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College of Human Medicine

November College News Headlines

November 26, 2024

Todd McHerron, MD, dressed as santa, with Michelle Lai and Elizabeth Shokoya, who are dressed as elves.
Santa and his elves made an appearance at Silver Bells in the City in Lansing on November 22. Todd McHerron, MD, medical education learning specialist and medical students Michelle Lai and Elizabeth-Victoria Shokoya (L-R, shown above) were among several College of Human Medicine volunteers at the community event.

Staff & Faculty Success

Research and Scholarship

  • Smarter blood tests lead to faster treatment and better patient outcomes. Morteza Mahmoudi, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Radiology, explained how looking more closely at proteins in plasma can reveal biomarkers leading to earlier diagnoses in this MSUToday piece.
  • Vaping impacts how a person's blood vessels wor. Cara Poland, MD, addiction specialist and associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, weighs in on how vaping affects the body in this article by The National News Desk.
  • Health reported New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has incorporated cayenne pepper water into his rehab routine, citing potential health benefits. Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, expressed skepticism about its effectiveness for pain relief, stating, “I don’t think drinking cayenne orally will provide much pain relief.” Alan further explained that topical application of cayenne may offer pain relief by depleting substance P, a chemical involved in pain transmission.
  • Farha Abbasi, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, shared her perspective on being a Muslim immigrant during the 2024 election cycle in this piece from The Conversation.
  • In ongoing news coverage on combatting cold medicine myths, Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, weighed in on the subject in these articles by Yahoo, AOL and Prevention.
  • Dick Sadler, PhD, associate professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, spoke with WKAR about his work examining structural racism and health.
  • Nicholas Kanaan, PhD, Maibach Smiley Professor of Alzheimer’s Research and professor of translational neuroscience, is part of a multi-department team conducting research in Uganda with $4M in funding from the NIH. The team will research the roles of vitamin D deficiency, gut microbial imbalance, and inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia as reported by WOOD. Related: MSUToday
  • Mona Hardas, MD, associate clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics Gynecology & Reproductive Biology, reviewed this article from Mom Junction providing nutritional advice for overweight pregnant women.
  • Men’s Health took another look at ivermectin, a drug that received a lot of buzz during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, explained how the drug works and the side effects.
  • "I think this was a particularly polarizing election cycle…and people have a variety of different emotions and reactions to that,” said Crystal L. Cederna, PsyD, associate professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department, in this WILX piece on managing election stress.
  • "These are kids. They do not know how to deal with a substance abuse disorder," said Brittany Tayler, MD, the Alice Hamilton Scholar with the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Pediatric Public Health Initiative, in this article from Crain’s Detroit Business about businesses and health advocates sparring over a proposed licensing fee to sell vapes and tobacco. Related: Yahoo News, MSUToday
  • Discovery of the benefits of red ginseng on intestinal microbiota balance were touted in this Yahoo article. Narayanan Parameswaran, MS, PhD, senior associate dean for research and professor in the Department of Physiology, and his research team discovered the link that will one day lead to better treatment for osteoporosis.
  • Brittany Tayler, MD, the Alice Hamilton Scholar with the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Pediatric Public Health Initiative, spoke to the Michigan Regulatory Affairs Committee about her work studying the health harms of tobacco products. Read her presentation here: MSUToday.
  • Verywell Health examined combining GABA and L-theanine to combat stress and anxiety. Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology weighed in on the trend of ‘stacking’ supplements.
  • "What we don’t know is how much is released potentially into the food that we’re cooking," said Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, in an article from HuffPost about the ongoing questions concerning flame retardant in black plastic cookware.

Healthier Communities

  • "Every level of lead poses a potential danger…these levels are astronomical,” warned Mona Hanna, MD, associate dean for public health, in this Washington Post article profiling Syracuse as the latest city to grapple with lead in its drinking water.

Alumni News

  • Bryanne Standifer-Barrett, MD (’18), alumni board member and clinical assistant professor, has been named to the advisory board for wellness company Black Girl Vitamins as reported by EIN Newswire.

Other College News

  • In her State of the School address, Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, dean of Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, mentioned the valuable relationship the school has with the College of Human Medicine and the upcoming Remembrance Conference which will be held in Buffalo in June 2025.