Emory Healthcare has created two new leadership roles to better align the continuum of care for patients across its 11 hospitals. Heather Dexter, CEO of Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, has been appointed president of the Emory Healthcare Regional Hospital Division. Hospitals in the new division include: Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Emory Decatur Hospital, Emory Hillandale Hospital, and Emory Long-Term Acute Care Hospital. Matt Wain, CEO of Emory University Hospital, Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital, Emory University Hospital at Wesley Woods, and Emory University Hospital at Smyrna, has been appointed president of the Emory Healthcare University Hospital Division. Hospitals in the newly named division include the four hospitals for which Wain already has oversight, as well as Emory University Hospital Midtown. Read more.

At an academic medical center, educators don’t always get the same amount of recognition as researchers and clinicians. Intersections: The Education Journal of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center was launched, in part, to elevate and disseminate the important work being done by educators across the WHSC. The Intersections team, co-led by Linda Lewin, professor of pediatrics and co-director of the Woodruff Health Educators Academy, and Kathryn Garber, associate professor of human genetics, launched the journal six months ago. In addition to highlighting educators’ work, the journal offers a training ground for translating education studies into published articles. The journal is also a way to disseminate best practice ideas across the units of the WHSC. Lewin and Garber encourage educators across the WHSC to submit their studies. Learn more about Intersections here.

Three Emory professionals have been elected to The National Academy of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine. The awardees are: Wilbur Lam, the W. Paul Bowers Research Chair and Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech; Daniele Fallin, the James W. Curran Dean of Public Health at the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH); and Ighovwerha Ofotokun, the Grady Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine (SOM). The Academy also announced the selection of Judy Wawira Gichoya, associate professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Science, as one of the Academy’s 2023 Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars. Read more.

The US Department of Health and Human Services’ new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is funding the Defeating Antibiotic Resistance through Transformative Solutions (DARTS) project to combat the ever-growing crisis of antibiotic resistance. Harvard Medical School will lead the multi-institution research team. David Weiss, SOM professor and one of the leaders of the Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center, has been named as the principal investigator of the Emory component of the DARTS grant. Earlier this month, the ARPA-H announced that Emory has been selected as the first recipient of funding to drive groundbreaking health research in a three-year, $24.8 million cooperative agreement. Read more.

Emory's Center for Systems Imaging has obtained Georgia's first 7.0 Tesla MRI system, featuring magnetic resonance elastography (MRE). MRE imaging pairs MRI technology with low frequency vibrations to create an even more vivid image—known as an elastogram—of the body tissue. Elastograms show tissue stiffness, revealing new information about the brain which can’t be visualized any other way. Read more.

Emory Vaccine Center researchers have published a report identifying the potential Achilles heel of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Part of the viral fusion machinery seems to stay the same among several viral variants, and this vulnerable machinery is what the antiviral peptide Yongshi targets. A peptide is a small protein or fragment of a protein. Derived from a natural antiviral peptide produced by wild boar, Yongshi (meaning “warrior” in Mandarin) can prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting host cells. The scientists are now studying how to adapt the peptide for clinical use. Read more.

An Emory-led study into the exposures of pregnant women to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” is believed to be the first to detect PFAS in newborns and show that exposure to these chemicals during pregnancy increases the likelihood of preterm or early term births. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), preterm birth is the second-leading cause of infant death in the US. “An important next step is to investigate where the mothers and children in our study are being exposed to most of these chemicals,” says Anne Dunlop, an SOM professor and co-author of the study. Read more.

A study led by RSPH researchers was one of the first to find an emerging class of “forever chemicals” in the homes, drinking water, and bodies of US residents. Most of the existing research has focused on the longer-chain PFAS, which were found to be toxic and have been banned for many years. The new study found that an emerging class of ultrashort- and short-chain PFAS—meant to serve as replacements for the already banned PFAS compounds—are now being found in elevated levels in US residents, as well as their homes and water supplies. Read more.

Emory, in collaboration with UMass Chan Medical School and the National Institutes of Health, has secured over $3 million in support from The ALS Association to establish a cloud-based central repository of genetic data, named ALS Compute. This innovative initiative consolidates data from multiple large-scale projects into a single, easily accessible dataset, unlocking the full potential of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) research. Until now, ALS genetic data in the US had been fragmented across six separate whole-genome sequencing projects. Read more.

More than 3,000 people gathered at Emory's McDonough Field on Saturday, Oct. 7, for the 2023 Winship 5K Run/Walk. The 13th annual event raised more than $1 million for cancer research at Winship. Donations will be accepted through Dec. 31. Read more.

Emory’s Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), the only national data collection tool that connects pre-hospital cardiac arrest data with hospital outcomes, will receive $23.85 million in grant funding over the next five years from the CDC. Read more.

Emory AI Health Symposium. Join leading experts in artificial intelligence and medicine to explore how AI and machine learning can revolutionize health care in a two-day symposium brought to you by the Emory Empathetic AI for Health Institute. The event will facilitate collaboration between AI researchers and clinicians while delving into the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in harnessing AI for medical applications. HSRB I, 1st Floor, Rollins Auditorium. Runs from 9 am on 11/14 to 1 pm on 11/15. Learn more and register here.