Recognizing that Thanksgiving poses an increased risk of COVID-19 transmission due to holiday travel, the University of Arizona will test students before the holiday and switch to remote learning after. Current plans do include a return to in-person classes to start the spring semester, but the UA could still revert to online-only classes, according to Dr. Richard Carmona, director of the re-entry task force, if cases continue to increase locally and nationally.

In a letter to the editor, Zoe Baccam, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, argued that being tired of COVID-19 and its precautions is "an invalid excuse" to not follow health and safety guidelines.

Dr. Donna D. Zhang’s research focuses on developing pharmaceuticals to prevent or treat exposure to arsenic, which has affected more than 160 million people worldwide.

Advice to medical students who may be doing their residency interviews virtually. Cheryl O'Malley, associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, is quoted.

Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson, leads the Arizona effort to reduce disparities in underrepresented communities in COVID-19 research and clinical trials.

The Phoenix Biomedical Campus, which includes the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, serves as a natural extension of the learning environment. Allison Otu, executive director of corporate and community relations for UArizona Health Sciences, is quoted.

Time spent after normal working hours on EHR-related documentation issues was the second most common cause of frustrations for physicians. A recent study by the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix found that family medicine practice providers can spend upwards of 33 hours per month working on EHR tasks during after-hours, resulting in burnout.

Continuing coverage: Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and chief science officer for Maui Grown Therapies, will give a free online presentation called "Cannabis and the Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle" on November 5.