June

UNC Health Care is first in Carolinas to offer ‘GPS for the Body’ treatment

UNC Health Care is the first medical center in North Carolina or South Carolina to begin treating cancer patients with a new system that tracks movement of the prostate to provide safer, more accurate radiation therapy.

UNC doctor develops innovative tissue regeneration approach for abdominal fistula repair

Dr. Joseph Stavas, Vice Chair of Radiology in the UNC School of Medicine, has developed an innovative catheter-based approach for abdominal fistula repair that uses an extracellular collagen matrix material derived from pig intestines.

UNC Health Care offers new option to make infertility treatment more affordable

UNC Health Care has launched a new program to help make IVF more affordable. UNC’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility is the only IVF provider in the Triangle to offer the IntegraMed Shared Risk Refund Program. The program is offered through IntegraMed America Inc., a company that provides treatment-financing programs for infertility patients.

Lifetime trauma may speed progression of HIV, early death

CHAPEL HILL - Even though effective drug cocktails have improved the outlook for many patients with HIV, disease progression, including the time from AIDS onset to death, varies widely from patient to patient. Now, a study led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine provides new evidence that psychological factors play a role in disease progression.

Dr. Lisa Carey inducted into Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars

Dr. Lisa Carey, associate professor of medicine in the UNC School of Medicine and medical director of the UNC Breast Center, has been inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

UNC cancer researcher receives American Brain Tumor Association grant

Qian Zhang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, has been awarded an $80,000 research fellowship by the American Brain Tumor Association.

Samulski wins achievement award from American Society for Gene Therapy

R. Jude Samulski, Ph.D., director of the Gene Therapy Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has received the inaugural Outstanding Achievement Award given by the American Society for Gene Therapy.

Non-whites receive harsher sentences for inflicted traumatic brain injury of children

Non-white defendants are nearly twice as likely to receive harsher prison sentences than white defendants in North Carolina criminal cases stemming from inflicted traumatic brain injury of young children. That’s the conclusion reached by researchers from the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who tracked down what happened in every such case prosecuted in North Carolina in 2000 and 2001. Their study appears in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Adult stem cells aid fracture healing; UNC study lays groundwork for potential treatments

In an approach that could become a new treatment for the 10 to 20 percent of people whose broken bones fail to heal, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that transplantation of adult stem cells can improve healing of fractures.

UNC doctor recognized as a "Hero of Emergency Medicine"

The American College of Emergency Physicians has recognized Dr. Judith E. Tintinalli, professor and chair emeritus in the department of emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, as a “Hero of Emergency Medicine.”

Study provides clues to preventing and treating cancer spread

Isn’t it odd that cancer cells from one organ, such as the skin, can travel and take root in a totally different organ, like the lung?