, MD, interim dean of the School of Medicine, addressed the eager crowd of students, faculty, and family members, emphasizing the significance of the White Coat Ceremony in their educational journey. "Today marks a pivotal moment in the lives of our remarkable students. The white coat symbolizes not only the commencement of their medical education but also their dedication to the well-being and care of others,” said Bumpous. “As they embark on this incredible journey, we encourage them to always remember the profound responsibility they have undertaken."

Reflecting on the importance of the White Coat Ceremony, class president and second-year medical student Roland Le said, "This ceremony signifies the trust bestowed upon us as future physicians. The white coat is a tangible reminder of the immense privilege we have to make a positive impact on people's lives. It serves as a reminder to approach our studies and future patient interactions with humility, empathy, and the highest level of professionalism."

The University of Louisville School of Medicine prides itself on its comprehensive curriculum and commitment to producing highly skilled and compassionate physicians. The incoming class, filled with a diverse group of talented individuals, is expected to contribute immensely to the future of healthcare.

As the incoming class of medical students embarks on their educational journey, the University of Louisville School of Medicine wishes them success and encourages them to embrace their roles as future healers and advocates for the well-being of their patients. Welcome, class of 2027!

View photos from the ceremony here.

What characteristics of a neighborhood contribute to the health of its residents – or reduce it?

The University of Louisville and Simmons College of Kentucky are embarking on a new project to answer that question and discover how changing a place can improve the health of its residents. A $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will fund an 18-month study to identify the features all neighborhoods should have in order to promote the health of all residents.

Researchers from Simmons’ Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. Center for Racial Justice and UofL’s Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, along with urban studies expert Michael Emerson of Rice University and legal scholar Shavonnie Carthens of the University of Kentucky, will survey residents of two Louisville neighborhoods, review existing data on environmental factors that affect health and consider legal aspects of neighborhood development, all with the goal of defining a “universal basic neighborhood” (UBN). A universal basic neighborhood is one that has all the necessary community assets that help residents thrive in their place.

The most recent Health Equity Report from the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, published in 2017, highlights stark differences in morbidity and mortality of those living in different neighborhoods across the city. For example, in Louisville’s predominantly Black communities, life expectancy is as much as 12.6 years less than in the most affluent, predominantly white communities. Black babies born from 2011-2015 have a death rate 1.95 times higher than the Louisville Metro average and 2.31 times higher than white babies. Diabetes, heart disease and cancer rates vary by location, race and income.

“We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and we still have places where living conditions contribute to diseases that are entirely preventable,” said Ted Smith, director of the UofL Center for Healthy Air, Water and Soil, part of the Envirome Institute. “This work is about diagnosing and treating places so that the health benefits are shared by many.”

Most existing efforts to address health inequities focus on providing health resources to eligible individuals. This study instead looks for ways to improve health at the neighborhood level by providing resources that make it easier for residents to make healthy choices.

“Neighborhoods, no matter where they are, are not inherently bad or good. They're just neighborhoods. However, one thing that makes neighborhoods different from each other is access to health-supportive resources,” said Nancy Seay, chair of the James R. L. Diggs Department of Sociology at Simmons. “We know that every neighborhood has a rich fabric of local resources that residents access, and we want to uncover these and promote their utilization. Everyone, no matter where they live, wants and deserves to enjoy good health and a long life. This project can be a game changer for the way we think about designing and supporting neighborhoods and their residents.”

The scope of the research

The research team, led by Seay and Smith, will assemble evidence for place-based factors that are associated with good health, identify and map assets in two demographically distinct Louisville neighborhoods, examine the history of civic investment in Louisville and determine how to develop and implement city policy that supports health.

In the same vein as historic efforts to ensure clean drinking water and waste removal for entire communities, the UBN project will assess and rank factors that contribute to longer, healthier lives, such as opportunities for exercise and recreation, greenness and access to healthy food and transportation. This project approaches health equity with the idea that it is more efficient to invest in resources that benefit the health of all residents of underserved neighborhoods than in health interventions for individuals.

