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 Sascha Raiyn  Attendance in Michigan schools fell during the 2021-22 academic year. The Detroit Free Press reports the statewide attendance rate has fallen below 90% for the first time in five years, hitting 88% last year. Detroit’s public school system has struggled with attendance throughout the COVID pandemic. DPSCD’s attendance rate for the 2021 school year was around 75%. According to Sarah Lenhoff, a professor of education at Wayne State University, housing insecurity made worse by the pandemic is a major factor in chronic absenteeism. “We’re seeing that revert back to normal and maybe even worse than normal in terms of students experiencing housing instability,” Lenhoff said. “We know that housing instability, homelessness, eviction are just really high correlates to attendance problems.”  

Michigan university housing officials and off-campus landlords are alarmed about the influx of fake certification letters for emotional support animals. The Emotional Support Act, passed in the Michigan House in September, would penalize people who sell online certificates and protect landlords from fraudulent claims. Universities in Michigan report an increase in the requests for emotional support animals and fake verifications. “We try to talk to the student immediately when we suspect illegitimate documentation, “ said Cherise M. Frost, the interim director of disability at Wayne State University. “We try to handle the situation very carefully. We’re the students’ advocates, and we want them to have everything they need to succeed. However, we do have to follow certain guidelines,” she said. The increased number of emotional support animals hasn’t been much of a problem, she said.  

By Jake Bekemeyer  State government officials joined leaders from the Detroit Regional Chamber, private industry, and Digital Lakes to discuss Global Detroit’s newest research, chronicling the growing importance of international student talent to the state’s economic competitiveness. A research report documents the exponential growth of international student talent in Michigan’s economy over the past decade, chronicling a 330% growth rate in the annual number of international students hired by Michigan employers. Global Detroit’s study was based upon first-of-its-kind data obtained by the Pew Research Center tracking international students working in the U.S. under their student visas after graduation. Global Detroit worked with the University Research Corridor, including Wayne State University, and other schools and advocacy groups to launch the Global Talent Retention Initiative in 2011.  

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. 

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission pulled back in its first preemptive challenge to a takeover by Metal Platforms Inc., dropping some claims from a lawsuit that seeks to block the tech giant’s acquisition of virtual reality app Within Unlimited. The agency, which sued to block the deal on antitrust grounds July 27, said it asked US District Judge Edward Davila Friday to let it remove some allegations about anticompetitive effects in the market for virtual-reality fitness apps. Meta said the FTC’s case is “based on ideology, not evidence” and pointed out that the newly amended complaint drops allegations that its most popular virtual-reality game, Beat Saber, directly competes with Within’s Supernatural fitness app. Stephen Calkins, an antitrust professor at Wayne State University Law School, described the FTC’s move to amend its complaint as “unusual,” particularly in a merger challenge, since those are often expeditated. “On a merger case, it’s not that common because it all happens fairly quickly,” said Calkins, who served as the FTC’s general counsel during the Clinton administration, adding that it is “certainly unusual to do it” within two months.  

By Doug Coombe  A Wayne State University community-based program for kids on the autism spectrum is taking off. PLANE, short for Physical Literacy and Nutrition Education, offers adaptive strategies to get kids moving, as well as a nutrition curriculum that shares ways to introduce kids to healthier foods. Dr. Leah Ketcheson, assistant professor and program coordinator of WSU’s Health and Physical Education Teaching program, proposed the idea for PLANE through her 2016 doctoral thesis after teaching adaptive physical education in the Detroit Public School Community School District from 2007 to 2010. “The classrooms of children with autism were the most intriguing but also the most challenging,” said Ketcheson. “I saw that the children with autism were exhibiting significant health disparities when compared to neurotypical children.” With funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund and in-kind support from WSU, what started as an eight-week summer intensive focused on children’s physical activity and sports has grown into the two-year, year-round PLANE program. Children on the autism spectrum and their families now meet weekly to learn how to successfully integrate physical activity and healthy foods into their lives. Along with Ketcheson, PLANE’s staff includes board-certified behavioral analysts who mentor the coaches who work one-on-one with the children. The coaches are WSU health and physical education, or exercise sports science, majors. “We’ve got all the support systems at Wayne State to make this happen,” Ketcheson said. “I think part of being an effective program is really identifying what your target audience needs. I know that our target audience, our primary stakeholders, are the parents and children with autism. They need direct, individualized support. The way that we can provide that is through the awesome work of our undergraduate and graduate degree programs.”  

There’s a focus in the City of Detroit to get more residents connected to the internet inside their homes. This week is the fourth annual Detroit Digital Inclusion Week, going on at Wayne State University.  

