Latest news with #TexasTechUniversityHealthSciencesCenter
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
US News & World Report ranks TTUHSC schools among best for 2025 Graduate School Rankings
Apr. 25—Several graduate programs at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center have been recognized in the 2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate School Rankings, reaffirming the university's continued excellence in health sciences education and training. TTUHSC's School of Medicine ranked No. 5 in the Tier 1 Best Medical Schools: Primary Care category, affirming its national leadership in primary care education. The innovative Family Medicine Accelerated Track (FMAT) program, launched in 2010, is a cornerstone of the school's commitment to primary care. The program enables students to earn their degree in three years — at approximately half the cost of the traditional four-year program — while preparing students for critical roles in primary care, a news release said. Additionally, the TTUHSC School of Nursing ranked No. 10 nationally in the Tier 1 Best Midwifery Programs category. TTUHSC's Nurse Midwifery Track emphasizes community-based birth experiences outside of hospital settings. Students receive clinical training alongside experienced midwifery preceptors in birth centers and home environments. Other highlights from the TTUHSC School of Health Professions and the Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy include the following rankings in the Tier 1 category: — #42 in Occupational Therapy (tie)/out of 282 programs — #44 in Pharmacy (tie)/out of 141 programs — #50 in Physical Therapy (tie)/out of 264 programs — #74 in Speech-Language Pathology (tie)/out of 283 programs TTUHSC Executive Vice President and Provost Darrin D'Agostino, D.O, said these rankings reflect TTUHSC's dedication to preparing future health care professionals to meet the evolving needs of patients and communities across Texas and the nation. "Our consistent national rankings speak to the strength and breadth of our academic programs and the impact our graduates are making in real-world health care settings," D'Agostino said. "We are proud of our faculty, staff and students whose hard work and innovation continue to elevate TTUHSC's reputation." U.S. News & World Report evaluates hundreds of graduate schools each year based on criteria such as academic reputation, faculty credentials, research activity and graduate success. The rankings are intended to help students make informed decisions when pursuing advanced degrees.
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The envelope, please: TTUHSC students get matched
Mar. 21—Fourth-year students from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's School of Medicine on Friday were matched to residency programs across the state and nation amid tears of joy and hugs. The event was held at the Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. Twenty-six TTUHSC School of Medicine students set to graduate in May applied to residency programs in their preferred specialties and then visited sites to evaluate and ultimately rank their preferred residency programs, a news release said. Meanwhile, administrators at each site interviewed and then ranked the applicants. The National Resident Matching Program coordinates the algorithm-driven matching process, which is designed to produce results for students seeking to fill the thousands of hands-on training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals. The results are sealed in individual envelopes, which students at all of the nation's medical schools open simultaneously. The results tell the students where they will spend the next three to seven years of their residency training and what specialty they will pursue for their professional careers, the release said. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Regional Dean Dr. Timothy Benton said this was an an amazing group of students. "Administratively, we get to know ahead of today whether they matched, and that way, we get a few days in case they didn't match on the first go-round to help them find a spot. And 100 percent of them matched initially, so that's tremendous success. It speaks very highly of the education that they get here in the Permian Basin," Benton said. He added that this means they are highly competitive. Benton said he still remembers his own Match Day. "I did this, this year it will be 30 years ago ... and I remember it forever. All of them are doing it across the nation at the same time," he added. Dr. Martin Ortega, assistant regional dean for medical education at TTUHSC medical school, said Friday's event was a joyous occasion and a culmination of a lot of effort for fourth-year medical students who are now ready to make the transition into residency. Over the last two years in the Permian Basin, these students have been involved in what are called core clerkships — everything from family medicine and pediatrics to obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, psychiatry and internal medicine. They were also exposed to other specialties. Ortega said the students matched into programs for primary care, surgery, radiology, oncology and dermatology. With a lot of community