News & Publications

At a conference held last week at the Mayo Clinic, health care professionals discussed the promise and limits of genomic (also known as precision) medicine. According to the Star Tribune, while optimism is justified, Dr. Michael Joyner of Mayo cautioned that "'I like to tell people… Read more

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) has awarded a NAFKI Challenge grant to a team including Jessica Hellmann (above) of the Insitute on the Environment and Bonnie Keeler of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. The $500,000,… Read more

Recent research has raised hopes that new drugs can help slow or reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. While promising breakthroughs abound in this arena, what distinguishes the development of one of these drugs, BAN2401, was the clinical trial's "adaptive design." That approach "ensured… Read more

The Masonic Cancer Center, a Consortium member, has announced its first Chainbreaker Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant, which was awarded to a multidisciplinary group of scholars at the University of Minnesota. The team will focus on the connections between microorganisms and cancer, as both… Read more

The perils of the Big Data era seem to increase every day. The most recent area under scrutiny is the use of personal data by health insurers to track "race, education level, TV habits, marital status, net worth. . . what you post on social media, whether you're behind on your bills, [and] what you… Read more

The advocacy group Public Citizen has filed a complaint with the FDA and Office for Human Research Protections about trials conducted at Hennepin Healthcare (formerly Hennepin County Medical Center), in which paramedics used the sedative ketamine to treat "prehospital agitation." The… Read more

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have released a new consensus report on returning individual research results, which offers a process-ori­ented approach that considers the value to the participant, the risks and feasibility of return, and the… Read more

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Jakub Tolar to the newly created position of Vice President for Clinical Affairs at the University's Academic Health Center (AHC). Prof. Tolar had previously been named as Dean of the Medical School and Interim… Read more

According to an article in Scientific American, "Several DNA testing companies have volunteered their services to help reunite immigrant families separated at the southern U.S. border. But scientists and ethicists warn broad-based genetic tests are 'overkill' and do not make sense for making… Read more

An article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune describes concerns over a program in which paramedics from Hennepin Healthcare administer the sedative ketamine when responding to reports of extremely aggressive or agitated people. The newspaper obtained a draft report that… Read more