Wayne State gets $1.7M grant for post-partum drug abuse intervention

A team of researchers at Wayne State University's Parent Health Lab in the School of Medicine have developed a novel indirect screener that identifies women at risk for drug use by evaluating correlates of illicit drug use rather than drug use itself. Steven Ondersma, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences in WSU's School of Medicine and the Merrill-Palmer Skillman Institute, is leading researchers to continue development and use of the screener known as the Wayne Indirect Drug Use Screener. "This study could identify and help at-risk women, regardless of their comfort with disclosing drug use," Ondersma said.

November 1, 2011

Skull of early Pontiac resident may have been found in Oak Hill Cemetery offices

An updated report on the progress of a volunteer effort to repair and clean up areas of the Oak Hill Cemetery in Pontiac notes that a skull was returned there on Monday as Wayne State University students and Teddi Setzer, a physical anthropologist and lecturer at the university, finished removing the remains of three people entombed in the Southard family mausoleum. Setzer - and Wayne State University's Department of Anthropology - volunteered to assist the city after being contacted by The Oakland Press. A video is included.

November 1, 2011

Detroit's TechTown

A story highlights Wayne State's business incubator TechTown, which is planning to expand in the future. A video features TechTown President and CEO Leslie Smith and notes the success of Forever Fresh, Clean Emissions Fluids, and most notably, Asterand.

November 1, 2011

Royal Oak doctor recognized as 'Breast Cancer Hero'

Dr. Elizabeth Kim, a breast cancer specialist at Karmanos and Wayne State University faculty member, has received the Compassionate Caregiver Award for her achievements in the field. \"This award recognizes a very special combination of remarkable technical skill and a personal touch that goes far beyond \'good bedside manner,\'" said Maureen Meldrum, director of Breast Cancer Special Programs at Karmanos.

October 31, 2011

Randal Charlton to retire from Tech Town

Randal Charlton, outgoing executive director of TechTown, discusses on The Craig Fahle Show his retirement from TechTown. He reviewed his years since 2007 at the helm of the Detroit-based research and technology park.

October 31, 2011

Wayne State to use $655.5K grant to study alcohol abuse in pregnant women

A research team at Wayne State University has been awarded a grant to develop a computer-based intervention for pregnant women who abuse alcohol. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse awarded the $655,500 grant to the team, led by WSU associate professor Steven Ondersma, to be used in screening, brief intervention, and referral for treatment, or SBIRT, studies. The grant will be used over a three-year period. A photo of Ondersma is included.

October 31, 2011

Is privatization coming? The fate of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

The Craig Fahle Show featured an interview with Wayne State University law professor and health policy expert Peter Hammer about the possible transition of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan from a nonprofit organization to a private insurer.

October 31, 2011

Harper University Hospital first in state to use new device to remove brain tumors

Harper University Hospital is the first in Michigan to use a new device, the NICO Myriad, for brain tumor removal. This one of a kind device is progressing minimally invasive surgery giving many patients hope that their previously inoperable or hard to reach brain tumors can now be safely removed. Dr. Murali Guthikonda, Chief of Neurosurgery at DMC Harper University Hospital and Professor of Neurosurgery at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, is one of a handful of neurosurgeons in the U.S. who has used the Myriad.

October 30, 2011

Bloomfield Hills nurse helps heart attack patients in Hawaii

Bloomfield Hills resident Mary Anne McCoy and a team of Detroit-area advanced practice nurses are helping to provide emergency care for heart attack patients on the Hawaiian island of Maui. McCoy, an assistant professor at Wayne State University's College of Nursing, was contacted by an administrator at Maui Memorial Medical Center to develop an on-site treatment program for heart attack patients with interventional cardiologists and acute care nurse practitioners. "For a person having a heart attack, research has shown if a coronary artery can be opened within 90 minutes, heart damage can be limited," McCoy said.

October 30, 2011

Editorial: Lift lives through reading

An editorial highlighting Reading Works, a nonprofit dedicated to boosting adult literacy in metro Detroit, features commentary from area civic leaders including Debbie Dingell, president of D2 Strategies and vice chair of the Wayne State University Board of Governors. Dingell and others shared their favorite books and thoughts about the importance of reading. A photo of Dingell holding a copy of "The Giving Tree" is included.

October 30, 2011

Experts: Michigan needs to do more to nurture start-ups

TechTown at Wayne State University is cited as one of the examples of a business incubator that is offering mentoring and training classes throughout the state at a time when Michigan needs to ramp up its efforts to promote entrepreneurial activity.

