Sudip Datta, T. Norris Hitchman Endowed Chair in Finance; Abhijit Guha, assistant professor of marketing; and Mai Iskandar-Datta, Dean's Research Chair in Finance at Wayne State University's School of Business Administration, wrote a piece about the gender wage gap. They point out that despite studies showing a discrepancy between men's and women's wages, chances are that women's starting compensation compares well with what the company would offer a man who has similar skills and experience. But over time, women's pay will most likely start to lag that of their male colleagues, and after a while they'll be looking at a big gap. Their research, which looked at 1,598 newly hired chief financial officers at U.S. public companies from 1994 to 2007, found no evidence of a wage gap during the hiring year; in fact, with companies competing for female CFOs, the women's pay packages were typically a bit better than the men's. However, two years in, the women's total compensation trailed their male counterparts' by 4.5 percent to 5 percent.

This story features Street Medicine Detroit, a group of Wayne State University School of Medicine students who take to the streets of the city treating homeless people making sure they receive the follow-up care and medicine that they need.

Detroit's brand-new Hellenic Museum of Michigan will open its doors to the public on Saturday. Opening festivities will include an official ribbon-cutting at the museum at 5 p.m., followed by a 6:30 p.m. gala reception to benefit the museum at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The house, with a renovation plan by Elisabeth Knibbe - the same architect who did the Inn on Ferry Street right behind the museum - will feature a first-floor exhibition on the history of Detroit's Greektown that Wayne State University students compiled, while the wider story of Greek history, complete with a useful timeline from 4,000 B.C. to the present, will be presented in three rooms on the second floor. Wayne State junior Che-Lin Aldridge, who went through hundreds of historic photos for the museum, sees it all as part of the dizzying ethnic tapestry that comprises the greater Detroit area. "It's so interesting how cultures blend together," she says.

More than 350,000 people die annually from sudden cardiac arrest - more than breast cancer, lung cancer and AIDS combined - and the death rate is extremely high in urban centers such as Detroit where CPR isn't likely to be practiced and health care isn't sought or affordable to people without insurance, medical experts say. Detroit is one of 10 cities targeted in a national awareness campaign titled "Arrest the Risk" that informs blacks about the risks and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest. According to the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, Detroit has the lowest cardiac arrest survival rate of any urban city in the country where studies were conducted. Dr. Teferi Mitiku, a cardiologist and assistant professor in the cardiology/electrophysiology division at Wayne State University's school of medicine who is the local spokesman for the campaign, said educating patients is key to keeping people from dying of sudden cardiac arrest. Mitiku said: "If you have a sudden cardiac arrest and they don't get to you in 10 minutes, your survival rate is almost zero. "Time is very, very crucial, actually more crucial than a heart attack." Mitiku said sudden cardiac arrest does "not happen to a normal heart" and there's "always underlying conditions that mostly have been undiagnosed," such as heart disease or genetic predispositions.

After four years in consulting, John Corcoran decided to apply his business skills to improve the quality of life in American cities and enrolled in University of California Berkeley for a Master of City and Regional Planning. After working for the regional transit authority and an affordable housing developer in Oakland, he headed for Detroit to join the Detroit Revitalization Fellows program -- a Wayne State University project funded by Kresge Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hudson-Webber Foundation, the Skillman Foundation and Wayne State. He is now the manager of real estate projects for TechTown Detroit. "John's expertise perfectly complements our work to drive economic growth and urban revitalization," said Leslie Smith, president and CEO of TechTown. "He brings not only a fresh perspective to our projects, but his passion for urban progress is contagious."

The time between diagnosis of breast cancer among older women and their last mammogram is associated with a heightened risk of breast cancer mortality, according to new data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2013. The finding highlights the need for continued mammography screening. Dr. Michael S. Simon, leader of the breast multidisciplinary team at Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and professor of internal medicine and oncology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, said: "We found that for women age 75 and older, a longer time interval between the last mammogram and the date of breast cancer diagnosis was associated with a greater chance for dying from breast cancer." The researchers conclude that it's vital that doctors discuss the risks and benefits of mammography among older patients and encourage screening. "Our findings suggest that regular mammography should be continued for older women every one or two years; however, as with younger women, mammography screening should be considered in light of the overall health of the individual woman."

Jocelyn Benson, Wayne State University School of Law dean, is among the 2013 Great Expectations Awardees to be honored during Detroit's 58th annual NAACP Fight for Freedom. The event will be held on Sunday, April 28 at Cobo Hall.

