UTHSC In the Media


Their deaths stunned the city. A year later, killings of 3 Memphis kids still unsolved

The Commercial Appeal

Those grieving remembered them in color, wearing mint green for 10-year-old Jadon Knox, pink for 6-year-old Ashlynn Luckett and blue for 16-year-old LeQuan Boyd. Their lives, snuffed out by shootings over one January weekend in 2020, were celebrated in crowded churches with overflowing pews.  


Health Dept. will issue Health Directive No. 17 on Jan. 20

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The UK variant by mid-March could be the most dominant strain in the nation. Locally, scientists at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center are sequencing the virus identified by processing labs as looking similar to the UK strain.      


Dr. Penny Asbell Discusses Research to Prevent Blindness Grant

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Dr. Penny Asbell of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center at Memphis’s Hamilton Eye Institute explains the purpose of a $300,000 grant that the institution received from Research to Prevent Blindness.      


Deaths from COVID-19 are reducing life expectancy by about a year, study finds

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A new study by the University of Southern California and Princeton University found American’s life expectancy is now 77 years old. Deaths from COVID-19 are reducing life expectancy by about a year. “I don’t think it’s in our hands anymore, seriously. I think it’s a government issue,” Memphian Doreen Kostiuk told FOX13.  


UTHSC Pharmacy students assist with COVID-19 vaccination process

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Students from the UT Health Science Center are playing a major role in the fight against the pandemic. Medical students were part of early covid19 testing efforts and now pharmacy students are on the frontline distributing the vaccine.    


Substance abuse in the Mid-South grows amid pandemic, but there is help

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Dr. Karen Derefinko, an assistant professor of preventative medicine at UTHSC, says the pandemic is having an impact on those who struggle with substance abuse.“You’re using more or more often than you used to just to cope with the stress of the pandemic or losing a job or financial strain,” Dr. Derefinko said.  


UTHSC awarded $201K grant to fight opioid addiction

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The University of Tennessee Health Science Center was awarded a $201K grant to study methods to reduce stigma among African Americans seeking treatment for opioid use. UTHSC oftentimes sees more white people seeking help, however, substance abuse tends to be the same across different ethnic and racial groups. Dr. Karen Derefinko treats people struggling with… Read More


Where, how you live matter when it comes to COVID-19

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There are a few things to know about Charisse Madlock-Brown before you know she is working on one of the biggest clinical databases in medical history. Of course, it’s COVID-19 related. And it’s come together in less than a year. She skipped her senior year of high school in Iowa City, Iowa, to start college… Read More