The first project at University Hospital would add a six-story building that with 22 emergency rooms, 22 flexible care beds and 48 inpatient rooms. The new space at will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave. and University Hospital.
UW Health plans to add a new six-story building to its main hospital in the coming years, while its one on Madison’s east side will see its own expansion.
The expansion at University Hospital will include 22 emergency department rooms, 22 flexible care beds and 48 inpatient rooms and will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave., and University Hospital, according to a press release from UW Health. The East Madison Hospital expansion will include six operating rooms, 40 recovery rooms, 20 rooms for post-anesthesia care, 14 flexible care rooms, 20 emergency department rooms and four care rooms that can be shared between the emergency department and medical imaging.
University Hospital, 600 Highland Ave., will add a six-story structure planned to include 22 emergency department rooms, 22 flexible care beds, and 48 inpatient rooms. The new space will be located between the UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Ave., and University Hospital.
We talk to an expert on early childhood media consumption about the potential harms of unregulated kids’ content on YouTube, and what parents need to be aware of. We also talk to a PBS Wisconsin education engagement specialist about what outreach is being done to help kids and parents make healthy media choices.
This notion of a “DIY society” can extend to the numerous ways parents—especially mothers—are asked to “hold it all together,” the University of Wisconsin at Madison sociologist Jessica Calarco told me. For example, the rise of double-earner households was not met with policies like affordable child care or mandatory paid leave. Instead, families have been forced to navigate confusing and competitive marketplaces to acquire basic services such as day care and summer camp, and they are largely on their own to deal with any breakdowns.
“It’s been proven that protracted hot weather can make people depressed,” said Dr. Charles Raison, who has done research on heat intolerance and summer-related depression. “It seems as if the system that modulates body temp also modulates mood.”
Raison, professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said people with mental illness often have trouble with thermal regulation. “From our data, we know that people with depression tend to run body temperatures higher than average, and they don’t sweat as much. So being depressed could set you up to not be able to tolerate heat well.”
That’s a problem, said UW-Madison assistant professor Dr. Christopher Nicholas, who researches how psychedelics and other psychoactive compounds can be used to treat addiction, trauma, chronic pain and depression. “Trauma doesn’t discriminate … and those who are suffering often don’t have the resources to pay for ketamine,” Nicholas said.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, anesthesiology professor Matthew Banks is tinkering with something in between leaving the trip alone and anesthesia: What if you let people have their full-on psychedelic experience, but then erase their memory of the trip altogether? Do you need to remember a trip for the benefits to stick?
“Other carbon sources turn off uric acid utilization,” explained Federico Rey, an associate professor at UW-Madison and the principal investigator in the study.
Leading that revolution is the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which in August opened the Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances, expanding upon clinical psychedelic studies that have been on campus for seven years. The UW School of Pharmacy is also home to the nation’s first master’s program in psychoactive pharmaceutical investigation, where researchers are studying ketamine’s effects on the brain.
UW Health started screening ER and hospitalized patients for food insecurity in 2017, and screens children at clinic visits, spokesperson Emily Greendonner said. Patients needing food get food packages at discharge.
One in 12 Wisconsin families can’t afford the food they need, according to data before the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Wisconsin Food Security Project at UW-Madison. Food insecurity can contribute to chronic disease and poor mental health, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some Wall Street analysts tempered their enthusiasm about Leqembi’s approval in part because of limited capacity at hospitals and infusion centers to administer the biweekly IV infusions. Donanemab, however, is only administered every 4 weeks, which may ease the infusion issues as well as the long-term costs, geriatrics researchers from the University of California San Francisco, SUNY Upstate Medical University and the University of Wisconsin wrote in an editorial published in JAMA Monday.
“The modest benefits would likely not be questioned by patients, clinicians, or payers, if amyloid antibodies were low risk, inexpensive and simple to administer,” wrote UCSF’s Dr. Eric Widera, SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Dr. Sharon Brangman and the University of Wisconsin’s Dr. Nathaniel Chin. “However, they are none of these.”
According to Newsweek, the UW Carbone Cancer Center is listed as the top cancer hospital in Wisconsin for 2023. We learn about the hospital’s latest work, including prostate MRI’s and proton therapy. Interview with Dr. Joshua Lang, associate director of translational research, and Dr. Nataliya Uboha, an oncologist and faculty leader for Cancer Therapy Discovery & Development, both at the UW Carbone Cancer Center.
“(The) clinic is actively involved with all of the communities from which people come,” said Fred Coleman, a 20-year clinic partner and psychiatrist on the clinical faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
More than 80 years ago, the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy was founded at UW-Madison. Today, the organization supports pharmacy education around the country. We speak with Lucas Richert, the institute director, and Hannah Rose Swan, the archivist at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy, on how the history of pharmaceuticals resonates today.
