HHRI Media Coverage
2026
August
Thursday night, Dakota’s Quinlan Room in downtown Minneapolis will host a unique local band called The New Prescriptions. The band is almost entirely comprised of current and former employees at Hennepin Healthcare. The members include doctors, nurses and a retired paramedic who all play different instruments in the band.
Read more on KARE11.
June
Health officials report that warmer temperatures and increased outdoor activities are contributing to the rise in hospital visits for tick-borne diseases.
The Minnesota Department of Health has observed an increase in emergency department visits related to tick bites over the past few months. This rise is consistent with the annual increase in tick-borne diseases. The number of visits appears to surpass the typical baseline seen during the colder months.
Dr. Diana Zychowski, an infectious diseases physician-scientist at Hennepin Healthcare, noted a trend in the number of reported cases based on years of surveillance data. She said that many of her friends and family are returning from their camping trips covered in multiple tick bites, a troubling phenomenon they have never encountered before this year.
Read more on Mesabi Tribune.
Health officials report that warmer temperatures and increased outdoor activities are contributing to the rise in hospital visits for tick-borne diseases.
Dr. Diana Zychowski, an infectious diseases physician-scientist at Hennepin Healthcare, noted a trend in the number of reported cases based on years of surveillance data. She said that many of her friends and family are returning from their camping trips covered in multiple tick bites, a troubling phenomenon they have never encountered before this year.
This increase in tick-related bites suggests a possible shift in their behavior or habitat, raising concerns about public health during the outdoor season.
Read more on Herald Review.
Health officials report that warmer temperatures and increased outdoor activities are contributing to the rise in hospital visits for tick-borne diseases.
Dr. Diana Zychowski, an infectious diseases physician-scientist at Hennepin Healthcare, noted a trend in the number of reported cases based on years of surveillance data. She said that many of her friends and family are returning from their camping trips covered in multiple tick bites, a troubling phenomenon they have never encountered before this year.
This increase in tick-related bites suggests a possible shift in their behavior or habitat, raising concerns about public health during the outdoor season.
Read more on MPR News.
May
A new study is highlighting hospitals as a key component to gun violence prevention. Researchers with Minnesota-based organization The Violence Prevention Project and HCMC linked patient data from 2013-2022 and Minneapolis homicide data from 2018-2022. They found that 1 in 50 patients admitted to HCMC for violent injury, later appeared in homicide records as a victim, a perpetrator or both.
HCMC does have a violence prevention program in the hospital called Next Step. It serves other area hospitals as well. Dr. Derek Lumbard, a trauma surgeon at HCMC and co-author of the study, said the program works to provide trauma-informed case management and services.
Read more on MPR News.
April
Older adults who experienced cardiovascular disease (CVD) events experienced lower cognitive function between three and eight years before the event, compared with those without CVD.
The study examined data from 9,435 community-dwelling older adults age 65 and older included in the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) randomized clinical trial and the extension (ASPREE-XT) observational study conducted between March 2010 and December 2014, with follow-up to June 2017.
Read more on McKnights.
March
The hospital, also known as HCMC and Hennepin Healthcare, is a place locals call on for emergencies. It's a place Dr. Tyler Winkelman, a Fargo native, felt called to.
"HCMC is a special place. There are opportunities to not only practice clinical medicine, but to conduct cutting-edge research," Winkelman said.
Read more on CBS News Minnesota.
February
On this episode, David Hilden (MD, MPH, FACP) has an in-depth conversation with infectious disease expert Dr. Amanda Noska (MD, MPH) to catch us up on the current state of both HIV and AIDS. They cover the basics of these conditions, the progress that's been made, the current challenges that are being faced, and what the road ahead looks like for local and global communities.
Listen to the Healthy Matters episode.
January
Prior studies, largely among middle-aged adults, have reported that taking aspirin reduces the risk of cancer after 10 years, particularly for colorectal cancer. However, new Monash University research has found that for healthy older adults who took a low-dose of aspirin daily, there was no effect on overall cancer incidence but increased risk of cancer-related mortality.
The study published in JAMA Oncology involved 19,114 Australian and American adults predominantly aged 70 years or over, who previously entered the ASPREE clinical trial (conducted from 2010 to 2017) and had no prior history of cardiovascular disease events, dementia, or independence-limiting physical disability at enrolment, and who were then followed in the post-trial ASPREE-eXTension (ASPREE-XT) study from 2018 to 2024.
Read more on Monash University.
Doctors stopped recommending routine daily aspirin for most people years ago, but many people continue to take it despite evidence that it doesn’t increase healthy lifespan for most older adults and may carry long-term risks like bleeding and cancer.
“Part of it is that you can buy aspirin without a prescription. And historically, people thought it was good for them,” said Anne Murray, MD, a geriatrician and epidemiologist at Hennepin HealthCare Research Institute in Minneapolis. “Changing [medical] practice really takes a generation, and I think that is what we’re seeing.”
Read more on The Chronicle.
Brain health is an ever-changing science, and up until the last decade, we didn't really have much of an understanding around preventive care. But that's changing quickly! To get us up to speed on things, we'll be joined by Preventive Neurologist Dr. Behnam Sabayan (MD, PhD) and Patty Takawira (MPH) from the Minnesota Department of Health. We'll go over the warning signs, preventative strategies, current understandings and the best ways to get the jump on keeping our brains healthy.
Listen to the Healthy Matters episode.
Read more on WebMD.
2025
December
Read more on Patient Daily.
Read more on Mirage News.
Read more on News-Medical.
Read more on National Endowment for the Arts.
November
Read more on ScienceDaily.
Read more on UPI.
The ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons followed participants to investigate which factors are associated with the risks of developing various diseases — and to what extent lifestyle changes could make a difference.
Read more on the Washington Post.
Read more on Monash University.
October
Researchers were motivated to conduct this study because of the growing global health challenge posed by aging populations and the corresponding rise in dementia cases. As life expectancy increases, so does the prevalence of age-related conditions like cognitive decline. With no current cure for dementia, identifying lifestyle factors that might help prevent or delay its onset has become a major focus of scientific inquiry.
The investigation utilized data from a large-scale Australian study called ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) and its sub-study. The final analysis included 10,893 community-dwelling adults who were 70 years of age or older and did not have a dementia diagnosis when they enrolled. These participants were followed for a median of 4.7 years, with some observational follow-up extending beyond that period.
Read more on PsyPost.
It's that time of year when you start hearing about getting those flu shots. But it is much more important for a certain group of people according to Dr. David Hilden of Hennepin County Medical Center.
Hilden joined WCCO's Health Radio and he says those over age 65 should be getting a shot, and opting for the higher dose flu vaccine.
Read more on WCCO.
How does the immune system bite back against malaria?
Malaria is caused by parasites that are transmitted to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. The parasites travel to the liver and then infect red blood cells, leading to symptoms.
Malaria has been bugging humanity for centuries. It’s hard to control the disease because the parasites can be resistant to drugs and current vaccines only offer partial protection.
But thanks to immunologists like Dr Kristina Burrack, we have a fighting chance!
Read more and listen to the podcast on JOY Media.
August
Kristina Burrack, an assistant professor at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and University of Minnesota, was hoping to develop a better malaria vaccine. She was “ecstatic” when the National Institutes of Health approved her grant proposal to study ways to boost immune responses in malaria patients.
Read more on The Sahan Journal.
Wildfire smoke has been easy to spot in Minnesota this week, coating the Twin Cities in a brownish haze that obscured the downtown skylines. But experts in lung health are more concerned about the particles you can’t see.
Studies do show changes in the body even when people don’t feel symptoms, said Dr. Matthew Prekker, a pulmonary and critical care specialist for Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.
Read more on The Minnesota Star Tribune.
July
These findings offer a rare, measurable improvement in primary health care delivery for people who have been homelessness after gaining housing. While “housing is health care” has been a long-touted slogan in the field of homeless health, the evidence has been far more complex.
Read more on Annals of Family Medicine.
President Trump's new tax cuts and budget bill is expected to have a major impact on local hospitals and nursing homes. Dr. Tyler Winkelman is a doctor at Hennepin Healthcare and an associate professor at the U of M Medical School. He joined Esme Murphy to talk about the cuts on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
Read more on CBS Minnesota.
As the science of vaccines continues to unlock more avenues for preventing communicable diseases and even treating some forms of cancer, local Top Doctors are exploring new ways to preserve the health of our community and treat some of the most complex medical conditions.
Read more on Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.
June
“So far this year, Hennepin Healthcare in downtown Minneapolis has cared for 72 gunshot victims, including 12 children. ‘The trend in the past few weeks or month or two has been more concerning,’ said Dr. Derek Lumbard, Hennepin Healthcare trauma surgeon. ‘In the past few weeks alone, there's been an increase in number of firearm injuries coming through our hospital door.’ A rise in gun violence is putting doctors on edge after several years of decline. Lumbard says the numbers they are seeing so far this year are putting the city ahead of schedule, and if this trend continues, there will be no decline in shooting victims. The solution is already in motion, with trauma care working together with violence prevention programs.”
Read more on WCCO News.
May
It's the season to sun, swim and savor flavors. But when it comes to that watermelon, it can become ominous. A common warning is that watermelon seeds can germinate in your stomach.
However, Dr. Krish Subrahmanian, who works in pediatric medicine at Hennepin Healthcare, says, "We are gonna myth bust right now. The watermelon isn't gonna grow in your belly."
Read more on CBS News.
April
Being married has its benefits, but a new study found that staying single late in life might actually be better for your brain.
Tying the knot is a monumental moment. It's a partnership filled with ups and downs that could enrich both lives.
Marriage, however, isn't some instant cure, according to Dr. Behnam Sabayan, a vascular neurologist with Hennepin Healthcare.
Read more on CBS Minnesota.
March
A Minneapolis man is crediting new technology at Hennepin Healthcare with saving his life after a sudden medical emergency nearly caused a stroke. Using a Transcranial Doppler ultrasound, doctors were able to see blood flow to his brain in real time—catching a torn artery before it turned deadly.
Read more on CBS Minnesota.
In March 2020, while working at HCMC in Minneapolis, Hick, an emergency physician and medical director for emergency preparedness, began hearing reports of increasing COVID-19 cases in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in skilled nursing facilities. He realized it was only a matter of time before the virus reached his own hospital.
Listen to and read more on MPR News.
It’s been five years since the Coronavirus pandemic began.
Dr. Caitlin Eccles-Radtke and Dr. John Hick with Hennepin Healthcare were on the frontlines from the very beginning. Their memories from five years ago range from mask shortages to trying to secure overflow hospital space around the metro.
“Covid taught me a lot of lessons about resilience, but it also taught me about vulnerability,” said Hick.
Read more on KSTP.
February
During the pandemic, the initial vaccines appeared 70% to 90% effective at preventing admissions, but at that point few people had exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said Dr. Matthew Prekker, an HCMC physician and a coauthor of the report.
Now that most people have been infected, “there is a baseline level of immunity in the community, even independent of vaccination status,” he said. “So the fact that the current vaccine is providing additional protection, even on the margins, is really important.”
Read more on The Minnesota Star Tribune.
January
“Researchers interact with and learn from patients about their healthcare experience, whether from a purely clinical perspective or considering the social determinants of health and rethinking how best to serve them. That’s valuable for our whole community — continuously improving to make our care more efficient, effective, and patient-centered. Exceptional care is possible only when there is an ongoing effort to improve, and HHRI is uniquely positioned to do that in a diverse community..."
Read more on Insight News.
2024
November
Unusually precise measurements of cardiac troponin I made possible using the Mindray assay, meant additional individuals could also be ruled out. In total, across all cardiac troponin I measures, researchers were able to identify 60 per cent of patients presenting to the emergency department with heart attack like symptoms, who could be safely sent home.
