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KTBS3 - After 14 years of service on the board of directors, American Physical Therapy Association as president, Sharon Dunn, Dean of the LSUHS School of Allied Health Professions, ends her tenure and second term as president of the organization with a long list of accomplishments.

Effective Wednesday, January 5, LSUHS will move its community COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts back to the Louisiana State Fairgrounds located at 3701 Hudson Ave. to reduce wait times and accommodate more individuals each day. 

Louisiana Illuminator - The Louisiana Board of Supervisors approved the Louisiana Addiction Research Center on LSU’s Shreveport campus. LSUHS spokesperson Lisa Babin said she anticipates the center will receive the regents’ final approval at its meeting on January 6, 2022.

KTAL/KMSS - “Television, movies, they all make up the perfect families during Christmas and the holidays. And most of it, it’s never like that,” said Dr. Nicholas Goeders, Executive Director of the Louisiana Addiction Research Center at LSUHS. "Nobody can live up to that ideal.”

KMSS/KTAL - Dr. Peter Seidenberg, Chief of Family Medicine at LSUHS, shares "Every boxer needs a pre-bout and post fight physical. We also provide coverage ringside during the event to make sure the boxers are not hurt and that they are safe to continue participating.”

Shreveport Times - Research Notebook: Since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic scientists around the world have been working together on critical genomic sequencing efforts to better understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads and evolves and help guide and evaluate public health response. 

Bloomberg - While the U.S. is sequencing a much higher percentage of Covid samples than earlier, the bigger issue may be that not enough virus testing is done in the first place, said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport.

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A new variant of COVID-19 has been identified in Louisiana by scientists at the LSU Health Shreveport Emerging Viral Threats Center. LSUHS announced this month that the B.1.630 variant had been sequenced and reported by the center, though health officials believe this variant's predominance is very low and much less transmissable than the deadly delta variant.

The EVT Viral Genomics and Sequencing Lab at LSU Health Shreveport is first in the state to sequence and report that a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been detected in Louisiana. The new variant, B.1.630, was sequenced last week from two samples collected in Baton Rouge.

LSU Health Shreveport has been on the front line fighting the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning. The establishment of the Emerging Viral Threats lab in March of 2020 led to mass testing and vaccination sites, clinical trials in patient treatment options and viral sequencing that discovered 7 COVID-19. variants.

Wall Street Journal - Some virologists believe the Delta variant evolved to maximize transmissibility and that its ability to spread rapidly will eventually reach a ceiling as more of the global population gets vaccinated. “It looks like this virus is already driving a Lamborghini right now in terms of transmissibility, so I’m not sure it can get much faster,” said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at LSU Health Shreveport who is studying coronavirus genetics. Read the full article.

The research of Lynn Harrison, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at LSUHS, was selected by NASA’s Space Biology Program as one of three space biology proposals to prepare for future research on the surface of the moon. 

Mabruka Alfaidi, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Pathology at LSU Health Shreveport, has been selected as a recipient of an American Heart Association Career Development Award. This prestigious award supports highly promising healthcare and academic professionals in the early years of their career by funding innovative research and training to assure the future success of the awardee as a cardiovascular independent scientist.

KTBS3 - After 14 years of service on the board of directors, American Physical Therapy Association as president, Sharon Dunn, Dean of the LSUHS School of Allied Health Professions, ends her tenure and second term as president of the organization with a long list of accomplishments.

Louisiana Illuminator - The Louisiana Board of Supervisors approved the Louisiana Addiction Research Center on LSU’s Shreveport campus. LSUHS spokesperson Lisa Babin said she anticipates the center will receive the regents’ final approval at its meeting on January 6, 2022.

Roy O. Martin III and Kathy Martin have donated $500,000 to the Center for Medical Education as part of a larger LSU system-wide gift supporting top capital priorities for the Fierce for the Future Campaign. The Martin’s gift will be directed to the Center of Excellence for Emerging Viral Threats (CEVT) to be housed on the top floor of the Center for Medical Education.

Dr. Paari Dominic performed the first phrenic nerve simulation in the state of Louisiana and the second in the Ark-La-Tex on November 10, 2021. The procedure, also known as diaphragmatic pacing, uses a surgically implanted device to contract the diaphragm rhythmically leading to improved breathing function in patients with respiratory insufficiency.

Diana Merendino, DPT, RRT, RRT-NPS, RPFT, FAARC; Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Affairs; and Associate Professor of Cardiopulmonary Science in the School of Allied Health Professions was honored with the prestigious Bill Lamb Exceptional Service in Mentoring and Volunteering Award for her 38 years of outstanding service to the profession.

The surgery performed by Dr. Fawaz Alotaibi, DDS, Assistant Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, and Dr. Celso Palmieri Jr., DDS, Associate Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, was an outstanding training opportunity for two Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residents who assisted with the procedure.

Effective Wednesday, January 5, LSUHS will move its community COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts back to the Louisiana State Fairgrounds located at 3701 Hudson Ave. to reduce wait times and accommodate more individuals each day. 

