Why are many health officials saying we don’t need a COVID-19 booster shot, at least not yet? Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, an immunobiologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson, said the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine isn’t waning several months after being vaccinated. Bhattacharya explained what’s happening in our bodies that allows the vaccine to be so effective, even with the variants.

Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton discusses her passion for Alzheimer's disease research and what's next for the Center for Innovation in Brain Science.

Rubin Naiman, PhD, a psychologist, clinical assistant professor of medicine, and sleep and dream specialist at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, discusses how we can better understand who we are through our dreams and our unconscious.

A new University of Arizona Health Sciences study found women on hormone therapy were up to 58% less likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease, and reduction of risk varied by type and route of hormone therapy and duration of use. The findings could lead to the development of a precision medicine approach to preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

Two fully vaccinated people have died from COVID-19 in Pima County, according to the county health department. This is an extremely small number compared to the number of fully vaccinated people countywide. The percentage of fully vaccinated people who have died from COVID-19 is about 0.00037%. "At the individual level it's a tragedy because someone took the effort to protect themselves and it failed," said Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an associate professor of public health policy and management at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. "But at the population level it doesn't represent a threat because these numbers are so small."

Q&A with Candice Mason, a cancer researcher at the UArizona Cancer Center and skin cancer survivor. She started her own brand of apparel and accessories with UPF 50+ protection, the maximum sun protective rating for fabrics.

When it comes to post-menopausal hormone therapy, the type, route and duration all play a role in reducing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.

Given the chronic and incurable nature of COPD and the limited impact of available therapies, it is understandable why the lure of a promising new treatment approach would be appealing to individuals living with COPD. Unfortunately, these factors also render patients with COPD vulnerable to exploitation by companies offering false hope for novel remedies, explained Marilyn K. Glassberg, MD, of the Division of Pulmonology, Critical Care, and Sleep at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, and colleagues, in a recent review in Chest.

With summer in full force, it’s more important than ever to wear sunscreen when outside. Arizonans are at a particular risk for sun-related skin damage, according to experts at the University of Arizona Cancer Center's Skin Cancer Institute.

The FDA approval of the monoclonal antibody aducanumab for Alzheimer's disease has elicited a decidedly mixed response from neurologists who treat dementia. “The FDA had to do a lot of analyses and make a very complicated judgement. I can't join the skeptics who say ‘just say no.’ There are a lot of unanswered questions. It is a tough call," said Pierre Tariot, MD, director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute and a research professor at the College of Medicine – Phoenix.