There are hidden metabolic health impacts in things that most people encounter every day. From surface cleaners to silicone wristbands, from fracking fluids to wastewater – even household dust – these diverse environmental mixtures have a potential to disrupt human health. Christopher Kassotis, an assistant professor in the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology and Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, has received a $598,487 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take a deeper dive into evaluating environmental mixtures. “Anything we know about chemical toxicity is based on testing that individual chemical, but we are never exposed to just one single chemical alone,” Kassotis said. “Humans are regularly exposed to hundreds or thousands of chemicals every day. Our regulatory system completely ignores this, in part due to difficulties sorting out how to examine mixtures and predict effects.”  

By Jena Brooker Detroit is a national leader for the most preterm births – and Wayne State University is setting up a new research center to collect more data on why. WSU in September received an $11.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate how one type of air pollution – volatile organic compounds, or VOCs – contribute to preterm births. The five-year grant has funded the formation of the Center for Leadership in Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR), where researchers will study the link between VOCs and adverse birth and health outcomes. “There really hasn’t been a significant body of work that’s been done till this point in time trying to understand the environmental link to that [preterm birth] rate,” said Carol Miller, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Wayne State and co-leader of the new center. Melissa Runge-Morris, a physician and co-leader of CLEAR, said the medical field is lagging in its understanding of how environmental factors contribute to health outcomes compared to lifestyle and genetic factors. “As far as environmental exposures, all of medicine is playing catch up,” she said. “We’re no different here in Detroit.”

By Karen Drew  It’s been a year-long investigation exposing poor record keeping, decomposing bodies and delays in contacting families of the dead at the Wayne County Morgue. Local 4’s Karen Drew, who led the year-long investigation of issue at the Wayne County Morgue, sat down with the new leadership, Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. Wayne State University School of Medicine has taken over the Wayne County Morgue with a 5-year, $70 million contract. Dean Dr. Wael Sakr discussed how he plans to address issues at the morgue, including an aggressive recruitment campaign to hire more medical examiners, improved record keeping and more. “We’re going to fix that [record keeping] through our software and data management, we are implementing the most current, modern version of it by the end of the month,” Dr. Sakr said. In a rare and surprising move, the new leadership allowed Local 4 cameras inside the medical examiner’s office. “Beyond just autopsies, and toxicology and histology. But how can we improve the health of the people in Wayne County? We can do that through the medical examiner’s office. There is data that we can utilize to really help us from a population health perspective,” said Thane Peterson, vice dean for finance and administration at the School of Medicine.  

A number of young children are being hospitalized because of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and it’s happening at an unusual time of year and among older children than in years past. The current RSV outbreak is different from previous outbreaks in several ways: It’s happening in the fall rather than the winter; older children and not just infants are being hospitalized; and cases are occurring that are more serious than in previous years. “The theory is that everyone’s now back together, and this is a rebound phenomenon,” said Jeffrey Kline, a physician and associate chair of research for emergency medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine. Kline runs a national surveillance network that gathers data about viral infections from about 70 hospitals, including four pediatric hospitals. He says those data show that 318 children were hospitalized with acute respiratory illness brought on by RSV in the week starting Oct. 9, compared with 45 hospitalizations in the week starting July 25. “If we think about the relative increase – ninefold increase – that’s not nothing, especially in the pediatric [emergency departments],” Kilne said.   

It’s that time of year when we celebrate something we usually hate: fear. We visit haunted houses and corn mazes or binge-watch the scariest horror movies. But our relationship with fear is complicated. In its most primitive form, fear is about survival – it raises our heart rates, redirects our blood flow, makes us faster and fiercer, all so we can face – or escape – serious threats. In other settings – where there’s no real danger – fear can feel exhilarating, fun, and exciting. It can serve as a form of entertainment, or even help us focus and perform better. Arash Javanbakht, a trauma psychiatrist who is also the director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC) at Wayne State University, explains the purpose of our primitive fear circuitry, how it fits into modern life, and why we crave scary experiences. “Imagine – if the fear system was instilled in us, we need to practice it. When you’re watching a horror movie, what are you practicing?...You’re constantly, in your mind, practicing ways of surviving. In that sense, these scary experiences are kind of a practice of ‘how I would survive if this happened to me’ but we do it in a safe environment…” 

