UVA Health

UVA’s new Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology will put us at the forefront of cutting-edge medicine, ensuring no Virginian will need to leave the state for even the most complex care. Learn more: uvahealth.com/driven #UVAHealth #UVAHealthDriven

These mushroom gummies supposedly help with brain function. But Blue Ridge Poison Center experts found that some brands contained the illegal, dangerous drugs psilocybin or psilocin. #toxicology

Meet John Bushweller, PhD, an expert in molecular physiology and biological physics at UVA School of Medicine. He's developing a drug for difficult-to-target proteins in specific types of cancer.

Sheila Boling is a UVA Cancer Center team member and a cancer survivor. After her twin sister died of breast cancer, Sheila started getting mammograms. In 2017, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. David Brenin, MD, performed her mastectomy. Sheila is now cancer-free. Through a Charlottesville organization, Sisters Conquering Cancer, she empowers other Black women to make their health a priority. Watch her story.

Problems with DNA replication can lead to cancer’s uncontrolled cell division, so scientists have developed several tools to try to understand what initiates replication. But this new research calls into question the results being produced by those techniques and, in turn, challenges our very concepts of the origins of the DNA replication process. Researchers co-led by UVA Cancer Center’s Chongzhi Zang, and Anindya Dutta, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, conducted a comprehensive analysis of the results produced by five different techniques used to study the origins of DNA replication and found the results were inconsistent and could not be reconciled. That suggests something is wrong, Zang says: Either the results themselves are off, or scientists have some incomplete understandings of the factors that initiate DNA replication.

William Teague, MD, is a pediatric allergist and immunologist at UVA Health Children's. Dr. Teague also researches new methods of treating allergies and asthma conditions. His favorite part of his role is the joy of discovery.

“This recognition from Becker’s underscores the hospital’s commitment to clinical excellence, personalized care, and community impact.” — Erik Shannon, chief executive officer of UVA Health’s community medical centers and clinics in northern Virginia and Culpeper

We’re sad to announce that Bob Klesges, PhD, died unexpectedly on July 2. He had been part of our UVA School of Medicine faculty since 2017. He was the director of the Center for Addiction & Prevention Research and a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. Prof. Klesges was passionate about helping people with addiction and was one of the nation’s top experts in smoking cessation. His extensive career included: - More than 300 peer-reviewed publications along with two patents - A grant portfolio of more than $50 million - Contributions to reports on smoking from the U.S. Surgeon General and Institute of Medicine - Serving on or chairing multiple NIH study sections While at UVA Health, Prof. Klesges worked with cancer survivors and on projects related to binge drinking on college campuses and opiate addiction. Our thoughts are with his family members and his many colleagues and friends. Read more about him and his career: https://bit.ly/4f1zPnu

We're partnering with The Haven – a multi-resource day shelter and housing resource center in Charlottesville – to provide opioid-use disorder care for unhoused members of the community. Backed by a grant from the state Opioid Abatement Authority, the SmART (street medicine, access, reduction and treatment) program has launched at The Haven. A UVA Health physician, nurse and social worker will come to The Haven once a week, building on the services offered through an existing UVA Health clinic at The Haven. The SmART program team will also visit other locations, including additional shelters, to connect unhoused people with treatment options. “We aim to deliver integrated and compassionate care to individuals experiencing opioid-use disorder who are otherwise unhoused and unable to seek care,” said Nassima Ait-Daoud Tiouririne, MD, a UVA Health psychiatrist and specialist in addiction medicine who is leading the program.

We’re mourning the loss of longtime pediatrician James (Jim) Plews-Ogan, MD, who died on July 3. He joined UVA Health in 2012 and founded By Your Side, which provides coordinated care, including house calls, for kids with complex medical conditions. Dr. Plews-Ogan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2021 and retired in 2022. Determined to improve ALS care for himself and others, he and his wife started the Hummingbird Fund. “Hummingbirds have stamina. But they’re also delicate and beautiful,” he said. “We loved that symbolism for people with ALS.” Dr. Plews-Ogan’s wife, Peggy, is an internal medicine physician and chief of our School of Medicine’s Division of General Medicine, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine. Our hearts are with his family, including Peggy and their two children, and all the friends, colleagues, patients, and families he touched. Read more about his Hummingbird Fund work in this 2022 article: https://bit.ly/45Yo3Wx