Read more on Healthworld from The Economic Times.
It’s that time of year — time to get your flu shots. But next year, you could get vaccinated for the flu at home. Just last month, the FDA approved FluMist, a nasal-spray flu vaccine that can be done at home.
Read more on ABC 6 NEWS.
As many as 60 percent of people presenting to emergency departments around the world with heart attack symptoms could be safely sent home, many at earlier stages, with the support of a new high-sensitivity cardiac troponin test, researchers in the US have found.
Read more on Health Tech World.
October
A University of Minnesota Medical School research team has found that giving iron supplements to children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in sub-Saharan Africa could be an important first step in optimizing brain development.
Read more on the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Medical professionals have issued a new warning about a street drug termed “pink cocaine,” which is misleadingly named, as it contains no cocaine.
Dr. Gavin Bart, Director of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Hennepin Healthcare, suggests that the pink drug likely contains harmful substances such as methamphetamine, MDMA (molly), caffeine, or ketamine. Dr. Bart also explains that “pink cocaine” is a branding strategy, with food coloring added to make the drug visually distinctive and more marketable.
The main danger with such illicit drugs is their unknown composition, making it difficult for users to know what they are ingesting, leading to potentially severe health consequences.
Listen to the full audio clip on 830 WCCO-AM here. The story can be heard at the 4:09 mark.
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, but iron supplementation can increase risk of opportunistic infections, especially in children living with HIV. We aimed to assess the effect of supplemental iron on haemoglobin concentration in children living with HIV and mild-to-moderate anaemia in Uganda.
Read more on THE LANCET HIV.
A recent Minnesota Department of Health study into telehealth showed widespread benefits for patients and providers, prompting changes to telehealth in Minnesota.
Read more on The Minnesota Daily.
September
Dr. Mirick is one of five orthopedic surgeons at Hennepin Healthcare who happen to be female. Several are quick to admit that working with power tools was an early part of their attraction to medicine.
Read more on FOX 9.
Dr. Mirick is one of five orthopedic surgeons at Hennepin Healthcare who happen to be female. Several are quick to admit that working with power tools was an early part of their attraction to medicine.
Read more on FOX 9.
Dr. Mirick is one of five orthopedic surgeons at Hennepin Healthcare who happen to be female. Several are quick to admit that working with power tools was an early part of their attraction to medicine.
Read more on Yahoo! News.
August
The risk of death for people who donate a kidney for transplantation — already small a decade ago — has dropped by more than half since then, a new study shows.
Read more on Murray Journal.
The risk of death for people who donate a kidney for transplantation — already small a decade ago — has dropped by more than half since then, a new study shows.
Read more on Business Class News.
The risk of death for people who donate a kidney for transplantation — already small a decade ago — has dropped by more than half since then, a new study shows.
Read more on Leader Publications.
The risk of death for people who donate a kidney for transplantation — already small a decade ago — has dropped by more than half since then, a new study shows.
Read more on The Post-Searchlight.
The risk of death for people who donate a kidney for transplantation — already small a decade ago — has dropped by more than half since then, a new study shows.
Read more on Cordele Dispatch.
Each year, roughly 6,000 Americans volunteer to donate a kidney, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Read more on Suffolk News-Herald.
Reentry into the community can be an extraordinarily difficult process for the over 1 million adults incarcerated in U.S. prisons. These individuals face substantial barriers and strained social and familial relationships when returning to life outside of jail or prison that contribute to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality.
Read more on Yale School of Public Health.
Researchers evaluating the associations between various components and principal body composition patterns with the risk of neurodegenerative diseases found that individuals with higher levels of fat mass in the trunk or arms had a higher risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Those with higher levels of patterns of fat-to-lean mass, muscle strength, bone density, and leg-dominant fat distribution, however, had decreased risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers say identifying modifiable risk factors for neurodegenerative disorders would pave the way for developing preventive efforts to ease the burden of these conditions.
Read more on Neurology Today.
July
Read the full story on Tittle Press.
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Read the full story on The Body Pro.
BEMIDJI — It’s not every day that you see a high school freshman suturing a wound, delivering a baby or casting an arm in a hospital.
Through means of simulation, however, these were the sights of five high-schoolers taking part in Sanford Bemidji’s inaugural Native Americans with Stethoscopes Camp on Saturday.
Drawing inspiration from Hennepin Healthcare’s event, “American Indian Youth with Stethoscopes Youth Summit,” the students were exposed to several facets of health care throughout the morning.
Read the full story on The Bemidji Pioneer.
June
M Health Fairview created the food navigator position in response to the rising number of food-insecure patients who struggle to navigate food shelves and government assistance. The program also represents a growing recognition of how nutrition affects conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, asthma, obesity and high blood pressure.
Read the full story on Newsbreak.
In her new position as a “food navigator,” Mang Vang works with the hospital system’s neediest patients, connecting them to resources such as food shelves and government benefits.
Read the full story on Sahan Journal.
Data from a Kenya-based trial earlier this year showed post-exposure prophylaxis doxycycline hycate 200 mg (doxycycline PEP) was not associated with a clinically significantly reduced incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) versus standard care in cisgender women. In fact, the findings from the multinational dPEP Kenya Study Team showed the antibiotic was poorly adhered to among younger, cisgender women who were considered at risk of Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Treponema pallidum infections after sexual encounters.
Read the story on Reach MD.
Sixty adults who have experienced acute coronary syndrome within the past 2-12 months from three states (Rhode Island, North Carolina, Minnesota) will be randomized to either (1) a coaching program for depressed mood and health behavior change (Behavioral Activation for Health and Depression; BA-HD), or (2) Enhanced Usual Care. This study will evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of study procedures and BA-HD, and establish protocol and measurement harmonization across three sites in preparation for a future multi-site efficacy trial.
Full Title of Study: “Multisite Feasibility of BA-HD: An Integrated Depression and Behavioral Risk Factor Reduction Coaching Program Following Acute Coronary Syndrome”
Read more in-depth analysis on Trial Bulletin.
May
A major change in the medical world is helping make kidney transplants more racially equitable. Race is no longer being considered an important test to estimate kidney function. Dr. Kirsten Johansen, Hennepin Healthcare's chief of nephrology, says the test had been systematically causing Black people's results to come back as higher, which, in some cases, may have affected their eligibility for a transplant.
Read and watch the story on WCCO News.
Chances are we've all known someone who has suffered a stroke, and it turns out they're a lot more common than we might think - nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. every year. Brain health is essential to our wellbeing and suffering a stroke can have profound and even life-altering effects, assuming the patient survives the event. But how can we identify a stroke? What should we do when we see one? What treatments and therapies are available - or better yet, what can we do to protect our brains?
Tune in here on Healthy Matters.
Inconsistent addiction treatment during and after incarceration leads to deaths and recidivism, experts say. A proposal at the Capitol aims to use federal Medicaid dollars to help. Dr. Tyler Winkelman, Hennepin Healthcare's division director of general internal medicine, helped set up the jail's opioid use disorder treatment program in 2019 with grant dollars. He said about 6,000 people received treatment there last year.
Read more on the Star Tribune.
Minnesota's jails are filled with people who have substance use disorder, but a state survey found less than half of county jails provide medication for opioid addiction. People go through painful and sometimes dangerous withdrawal symptoms, vomiting, and shivering in jail cells. When they leave, their tolerance is low. One in five Minnesota who died of an overdose had been incarcerated in the past year. The first two weeks after release are particularly deadly.
Read more on this topic on Yahoo.
In the second segment of an interview with Contemporary OB/GYN, dPEP Kenya investigator Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH, assistant professor of infectious diseases at Hennepin Healthcare, discussed her perspective on her team’s findings regarding lesser doxycycline PEP adherence among cisgender women in Kenya, and the follow-up research efforts to better quantify what women may want in an STI preventive therapy.
Read more on Health Reporter.
In the second segment of an interview with Contemporary OB/GYN, dPEP Kenya investigator Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH, assistant professor of infectious diseases at Hennepin Healthcare, discussed her perspective on her team’s findings regarding lesser doxycycline PEP adherence among cisgender women in Kenya, and the follow-up research efforts to better quantify what women may want in an STI preventive therapy.
Read more about it on Contemporary OB/GYN.
April
Covid-19 has had immense impacts on our healthcare system, including on the care of our most vulnerable patients such as those with end-stage kidney disease. For our annual Kardos Medical Grand Rounds, Dr. Kirsten Johansen, professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, chief of Nephrology at Hennepin Healthcare, and president of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, will provide insights into the impact of Covid-19 on individuals battling end-stage kidney disease. This lecture is held in memory of Dr. Gary Kardos, who was an esteemed clinician-educator nephrologist at UCSF for several decades.
Read the article and watch the recording on University of California San Francisco.
The Washington Post recently released an article, The Checkup With Dr. Wen: How covid-19 might have improved public health infrastructure, that mentions the Consortium as an exemplar of healthcare and public health partnerships! The paragraph in the Washington Post story that mentions the MNEHRC and includes a link to a Health Affairs article authored by HHRI researchers and other MNEHRC researchers is:
In Minnesota, a coalition of health systems similarly decided to share electronic health records to facilitate care during covid. The entities have since adapted the system to do the same with substance use. In a recent Health Affairs article, leaders of those systems detailed how such information exchange allows for real-time alerts and early intervention to help reduce overdose deaths.
Read the article on The Washington Post.
March
The Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) was held in Denver, US, in March. Here is a roundup of some of the HIV treatment and prevention research focused on women that was presented at the conference. New insights from a large study raised the profile of the risk of cardiovascular disease for women. Results from the REPRIEVE study have been influential, as they showed that the use of a statin reduced the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events when given to people with HIV who are at low to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease. Risk was lowered by around 35%. Turning to research on PrEP (regular medication to prevent HIV), a large study involving young women in six countries in Africa reported high uptake of oral PrEP and good adherence. The study is working with women with an average age 24 in Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Urine tests to look for the PrEP drug tenofovir were used with some participants and these indicated recent adherence of around 70%. This level of adherence is better than that seen in most previous studies of PrEP with women in African countries. But despite high levels of PrEP use, HIV annual incidence remained quite high at 1.38% – or one infection in every 72 participants a year. In a symposium at the conference, Dr. Jenell Stewart of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis argued that there is accumulating evidence that event-driven PrEP could work just as well for women as daily PrEP and that it should be included as an option for everyone in PrEP guidelines. Event-driven PrEP means taking PrEP only around the time of a possible exposure to HIV, rather than every day. Most guidelines support event-driven PrEP as an option for gay and bisexual men and trans women, but not for cisgender women. Stewart argued that event-driven PrEP for cisgender women should be reconsidered and researched further.
HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could in theory stop the majority of HIV transmissions that still happen, and in some places, including England, is doing so. Yet worldwide, it is still only being used only by a minority of those who could benefit from it. A symposium during the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) saw presentations advocating changes in practice on what might be called opposite ends of the menu of PrEP options now on offer. Dr Rupa Patel of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asked why the rollout of long-acting injectable PrEP had been so slow. In the same session, Dr. Jenell Stewart of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis, USA argued that event-driven PrEP is demonstrably as effective as daily PrEP for gay men and trans women, and that there’s accumulating evidence that it could also work just as well for women and others who have vaginal sex. (Event-driven PrEP means taking PrEP pills not every day, but only around the time of a possible exposure to HIV.)
Jenell Stewart, D.O., M.P.H., is challenging long-standing perceptions around event-driven HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), especially those surrounding people assigned female at birth. At the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2024) in Denver, Stewart, an infectious diseases specialist at Hennepin Healthcare and Investigator at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis, led a talk intended to question dogmas that have been largely adopted by the medical community and clinical guidelines. Stewart’s presentation, which took place on March 6, challenged several such dogmas specifically within the realm of prescribing PrEP.