For the Rev. Nick Hood III, the recently unveiled Black Bottom mural at the Wayne State University School of Medicine brings back a flood of memories. It's a tangible reminder of the historic neighborhood he called home. Hood is a former Detroit city councilman and Black Bottom resident, and his one of hundreds of stories behind the mural. The Black Bottom neighborhood was dismantled when Detroit wanted to build freeways, and took the land from the Black population to do so. Despite all the books about Black Bottom, despite the family conversations and stories about lineage rooted in the community, the 375-foot mural is the first permanent marker of the historic neighborhood, Hood says. The mural, which sits on the south side of Canfield Street near WSU's North Hall, pays homage to Black Detroiters' contributions to the area of medicine. "I've never seen it, anything like it," Hood said. "The significance of it is going to transcend this moment." The mural, a joint project between the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, features nine historical figures, and one future medical student to symbolize the future. Among those honored is Ossian Sweet, who purchased a home in an all-white Detroit neighborhood that defined race relations in Detroit; Marjorie Peebles-Meyers, the first Black woman to graduate from Wayne College of Medicine; Dr. Robert Greenidge, a founder of Parkside Hospital and David and D.L. Northcross, a set of entrepreneurs who started Mercy General Hospital in 1917 and Barthwell, the pharmacist. "The mural is playing this incredible role in providing students, and future students, with strong role models who reflect the diversity of the city and the campus. It just shows you the power of art to transform a neighborhood," said Sheryl Oring, art and art history chair at Wayne State University. "That's one thing art also does: It draws people in, gets people to ask questions and maybe play a role in healing. There were so many difficult things in the history of Detroit and I hope that the mural can play a role in healing."   

By Jack Rodolico     Dr. Arash Javenbakht, a trauma psychiatrist who is also the director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC) at Wayne State University, joins in a conversation about why people sometimes deliberately seek out the things that scare them and fear of things in the natural world. “Patients come to my office and say, ‘I know it’s stupid, but I’m afraid of this…’ and I tell them it’s not stupid, it’s illogical. Fear has to be fast and illogical because logic is slow,”  he said. Dr. Javenbakht describes what goes on in the brain when we experience fear. “There’s an almond-shaped part of the brain near the temporal lobe right near the ear called the amygdala. It’s job, anytime you see something, is to determine the salience…very primitive basic functions of human survival…”    

Psychiatrists have found that one of the most effective ways of treating patients with phobias is to expose them to the very thing they are afraid of. Exposure therapy, as it’s called, is unique in that in order to help someone who is afraid of snakes, for example, you’d have to bring a live snake into the office. Dr. Arash Javanbakht, director of the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic (STARC) at Wayne State University, started a project about seven years ago to work around bringing reptiles into the office. The project sought to help confront their fears through a new type of exposure therapy, conducted solely through augmented reality, or AR. This study aims to help patients with phobias confront their instinctual fears by creating technology that could insert lifelike visuals of what they feared in their environment. Patients can put on a headset and see the same room they saw before, just with the addition of their fears – in the case of this study, spiders. Javanbakht says, “this could definitely be a big part of the future of the psychiatric field.”   

By Julie Walker After two decades of providing care in the Sinai-Grace emergency room, nurse Josephine Quaye-Molex has embraced a new way of connecting with patients. In late July, the venue was a van parked outside Immanuel Grace AME Church on Conner. Quaye-Molex joined the Wayne Health Mobile Unit about a year ago and said the ease of access has been reassuring for those who often have felt dismissed or mistrustful of doctors in traditional healthcare settings. The mobile units, she said, are meeting residents where they are and, in turn, building trust in the community. The setting also gives Quaye-Molex a chance to offer more feedback than the hospital’s ER might typically allow. “I get a lot more time to be able to sit and talk with my patients, or whoever it is that has approached,” she said. “They don’t necessarily have to get services, they just may have questions, and I’m able to answer those questions now.” Born out of necessity during the early peaks of the pandemic, some of the most vocal advocates behind mobile health said they are hopeful that the concept will alleviate barriers to healthcare access and increase trust in underserved communities like Detroit. Dr. Phillip Levy, who practices emergency room medicine at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital and leads the WSU and Wayne Health Mobile Unit program, is hopeful that they will help revolutionize medicine in at least two ways; easing access to care and preventing serious diseases before they start. Levy says five factors – high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol and obesity – contribute to 80% of chronic illnesses in the country, especially heart disease. Levy’s findings resulted in a grant and Wayne State University supported efforts to turn that data into a tool. The tool, coined PHOENIX, is intended to be used by community members and healthcare professionals to identify and curb risk factors before they turn into deadly disease. “At the end of the day, we’re going to affect the most people by screening for the most common disorders and diseases and fixing those problems,” Dr. Levy said. 

