The COVID-19 pandemic has been an especially stressful time for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, which attacks not only the cancer, but also the immune cells needed to defend the body from infections. “We wanted to make sure we understand the level of protection the COVID-19 vaccines are offering our cancer patients, especially as restrictions were being eased and more contagious variants were starting to spread,” says Rachna Shroff, MD, chief of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and director of the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office.

The summit focuses on developing a public health approach for programs and policies that benefit the people of both countries and the border region.

One Health starts with the knowledge that human health is interconnected with environmental and animal health.

The first antiviral pill to treat COVID-19, called molnupiravir, could be available soon. “What this drug is doing is actually making the virus mutate so quickly that it kills itself,” said Koenraad Van Doorslaer, PhD, an assistant professor in virology at the College of Medicine – Tucson. “It’s pushing it to make so much mistakes that essentially the virus as it comes in and tries to make more copies of itself, it makes so many errors that now the source code is no longer interpretable and you no longer make virus.” He says vaccination is still key as it is better to not get COVID in the first place.

A discussion of the book “Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay, which explores the idea that our physical body is influenced by our thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Ann L. Baldwin, PhD, a professor of physiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson, explains the phenomenon of “Biofield” discussed in the book.

A research team at the University of Arizona Cancer Center has discovered a new way of controlling blood vessel growth in tumors, a development that could make it easier to treat cancer patients. Noel Warfel, PhD, assistant professor of cellular molecular medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson, initiated this project after studying the role of a pro-survival protein, Proviral Insert for the Moloney murine leukemia virus, or PIM1.

Steven Wang, MD, professor and chair of the department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the College of Medicine – Tucson said transmission usually occurs at a very young age. "It's a long period of time specifically around 15 years or more between someone who is initially infected in their throat with the HPV virus, and if the cancer ever develops that's the reason why we think the typical patient that presents to me is someone who probably contracted oral HPV infection in their twenties or even earlier." Dr. Wang said the best prevention is getting vaccinated.

New Canadian data suggests those who received AstraZeneca and then an mRNA vaccine are well-protected. Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, an immunologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson, who was not involved in the study, was initially skeptical about mixing vaccine brands, a view that was far from unusual. But Dr. Bhattacharya said the results are "very encouraging" and provide evidence of "improved real-world protection" from delaying second doses.