Read the article on TheBodyPro.
Dr. Behnam Sabayan of Hennepin Healthcare joins Susie Jones to talk about strokes. He answers listener question about things like atrial fibrillation risks to TIA's and talks about Hennepin Healthcare's new technologies to help in stroke treatment.
Read the article on WCCO News Talk 830.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
Read the article on Medbound Times.
February
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
A new collaborative study between Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children’s Hospital, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia finds exposure to neighborhood violence among children was associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and based on nationally representative data on violence exposure and gold standard access to care measures from the National Health Interview Survey, this study shows that evidence-based interventions to improve access to care in communities impacted by violence are needed to mitigate long-term physical and mental health consequences for children. Millions of children in the U.S. are exposed to violence in their homes or communities. Research has shown that children exposed to violence have worse school performance in childhood, increased rates of substance use disorder in adolescence, increased rates of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder in adulthood, and increased risk of developing chronic medical conditions throughout their lives. Exposure to violence also deepens child health inequities, particularly in marginalized communities disproportionately exposed to violence due to systemic racism across generations. This study helps examine violence exposure at the population level as both a direct driver of health inequities and as a consequence of fundamental causes like racism, poverty, and other structural risk conditions. The researchers found that, even after controlling for the effects of other important factors like family income and insurance status, children exposed to neighborhood violence face unmet physical and mental health care needs, cost-related barriers, decreased access to prescription drugs, increased urgent care and emergency department utilization, and decreased access to preventive care, mental health care, and medications.
Post-exposure prophylaxis doxycycline hycate 200 mg (doxycycline PEP) was not associated with significantly lower incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) versus standard care among young, cisgender women in Kenya.1 Recent findings from the dPEP Kenya Study Team show that cisgender women aged 18 – 30 years old did not benefit from the tetracycline antibiotic in the prevention of STIs including Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Treponema pallidum—contradicting previous study findings observed among cisgender men and transgender women treated with the post-exposure prophylactic drug.2 What’s more, the investigative team observed lesser adherence to doxycycline PEP among cisgender women after sexual encounters. The new data stress the continued need for STI-preventive care options that are both efficacious and accepted by women, who are disproportionately affected by STI complications compared to men.1 Investigators led by Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the division of infectious diseases at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute at University of Minnesota, conducted a randomized, open-label assessment comparing doxycycline PEP with standard care among Kenyan women 18 – 30 years old in the prevention of incident chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis infection. Combined, these 3 common STIs currently constitute nearly 400 million infections annually—with standard measures of prevention including abstinence, condom use and screening not helping to curb the increasing rate. Stewart and colleagues specifically observed doxycycline PEP—taken ≤72 hours following sexual encounter—in women receiving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) due to the high rate of bacterial STIs observed in such patients as well as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) call for integrated STI prevention and PrEP care. “Women are disproportionately burdened by STI sequelae, including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, increased risk of HIV acquisition, and pregnancy and fetal complications,” investigators noted. “Doxycycline PEP effectively reduced the incidence of STIs among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States.”
Post-exposure prophylaxis doxycycline hycate 200 mg (doxycycline PEP) was not associated with significantly lower incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) versus standard care among young, cisgender women in Kenya.1 Recent findings from the dPEP Kenya Study Team show that cisgender women aged 18 – 30 years old did not benefit from the tetracycline antibiotic in the prevention of STIs including Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Treponema pallidum—contradicting previous study findings observed among cisgender men and transgender women treated with the post-exposure prophylactic drug.2 What’s more, the investigative team observed lesser adherence to doxycycline PEP among cisgender women after sexual encounters. The new data stress the continued need for STI-preventive care options that are both efficacious and accepted by women, who are disproportionately affected by STI complications compared to men.1 Investigators led by Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the division of infectious diseases at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute at University of Minnesota, conducted a randomized, open-label assessment comparing doxycycline PEP with standard care among Kenyan women 18 – 30 years old in the prevention of incident chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis infection. Combined, these 3 common STIs currently constitute nearly 400 million infections annually—with standard measures of prevention including abstinence, condom use and screening not helping to curb the increasing rate. Stewart and colleagues specifically observed doxycycline PEP—taken ≤72 hours following sexual encounter—in women receiving HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) due to the high rate of bacterial STIs observed in such patients as well as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) call for integrated STI prevention and PrEP care. “Women are disproportionately burdened by STI sequelae, including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, increased risk of HIV acquisition, and pregnancy and fetal complications,” investigators noted. “Doxycycline PEP effectively reduced the incidence of STIs among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States.”
A study conducted in Kenya appeared to show that doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) was not effective in preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among cisgender women taking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, study drug adherence was suboptimal, and the researchers pointed out that additional factors may have played a role as well. This open-label trial, taking place between 2020 and 2022, evaluated the effectiveness of doxycycline for preventing chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis after condomless sex in 449 Kenyan women (median age 24 years) who were already taking PrEP to prevent HIV acquisition. Participants were randomized 1:1 to the study drug or to standard care. The 44 study arm participants who became pregnant stopped taking doxycycline, and another 10 participants also discontinued the drug. Study limitations reported included a lack of information on STI history or direct data participants’ partners and no information on rectal or pharyngeal STIs. Syphilis incidence was too low to assess doxycycline’s effectiveness against that STI. In addition, drug residue in the control arm may indicate other uses of doxycycline, common in this population, the authors said. The high prevalence of tetracycline-resistant N. gonorrhoeae may also have contributed to the lack of doxycycline efficacy, they said.
A wide range of health and lifestyle factors were associated with greater risk for developing young-onset dementia (YOD), marked by symptoms of cognitive decline that occur before age 65, according to a study published online Dec. 26 in JAMA Neurology. The authors identified modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors for YOD, suggesting that targeted interventions may prevent decline in middle-aged adults. Led by Alzheimer Center Limburg at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, the researchers included more than 356,052 participants from the UK Biobank, a large database established to investigate the genetic and non-genetic determinants of diseases occurring in mid-life and old age. They found that higher formal education and lower physical frailty (higher handgrip strength) were associated with a lower risk of incidence of YOD. Moderate or heavy alcohol use compared with abstinence had a lower association with YOD while persons with a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder had a higher association with YOD. Neurologists told Neurology Today that the study emphasizes the need for increasing public awareness that dementia does not only affect people over age 65. Controlling modifiable risk factors in middle age and before symptoms appear can make a notable difference, they said. The large-scale study provides a basis for further investigation, experts said. The research is observational, and the data comes from only one cohort as opposed to multinational, multi-cohort efforts, said Behnam Sabayan, MD, PhD, a vascular neurologist and brain health research scholar at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis. This calls for some caution in interpretating the findings, he said. “Nonetheless, this study is very likely to pave the path toward changing the way we think about young-onset dementia,” said Dr. Sabayan, an assistant professor of neurology and affiliate assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. “For years and decades, neurologists were taught that YOD is a genetically driven condition and modifiable risk factors do not play much role in the disease development and progression,” he said. “This study will help [us] to rethink this concept and highlights the importance of preventive neurology to promote brain health.”
A wide range of health and lifestyle factors were associated with greater risk for developing young-onset dementia (YOD), marked by symptoms of cognitive decline that occur before age 65, according to a study published online Dec. 26 in JAMA Neurology. The authors identified modifiable and nonmodifiable risk factors for YOD, suggesting that targeted interventions may prevent decline in middle-aged adults. Led by Alzheimer Center Limburg at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, the researchers included more than 356,052 participants from the UK Biobank, a large database established to investigate the genetic and non-genetic determinants of diseases occurring in mid-life and old age. They found that higher formal education and lower physical frailty (higher handgrip strength) were associated with a lower risk of incidence of YOD. Moderate or heavy alcohol use compared with abstinence had a lower association with YOD while persons with a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder had a higher association with YOD. Neurologists told Neurology Today that the study emphasizes the need for increasing public awareness that dementia does not only affect people over age 65. Controlling modifiable risk factors in middle age and before symptoms appear can make a notable difference, they said. The large-scale study provides a basis for further investigation, experts said. The research is observational, and the data comes from only one cohort as opposed to multinational, multi-cohort efforts, said Behnam Sabayan, MD, PhD, a vascular neurologist and brain health research scholar at Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis. This calls for some caution in interpretating the findings, he said. “Nonetheless, this study is very likely to pave the path toward changing the way we think about young-onset dementia,” said Dr. Sabayan, an assistant professor of neurology and affiliate assistant professor of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. “For years and decades, neurologists were taught that YOD is a genetically driven condition and modifiable risk factors do not play much role in the disease development and progression,” he said. “This study will help [us] to rethink this concept and highlights the importance of preventive neurology to promote brain health.”
January
Taking doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis after sex – known as doxyPEP – did not reduce the likelihood of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among cisgender women in Africa as it does for gay and bisexual men, according to recently published study results. Actual use of the antibiotic was found to be low, however, suggesting doxyPEP might still work for women if adherence is higher. “Our findings emphasize the need for preventive options for STIs that are effective and acceptable among women,” Dr. Jennell Stewart of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis and colleagues concluded. “Further trials investigating doxycycline PEP among persons who had been assigned a female sex at birth are warranted. Adherence to preventive medicines needs to be better understood and supported for biomedical prevention to be effective.” DoxyPEP involves taking a 200mg dose of doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex. It was found to be effective for men who have sex with men in the French IPERGAY HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trial and in a trial of gay and bisexual men and transgender women in San Francisco and Seattle who were either living with HIV or taking PrEP. As reported at the 2022 International AIDS Conference, the latter study found that doxycycline reduced new cases of chlamydia and syphilis by about 80% and gonorrhoea by more than 50%. A study of young women in sub-Saharan Africa did not show the same benefit, however. Results from the dPEP Kenya trial were first reported at last year’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) and have now been published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The trial, conducted from 2020 to 2022, enrolled 449 cisgender women ages 18 to 30 (median 24 years) in Kisumu, an area with high STI rates. Most (65%) were never married, but 83% had a primary sex partner. Nearly 70% had given birth at least once, but they were not pregnant at baseline and about 60% were using hormonal contraception.
Why did doxyPEP fail?
The researchers noted that Kisumu has a high background level of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea. In fact, all the women who tested positive for gonorrhoea either at baseline or during follow-up showed evidence of drug resistance. However, none of the chlamydia samples showed evidence of resistance. This might help explain why doxyPEP appeared to be somewhat more effective at preventing chlamydia compared with gonorrhoea. In contrast, drug-resistant gonorrhoea was much less common in the trial of doxyPEP for gay and bisexual men and trans women in the United States.
A decade after the debut of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), there’s a new way to have safer sex. Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or doxyPEP, is a morning-after pill that lowers the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. Studies show that this can be an effective approach for people at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—but it’s not for everyone. STI rates have been rising worldwide in recent decades. In the United States, there were more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Gay and bisexual men, transgender women, young people and Black people are disproportionately affected. While PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV, forgoing condoms leaves people prone to bacterial STIs. Although usually not life-threatening, STIs are more than just a nuisance: Left untreated, they can lead to serious long-term complications. Regular screening allows for prompt treatment, but it would be better to prevent STIs in the first place. Here’s how doxyPEP works: A single 200 milligram dose of doxycycline is taken ideally within 24 hours—but no later than 72 hours—after anal, vaginal or oral sex. Doxycycline can be taken on consecutive days if sex is repeated, but no more than one dose in a 24-hour period. It is safe to take doxycycline with PrEP. Because it’s an antibiotic, doxycycline doesn’t prevent viral STIs, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), mpox or herpes.
What Does the Research Show?