Eugene Driker, a prominent Detroit attorney and civic leader who helped mediate the city’s bankruptcy and orchestrate the Grand Bargain that led to the city emerging from bankruptcy, die Thursday. He was 85. Driker, who resided in Detroit nearly his whole life, was among the strongest proponents of the city and its institutions. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Driker and his partners founded Barris, Scott, Denn & Driker PLLC in downtown Detroit in 1968. He specialized in complex business litigation, counseling to business and non-profits, and alternative dispute resolution. Driker completed his undergraduate degree at Wayne State University and his juris doctorate at Wayne Law. He served for 12 years as a member of the WSU Board of Governors and was a chair of the WSU Foundation. He also was chairman of the Law School Board of Visitors and the first fundraising chair for Wayne Law, as well as a member of the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne Law. “Eugene Driker was a great friend to Wayne State University, and to me personally,” WSU President M. Roy Wilson said in a statement. “He was consistently generous with his time, intellect and support, yet modest about his accomplishments, which were many. His example inspires the entire Wayne State community.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin has declared portions of eastern and southern Ukraine as part of Russia. The announcement follows sham referenda held in occupied regions and represents the latest in a series of escalations by Russia against Ukraine. Following the formal annexation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is requesting accelerated membership with NATIO. He previously warned that Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is in power. Aaron Retish, a history professor at Wayne State University with a specialization in Soviet and Russian history, said the four districts illegally annexed by Russia have always been part of the Ukrainian republic, placing the decision at the forefront of the war. “It gets into a bigger question of what does this mean to be Russian? What does it mean to be Ukrainian?,” said Rettish. “Because there are a lot of people, even Zelensky…whose first language is Russian living in Ukraine. And yet they identify as Ukrainians,” he said. “So, when Putin claims this land as Russian, or says that he is, he is annexing these lands to protect Russians from genocide,” Rettish continued. “This is his own ideology talking about both Russian nationalism and denouncing, or kind of, pushing aside Ukrainian views of national selfhood.”

By Kristen Jordan Shamus  Even though 60% of the people who have gotten monkeypox in Michigan so far are Black, 70% of the doses of the vaccine that can prevent infection or limit symptoms after exposure have gone to white Michiganders. Black residents have gotten just 17% of the doses administered so far in Michigan, new state health department data shows. And when the first doses of Tecovirimat, the antiviral treatment more widely known as Tpoxx, arrived in Michigan, Oakland and Washtenaw counties got them – not Detroit, a majority Black city that has 38% of Michigan’s known monkeypox infections, said Dr. Shira Heisler, a Wayne Health physician and medical director of the Detroit Public Health Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic. In those early weeks of the monkeypox outbreak, Heisler said she fielded calls from people concerned they might have the virus. Because her clinic was so short-staffed, she didn’t have anyone else to pick up the phone. She was also testing and treating patients with the virus and administering vaccines. Doses of Tpoxx were “only physically available in two neighboring county health departments,” said Heisler, whose STD clinic is the largest in the state. “I had a patient who was immunosuppressed, HIV-positive, was in significant pain from monkeypox…However, there was no way to physically get the Tpoxx to the patient. I physically couldn’t get it for him,” she said. The patient didn’t have access to transportation and no courier service was available. “So I was going to drive there. Me and the epidemiologist were on the phone int the wee hours of the evening to figure it out…There’s no infrastructure, organizational infrastructure to be able to do this.”   

Generation COVID: Record numbers of youth opt out of college, work By Anne Kim Three years into the pandemic, after two years of isolation, shuttered schools and virtual commencements, high school graduates from the classes of 2020, 2021 and beyond - call them the Generation COVID - are shunning college in record numbers. Enrollment is down nearly 10 percent over the past two years, a loss of 1.4 million students pursuing degrees. At TikTok, where variations on the hashtag #NotGoingToCollege have racked up more than 30 million views, young people argue "my career doesn't need college" and talk about starting their own businesses. Overall, just 51 percent of Gen Z teens are now considering a four-year degree, according to a survey this year by the nonprofit ECMC Group - a 20-point drop since May 2020. Student disengagement is a growing concern. As may as 70 percent of Detroit public schools were "chronically absent" during the 2020-21 school year, according to a study by Wayne State University. Schools are rolling out a variety of initiatives to attract new students and retain the ones they have, and viewing the challenges posed by the pandemic as a catalyst for broader reforms. "Higher ed needs to reestablish its value and find ways to highlight the importance and the value of a degree," said Ahmad Ezzeddine, vice president for academic student affairs and global engagement at Wayne State University in Detroit. "We need to adapt to the changing demographics, the changing workforce, the changing workforce." Among other efforts, Ezzeddine says Wayne State launched Warrior 360, which partners at-risk students with success coaches to provide academic and social support. More courses are now online and offered year-round or at night to accommodate working students' schedules. In addition, the university has beefed up its summer camps for K-12 students and outreach to area high schools. "We have faculty go and talk about careers in engineering and science, hopefully planting that seed," Ezzeddine said. 

The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University is proud to present Rent, which is directed by Michael Barnes and runs through October 2. Rent is about falling in love, finding your voice, and survival in the precarious climate of the East Village in 1980s New York City. During the run of Rent, the Hilberry Theatre will host a block of the 54-ton AIDS Memorial Quilt, which is the premiere symbol and living memorial of a generation lost to AIDS as well as an important HIV prevention education tool. A past member of the Hilberry Graduate Company, Alan Harvey, died due to pneumonia caused by AIDS shortly after receiving his M.F.A. diploma. Theatre and Dance at Wayne will be dedicating the run of Rent to Alan, and the quilt will serve as a demonstration that the themes covered in Rent are not only relevant to the present, but are close to home as well.