Valerie M. Parisi, dean of Wayne State University's School of Medicine; Marsha D. Rappley, dean of Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine; and James O. Woolliscroft, dean of the University of Michigan's Medical School, called on legislative leaders to come together to find a method to prevent crippling cuts in medical research. In the op-ed piece, they wrote that medical research, "which offers hope for millions of Americans and the promise of new technologies and jobs, will be devastated with sequestration cuts that have now taken effect." The U.S. Senate Budget Committee estimates that sequestration will force a 5.1 percent cut in nondefense discretionary spending in Fiscal Year 2013. Those cuts will come on top of an additional $900 billion in discretionary spending cuts mandated over the next decade. "Funding reductions to the National Institutes of Health, the major supporter of academic medical research, are now in effect under the budget approved last week for the rest of this fiscal year. They will result in devastating cuts that halt progress assisting millions of patients and their families. This comes when the nation's population is diversifying and aging, and the U.S. competes to hold its standing as a force in the global economy. We need greater investment in medical research at this critical period, not less." In conclusion, they wrote: "All of our universities have been investing in research and related infrastructure -- and in the training of the bright young minds who will lead medicine and biomedical science tomorrow. To lose that momentum now will cost Michigan jobs and people."

The Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship offers a two-year master's program that recruits accomplished science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) college graduates. It is one of several model programs leading the charge to fulfill President Barack Obama's call for 100,000 highly qualified STEM teachers over the next decade, and to get them ready for the much-anticipated new K-12 math and science standards. With only 26 percent of U.S. 12th graders now deemed proficient in math, most states have adopted more rigorous new Common Core Standards for what kids should master at each level. The Wilson Fellowship partners with several graduate schools of education in Ohio, including Wayne State University.

Detroit novelist, playwright and poet Bill Harris started writing in the 1960s because he wanted to give a voice to African-American males, who were not well represented in the literary arts at the time, he says. Inspired by jazz musicians in particular, the accomplished author, who retired in 2011 from his English professor position at Wayne State University, says that whether it's a play, novel, essay or a fusion of literary forms, there's a rhythmic tempo to the words he lays down. Harris also has two books of poetry, including "Yardbird Suite: Side One," which won the 1997 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award.

Craig Fahle spoke with Wayne State University professor Gary Sands about Detroit property assessments. Earlier this week there were reports that the Michigan tax board may investigate the property assessments. Sands examined the sales of nearly 8,000 houses in 2009 and compared them to 2010 assessments.

The history of African Americans in Detroit is the subject of a new book by political activist and former newspaper reporter Ken Coleman. On This Day - African American Life In Detroit gives day-by-day recollections of important events in the city's history. Coleman says the book started as an on-line project…and took an unexpected turn. Coleman praised the photo resources at Wayne State University's Walter P. Reuther Library.

For some workers who lost their jobs during the recession and were willing to take the risk to start their own small businesses, the bad economy turned out to be a good opportunity. Some academics describe this phenomenon as forced invention, the concept that new businesses are created out of necessity. According to a summer 2012 study by software company Wave Accounting, 15 percent of small-business owners launched their own ventures after finding themselves out of work. However, in March, the Federal Reserve modified its economic growth forecast for the year, trimming it to 2.3 percent-2.8 percent, and it expects unemployment, which the Labor Department said Friday fell from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent, to keep dropping to 7.3 percent by the end of the year. Bill Volz, the executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad and the former dean of the School of Business Administration at Wayne State University, pointed out that in the past decade, 500 of the largest U.S. corporations shed about a third of their jobs. The cuts have taken their toll on workers and their sense of job security. "The idea of rolling into the same parking lot every day at GM for 30 years is gone," Volz said. At the same time, he added, this change -- being forced to create a business to survive -- has driven innovation throughout history.

Lead poisoning in kids is hardly the problem it used to be, now that we've stopped using lead in house paints and gasoline. But the lead that lingers outside and in old homes is still dangerous if kids are exposed to it. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 535,000 kids between 1 and 5 years old in the U.S. have at least 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, the amount that doctors say is enough to cause learning and behavior problems. The numbers haven't improved much since the 1990s, and some researchers now say that may be because the CDC is focusing too much on education about one source of exposure: lead paint. "There has been a lot of effort put into education and remediating houses with lead paint," said Shawn McElmurry, a civil and environmental engineer at Wayne State University. "But it hasn't been successful at reducing lead exposure. We need a more holistic approach that also deals with contaminated soils."

