Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson said Monday he will be stepping down as leader of the Detroit institution in about a year. The nine-year president said that Wayne State is well-positioned to continue providing access to the public urban, research university and reach its goal of becoming the top research university for social mobility in the nation. Wilson became WSU’s 12th president in August 2013. He said he will be stepping down at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, completing a 10-year tenure at the helm of Michigan’s third largest public university. His contract expires July 31, 2023.  "Ten years is long enough to get most things done," Wilson said. "A year is still a long time. A year from now Wayne State will be in an even stronger position. I've got some big things in mind that I think we can accomplish in a year." Wilson said he will branch out beyond university administration and plans to "leverage my relationships at the national level." Wilson, an ophthalmologist, will take a one-year sabbatical during which he will leave Detroit to "retool in ophthalmology" before returning to Wayne State as a faculty member in 2024. "The impact of President Wilson's transformational leadership will be felt for years to come," said Board of Governors chair Mark Gaffney. "He has led our campus in putting students and their success above all else, furthering the university's role in providing life-changing opportunities for all students to earn a college degree. We are grateful for his years of service and commitment."

Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson said Monday he will be stepping down as leader of the Detroit institution in about a year. The nine-year president said that Wayne State is well-positioned to continue providing access to the public urban, research university and reach its goal of becoming the top research university for social mobility in the nation. Wilson became WSU’s 12th president in August 2013. He said he will be stepping down at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, completing a 10-year tenure at the helm of Michigan’s third largest public university. His contract expires July 31, 2023.  "Ten years is long enough to get most things done," Wilson said. "A year is still a long time. A year from now Wayne State will be in an even stronger position. I've got some big things in mind that I think we can accomplish in a year." Wilson said he will branch out beyond university administration and plans to "leverage my relationships at the national level." Wilson, an ophthalmologist, will take a one-year sabbatical during which he will leave Detroit to "retool in ophthalmology" before returning to Wayne State as a faculty member in 2024. "The impact of President Wilson's transformational leadership will be felt for years to come," said Board of Governors chair Mark Gaffney. "He has led our campus in putting students and their success above all else, furthering the university's role in providing life-changing opportunities for all students to earn a college degree. We are grateful for his years of service and commitment."

By Dan Papscun  The Federal Trade Commission’s challenge of Meta Platform Inc.’s acquisition of a virtual reality gaming company revives a little-used argument against Big Tech’s classic acquisition playbook. The agency, in a July 27 lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges Meta’s acquisition of Within Unlimited would likely create a monopoly by eliminating competition for virtual reality fitness applications. Within is the developer of the popular fitness app Supernatural. But rather than only challenging the acquisition as harmful to competition now, the FTC is primarily alleging that Meta is seeking to eliminate a future competitor. Potential competition cases are rare and difficult to win, said Stephen Calkins, a professor at Wayne State University Law School. The argument depends on the idea that customers differentiate between apps that incidentally provide a workout versus ones entirely focused on exercise, Calkins said. Because the virtual reality market is so early in its development, making any strong judgments about its market characteristics is tenuous because of how little data is available, Calkins said.  

As of July 16, people have only to press three digits – 988 – to reach the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline when they need help during a mental health crisis. Mental health issues such as anxiety and depression were a leading cause of global health problems even before the spread of COVID-19; however, they’ve gotten worse. Since the first year of the pandemic, anxiety and depression rates worldwide have increased by an overwhelming 25%. The Conversation gathered four essential reads that explore some daily habits and practices that have been shown to improve mental health. Arash Javanbakht, associate professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University, shares the science behind the connection between exercise and mental well-being as well as his personal experience with the positive impacts of physical activity. “Working out regularly really does change the brain biology, and it is not just ‘go walk and you will just feel better,’” he said. “Regular exercise, especially cardio, does change the brain. Do not see it as all or none. It does not have to be a one-hour drive to and from the gym or biking trail for a one-hour workout vs. staying on the couch. I always say to my patients: ‘One more step is better than none, and three squats are better than no squats. When less motivated, or in the beginning, just be nice to yourself. Do as much as possible. Three minutes of dancing with your favorite music still counts.”  

