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.

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

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

A research team, led by Michigan Medicine and in partnership with Hurley Medical Center, finds that nearly three-quarters of patients at a clinic in Flint, Mich., a community that is predominantly Black and socioeconomically disadvantaged, had neuropathy — of which 75% was undiagnosed.

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.

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.

Today on The Fundamentals, our guest Dr. Martin Myers, Director of the U-M Elizabeth Weiser Caswell Diabetes Institute, discusses diabetes research in the context of Ozempic, Wegovy, and other drugs that are changing how people think about weight loss. You can learn more about Dr. Myers here, and you can follow the department of molecular and integrative physiology @UMPhysiology on X.

Today on The Fundamentals is Dr. Maria Castro, the R.C. Schneider collegiate professor of neurosurgery, and a professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research program aims to develop immunotherapies for primary and metastatic brain cancer, studying basic immune biology mechanisms leading to clinical implementation. She has been inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows. She has won numerous awards for her contributions to basic science and cancer research and is a diversity ambassador for the Cancer Biology Graduate Training Program. You can learn more about Dr. Castro here, and you can follow her @castro2355_mg, the Rogel Cancer Center @UMRogelCancer, the department of neurosurgery @umichneuro, Michigan Neurscience Institute @UM_MNI and the department of cell and developmental biology @UMCDB 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.

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

Paul Picton, M.B., Ch.B., MRCP, FRCA, has been appointed interim chair of the Department of Anesthesiology in the Medical School, effective May 1. The provost has provided interim approval of his appointment, and it will be reported at the May Board of Regents meeting

The number of patients using cannabis for medical purposes has increased more than 600 percent since 2016.

Data on medical cannabis use found that enrollment in medical cannabis programs increased overall between 2016 and 2022, but enrollment in states where nonmedical use of cannabis became legal saw a decrease in enrollment

Four faculty and two staff members from the departments of Anesthesiology, Neurology, Radiology and Surgery, and the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME), are recipients of GME Awards for 2024