In case you missed them, here are some recent news items about the College of Medicine.
 

• The College of Medicine's M.D. Class of 2024 received their white coats during a virtual ceremony on Friday, Oct. 16.
  
  Tallahassee Democrat: FSU Class of 2024 med students earn white coats in virtual ceremony
  
   
• An article in the Tallahassee Democrat discusses how the COVID-19 crisis has aggravated domestic abuse situations with stress and stay-at-home orders. Professor Suzanne Harrison commented on the lack of resources victims in rural areas have.
  
  Tallahassee Democrat: Rural Big Bend sees alarming string of domestic violence homicides
  
   
• Big Bend CARES provides assistance to people living with HIV and conducts HIV prevention and education programs to the general community in the Tallahassee area. During the coronavirus pandemic, the organization has helped HIV patients get the help and support they need, said Jonathan Appelbaum, chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences.
  
  WTXL: Big Bend CARES helps HIV patients stay healthy amid pandemic
  
  
   
• Christie Alexander, associate professor and president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians, discussed this year's cold and flu season expectations in an Oprah.com article.

Oprah.com: All your questions about the 2020 cold and flu season, answered
 

• • Alexander has made regular appearances on WCTV since March to answer viewers’ coronavirus questions. Her latest are linked below.
    
    WCTV: Oct. 30 | Sept. 11 | Aug. 21
     
  • She also helped formulate a cheat sheet for Men's Health to outline the most common symptoms for the cold, flu and COVID-19, and offered some tips on what to do if you feel under the weather.
    
    Men’s Health: Is it a cold, the flu, or COVID-19?
    
    
     
• Similarly, Tallahassee Regional Campus clerkship faculty member Ronald Saff was quoted in a Healthline article about knowing the difference between allergy symptoms, COVID-19 and wildfire smoke irritation.
  
  Healthline: Allergies, COVID-19, wildfire smoke irritation: How symptoms differ
  
  
   
• When the pandemic hit, mental health professionals predicted lockdowns and social distancing would result in a wave of loneliness. But researchers who study loneliness, including the College of Medicine's Angelina Sutin, say that hasn't happened.
  
  NPR: Anxiety, depression increased during pandemic. Why not loneliness? (audio)
  
  
   
• In an interview with Psychology Today, Assistant Professor Martina Luchetti sheds light on her research on how social support and human resilience have overcome increased loneliness despite the regulations.
  
  Psychology Today: Measuring how the pandemic has impacted loneliness
  
  
   
• A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Sanjay Kumar has found that an amino acid produced by the brain could play a crucial role in preventing a type of epileptic seizure.
  
  FSU News: College of Medicine researcher makes novel discoveries in preventing epileptic seizures

ScienMag: College of Medicine researcher makes novel discoveries in preventing epileptic seizures

ScienceDaily: Novel discoveries in preventing epileptic seizures

 

• Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the five major college football conferences appointed their own medical task forces to analyze the potential safety and health concerns associated with having a college football season. Les Beitsch, chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, was one of the 15 panelists advising the ACC.
  
  Washington Post: Meet the doctors who are helping decide the fate of college football season
  
   
  • Beitsch also commented in a Washington Post article in August about Florida's public health system and its impact on the COVID-19 pandemic.
    
    Washington Post: How starving public health fueled a COVID fire in Florida
    
    
     
• Professor and Chair of the Department of Geriatrics Paul Katz was interviewed by WINK News in Southwest Florida about the spread of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities.
  
  WINK: COVID-19 cases spread at long-term care facilities despite lockdowns, testing mandates
  
   
• • New research from Katz has demonstrated that a partnership between long-term care organizations, researchers and national health care organizations can generate changes that improve quality of care for residents.
    
    News Medical: Partnership between long-term care organizations can improve quality of care for residents
    
    
     
• When FSU students returned to campus in the fall, new COVID-19 protocols and programs were in place, including the Secure Assessment for FSU Exposure Response (SAFER) initiative. The program aims to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through contact assessment, while providing support for students, staff and faculty who have been exposed or tested positive. Research faculty member Emily Pritchard is the administrative lead for the SAFER initiative while Senior Associate Dean Daniel Van Durme is the chief medical officer for the COVID-19 testing program.
  
  FSU News: New FSU initiative is set to track and support COVID-19 cases: Print or audio
  
  
   
• Care Point Health & Wellness Center launched a new partnership with the College of Medicine, bringing three faculty members to their full-time team of providers. They include Jonathan Appelbaum, Gregory Todd and Stephen Sandroni.
  
  Tallahassee Democrat: Care Point launches partnership with FSU College of Medicine doctors
  
  
   
• As part of her practice in Oregon, College of Medicine alumna and pediatric surgeon Kim Ruscher (M.D. '05) treats patients with pectus excavatum, a chest deformity where the sternum or breast bone is sunken inward. The deformity can be corrected with a minimally-invasive surgery, said Ruscher, to prevent heart complications in the future. Fraternal twin brothers, Jack and Clay Mornarich, recently had surgery for the condition.
   

KVAL: Set of twins had unique chest surgery done at Riverbend

 

• Cardiologist Lensey Scott, a 2006 M.D. graduate of the FSU College of Medicine, recently joined the team at Baptist Health Heart Institute/Arkansas Cardiology-Conway.
  
  Log Cabin Democrat: Baptist Health-Conway welcomes cardiologist Lensey Scott (M.D. '06)
  
  
   
• A study of teenagers and young adults living with HIV found that they are more likely to make healthy lifestyle choices when intervention counseling is delivered in a clinic setting, rather than a community setting. The new study, co-authored by Distinguished Endowed Professor Sylvie Naar, found that young people living with HIV had higher viral loads when their counseling was delivered at home.
  
  Contagion Live: New study found clinic-based interventions lead to better results in youth with HIV

• The Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency at BayCare Health System in Winter Haven welcomed its inaugural class of residents this summer. 
  
  PR Newswire: Winter Haven residency program welcomes first residents