By Tom Bartlett  In its proposed rules for enforcing Title IX, issued last month, the U.S. Department of Education promised that it would “restore crucial protections for students that were eliminated or weakened by the Trump administration.” The 700-page document addresses broad philosophical issues, like the definition of sexual harassment, along with a host of nitty-gritty procedural matters, like whether complaints require signatures. Among the slated changes in the rules is a return to what’s known as the “single investigator” method of conducting inquiries, in which, a complaint is often handled by one administration. In 2020, Betsy DeVos put an end to that approach, announcing that those accused of wrongdoing must be allowed to challenge the evidence at a live hearing in order to “ensure a fair and transparent process.” Removing the requirement for a hearing might be the most significant of the Biden administration’s proposed reforms of how the federal gender-equity law is enforced, and the one with the greatest potential to alter how colleges carry out Title IX investigations. It’s also troubling to some Title IX experts, while others defend it. Nancy Chi Cantalupo, an assistant professor of law at Wayne State University who was a consultant for President Barack Obama’s task force on campus sexual assault, thinks “single investigators” is a misnomer. In many cases, she says, more than one administrator is involved in an investigation, even if there is no formal hearing. She prefers the phrase “civil-rights investigator.” Cantalupo has written that hearings can be needlessly adversarial, can “compel the parties to attack each other’s credibility and evidence,” and are “less likely to create openness to restorative justice.”  

By Robin Erb  The fight to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease faces yet another setback following allegations that a foundational study into the cause of the illness – the basis of years of research and billions of dollars in investment – may have been fraudulent. The revelations, published last week in Science magazine, are a gut punch to the scientific community, which fears that if the allegations are true they will erode trust in medical research while having the effect of discouraging robust funding for other avenues of research for more than a decade. The report will surely prove devastating as well to more than 190,000 Michigan residents now living with Alzheimer’s. “For the scientific community – and even for the non-science person – this is more than outrageous,” if fraud is proven, said Peter Lichtenberg, director of the Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University. “It’s not that fraud or any scientific conduct wipes out the good work that’s been done,” he said. “But it’s heartbreaking.” Lichtenberg and others say that there’s more research now than ever that could lead to the eventual big win over this disease.  

The latest COVID-19 surge has health leaders urging the public to get booster shots. That leaves people with a choice: Get boosted now or wait for an omicron-specific booster that is expected to roll out this fall or winter? BA.5 is better at evading immunity from previous infection and vaccinations, and it’s now responsible for roughly 80% of new COVID-19 cases. Dr. Teena Chopra, the co-director at the Center for Emerging Infections at Wayne State University said don’t wait for omicron-specific vaccines to get boosted. “We don’t want to get a severe disease from COVID. We don’t want to be hospitalized. We don’t want to be in the ICU from COVID. So do not wait to get your boosters,” she said.  

By Elizabeth Yun  Psoriasis scales, the gray or silvery flakes of dead skin that collect on the surface of the plaques that characterize the condition, can be itchy, uncomfortable, and embarrassing – so much so that you may be tempted to pick, peel, or scrape them off. However, while there are some good reasons to remove scales, taking your fingernails to them isn’t one of them, as you risk damaging the skin they’re attached to. This “can trigger flares of more patches of psoriasis, a reaction known as the Koebner phenomenon,” said Steven Daveluy, assistant professor and program director at the Wayne State University department of dermatology.  

The Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced plans Monday to build a pair of towers in Midtown Detroit for medical education and research. The project, estimated to cost between $350 million to $450 million, would replace aging Wayne State medical school facilities and be an expansion of research space for the cancer institute. A joint committee is working to determine a precise location for the two adjacent and connected towers. The decision could come in the next three to four months, said Dr. Mark Schweitzer, vice president of health affairs for Wayne State. “The goal is to provide state-of-the-art medical education facilities and state-of-the-art research facilities,” Schweitzer said.  

The Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced plans Monday to build a pair of towers in Midtown Detroit for medical education and research. The project, estimated to cost between $350 million to $450 million, would replace aging Wayne State medical school facilities and be an expansion of research space for the cancer institute. A joint committee is working to determine a precise location for the two adjacent and connected towers. The decision could come in the next three to four months, said Dr. Mark Schweitzer, vice president of health affairs for Wayne State. “The goal is to provide state-of-the-art medical education facilities and state-of-the-art research facilities,” Schweitzer said.  