In the first stage of the project, set to start in September, Seay will lead work to map assets of Louisville’s Crescent Hill and California neighborhoods. Students in her Participatory Action Research class at Simmons will conduct door-to-door surveys, interviews and focus groups in those neighborhoods to reveal how residents of those communities find good health, what aspects of their environment they believe contribute to health and how empowered they feel to make changes. They also hope to identify important assets related to the specific interests and culture of those living in the neighborhoods that have not been studied previously. UofL students also may take the class through a reciprocal agreement with Simmons.

At UofL, Smith will lead a review of published studies that can help justify components of a UBN and provide criteria for weighting those components. Factors evaluated will include those that contribute to disease and those that promote health, such as access to parks, forms of transit and the variety of educational, recreational and entertainment venues.

Carthens, a legal scholar at the UK’s J. David Rosenberg College of Law and formerly at UofL’s Brandeis School of Law, will delve into the deep drivers of policies that must be reformed in order to achieve an optimal neighborhood environment. She will identify the legal framework required to support the public provision of a UBN and sectors of society best positioned to provide these resources.

The project also includes Emerson, Chavanne Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute and co-founder of Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

At the project’s completion, the team expects to have a "playbook" that will assist communities in defining their own neighborhood needs and outline steps toward implementing the plan.

For more information:

Residents of the California and Crescent Hill neighborhoods who are interested in participating in surveys or focus group interviews for the project may contact Patricia Reeves at  patricia.reeves@simmonscollegeky.edu.

Community Partners who are interested in learning more about the project and opportunities for collaboration may contact Lauren Anderson at lauren.anderson@louisville.edu.

Project updates will be shared on social media at Simmons College and the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute.

As the academic year approaches, the University of Louisville School of Medicine eagerly welcomes its incoming class of first-year medical students with an invigorating Orientation Week. Aimed at fostering a smooth transition into their medical journey, this week-long event has been designed to equip students with the necessary tools, connections, and experiences that will shape their future success as healthcare professionals.

Orientation Week begins July 24 at the School of Medicine and proves to be an extraordinary opportunity for matriculating medical students to begin acclimating to their new academic home, making lifelong friendships, and igniting their passion for medicine. Under the guidance of esteemed faculty and staff, this immersive experience serves as a steppingstone towards realizing their dreams of healing and saving lives.

Jeffrey Bumpous, MD, interim dean of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, expressed his enthusiasm for the significant role Orientation Week plays in a medical student's journey. He stated, "Orientation Week serves as a foundation for our students, allowing them to develop a sense of belonging and community. It is a time for them to embrace the challenges and triumphs they will encounter over their next four years."

One of the highlights of Orientation Week is the much-anticipated Trivia Night, where the students can showcase their knowledge, teamwork, and competitive spirit. This event will allow them to bond with their peers and create lasting connections, emphasizing the importance of collaboration in the medical field.

Another memorable event during the week is the enchanting Belle of Louisville Cruise, where students will experience the beauty of Louisville while cruising along the Ohio River. This relaxing evening fosters a sense of camaraderie amongst the students, offering them a chance to unwind and create cherished memories outside of the classroom.

The pinnacle of Orientation Week is the highly revered White Coat Ceremony slated for July 30. This significant rite of passage symbolizes the transition from aspiring medical students to professionals. With their families and loved ones in attendance, the new students will don their white coats for the first time, affirming their commitment to patient care, compassion, and lifelong learning.

“Both the White Coat Ceremony and Orientation Week are pivotal milestones that unite individuals from diverse backgrounds who share a profound passion for medicine,” said Monica Ann Shaw, MD, MA, vice dean of undergraduate medical education. “We are committed to the success of our students and are excited to accompany them on their journey to becoming physicians.”