“Michael (Love) was one of the healthiest people we’ve ever seen who needed this procedure,” UW Hospital surgeon Dr. Satoru Osaki said after the procedure. “It was clear to us that he would take his recovery very seriously because he was so serious about his goals.”
“For the general community, I think the risk is pretty low,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, a professor in infectious diease and infectino control at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Dr Bruce Klein from the Medical School at the University of Wisconsin has been researching the infection for about 40 years. He mentioned that the virus is underreported and that reported cases in Wisconsin are uncommon.
Shereen Siewert welcomes Wisconsin bestselling author Michael Perry and University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Profitability Farm Succession Outreach Specialist Joy Kirkpatrick for a discussion on farmer well-being and mental health.
“It’s probably more common than we think,” said Dr. Bruce Klein of the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
“We’re doing it for the Carbone Cancer Center out at the University of Wisconsin. We’re both University of Wisconsin graduates. His sister died a couple of years ago, then my sister died this year on Palm Sunday of cancer, so we now had a cause and that’s when we decided let’s do this for cancer,” said Schmelter.
“ConnectRx, essentially, is a social prescription,” Adrian Jones, UW Health’s director of community health improvement, said. UW Health serves as the host site for the program, which includes all the major health systems in the county, the Black Maternal and Child Health Alliance, the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness, Public Health Madison and Dane County, the Madison Metropolitan School District and United Way of Dane County.
A surprisingly wide range of medical conditions are being shown to be linked to sexual violence. Many may not appear until years after the events. Cancer is one such condition. “A history of abuse may increase a woman’s risk of and susceptibility to cancer,” a review article by researchers at the University of Wisconsin concludes. Cervical cancer is the most prevalent type linked to abuse, and some studies find more breast cancer in survivors (other research does not support this finding). One possible mechanism: heightened immune and inflammatory factors brought on by chronic stress that have been tied to cancer growth, the researchers note.
Rishelle Eithun, with UW Health Kids, says American Family Children’s Hospital sees fireworks-related injuries every July— including burns, loss of fingers or limbs, and other serious trauma. She says sparklers are especially dangerous for children younger than five.
UW Health revealed Wednesday that Carbone Cancer Center was included in Newsweek’s inaugural list of America’s Best Cancer Hospitals 2023. It was ranked highest in Wisconsin and #30 in the nation.
Roots4Change, a Madison-based cooperative of Latina or indigenous doulas that started in 2018, has received grants from the state and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health to expand its services, train new doulas and help medical providers better understand various Latino cultures. Another UW medical school grant has helped families get fresh food.
UW Health’s Carbone Cancer Center was named the best cancer hospital in Wisconsin and one of the best in the country, according to Newsweek.
The center ranked as No. 1 in Wisconsin and No. 30 nationwide on the inaugural list. A total of 175 hospitals were ranked.
Afour-story UW Health clinic nearly three times the size of UW’s Digestive Health Center on Madison’s West Side is expected to open next to that facility in early 2026, according to plans going before city officials for approval beginning this month.
Data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) shows an estimate of 7,000 fewer abortions took place in Wisconsin in the year after the Dobbs decision than the year before.
Other med schools that have also established substantial training efforts on such subjects include Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi at Jackson, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Vanderbilt University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
Studies have pointed to the critical importance of developing a diverse health care workforce that reflects the patient population and can deliver culturally competent care to help reduce disparities. That’s why the Dane County NAACP is calling on UW Health, the largest medical provider in our area, to show leadership on this issue by declaring Juneteenth — Freedom Day — a paid holiday for all employees.
Sara Benzel, a spokesperson for UW Health, confirmed with the Cap Times that medical professionals in Madison do not, and have never, performed procedures commonly referred to as “bottom” surgeries on minors.
Some doctors are urging the return of masking mandates at hospitals. Dr. Kaitlin Sundling is a UW Health pathologist and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health. She is trying to gather public support for overturning UW Health’s decision in early May to scale back its mask mandates.
“It really is a mistake to take that protection away and to put both patients and health care workers at risk,” she said.
As part of the study, lead author Heather Inzalaco, a post-doctoral researcher at UW-Madison, gave blood with CWD-positive material to ticks in a lab. She found that the ticks both ingested and excreted CWD prions.
“They were taking it up, simultaneously eliminating some of it in their frass, which is just a fancy word for tick poo,” Inzalaco said. “So it was in both places.”
Plus, while the impact of age on a couple’s fertility has historically focused on the woman, “there has been a lot of data gathered over the last 10 years that indicates that, as men age, their fertility potential does decline over time,” said Daniel H. Williams, a urologist who specializes in male infertility at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Exercise can help your memory and learning ability, too. Moderate-intensity exercise is linked to an increase in cerebral blood flow and brain glucose metabolism, which are connected to cognitive functions, says University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Ozioma Okonkwo, who co-wrote two studies on the subject.