A study called dPEP Kenya found that taking doxycycline after sex did not offer the same protection for young cisgender women. Overall STI incidence was high, with no significant differences between the doxyPEP and standard care groups, reported Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis.
The reason for these disappointing results is unclear. Although drug concentrations appeared high enough to inhibit bacterial STIs, many of the women reported suboptimal adherence, and less than a third had detectable doxycycline levels at all study visits. This suggests that doxyPEP might still work for women who use it consistently.
DoxyPEP Concerns
In all these studies, doxyPEP was generally safe and well tolerated. But doxycycline can cause side effects—mainly gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea and heartburn. Taking the pills with food and at least a half hour before lying down helps reduce these effects. The antibiotic can also cause photosensitivity, so people who use it are advised to avoid direct sunlight and wear sunscreen. Pregnant people should not use doxycycline because it can harm the fetus.
A decade after the debut of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), there’s a new way to have safer sex. Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or doxyPEP, is a morning-after pill that lowers the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. Studies show that this can be an effective approach for people at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—but it’s not for everyone. STI rates have been rising worldwide in recent decades. In the United States, there were more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Gay and bisexual men, transgender women, young people and Black people are disproportionately affected. While PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV, forgoing condoms leaves people prone to bacterial STIs. Although usually not life-threatening, STIs are more than just a nuisance: Left untreated, they can lead to serious long-term complications. Regular screening allows for prompt treatment, but it would be better to prevent STIs in the first place. Here’s how doxyPEP works: A single 200 milligram dose of doxycycline is taken ideally within 24 hours—but no later than 72 hours—after anal, vaginal or oral sex. Doxycycline can be taken on consecutive days if sex is repeated, but no more than one dose in a 24-hour period. It is safe to take doxycycline with PrEP. Because it’s an antibiotic, doxycycline doesn’t prevent viral STIs, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), mpox or herpes.
What Does the Research Show?
A study called dPEP Kenya found that taking doxycycline after sex did not offer the same protection for young cisgender women. Overall STI incidence was high, with no significant differences between the doxyPEP and standard care groups, reported Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis.
The reason for these disappointing results is unclear. Although drug concentrations appeared high enough to inhibit bacterial STIs, many of the women reported suboptimal adherence, and less than a third had detectable doxycycline levels at all study visits. This suggests that doxyPEP might still work for women who use it consistently.
DoxyPEP Concerns
In all these studies, doxyPEP was generally safe and well tolerated. But doxycycline can cause side effects—mainly gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea and heartburn. Taking the pills with food and at least a half hour before lying down helps reduce these effects. The antibiotic can also cause photosensitivity, so people who use it are advised to avoid direct sunlight and wear sunscreen. Pregnant people should not use doxycycline because it can harm the fetus.
A decade after the debut of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), there’s a new way to have safer sex. Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis, or doxyPEP, is a morning-after pill that lowers the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. Studies show that this can be an effective approach for people at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—but it’s not for everyone. STI rates have been rising worldwide in recent decades. In the United States, there were more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Gay and bisexual men, transgender women, young people and Black people are disproportionately affected. While PrEP is highly effective at preventing HIV, forgoing condoms leaves people prone to bacterial STIs. Although usually not life-threatening, STIs are more than just a nuisance: Left untreated, they can lead to serious long-term complications. Regular screening allows for prompt treatment, but it would be better to prevent STIs in the first place. Here’s how doxyPEP works: A single 200 milligram dose of doxycycline is taken ideally within 24 hours—but no later than 72 hours—after anal, vaginal or oral sex. Doxycycline can be taken on consecutive days if sex is repeated, but no more than one dose in a 24-hour period. It is safe to take doxycycline with PrEP. Because it’s an antibiotic, doxycycline doesn’t prevent viral STIs, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), mpox or herpes.
What Does the Research Show?
A study called dPEP Kenya found that taking doxycycline after sex did not offer the same protection for young cisgender women. Overall STI incidence was high, with no significant differences between the doxyPEP and standard care groups, reported Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis.
The reason for these disappointing results is unclear. Although drug concentrations appeared high enough to inhibit bacterial STIs, many of the women reported suboptimal adherence, and less than a third had detectable doxycycline levels at all study visits. This suggests that doxyPEP might still work for women who use it consistently.
DoxyPEP Concerns
In all these studies, doxyPEP was generally safe and well tolerated. But doxycycline can cause side effects—mainly gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea and heartburn. Taking the pills with food and at least a half hour before lying down helps reduce these effects. The antibiotic can also cause photosensitivity, so people who use it are advised to avoid direct sunlight and wear sunscreen. Pregnant people should not use doxycycline because it can harm the fetus.
The researchers, who conducted a 12-month long study since December last year on 449 cisgender women who were taking daily oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), found that doxycycline PEP use did not prevent STIs among the women. “18 per cent of participants had an STI at the time they entered the study and over the course of the study, the rate of STIs remained high – an annual incidence of 27 per cent, which is comparable to rates among men who have sex with men in high income countries.” According to Prof Elizabeth Bukusi, the principal investigator of the dPEP Kenya Study and senior principal clinical research scientist at Kemri, the results have disappointed not only Kemri researchers but also their partners who include the University of Washington and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. The findings of the peer reviewed study, which have also been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, have been highly anticipated considering that this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. “Objective measure of doxycycline detection in hair samples indicate that use of doxycycline was low in this study. Doxycycline PEP needs to be studied further among people assigned female sex at birth. I am hopeful that it will work for everyone regardless of sex and gender, but in our study many women didn’t take the doxycycline they were given. We need STI prevention that is proven, accessible and easy to use,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, dPEP Kenya Study director and Infectious Disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota.
2023
December
Native Americans and other underserved communities suffering from organ failure are less likely to receive a life-saving organ transplant due to persistent disparities along the entire transplant process. Despite numerous research interventions, rates of waiting list additions and transplant for these populations have not increased in the United States in the past two decades. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) a grant to study using a Learning Health System (LHS) model to increase organ donation and reduce disparities in access to transplantation. The LHS for organ donation will use the “Talk Donation” program that was developed and piloted in urban Minneapolis by LifeSource, an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) serving Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. The “Talk Donation” campaign was created to increase Native American organ donation rates. The grant will help scale up “Talk Donation” for new communities in the region LifeSource serves. “The goal to create a Learning Health System means to create a system that embeds research into everyday practice. In organ donation, we can use existing data in new ways to support and scale up the work that LifeSource is doing,” said Cory Schaffhausen, PhD, Principal Investigator on the study. “LifeSource is a key partner to understand the needs of an Organ Procurement Organization, and we hope the tools developed during the project can also help monitor and improve equity in other OPOs across the US.”
Researchers from Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), University of Washington (UW), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) published results in the New England Journal of Medicine.The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. In February, HHRI Investigator Dr. Jenell Stewart presented initial results from the dPEP Kenya clinical trial at CROI demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) chlamydia or gonorrhea among cisgender women, but the reason for this had not yet been established. Objective measure of doxycycline detection in hair samples indicate that use of doxycycline was low in this study. “Doxycycline PEP needs to be studied further among people assigned female sex at birth. I am hopeful that it will work for everyone regardless of sex and gender, but in our study many women didn’t take the doxycycline they were given. We need STI prevention that is proven, accessible, and easy to use.” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota.
Doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) up to 72 hours after unprotected sex did not prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in cisgender women, possibly due to poor adherence, a randomized open-label trial showed. In the study of Kenyan women ages 18 to 30, incident STIs occurred in 50 women taking doxycycline PEP (25.1 per 100 person-years) and 59 who received standard care (29.0 per 100 person-years), with no significant between-group difference in incidence (relative risk [RR] 0.88, 95% CI 0.60-1.29, P=0.51), reported Jenell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues. However, hair sample analysis suggested that 44% of women assigned to doxycycline PEP may have never took the drug, the authors noted in the New England Journal of Medicineopens in a new tab or window. "It is important to understand why so many didn't use it," Stewart told MedPage Today in an email. Stewart first presented the trial results at this year's Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)opens in a new tab or window. At that time, researchers puzzled over why doxycycline PEP failed to prevent STIs, given that previous trials showed that the treatment prevented STIs in cisgender menopens in a new tab or window and transgender womenopens in a new tab or window.
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham today announced the following appointments to the Equitable Health Care Task Force:
Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, Hennepin Healthcare - General member
Tyler Winkelman, MD, co-director health, homelessness, and criminal justice lab, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute; past-president, Minnesota EHR Consortium - General member
“Year after year, the data show Minnesota is one of the healthiest states with some of the worst health disparities,” Commissioner Cunningham said. “One of my primary goals as commissioner is to make sure all Minnesotans have the opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This task force is a critical component of our work, and I could not be more proud of the quality and level of expertise represented among these members.” The Equitable Health Care Task Force was established by the Minnesota Legislature during its 2023 session. The task force’s charge is to examine inequities in how people experience health care based on race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, age and disability. It will identify strategies for ensuring that all Minnesotans can receive care and coverage that is respectful and ensures optimal health outcomes.
Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham today announced the following appointments to the Equitable Health Care Task Force:
Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, Hennepin Healthcare - General member
Tyler Winkelman, MD, co-director health, homelessness, and criminal justice lab, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute; past-president, Minnesota EHR Consortium - General member
“Year after year, the data show Minnesota is one of the healthiest states with some of the worst health disparities,” Commissioner Cunningham said. “One of my primary goals as commissioner is to make sure all Minnesotans have the opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This task force is a critical component of our work, and I could not be more proud of the quality and level of expertise represented among these members.” The Equitable Health Care Task Force was established by the Minnesota Legislature during its 2023 session. The task force’s charge is to examine inequities in how people experience health care based on race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, age and disability. It will identify strategies for ensuring that all Minnesotans can receive care and coverage that is respectful and ensures optimal health outcomes.
Without anyone in his family already in the field, when Casey Dorr first decided he wanted to become a scientist, he didn't have many people he could talk to about what that decision meant. "When I decided I wanted to become a scientist in high school, I had no idea what that involved, and no one in my family did either," he recalled. "I just had a dream." As a first-generation descendant of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe from Bemidji, Dorr wanted to combine his Indigenous heritage with his love of science and he was determined to find a way to pursue that path. Now an experienced scientist with the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota's College of Medicine, Dorr attributes his success to the mentors and Native American scientists who took him under their wings.
Without anyone in his family already in the field, when Casey Dorr first decided he wanted to become a scientist, he didn't have many people he could talk to about what that decision meant. "When I decided I wanted to become a scientist in high school, I had no idea what that involved, and no one in my family did either," he recalled. "I just had a dream." As a first-generation descendant of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe from Bemidji, Dorr wanted to combine his Indigenous heritage with his love of science and he was determined to find a way to pursue that path. Now an experienced scientist with the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota's College of Medicine, Dorr attributes his success to the mentors and Native American scientists who took him under their wings.
November
In a recently released study, researchers at Hennepin Healthcare and other Minnesota health systems describe how a COVID-19 collaboration across Minnesota health systems was adapted to monitor near-real-time trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits. MNEHRC's study, "Minnesota Data Sharing May Be Model for Near-Real-Time Tracking of Drug Overdose Hospital and ED Trends," was published in the November issue of Health Affairs, the leading health policy journal in the United States. Using data from all six adult hospitals and EDs in Hennepin County, Minnesota, researchers found large increases in methamphetamine- and opioid-involved hospital and ED visits. Throughout the study period, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits. "This study sets the framework for the data needed to reduce overdose deaths in Hennepin County," explains Hennepin Healthcare physician and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute investigator Dr. Tyler Winkelman, who led the project and is past-president of the MNEHRC.