Ten years ago, a gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and wounding 70 people. At the time, it was one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s history, and sparked familiar conversations about gun control and mental health. A decade later that massacre continues to take a daily toll on both individuals and the community. Arash Javanbakht, who directs the Stress, Trauma and Anxiety Research Clinic at Wayne State University, said there are as many ways that people deal with trauma as there are people who experience trauma. “For some people, there’s detachment. For some people, it’s loss of hope. For some people, basically, their perspective of the world has changed, the way they see life, the way they define experiences,” he said. “Some people turn it to the action. Some people channel their emotions into action. We have seen some of the survivors of these events start becoming activists who are trying to find solutions to make this better.”

The median sale price for a home in the city crossed the $100,000 mark for the first time ever. It’s a significant sign of the strength of Detroit’s housing market. Jeff Horner, a Wayne State professor of urban studies and planning, says this has double significance. “It’s an important psychological barrier for long-time Detroiters who have stayed in the city and have kept up their property, because they certainly have a lot to do with stabilizing housing valuations,” he said. Horner pointed to the work of Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration and the Land Bank as keys to rising home prices. 

Kirsten Matoy Carlson, professor of law and adjunct professor of political science at Wayne State University, wrote an article for The Conversation providing background and perspective as an expert in federal Indian law on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta. Matoy Carlson explains that the most recent case is noteworthy because it says that states may exercise authority in Indian Country even without express congressional authorization. For centuries, Matoy Carlson said that was not the case. 

Jordan Peele’s much-anticipated horror comedy ‘Nope’ has a small Detroit connection behind the scenes. Detroit native Robert McTyre Jr., who graduated from Wayne State University with bachelor’s degrees in media arts and interdisciplinary film studies, worked as a set lighting technician on the film. 

The Michigan Health Endowment Fund (MHEF) has awarded research investigators at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute a $100,000 Community Healthy Impact grant to support a new program addressing financial toxicity among cancer patients. Michigan Community Outreach to Address Financial Toxicity (MI-COST) will build upon ongoing community outreach and engagement work underway within Karmanos’ Office of Cancer Health Equity and Community Engagement (OCHECE). The objectives include developing a series of educational seminars on topics designed to help people with cancer and their caregivers navigate related financial barriers and creating a website to provide patients and caregivers with financial information and resources. “One of our roles in OCHECE is to connect our communities to our scientists and our scientists to our communities to ensure that there is community input into our cancer center’s research agenda,” said Dr. Hayley Thompson, co-investigator for the MI-COST program, associate center director for community outreach and engagement at Karmanos, and professor in the department of oncology at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine. 

By Ryan Patrick Hooper  The City of Detroit turned 321 years old Sunday, but its history predates the French. Karen Marrero, associate professor of history at Wayne State University and author of “Detroit’s Hidden Channels: The Power of French-Indigenous Families in the Eighteenth Century,” researches, writes and teaches early North American and Indigenous history. She says a lot of what was once here was erased by the settler presence at the turn of the century. Indigenous peoples continue to maintain their connection to the land through oral histories passed down within their nations, but physical reminders of the past are scarce. This lack of preservation is not unique to Detroit, but there are still things we can do to reinstate cultural consciousness of this land’s history. For example, the Michigan History Center is making an effort to address the lack of historical markers that would designate significant Indigenous spaces. “A lot of people don’t realize that roadways like I-94 started life as Indigenous roadways,” Marrero said. “We have a long way to go to bring back some of that history.”  

By Geoff Brumfiel   COVID cases and hospitalizations are once again on the rise, thanks to a new omicron subvariant. Vaccines and certain proven treatments can help prevent the worst outcomes. But for some Americans who don't trust the medical establishment, there's a network of fringe medical doctors, natural healers and internet personalities ready to push unproven cures for COVID. And a shady black market where you can buy them. For some plugged into that alternative medical network, doctors say it ultimately cost their lives. "The non-fraudulent non-messed up clinical trials are all pretty uniformly negative," says David Gorski, a cancer surgeon and researcher at the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Michigan. For years before COVID, Gorski tracked doctors who offered alternative cures for cancers. And he sees plenty of parallels between those physicians and doctors like Pierre Kory. "A lot of these doctors fit the mold of what I used to call back in the day 'the brave maverick doctor,'" he says. Gorski says that they play up their persecution by the system, offer scant evidence for their treatments, and deride effective therapies while promoting their own cures. "COVID is no different than quackery going back centuries," Gorski says.