The University of Louisville School of Medicine looks forward to witnessing the growth and accomplishments of these promising medical students as they contribute to the field of healthcare, making a positive impact on the lives of countless individuals in the years to come.

The summer of 2023 marks the 18^th year of the Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP) at the University of Louisville. Each summer, 80 future healthcare professionals gather on the Health Science Campus for six weeks. The program is used to help scholars develop team-based learning to apply basic and social sciences centered on two major themes: Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. Students with future plans in dentistry, medicine, nursing, and pharmacy are welcome to participate in this experience.

“We believe in the power of diversity and the transformative impact it has on healthcare,” said Dwayne Compton, Ed.D., chief diversity officer for the School of Medicine. “Our SHPEP serves as a platform to empower our underrepresented students and enhance their academic and professional development to cultivate a diverse healthcare workforce reflecting the communities we serve.”

SHPEP emphasizes personal and professional development including study strategies, career planning, and clinical exposure in the health care profession. Its primary goal is to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in health professions and prepare them for successful application and matriculation to health professions schools. Scholars will gain exposure to advanced levels of science through participating in Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Physiology. Health policy and equity are interwoven into the core of the program to ensure that each participating scholar with leave the program with a clear mindset of how to be a compassion and understanding health care profession.

“I am thrilled to participate in SHPEP and have the chance to learn from professionals in diverse healthcare fields” said Cheyla Tabares Cuesta, incoming scholar for SHPEP. "Learning networking skills and being exposed to opportunities will provide the necessary tools to confidently advance in my desired career. This opportunity will undoubtedly shape my understanding of healthcare and inspire me to make a meaningful impact in communities in need.”

The University of Louisville School of Medicine congratulates the 2023 cohort of SHPEP Scholars on completing the program. We look forward to the next generation of brilliant minds going into the healthcare profession.

The University of Louisville School of Medicine was selected as one of only nine nationwide site partners to host the 2023 Robert A. Winn Diversity in Clinical Trials: Clinical Investigator Pathway Program (Winn CIPP). Led by La Creis Kidd, PhD, MPH, assistant dean of Research Diversity, this summer service-learning externship is designed to expose talented medical students of diverse backgrounds to community-engaged clinical and translational research. Co-investigators and champions of this program include Dr. V. Faye Jones, Dr. Christopher Seals, Dr. Barbara Clark, Dr. Susan Sawning, Sharon Gordon and Dr. Dwayne Compton.

“We could not be more thrilled to be selected as a site partner for the Winn CIPP,” said Kidd. “This program brings great opportunity for our research and training opportunities for the next generation of clinical scientist at the University of Louisville.”

The Winn CIPP offers a distinctive approach to increasing diversity in clinical trials by offering medical students a six-week intensive and immersive summer service-learning experience in underserved communities where underrepresented patients receive care. Pathway students gain exposures to clinical research, acquire community engagement and leadership skills, and are mentored by early-stage clinical investigators participating in the Winn Career Development Award (CDA).

In addition to Louisville, Winn CIPP Site Partners are located in the following cities: Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA, New York, NY, Richmond, VA, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, San Antonio, Tx, and Seattle, WA.

As a site partner, the School of Medicine commits to providing immersive community-based experiences in clinical trial research to four rising second-year medical students from various medical schools in the U.S. who are committed to increasing inclusion, equity, and diversity in the conduct of clinical and translational research. Each medical student scholar receives a $7,500 stipend to cover travel, living and lodging expenses during the six-week service-learning period.

Winn CIPP scholars that are currently training at the School of Medicine from June 5 to July 14 include:

1. Yosef Ansarizadeh, DO Candidate, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth – Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, Faculty Mentors: Dr. Redman and Dr. Kidd.
2. Iyabo Erinkitola, MD Candidate, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Faculty  Mentor: Dr. Vatsalya Vatsalya
3. Brianna Guillen, MD Candidate, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, Faculty Mentor: Dr. Martin
4. Brian Wadugu, MD Candidate, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kellen Choi

“Being awarded the WINN CIPP fellowship at the Louisville site has been so positive for my professional development at this stage of my medical career,” said Erinkitola. “The University of Louisville School of Medicine has provided an abundance of support and encouragement as I learn to screen patients for more equitable clinical trials, perform biostatistics for relevant biologic investigations, and sharpen my goals in medical science.” 

