Health and Medicine

The University at Buffalo has named Timothy F. Murphy, MD, director of UB's Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC), which will be located in the new $291 million joint UB-Kaleida Health building under construction at Goodrich and Ellicott streets on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

University at Buffalo researchers racked up a diverse list of inventions in 2011, spanning fields from medical imaging to green energy. As of mid-December, UB was issued 14 new U.S. patents and filed 43 provisional patent applications in 2011.

Will a drug used to treat childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and other pediatric cancers cause heart problems later in life? UB associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, Javier G. Blanco, PhD, who sees his work as a bridge between research and clinical practice, has focused recent efforts on trying to answer this question.

A better understanding of the impact of childhood concussions on the developing brain, as well as better diagnostic and treatment tools, is "urgently needed," according to University at Buffalo neurosurgeon Elad Levy, MD, co-founder of a new organization called the Program for Understanding Childhood Concussions and Stroke (PUCCS).

Marsha L. Lewis, PhD, RN, associate professor and associate dean for education in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, has been named dean of the University at Buffalo School of Nursing.

With an estimated 65 million caregivers in the U.S., many Americans have at least one on their holiday gift list. Family members and friends can choose gifts that will make caregiving easier and provide a much-needed respite from the often overwhelming demands of caregiving, according to Michael Noe, MD, associate dean for community relations and clinical affairs in the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Former Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker recovered from a concussion with the help of John Leddy. MD, of UB's Concussion Management Clinic. "My coach and I did some reading online about sports concussions and returning from them, and one of the names that we saw over and over was Dr. John Leddy," Shoemaker says.

Many young women who steer clear of alcohol while they're in high school may change their ways once they go off to college. And those who take up binge drinking may be at relatively high risk of sexual assault, according to a University at Buffalo-led study in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The behavior of consumers who are faced with making decisions about their health is not significantly influenced by the way health messages are worded or framed, according to a large, new study by researchers at the University at Buffalo and other institutions.

A preliminary University at Buffalo study of 252 volunteers has found an association between CCSVI and as many as three characteristics widely viewed as possible or confirmed MS risk factors. They are: infectious mononucleosis, irritable bowel syndrome and smoking.