College News

The OU School of Community Medicine (SCM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Audrey Corbett, MD, MBA, FACP, as Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, effective July 1, 2025, pending OU Board of Regents approval.

While chemotherapy can be lifesaving, it also damages DNA and leads to cognitive issues known as “chemo brain.” These effects resemble the memory and learning problems seen in older adults, prompting University of Oklahoma researchers to investigate this unique overlap of cognitive decline.

Electronic cigarettes, or vapes, are widely used and available in hundreds of different types and flavors, yet researchers lack information about the everyday e-cigarette habits of young adults. The National Institutes of Health, in partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has funded a University of Oklahoma study that will investigate how, when and why young adults use e-cigarettes and how that use may relate to health risks. The results will help the FDA make decisions about regulating the makers of e-cigarette products.

An international study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds light on acute normovolemic hemodilution, also known as ANH, a blood conservation technique. ANH involves removing a patient’s blood before the patient goes on heart-lung bypass, and then reinfusing it toward the end of heart surgery. Long debated for its effectiveness, ANH does not appear to reduce the need for red blood cell transfusion, according to results of the global clinical trial. However, study co-author Kenichi Tanaka, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, said the outcomes necessitate further scrutiny and may not be applicable to U.S. patients.

Mariana Georgeta Varga, MD, joined the Department of Neurology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and OU Health as the inaugural Medical Director of the Movement Disorder Center. Dr. Varga is a graduate of the OU neurology residency program and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.