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I write to you today as the new Interim Dean of the University of Louisville School of Medicine. I am deeply honored to have been entrusted with this role and to have the opportunity to work alongside such talented and dedicated individuals.

As one of the oldest medical schools in Kentucky, the UofL School of Medicine has a long heritage of medical education in Kentucky. I both respect our great history and understand our community has grown and our world has changed. But no matter the changes through our more than 185-year history, our commitment to taking care of our community remains one of our strengths. As such, I want our school to continue to be relevant. I want our school to continue to be useful. I want our school to continue to be an asset for our community, giving opportunity for students to become physicians or clinician scientists. I want to grow science and ideas. I want to give opportunity for our patients to stay here and receive the best possible care for the toughest types of problems. I want to make sure our state, our region and our community are healthy and whole. That’s why we’re here; that’s our purpose, and one that I will continue to bolster.

I want to keep and preserve the best things we have and the best things we’re doing and do that while growing and addressing new problems that are relevant to our community and our Commonwealth. Healthcare hasn’t always been afforded to every community in America. The opportunity we have in front of us is to uplift those communities by bringing students from around the globe into our medical school and allowing our health system to make reaching impact on those communities. I have my eyes open to the future and the horizon to make sure we’re growing our programs in research, education and clinical medicine in the best way possible to make the most impact.

We have exceptional faculty and staff, exceptional learners and exceptional research scientists, and an extraordinarily sophisticated health system. One of the first things that is so important for a new leader is to be a good learner and a good listener. Learning from people what makes Louisville work, what our strengths are and what our opportunities are will be increasingly important to me. My buzz word right now is strategic alignment and growth. We need to think about every part of our mission with honest conversations. If we can do that, I’m convinced that this medical school will remain strong, and we will be one of the best medical schools in the country.

I’m very passionate about the University of Louisville School of Medicine and feel lucky to have this job. I want this place to succeed, and I want it to be great for our patients, for our learners, for our faculty and for our staff. I want to allow people to realize their dreams and be strong contributors to society. As we embark on this new chapter together, I am committed to fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and innovation within our esteemed institution. Our shared goal is to continue advancing medical education, research, and patient care, making a positive impact on the health and well-being of our community, our Commonwealth and our world.

I look forward to getting to know each one of you, and I am confident that by working together, we will achieve remarkable accomplishments. Let us embark on this journey with passion, determination, and a collective vision of shaping the future of medicine.

Jeffrey M. Bumpous, M.D.
Interim Dean, School of Medicine

It is with both excitement and trepidation that I embark upon my journey of retirement after four wonderful decades with the University of Louisville and the School of Medicine. When I was asked to write a farewell message to my beloved “work family”, I eagerly agreed, because it gave me the opportunity to reflect upon memories, milestones, and points of pride.

As I look back on my career path, it followed four phases of service and leadership: ten years as an ENT clinician and clinician-educator; ten years as ENT clinical and academic leader; ten years as student affairs dean; and my final ten years as dean.

I was recruited in 1983 to UofL as an assistant professor of Otolaryngology by Dr. Serge Martinez, who had also been recruited a few years earlier by Dr. Hiram Polk to build ENT, a division of the department of surgery. Serge was one of my attendings and mentors in Nebraska during my ENT residency and specifically recruited me to build pediatric ENT, my area of interest and passion. At the same time, my husband, Brian was finishing his general surgery residency and exploring cardiac surgery residencies. Under Dr. Laman Gray’s leadership, Louisville was building an innovative Cardiovascular Surgery program, launching a transplant program, and greatly expanding the cardiovascular service line at Jewish Hospital. We essentially were recruited to Louisville as a “couple” with the idea we would be here three years and then return to Nebraska, where we had both been offered faculty positions and a chance to return home. My, how plans changed! We have been in Louisville ever since, blooming professionally where we were planted and raising our daughters here. Louisville is a special city.

