Sarah Coles, MD, is an assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Family Medicine Residency was recently named chair of the AAFP’s Commission on Health of the Public and Science. She also has joined the collection of researchers and clinicians dubbed the “Nerdy Girls,” who provide the public with evidence-based information about COVID-19 through the Dear Pandemic website and social media.

While the days leading up to most presidential elections carry a certain frenzied, exhausted energy fueled by attack ads and nonstop robocalls, this election cycle has felt abnormally anxiety-inducing for many Americans. “We’re certainly in the middle of a perfect storm,” said Dr. Esther Sternberg, research director at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Humans respond physiologically to stress — we sweat, our hearts race — and those responses, Sternberg said, are essential for our survival.

As people have adjusted their daytime rhythms to the pandemic, experts say they have also experienced changes in their sleep patterns. "People are having to find new rhythms in their life, and sometimes it's throwing their sleep off," said Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson.

While Arizona isn't seeing the surge or "second wave" of COVID-19 cases occurring in other states, public-health officials here are concerned cases could rise again. Epidemiologists say some rural regions of the state haven't fully recovered from the first wave and could be hit much harder a second time around. Dr. Daniel Derksen, director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona, said four rural Arizona counties have had double the per-capita number of coronavirus infections and deaths of the state's urban areas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists have been forced to face challenges to their practice that have required not only adaptation and flexibility, but also moments of empathy and vulnerability. Nancy A. Alvarez, associate dean for academic and professional affairs at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy – Phoenix, recently discussed how approaches to mentorship and leadership have been affected by the chaos and change that has become endemic during this time.

A new study from University of Arizona Health Sciences found that SARS-CoV-2 (the virus which causes COVID-19) may actually have a pain-diminishing effect on those it infects, particularly in the initial phase of infection. Dr. Rajesh Khanna, lead author and professor of pharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, talks about his research recently published in the journal PAIN.

Here is what you can do to make sure you and other trick-or-treaters stay safe from COVID-19 this Halloween. Like all things in 2020, Halloween festivities may be a little different this year. To help keep you safe on the spookiest of holidays, 12 News spoke to University of Arizona’s College of Medicine Associate Professor Dr. Shad Marvasti.

Researchers at the University of Arizona have found a promising new biomarker that may help with early detection of stomach cancer. Published in Gut, the journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology, the study was led by Juanita L. Merchant, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Journalist Ann Fish writes about her experience getting a mammography screening for breast cancer at the University of Arizona Medical Center in the early 1970s. She was part of a national program to screen 270,000 women for the early detection of breast cancer.

Experts say that two or three hours before people go to sleep, they should start thinking about when and how they're going to unwind. Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, said he spends some time catching up on work after dinner, but he always plans ahead for what time he'll need to put his work down.