A non-opioid animal tranquilizer for which there is no antidote is being mixed into Michigan street drugs, making the already deadly supply more dangerous, according to toxicologists and researchers. Xylazine, a fast-acting central nervous system depressant that is not approved for human use, is showing up largely in fentanyl, the ultra-potent synthetic opioid that is mixed into heroin and pressed into counterfeit pills and responsible for more overdose deaths than any other drug. Adding xylazine to fentanyl, which is also a depressant, increases the already high odds of overdose. In Michigan, xylazine has turned up in toxicology screenings of almost 200 people who have died from drug overdoses since 2019, said Varun Vohra, who is director of the Michigan Poison and Drug Information Center at Wayne State University.  

By Louis Aguilar If things go as planned, the area north of downtown Detroit will see the rise of four major new university and medical projects that could greatly expand the power of “Eds and Meds” in the city. Eds and Meds refer to higher educational institutions like Wayne State University and such medical facilities as Henry Ford Health System and the Detroit Medical Center. The three are part of an economic engine that helps drive Midtown, something the four Eds and Meds projects would bolster further. Michigan State University is planning to locate a new medical school near Henry Ford Health’s headquarters that would be a major boost to the New Center area. The University of Michigan’s new business school venture with billionaire Stephen M. Ross on land donated by the Ilitch organization’s Olympia Development of Michigan would breathe new hope into the Ilitch group’s long-deferred dream of transforming blocks of land north of downtown in what is called District Detroit. The other projects include a new theater and dance complex and jazz center at Wayne State and a new cancer research center and medical school facility by Wayne State University’s School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute somewhere near the DMC or WSU’s main campus. The projects also set up potential competition for funding among Michigan’s top three research universities on Wayne State’s home turf. But one urban development expert expects the strong track records of the institutions in raising money not to result in a loss of money for Wayne State. Dr. Wael Sakr, dean of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, acknowledged the competition with UM and MSU for money, but also expressed faith in the strength of WSU’s plans for the Karmanos Cancer Institute. “We have an experienced team of fundraisers that is working intensely on the funding,” he said. WSU President M. Roy Wilson stated earlier that the university would also consider raising money through bonds for the School of Medicine/Karmanos venture. The Karmonos Cancer Institute’s elite designation will likely help raise money from new and national funders. “There may be more competition, but each of these plans can be successful,” said John Mogk, a distinguished service professor of law at Wayne State who has followed urban planning issues for decades and has been an adviser on numerous urban development projects in Detroit and around the state. “All of these projects can show the tremendous benefits and impact they will bring to the community,” Mogk said. “Every institution involved has a proven track record. Projects that have a great chance of being a success usually find the money they need.”   

By Simon Shayket  An alarming national shortage of a commonly used prescription drug to treat ADHD comes as students are now back in class, and experts warn there could be further challenges impacting learning. At Wayne State University, students are hard at work pursuing their education. But now, a nationwide Adderall shortage has attention of those, some who’ve used the prescription drug to help them focus. “Students are going to need it and not be able to get it,” said Collin Houston, a senior at Wayne State University. “It makes me think easier. Less distractions in my head. My thoughts won’t wander,” he said. Dr. David Rosenberg, professor and chair of psychiatry, discussed the effect on those unable to treat their attention deficit hyperactivity disorder due to supply issues. “We know that ADHD is the most common diagnosis in children and adolescents, but guess what, it’s not limited to children and the biggest age increase for ADHD is in adulthood,” he said. “First and foremost, if you’re concerned, reach out to your physician, they can be of a lot of help.”  

