Tag: Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan

Michigan Medicine receives $50M; will name new hospital after philanthropists D. Dan and Betty Kahn

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Newswise — ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Celebrating one of the largest gifts ever to Michigan Medicine of $50 million, the health system will name its new hospital for longtime philanthropists D. Dan and Betty Kahn.

On Dec. 8, the University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a new name for University of Michigan Health’s 264-bed, 690,000-square-foot hospital — The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion — to honor Betty and Dan’s dedication to the University of Michigan and the public good.

“Patients and families who come to Michigan Medicine see their lives changed,” said U-M President Santa J. Ono. “We are deeply grateful to the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation for its extraordinary generosity, which will enable us to further develop and advance the highly specialized care, innovative research and comprehensive medical training that make our health system so exceptional.”

The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion is scheduled to open in fall 2025. The $920 million facility will include 264 private inpatient rooms capable of converting into intensive care, a top-notch neurosciences center, and specialty services for cardiovascular and thoracic care. It will also feature 20 surgical and three interventional radiology suites.

“This hospital is so important to the legacy of Betty and Dan Kahn and their focus on improving lives through advancements in health and science,” said Larry Wolfe, president and trustee of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation and son-in-law of the Kahns.

“This gift is aligned perfectly with the Kahns’ vision and dedication to improving lives. This transformational gift will enhance the ability of Michigan Medicine to provide increased services to the people of the state of Michigan, as well as a wide cross section of our country,” Wolfe said. “The pandemic amplified the need for increased high-quality medical care, training, research and innovation — this is exactly what Michigan Medicine will do. To give to the University of Michigan is based on the trust and confidence that we at the Foundation have in the university and its leadership. The Kahn Foundation is proud to make this impactful gift based on need, proper stewardship and management.”

The new hospital will allow for the relocation of beds currently in semi-private rooms at University Hospital, improving patient safety and experience while offering more space for family members. When all is complete, a total of 154 new beds will be added to the medical campus in Ann Arbor.

“The generosity of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation will allow Michigan Medicine to provide essential increased access for patients to receive the highest quality medical care from our world-class providers,” said Marschall Runge, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Michigan Medicine, dean of the U-M Medical School and executive vice president of medical affairs for the University of Michigan.

“By relieving high capacity at University Hospital and having more ICU-capable beds, the facility will improve the patient experience for so many,” Runge said. “This will be yet another distinction that strengthens our academic medical center.”

The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Foundation has a near-20-year history of transformational giving to the University of Michigan.

In 2011, Dan Kahn created the Kahn Symposium, a collaboration between U-M and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In 2018, the foundation established and expanded the Michigan-Israel Partnership for Research and Education, an alliance among U-M, Technion and the Weizmann Institute of Science that was envisioned by Dan Kahn and facilitates collaboration in medicine, science and engineering among these institutions.

The foundation also has supported cardiovascular research and care at Michigan Medicine, with gifts in 2009 and 2004, the latter made by Dan in memory of his beloved wife, Betty. The auditorium at U-M’s A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building and the Patient and Family Reception Area at the Frankel Cardiovascular Center are named in the Kahns’ honor.

“My parents placed immense value on the power of education and continual learning,” said Patti Aaron, daughter of Dan and Betty Kahn, and vice president and trustee of the Kahn Foundation. “My father was especially inspired by scientific discovery and the possibilities for humankind, and he encouraged the same in his children and grandchildren. My parents’ philanthropy, in part, reflected those interests through support for world-class health science research institutions, such as Michigan Medicine.”

The new hospital is being constructed adjacent to the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, and the two are set to be linked with bridge and tunnel connections. The facility is designed for sustainability to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Building Certification, the highest possible rating.

“With the Pavilion, Michigan will have one of the most state-of-the-art hospitals in the country — that also demonstrates environmental and social responsibility,” said David Miller, M.D., president of U-M Health. “The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion will be a game changer for Michigan and our patients, as well as the faculty, staff and learners who are committed to caring for them.”

“Michigan Medicine is all about people — their faculty and staff are outstanding, and the care is patient-centered,” said Arthur Weiss, secretary/treasurer and trustee of the Kahn Foundation. “This gift will ensure that they have the tools to continue the transformative work they do here and assist in the retention of high-quality medical professionals at Michigan Medicine. Having had the privilege to represent Betty and Dan, this gift falls perfectly in line with their legacy.”

