Category: Education

Proving the Naysayers Wrong: Trailblazing Thoracic Surgeon Dr. John Howington Shows Grace Under Fire

Written by Allyson Lawson

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Clinical CareEducationPublic ServiceResearch
Dr. John Howington's headshot with his white coat and stethoscope on.

When someone is a cardiothoracic surgeon, has authored publications, held leadership and teaching roles, presented internationally, been listed in “Best Doctors in America,” trail-blazed cancer prevention and treatment, and helped raise a family, you might think that person grew up surrounded by degrees and overflowing with confidence. “Kind of the opposite,” says John Howington, MD,… Read More

Let Go: Researcher Adapts to Stresses of Life Through Yoga

Written by Peggy Reisser

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Clinical CareEducation
Dr. Colleen Jonsson sits cross-legged on a yoga mat in a studio.

On one of the first sunny days last spring, virologist Colleen Jonsson, PhD, sat outside her office building at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences, face up to the sun. “You have to get your sun,” she says to a passerby. The Harriet S. Van Vleet Chair of Excellence in Virology in the Department of… Read More

Resident and Fellow Research Drives Patient Care Forward

Written by Allyson Lawson

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Clinical CareEducationResearch
The Research Day award recipients standing on a stage between the organizers and holding their certificates.

When rheumatology fellow Dr. Hira Imran meets one of her lupus nephritis patients, she knows the greatest challenge ahead of them will be figuring out which treatment will work best. Physician trainees at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center are asking clinical questions in the morning and finding answers by evening that will help… Read More

New Lab Space Doubles Capacity for Master of Cytopathology Program

Written by Peggy Reisser

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Clinical CareEducation
Student using equipment in the Master of Cytopathology Lab

Alicia Youngstrand has been a student in the histotechnology certificate program in the College of Health Professions at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences since January. Her bachelor’s degree is in fish, wildlife, and conservation biology, but she found jobs in the field were scarce and did not pay well. She worked briefly as a… Read More

Tennessee’s First Brain Bee Comes to Memphis, Nurturing a New Generation of Neurologists

Written by Allyson Lawson

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Clinical CareEducationPublic ServiceResearch
A student and an adult listen to a professor in a white coat while she points to bright green, blue, and yellow images printed on large pieces of shiny paper laying on desks.

Last Saturday morning, 25 Shelby County high school students came to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center campus in Memphis to compete in the state’s first-ever Brain Bee. Not all arrived believing a career in medicine was possible. By day’s end, they could picture themselves as the person in the room who had the… Read More

UT Health Sciences Expands Level 1 Trauma Footprint with Regional One Health Verification

Written by Chris Green

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Clinical CareEducation
Portrait of Dr. Andrew Kerwin in front of the Elvis Presley Trauma Center sign

Andrew Kerwin, MD, often compares a trauma center to a fire department, an essential resource people hope they never need. “Nobody ever gets up in the morning and says, ‘I’m going to slip on the ice while I’m shoveling snow and hit my head,’” he said. “But if that happens, you want to know that… Read More

Giving Back: Accelerated MD Program Trains High-Quality Physicians for Tennessee

Written by Peggy Reisser

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Education
Portrait of Johnson Phung, Akanee Angel, and Alex Wood

First-year medical student Johnson Phung, 22, aspires to be an internal medicine physician. Akanee Angel, 23, also a first-year medical student, wants to practice family medicine. Both want to stay in Tennessee after they graduate. Phung and Angel are students in the College of Medicine’s accelerated Three-Year MD Program. Launched in 2021, the program allows… Read More

College of Nursing Mobile Units Expand Cancer Screening Outreach

Written by Leigh Ann Roman

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Clinical CareEducationPublic Service
A Nursing Mobile Health van parked in front of Hooks Library

The College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center is taking cancer screening to urban and rural communities, thanks to two mobile health units donated by the West Cancer Center and Research Institute and grant funding from regional and national organizations. Nursing faculty and students will use one of the vans to… Read More