First lady Jill Biden touted her husband’s push to eradicate cancer and the Biden administration’s efforts to improve health care for Native Americans during a stop Tuesday at the Tohono O’odham Nation outside Tucson. Biden met with tribal health officials and University of Arizona Cancer Center leaders.

In response to the alarming rise in mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, addiction, and suicide, the department of psychiatry at the College of Medicine – Tucson has created a conference to train primary care physicians to more confidently care for patients with these conditions. Jordan Karp, MD, the department chair and a professor of psychiatry at the College of Medicine – Tucson, previews the fully virtual conference to be held on Saturday, March 12.

University of Arizona's Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine Integrative Medicine clinic research was included in a new white paper published by the Family Medicine Education Consortium and Samueli Foundation. According to the paper, U.S. health care systems and clinics report reducing costs, improving patient experience and health, while enhancing clinician wellbeing by delivering integrative care.

An implantable, bioartificial pancreas two decades in the making may soon provide a new treatment option for adults and children with Type 1 diabetes.

According to the CDC, Arizona has the second-highest COVID-19 death rate of any state, behind Mississippi. Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is quoted.

Continuing coverage: First lady met health care professionals at San Xavier Health Center, where the University of Arizona Cancer Center has been working to expand colorectal cancer prevention and early-detection strategies. The Health Sciences Office of Communications assisted with this story.

The University of Arizona Health Sciences received more than $133 million in National Institutes of Health funding in 2020-2021, with several colleges showing improvements in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research national rankings.