Posts Tagged

covid

I attended three notable events worth reporting on this past week. The first took place a week ago Saturday when UND hosted the annual Feast of Nations event at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. Susan and I really enjoy this event, although this was the first time we were able to attend since the […]

Several faculty and staff of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) will be recognized at UND’s 2023 Founders Day Banquet, to be held Thursday, Feb. 16, in the UND Memorial Union. Three representatives of the School will be given major teaching and research awards; one will take home an award for academic […]

Researchers connected to the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences are conducting a study that looks at how the use of primary care services has been affected by COVID-19. The researchers’ goal is to determine if there has been an impact on chronic medical conditions, symptoms, or access to health services in North Dakota […]

As I mentioned in my column last week, I had the pleasure and honor of welcoming the medical student Class of 2026 to the UND SMHS this past Tuesday. I met with the class in person, although I was masked (as I routinely do when indoors around others). While the latest Centers for Disease Control […]

The UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences has produced a new series of guidelines / recommendations for people experiencing the signs/symptoms of illness. These guidelines are now posted to the COVID page of the SMHS website and can be read below. SMHS Guidance for Signs/Symptoms of Illness The UND SMHS is dedicated to the […]

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of welcoming over 50 undergraduates to the SMHS for a summer research experience at UND. The goal of the program is to attract talented undergraduate students studying science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM) at a North Dakota college/university to a career in the biomedical sciences. The program provides […]

The University of North Dakota and NDSU are teaming up on COVID-19 research! The Immunosurveillance and Experiences of COVID-19 in North Dakota project seeks to better understand the level of population immunity to COVID-19 brought on from natural infection, vaccination, or both and to understand the COVID-19 experiences of the citizens of North Dakota. We […]

Given the current apparent transition of COVID-19 in our region from a pandemic to an endemic situation (meaning that while COVD-19 has not disappeared, it no longer is associated with widespread, rapid, and potentially debilitating community spread), it would appear to be an appropriate time to further modify the School’s pandemic mitigation policy. To this […]

Last week I discussed the changing landscape around the globe due to the omicron variant. Unfortunately, this week I need to update that overview with comments about the burgeoning impact of omicron locally across North Dakota. We have seen a rapid increase in cases statewide, with increasing numbers of new cases over the past week. […]

As we enter the third calendar year of SARS-CoV-2 (ugh), I see storm clouds close by, and the real possibility of brighter skies by the spring. First to the storm clouds. The omicron variant, as you know, is highly contagious and spreading very rapidly. The chart above is from the Financial Times and shows the […]

A research team led by an assistant professor in the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Department of Biomedical Sciences, Abraam Yakoub, Pharm.D., Ph.D., has been awarded a five-year, $4.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a project proposal that has the potential to “push the boundaries” of research […]

On Wednesday we held our annual Holiday Party, and as with last year, it was a virtual event. But unlike last year the attendance was modest and down from last year. We suspect that this modest turnout was a reflection of our “pandemic/virtual meeting fatigue” and, interestingly enough, may have been a demonstration of one […]

This past Tuesday was notable in two regards. Most important of course is that it was the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The other event of note is that a federal court stopped (at least temporarily) the implementation of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination mandate for employees working on federal contracts. Since […]

Yesterday UND sponsored a Town Hall meeting for faculty and staff to discuss the recent federal mandates for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination. There was a productive “back and forth” discussion of the issues and implications for UND. Here’s a brief overview of what was discussed. There are three ways the Executive Order regarding vaccine requirements are […]

The next Department of Internal Medicine Grand Rounds event, “COVID-19 Updates,” will be broadcast via Zoom from noon to 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. This presentation features Avish Nagpal, M.D., clinical associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Sanford Health in Fargo, N.D. […]