KU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE GRADUATE NAMED TIME HERO OF THE YEAR

Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D., a Kansas native and University of Kansas School of Medicine alumnus, was named a 2021 Hero of the Year by Time magazine. Graham, who earned his medical degree from KU in 1979, has conducted groundbreaking research that led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. Graham recently retired as deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. His insight into how to target the pre-fusion spike protein became the basis for several of the major vaccines being tested or used around the world now, including the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson–Janssen, Sanofi and Novavax. In its story on Graham, Time wrote that Graham’s research will also help humanity defend against other viruses that may emerge in coming years.

KU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE RANKS NO. 10 IN THE COUNTRY FOR PRIMARY CARE

For the second year in a row, the University of Kansas School of Medicine has ranked in the top 10 medical schools in the country for primary care, according to U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of medical schools in the United States for 2023. With campuses in Kansas City, Salina and Wichita, KU School of Medicine tied for the number 10 spot for primary care among all U.S. medical schools and ranked ninth among public institutions. Kansas has a shortage of primary care providers, especially in rural areas, and the demand for primary care doctors across the country is expected to grow as physicians retire and the aging population needs more care. Last year, KU School of Medicine was ranked in the top 10 for primary care for the first time since U.S. News began producing primary care rankings in 1999. KU School of Medicine also rose in the rankings to 64th from 75th for research, and to 52nd from 89th for its biostatistics programs. Overall, KU has 11 graduate programs in the top 10 and 51 programs in the top 50 among public universities in the 2023 U.S. News rankings.

STUDY SHOWS AVOCADO CONSUMERS HAVE BETTER COGNITIVE ABILITIES

A study published in Frontiers in Nutrition shows that regular consumption of avocados is linked to better cognition. Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center and the Hass National Avocado Board examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and performed a cross-sectional study of participants aged 60 or older. Those who reported consuming avocado in the 24 hours prior to the dietary survey scored higher on three different types of tests measuring cognition, even after other variables were factored out. While additional studies are needed to confirm the precise benefits and tease out why avocados may have such a positive effect on memory, the take-away is simple: incorporate avocados into your diet if you want to preserve your memory as you age. The study showed that, even once other variables such as education, age, physical activity and smoking were accounted for, the avocado and its positive impact on cognition remained. Matthew Taylor, Ph.D., RD, assistant professor in the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition in the KU School of Health Professions at KU Medical Center, says avocados are nutritionally similar to other foods known to aid cognition.

STUDY WILL ASSESS POST-VAX COVID-19 ANTIBODIES IN PEOPLE WITH CANCER

Researchers at The University of Kansas Cancer Center want to understand how vaccination against COVID-19 affects people with cancer who are receiving anticancer therapies. Clinical trials have demonstrated the three COVID vaccines approved in the United States are safe for the general population as well as individuals with underlying medical conditions. However, individuals receiving immunosuppressive and cytotoxic treatments were excluded from the vaccine clinical trials. To help fill in the knowledge gaps between people with cancer and the COVID-19 vaccine, Qamar Khan, M.D., director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s breast program, has launched an investigator- initiated trial called Cancer Therapy and Immunogenicity of COVID Vaccine (CANINE, for short). The goal of the study is to build on the early knowledge of how the COVID-19 vaccine works in people with cancer who, depending on the type of treatment they are undergoing, may have a suppressed or over-stimulated immune system.

STUDY PUBLISHED IN NEJM SHOWS BREAKTHROUGH DRUG CAN BENEFIT MORE PEOPLE WITH CYSTIC FIBROSIS

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a breakthrough drug for cystic fibrosis (CF) in 2019, there have been hundreds of stories about its wondrous effect on the lives of individual patients. And now, there’s more good news. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and co-led by Deepika Polineni, M.D., MPH, an associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, the drug, known by its brand name, Trikafta, can provide additional benefit for CF patients who have genetic mutations that made them eligible for previously approved CFTR modulators. These modulators are drugs that work to improve the functionality of the CFTR protein, which is damaged in people with CF. CF is a progressive genetic disease that causes thick mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive track, damaging organs and making it hard for people to breathe before eventually killing them. Some die before reaching adulthood. For the nearly 90% of CF patients in the United States who have specific genetic mutations that make them eligible for CFTR modulators, Trikafta, which is actually a combination of three modulators, has often led to improvement in their health so dramatic that it might turn this debilitating, deadly disease into a chronic condition they can manage into old age.

