News Archive

April 5, 2021

Biomaterials bolster the battle against cancer

According to Abhinav Acharya , an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Arizona State University, “a single form of treatment is often not sufficient to defeat a given form of cancer." "We need a combinatorial approach, meaning the use of two or more therapies together.” For example, the tandem application of chemotherapy with immunotherapy or vaccine use could be much more effective than either measure alone. But the problem, Acharya said, is that each of these therapies is...

March 15, 2021

Saving lives through innovation

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the spring 2021 issue of ASU Thrive magazine. The pain of a lingering sore throat is, in many cases, not just physical. On top of feeling unwell, people often have to enter the health care system to get relief. This often looks like: making a request to take time off work, finding an open appointment, sitting in traffic, filling out paperwork, enduring a throat swab and, finally, paying the bill. Treating common illnesses — strep throat,...

March 11, 2021

ASU medical expert leading effort to have hospitals collaborate in a crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major stressor for America’s health care system. While simultaneously losing revenue, hospitals saw massive surges in sick patients, shortages of equipment and staff, and massive burnout among their front-line workers. Since last summer, Arizona State University has been part of a unique initiative to get health care delivery systems in Maricopa County to collaborate to improve patient outcomes — even though they are sometimes competitors. Denis Cortese ,...

February 19, 2021

Mayo Clinic and ASU Alliance for Health Care invests in the power of AI

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a broad term. It includes the techniques of machine learning and deep learning through which computers mimic the operation of the human brain. The practical application of AI holds remarkable promise in fields ranging from transportation to health care. “The opportunities now are very exciting given the development of faster computers, more powerful algorithms and better data during the past few years,” said Dr. Bhavik Patel, who has been appointed the new...

February 16, 2021

ASU part of state consortium that aims to reduce misinformation about COVID-19 in communities of color

Researchers at Arizona State University's Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center , along with colleagues at Arizona’s two other state universities and Mayo Clinic, are working to reduce misinformation and mistrust about the COVID-19 pandemic among people disproportionately affected by it. The Arizona CEAL COVID Consortium (AC3) is conducting community-engaged research and outreach to increase education and awareness about the novel coronavirus and its devastating effects, said...

November 9, 2020

Diversifying genomic medicine beyond genes

The work to improve health and health care is ongoing and ever-evolving. It takes many shapes, from streamlining delivery to improving care and pursuing inclusive medical research to help develop precision medicine for all populations. This was a key element of the Arizona RAVE study , a collaboration between researchers from Arizona State University, Mayo Clinic and Mountain Park Health Center . The study brought genomic medicine to a Federally Qualified Community Health Center that serves low...

January 15, 2020

Applications open for 2020 cohort of Mayo Clinic and ASU MedTech Accelerator

Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University are partnering for the second year to advance medical device and health care technology companies through the Mayo Clinic and ASU MedTech Accelerator. The program is seeking applicants ahead of its Jan. 30 deadline. The MedTech Accelerator draws upon the combined strengths and resources of ASU Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Mayo Clinic to deliver an unparalleled experience for companies in the health care and medical device fields. “ASU is pleased...

January 9, 2020

Sowing seed grants for a harvest of medical discovery

What if the answer to fighting disease-causing bacteria in wounds, including treatment-resistant bacteria, could be found in the use of mud as medicine — a treatment that goes back to prehistoric times? Researchers from Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic who come from distinctly different disciplines have found one type of clay, a blue-colored clay from the Oregon Cascades, to be highly antibacterial. Lynda Williams is a geochemist and research professor in ASU’s School of Earth and Space...

September 11, 2019

Engineering more efficient health care management

Even the most high-quality health care delivered by conscientious providers can fall short of optimal performance when hindered by inefficient patient access management. The problem, says Arizona State University industrial engineer Esma Gel , is that many hospitals remain largely mired in “the traditional first-come, first-served routine” that can waste physicians’ time and effort and fail to most effectively serve patients. What’s needed to remedy the faulty process is “data-driven, needs-...

September 10, 2019

ASU student assists Mayo Clinic's Vida Volunteer medical mission in Costa Rica

Dr. Joseph Furst, a Mayo Clinic physician, annually spends two weeks in the summer providing medical care to at-risk communities in other countries. In 2017, ASU students were invited to participate in a medical brigade to Nicaragua. This year, Furst led students to Nicoya and La Cruz, Costa Rica, as part of the Vida Volunteer program. Selected through ASU’s Pre-Health Internship Program in the Office of Clinical Partnerships, student Whitney Tuoti — a major in biochemistry and biological...