support, Ortega said, students are exposed to rural medicine as they work with community physicians and Texas Tech physicians in the region. "Our region is very spread out and includes a lot of rural communities so that exposure is really important ... because it informs decisions on where they ultimately will practice. Some of them are choosing to stay here in programs that we have in obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine," Ortega said. Some students will also go to other parts of the state or country and some to metro areas. "(It's) a great mix of specialties and practice sites," Ortega said. While Friday was a day of celebration, he noted that there is still more work and learning for the students to do. Ortega said it's "incredibly rewarding" to be part of the students' journey and to help them work toward personal and professional development. He added that Texas Tech health sciences center is very grateful for all the support the communities have poured into medical education in the region. "This is something that has been going on for several decades and it's so rewarding to see how that's grown over the years and how some of these students have translated into resident physicians and how some of our resident programs have produced many of the physicians that take care of us here at home. It's really great to be part of that pipeline and this is one part of it," Ortega said. Carina Goodart was matched to TTUHSC in Midland to continue training in family medicine. She is from El Paso so she said it feels good to stay relatively close to home. Her path started in high school and has been a long time in the making. Going up to get the envelope that held her destination, it felt like her whole future was inside. "You don't know where you're going to go next until you open it. I had my whole family here. It's just as scary for them because they want me to get what I want," Goodart said. After opening it, she finally knew. She will be the first doctor in her family. "They're absolutely ecstatic," Goodart said of her parents' feelings on her achievement. Watching medical TV shows like "House" inspired her to become a doctor. In high school, she got some shadowing experience at a hospital and then "everything just fell into place." "I'm just really thankful to have matched and to be a doctor," Goodart said. Odessa Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Renee Earls has attended several Match Days. "It is very exciting and uplifting to see where these medical students are headed. We have the reception for the third and fourth year medical students at the chamber when they arrive," Earls said. Some stay and some leave. "I love seeing their expressions and most of the time it's tears of joy with their families," Earls said. She added that everyone gets so emotional and excited. "It's very emotional for me and I don't know one of these students," Earls said.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pilot program provides breast cancer detection for women in rural areas
(KMID/KPEJ) – Based on the most recent CDC report, more than 42-thousand women in the U.S. died from breast cancer in 2022. A new program from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is helping close the gap and reminding women of the importance of getting screened yearly. Tamara Alexander and her team from Abilene offer exams using a medical device called Bexa™ – a part of a pilot program called 'Access to Breast Health for Texans,' the project is an initiative of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health. Women in rural communities face barriers like travel distance, time, and cost that can keep themfrom getting vital early breast cancer detection exams. TTUHSC brings Bexa™ exams to them— free of charge. For information on where breast cancer screenings are available for women throughout the state, check the website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
WIRED
11-03-2025
- Health
- WIRED
This Is How Measles Kills
Mar 11, 2025 3:09 PM Measles is known for its characteristic rash, but it can have serious respiratory and neurologic complications. A transmission microscopy image of the measles virus. Photograph: BSIP/Getty Images Declining vaccination rates are fueling a growing measles outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico that has so far been linked to two deaths. In late February, an unvaccinated child in Texas with no underlying health conditions became the first mortality. Then, on March 6, health officials in New Mexico confirmed that a deceased adult resident, who was also unvaccinated, tested positive for measles after death. Amid the outbreak, misinformation about measles is spreading on social media, with many conservative and anti-vaccine accounts downplaying the severity of the virus and promoting claims that the child in Texas died of other causes. On X, US representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, suggested that 'measles parties' can build up children's immunity to the virus. Health officials have warned against measles parties, calling them 'foolish.' In fact, measles can cause severe complications, including secondary infections, and can sometimes be deadly. Most people alive today have never