News at USA Health

For the first nine months of his life, Laventrice Ridgeway was a happy and laid-back baby. Then one day, he started crying and would not stop. In search for answers, his grandmother took him to the emergency department where he received a diagnosis that would follow him for the rest of his life – sickle cell disease.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital officially opened a small baby unit where infants born at 28 weeks gestation or sooner and who weigh 1000 grams or less (2.2 pounds) receive specialized care.

USA Health and the City of Orange Beach are bringing a new and progressive care concept to the region through a partnership for emergency medicine services.

USA Health University Hospital is expanding its care team with the addition of Dr. Christine Fouty, a board-certified internal medicine physician who will see patients in the region’s only academic healthcare setting.

USA Health College of Medicine residents and fellows competed at the Third Annual Resident and Fellow Exposition on Thursday, May 23, at the Strada Patient Care Center.

Having a strong family support system is vital to the survival of newborns, especially when they are born too soon.

Luciana Madeira da Silva, Ph.D., a researcher at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, has received a 2019 Minority and Minority-serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award.

Two new classes of anti-cancer compounds discovered by scientists at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute show promise for the treatment or prevention of cancer, researchers told scientists convened for the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Atlanta.

Oral cancer is preventable and treatable if detected early. That’s the takeaway from “Watch Your Mouth!” a statewide campaign launched this month to raise awareness about cancers of the mouth including the tongue, soft palate, tonsils or back of the throat.

African-American patients with advanced ovarian cancer were found to have a pre-existing immune response linked to worse survival rates compared with their white counterparts, according to research led by Dr. Rodney P. Rocconi, a gynecologic oncologist and interim director of the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute.

“The anatomy and physiology of patients don’t change across the world,” Phillip Brennan reflected on his time at Kibogora Hospital in Rwanda. “The main differences were the buildings and tools used to practice surgery.”

Beth Huffmaster, CRNP, a long time nurse practitioner with USA Health University Hospital’s Level 1 Trauma Service, has been selected as a fellow for the Duke-Johnson & Johnson Nurse Leadership Program.