Two years after launching the Addiction Alliance of Georgia, partners Emory Healthcare and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation celebrated the official opening of the Emory Addiction Center. Made possible by almost $10 million in donations from public and private community partners, the center advances the goal of confronting the state’s addiction and overdose epidemic through addiction-related clinical care, education, and research. The center, located at Wesley Woods, offers outpatient and intensive-outpatient addiction treatment and co-occurring mental health care for adolescents and adults. Read more.

Many factors determine whether an individual will generate an effective response to a vaccine, including specific biomarkers within the immune system. Until now, however, there has been no evidence showing whether these factors were universal across a wide range of vaccines. New findings from a meta-analysis published in Nature Immunology examine the biological mechanisms responsible for why some people’s immune systems respond differently to vaccinations. Emory researchers found study participants who had the highest levels of inflammation prior to vaccine had the strongest antibody response. Read more.

Black and Hispanic people are significantly less likely than White people to receive potentially lifesaving bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) during cardiac arrest. That is the finding, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, of a review of six years’ worth of national data collected by the SOM Cardiac Arrest Registry for Enhanced Survival. The disparity between response for Black and Hispanic individuals versus White individuals remained consistent regardless of neighborhood income level or racial and ethnic makeup. The inequity was consistent even in public areas that might have had a larger pool of layperson responders with CPR training available, such as recreational facilities and public transportation hubs. Read more.

Questions have long swirled about the extent to which Parkinson’s disease versus repeated hits to the head contributed to Muhammad Ali’s progressive tremor and cognitive impairment. Now, three neurologists who provided direct care to the boxing legend describe evidence in a JAMA Neurology Viewpoint supporting a primary diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson’s disease over a form of dementia from repetitive head trauma. In wishes expressed before his death at age 74 in June 2016, Ali declined an autopsy, so there was no post-mortem tissue diagnosis. But in the new article, physicians who treated Ali for more than 20 years at Emory, including Mahlon R. DeLong, professor emeritus of neurology, provide clear evidence to support a primary diagnosis of young-onset idiopathic Parkinson’s disease. Pictured above: Muhammad Ali and his wife, Lonnie Ali, with Mahlon DeLong. Read more.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has elected Camara Phyllis Jones to its elite 2022 class, consisting of 100 members. Jones is a family physician, epidemiologist, and past president of the American Public Health Association whose work focuses on naming, measuring and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of our nation and the world. She is an adjunct professor in the Departments of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences and Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH). She also is a senior fellow and adjunct associate professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Read more.

A record number of faculty from the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (SON) have been named award winners by the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research (FNINR). The annual awards recognize national nursing research leaders who have made significant contributions to nursing science. Winning in four of the five award categories were (pictured l-r above): Linda McCauley, professor and dean; Sandra Dunbar, the Charles Howard Candler Professor; Deborah Bruner, senior vice president for research at Emory and the Robert W. Woodruff Chair in Nursing; and Eun-Ok Im, senior associate dean for research and innovation and the Edith Folsom Honeycutt Endowed Chair. Read more.

Emory Healthcare is the first in the Southeast to employ a novel comprehensive robotic system for interventional radiology procedures that guides physicians toward suspected cancerous growths much sooner and more accurately than ever before. By augmenting its interventional radiology and oncology suites at Emory University Hospital with the XACT ACE Robotic System, Emory Healthcare interventional radiologists can access both smaller cancerous growths and growths in difficult-to-reach places inside the body. Read more.

A targeted therapy for children with high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma was shown to significantly reduce relapse rates when tested in a large multicenter clinical trial conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group and led by pediatric oncologists at Winship, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. By combining the targeted antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin with the standard chemotherapy regimen, children were 10 percent less likely to relapse. The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Read more.

Colleen Kelley, associate professor of medicine, is the SOM’s first associate dean for research for Emory at Grady. Kelley will provide leadership and serve as the point person for research partnerships between the SOM, Grady Health System, Morehouse School of Medicine, and other stakeholders. She will also lead strategic planning and implementation to enhance research-related operations and facilities on the Grady campus.

Amit Saindane, professor of radiology and imaging sciences, has been named chair of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences after serving as interim chair since January 1, 2022. Saindane has a secondary appointment in neurosurgery and has previously served in key departmental roles including as vice chair of clinical affairs and director of the division of neuroradiology.

HAL S5301, the world's most advanced interdisciplinary patient simulator, has been installed in the SON’s new Emory Nursing Learning Center. HAL S5301—known as Emory HAL—features conversational speech, life-like motor movement, and next-generation simulated physiology to mimic stroke symptoms and other medical conditions, giving students a more realistic experience. "Because of Emory HAL's engineering and artificial intelligence capabilities, he can process information and respond to learners much more organically during simulations," said Mena Khan, director of operations for the simulation program. "Our students will be even better prepared for nursing care and leadership roles because of their work with Emory HAL." Read more.

The SON, in partnership with the SOM and Morehouse School of Medicine, announced the inaugural cohort of the Pediatric and Reproductive Environmental Health Scholars–Southeastern Environmental Exposures and Disparities (PREHS–SEED) scholars. The PREHS–SEED program is a career development program that provides junior clinical faculty with comprehensive training in pediatric and environmental health research. Liliana Aguayo (pictured above right), RSPH assistant professor, and Carmen Dickinson-Copeland (pictured above left), assistant professor at Morehouse, were selected as the program’s first scholars. Read more.

Dan Owens, CEO of Emory University Hospital Midtown, was installed as chair of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) on Nov. 10. Owens, who has served on the GHA Board since 2017, will lead the Board in developing strategies for GHA hospital members, advocating for the highest quality care for patients and supporting adequate reimbursement for hospitals. Read more.

The Lillian Carter Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility, which is part of the SON, has named Jacob Kariuki assistant director for global health research. In this role, Kariuki will help set the strategic direction of the center, which seeks to improve the health of vulnerable people worldwide through nursing education, research, practice, and policy. Read more.