experienced measles, thanks to vaccines that were first rolled out in 1963. In the decade before the vaccine's introduction, an estimated 3 to 4 million people a year were infected with measles in the United States. Of those, an estimated 48,000 people were hospitalized and 400 to 500 people died each year. The current outbreak in Texas started in late January. State health officials have identified 223 measles cases as of March 11. Of those, 29 people have been hospitalized. The majority of cases are in Gaines County, where the kindergarten vaccination rate for measles is 82 percent, significantly lower than the 95 percent rate needed to protect a community from the disease. Across the border in neighboring Lea County, New Mexico, 33 people have been infected so far, with one person requiring hospitalization. The vast majority of cases in both states are in unvaccinated individuals. For comparison, 285 people in the US came down with measles in all of 2024, and 40 percent of those required hospitalization. Measles is known for its characteristic rash that starts as flat, red spots and grows into larger blotches, but the measles virus can wreak havoc on the body in more serious ways. The disease is highly contagious and can be dangerous in babies, young children, and even adults. The measles virus spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and it can linger for up to two hours in an airspace. 'No matter how healthy you are at baseline, it very efficiently enters the body through the upper airway,' says Glenn Fennelly, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and assistant vice president for global health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso. In the lungs, the virus enters a type of white blood cell called alveolar macrophages, which transport pathogens to the lymph nodes. Typically, the lymph nodes act as a drainage system, removing foreign substances. But when the measles virus gets shuttled to lymph tissue, the virus attacks and destroys an important part of the immune system called memory cells. These memory cells remember prior infections and help the body fight pathogens it's encountered before. When memory cells get wiped out, it leaves an individual more susceptible to future infections. The phenomenon is known as immune amnesia, and it can leave people vulnerable to other infections for several weeks to months. Research has shown that it can take two to three years after a measles infection for protective immunity to fully return. 'The measles virus is strongly immunosuppressive, meaning that it will interfere with the normal function of many white cells in the body that fight against other infections,' Donnelly says. One of those infections is bacterial pneumonia, which causes inflammation and fluid buildup in the lungs. About one in five people who get sick with measles in the US is hospitalized, and one in 20 will develop pneumonia. In some cases, patients may need supplemental oxygen or intubation and ventilator support. In a February 28 press briefing last month, Ron Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, described the hospitalized patients as having severe symptoms, with many of them also experiencing dehydration and low oxygen levels due to inflammation in the lungs. 'Pneumonia is the most common cause of death for measles in young children,' says Edith Bracho-Sanchez, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Measles can cause serious complications in those without immunity, especially in children under 5. Photograph:Measles can also cause a severe complication called encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, which can be fatal. Encephalitis can happen during an infection if the virus travels to the brain, or after an infection if the brain becomes inflamed because of an overactive immune response. About one child out of every 1,000 who get measles will develop encephalitis. The condition can cause convulsions and in rare cases, deafness or intellectual disability. The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best way to protect against these complications. One dose of the vaccine is 93 percent effective against measles, and two doses is 97 percent effective. The first dose is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months old, and the second dose is typically given between the ages of 4 and 6. There are no antiviral treatments available for measles, and while vitamin A is often given to people with an infection, it does not prevent measles or kill the virus. 'The infection itself can deplete levels of vitamin A in the body,' Bracho-Sanchez says. Both the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend two doses of vitamin A to children who are hospitalized with measles, since vitamin A deficiency can increase the risk of serious complications. However, large doses of vitamin A can be toxic. Secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has suggested that treatment with cod liver oil, which contains vitamin A, is showing 'very, very good results' in measles patients. But health experts caution that cod liver oil supplements can contain more vitamin A than the recommended daily amount and can also make children sick if they take too much. Bracho-Sanchez says the best way to have adequate levels of vitamin A is to eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables. Vaccination, she says, remains the best way to protect against measles.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
