EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Dec-2025 00:14 ET (18-Dec-2025 05:14 GMT/UTC)

Sandra Shi MD, MPH, named 2025 STAT Wunderkind

Hebrew SeniorLife Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Grant and Award Announcement

Sandra Shi MD, MPH, has been named a 2025 STAT Wunderkind. Dr. Shi is a geriatrician, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and assistant scientist at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.

Tumor-on-a-chip offers insight into cancer-fighting cells in immunotherapy

University of Pennsylvania
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The “tumor-on-a-chip” recreates the body’s tumor environment in miniature, complete with blood vessels and immune cells, so researchers can “see” what helps or hinders engineered immune cells inside solid tumors.

Adding vildagliptin, a drug currently used to treat type 2 diabetes, to the chip, allows many more CAR T cells to break through the protective tumor microenvironment and attack the tumor.

These chips could help accelerate the development of more efficacious and safer immunotherapies for cancer patients while reducing the need for the use of other preclinical models.

Journal: Nature Biotechnology
Funder: Cancer Research Institute, NIH/National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Science Foundation, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea, National Research Foundation of Korea, Paul Allen Foundation, Ludwig Cancer Research, University of Pennsylvania

Research Spotlight: Mapping overlooked challenges in stroke recovery

Mass General Brigham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The researchers conducted one of the largest qualitative studies with stroke survivors and care partners within the United States to better understand what wellbeing means in recovery. Through the lived experiences that participants shared with them, they identified key factors that shape physical and emotional wellbeing after stroke.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: Henrietta B. and Frederick H. Bugher Foundation

Geographic and temporal patterns of screening for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer in the US

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that despite increasing screening overall, which led to reduced geographic variation in screening, local clusters of high and low screening persisted in the Northeast and Southwest U.S., respectively. Future studies could incorporate county-level health care access characteristics to explain why areas of low screening did not catch up to optimize cancer screening practices.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Cannabis laws and opioid use among commercially insured patients with cancer diagnoses

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This study’s findings indicate cannabis may be a substitute for opioids in the management of cancer-related pain. However, further research directly observing cannabis use is needed to evaluate the efficacy of cannabis as a treatment for cancer-related pain.

Journal: JAMA Health Forum

New EndoCompass Research Roadmap calls for coordinated investment to tackle Europe’s hormone health challenge

European Society of Endocrinology
Business Announcement

The European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) and the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) have released the EndoCompass Research Roadmap: Directions for the Future of Endocrine Science. The supplement is published today in the European Journal of Endocrinology and is a major new initiative to align research efforts, improve funding strategies and increase the visibility of hormone-related health challenges across Europe.

OHSU researchers develop functional eggs from human skin cells

Oregon Health & Science University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have accomplished a unique proof of concept to treat infertility by turning skin cells into eggs capable of producing early human embryos.

Journal: Nature Communications