About the Pavilion:

The D. Dan and Betty Kahn Health Care Pavilion is a 12-floor, 264-bed inpatient facility being built on the University of Michigan Health, Michigan Medicine, medical campus in Ann Arbor. The $920 million, 690,000-square-foot hospital was approved for construction by University of Michigan Board of Regents in September 2019.

Work on the project was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 but resumed in spring 2021. Construction crews will work to enclose the building’s exterior in winter 2023, and the hospital is scheduled to open fall 2025.

About Michigan Medicine:

At Michigan Medicine, we advance health to serve Michigan and the world. We pursue excellence every day in our five hospitals, 125 clinics and home care operations that handle more than 2.3 million outpatient visits a year, as well as educate the next generation of physicians, health professionals and scientists in our U-M Medical School.

Michigan Medicine includes the top ranked U-M Medical School and University of Michigan Health, which includes the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, University Hospital, the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan Health West and the Rogel Cancer Center. The U-M Medical School is one of the nation’s biomedical research powerhouses, with total research funding of more than $500 million.

More information is available at www.med.umich.edu

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December 9, 2022
Black patients more likely to get emergency colorectal cancer surgery

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Newswise — In an analysis of data from hospitals across the state of Michigan, University of Michigan researchers found that Black, non-Hispanic patients were more likely to undergo emergency surgery for colorectal cancer than other races and ethnicities.

Undergoing emergency surgery was associated with a higher rate of complications, including death. Out of close to 5,000 patients who underwent any type of surgery for colorectal cancer, 23% had emergency surgery — but those patients made up 63% of the deaths.

Patients who underwent emergency surgery also received less complete evaluations and testing as part of their workup by surgeons and their medical teams.

“Overall, these results suggest that racial and ethnic differences persist in presentation and management of colorectal cancer and that these differences likely contribute to disparities in postoperative outcomes among these groups,” said Ryan Howard, M.D., M.S., a general surgery resident at University of Michigan Health and the first author of the study.

Howard and his research team used data from the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, a statewide initiative funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that aims to improve the quality and cost of surgical care across the state.

Their goal was to identify opportunities to improve patient care earlier in the process of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

“We can spend all day working on, say, reducing complications right after surgery,” Howard said. “But if we’re still not getting the right treatment to the right patient at the right time, then we’re not doing a good enough job.”

“Colorectal cancer is universally screened for and develops fairly slowly. So if someone is plugged into the health care system, the chances are very high that we will detect it and they will get the appropriate evaluation and work-up,” he added. “The fact that we found patients who are not getting that suggests that there is an opportunity to improve the care we deliver to patients, even before they get to the surgical episode.”

Howard points to patient navigators and targeted community outreach as proven strategies to help reduce disparities in cancer care and believes the state of Michigan, with its network of collaborative quality initiatives, is well positioned to incorporate these solutions into future projects.

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December 8, 2022
Tailored approach makes inroads in rural firearm safe storage

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Newswise — A new study shows early promise for an approach that seeks to reduce the risk of firearm injury and death in rural areas, while respecting rural culture and firearm ownership.

The effort tailors messages about safe firearm storage and teen firearm suicide to a rural audience, and shares specific tips for improving safety.

Early data presented at a national conference show that in 45 rural Michigan families with both children and firearms in their home, the vast majority of parents reported strong engagement with the prevention materials, finding the content useful and reflective of their rural community values.

Three weeks after completing the intervention, 86% of the parents said they completed a firearm home safety checklist suggested by the program, and 88% talked about firearm safety with another adult in their home.

Nearly two-thirds also went on to discuss firearm safety with children who live with them, and 40% reported that they made a change to how they store firearms in their home.

The findings, from the pilot study of the Store Safely project, were presented on December 1 at the 2022 National Research Conference on Firearm Injury Prevention by Cynthia Ewell Foster, Ph.D., who leads the University of Michigan-based team behind the project. The presentation won one of the conference’s top awards.

“We are excited by these findings, and by the variety of actions that these families took including changing to unloaded and locked storage and moving hunting rifles to another location less accessible to children,” says Ewell Foster, a clinical psychologist in the Michigan Medicine Department of Psychiatry and member of the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. “While we have much more work to do to assess the impact of the tools we’ve developed, our findings show the value of partnering with the community in order to develop a culturally tailored safety message.”