In a recently released study, researchers at Hennepin Healthcare and other Minnesota health systems describe how a COVID-19 collaboration across Minnesota health systems was adapted to monitor near-real-time trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits. MNEHRC's study, "Minnesota Data Sharing May Be Model for Near-Real-Time Tracking of Drug Overdose Hospital and ED Trends," was published in the November issue of Health Affairs, the leading health policy journal in the United States. Using data from all six adult hospitals and EDs in Hennepin County, Minnesota, researchers found large increases in methamphetamine- and opioid-involved hospital and ED visits. Throughout the study period, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits. "This study sets the framework for the data needed to reduce overdose deaths in Hennepin County," explains Hennepin Healthcare physician and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute investigator Dr. Tyler Winkelman, who led the project and is past-president of the MNEHRC.
In a recently released study, researchers at Hennepin Healthcare and other Minnesota health systems describe how a COVID-19 collaboration across Minnesota health systems was adapted to monitor near-real-time trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits. MNEHRC's study, "Minnesota Data Sharing May Be Model for Near-Real-Time Tracking of Drug Overdose Hospital and ED Trends," was published in the November issue of Health Affairs, the leading health policy journal in the United States. Using data from all six adult hospitals and EDs in Hennepin County, Minnesota, researchers found large increases in methamphetamine- and opioid-involved hospital and ED visits. Throughout the study period, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits. "This study sets the framework for the data needed to reduce overdose deaths in Hennepin County," explains Hennepin Healthcare physician and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute investigator Dr. Tyler Winkelman, who led the project and is past-president of the MNEHRC.
In a recently released study, researchers at Hennepin Healthcare and other Minnesota health systems describe how a COVID-19 collaboration across Minnesota health systems was adapted to monitor near-real-time trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits. MNEHRC's study, "Minnesota Data Sharing May Be Model for Near-Real-Time Tracking of Drug Overdose Hospital and ED Trends," was published in the November issue of Health Affairs, the leading health policy journal in the United States. Using data from all six adult hospitals and EDs in Hennepin County, Minnesota, researchers found large increases in methamphetamine- and opioid-involved hospital and ED visits. Throughout the study period, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits. "This study sets the framework for the data needed to reduce overdose deaths in Hennepin County," explains Hennepin Healthcare physician and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute investigator Dr. Tyler Winkelman, who led the project and is past-president of the MNEHRC.
In a recently released study, researchers at Hennepin Healthcare and other Minnesota health systems describe how a COVID-19 collaboration across Minnesota health systems was adapted to monitor near-real-time trends in substance use–related hospital and emergency department (ED) visits. MNEHRC's study, "Minnesota Data Sharing May Be Model for Near-Real-Time Tracking of Drug Overdose Hospital and ED Trends," was published in the November issue of Health Affairs, the leading health policy journal in the United States. Using data from all six adult hospitals and EDs in Hennepin County, Minnesota, researchers found large increases in methamphetamine- and opioid-involved hospital and ED visits. Throughout the study period, Native American, Black, and multiple-race people experienced the highest rates of drug-involved hospital and ED visits. "This study sets the framework for the data needed to reduce overdose deaths in Hennepin County," explains Hennepin Healthcare physician and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute investigator Dr. Tyler Winkelman, who led the project and is past-president of the MNEHRC.
Tuesday was special for Minnesotans like Moncies Franco Sr., who voted for the first time since their voting rights were restored in June thanks to Minnesota’s new Restore the Vote law. Prior to the change, Franco and roughly 55,000 other Minnesotans with a convicted felony could not vote until their full sentence (probation or supervised release) was completed. “I was nervous,” said Franco about putting his ballot in. “I'm like, oh, okay hold on. Is this legit, is this real? Pinch myself a little bit to wake up. But after those nerves settled, it's like, yeah, I belong here. My voice matters.” For Franco, being able to vote means breaking a generational cycle of incarceration for his family.
October
Homelessness and chronic homelessness in the U.S. have steadily increased over the last 6 years, reaching record highs in 2022. Infectious disease rates are also increasing among people experiencing homelessness. Existing challenges accessing public health and clinical care services – like limited transportation, administrative obstacles and prior negative experiences – can delay disease identification, treatment and mitigation. The COVID-19 pandemic made clear that there are ripe opportunities for state and local health departments to identify and respond to infectious disease needs among their unhoused population. The CDC Foundation and CDC wanted to try an innovative approach: establish Centers of Excellence in Public Health and Homelessness (“Centers”) in 3 health departments. Lessons learned from these Centers are outlined in our JPHMP article, “Strengthening Public Health Capacity to Address Infectious Diseases: Lessons from three Centers of Excellence in Public Health and Homelessness.” The Centers were located in Seattle-King County, Washington; San Francisco, California; and the state of Minnesota. We selected these sites for their existing successes bridging homeless services and public health. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) partnered with the Health, Homelessness and Criminal Justice Lab at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute to establish their Center. They formed an inclusive Advisory Group to guide their efforts to “promote policies that improve how homelessness programs address public health and how public health departments address homelessness.” MDH utilized their Center as a platform to conduct the state’s first homeless mortality study. This study revealed that people experiencing homelessness in Minnesota die at a rate that is 3 times higher than their housed counterparts. MDH continues to engage with the media and the public about their findings, with hopes that the study can be continued in the future.
September
Minnesota is using a $17 million federal grant to learn from the pitfalls of COVID-19 forecasting in the last few years and to improve its predictions for the next outbreak. Better estimates also could prevent the damage that occurred during the COVID pandemic when wayward predictions undermined public confidence in the government's quarantine orders and restrictions. A consortium of Minnesota agencies announced last week that it is one of 13 research groups in the United States to receive federal funding to better prepare the nation for the next public health emergency. The group expects to make significant discoveries based on Minnesota's unique experience with COVID and a new shared medical record-keeping system that doesn't exist elsewhere. A first step will be surveying Minnesotans to get a better understanding of their daily movements and face-to-face interactions — a key data element in any calculation of how a disease spreads. The mobility estimates used in COVID predictions were crude, and didn't account for differences by season or urbanization. The research also will rely on the new Minnesota EHR Consortium, which links medical records from clinics and hospitals to identify trends. The consortium's first project earlier this year was a near real-time dashboard of drug-related ER visits in Hennepin County.
The University of Minnesota’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) recently received $53.9 million in National Institutes of Health funding to find better, faster ways to bring scientific advances to real-world use. The seven-year award is one of the largest federal research grants the University has ever received and the University’s third Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). The grant will also provide critical support to CTSI’s efforts to strengthen its emphasis on local, regional and national partnerships. Work will be done in collaboration with CTSI’s three partners: Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, M Health Fairview and the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends new covid-19 booster vaccines for all — but many who need them most won’t get them. About 75% of people in the United States appear to have skipped last year’s bivalent booster, and nothing suggests uptake will be better this time around. However, the intensive outreach efforts that successfully led to decent vaccination rates in 2021 have largely ended, along with mandates and the urgency of the moment. Data now suggests that the people getting booster doses are often not those most at risk, which means the toll of covid in the U.S. may not be dramatically reduced by this round of vaccines. Hospitalizations and deaths due to covid have risen in recent weeks, and covid remains a leading cause of death, with roughly 7,300 people dying of the disease in the past three months. Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, a health services researcher at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, said outreach of the intensity of 2021 is needed again. Back then, throngs of people were hired to tailor communication and education to various communities, and to administer vaccines in churches, homeless encampments, and stadiums. “We can still save lives if we are thoughtful about how we roll out the vaccines.” Complicating matters, this is the first round of covid vaccines not fully covered by the federal government. Private and public health insurers will get them to members at no cost, but the situation for some 25 million-30 million uninsured adults — predominantly low-income people and people of color — is in flux. On Sept. 14, the CDC announced a kickoff of plans to temporarily provide vaccines for the uninsured, at least partly through $1.1 billion left over in pandemic emergency funds through the Bridge Access Program.
A county jail inmate lay in a padded restraint in a hallway, his head bleeding. A man sat in a wheelchair, weeping in the packed waiting room. Physicians at HCMC's emergency department debated whether a stabbing victim needed surgery. A nurse cradled a phone, getting a handle on capacity: Of 23 ER patients needing admission to the hospital, only five had beds. "That leaves 18 people without beds," the nurse said. "And 30 in triage, which will probably only get longer. Their longest wait back here is 24 hours. Dr. Jim Miner, HCMC's chief of emergency medicine, ducked into the tiny physicians' break room. Here, away from scenes of chaos and desperation, he could take a breath. This was the height of summer, known here as "trauma season." For the past several years, Minnesota's busiest ER has hardly gotten a break: COVID and overdoses and gun violence and more, society's problems all funneling here. Layered on top of it all has been a spike in abuse of health care workers, from frequent name-calling to serious violence, like a patient choking an HCMC ER physician this summer, putting him on disability leave. As a safety-net hospital, HCMC never turns away patients, no matter their insurance, no matter their housing or financial situation, no matter how complex their issues. When mental health facilities are full, those patients come here. When other HCMC departments are full, those patients are boarded in the 30,000-square-foot ER, some staying a day or longer waiting for a bed. When the downtown Minneapolis ER's 66 beds are full, patients are treated in hallways.
University Hospital‘s Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation, led by the nationally recognized physicians at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, has been ranked by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients as the national leader in three-year survival rates for liver transplant programs across the country. “We are excited to report our outstanding three-year outcomes after liver transplantation. We congratulate every member of our team for their incredible dedication in delivering patient-centered care and innovation to transplant candidates and recipients who face their illness with tremendous courage and strength,” Dr. James Guarrera, professor and chief of transplant and hepatobiliary surgery at NJMS and program director of University Hospital’s Liver Transplant Program, said. “We must also thank all of our organ donors and families for making transplantation possible with their selfless gifts of life.” The SRTR, operated by the Chronic Disease Research Group, a division of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, is a federally supported program under contract from the Division of Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
August
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM's Missoula-based business incubator. The UM team contributes a patented adjuvant called INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM's Missoula-based business incubator. The UM team contributes a patented adjuvant called INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM's Missoula-based business incubator. "Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity," Evans said. "We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials."
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM’s Missoula-based business incubator. The UM team contributes a patented adjuvant called INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
University of Montana researchers are getting ready to do human trials for fentanyl and heroine overdose prevention vaccines. The vaccine would provide defense among those struggling with drug addiction who are in danger of an accidental overdose. A release from UM said the National Institutes of Health report there were more than 160,000 drug overdoses in the United States in 2021--71,000 of those were linked to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Working on the vaccines, UM Center for Transitional Medicine Director Jay Evens is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner tasked with increasing the amount of elements for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, a business incubator at UM in Missoula. The researches at UM was instrumental in patented adjuvent INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails--adjuvants are substances that increase vaccine efficacy. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said in UM's release. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM’s Missoula-based business incubator. The UM team contributes a patented adjuvant called INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
Researchers at the University of Montana and their partners are nearing human trials for vaccines to prevent fentanyl and heroin drug overdoses. The vaccines would protect people struggling with drug addiction or those at risk of accidental overdose. According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 106,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths were reported in 2021. Of those, 71,000 can be attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Researcher Jay Evans directs the UM Center for Translational Medicine, which is working on the vaccines. He also is co-founder of Inimmune, the corporate partner charged with scaling up the vaccine components for manufacture. Inimmune is based in MonTEC, UM’s Missoula-based business incubator. The UM team contributes a patented adjuvant called INI-4001 to the vaccine cocktails. Adjuvants are substances that boost the effectiveness of vaccines. “Our adjuvants improve the vaccine response, providing a stronger and more durable immunity,” Evans said. “We have worked closely with researchers from Inimmune, the University of Minnesota, the University of Washington, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and Columbia University over the past few years to design and optimize anti-opioid vaccines for advancement to human clinical trials.”