SPEECH AND HEARING FACULTY MEMBER EARNS NATIONAL AWARD

Marion Leaman, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the KU Department of Hearing and Speech, was one of just four scholars across the country to receive the prestigious Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Distinguished Scholar Award. The purpose of the award is to foster and encourage pioneering research and clinical projects that aim to make a difference to the lives of people living with aphasia, their families and caregivers. Aphasia is a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate. It can occur suddenly after a stroke or head injury or develop slowly from a growing brain tumor or disease. Aphasia has been in the news after actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with the condition. Criteria for the Tavistock award include academic excellence in research and publications dedicated to improving life with aphasia; the mentoring of students to conduct research associated with aphasia; and working to improve external grant funding that addresses the needs of people living with aphasia.

HOGLUND BIOMEDICAL IMAGING CENTER UPGRADES SCANNING ABILITIES

A major equipment upgrade at the Hoglund Biomedical Imaging Center at KU Medical Center has cemented Hoglund’s status as the premier imaging resource for medical researchers across the institution, state, region and beyond. Hoglund was awarded a $1.5 million National Institutes of Health High-End Instrumentation grant to upgrade the electronics of its MRI scanner used for research with animal models. The scanner’s previous electronics were original to the imaging center, which opened nearly two decades ago. The NIH’s High-End Instrumentation grant program helps fund the purchase of major pieces of shared equipment that will benefit an entire research community. Hoglund serves researchers from the medical center’s schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions as well as from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Children’s Mercy, Kansas State University and other institutions in the surrounding area.

$4.2 MILLION GRANT AWARDED FOR BREAST CANCER CHEMOPREVENTION STUDY

Researchers at The University of Kansas Cancer Center have received a $4.2 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the effects of bazedoxifene and low-dose conjugated estrogen in women who are at increased risk for developing breast cancer and are experiencing menopausal symptoms. Duavee®, a medication containing both drugs, is FDA-approved for hot-flash relief and prevention of osteoporosis. Now, researchers are studying it for its potential to reduce the risk of breast cancer. According to Carol Fabian, M.D., principal investigator and founder of KU Cancer Center’s Breast Cancer Prevention and Survivorship Research Center, as well as professor emeritus in the KU School of Medicine, women at increased risk for breast cancer may take anti-hormonal drugs such as tamoxifen to reduce their chances of developing the disease, but only about 4% of eligible women agree to do so. To identify a new preventive therapy that will reduce the risk of breast cancer and alleviate, not induce, menopausal symptoms, Fabian and her team are launching a clinical trial to build on the results of a pilot study that wrapped up in 2020. The pilot study found that women who took bazedoxifene and conjugated estrogen (Duavee®) for six months had a reduction in mammographic breast density and other risk biomarkers for breast cancer, including indicators of growth in breast tissue. Moreover, participants reported an improvement in hot flashes. Participants reported a median hot flash score of 15 at the beginning of treatment and zero at six months.

CHILD PSYCHIATRY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM WILL HELP ADDRESS SHORTAGE CRISIS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS

About one in seven youths in the United States has a mental health condition and half of those kids go untreated, according to a 2019 article in JAMA Pediatrics. Kansas needs more than 400 child psychiatrists to meet the demand of diagnosing and treating the state’s kids and teens, according to officials with the KU School of Medicine-Wichita Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. In reality, there are fewer than 100 in Kansas and fewer than a dozen serving Wichita and rural Kansas. That’s why KU School of Medicine-Wichita is setting the groundwork for creating a fellowship training program in child and adolescent psychiatry by adding a new faculty member experienced in running such a program and starting a fundraising campaign to support the training. The two-year fellowship program would be able to train four fellows each year and help provide care to more than 500 children and adolescents annually, or about one-quarter of those who are currently going untreated in Sedgwick County. Brian Pate, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, said access to specialized mental health experts for young people is a crisis situation in the region. He said he is hopeful that training fellows in child and adolescent psychiatry in Wichita will attract and produce more child mental health experts for children.

STUDY SHOWS MOST ADULTS WITH ASTHMA ARE WEARING MASKS

A study conducted by Barbara Polivka, Ph.D., RN, associate dean of research for the KU School of Nursing, shows that most adults with asthma are still wearing masks to protect against COVID-19. Polivka said there has been limited research into mask use in adults with asthma. The study surveyed more than 500 adults with asthma, with 98.4% indicating they were wearing a mask in public, and most (67.4%) wore a mask ≤3 hours per day. The research appeared in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

RECEIVING CAR-T THERAPY SOONER IMPROVES LYMPHOMA SURVIVAL

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) may change the standard of care for adults who relapse from large B-cell lymphoma. Joseph McGuirk, DO, medical director of the blood and marrow transplant program at The University of Kansas Cancer Center ― which is one of the leading sites in enrolling participants in the trial ― is a co-author on the study.