The Store Safely website includes a video featuring trusted community messengers, an infographic of local data, a decision aid to help families consider different storage options, and downloadable resources, including a home safety checklist.

The Store Safely project grew out of a partnership with the Marquette County Health Department, Marquette County Suicide Prevention Alliance and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. It involved an extensive community advisory board representing local business owners; law enforcement officials; veteran navigators; medical, behavioral, and public health professionals; and K-12 school personnel.

Rural America has the highest per capita death toll from firearms, higher than suburban and urban areas, and the main reason for this difference is firearm suicides.

Putting time and distance between individuals who are at risk for suicide and highly lethal means like firearms is a critical part of a comprehensive suicide prevention strategy, Ewell Foster said.

Store Safely focuses its messaging on the importance of preventing all firearm injury as well as teen firearm-related suicide e by storing firearms in ways that reduce the chances that a teen who is upset, angry, depressed, or experiencing other kinds of risk factors will be able to access a loaded firearm.

The program’s materials emphasize the range of options that rural families have for reducing risk within the context of their lifestyle,which includes firearm ownership for both hunting and protection. .

Ewell Foster and her colleagues plan to increase the availability of the Store Safely intervention while continuing to evaluate its impact in other rural communities both within and beyond Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

In addition to Ewell Foster, the study’s authors are Christina Magness LMSW, Tayla Smith M.P.H., and Cheryl King Ph.D. of the U-M Department of Psychiatry, Sarah Derwin of the Marquette County Health Department, and Eskira Kahsay, M.P.H., of the U-M School of Public Health.

The Store Safely project is funded by the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens Consortium based at U-M. FACTS is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD087149).

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December 5, 2022
Transgender youth, teens more likely to have sleep disorders

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Newswise — Teens and young adults who are transgender are four times more likely to have a sleep disorder compared to cisgender youth, a Michigan Medicine-led study finds.

Researchers analyzed claims data from more than 1.2 million young people aged 12 to 25, of which 2,603 identified as transgender or gender-nonconforming. Results published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine reveal that transgender youth are 5.4 times more likely to have insomnia and three times more likely to have sleep apnea or other sleep disorders.

Sleep health has rarely been examined in transgender and gender-nonconforming youth, but these results show a concerning number of individuals with disorders that harm sleep quality, says first author Ronald Gavidia, M.D., M.S., sleep medicine physician in the University of Michigan Health Department of Neurology’s Division of Sleep Medicine and an assistant professor of neurology at U-M Medical School.

“Given this higher prevalence of sleep disorders in relation to cisgender youth, clinicians should consider screening and testing this population for such disorders,” Gavidia said.

Reports on transgender youth and adults have shown a high prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms, which are known to affect sleep quality and health. Researchers suspect suboptimal mental health may contribute to the association between transgender and gender-nonconforming identity and insomnia.

“Transgender and gender-nonconforming identity may precede mental health disorders and both influence insomnia diagnosis,” said senior author Galit Levi Dunietz, Ph.D., M.P.H., epidemiologist in the Department of Neurology’s Division of Sleep Medicine and assistant professor of neurology at U-M Medical School.

Of transgender youth in the study, more than half had pursued gender-affirming therapy. That group was half as likely to have any sleep disorder than transgender individuals who did not pursue the therapy.

Gender-affirming therapy, the authors conclude, could be protective against worsening sleep health brought about by psychological stressors from prejudice and discrimination against the transgender community.

“As mood disorders and insomnia have a bidirectional relationship, gender transition through affirming therapies could improve mental health, which, in turn, may decrease the proportion of insomnia by improving gender dysphoria, poor mood and minority stress,” Gavidia said.

Researchers say future studies should further examine the burden of sleep disorders prior to and following gender-affirming therapy for these populations.

Additional authors include, Daniel G. Whitney, Ph.D., Shelley Hershner, M.D., both of Michigan Medicine, Ellen M. Selkie, M.D., M.P.H., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Riva Tauman, M.D., Tel Aviv Souraski Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine.

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, as well as the University of Michigan Office of Health Equity and Inclusion Diversity Fund.