In West Texas' measles outbreak, families forgo conventional medicine along with vaccines
SEMINOLE, Texas — The building where hundreds of families are lining up for measles care amid a fast-growing outbreak in West Texas looks more like an abandoned car dealership than a doctor's office. There's no signage, nothing saying 'Open' or indicating office hours. But nearly every day, dozens of pickup trucks from all over Gaines County fill the parking lot, squeezing into any available space. Inside the building — a 'barndominium' in West Texas parlance — there's a handful of tables and chairs set up. Sick families, mostly Mennonite, sit in a makeshift waiting room on the far left, and Dr. Ben Edwards is at a table on the far right. One by one, families are called over to meet with the doctor. Edwards asks about their diet and nutritional intake but does not do bloodwork to look at levels of specific vitamins or nutrients. Based on the conversations with the parents and the child, he decides whether the patient might benefit from cod liver oil, which is high in vitamins A and D. Bottles of the product — offered at no charge — line tables in the room. If kids are having significant trouble breathing, Edwards recommends budesonide, an inhaled steroid typically used for asthma. He does not offer vaccines. Gaines County, where Seminole sits, has one of the state's highest vaccine exemption rates, at nearly 18%, compared to 3% nationally. The embrace of unproven remedies shows that many members of the community are also eschewing conventional medical approaches. 'We need to help these kids out,' said Edwards, a family physician based an hour away in the city of Lubbock. Part of that help, he said, is by supplying kids and their families with cod liver oil and nutrition information, 'like Bobby Kennedy is trying to do.' Edwards is, of course, referring to newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's been vocal against proven medical practice. He's encouraged vitamins and cod liver oil over vaccination and isolation to control the outbreak. There's no antiviral or cure for measles. Kids sick enough to be hospitalized are often given oxygen to help with their breathing. Studies done in other countries have suggested that vitamin A may be helpful in treating malnourished children with the disease. There's no credible evidence to suggest cod liver oil is effective. Though doctors here can administer vitamin A for measles, it's typically used for severe cases in the hospital. Most people in the U.S. have normal levels of the vitamin and don't need extra. Too much can be toxic, said Dr. Ronald Cook, chief health officer at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock and health authority for the city. 'Before I'd give mega doses of vitamin A, I would certainly get a vitamin A level' in the blood, he said. Any messaging suggesting that vitamin A, including cod liver oil, could be an alternative to vaccination is 'misleading,' said Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. 'The goal is to prevent measles from ever occurring. Every single illness, hospitalization and death [from measles] is entirely preventable with vaccines.' Edwards said that he's spoken with Kennedy about how he's treating measles cases, but said he didn't know him and wasn't involved with the anti-vaccine group Kennedy founded, Children's Health Defense, before the outbreak began several weeks ago. Both, however, have long advocated against vaccines. The makeshift clinic and unproven treatments in Texas echo a different deadly measles outbreak in which Kennedy was involved. In 2019, as measles raged in Samoa, Kennedy, then chairman of Children's Health Defense, connected alternative medicine doctors in the U.S. with a local self-described 'natural healer,' who administered their vitamin protocols to sick children and spread fear over the Pacific Island nation's vaccination campaign. A total of 83 people, mostly children, died in the outbreak. Kennedy has repeatedly denied any involvement in the deaths and questions whether they were caused by measles at all. As of Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services reported 198 confirmed cases of measles in West Texas, mainly in Gaines County. Across the state border, in Lea County, New Mexico, 30 cases have been reported. Twenty-three people — mostly unvaccinated children — have been hospitalized in West Texas, per state data. Two people have died, a 6-year-old in Gaines County and an adult in Lea County who tested positive for measles after death. News of the child's death — the first child in the U.S. to die of measles in over two decades — was met with skepticism from anti-vaccine activists. On last Friday's edition of the Children's Health Defense internet morning show, the group's chief scientific officer, Brian Hooker, repeated false claims that have been spreading on social media that the child had actually been sick with RSV and pneumonia, and denied proper treatment in the hospital. 'It's really nefarious,' Hooker said. 