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
As rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to skyrocket across the United States, a growing number of physicians are prescribing a commonly used antibiotic as a way to prevent chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis infections in gay and bisexual men and transgender women. Doxycycline is a class of medications traditionally used to treat bacterial STIs after someone has been infected. Yet recent research suggests that one 200mg dose of the drug can be effective in preventing such infections among men who have sex with men if taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. This approach, called doxyPEP, has garnered so much attention that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to post draft guidance for public comment in the next several weeks on how health care workers may deploy the preventative treatment, such as how many pills should go into a prescription or which people could benefit most from the drug. In one study, more than 400 women in Kenya were separated into two groups: One group was given doxyPEP to take after having sex, and the other group wasn’t. The researchers — from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute — found that there was not much of a difference in the incidence of bacterial STIs between the two groups. “It was a disappointment to see that doxycycline PEP was not protective for cisgender women in the dPEP Kenya Study. We now have data to help understand these results a bit more,” Dr. Jenell Stewart, project director for the DoxyPEP Kenya study and infectious disease physician at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota, said in an email. That new data reveals that there were low rates of women in the study actually taking doxycycline, Stewart said, as well as a high prevalence of a gonorrhea strain that is known to be resistant to the medication. She added that it remains unclear why some of the study participants were not taking their doxyPEP pills, which probably skewed the study findings.
Many people show early signs of dementia such as memory loss, but their families hesitate to talk to their primary care clinician about their symptoms. They assume that such symptoms are just a sign of getting old, or are fearful of the diagnosis of dementia or are in denial. For these, and sometimes cultural reasons, many of those who are elderly in the Black community have a delayed diagnosis of dementia, such that it has progressed to the point that they need in-home or nursing home care. It is usually a family member who brings their loved one in to see the doctor, but by then most patients have had symptoms for 2-3 years. To ensure early detection of dementia, family members are especially crucial to provide a ‘history’, or story of the symptoms at each clinic visit, as the patient cannot provide a reliable history. More than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia. However, Blacks in the U.S. have about twice the risk of developing dementia compared with non-Hispanic Whites. According to Alzheimer’s Association, 21 percent of older Blacks in the U.S. are living with dementia. Recent research indicates that this increased risk of dementia is likely due to a combination of the higher prevalence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular (brain) disease and associated risk factors, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high BMI (body mass index), as well as social determinants of health, and some genetic factors. Participating in the new Healthy Aging in the Senior Years—or HATS study—offers a new opportunity to help advance research in dementia in the Black population. The HATS study is designed to identify risk factors for dementia in Black patients to help prevent dementia, and to help with early detection of cognitive impairment and dementia. The study is a five-year observational study—not a clinical trial, so no medications will be given—that will measure cardiovascular and other risk factors for dementia in Black community members 55 years and older in the Twin Cities. It is a collaborative study between Dr. Anne Murray and the Berman Center, part of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in downtown Minneapolis, Dr. David Knopman and the Mayo Clinic, and two community engagement partners, HueMan and the Lync. Both partners have been critical in informing the HATS study design, build community trust, and grow enrollment.
July
The first real-time tracker of opioid abuse in Minnesota has found an unexpected trend: a summertime increase in overdoses and other drug-related health problems that end up in the hospital. The observation is the first of many that Hennepin County leaders are hoping they will produce through a new dashboard in order to improve their response to the opioid epidemic. "Up until now we have been reliant on data that is often two to three years old to make decisions about funding and interventions and to understand where we are at in this crisis," said Dr. Tyler Winkelman, a Hennepin Healthcare physician. The dashboard is the product of a new consortium of hospitals that are sharing instant data to better identify and address public health problems. It debuted earlier this month with drug-related data from all Hennepin County hospitals that could be sorted by drug type, age, gender and race.
A new online dashboard using real-time electronic health data looks to monitor the impacts of opioid and substance use in Hennepin County. The SUD dashboard, or substance use disorder dashboard, was launched by Hennepin County and the Minnesota Electronic Health Record Consortium. The near real-time date shows how people are accessing Hennepin County emergency departments, staying in-patient for substance use disorder, and helps officials identify emerging trends related to opioid and substance use. “The dashboard shows the near real-time impact of the substance use crisis in Hennepin County hospitals,” said Dr. Tyler Winkelman, General Internal Medicine Division Director at Hennepin Healthcare who leads the project for the MN EHR Consortium. “It can be used to identify emerging trends like the rise in opioid overdoses or to confirm that methamphetamine use is of concern.” Data displayed through the SUD can also be a driving factor for funding substance use initiatives in Hennepin County.
As the opioid and substance use crisis continues to mount, the Minnesota Electronic Health Record Consortium and Hennepin County have revealed their new, real-time substance use disorder dashboard. This interactive system is updated monthly with a compilation of Hennepin County emergency and hospital visits where substances are found. The data includes a patient's age, gender, race or ethnicity, and location demographics and has records that go back as far as 2012. The SUD was made by the EHR Consortium, but Hennepin Healthcare and Hennepin County remained partners throughout the project. The participating hospitals include Allina, HealthPartners, M Health Fairview, North Memorial, and the Veteran's Administration.
Sara Kathryn Smith, MD, knows better than most that studying pediatric organ transplant recipients in adulthood can be a challenge. Smith, the medical director of pediatric liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, is a transplant recipient herself. "Following somebody 20, 30 years after a liver transplant when they are out there running their life and having no issues at all, it is hard to convince them to come back every month for labs," Smith said. Long-term follow-up could identify ways to keep patients healthier longer. As another pediatric transplant hepatologist, Evelyn Hsu, MD, put it: "We want to make these kids into grandparents, not get them 1 year of life or 5 years of life." Research shows there may be plenty of room to improve patients' long-term survival. Risk for premature death among pediatric transplant recipients is as much as 130 times higher relative to peers matched by age, sex, and hometown during a median follow-up of 18 years after transplant, according to a study from Finland published in the March issue of Pediatric Transplantation. Cardiovascular disease, infections, and cancer were common causes of death. The study is the first to assess the survival rate for pediatric patients two decades after surgery, the researchers say. Groups in the United States recognize the importance of capturing similar long-term data. The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) held a conference in July 2022 to identify which sorts of data related to transplantation outcomes are of interest to patients, families, and healthcare professionals for assessing the performance of the transplantation system and informing decision-making. Attendees agreed that documenting long-term outcomes for all patients and living donors is "a moral and ethical obligation." The Chronic Disease Research Group, a division of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, operates the SRTR. The registry supports any effort to improve the organ donation and transplantation system, director Jon Snyder, PhD, said.
June
The two largest U.S. health plans share a birthday, July 30, 1965, but they have different roles and public images. A law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson created Medicare, which serves people age 65 and older, and Medicaid, which covers people considered to be poor by government standards. Both programs also cover people with disabilities, contributing to overlap between Medicaid and Medicare. About 12.2 million people of the about 60 million people enrolled in Medicare in 2018 also had Medicaid coverage. People tend to remain enrolled in Medicare. In 2022, 55.5 million of the 63.8 million participants were age 65 and older, according to the 2022 Medicare trustees report. The rest of the enrollees qualified due to disabilities. Not so with Medicaid, where there is more churn. People gain Medicaid coverage when they lose jobs — for instance, during the recession stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic — and drop it when they become employed again. Some people with disabilities also rely on Medicaid coverage while waiting to qualify for Medicare. While Medicaid is a safety-net program for many Americans, Medicare is more of an aspiration, which enjoys a significant base of bipartisan support. Pregnant women referred by courts and other criminal justice agencies for opioid abuse treatment were more likely to get medications to help them manage their condition if they lived in states that had expanded their Medicaid eligibility, wrote Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. The rate at which medication for opioid use disorder was prescribed for pregnant women rose from 21.4% to 36% in the states studied that had expanded their Medicaid eligibility. In the states that did not expand Medicaid, the rate increased from 7.0% to 9.6%.
Recent studies report that two-thirds of American physicians report feeling burned out, something only aggravated by the pandemic. One of the consequences is a decline in the quality of care for patients, who find it increasingly difficult to navigate the healthcare system. Fred de Sam Lazaro looks into one effort to improve on both scores. Dr. Mark Linzer, MD, and HCMC physicians from the Coordinated Care Clinic were interviewed for the story.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Interventions to address stimulant and opioid use that consider race and gender may prove more effective at preventing overdose deaths than current methods, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers who studied how drug treatment admissions and overdose deaths differed among race and gender. The researchers found that minority communities bore the brunt of the crisis in both urban and rural areas. They reported their findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The United States recorded more than 580,000 opioid and stimulant-related overdose deaths in the last 20 years, with 100,000 deaths in 2020 alone. Drug overdose deaths in the U.S. have continued to climb despite rising treatment admissions, with Black men and American Indian/Native Alaskan men and women hit the hardest by the overdose crisis, according to Penn State's Abenaa Jones, the Ann Atherton Early Career Professor in Health and Human Development and assistant professor of human development and family studies, who was lead author on the paper. In the last two decades the crisis has hit hardest in high-distressed neighborhoods, or rural and urban places with low income, a lack of housing, underserved schools, and other factors that would put an individual at a disadvantage simply by living there, said Jones. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to live in these areas at higher rates than white individuals, and the stress caused by living in these adverse environments may lead to substance use as a means to cope. Higher distressed neighborhoods are more likely to see tainted drug supplies than other places, which can lead to the increased likelihood of fatal overdoses. In addition, these areas may lack access to naloxone, the life-saving opioid overdose reversal drug, she added. Other contributors to this work were Riley Shearer, University of Minnesota; Alexis Santos-Lozada, Penn State; Sienna Strong-Jones, Penn State; Noel Vest, Boston University; Daniel Teixeira da Silva, University of Pennsylvania; Utsha Khatri, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc, Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. "I am excited to have Miaja join our efforts in building an even more responsive, efficient and high-performing organization that delivers on our promises to ensure that high quality care is accessible and affordable for all," said Erickson. "Miaja is an accomplished leader with a deep understanding of legal and compliance issues throughout the healthcare industry. She is well-known for her highly collaborative style and for delivering optimal results with integrity. I look forward to Miaja playing an integral role in advocating for the interests of our 2.5 million members."
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) today announced that Miaja Cassidy has joined the organization's senior leadership team as chief legal officer. In her role, Cassidy oversees the management of all Blue Cross legal services as well as compliance, audit, and public affairs. The position reports directly to Dana Erickson, company president and CEO. Cassidy comes to Blue Cross with more than 25 years of experience in risk management, regulatory affairs and compliance, enterprise transformation and general counsel. In addition to her independent consulting work for healthcare clients throughout the country, Cassidy had held various leadership positions at prominent Minnesota-based organizations. At Medtronic, Cassidy acted as chief compliance officer and led large-scale compliance programs and activities across a global workforce of 90,000 employees. Additionally, she has overseen legal and compliance initiatives for the clinic and pharmacy operations at Target Corp.; served as the chief risk and compliance officer for Hennepin Healthcare Systems, Inc.; and provided compliance support and legal counsel for Medica, a regional non-profit health plan. Cassidy holds a bachelor's degree in business, economics, and finance from the University of Minnesota and a J.D. from Drake University Law School. She is a Certified Healthcare Compliance Professional (CHP) and a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP). Cassidy currently serves on the boards of Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, Steven Rummler Hope Network and March of Dimes Minnesota. She is an advisory board member for both OptimEyes AI, a San Diego-based risk modeling software company; and MedBlob, a clinical data platform headquartered in Boston. Cassidy sits on the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group of the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and Healthcare Compliance Association (HCCA).
