A recent OHSU analysis that showed Oregon’s addiction care system is half the size it should be to meet demand is mentioned in an OPB story on the important of peer mentors in helping people with substance use disorder.

The latest OHSU statewide forecast reveals that RSV and flu have peaked but to expect a bump in hospitalizations over the next few weeks due to the highly contagious XBB.1.5 variant. Bill Messer, M.D., Ph.D., says, “People can still get deathly ill and die from COVID. It’s understandable that people want to relax precautions, but we should not lose track of the fact that this is a dangerous virus, particularly in vulnerable people, and probably always will be.”

KGW-TV examines a recent study stating that social media usage could be reshaping how adolescent brains develop. Bonnie Nagel, Ph.D., discusses the caveats to this claim and emphasizes that the topic requires further research: “You can't say that their brains developed this way because of that social media use. You can only say people who have that type of social media use at age 12 have different brain trajectories."

Jeremy Cetnar, M.D., is the inaugural guest on OncLive’s “On Air” podcast to discuss “the ins-and-outs of defining personal and professional success, perceptions around sought-after accolades and accomplishments, the meaning behind mentoring, and more.”

New research led by Jane Zhu, M.D., reveals private equity firms that acquire physician-owned medical practices experience greater churn in the workforce and rely more heavily on advanced practice providers rather than physicians. She says, “We really ought to be paying more attention to how these big-picture practice delivery shifts are affecting physicians.”

New research led by Jane Zhu, M.D., reveals private equity firms that acquire physician-owned medical practices experience greater churn in the workforce and rely more heavily on advanced practice providers rather than physicians. She says, “We really ought to be paying more attention to how these big-picture practice delivery shifts are affecting physicians.”

Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, Ph.D., M.B.A., RN, says her priorities as the new American Nurses Association president include safe staffing and fighting racism; about nurse staffing she says: “This has been an issue well beyond COVID. COVID exacerbated it and shined a light on some of these issues, but this has been going on for some time. We need to focus on solving this one because it has a lot of impact on patient safety. This has an impact for nurses staying in the workforce.”

In an article on stories that “made a difference” in 2022, an anecdote was included that soon after a story on OHSU’s Healthy Oregon Project’s free genetic testing was published, the study team saw an increase in interested participants.

An analysis by the developing Gun Violence Prevention Research Center at OHSU that found gun injuries in Oregonians of all ages early doubled between 2019 and 2021, and Oregon gun deaths increased by 18% is cited in a The Astorian op-ed on shifting public opinion on gun violence.

In a story about the value of medication-assisted therapy in addressing the opioid epidemic, Todd Korthuis, M.D., says, “Buprenorphine and methadone allow the brain to stabilize. It’s not replacing one addiction with another – it’s treatment”