Many forms of childhood cancers have gone from being a death sentence to a curable disease. Thanks to advances in treatments, the overall survival rate for childhood cancers has increased from 10% a few decades ago to nearly 90% today. This means that by the year 2020, an estimated half a million survivors of childhood cancer will be living in the U.S. With more children surviving, though, it has become increasingly clear that cancer and the subsequent treatments, such as chemo or radiation therapy, can have long-term negative effects that extend beyond physical problems such as hair loss, pain, and physical disability. Indeed, similar to “chemo brain” in adults, childhood cancer and its treatment may have harmful effects on brain development, causing problems with attention, memory, and language, and also leading to depression and anxiety. Based on studies using neuroimaging to examine brain structure and function also suggest that the treatments that are needed to save children’s lives can also be harmful to neural development.

It’s been two decades since doctors fully recognized that breathing that stops and starts during sleep is tied to a host of health issues, even early death, but there still isn’t a treatment that most people find easy to use. Airway pressure masks, the most common remedy, have improved in design, getting smaller and quieter, but patients still complain about sore nostrils, dry mouths and claustrophobia. Now, new ways of conquering sleep apnea, and the explosive snoring that comes with it, are vying for a place in the bedrooms of millions of people craving a good night’s sleep. Products range from a $350 restraint meant to discourage back sleeping to a $24,000 surgical implant that pushes the tongue forward with each breath. Mouthpieces, fitted by dentists, work for some people but have their own problems, including jaw pain. Some patients try surgery, but it often doesn’t work. Doctors recommend weight loss, but diet and exercise can be challenging for people who aren’t sleeping well. Researchers are now focused on how to get people to use a mask more faithfully and predicting who is likely to abandon it and could start instead with a dental device. For specialists, the first-choice, most-studied remedy remains continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP - a motorized device that pumps air through a mask to open a sleeper’s airway. About 5 million Americans have tried CPAP, but up to a third gave up during the first several years because of discomfort and inconvenience. “It’s the bane of my existence as a sleep doctor,” said Dr. James Rowley of Wayne State University in Detroit. “A lot of what sleep doctors do in the first few months after diagnosis is help people be able to use their CPAP.”

Karen Knopper, founder of Pet Suite Retreat, an animal boarding facility, has pledged $1.9 million to Wayne State University’s School of Medicine in Detroit. Knopper helped her father run Danny’s Markets, a Detroit grocery store.“I’m doing what my father would have done,” says Knopper. “There’s just such a need for philanthropy in Detroit.” Knopper is honoring her parents’ legacy through the Knopper Family Endowed Chair and the Knopper Family Endowed Research Fund in the School of Medicine. Together, the gifts will support research endeavors in the department of ophthalmology, visual, and anatomical sciences.

With the help of a $1.54 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, a research team from Wayne State University will establish a targeted approach to sustain cardiac function during an energetic crisis and heart failure. Led by Jian-Ping Jin, M.D., Ph.D., professor and William D. Traitel Endowed Chair of Physiology in the School of Medicine at Wayne State, the research team has focused on the area of protein structure-function relationships, particularly on protein engineering to improve muscle and heart functions.

Co-developed in 2011 by Sarah Draugelis and two of her WSU classmates, Team fEMR is now used by at least five medical relief organizations, including doctors and students at Wayne State with the World Health Student Organization (WHSO) and International Samaritans of Ann Arbor.

A new study shows that many cities will see a shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists by 2020, and Detroit is ranked the sixth highest on that list. By 2050, the study is predicting a shortfall of doctors in that field. “Not surprised,” said Doug Skrzyniarz, associate vice president of Government Health Affairs at Wayne State University.

Wayne State University is gathering partners to determine the scope of a multi-pronged effort to improve cardiovascular health in Detroit and is spearheading the plan with a $1 million donation.

The U.S. government declared a national public health emergency in October 2017 to address the opioid addiction crisis. More than six months later, the country is still in the throes of the crisis, with no sight in end.

As a society, we often wax eloquent about how important it is to nurture, support and protect our children. The sad reality, however, is that all too often major, life-changing decisions are made without any consideration of their potential lifelong and devastating impact on kids.

Our research team, Stress, Trauma, and Anxiety Research Clinic STARC at Wayne State University, has been exploring the psychological impact of traumatic experiences in Syrian adult and children refugees. 

It may be time for your child to have his tonsils removed, explains Dr. Bianca Siegel, an ENT at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Wayne State University. 

There’s a growing concern about HIV in Detroit. According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services more than 11,000 people are living in metro Detroit with HIV and more than 40 percent of them are in Detroit. Nearly 5,000 people live in Detroit with HIV. 

After what is often years of waiting and paperwork, some refugees from desperate situations around the world are fortunate enough to be accepted into the U.S. But then what? If you’ve been in a war-torn area or are a victim of torture, you’re glad to be safe.

An oncology breakthrough at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is a type of cell therapy called chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR-T), a new type of immunotherapy born out of years of cellular therapy research. 

Researchers at Wayne State University have found that a mother’s stress levels directly impact the brain development of babies in-utero — specifically that her stress can change the neural connectivity of her unborn baby’s brain. 

As a pediatric heart specialist, Dr. Steven Lipshultz has taken pride in the work he's done to help kids in metro Detroit. 

As an assistant professor of psychiatry, I see her courage as an opportunity to explain bipolar disorder, a mood disorder that includes episodes of elevated mood, as well as episodes of depression.

Cell implants, gene therapy, even optogenetics are making headway in clinical trials to treat various forms of blindness.  

"Health systems, the university, the city – everybody's very dedicated to this problem," says Dr. Sonia Hassan, Make Your Date's director and an associate dean for maternal, perinatal and child health at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "They've become very galvanized over the past couple of years, and so it's an environment that's been … very supportive."

The Barth Syndrome Foundation recently announced awardees from its 2017 grant cycle. Miriam Greenberg, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University and a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, received a one-year, $50,000 grant.