A clinical trial at the University of Arizona Health Sciences designed to study the safety and effectiveness of a personalized cancer vaccine in combination with the immunotherapy drug Pembrolizumab will expand its cohort after promising preliminary data was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says wearing cloth masks not only keeps people from unknowingly transmitting the virus, it keeps people from inhaling the virus from the air. Saskia Popescu, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, tweeted, "We know that even fabric masks offer some variable protection for the wearer, but I think the bigger issue is that the CDC has to reiterate this to get people to wear a mask."

A study published in the journal "Nature" suggests reducing restaurant capacity even further to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Shad Marvasti, with the University of Arizona's College of Medicine, says he is not surprised the study identified restaurants as high risk when they are operating at normal conditions. But he says Arizona leaders should take drastic action to stop the current spike in cases.

A clinical trial is being conducted at the University of Arizona Health Sciences to study a personalized vaccine in combination with an FDA-approved immunotherapy drug.

Give yourself the gift of good health! The University of Arizona Health Sciences is offering an uplifting program to improve health and reduce stress.

For future nurses and pharmacists, opportunities for service learning combine community outreach with hands-on education.

Health Sciences students sharpened their skills and learned to build rapport with patients as they provided flu shots to other students.

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.

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. “But once we hit Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas and New Year’s, I think we will eventually reach a crisis point.”

A potential COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough after big pharma giant Pfizer said Monday its vaccine is 90 percent effective. "It's incredibly encouraging that the Pfizer vaccine worked," Connick, a professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, said. "I think it bodes well for all the vaccines that they may all be successful which will be successful."