'It feels like Covid all over again.' Edwards hosted Hooker on his podcast in February, about a month into the Texas outbreak. 'Offering nontraditional therapies to individuals who look for something other than science-based or evidence-based medicine makes it really hard to convince that group that my science is better than his science,' Cook said. Edwards was conventionally trained at the University of Texas-Houston Medical School and initially opened a small town clinic where he practiced family medicine. In recent years, however, he's made a switch to practicing outside of conventional medicine, operating as a so-called integrative practitioner or functional medicine doctor and promoting something he called the 'Four Pillars of Health' as the key to health: nutrition, hydration, movement and peace. Through his website, Edwards sells dietary supplements, blood tests, and $35-a-month membership plans for access to his online education materials. Edwards told NBC News that he's volunteering his time in the measles outbreak. During Covid, Edwards appeared as an expert at Texas state legislative hearings, where he shared dubious claims about widespread injuries and deaths he said were caused by the vaccines. In 2020, Edwards said that masks were ineffective. On recent podcast episodes, Edwards said that after practicing for several years, he came to believe that vaccines and modern medicine were not responsible for historical declines in infectious disease deaths. Instead, he credited sanitation, nutrition and other lifestyle factors — factors that were instrumental in decreasing mortality, but do not account for how vaccines have reduced or eliminated infectious diseases. On his podcast, he's hosted anti-vaccine influencers and activists, including Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center and Hooker of Children's Health Defense; defended Andrew Wakefield, the discredited doctor behind the retracted study that falsely linked autism to the MMR vaccine; and recommended books from anti-vaccine activist J.B. Handley and the 2016 anti-vaccine film, 'Vaxxed.' The full scale of the measles outbreak in West Texas isn't captured by official reports. Edwards did a quick tally of the number of cases he's seen at the warehouse in Seminole: approximately 188 in the last week. That estimate is based on symptoms alone, without confirmatory testing. It's unclear how much overlap there is between his estimates and the official Texas numbers. The number of hospitalizations is also outpacing the state's official count. Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock has treated 36 measles cases, said hospital spokesperson Meredith Cunningham. Katherine Wells, director of public health at the Lubbock Health Department, said her worry level about the outbreak is 'at a 10.' 'The longer it goes on, the more likely we are to have people travel from one community to another and start an outbreak in another area,' she said. Measles is one of the most contagious viruses on the planet. Viral particles can hang in the air for up to two hours and infect unvaccinated, vulnerable people. Large indoor gatherings are ripe for superspreader events. Edwards said he wasn't concerned about patients congregating in his Gaines County clinic because 'they were all sick with measles.' A nearby health food store called Health 2 U is also a gathering place for members of the community. Cod liver oil is given out, sometimes for free, thanks to donations. 'The cod liver oil is being given away at no cost to anybody,' Edwards said. 'The local community and folks from across the country are donating to help pay for that.' On Thursday, a steady stream of parents entered the store seeking advice for their kids sick with measles — including a woman carrying a little girl wrapped in a blanket. She was limp, with blotchy spots on her skin and a dazed look in her eyes that any parent knows means, 'I don't feel good.' The scene is worrisome to doctors, who generally advise that parents call their pediatricians before taking kids who may have been infected into public places. Tina Siemens, a local historian in Gaines County who has assisted Edwards in the clinic, pushed back against the notion that the Mennonites in the area are uneducated about the disease or their decision not to vaccinate. 'These mamas, these daddies, they do their reading. They have made that choice based on what they read,' Siemens said. 'To paint everyone with the same wide brush stroke is a misrepresentation of our amazing community.' A measles expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personally met with Siemens on Friday, she said, to learn more about vaccine attitudes in the community, while also encouraging the shots. Despite overwhelming evidence that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is safe, both Edwards and Kennedy insist that families should decide for themselves whether to get their kids the shots or not. That's widely applauded in Gaines County. Folks in Seminole bristle at questions about whether they vaccinate their children. A group of moms gathered at a coffee shop recently did not want to speak on the record, offering this message instead: 'Mind your own business.' This article was originally published on
