Piedmont Healthcare will participate in two new clinical trials that will investigate therapies for patients who are positive for COVID-19: one that will evaluate the efficacy of the anti-inflammatory drug Gimsilumab and another that will investigate proning, or repositioning patients to improve their oxygen levels. These studies began enrolling patients in early May. The ... Continue Reading
Critical Care Services Expanded for COVID Patients to Meet Increasing Demand
As the community spread of COVID-19 grows, Emory Healthcare, like many hospitals, is expanding critical care services throughout its hospitals to accommodate its sickest patients. That means repurposing intensive care units (ICUs) to create specialty ICUs for patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. “We have been consolidating some of our non-COVID ICUs to create ... Continue Reading
Global Health Crisis Coordination Center Launches in Atlanta to Confront COVID-19 Outbreak
CDC Foundation and Microsoft provide seed funds for unprecedented private sector coordination effort to address health and safety threats Atlanta-based Global Health Crisis Coordination Center (GHC3) has been formed to develop and lead a partner coalition of corporations and nonprofits that can assist public officials in real-time problem-solving and coordination during health ... Continue Reading
Emory Helps Lead Research on Drug to Treat COVID-19 patients
Emory University played a leading role in the government-sponsored clinical trial of the COVID-19 drug remdesivir – enrolling more patients in the study than any other site around the globe. Remdesivir was described recently by Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), as the new standard of care in treating ... Continue Reading
Marcus Tower at Piedmont Atlanta to Open Early as Part of COVID-19 Response
The Marcus Tower at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital is opening on April 13, almost four months early, in an effort to serve the community and make more intensive care unit (ICU) beds available during the COVID-19 pandemic. If necessary, three ICU and acute nursing units, spread over the tower’s sixth, seventh and eighth floors, will be made available, adding a total of 132 ... Continue Reading
Northside Hospital Acquires Three Urgent Care Centers
Northside Hospital, Inc., has acquired ChoiceOne Urgent Care of Gwinnett and will partner with the Nashville-based Urgent Care Group to manage and operate three locations in the Gwinnett County, Georgia area. Over the next several months, the centers will be rebranded as HealthChoice Urgent Care. Fresenius Medical Care, which owns ChoiceOne, is leaving the urgent care ... Continue Reading
Emory New Site in NIH-Sponsored Coronavirus Vaccine Study
Emory’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU) is participating in a clinical trial testing a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19, the first such vaccine to be tested in the United States. The goals of the Phase I study, which began on March 16 at the VTEU at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle, are to test whether the ... Continue Reading
Cancer Treatment Centers of America Publishes Seventh Annual Summary of Treatment Results
Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) has released its seventh annual summary of Patient Treatment Results, a comprehensive presentation of treatment outcomes including length of life, quality of life, the patient experience, and patient safety for 11 tumor types. Survival data from both the CTCA and SEER* (the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and ... Continue Reading
UGA Researchers Find that ‘Natural Killer’ Cells Could Halt Parkinson’s Progression
Researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and their colleagues have found that “natural killer” white blood cells could guard against the cascade of cellular changes that lead to Parkinson’s disease and help stop its progression. Natural killer (NK) cells are white blood cells that can kill tumors without being “told” from the body to do ... Continue Reading
COVID-19 Response: Volunteer for Medical Association of Georgia Medical Reserve Corps
Georgia Adjutant General (AG) Thomas Carden has asked the Medical Association of Georgia Medical Reserve Corps (MAG MRC) to identify physicians in the state who have limited their practice as a result of the COVID-19 public health crisis who are willing to volunteer to provide medical care for Georgians “outside of their traditional office or hospital setting.” Identifying ... Continue Reading
Retired Physician Volunteers Receive No-Cost Malpractice Coverage during COVID-19 Pandemic
As U.S. healthcare systems are being tested to the limit during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Doctors Company has announced that it will provide free medical professional liability coverage to retired physicians formerly insured by the company who volunteer during the crisis. “Today, our mission to advance, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine is more important ... Continue Reading
Piedmont Atlanta Hospital Is Lead Enrolling Site for National Transplant Clinical Trial
By Editor
Piedmont Transplant Institute, which is based at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, enrolled more patients in the potentially ground-breaking Pro-Act clinical trial than any other participating site in the United States. The “Prevention of De Novo HCV With Antiviral HCV Therapy Post-Liver and Post-Kidney Transplant” study has reached its enrollment targets, with Piedmont placing nine ... Continue Reading
Emory among U.S. Sites Hosting New Clinical Trial for COVID-19 Treatment
Emory University will take part in an NIH sponsored global clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of novel therapeutic agents in hospitalized adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The drug remdesivir is the first agent to be evaluated. The Emory Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit (VTEU) was activated 3/11/2020 by The National Institute of Allergy and ... Continue Reading
Emory, Collaborators Testing Antiviral Drug as Potential Treatment for Coronaviruses
By Editor
An antiviral compound discovered at Emory University could potentially be used to treat the new coronavirus associated with the outbreak in China and spreading around the globe. Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), a non-profit LLC wholly owned by Emory, is developing the compound, designated EIDD-2801. In testing with collaborators at the University of North Carolina ... Continue Reading
Drs. Adesunloye and Lingam Join Cancer Treatment Centers of America
By Editor
Oncologists Bamidele Adesunloye, MD, MS, FACP and Hima Bindu Lingam, MD have joined Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in metro Atlanta. Drs. Adesunloye and Lingam will serve the specialty hospital’s Genitourinary Cancer Center and Thoracic Cancer Center, respectively. Prior to joining CTCA, Dr. Adesunloye served as the division director of oncology services and ... Continue Reading
