Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more

Grady Memorial Hospital

Intervention: preventing trips to the trauma unit

Jana MacLeod, MD

Drunk drivers have been known to walk away from auto wrecks—but that’s unusual. In fact, the norm is this: those who drink before an accident of any kind, particularly a motor vehicle accident, have a much higher chance of being injured or dying than if they hadn’t been drinking at all. If you’re facing a DUI charge, don’t hesitate to reach out through this contact form to discuss your situation with an experienced lawyer.

So, Jana MacLeod, MD, and her colleagues trained surgical interns to conduct brief interventions on patients with alcohol-related injuries. MacLeod is an associate professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine. She says brief interventions offer patients a way to talk about their alcohol use with their physician, and then make behavioral changes if they so choose.

MacLeod talks about the benefits of these interventions in an Emory Sound Science podcast.

“Recent studies have shown brief alcohol interventions with trauma patients who have a history of alcohol misuse successfully prevented future episodes of drunk driving,” says MacLeod. What’s more, it’s been shown a five-minute intervention reduces hazardous drinking patterns up to three years after injury and decreases recidivism.

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Providing complex care for individuals in need

Emory Healthcare physicians provided $48.9 million in charity care in fiscal year 2008–2009, a total that does not include uncompensated care provided by Emory physicians practicing at publicly funded Grady Memorial Hospital and other affiliate institutions.

Charity care includes two types of care. Indigent care refers to care provided to patients with no health insurance, not even Medicare or Medicaid. Catastrophic care refers to care provided to patients who have some coverage but whose medical bills are so large that paying them would be permanently life-shattering. People without ability to pay for care are not faceless statistics to Emory clinicians but patients in need of care.

In fact, Emory’s Wesley Woods Center exemplifies Emory Healthcare’s commitment to serving patients and their families who are facing issues related to aging. The majority of the 30,000 patients treated last year at Wesley Woods’ 100-bed hospital and outpatient clinic were elderly, in their 70s, 80s, 90s and older.

But Wesley Woods also is a life-saver for many younger patients who require chronic care and specialty services for which the center is known, including wound care, rehabilitation and respiratory care, such as weaning from ventilator therapy.

Patient receives care at Wesley Woods

Patient receives care at Wesley Woods

For example, patient Sherry Smith’s CT scan at Emory University Hospital showed large blood clots blocking the vessels leading to her spleen and kidneys. Over the next two weeks, she had four operations. Surgeons removed the clots and her spleen and cut out portions of her bowel that had been destroyed by lack of oxygenated blood. She required a feeding tube and a tracheotomy to help with breathing as she recovered.

Patients can move seamlessly between the two Emory Healthcare facilities for needed care. Smith moved back and forth between Emory and Wesley Woods as she improved. She also got some unexpected help in paying for her care. When she got sick, Smith lost her job. During the six months she spent moving between the two hospitals, her bill at Wesley Woods was more than $120,000, and that at Emory University Hospital, almost $130,000.

Community Benefits Report

Community Benefits Report

 

To her relief, Emory offered to pay her COBRA insurance fees to help her maintain her insurance for the time allowed. Payments would cover only part of the actual cost of care. Wesley Woods social workers also helped Smith apply for Medicaid to cover health care costs while she continues her recovery in a rehab facility closer to her home.

Read more about charity care at Emory in the Community Benefits Report 2009.

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Curiosity about health and a borderless world

Developing effective HIV prevention and intervention programs in the most affected communities is a challenge globally as well as locally. It’s also a challenge that Emory infectious disease specialist Carlos del Rio, MD, is addressing as newly appointed chair of the Rollins School of Public Health’s Hubert Department of Global Health.

Carlos del Rio, MD

Carlos del Rio, MD

Del Rio is uniquely equipped to address HIV prevention and intervention. As the former chief of medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s safety-net hospital, he witnessed firsthand patients affected by the disease. He says there ought to be incentives for people to stay healthy instead of barriers to staying healthy.

More daunting for del Rio is preventing disease on a global scale, much of which rests on changing unhealthy behaviors related to diet, exercise, smoking, and sex. He says we know very little about how to implement population-wide behavior change, and we need to learn more.

Del Rio says growing human capital to strengthen research capacity in resource-constrained countries is also key. Since 1998, the NIH/Fogarty International Center has funded the Emory AIDS Training and Research Program (AITRP) to build capacity in Armenia, the Republic of Georgia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Rwanda, Vietnam and Zambia. Led by del Rio, AITRP brings a select group of young scientists to Emory each year for advanced training. Emory faculty also train and mentor scientists in these countries.

The training program has opened avenues to improving health. In Ethiopia, del Rio helped expand HIV testing among the police force and bring antiretroviral therapy into the community for people living with HIV.

In the Republic of Georgia, the Emory AITRP and the Emory-Georgia Tuberculosis Research Training Program, another NIH/Fogarty program led by RSPH adjunct faculty member and Emory School of Medicine professor  Henry Blumberg, MD, has helped build research capacity in HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis research.

