Lou Gehrig’s disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with no known cure, named for the famed New York Yankees first baseman who died from the illness. Emory University researchers are working with a Maryland biotech firm, Neuralstem, to use neural stem cells to treat patients with the disease, formally known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)….
Homicide and suicide outpace the more traditional causes of death for women during pregnancy or up to a year after birth, a new analysis has found. In a study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, Dr. Christie Palladino, an OB/GYN and researcher at Georgia Health Sciences University, used CDC data from 17 states (including…
This fall, 40 young doctors-in-training visited local clinics throughout impoverished Athens, mainly just to sit and hear what patients have to say. “We’ve all had experiences going to doctors who don’t listen; we want to train doctors who listen,” said Dr. Clive Slaughter, who organizes community training for medical students at the Georgia Health Sciences…
Paul Fernhoff, who passed away late last month, is remembered as a legendary physician who helped build the state’s newborn screening program for genetic disorders. He was a geneticist whom Georgia physicians relied on for help with children who had one of those conditions, says Dr. Bob Wiskind, an Atlanta pediatrician who is vice president…
Georgia has a medical export problem. Three of every four graduates of Georgia medical schools this year went to do their residency training in other states. That’s important because the bulk of physicians end up practicing within 60 miles of where they did their training. And Georgia is also mired in a doctor shortage that shows…
Medical students at the new Georgia Health Sciences University campus in Athens have a lot more drama in their lives these days. They’re interviewing and examining fake patients who have been trained to simulate signs and symptoms of illness using the same techniques as actors on TV. A team of GHSU/UGA researchers hopes to show…
The health care reform law has divided Americans as to whether it will reform a broken medical system or make it worse. It also divides physicians. Dr. Hal Scherz, an Atlanta physician, writes in a new GHN Commentary piece that most physicians have lost faith in the American Medical Association over its support of the…
Navigant Consulting is the apparent winner of a $3.3 million contract to study options for redesigning the state’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs. The winning contractor will have the task of reviewing Georgia’s current managed care program — which covers more than 1 million Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids beneficiaries — and those models developed by other states. The…
Laramie, Wyoming, is a long way from Waycross, Georgia. Dr. Joel Higgins has mixed feelings about departing the Peach State. Born in Augusta, he practiced in Waycross as an ob/gyn from 2001 until last December. “I’m leaving with a bitter taste,’’ Higgins says. “I like Georgia.’’ But a deteriorating financial situation drove him to move…
With the death of a Brazilian woman last week, Besse Cooper of Monroe became the world’s oldest person, at 114 years old. Cooper’s new ranking prompted some connecting of dots on another supercentenarian — who also lives in the Peach State. Residing about 25 miles from Cooper’s nursing home is the ninth-oldest person in the world. That’s…