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour announced yesterday the appointment of Margaret E. Winters as interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, effective April 8. Winters will hold the position until the university names a permanent provost following a national search. Winters, who currently serves as associate provost and associate vice president for academic personnel, will succeed Ronald T. Brown, who has accepted the position of president at the University of North Texas at Dallas. Winters has held various leadership positions during her 11 years at Wayne State, including chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and founding chair of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. In her current position, she played a lead role in the negotiation of Wayne State's recently ratified collective bargaining contract with the faculty and academic staff union. Prior to joining Wayne State, Winters spent 25 years at Southern Illinois University Carbondale teaching French and linguistics, and serving in the university's academic administration. She was an SIU associate provost for several years and interim provost from 2000 to 2002.

A Wayne State University doctor says distance runners may want to think twice about their next marathon. In an article published Wednesday, Dr. Joel Kahn, clinical professor of cardiology at Wayne State's School of Medicine, says studies show competing in marathons strains the heart for hours to days after the event and could increase the chance of heart events in coming years. Kahn says MRI results in as many as 10 percent of regular marathon runners showed late abnormalities, such as fibrosis, or scars in the heart. Kahn says research shows the "sweet spot" of running was a medium pace, no more than three times a week, and less than 2.5 hours total per week.

Wayne State University researchers Karen M. Rodrigue and Kristen Kennedy were featured as rising stars in Observer, in the Association of Psychological Science publication. Rodrigue's research focuses on how age-related changes in the brain relate to the cognitive decline that we observe over the lifespan in healthy aging. Kennedy is interested in brain-behavior relationships as we age, or the cognitive neuroscience of aging. Specifically she studies how changes to the brain's structure with age correspond to the changes we see in cognition as we age. Both Wayne State researchers stated that Naftali Raz, at Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology, influenced and prepared them for a career in research.

Nancy Forsberg never knew she had any artistic talent at all, until she walked into an art class at Fox Run senior living community in Novi. Now her artworks line the walls of her apartment, and one was featured in last month's 14th Annual Art of Aging Successfully exhibit, held at Greater Grace Conference Center in Detroit. The March 21 event, hosted by the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology, featured a gallery of art work from seniors all around metropolitan Detroit. Workshop topics included gardening, memory tips, exercise, nutritious cooking, and speakers from the Motown and Detroit Historical museums.

With the 3.4-mile Woodward Avenue light rail project expected to break ground this summer, conversation has begun to shift toward how to efficiently extend transit along the corridor beyond Detroit's city limits. A handful of community meetings scheduled this month will discuss plans to extend an alternative mode of transportation for the 27-mile route from Detroit to Pontiac, with bus rapid transit as the leading option. The main goal of the project is to "provide high level, fast transit service that would compete with the automobile" from Pontiac to Detroit's riverfront and vice versa, said Carmine Palombo, director of transportation planning for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments. U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood promised M-1 Rail a $25 million federal grant last summer if the group satisfied his concerns about how it would be funded and operated in the long term, and if the state approved a RTA for metro Detroit. LaHood delivered on that promise in January during an announcement at Wayne State University and said the U.S. Department of Transportation would commit $25 million to M-1. LaHood also awarded a $6.5 million grant to the RTA's bus rapid transit project for planning funds from the federal transit authority.

Wayne State Warrior guard Mike Hollingsworth has picked up a pair of championships and multiple individual honors while dealing with shoulder injuries. Hollingsworth garnered All-GLIAC honors following his sophomore season in 2010-11. He also helped clinch the conference title with a last second tip-in to give the Warriors a 73-71 win over Ferris State in the GLIAC tournament championship game. He entered the 2011-12 season a pre-season All-American and the pre-season conference player-of-the-year. None of that came to fruition, however, as he suffered a torn labrum in the sixth game which required season ending surgery. "Mike is a special talent but obviously he's a shadow of himself," said Wayne State coach David Greer. "We had to get him through the season and manage the season and evaluate things when it ended. Even with the bad shoulder he managed to be first team all-conference again and the leading scorer on the team. He certainly wasn't playing the reckless style he's known for, slashing to the basket, and he's really a good defensive player but he was pretty much relegated to not really being active on defense because every time he injured it he's done it defensively. There is no question in my mind that when he's healthy there's not a lot of basketball players I'd rather have," Greer said.