An FDA advisory panel unanimously voted to recommend Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine booster six months after initial vaccination for vulnerable Americans. Those included in the recommendation are people ages 65 and older, adults with underlying health conditions and those with an increased risk of contracting the virus due to their job. Shad Marvasti, MD, director of the public health, prevention and health promotion curriculum and associate professor at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, is interviewed.

University of Arizona medical students will soon deliver healthy meals to the homes of cancer patients in Phoenix as part of a partnership with a Valley-based nonprofit organization. The Joy Bus collects and cooks donated food for volunteers to deliver to cancer patients around the Valley, with first- and second-year medical students enrolled in the Culinary Medicine Capstone Course at the UArizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. The nonprofit and medical students will not only deliver chef-inspired meals but also have impactful conversations with cancer patients.

Murtaza Akhter, MD, an emergency room physician and clinical assistant professor at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, discusses the state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the news that the FDA backed Moderna booster shots.

Researchers have identified specific micronutrients and other substances in food that show promise for the tired and weary among us. "The more interesting studies are in people who have some kind of sleep complaint, but not an actual disorder," says Michael Grandner, PhD, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the College of Medicine – Tucson, who studies nutrition's influence on sleep. "They show that you can somewhat normalize or at least make sleep better. It's hard to draw firm conclusions, but they are proof of concept."

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.