Over the next ten years as a clinician, I helped to expand pediatric ENT and developed a passion for becoming an educational leader through such roles as clerkship director, admissions committee, and curriculum committee, as well as becoming a clinical leader through roles that included chief of the ENT service line at Children’s Hospital and president of Children’s Hospital Medical Staff. 

My second inflection point came when Serge Martinez left Louisville and Dr. Polk appointed me as division director of ENT. I will always be grateful for his mentorship and guidance over the next several years. We continued to grow and strengthen ENT and one of my points of pride was the recruitment of Dr. Jeff Bumpous, a brilliant head and neck surgeon and a highly effective academic leader, who I would go on several years later to pass the baton to as ENT Chair and then another several years later to pass the baton to as interim dean.

Phase three of development came with my appointment as student affairs dean in 2001.  I had just completed my MBA and wanted to pursue a broader leadership role across the institution. The student affairs dean position came open and it seemed like it would be a “dream job” because it married my passions for business and student engagement with my new goal of broader leadership. I applied for the position and was honored to be selected. And dream job it was! I had the opportunity to actively engage with students daily. We developed a student leadership program, strengthened our student support services, launched the advisory dean program, created the medical student distinction tracks, and developed a culture that truly valued students. I loved this position and even after ten years still felt like I had another decade of growth in the role.  

I did not anticipate the next opportunity I would be given, but when our previous dean announced he was leaving UofL, I was asked by Dr. David Dunn, our Executive Vice President for Health Affairs to step into the interim dean role, and I agreed to do so.

That inflection point brought me to the fourth and last phase of my career at UofL – my ten years as dean. I did not originally plan to apply for the permanent position but after a few months as interim dean, I found that I loved the new role and felt that I was making a difference for the school. There was a national search, and I was honored to have been selected as permanent dean—and the first woman dean at the School of Medicine.  

My year as interim dean and ten years as permanent dean have been the most challenging but also the most rewarding years of my career. The early years were tumultuous, and we were facing a major LCME accreditation challenge. But we used the challenge as a galvanizing force to come together and transform our educational program and our instructional facilities and we prevailed. Fast forward to our most recent accreditation site visit and we have a “perfect report card”. Our educational team is extraordinarily strong and committed and I am confident we will continue to provide an exceptional experience for our learners. 

Our clinical enterprise also faced challenges, with 33 disparate faculty practices, changing management at Jewish Hospital that weakened our alignment, and occasional transactional skirmishes with Norton Healthcare over Pediatrics. Again, we prevailed.  With strong clinical leadership at the school and the institution and a renewed commitment of our clinical affiliate leaders, a unified faculty practice was established, an extraordinarily successful UofL Health system was created and a truly integrated clinical partnership with Norton Health Care for Pediatrics was formed.

In the research area, we have become nationally recognized for our work in environmental health, liver disease, spinal cord injury, cardiovascular and cancer. This work continues to transform lives.

We seemed to be mostly firing on all cylinders when our world was upended in March of 2020 by the COVID 19 global pandemic. Again, we prevailed. We transitioned to virtual education but were fully present for our patients and served as a valuable resource for our community for testing, treatment, research and ongoing monitoring. We have emerged even stronger coming out of the pandemic.

It has been a joy and privilege to serve the school and the institution this past forty years. I owe a debt of gratitude to my outstanding leadership team, our amazing faculty, awesome students, incredible residents, and exemplary staff for their support and their unwavering commitment to help us carry out our mission of improving the health of our community, our commonwealth and our world. 

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. I wish each of you well and will think of you often.