According to the results of a clinical trial, a form of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy known by its brand name, Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel), is significantly more effective than the current standard of care in treating people with large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) who relapse after the first line of treatment.

 Yescarta, made by Kite Pharmaceuticals, was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2017 as a third-line treatment for adults with LBCL, i.e., for those who had already undergone two rounds of treatment that failed. The goal of the ZUMA-7 trial was to determine if a one-time infusion of Yescarta is superior to the existing, longstanding second-line standard of care, which is a stem cell transplant following high-dose chemotherapy to kill the lymphoma. The two-year follow-up results indicate that it is. About 40% of people with LBCL need such second-line treatment, either because their cancer returns or does not respond adequately to frontline treatment.

CAR-T therapy is a novel type of immunotherapy in which blood is drawn from a patient, and then T-cells (white blood cells that detect disease-causing organisms in the body) are extracted and genetically re-engineered. These turbocharged cells are used to create the drug that is injected back into the patient to attack cancer. ZUMA-7 began in 2017 and enrolled 359 people in 77 trial sites the world. Participants ranged in age from 22 to 81. Nearly one-third of them were 65 and older, an age that in some countries would render them ineligible for a stem cell transplant.

CLINICAL TRIAL NETWORK TO SPEED UP DEVELOPMENT OF TREATMENTS FOR RARE TYPE OF MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY

The Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy Clinical Trial Research Network (FSHD CTRN) is an international network of academic research centers that uses the expertise and infrastructure of its members to streamline clinical trial research and speed up the development of potential treatments for FSHD. The network is led by Jeffrey Statland, M.D., a professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and Rabi Tawil, M.D., a professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. FSHD is a genetic disease that weakens the skeletal muscles. While the condition can spread to any muscle in the body, it generally begins in the early teen years with the face, shoulders, upper arms, legs or core. Although there is currently no effective treatment or cure for FSHD, in 2010, scientists discovered its cause — a protein that’s not normally expressed in adults is expressed in the muscle and causes damage. The breakthrough led to a new focus on clinical trials exploring potential therapies to combat the life-altering disease.

KU SCHOOL OF NURSING MIDWIFERY PROGRAM NAMED AMONG THE NATION’S BEST

The national organization RegisteredNursing.org has ranked the KU School of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice’s Nurse-Midwife specialty #5 in the country. KU’s nurse-midwife specialty focuses on the care and management of well-women’s primary and reproductive health care needs throughout the life span. RegisteredNursing.org ranked the nurse-midwife programs on a number of criteria, including accreditation status, the availability of online programs, annual tuition and fees, student-faculty ratio, program acceptance rate and graduation rate.

KU ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE RESEARCH CENTER AWARDED SECOND RENEWAL AS ONE OF 31 NATIONALLY DESIGNATED CENTERS BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

The National Institute on Aging has renewed the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s national designation. The accompanying five-year grant will provide more than $15 million for the center through 2026. The KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center is one of 31 centers nationally designated by the National Institute of Aging, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. In the five years since its first renewal in 2016, the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center has supported more than 190 studies and enrolled nearly 3,400 participants into its clinical trials. Like the other Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers funded by the National Institute on Aging, the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, formerly known as the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center, is working to translate research advances into improved diagnoses and care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as to find ways to treat and possibly prevent these diseases. The KU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center received its first national designation in 2011, and its first renewal of the national designation in 2016.

THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS HOSPITAL RANKED AMONG NATION’S BEST

For the 12th consecutive year, The University of Kansas Hospital is the “Best Hospital in Kansas City” according to U.S. News & World Report. It is also the “Best Hospital in Kansas” for the 10th time. It is the only hospital to ever receive these honors. The University of Kansas Hospital is also nationally ranked among the nation’s top 50 hospitals in seven specialties, more than any other hospital in the region. In addition, three specialties are ranked as high performing, which places them among the nation’s top 10%. U.S. News reviewed data from 4,523 hospitals to determine the rankings. Only 165 hospitals were recognized in one or more specialties. U.S. News rankings are based on a data-driven analysis of performance measures, including patient outcomes, nursing quality and the range of programs offered in any one specialty. They are also based on program reputation. These rankings were created to help patients with the most complex conditions find the most advanced care.

The 2021-22 national rankings for The University of Kansas Hospital are:

• Cancer (#49)
• Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#45, 2-way tie)
• Ear, Nose & Throat (#17)
• Geriatrics (#24)
• Neurology & Neurosurgery (#30)
• Pulmonology & Lung Cancer (#33)
• Urology (#27)