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Emory HIV/AIDS experts lends voice to reach out

The latest CDC statistics on HIV/AIDS estimate more than 1.1 million persons in the United States are living with diagnosed or undiagnosed HIV/AIDS. HIV gradually attacks the immune system and causes AIDS, the final stage of HIV infection.

It can take years for a person infected with HIV to reach this stage. Having AIDS means that the virus has weakened the immune system to the point at which the body has a difficult time fighting infection. Early HIV diagnosis is vital, so people who are infected can fully benefit from available live-saving treatments.

David Malebranche, MD

David J. Malebranche, MD

This critical message is the foundation of a new campaign titled “Treatment is Power.” David J. Malebranche, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and internist at Grady Memorial Hospital is an expert voice for the campaign by Gilead Sciences. Listen to Malebranche on a public service announcement (MP3).

Malebranche says opportunity is unique in reaching people living with HIV. It is geared toward reducing the stigma and fear associated with taking medications that slow down the virus and helps individuals realize the many quality of life improvements associated with early treatment.

As a nationally recognized speaker and advocate, the idea that “treatment is power” is not a new theme for Malebranche. Fostering a close working doctor-patient relationship is one Malebranche aggressively promotes at the Ponce Infectious Disease Center – a local AIDS clinic in downtown Atlanta, where he delivers comprehensive care to uninsured patients living with HIV/AIDS.

He says early treatment is an essential part of the fight against HIV.

From 2006-2008, Malebranche served on the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, which provides recommendations to the President and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding national and international HIV/AIDS programs and policies. He conducts research exploring the social, structural and cultural factors influencing sexual risk-taking and HIV testing practices among black men.

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Raising awareness for sickle cell disease

September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month, and when it comes to assessing and treating sickle cell disease, there is no other place in the world like the Georgia Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center at Grady Memorial Hospital.

James R. Eckman, MD

James R. Eckman, MD, with a patient

Led by James R. Eckman, MD, pioneering medical director and professor of medicine at Emory School of Medicine, the Center is the world’s first 24-hour comprehensive primary care clinic for patients with sickle cell syndromes. It is comprised of a multidisciplinary team with the a mission to educate and provide preventative and comprehensive primary care, while responding to sickle cell emergencies quickly and efficiently.

Millions of people worldwide suffer from the affects of sickle cell anemia – especially those of African, Mediterranean and Indian descent. According to CDC, more than 70,000 people in the United States have sickle cell disease, mostly African Americans. Each year more than 1,000 babies are born with sickle cell disease.

The inherited disorder affects the blood’s hemoglobin, which produces stiff, misshapen red blood cells that deliver less oxygen and can disrupt blood flow, resulting in joint and organ damage and potential clots and strokes. The sickling of red blood cells is aggravated by infections, extreme hot or cold temperatures, poor oxygen intake, not drinking enough fluids and stress.

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Dr. Sanjay Gupta: CNN correspondent & Emory doctor

Millions of TV viewers know Dr. Sanjay Gupta as CNN’s chief medical correspondent. But did you know that off the air, Dr. Gupta is a practicing trauma neurosurgeon at nearby Grady Memorial Hospital? Gupta, like most of the doctors at the hospital, is an Emory physician. CNN medical producer Danielle Dellorto put together this video showing what his life as a surgeon is like.


 

 

Gupta works with Emory doctors on CNN as well. Two of the four members on Gupta’s CNNHealth.com medical advisory team are Emory doctors.

You can see correspondent Gupta on “Paging Dr. Gupta” on CNN 6-10 a.m., Monday-Friday or read the Paging Dr. Gupta Blog.

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Emory and Grady

Grady Memorial Hospital

Grady Memorial Hospital

Every day Atlanta’s lead stories call attention to it: “Shot teen taken to Grady,” “Burn victim ambulanced to Grady,” “Accident victim stable at Grady”– Atlantans, Georgians, and even out of state residents taken to Grady Memorial Hospital in their hour of direst need. What many don’t know however, is that Grady, Atlanta’s public hospital, doesn’t only treat emergencies; Grady is recognized for programs for breast cancer, stroke, sickle cell anemia and more.

Something else many don’t know: “Grady doctors” are Emory or Morehouse doctors. All doctors at Grady are faculty or residents from Emory University School of Medicine or Morehouse School of Medicine. Emory physicians provide close to 85 percent of all physician patient care delivered at Grady. For Emory, this connection goes back to before the Civil War.

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Emory docs make “House Calls”

If you watch the 8 a.m. hour of Fox 5 Atlanta’s “Good Day Atlanta,” you can see Grady Hospital-based internal medicine physicians Neil Winawer and Kimberly Manning. The doctors dispense medical information on Mondays and Wednesdays each week from the set of Fox 5’s “Good Day Housecall.” Following a crash course in broadcast journalism, the doctors research and write their own segments. Recent topics include swine flu, emergency contraception, brain trauma, and fitness in your 40s.

Manning joined the Emory faculty in 2001 and is program  director for maglie calcio poco prezzo Transitional Year Residency Program. Winawer, who is Manning’s faculty mentor, has been at Emory for 13 years Both doctors work at Grady Memorial Hospital in Downtown Atlanta. Read more about “Housecalls” on the Emory-Grady web site.

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