The University of Louisville School of Medicine welcomes its newest class of residents and fellows to the Cardinal community. This year’s incoming class of 245 individuals is a testament to our continued efforts to a diverse and inclusive learning environment. Among them, 47% are female and 53% male, highlighting the importance of gender balance in our community. Additionally, 20% Asian, 4% Hispanic/Latino, 2% are African American, 0.5% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 5% Multiracial/Not specified individuals.

Murali Ankem, MD, vice dean of Graduate Medical Education, expressed his excitement about the incoming resident class, stating, “I am inspired by the diversity of our resident class this year. It reflects the university’s commitment to cultivating an inclusive learning environment where all learners feel valued and supported in pursuit of medical excellence. As we embrace different perspectives and backgrounds, we strengthen our ability to address the unique healthcare needs of our diverse Louisville community’s patient population.”

The University of Louisville School of Medicine is dedicated to providing a transformative educational experience for its residents, fellows and other learners. As they embark on this new chapter of their medical journey, they will discover that our institution offers an exceptional range of resources, programs, and opportunities designed to support and foster the needs of an incoming resident. Faculty members are passionate about nurturing the growth of future physicians and employ innovative teaching methods in pursuit of excellence. The hands-on experiences provided enable residents to be compassionate, competent, and well-rounded medical professionals.

“Congratulations and welcome to the School of Medicine,” said Ankem, “We’ve been eagerly awaiting your arrival and look forward to witnessing your growth and success as you embark on this incredible journey.”

New residents officially begin rotations on July 1 in various healthcare settings.

Zoha Mian is a third-year medical student at the UofL School of Medicine, with a passion for helping diverse populations achieve equal health care.

“Social justice is at the foundation of why I pursued medicine,” said Mian. “I believe that healthcare is a human right and that people of all cultures and backgrounds deserve to be treated with equitable, high-quality care.”

This belief has motivated her throughout medical school and inspired her to apply for a master’s in public eye care in order to directly impact the healthcare conditions of impoverished populations locally and abroad. Mian realized her passion for ophthalmology when she shadowed a doctor who provided free eye surgeries and training. Inspired by how a simple surgery to cure blindness could empower someone to get an education, live independently without a disability, and pursue their dreams, Mian was dedicated to becoming an Ophthalmologist.

In May, Mian was awarded a $50,000 Rotary Global Grant Scholarship to attend the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The scholarship is designed for students pursuing a career in an area of great humanitarian need and have a long-term commitment to measurable and sustainable change. Students must be sponsored by a local Rotary club in their place of permanent residence or full-time study.

“The rotary club has a long history of service and humanitarian work, and I found that I shared similar goals with the organization,” said Mian. “As a public eye care master’s candidate, I believe I can gain valuable knowledge and experience to be a successful social justice leader, physician, and policy maker.”

As a future Ophthalmologist, Mian hopes to create an equitable healthcare system for diverse populations. She believes her experience at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will widen her cultural competence and knowledge in research and epidemiology and allow the opportunity to work intensely in preventing detrimental ocular disease.

Mian attributes her award to the support of her faculty mentors at the School of Medicine, Bethany Smith, PhD, and Susan Sawning, MSSW, as well as her community involvement during her first years of medical school. During her time as a medical student, she has been extensively involved with the American Medical Association creating health policy. She is the co-founder of Grow502— a professional student-led nonprofit organization aiming to address healthcare disparities in the Louisville community—and also the co-founder of Physicians for Human Rights. These experiences have led her to live a life of service.

The University of Louisville School of Medicine takes great pride in the accomplishments of its students and celebrates their achievements. It is with great excitement that we congratulate Zoha Mian on her scholarship award and recognize her for contributions to both our local and global communities.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Researchers at the University of Louisville have received $5.8 million in two grants from the National Institutes of Health to expand their work to better understand and prevent immune system dysregulation responsible for acute respiratory distress, the condition responsible for serious illness and death in some COVID-19 patients. A separate $306,000 NIH Small Business Innovation Research grant supports early testing of a compound developed at UofL as a potential treatment.