Consider a patient who presents to the emergency department with chest pain and shortness of breath. Does she need to be admitted for further evaluation and treatment of myocardial infarction? Or is her risk so low that she can be safely discharged? As emergency department overcrowding becomes a challenge at many hospitals, a rapid test to rule out myocardial infarction shortly after presentation would be immensely valuable, helping to improve patient satisfaction and conserve healthcare resources. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin assays have been evaluated for this purpose, but appropriate thresholds to rule out myocardial infarction at presentation remain to be determined. A new research article appearing in the June 2023 issue of Clinical Chemistry addresses this question by establishing a single measurement rule-out threshold with high sensitivity and negative predictive value for myocardial infarction, as well as 30-day adverse events. In this podcast, we are excited to welcome back the article’s senior author, Dr. Fred Apple. Dr. Apple is the Medical Director of the Clinical and Forensic Toxicology Laboratory and Principal Investigator of the CLIA-certified Cardiac Biomarkers Trial Laboratory at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. He is also a member of the ‘Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction and Myocardial Injury’ Global Task Force. Dr. Apple, could you please start this out by talking about the clinicaltrials.gov SAFETY study?
May
During the month of May, the City of Minneapolis has been busy evicting encampments of unhoused people, displacing hundreds and throwing away many people’s only belongings. Minneapolis Police (MPD) displaced about 80 unhoused people on East Franklin Avenue in South Minneapolis on May 10. Each week since, they’ve evicted several smaller camps erected from those displaced from the Franklin Ave. sweep, continuing a punishing and deadly cycle. “This is what he touts as his great success,” said American Indian Movement member Mike Forcia about Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and homelessness. Forcia spoke to Unicorn Riot while standing in the median of Franklin Ave. amid dozens of tents and unhoused people’s property that were about about to be trashed by authorities. With rising inequality, continued neoliberal policies, and new waves of addictive drugs like fentanyl, the numbers of people struggling with homelessness in Minnesota has risen. The city of Minneapolis has seen an influx of encampments of unhoused people gathering together, notably since the 2018 Wall of the Forgotten Natives. A report released in January by the Minnesota Department of Health and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute —Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report, 2017-2021 (pdf) — found that the death rate of a person experiencing homelessness is three times higher in Minnesota than the general population.
The two largest U.S. health plans share a birthday, July 30, 1965, but they have different roles and public images. A law signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson created Medicare, which serves people age 65 and older, and Medicaid, which covers people considered to be poor by government standards. Both programs also cover people with disabilities, contributing to overlap between Medicaid and Medicare. About 12.2 million people of the about 60 million people enrolled in Medicare in 2018 also had Medicaid coverage. People tend to remain enrolled in Medicare. In 2022, 55.5 million of the the 63.8 million participants were age 65 and older, according to the 2022 Medicare trustees report. The rest of the enrollees qualified due to disabilities. People gain Medicaid coverage when they lose jobs — for instance, during the recession stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic — and drop it when they become employed again. Some people with disabilities also rely on Medicaid coverage while waiting to qualify for Medicare. While Medicaid is a safety-net program for many Americans, Medicare is more of an aspiration, which enjoys a significant base of bipartisan support. Pregnant women referred by courts and other criminal justice agencies for opioid abuse treatment were more likely to get medications to help them manage their condition if they lived in states that had expanded their Medicaid eligibility, wrote Tyler Winkelman, MD, MSc of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute of Minneapolis, and his co-authors. For the study, Winkelman and co-authors analyzed data collected from 1992 to 2017, identifying records for cases of 131,838 pregnant women with opioid use disorder. They drew these from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A) program, an annual national survey conducted by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). More than half — 63.3% — percent of the women in the sample studied were between the ages aged 18–29.
Growing up in public housing projects in Boston, Damon Chaplin got first-hand experience with how a neighborhood can harm your health. Researchers use the phrase “social determinants of health” to describe the conditions that people are born into—and those determinants were a challenge for Chaplin. He was often rushed to the emergency room for his asthma, which was exacerbated by an incinerator and cigarette smoke in his building. Now, as a health-care leader, Chaplin likes to refer to the social determinants of health as the social determinants of hope. The 50-year-old left Massachusetts in March to lead the public health department of Minneapolis. Chaplin said he was eager to come to a city that is working diligently on issues such as health and racial equity, climate change, and social reform. Housing—or lack of it—is one of the key social determinants he’ll be tackling here. A recent Minnesota Department of Health and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute report found that people experiencing homelessness die at a rate three times higher than the general population. In other words, a 20-year-old unhoused person is as likely to die as a 50-year-old in the general population.
Growing up in public housing projects in Boston, Damon Chaplin got first-hand experience with how a neighborhood can harm your health. Researchers use the phrase “social determinants of health” to describe the conditions that people are born into—and those determinants were a challenge for Chaplin. He was often rushed to the emergency room for his asthma, which was exacerbated by an incinerator and cigarette smoke in his building. Now, as a health-care leader, Chaplin likes to refer to the social determinants of health as the social determinants of hope. The 50-year-old left Massachusetts in March to lead the public health department of Minneapolis. Chaplin said he was eager to come to a city that is working diligently on issues such as health and racial equity, climate change, and social reform. Housing—or lack of it—is one of the key social determinants he’ll be tackling here. A recent Minnesota Department of Health and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute report found that people experiencing homelessness die at a rate three times higher than the general population. In other words, a 20-year-old unhoused person is as likely to die as a 50-year-old in the general population.
Steaming heaps of barbeque ribs and chicken — along with fruit salad, roast vegetables and cheesy potatoes — awaited clusters of people gathered for lunch. Steady meals are among the services offered at the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation St. Paul Opportunity Center in St. Paul as people experience housing challenges and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, volunteer groups from 28 Catholic parishes and two Catholic schools within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis participate regularly to support Catholic Charities’ offerings at the St. Paul Opportunity Center. Catholic Charities Twin Cities programs assist more than 20,000 people per year, including 10,000 who seek support at the nonprofit’s four emergency shelters and two day centers. The St. Paul Opportunity Center — which serves about 1,000 people per day — offers meals, shelter, employment and housing resources, social services, financial assistance programs, veterans services and medical care, among other services. The St. Paul Opportunity Center also has 177 units (77 efficiency apartments and 100 single-occupancy units) of permanent housing on site. Higher Ground St. Paul offers overnight and emergency shelter as well as permanent housing — its two floors of shelter have capacity for 356 people and its three floors of housing include 193 single-occupancy units. According to Michael Goar, president and CEO of Catholic Charities Twin Cities, the nonprofit organization is one of the only providers in the Twin Cities of both overnight and daytime shelter and services — including hot meals, showers and laundry services as well as storage locker access. In its 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determined that, on a single night in January 2022, the total number of people experiencing homelessness nationwide was 582,462. Of that total, 60% were sheltered — meaning, in “emergency shelters, safe havens or transitional housing programs”— and 40% were unsheltered — meaning, “on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation.” Meanwhile, a key finding from a report the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute partnered to release in January 2023 was that those who experience homelessness face an earlier and greater risk of death regardless of age, gender or race — the death rate is triple that of the general Minnesota population.
April
Hennepin Healthcare’s Talent Garden series continues its successful outreach to young people with its American Indian Youth with Stethoscopes Summit on Saturday, April 15 from 9-3:15 p.m. American Indian men and women ages 12-18 who are interested in learning about healthcare careers have filled all of the slots for this summit – the first one that is specific for American Indian youth. Panelists also include Dr. Casey Dorr from Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, and medical students of the U of M Med School chapter of ANAMS (the Association of Native American Medical Students) whose U of M chapter leaders have embraced the event and will also escort students throughout the day.
March
The ongoing opioid epidemic has hit some groups of Minnesotans harder than others: The crisis has had the most disproportionate impact on the state’s American Indian population, followed by Black Minnesotans. In 2021, for example, American Indians were almost nine times more likely to die from a drug overdose than whites, and Black Minnesotans were three times as likely to die from a drug overdose as whites. In response to these disturbing disparities, staff at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), in collaboration with members of the Walz-Flanagan administration, set out to speak to members of the most affected cultural groups to learn how to address the problem. The Minnesota Department of Health, in partnership with Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, recently released a study that took a comprehensive look at the mortality of individuals facing housing insecurity and unsheltered homelessness and found the staggering result that one in 10 opioid deaths in Minnesota is a person facing housing instability and that one in three deaths of someone experiencing homelessness is an overdose.
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) after sex is highly effective for preventing bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay men and transgender women—and adding a vaccine reduces the risk for gonorrhea—but this approach did not work well for cisgender women in Africa, according to research presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
DoxyPEP Plus Vaccine
As reported at last summer’s international AIDS Conference, the DoxyPEP study enrolled gay men and transgender women living with HIV in San Francisco and Seattle. It found that those who took a 200 milligram dose of the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex saw a 74% reduction in the risk for chlamydia, a 57% decrease for gonorrhea and a 77% reduction for syphilis per quarter. Among HIV-negative participants on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the corresponding reductions were 88%, 55% and 87%, respectively.
DoxyPEP for Women
Effective bacterial STI prevention for women is urgently needed as infections can lead to severe complications including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications and increased susceptibility to HIV, presenter Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis, noted as background. The dPEP Kenya trial was conducted in Kisumu an area with high STI rates and a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. The trial, which ran from 2020 through 2022, enrolled 449 nonpregnant cisgender women ages 18 to 30 who were taking HIV PrEP. About 60% were using hormonal contraception, and 37% reported transactional sex. At baseline, 18% had a bacterial STI, mostly chlamydia.
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) after sex is highly effective for preventing bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay men and transgender women—and adding a vaccine reduces the risk for gonorrhea—but this approach did not work well for cisgender women in Africa, according to research presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
DoxyPEP Plus Vaccine
As reported at last summer’s international AIDS Conference, the DoxyPEP study enrolled gay men and transgender women living with HIV in San Francisco and Seattle. It found that those who took a 200 milligram dose of the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex saw a 74% reduction in the risk for chlamydia, a 57% decrease for gonorrhea and a 77% reduction for syphilis per quarter. Among HIV-negative participants on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the corresponding reductions were 88%, 55% and 87%, respectively.
DoxyPEP for Women
Effective bacterial STI prevention for women is urgently needed as infections can lead to severe complications including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications and increased susceptibility to HIV, presenter Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis, noted as background. The dPEP Kenya trial was conducted in Kisumu an area with high STI rates and a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. The trial, which ran from 2020 through 2022, enrolled 449 nonpregnant cisgender women ages 18 to 30 who were taking HIV PrEP. About 60% were using hormonal contraception, and 37% reported transactional sex. At baseline, 18% had a bacterial STI, mostly chlamydia.
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) after sex is highly effective for preventing bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay men and transgender women—and adding a vaccine reduces the risk for gonorrhea—but this approach did not work well for cisgender women in Africa, according to research presented at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI).
DoxyPEP Plus Vaccine
As reported at last summer’s international AIDS Conference, the DoxyPEP study enrolled gay men and transgender women living with HIV in San Francisco and Seattle. It found that those who took a 200 milligram dose of the antibiotic doxycycline within 72 hours after condomless sex saw a 74% reduction in the risk for chlamydia, a 57% decrease for gonorrhea and a 77% reduction for syphilis per quarter. Among HIV-negative participants on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the corresponding reductions were 88%, 55% and 87%, respectively.
DoxyPEP for Women
Effective bacterial STI prevention for women is urgently needed as infections can lead to severe complications including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications and increased susceptibility to HIV, presenter Jennell Stewart, DO, MPH, of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis, noted as background. The dPEP Kenya trial was conducted in Kisumu an area with high STI rates and a high prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea. The trial, which ran from 2020 through 2022, enrolled 449 nonpregnant cisgender women ages 18 to 30 who were taking HIV PrEP. About 60% were using hormonal contraception, and 37% reported transactional sex. At baseline, 18% had a bacterial STI, mostly chlamydia.
Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz, has proposed a plan to provide financial assistance to 21-year-olds leaving foster care in the state. The Support Beyond 21 program aims to address the current lack of support for young people leaving care and reduce the risks of homelessness, poverty, and incarceration for this vulnerable population. The program, which could serve up to 175 young people per year, is still awaiting approval from the legislature, but if passed, young people in the program would receive monthly payments for a year, with assistance on budgeting and financial literacy to aid their transition to independence.
Advocacy for Foster Youth
The plan for Support Beyond 21 comes as more attention is being paid to the struggles of young people leaving foster care. In a letter sent to Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge, Minnesota senators Amy Klobuchar and Susan Collins have urged the department to improve housing security for young adults who are aging out of foster care in the next two years or have already done so since 2019. The senators highlighted the story of a young mother named Ada, who faced multiple short-term rentals and difficulty finding a landlord willing to rent to her even with a HUD voucher.
Urgency for Support
Foster youth advocates say the need to assist this population of young people is urgent. Half of unhoused people nationwide have spent time in foster care, and young people who age out of foster care are at high risk of homelessness, poverty, and incarceration. A report published by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute found that a 20-year-old experiencing homelessness has the same likelihood of death as a 50-year-old in the general population. The Support Beyond 21 program is intended to help address these issues and provide young people leaving foster care with a smoother transition to independence.
Vowing to make Minnesota “the best state in the country for kids to grow up” in, Gov. Tim Walz (D) is proposing monthly payments for 21-year-olds leaving foster care. The plan is driven by young people and advocacy groups lamenting the current “abrupt end to financial support,” according to the governor’s recent budget recommendation. The Support Beyond 21 program is being considered by the Minnesota Legislature as some U.S. lawmakers call for more attention to this vulnerable population. Gov. Walz’s cash assistance proposal, included in his $12 billion package presented in January, could provide some relief. If approved this legislative session, foster youth enrolled in Support Beyond 21 would receive monthly payments for a year. The amounts, which are still to be determined, would gradually diminish every three months. But participants would be assisted with budgeting and financial literacy to plan for their future independence. The program is expected to serve approximately 175 youth statewide per year. Foster youth advocates say the need to assist this population of young people is urgent. Half of unhoused people nationwide have spent time in foster care, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. A report published by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in January found that a 20-year-old experiencing homelessness has the same likelihood of death as a 50-year-old in the general population.
February
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women… but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Biological differences between the vagina/cervix and rectum may explain why doxycycline didn’t prevent STIs in cisgender women; however, the approach to treatment of STIs doesn’t differ by sex. Antibiotic resistance offers an explanation for why gonorrhea wasn’t prevented, but it doesn’t explain why chlamydia wasn’t prevented.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Antibiotic resistance offers an explanation for why gonorrhea wasn’t prevented, but it doesn’t explain why chlamydia wasn’t prevented. There are no known cases of antibiotic resistant chlamydia; however, the rate of doxycycline resistant gonorrhea was very high, including 100% of the infections acquired prior to starting the study. Self-reported adherence was high but imperfect and frequency and timing of doxycycline use among cisgender women in the trial is being evaluated further. All participants were also taking daily HIV PrEP pills (a medicine to prevent HIV), and none of the participants got HIV during the year they were in the study.
Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP), which was found to be highly effective at preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay men and transgender women, did not protect young cisgender women in Africa, researchers reported on Monday at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2023) in Seattle. Possible explanations for this “stark contrast” include anatomical differences, variations in antibiotic resistance in the areas where the studies were conducted and suboptimal adherence, according to presenter Dr Jenell Stewart of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in Minneapolis. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to severe complications including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications and increased susceptibility to HIV, so effective prevention interventions are urgently needed. The trial, conducted from 2020 through 2022, enrolled 449 non-pregnant cisgender women aged 18 to 30 who were taking HIV PrEP. They were randomly assigned to take doxycycline after sex or receive standard care (quarterly STI testing and treatment after diagnosis). Each week, the women received text messages asking about the frequency of sex and doxycycline use, and they were tested for STIs quarterly. Doxycycline was generally safe and well tolerated, with no severe adverse reactions reported. There were no new cases of HIV in either group. Four women reported “social harms” related to doxyPEP use, including verbal or physical violence. Stewart noted that endocervical tissue may differ from urethral, rectal and throat tissue in terms of drug levels. However, another study presented at the same session suggests this is not an adequate explanation.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—chlamydia or gonorrhea—among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. "Doxycycline PEP didn't work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world," said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs)—chlamydia or gonorrhea—among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. "Doxycycline PEP didn't work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world," said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Self-reported adherence was high but imperfect and frequency and timing of doxycycline use among cisgender women in the trial is being evaluated further. All participants were also taking daily HIV PrEP pills (a medicine to prevent HIV), and none of the participants got HIV during the year they were in the study.
Researchers from the University of Washington (UW), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) announced results at CROI from a clinical trial demonstrating that doxycycline taken after sex does not prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – chlamydia or gonorrhea – among cisgender women. The dPEP Kenya Trial was conducted in Kisumu, Kenya, to evaluate the effectiveness of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent bacterial STIs. The results of the study have been highly anticipated, as this is the first study of doxycycline PEP among cisgender women, following multiple studies that showed a high level of STI protection with doxycycline use among cisgender men and transgender women in France and the United States. Differences in anatomy, antibiotic resistance, and adherence offer possible explanations for the lack of efficacy among cisgender women when it worked for cisgender men and transgender women, and the research team is working to understand the potential role of these differences. “Doxycycline PEP didn’t work for cisgender women in Kenya, but the need for STI prevention is increasing around the world,” said Dr. Jenell Stewart, the dPEP Kenya Study Director, Infectious Disease Physician at Hennepin Healthcare and University of Minnesota. Bacterial STIs in women can lead to lasting and severe consequences including pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility, pregnancy complications, and increased susceptibility to HIV. While the study team continues to investigate the potential role of biological and behavioral differences to explain why doxycycline PEP did not work, it is clear that cisgender women need primary STI prevention strategies.
A new report from the Minnesota Department of Health uncovers the mortality rate of people living without stable housing. Among its most significant findings: people who experience homelessness die at three times the rate of the general population. This comes as shelters and nonprofits supporting those without housing are being stretched thin during what has been a harsh winter. We've also seen several sweeps of encampments. MPR News host Tom Crann spoke about the findings with one of the lead researchers of the report, Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery who is a physician and the co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute.
Jonda Crum has a recurring dream in which she is wandering through a deserted town after dark, desperate for a warm place to sleep, but every door in every building is locked and no one can hear her cries for help. The nightmare had become almost a daily reality for Crum, who had been living on the streets and struggling with her addiction for a decade, before a near-fatal medical emergency forced her to seek treatment and stable housing. “Today I’m grateful to be alive,” said Crum of North St. Paul, who provides peer support for people recovering from drug use. “Probably I’ve aged two years for every year I’ve lived on the street.” A major new study shows that homeless people in Minnesota are three times more likely to die than other Minnesotans, and about a third of their deaths are from substance abuse. The study, released last month by the state’s Department of Health, found drug-related deaths among homeless Minnesotans are 10 times higher than among the state’s overall population. Alarmingly, researchers found that 20-year-olds affected by homelessness in Minnesota are about as likely to die as 50-year-olds in the general population. “What this study shows…is that when a person in our state experiences homelessness, there are tremendous and incredibly detrimental health effects,” said Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery, primary care physician and co-director of a health, homelessness and criminal justice research lab at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, which produced the report. The report calls for a coordinated effort to elevate housing as a “lifesaving strategy,” though it doesn’t stop analyzing current methods of tackling homelessness. But some Twin Cities-based homeless providers and advocates say the findings raise questions about recurring raids on homeless camps, which they say are making health problems worse by isolating people and making it harder for authorities to reach them.
Shawnta Campbell started a new chapter in her life with the help of Haven Housing’s St. Anne’s Place, an emergency family shelter in north Minneapolis. Campbell and her three children recently moved out of the shelter into a new home. Her 25th birthday is just days away, and she is on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology. With her mother’s recent passing, Campbell and her children stayed at the shelter for four months due to a lack of family support. She was also leaving an abusive relationship when she became homeless. Campbell said she felt overwhelmed not having consistent doctors and access to medical care while she was homeless. A report published by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute in January underscores Campbell’s concerns and experience, noting that homelessness worsens a person’s health and shortens their life expectancy. The report also found that there were increased rates of death among homeless people in every racial group. According to the report, “Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report, 2017-2021”, a 20-year-old person experiencing homelessness has the same likelihood of death as a 50-year-old in the general population. Researchers described the report as “the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota.” The report looked at U.S. Census data, death data from the Minnesota Department of Health’s Office of Vital Records, and homelessness services documented by Homelessness Management Information System. Researchers analyzed five years of data. “What we see in looking at race and death is that there are increased rates of deaths for every different race ethnicity group among people experiencing homelessness,” said Dr. Katherine Diaz-Vickery, co-director of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute and co-principal investigator for the report.
January
Homelessness can be deadly. People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at triple the rate of the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota.
Homelessness can be deadly. People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at triple the rate of the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota.
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Homelessness can be deadly. People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at triple the rate of the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota.
Homelessness can be deadly. People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at triple the rate of the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute. That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota.
People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at much higher rates than the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI). That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota. The Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI merged Minnesota Homeless Management Information System data on people who used homeless services from 2017 to 2021 with Minnesota state death data and Minnesota population data from 2017 to 2020 from the U.S. Census to compare sociodemographic differences and causes of death. The report and its recommendations can be found at Center of Excellence on Public Health and Homelessness. Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery, co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI, emphasized the importance of better access to housing to improve outcomes. “We were eager to partner with the Minnesota Department of Health to build data systems to document health disparities in this group,” she said. “We especially appreciated the opportunity to partner with people with lived experience in this work. These types of collaborations are essential to our state’s ability to achieve concrete improvements in health and wellness for all, rooted in efforts to improve access to affordable, dignified housing.”
People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at much higher rates than the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI). That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota. The Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI merged Minnesota Homeless Management Information System data on people who used homeless services from 2017 to 2021 with Minnesota state death data and Minnesota population data from 2017 to 2020 from the U.S. Census to compare sociodemographic differences and causes of death. The report and its recommendations can be found at Center of Excellence on Public Health and Homelessness. Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery, co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI, emphasized the importance of better access to housing to improve outcomes. “We were eager to partner with the Minnesota Department of Health to build data systems to document health disparities in this group,” she said. “We especially appreciated the opportunity to partner with people with lived experience in this work. These types of collaborations are essential to our state’s ability to achieve concrete improvements in health and wellness for all, rooted in efforts to improve access to affordable, dignified housing.”
People who experience homelessness in Minnesota die at much higher rates than the general population, according to a new report produced through a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI). That alarming pattern holds true regardless of age, gender or race. The Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report 2017-2021 summarizes data from the first systematic look at mortality among people experiencing homelessness who die in Minnesota. The Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI merged Minnesota Homeless Management Information System data on people who used homeless services from 2017 to 2021 with Minnesota state death data and Minnesota population data from 2017 to 2020 from the U.S. Census to compare sociodemographic differences and causes of death. The report and its recommendations can be found at Center of Excellence on Public Health and Homelessness. Dr. Kate Diaz Vickery, co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab at HHRI, emphasized the importance of better access to housing to improve outcomes. “We were eager to partner with the Minnesota Department of Health to build data systems to document health disparities in this group,” she said. “We especially appreciated the opportunity to partner with people with lived experience in this work. These types of collaborations are essential to our state’s ability to achieve concrete improvements in health and wellness for all, rooted in efforts to improve access to affordable, dignified housing.”