Like others 80 and older who have superior memories for their age, Frantz is in a study of super agers at UW-Madison. Through cognitive tests, blood tests and MRI scans, the participants could help researchers identify biologic, behavioral, environmental and socioeconomic clues to keeping memories intact — and avoiding Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia — well into advanced age.
Dr. Dixon Kaufman says the center is one of six in the U.S. and the only one in the Midwest that actively does heart, kidney, liver, lung and pancreas transplants for adults and kids.
Children in need of heart transplants will now be able to receive them in Madison. UW Health’s Transplant Center just launched a new pediatric heart transplant program at American Family Children’s Hospital.
UW Hospital added metal detectors at its ER in August. UnityPoint Health-Meriter, Madison’s Veterans Hospital and Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin haven’t installed metal detectors at any locations and said they rely on other security measures.
“As a pharmacist who works in a rural primary care clinic, I’ve seen how challenging it can be for patients to get in for an appointment with their primary care provider,” Marina Maes, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy said. “The provider schedules are booked two to three months out, which limits patients’ access to timely and convenient care from trusted health care professionals.”
UW-Madison researchers are part of a five-year, $29 million National Institutes of Health grant using gene editing to develop drugs for two rare diseases that cause blindness.
An UW Health surgical team performed life saving measures after removing a tumor that was blocking a newborn baby’s airway in February, resulting in a dramatic before and after transformation.
Jessica Calarco, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had a similar take. “This idea of ‘doing the work,’ is just the latest manifestation of the kind of self-improvement culture that has long permeated American society and that is closely linked to America’s obsessively individualistic bent,” she told me via email.
Noted: Twenty years of research has standardized the dosage of the drugs used in clinical trials, but the therapy part has not received similar scrutiny. Instead, therapists’ work is often based on tradition rather than empirical evidence, said Dr. Charles Raison, the director of clinical and translational research at the Usona Institute in Wisconsin and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin.
In recent months, hospitals have stopped requiring people to wear masks in their facilities. We speak with a Dr. Kaitlin Sundling, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UW–Madison, who is among many health care workers calling for universal masking in medical facilities because of the risks facing workers and patients.
To help people find culturally-inclusive foods and food services, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension Brown County launched a new map to help people find food and food services in northeast Wisconsin. It includes things such as food pantries, electronic benefit transfer locations, meal programs and community gardens.
“We collect food pantry statistics and in the last couple of months we have seen an increase in the number of households using food pantries,” said Clarice Martell, one of the extension staff members who worked on the map project. “We hope that this map can make it easier for food insecure households to locate food resources near to them.”
Quoted: “If you’re drinking one to two drinks (per day) because it’s good for you, it doesn’t necessarily increase the length of your life,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison medical school. “There’s no evidence in this large, well-designed study of a life-extending benefit.”
Hospitalized patients at UW Health and UnityPoint Health-Meriter now can have two visitors at a time, with no limit on the total number of different visitors.
“If you’re drinking one to two drinks (per day) because it’s good for you, it doesn’t necessarily increase the length of your life,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison medical school. “There’s no evidence in this large, well-designed study of a life-extending benefit.”
UW-Madison medical entomologist Susan Paskewitz explains how black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks and transmit Lyme disease to humans, are increasingly found in more areas around the state.
About four years ago, Maichou Lor was living in New York completing a postdoctoral fellowship, when family members back home in Wisconsin kept telling her that her dad’s hearing was getting worse.
“He wasn’t responding to conversations even though he had a hearing aid,” said Lor, now an assistant professor of nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I brought him in to see his doctor through the ENT clinic here at UW-Health.”
“The machine will match where the tumor is. That is really great because especially when you’re talking about tumors in the lung, or tumors in the liver, they’re going to move as the animal breathes and it’s the same with people,” UW School of Veterinary Medicine Radiation Oncology Section Head Dr. Lia Forrest said.
Dr. Hans Sollinger, the former chair of transplantation at UW-Madison who pioneered a pancreas transplant technique and developed an anti-rejection drug taken by many transplant patients, died Monday at his home in Madison.
“During the pandemic almost everything Covid related, whether it was vaccines or testing or treatment was all covered by the government. Basically, it was all subsidized that starts to go away. Now, what’s covered depends on who your insurer is, or if you have insurance,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer at UW Health.
UW Health psychologist Dr. Shilagh Mirgain said Mother’s Day can be an emotional trigger for many.
“Almost in anyone’s life, there are going to be years where Mother’s Day is really challenging,” Mirgain said.
Shilagh Mirgain, a health psychologist for UW Health, says reframing how you view the day may help you still enjoy it and work through those hard feelings.
“Reframing the focus of this holiday can be an effective way to celebrate all the positive attributes of motherhood you may not have experienced yourself as a child or missed out on as an adult,” she said.
