In an American College of Surgeons article on the rise of colorectal cancer in younger adults, Liana Tsikitis, M.D., says, “If you hurt your arm or leg, you would see a doctor. The same should be said for any pain or noticeable changes you experience during bowel movements. My advice to patients is to listen to your body — if things don’t seem right, ask a physician and be persistent about your questions.”

In a guest column published in the Portland Business Journal, co-authors Tim Nice, Ph.D., Jonathan Pruneda, Ph.D., Isabella Rauch, Ph.D., and Lauren Rodda, Ph.D., say cuts to NIH research funding are damaging on a number of fronts: “Make no mistake, this will have devastating consequences: clinical trials will be dropped; years-long research projects will die in their tracks; and the training of a generation of scientists will be severely damaged. Many research laboratories operate on thin margins and depend on the assurance of grant disbursement. If no action is taken now, the losses will be immediate and profound, including inability to sustain jobs for Oregon scientists or their support staffs, or maintain important research infrastructure. These cuts will cripple biomedical research and drug development in the U.S. We should be investing more in science, not less.”

In a guest opinion column, Joanna Harper, Ph.D., and Paula Amato, M.D., write, “There is no evidence that inclusion of trans athletes has had a negative impact on sport participation of cisgender women and girls. However, the discrimination experienced by trans youths contributes to lower sports participation rates compared to their cisgender peers.” They suggest steps that communities could take to increase sports participation rates for all youths, regardless of gender identity.

In a story by MedCentral highlighting the transformation of critical cardiac care over the years, Srini Mukundan, M.D., says, “We should expect continued innovation within the fields of interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced heart failure, cardiac imaging, structural heart disease, and cardiac surgery. As these fields evolve to offer novel treatments and therapies, critical care cardiology will adapt as well, providing responsive patient-centered care to an increasingly complex patient population.”

In media coverage of a Multnomah County Health Department report about the rise of dysentery cases in the area, John Townes, M.D., says, “If you want to stop an outbreak of shigella, you give people toilets and soap and water. And you train them in how to wash their hands."

The Daily Emerald, student newspaper at the University of Oregon, covers a multi-state effort to defend federal gun laws. Kathleen Carlson, Ph.D., director of the OHSU Gun Violence Prevention Research Center, says, “The more prevention mechanisms we have in place, the fewer deaths we see. Science supports that.”

Continued media coverage of a team of OHSU researchers led by Jared Fischer, Ph.D., and Jose Montoya Mira, Ph.D., who developed a new blood test that identifies hard-to-detect pancreatic cancer with 85% accuracy.

Continued media coverage of a team of OHSU researchers led by Jared Fischer, Ph.D., and Jose Montoya Mira, Ph.D., who developed a new blood test that identifies hard-to-detect pancreatic cancer with 85% accuracy.

In a guest opinion column, Joanna Harper, Ph.D., and Paula Amato, M.D., write, “There is no evidence that inclusion of trans athletes has had a negative impact on sport participation of cisgender women and girls. However, the discrimination experienced by trans youths contributes to lower sports participation rates compared to their cisgender peers.” They suggest steps that communities could take to increase sports participation rates for all youths, regardless of gender identity.

Coverage of stop-work orders from the federal government for research projects in Oregon notes that for researchers who haven’t received such orders, losing funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health would have devastating financial impacts. Lillian Raley, M.S., says, “We haven’t seen a lot of manifestations yet of what’s to come. There’s just been a lot of anxiety about trying to extrapolate out where your funding source comes from and if it’s cut, can we find other ways of supporting it? There’s not a lot of answers right now, just a lot of anxiety."