Top 10 most-viewed UW Medicine Newsroom items in 2024
A travel writer on his cancer journey, a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and mental health research headed the list.Media Contact: Leila Gray, 206-475-9809, leilag@uw.edu
Readers’ interest in news from UW Medicine covered a wide range of topics in 2024. The by-far most-viewed story this year profiled TV travel series host and UW Medicine/Fred Hutch patient Rick Steves. He related his recent prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment to help other men who may be taking the same journey.
This year also marked the first University of Washington faculty member to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. UW School of Medicine biochemistry professor David Baker was honored for his pioneering work in computational protein design.
An innovative approach to trying to assist clinicians with their emotional suffering after caring for many patients with COVID-19 was also important news this year. The research participants received psilocybin, a psychedelic drug, as part of their therapy and counseling. Other developments in mental health included findings that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, did not remain constant over the years.
Current research on infectious diseases, including syphilis, COVID-19, and the common cold, continued to attract the attention of UW Medicine Newsroom readers, as did UW gastroenterologist Dr. Rotonya Carr’s comments on a treatment recently approved by the FDA for a type of severe liver disease.
This past summer a memorial service was held at Boeing Field for Harborview’s emergency medicine legend Dr. Michael Copass, who dedicated his career to saving the lives of burn, trauma, and other critically ill and injured patients from throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. To conclude the ceremony, Airlift Northwest issued final launch tones to Copass’ radio, Portable 55, to signify his end of duty July 26, 2024, at age 86.
The top UW Medicine Newsroom stories for 2024:
- Well-known travel writer takes an unexpected journey
- Biochemist David Baker receives Nobel Prize
- Two Harborview patients test positive for Candida auris
- Psilocybin therapy helps clinicians process COVID despair
- Emergency medicine legend Dr. Michael Copass passes away
- New drug offers hope to patients with severe liver disease
- Study describes fluctuations, remissions seen with ADHD
- Study finds immune imprinting response to COVID
- Nearly all syphilis strains in U.S. resistant to azithromycin
- Study findings explain why we keep getting colds
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