October 28, 2011

Solution to challenge is put to test

In a companion piece about business incubator activity in Michigan, Sense Aide, a venture started by Sri Rao, is profiled as a success story. The company developed a Web-based network of sensors that can tell whether a patient is taking medication on schedule, visiting the refrigerator for meals, and otherwise engaging in necessary activities. Rao has gotten help along the way through TechTown, but he says that Michigan could do a lot more for its entrepreneurs, especially by fostering a better network of investment capital for start-up firms.

October 28, 2011

WSU researcher to learn more about links between stress and drug use

A Wayne State University researcher is using a three-year, $1.55 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to learn more about the links between stress and drug use by applying behavioral economics. Mark Greenwald, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in the School of Medicine and director of the Substance Abuse Research Division, will study a group of heroin users to see how pharmacologically induced stress affects their decisions to seek money or drugs when given the choice.

October 27, 2011

The Pre-Motor City

A feature story highlighting Detroit's industrial past takes a look at various buildings, structures and land plots across the city, including the Michigan Central Station. Tom Killion, an archaeologist at Wayne State University, commented extensively about the abandoned edifice and an excavation that he, WSU students and volunteers from the community started in 2006. The team recovered more than 4,000 artifacts from the area.

October 27, 2011

U.S. Commerce's Perez, Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley to speak at Accelerate Michigan Innovation Gala Awards

Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition announced yesterday that U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary of Manufacturing Peter M. Perez, and Michigan\'s Lt. Governor Brian Calley will deliver keynote speeches at its second annual, gala awards dinner Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Joining Perez and Calley as speakers at the event will be Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour, Michael Finney, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Doug Rothwell, CEO of the Business Leaders for Michigan and David Egner, executive director of the New Economy Initiative.

October 27, 2011

Wayne State professor gets $1.55M grant to study links between drug use, stress

A Wayne State University professor was given a $1.55 million grant to explore the links between drug use and stress and the impact of economics on drug users\' choices. The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded the grant to psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences professor Mark Greenwald, who will study a group of 30 heroin users over the next three years and how drug-induced stress influences their decision to seek money or drugs. A photo of Greenwald is included.

October 27, 2011

Green manufacturing takes center stage at Wayne State conference

Channel 7 reporter JoAnne Purtan provided a noon update on the Sustainable Technologies conference held yesterday at Wayne State University's Danto Engineering Development Center. Co-hosted by Ford Motor, the conference explores ways to improve sustainability in manufacturing. Jim Sears, WSU associate vice president for facilities, planning and management, commented on camera.

October 27, 2011

Birmingham plastic surgeon volunteers overseas to give disfigured people brighter future

Dr. Mehul Mehta, a plastic surgeon and assistant professor of surgery at Wayne State University, along with 19 American doctors and support staff known as the "International Surgical Mission Support team," performed 98 major operations over eight days last February in Kenya. That is more than 10 surgeries a day. \"It is hard, hard work,\" says Mehta. \"But what is incredible is that the amount of disease and pathology we see there, you wouldn\'t see in a whole lifetime here.\" Mehta has been doing medical mission work since 1993, which takes the father of four to Third World countries, sometimes twice a year and for two weeks at a stretch. \"Doctors fund themselves and the supporting staff (like operating room nurses, nurse anesthetists and critical care nurses) on the trips,\" says Mehta. \"We also take all our equipment so that the host country doesn\'t incur any expenses on our behalf.\"

October 26, 2011

Director: Actors are the real story in Hilberry's 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Stage director Matthew Earnest, who is shepherding the graduate student production of \"Much Ado\" at Wayne State University\'s Hilberry Theatre that opens Friday, insists the play is really about the young actors themselves. \"This is an exceptionally bright group of actors here, but while some have been steeped in the classics, others have not. Some find the crazy language a problem. Some are challenged by the candid sexual discussion or the social order and politics of the time." \'Much Ado About Nothing\' begins its run at 8 p.m., Friday, through Nov. 19 at the Hilberry Theatre.

October 26, 2011

Wayne State University gets NIH grant for intervention

A team of researchers at Wayne State University's Parent Health Lab in the School of Medicine have received a three-year grant to develop a computer-delivered intervention for pregnant women at risk for alcohol use, which can lead to lifelong negative effects on the fetus. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health funded the "Healthy Pregnancy Study," which will help Steven Ondersma, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and colleagues develop and test a highly practical, high-reaching computer-delivered intervention to reduce alcohol use during pregnancy.

October 26, 2011