Health Sciences In The Media

On Monday, pharmaceutical maker Pfizer reported it’s COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 90% effective. Dr. Shad Marvasti, with the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, is cautiously optimistic about the news. “We still want to look at the details to verify this, but it definitely sounds very promising and it’s good to hear,” Marvasti said. However, Marvasti cautions that adhering to mitigation efforts like wearing a mask and social distancing is critical even if the vaccine is approved.

To figure out how holiday gatherings can be adapted so that possible transmission of COVID-19 is less likely, the Arizona Republic spoke with Dr. Kelly Reynolds, an expert on disease transmission and professor at UA’s Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

As coronavirus cases grow in Arizona, the state could reach a “crisis point” after Thanksgiving, one expert recently warned. “I don’t see us reaching any particular crisis point before Thanksgiving,” Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health, told the Arizona Daily Star.

Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and an epidemiologist working on modeling the COVID-19 pandemic, has been named to Arizona Sen.-elect Mark Kelly's 13-person bipartisan transition team.

The trial for the vaccine still needs to be completed. The No. 1 priority is making sure the vaccine is safe, because even a rare side effect could hurt thousands. Dr. Jun Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy said, “We should be excited, but there is way more work to do."

A new study by researchers at the University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine and the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, offers insight into designing antiviral drugs against COVID-19.

Health experts said President-elect Joe Biden's plan is a stark contrast to the current administration's handling of the pandemic. "This administration hasn't had any comprehensive plan as far as I can tell, in terms of a comprehensive testing strategy," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health, prevention and health promotion with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. "I am just really excited and hopeful."

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Pima County and Arizona, causing public-health experts to worry that conditions could grow dire over the holiday season. "I don't see us reaching any particular crisis point before Thanksgiving," said Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. "But once we hit Thanksgiving and move toward Christmas and New Year's, I think we will eventually reach a crisis point."

Donna D. Zhang, of University of Arizona Health Sciences, has received an eight-year, $7.3 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to determine how a family of proteins can be harnessed to prevent or treat arsenic-induced lung cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

Even many public health experts who celebrated President-elect Joe Biden's win this week turned their immediate focus to the crisis it might create: A 10-week transition period during which COVID-19 cases and deaths skyrocket, and the outgoing Trump administration doesn't take additional action to stop the surge. "So many of us are worried that now that Biden has won, the Trump administration is going to take a scorched-earth approach," said Saskia Popescu, a University of Arizona epidemiology professor at the University of Arizona and biodefense expert.