Paper cited: “Gender identity and transition: relationships with sleep disorders in US youth” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.10158

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November 21, 2022
Is weakness the new smoking? Muscle strength tied to biological age, study shows

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Newswise — Everyone ages at a different pace. That’s why two 50-year-olds, despite living the same number of years, may have different biological ages – meaning that a host of intrinsic and extrinsic factors have caused them to age at varying paces with different levels of risk for disease and early death.

Lifestyle choices, such as diet and smoking, and illness all contribute to accelerating biological age beyond one’s chronological age. In other words, your body is aging faster than expected. And for the first time, researchers have found that muscle weakness marked by grip strength, a proxy for overall strength capacity, is associated with accelerated biological age. Specifically, the weaker your grip strength, the older your biological age, according to results published in The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.

Researchers at Michigan Medicine modeled the relationship between biological age and grip strength of 1,274 middle aged and older adults using three “age acceleration clocks” based on DNA methylation, a process that provides a molecular biomarker and estimator of the pace of aging. The clocks were originally modeled from various studies examining diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, physical disability, Alzheimer’s disease, inflammation and early mortality.

Results reveal that both older men and women showed an association between lower grip strength and biological age acceleration across the DNA methylation clocks.

“We’ve known that muscular strength is a predictor of longevity, and that weakness is a powerful indicator of disease and mortality, but, for the first time, we have found strong evidence of a biological link between muscle weakness and actual acceleration in biological age,” said Mark Peterson, Ph.D., M.S., lead author of the study and associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at University of Michigan.

“This suggests that if you maintain your muscle strength across the lifespan, you may be able to protect against many common age-related diseases. We know that smoking, for example, can be a powerful predictor of disease and mortality, but now we know that muscle weakness could be the new smoking.”

The real strength of this study was in the eight to 10 years of observation, in which lower grip strength predicted faster biological aging measured up to a decade later, said Jessica Faul, Ph.D., M.P.H., a co-author of the study and research associate professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research.

Past studies have shown that low grip strength is an extremely strong predictor of adverse health events. One study even found that it is a better predictor of cardiovascular events, such as myocardial infarction, than systolic blood pressure – the clinical hallmark for detecting heart disorders. Peterson and his team have previously shown a robust association between weakness and chronic disease and mortality across populations.

This evidence coupled with their study’s recent findings, Peterson says, shows potential for clinicians to adopt the use of grip strength as a way to screen individuals for future risk of functional decline, chronic disease and even early mortality.

“Screening for grip strength would allow for the opportunity to design interventions to delay or prevent the onset or progression of these adverse ‘age-related’ health events,” he said. “We have been pushing for clinicians to start using grip strength in their clinics and only in geriatrics has this sort of been incorporated. However, not many people are using this, even though we’ve seen hundreds of publications showing that grip strength is a really good measure of health.”

Investigators say future research is needed to understand the connection between grip strength and age acceleration, including how inflammatory conditions contribute to age-related weakness and mortality. Previous studies have shown that chronic inflammation in aging – known as “inflammaging” – is a significant risk factor for mortality among older adults. This inflammation is also associated with lower grip strength and may be a significant predictor on the pathway between lower grip strength and both disability and chronic disease multimorbidity.

Additionally, Peterson says, studies must focus on how lifestyle and behavioral factors, such as physical activity and diet, can affect grip strength and age acceleration.

“Healthy dietary habits are very important, but I think regular exercise is the most critical thing that somebody can do to preserve health across the lifespan,” he said. “We can show it with a biomarker like DNA methylation age, and we can also test it with a clinical feature like grip strength.”

Additional authors include Stacey Collins, M.A., Helen C.S. Meier, Ph.D., M.P.H., Alexander Brahmsteadt, M.D., all of University of Michigan.