The three grants combined total $6.1 million.

During the pandemic, health care providers worked tirelessly to treat patients who became seriously ill with COVID-19. Some of those patients developed severe lung disease known as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to an excessive response of the immune system often called cytokine storm.

As they treated these critically ill patients, physicians and other providers at UofL Health shared their clinical insights and patient samples with researchers at UofL to discover the cause of the immune system overresponse.

“At one time we had over 100 patients with COVID in the hospital. Once they were on a ventilator, mortality was about 50%. We were looking at this issue to see why some people would do well while some developed bad lung disease and did not do well or died,” said Jiapeng Huang, anesthesiologist with UofL Health and professor and vice chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine in the UofL School of Medicine.

The UofL researchers, led by immunologist Jun Yan, discovered that a specific type of immune cells, low-density inflammatory neutrophils, became highly elevated in some COVID-19 patients whose condition became very severe. This elevation signaled a clinical crisis point and increased likelihood of death within a few days due to lung inflammation, blood clotting and stroke. Their findings were published in 2021 in JCI Insight.

With the new NIH funding, Yan is leading research to build on this discovery with deeper understanding of what causes a patient’s immune system to respond to an infection in this way and develop methods to predict, prevent or control the response.

“Through this fruitful collaboration, we now have acquired NIH funding for basic and translational studies and even progress toward commercialization of a potential therapy,” Yan said. “That’s why we do this research – eventually we want to benefit the patients.”

Yan, chief of the UofL Division of Immunotherapy in the Department of Surgery, a professor of microbiology and immunology and a senior member of the Brown Cancer Center, will lead the new research, along with Huang and Silvia M. Uriarte, university scholar and professor in the Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the UofL School of Dentistry.

“COVID-19 continues to spotlight the impactful synergy between the clinical and research teams at the University of Louisville,” said Jason Smith, UofL Health chief medical officer. “Innovation is in the DNA of academic medicine. We collaborate to provide each patient the best options for prevention and treatment today, while developing the even better options for tomorrow.”

In addition to two research grants of $2.9 million each awarded directly to UofL, a $306,000 grant to a startup company will support early testing of a compound developed in the lab of UofL Professor of Medicine Kenneth McLeish that shows promise in preventing the dangerous cytokine storm while allowing the neutrophils to retain their ability to kill harmful bacteria and viruses. The compound, DGN-23, will be tested by UofL and Degranin Therapeutics, a startup operated by McLeish, Yan, Huang, Uriarte and Madhavi Rane, associate professor in the Department of Medicine.

“This is one more example of how UofL has led the charge in finding new and innovative ways to detect, contain and fight COVID-19 and other potential public health threats,” said Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president for research and innovation. “This team’s new research and technology could help keep people healthy and safe here and beyond. 

The knowledge gained through these studies may benefit not only COVID-19 patients, but those with other conditions in which immune dysregulation can occur, such as other types of viral and bacterial pneumonia and autoimmune diseases, and patients undergoing cancer immunotherapy and organ transplantation.

The grants

Grant 1 – $2.9 million, four-year grant to UofL. Investigators will study the new subset of neutrophils Yan identified to better understand how they contribute to acute respiratory distress and clotting. They also will determine whether a novel compound will prevent these complications. They will use lab techniques and studies with animal models that allow for manipulation of certain conditions that cannot be done in human subjects.

Grant 2 – $2.9 million, five-year grant to UofL. This work examines a more comprehensive landscape to characterize different subsets of neutrophils and measure their changes over the course of COVID-19 disease progression and how neutrophils contribute to immune dysfunction.

Grant 3 – $306,000, one-year grant to Degranin Therapeutics and UofL for early testing of DGN-23, a compound developed at UofL, to determine its effectiveness in preventing or reducing immune dysregulation. 