By Patrick Williams   Wayne State University is one of three institutions that has been given the green light by the state of Michigan to evaluate the efficacy of cannabis in treating PTSD and preventing suicide in veterans. Dr. Leslie Lundahl, associate professor and clinical psychologist in Wayne State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, will take a leading role in much of that research. “Public perception and acceptance of cannabis as a pharmacotherapeutic, I think, has outpaced the science at this point,” she said. “So, we’re hoping to start this conversation, and we’re in a good position to do this because we have studied cannabis for a couple of decades now, and we’re quite well-versed in the risks that can be associated; looking at the possible therapeutics I think requires a balance of understanding what those risks could be.”  

Hilary Marusak, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation outlining the benefits of meditation for children. Children actively meditating experience lower activity in parts of the brain involved in rumination, mind-wandering and depression, Marusak’s team found in the first brain-imaging study of young people under 18 years old. Over-activity in this collection of brain regions, known as the default mode network, is thought to be involved in the generation of negative self-directed thoughts – such as “I am such a failure” – that are prominent in mental disorders like depression, Marusak writes. She shares findings that meditation techniques were more effective than distraction at quelling activity in that brain network, which reinforced research showing that meditation techniques and martial arts-based meditation programs are effective for reducing pain and stress in children with cancer or other chronic illnesses – and in their siblings – as well as in schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

By Robin Erb   Death comes early to Detroit, killing residents in some neighborhoods 12 to 15 years earlier than Michiganders elsewhere. Thickening heart muscles, narrowing arteries and cholesterol deposits are hallmarks of the heart disease silently afflicting Detroiters and building toward life-threatening heart attacks or strokes. Dr. Brian O’Neil, chair of emergency medicine at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, said that young doctors arriving in Detroit are often blown away by patients’ blood pressure readings. The coronavirus has exacerbated chronic conditions, increased the number of deaths of preventable diseases because people skipped regular check-ups, and disrupted transportation options for those seeking to get to doctors. As a result, more people who suffered heart attacks or strokes died because they laced swift medical intervention. The pandemic also proved the nimble nature of mobile health. Dr. Phil Levy, an emergency medicine doctor at Detroit’s Receiving and Sinai-Grace hospitals and a researcher at Wayne State University, was positioned to act because he and his team had gathered and arranged data for years to map out hypertension rates in the Detroit area. Their data tool, called Population Health OutcomEs aNd Information Exchange (PHOENIX) revealed neighborhoods strained by high blood pressure and stress based on social vulnerability index factors. Even in the earliest days of the pandemic, the parallels between COVID and heart disease in Detroit were obvious, Levy said. “We started seeing everything that was happening with the brown and Black communities in Detroit and around Detroit – especially around the Sinai Grace area – and the increased caseload and death rate that was occurring in Detroit,” Levy said. In April, the Wayne Health mobile health fleet began with a single van. By the end of this year, it will consist of ten vans that visit schools, churches, festivals and neighborhood parking lots.   

By Keenan Smith  Kids are returning to school and with fall on the way, cold and flu season isn’t too far off either. Looking ahead, it could be a busy season with cold, flu, COVID-19 and monkeypox all in circulation. While there are vaccines for many of them, it raises a lot of questions about timing. Dr. Teena Chopra, a professor of infectious diseases at Wayne State University, said that based on what’s happening in the southern hemisphere, flu season could be really bad. If you’re one of the Michiganders in line for a flu shot, COVID-19 booster and possibly the monkeypox vaccine, Chopra said in most cases you can get them at the same time. “You know, especially people who don’t want to make multiple trips to get their vaccine shots,” Chopra said.  

By Dave Kinchen and David Komer  We know from recent events more and more first responders are feeling burned out – due to stress, long hours, and graphic things they see that they can’t speak to others about. But now there’s help. “We are talking about police, firefighters, dispatchers, corrections officers and EMS. It’s a different population,” said Dr. Arash Javanbakht, a psychiatrist who directs the Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic at Wayne State University. “They have their own different experiences.” Wayne State’s Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences Department has developed the Frontline Stronger Together Program to give first responders mental and emotional support. “The trauma and stress in this population is different than most other people in the way that, if I have a horrible car accident or I may be assaulted, then I come back to my usual, safe, normal life and I can recover,” said Javanbakht. “For these people – it’s every single day…We have different ways of helping. Part is therapy or psychotherapy, or what we call talking cure. There are different ways of it. Talking about the trauma. Talking about the meanings and perceptions a person has created after trauma…” Treatments also include augmented reality devices to help first responders approach social situations in a healthy way while being treated for job-related PTSD.