January Research Highlights

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 31, 2024) -- 

Polypharmacy Prescription: Better Interventions Needed to Reduce Risks

Interventions to address the risks older people can face taking multiple medications need significant improvement, according to a study by Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings are published in JAMA Network Open and led by Michelle Keller, PhD. Read more> 

Study: Mental Health Gets a Boost From Artificial Intelligence

Cedars-Sinai physician-scientists, led by Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, have developed a first-of-its-kind program that uses immersive virtual reality and generative artificial intelligence to provide mental health support. Known as the eXtended-Reality Artificially Intelligent Ally, or XAIA, the program offers users an immersive therapy session led by a trained digital avatar. Findings from a first-of-its-kind study were published in Nature Digital Medicine and showed that participants benefited from the sessions. Read more>

Study: Women With Alcohol-Related Liver Disease Have Greater Mortality Risk Than Men With Condition

Investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and colleagues found that women with steatotic liver disease related to alcohol consumption have almost twice the risk of dying within a certain time period than men with the same condition. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Hepatology and led by Susan Cheng, MD, MPH, highlight the need for women who are at risk of developing liver disease to avoid excess alcohol consumption. Read more>

Spotlight on Advancements in Mitral Valve Repair, Research

To kick off Heart Month, the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom sat down with Joanna Chikwe, MD, and Raj Makkar, MD—experts in robotic and minimally invasive surgical techniques and transcatheter edge-to-edge repair—to discuss mitral valve disease and advancements in treatment approaches. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Develops New Tools to Improve Pancreatic Cancer Patient Care

Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators, led by Dan Theodorescu, MD, PhD, have used a unique precision medicine and artificial intelligence tool called the Molecular Twin Precision Oncology Platform to identify biomarkers that outperform the standard test for predicting pancreatic cancer survival. Their study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Cancer, demonstrates the viability of a tool that could one day guide and improve treatment for all cancer patients. Read more>

Smidt Heart Institute Sudden Cardiac Arrest Expert Receives 2024 Distinguished Scientist Award

Heart rhythm expert Sumeet Chugh, MD, associate director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, is the recipient of this year’s American College of Cardiology (ACC) Distinguished Scientist Award-Clinical Domain. The American College of Cardiology Awards Committee and Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology present the Distinguished Scientist Award on an annual basis, which recognizes major contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the field of cardiovascular disease. Read more>

Smidt Heart Institute Sudden Cardiac Arrest Expert Receives 2024 Distinguished Scientist Award

Heart rhythm expert Sumeet Chugh, MD, associate director of the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, is the recipient of this year’s American College of Cardiology (ACC) Distinguished Scientist Award-Clinical Domain. The American College of Cardiology Awards Committee and Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology present the Distinguished Scientist Award on an annual basis, which recognizes major contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the field of cardiovascular disease. Read more>

Therapy Versus Medication: Comparing Treatments for Depression in Heart Disease

New research by investigators from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai shows that behavioral activation therapy is as effective as antidepressant medications in treating symptoms of depression in patients with heart failure. The study, which was led by Waguih W. IsHak, MD, and published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open, followed more than 400 patients over the course of a year. Read more>

Flagging Dementia Patients for Better Hospital Care

Cedars-Sinai investigators are using electronic health records to identify hospitalized patients likely to have dementia. The method they developed, detailed in a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, is designed to help medical staff tailor care to best serve these patients. The study was led by Zaldy Tan, MD, MPH. Read more>

Smidt Heart Institute Expert Named Deputy Editor of NEJM AI

One of the Smidt Heart Institute’s leading experts in artificial intelligence, David Ouyang, MD, has been named a deputy editor of NEJM AI—a newly established, peer-reviewed journal from the publishers of the highly respected New England Journal of Medicine. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s Welcomes Four New Specialists

Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s welcomes four new specialists to its regional network of pediatric healthcare providers and hospitals. The new specialists are pediatric neurosurgeon David Bonda, MD, pediatric orthopaedic surgeon Amelia Lindgren, MD, pediatric neurologist and epileptologist Jeffrey Swarz, MD, and diagnostic radiologist Christopher (Travis) Watterson, MD. Read more>

Study: Pregnant Women More Likely to Get COVID-19 Vaccine if They Got Other Pregnancy Immunizations

Women who received standard recommended immunizations during their pregnancy were more likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, according to new research from Cedars-Sinai. Investigators also identified disparities in vaccination linked to race and insurance status. The study on COVID-19 vaccine uptake during pregnancy was published in the Journal of Infection and led by Laura Ha, MD. Read more>

Closing in on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators, led by Simon Knott, PhD, have analyzed the cells within triple-negative breast cancer tumors before and after radiation therapy with immunotherapy, identifying three patient groups with different responses to the treatment. Their study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Cell, found that for some patients with this difficult-to-treat cancer, radiation therapy plus immunotherapy could yield the best tumor-fighting immune response prior to surgery. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai and Tsinghua University Collaborate for Impact

Facilitating an interchange of ideas and interests is at the core of one of Cedars-Sinai’s newest collaborations—an agreement with China’s Tsinghua University that welcomes students from Tsinghua’s medical school to the Cedars-Sinai campus in Los Angeles for two years of intensive research training. Jeffrey Golden, MD, is one of the many faculty members supporting this collaboration. Read more>

Rare-Disease Specialist Joins Cedars-Sinai Movement Disorders Program

Yvette Bordelon, MD, PhD, who specializes in some of the most difficult-to-treat movement disorders, has joined the Movement Disorders Program in the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai. She will work on clinical trials and treat patients with Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and other movement disorders, which currently have no cure. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Redefines Spine and Orthopaedic Care

The Department of Orthopaedics welcomes new physicians who focus on specific areas of spine and orthopaedic health, including pediatrics, adult and nonoperative care. These new orthopaedic specialists are Joseph Schwab, MD, Andrew Bach, DO, Amelia Lindgren, MD, and Christopher Mikhail, MD. Read more>

Researchers Look to Fasting as a Next Step in Cancer Treatment

According to Stephen Freedland, MD, fasting selectively targets cancer cells based on their vulnerabilities—just like chemotherapy. While healthy cells lie dormant during a fast (and shore up their defenses), cancer cells are already damaged, so they struggle to survive without nourishment. The latest research suggests that patients with cancer may also experience gains from fasting, especially while undergoing treatment. Read more>

New Study: Is There a Link Between COVID-19 Vaccination and POTS?

A new research study from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai aimed to understand the possible connection between COVID-19 vaccination and a difficult-to-diagnose heart condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS. The observational study, recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Heart Rhythm and presented during the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, was led by Peng-Sheng Chen, MD. Read more>

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