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant (R01 AG060110 to J.F.).
Paper cited: “Grip strength is inversely associated with DNA methylation age acceleration,” The Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle. DOI: 10.1002/jcsm.13110

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November 11, 2022
Cardiologist/Vascular Medicine Specialist Available for Interviews: AHA Scientific Sessions – University of Michigan Health
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Newswise — As the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2022 kicks off this weekend, many experts will be presenting late-breaking science that features the most highly anticipated breakthroughs of the year. As they present, we have an expert in vascular medicine from University of Michigan Health who is available to comment on several findings:

Geoffrey D. Barnes, M.D. – cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center, associate professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School
- Dr. Barnes is a cardiologist who specializes in vascular medicine. His health services research interests focus on safe and effective delivery of anticoagulation care, particularly with patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism. He also is a national leader in the care of patients with peripheral artery disease with a focus on improving medical management. He is program director of the Michigan Anticoagulation Quality Improvement Initiative, a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan sponsored collaborative QI consortium.
Barnes is available to speak about:
- Preventing Limb Loss Through Vascular Interventions and Venous Therapies (11/7 at 8 a.m. CT)
- Treating Atrial and Supraventricular Arrhythmias (11/7 at 11 a.m. CT)
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November 4, 2022
Immune marker suPAR high in patients with heart failure, predicts risk and death

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Newswise — For years, cardiologists have zeroed in on a hormone called BNP as a gold standard to determine if patients with heart failure are at risk of severe illness or death. It’s released by the heart in response to when the cardiac tissue stretches due to pressure.

While the B-type natriuretic peptide, or BNP, is a “downstream” indicator of heart failure, researchers have been looking for biomarkers focused on what leads to heart failure, such as myocardial injury or inflammation.

A new study from Michigan Medicine and the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute finds that levels of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor, or suPAR, an immune protein known to play a role in kidney disease, are high in patients with heart failure and predict both heart failure and death. Beyond that, when suPAR is combined with BNP, the ability to predict such risks gets even stronger. The findings are published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure.

“Several markers have been examined for heart failure and its adverse outcomes, but few have ever shown to be additive to BNP, or sometimes better than BNP, which is what we find here,” said Salim Hayek, M.D., an assistant professor of internal medicine and medical director of the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center clinics.

“BNP is marker that varies dramatically depending on the patient’s fluid status. A more stable marker, such as suPAR, that is linked to the pathophysiology of heart failure could be more useful in identifying patients at higher, long-term risk of disease progression or death.”

The research team used the Emory cardiovascular biobank to measure both plasma suPAR and BNP levels in over 3,400 participants undergoing heart imaging, following them for more than six years.

Results reveal that suPAR levels were 17% higher in patients with heart failure than those without across the different subgroups, including patients with ischemic or non-ischemic cardiomyopathy. Levels of the protein carried more than two times risk for all-cause death, cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure.

Additionally, when suPAR was found to be increased in patients without heart failure, they were over 3.5 times more likely to develop the condition.

“We see that suPAR has a major role in cardiovascular disease as a marker of immune activation, which likely reflects an upstream process of stress and inflammation that can cause heart failure,” said Hayek, who is also an assistant professor of cardiovascular and internal medicine at U-M Medical School.

“SuPAR is also known to cause kidney disease – an important component of the pathophysiology of heart failure. This may explain why suPAR levels are strongly predictive of long-term outcomes in these patients.”

A growing body of research links suPAR and poor outcomes for an array of conditions, from coronary artery disease to cancer and kidney dysfunction. The common pathway of disease in these conditions is a persistent activation of the immune system, which is reflected in high suPAR levels, says Hayek, whose research focuses on understanding the link between inflammation, cardiovascular and kidney diseases.

“On the practical side, there is a potential for suPAR to be among the biomarkers that we measure to create a strategy for personalizing care for individual patients,” said senior author Arshed Ali Quyyumi, M.D., FACC, Director of the Emory Clinical Cardiovascular Institute and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Emory University School of Medicine.

“For example, we could use it to differentiate between admitted patients who are at low and high risk of worsening heart failure. Then we could better allocate post-discharge resources to those at higher risk, which would lessen the cost burden of managing disease. There are many potential opportunities to use suPAR to improve care.”

Additional authors include Ayman Samman Tahhan, M.D., Yi-an Ko, Ph.D., Ayman Alkhoder, M.D., Shuai Zheng, Ph.D., Ravila Bhimani, Joy Hartsfield, Jonathan Kim, M.D., Peter Wilson, M.D., Leslee Shaw, Ph.D., all of Emory University, Changli Wei, Ph.D., Jochen Reiser, M.D., Ph.D., both of Rush University.

Paper cited: “Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor Levels and Outcomes in Patients with Heart Failure,” Journal of Cardiac Failure. DOI: 10.1016/j.cardfail.2022.08.010

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October 17, 2022