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."

Last month, 200,000 children across much of the country were infected with COVID-19, according to a report by the Academy of Pediatrics. While severe illness among kids appears to be rare, researchers don’t know much about the possible long-term effects. Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona's College of Public Health, is interviewed.

Traditional healers, who once played critical roles in governance and health care in the Navajo Nation, are dwindling in number and influence, experts and community leaders say, even as a deadly coronavirus assaults the tribe. Michelle Kahn-John, a professor of nursing at the University of Arizona and secretary of the Diné Hataalii Association, is quoted. This article was first published by the syndicated Cronkite News service on 11/10/20.

Despite news on Nov. 9 that a COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, it is important to note that it still could be several more months until it's widely available, and there are some potential issues that come with it. "The challenges with this vaccine is it has to be stored at -94 degree," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, Director of Public Health at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "Most vaccines are stored at 35°F to 45°F, in a standard refrigerator."

Researchers used a patient’s cancer cells to teach her immune system how to recognize and destroy the cancer, revealing an option for successfully treating others.

A study investigating a personalized cancer vaccine has reported a 50% response rate for patients with head and neck cancer in its preliminary data.

In pre-clinical studies, researchers found that low-dose ketamine infusions can improve pain, depression and levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's patients.