KTAL/KMSS - “Television, movies, they all make up the perfect families during Christmas and the holidays. And most of it, it’s never like that,” said Dr. Nicholas Goeders, Executive Director of the Louisiana Addiction Research Center at LSUHS. "Nobody can live up to that ideal.”

KMSS/KTAL - Dr. Peter Seidenberg, Chief of Family Medicine at LSUHS, shares "Every boxer needs a pre-bout and post fight physical. We also provide coverage ringside during the event to make sure the boxers are not hurt and that they are safe to continue participating.”

KSLA12 - Dr. Elizabeth Disbrow, Director of the Center for Brain Health at LSU Health Shreveport shares about the toll dementia can take on patients and caregivers alike. “The biggest issue, I think, is the physical toll that it takes on you to be constantly vigilant.”

Both LSUHS and AHA are creating change working together to help young adults uncover their potential to find their path today through commitment to develop a robust pipeline of innovators who will develop the research, technology and innovations that will eliminate heart disease and ensure health equity in our communities.

An official release of five PSAs created by five student filmmakers from the Northwest Louisiana area was held on November 22nd at LSUHS as part of a collaboration between the Film Prize Junior program and LSUHS, followed by Q&A sessions about this project.

Red River Radio - Health Matters. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women. Quitting smoking can help decrease the incidence of lung cancer. Dr. Robert Holladay, Professor of Clinical Internal Medicine and Program Director for the Interventional Pulmonology Fellowship Program at LSU Health Shreveport, talks about the etiology of lung cancer and the latest treatments. 

KTBS3 - “Every minute counts,” said Dr. Navdeep Samra, LSUHS Associate Professor of Surgery and Trauma Medical Director for Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport. “We call it the golden hour of trauma care in which the patient is brought to a trauma center within a timely fashion and the outcomes are better."

Forum News - Age related neurodegenerative diseases like late-onset Alzheimer’s develop over the years, due to a combination of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors. It is helpful to understand a few key concepts related to disease pathophysiology to understand prevention and intervention. (Center for Brain Health at LSU Health Shreveport)

The LSU Health Shreveport COVID-19 Strike Teams reached a major milestone today having administered just over 100,000 VACCINATIONS. Over 175 individuals have been a part of the LSUHS vaccine teams comprised of physicians, nurses, nursing, medical and allied health students, and the Louisiana National Guard.

Today UK News - Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at LSUHS, agreed the world is now “well equipped” for the fight but viruses are always coming up with “countermeasures”. He suggests Covid could become more stealthy, like tuberculosis or HIV, with a longer “silent” phase of infection. (image: WHO)

NPR / Red River Radio - As the Omicron variant is surging in our region and across the country, Dr. John Vanchiere, Director of LSUHS COVID-19 Community Testing and Vaccinations, talks about how people are faring with this variant, testing and treatments, new isolation recommendations, and more.

KTBS3 - The LSUHS COVID-19 Strike team and Emerging Viral Threats lab hit a record high with over 14,000 COVID-19 tests conducted last week. This is quite a feat, considering many areas across the country have had to scale back testing to symptomatic people only because staff members and labs were overrun.

Eat This, Not That! - For many people, respiratory symptoms are the first sign of Omicron. "It's mostly that runny nose, sore throat and nasal congestion," Dr. John Vanchiere, the associate director of the Center for Emerging Viral Threats at LSU Health Shreveport, told NPR.

NPR - "It's mostly that runny nose, sore throat and nasal congestion," says Dr. John Vanchiere, the associate director of the Center for Emerging Viral Threats at LSU Health Shreveport. "The cough is milder [than previous variants], if there's any cough at all, and fever seems to be a little less common."

Effective Wednesday, January 5, LSUHS will move its community COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts back to the Louisiana State Fairgrounds located at 3701 Hudson Ave. to reduce wait times and accommodate more individuals each day. 

Dr. John Vanchiere, an infectious disease specialist at LSU Health Shreveport, agrees. “We are seeing significant increases in our positivity rates in our community testing and, unfortunately, also in our nursing home testing.

Shreveport Times - Despite the increased attention of omicron, delta continues to be the main variant in Louisiana, however, Dr. John Vanchiere, an infectious disease expert and Associate Director of the Center for Emerging Viral Threats at LSUHS, believes that could change much faster than some might think.

TheBulletin.org - Associate professor of microbiology and immunology at LSUHS Jeremy Kamil said he is “not at all convinced” that the current vaccines will continue to be protective “indefinitely.” "We just need to update our shot to show our body a repertoire that encompasses the variability at the key sites for neutralization"

KSLA12 - Sequencing is a multi-step process that includes using robotic technology to help make the process faster, more efficient and to reduce human error. "While this new variant has more mutations than others, her team is much more equipped this time around," says Dr. Krista Queen, Director of Viral Genomics and Surveillance for LSUHS.