Today on Health Lab, we are sharing an episode of The Fundamentals, another podcast from the Michigan Medicine Podcast Network that just launched its second season earlier this month. On this episode of The Fundamentals: "Cannabis and psychedelics: stigmatized substances or powerful therapeutics?" Dr. Kevin Boehnke talks about cannabis, psychedelics, and the increasing body of evidence for their legitimization as therapeutics.

M&I Teresa O'Meara is a recipient of of the Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) program of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Her lab will further study the mechanisms of attachment and virulence for C. auris, with a focus on how the novel adhesin contributes to pathogenesis. On a practical level, their work will suggest strategies for developing vaccine candidates and therapeutics to limit disease caused by this emerging pathogen.

On May 16, 2024, the Regents of the University of Michigan promoted Melanie Pearson, Ph.D., to Associate Professor on the Research Track, effective September 1, 2024.

The University of Michigan Regents approved seven U-M Medical School Department of Anesthesiology faculty promotions during their May 2024 meeting.

Faith Anderson, Jaime Fuentes, and Andrés Rivera Ruiz, M&I Ph.D. candidates, have been awarded prestigious fellowships from Rackham Graduate School, in recognition of their academic excellence. Congratulations, we’re so proud of you!

In emergency rooms and intensive care units across the country, clinicians make split-second decisions about which antibiotics to give a patient when a life threatening infection is suspected. Now, a study reveals that these decisions may have unintended consequences for patient outcomes.

Recent developments represent a dramatic change from long standing federal policy around these substances that has historically criminalized their use and blocked or delayed research efforts into their therapeutic potential.

In the second season of The Fundamentals podcast, co-hosts Kelly Malcom and Jordan Goebig talk to several leading experts from the Medical School about their fields and the fundamental questions they are trying to answer — and discover why U-M is such an amazing place for research. Six new episodes of the popular podcast were released on May 6

Drs. Paul Picton (University of Michigan Medical School) and Matt Whalen (Emory University School of Medicine) join host Dr. Adam Striker to discuss perioperative stroke.

A study builds on previous work that found depriving T cells of iron prevented cells from proliferating. The current study, published in PNAS, found that excess iron is just as problematic.

On today’s The Fundamentals is Dr. Brummett, Professor at the University of Michigan where he serves as the Senior Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Anesthesiology. He has more than 280 publications, including articles in top journals such as JAMA, JAMA Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Annals of Surgery. He is the Co-Director of the Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network or OPEN at the University of Michigan, which aims to apply a preventative approach to the opioid epidemic in the US through appropriate prescribing after surgery, dentistry and emergency medicine. Moreover, he is the Co-Director of the cross-campus Opioid Research Institute, which was launched in the spring of 2023. He leads multiple NIH grants studying these concepts and receives funding from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, SAMHSA, CDC, and multiple foundations. You can learn more about Dr. Brummett here, and you can follow Dr. Brummett @drchadb and the department of anesthesiology @UMichAnesthesia on X.

Rebecca Nause-Osthoff, MD, has received the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Graduate Medical Education's (GME) 2024 Faculty Equity and Inclusion Award.

Four Graduate Program in Immunology alumni participated in a panel discussion about their career paths.

This M&I award recognizes outstanding dissertations.

Researchers improved memory and reduced neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggesting another avenue for potential treatment.