At the December meeting of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Marie Chisholm-Burns, Pharm.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., says one of the recommendations from the Crystal Ball Project -- intended to predict key trends that could shape the workforce pipeline over the next five years -- is that schools and colleges of pharmacy and health systems collaborate on plans to increase student enrollment and provide attractive job opportunities, adding that OHSU, for example, has started a new scholarship program for nursing students to address the workforce shortage: "We started this in January [2023], and we have over a hundred nursing students who are going to graduate within a year and a half. And they’re going to become OHSU employees.”

An article in Fast Company about corporate well-being initiatives cites an article by OHSU researchers that finds even short bursts of exercise can enhance well-being, memory and learning.

OHSU and Legacy Health expect to present a definitive agreement to their boards in early 2024, later than predicted in the August announcement. “A tremendous amount of work has been happening during the due diligence process, including reviewing thousands of contracts and leases, conducting interviews with Legacy leaders and much more,” OHSU says in a statement.

Coverage of initial positive results from a clinical trial evaluating Atsena Therapeutics’ ATSN-101 gene therapy as a potential treatment for mutations to the gene GUCY2D that cause a form of inherited blindness known as Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, quotes Paul Yang, M.D., Ph.D., as saying “As LCA1 causes early and severe vision impairment or blindness and there are no approved treatments, ATSN-101 has the potential to fill a significant unmet need within the LCA community.”

Seattle’s Chukundi Salisbury Sr. fights diabetes a step at a time

A letter to the editor in The Oregonian references an OHSU-PSU School of Public Health study, which estimates a 49% gap in substance use disorder services needed by Oregonians.

A Willamette Week article notes that Oregon lawmakers heard testimony from Todd Korthuis M.D., who provided useful background on the current crisis and the evolution of fentanyl’s role in Oregon’s illicit drug market.

New robotic assistant technology enables neonatologist providers from OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital to support neonatal care at Adventist Health Tillamook.

Students from the OHSU School of Nursing-affiliated group Nursing Students Without Borders promote childhood health care by providing health assessments of teddy bear “patients” at the Safeway Providence Festival of Trees in Medford. Student Sara Grubb says the recommended treatment for most of the stuffed bears was “more cuddles and hugs.”

OHSU patient Sharol Lucey has lived 26 years with the same donor heart, making her one of the region’s longest-living heart transplant patients. Lucey, who has developed a friendship with the family of her heart donor, Steven Haugen, says: “Heart transplants are a blessing with a very dark cloud. Both Steven’s mom and his two sisters have expressed to me that it’s a little bit of a ray of sunshine coming through, seeking the good that his donation has done in someone else’s life.”