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This research is supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute under award numbers R01HL158779 and R43HL169129 and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under award number R01AI172873. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

The Medical Humanities and Social Justice in Healthcare student organization has recently reestablished itself after a period of inactivity. Its mission remains focused on bringing light to social justice issues in healthcare through the perspective of the medical humanities and provides the opportunity for medical students to reflect on the intersection of societal factors and health. One way the organization reflects is through Systole, a journal comprised of works from various students attending the School of Medicine.

“Systole is an opportunity to celebrate the creativity of our peers and shine a light on their unique talents,” said Fariha Rashid, co-president of the organization. “It gives students a chance to express their feelings through creativity and share it with the ULSOM community; it brought great comfort and affirmation in the sacrifices and endurances this line of work often requires of us to better the lives of others.”

Students have contributed works in various mediums, including painting, audio, photography, sculpting, and more. “There are limited opportunities for medical students to publish creative work, so we wanted to ensure an accessible way for students to do so. Our student body is diversely talented, and we wanted to showcase all the different ways students express their talent,” said Rashid.

The group is led by faculty advisor, Susan Sawning, associate professor, undergraduate medical education. “I am so very proud of them,” said Sawning, “Our students care so much about things that are important to the world and our community. More people need to hear about our special students here at the School of Medicine.”

The ULSOM community can support the organization by viewing Systole on the School of Medicine website and sharing it with others. The co-presidents also hope that students will continue their enthusiasm for Systole by submitting their work for future editions. Through their efforts, Medical Humanities and Social Justice in Healthcare and Systole are promoting creativity and social justice in the ULSOM community.

The Louisville Medical & Education District, also known as LOUMED, has announced its new ambassador program in partnership with Block by Block. Block by Block is the nation’s leading provider of safety, cleaning and hospitality services for districts across the U.S. LOUMED includes the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center and downtown facilities of UofL Health, as well as Jefferson Community and Technical College and Norton Healthcare.

The ambassador program will provide concierge, cleaning and safety services to this vital downtown district.

“We are looking forward to having our LOUMED Ambassadors be additional positive representation for the employees, patients and students that call LOUMED home,” said Nadareca Thibeaux, executive director LOUMED. “It’s important for visitors and locals alike to experience a friendly, clean and safe downtown, and we expect this program to amplify those efforts.”

The LOUMED ambassadors play an important role in improving the experience of the public spaces within the district for visitors, employees, students and patients. The LOUMED ambassadors will be responsible for the following:

• Visible Presence – Ambassadors will circulate throughout the district daily to create a highly visible, accessible, outgoing and inviting presence, with an attitude of friendly professionalism, superior customer service and hospitality. Ambassadors will be on foot and will be deployed in a manner that ensures resources are placed strategically to address critical issues or needs at key times of day, days of the week and as needed. All ambassadors are trained in ‘situational protocol’ to handle situations appropriately and courteously.
• Reduced Impact of Quality-of-Life Issues & Safety Risk Aversion – Ambassadors will discourage aggressive solicitation and other prohibited behaviors, report crimes to the proper authority and provide information and support as it relates to improper behavior in the district. Ambassadors will build respect-based relationships with all persons to educate on ordinance violations, discourage problematic behavior and serve to connect individuals to available resources and assistance.
• Hospitality and Wayfinding – Ambassadors will actively greet pedestrians and provide general assistance, wayfinding/directions, information on historic sites, shops, restaurants, public transportation, other places of interest and general information that may be helpful and welcoming. They will provide help and support to the public to address a wide range of situations and needs, such as assistance with the use of parking meter stations, repairing a flat tire, opening a door, escorting employees to parking garages and by offsetting any potentially negative experience with a positive interaction.
• Property/Business Owner Networking & Cross Communication – Ambassadors will interact directly with property and business owners, managers and security personnel to build a network, provide and receive information relevant to LOUMED safety and hospitality and to raise public awareness of the program.

For more information about the LOUMED District, visit www.louisvillemedicaleducationdistrict.com