UNIVERSITY HEALTH CLINICAL OPERATIONS ARE OPEN, VIRTUAL APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE:
University Health clinical operations on the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine campus are open continue to serve patients. Patients should call the office to make an appointment, including telemedicine appointments, and to receive appropriate guidance about seeking care, especially if they are acutely ill. If you’re experiencing flu-like symptoms, please review our patient recommendations and safety measures.
News & Events
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
• University Health, the clinical enterprise of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), is expanding clinical locations to improve access to quality care for Nevadans, while enhancing medical education and the training of future physicians.
• Ruben Dagda, Ph.D., associate professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology and physiology, and his research group collaborated with Mariana Grigoruta, M.D., Ph.D., a former graduate student with Dr. Dagda's research group, and Alejandro Martinez, Ph.D., from the University of Juarez in Mexico published "Psychological distress and lack of PINK1 promote bioenergetics alterations in peripheral blood mononuclear cells" in Scientific Reports.
• Robert Renden, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of physiology and cell biology at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), and the UNR Neuroscience Institute, was recently awarded a five-year, $1.1 million CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore how brain cells maintain the energy needed to communicate at contact sites, called synapses.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has named Lucia Notterpek, Ph.D., as associate dean for biomedical research and professor of physiology and cell biology.
• The Washoe County Health District reported its first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 on March 5, 2020. What’s transpired since has presented extraordinary challenges to northern Nevada, our state and all who live and work here.
• Peter Reed, Ph.D., director of the Sanford Center for Aging at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, will testify Thursday before a U.S. Senate group on older adults and COVID-19.
• June is Aphasia Awareness Month, a national campaign to increase public awareness about the language disorder and to recognize people who are living with or caring for people with aphasia. The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology (SPA) is increasing aphasia awareness by educating the public on the effects of having aphasia, and aphasia clinical and community services available from UNR Med.
• Leslie Baker, PharmD, BCGP, of the Sanford Center for Aging has been named Reno Preceptor of the Year by Idaho State University's College of Pharmacy.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine has extraordinary medical and physician assistant studies students. And these students are going to graduate into an extraordinary world, in all definitions of the word.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) hosted its first-ever virtual hooding ceremony, conferring Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees to 63 fourth-year medical students of the Class of 2020, graduating as northern Nevada’s newest physicians. The live-streamed virtual ceremony is now available for on-demand viewing on UNR Med’s YouTube channel.
• Individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 may now be able to help patients currently fighting the infection by donating their plasma. Those who have recovered from the infection may have COVID-19 antibodies in their blood. These antibodies provided one way for their immune systems to fight the virus when they were sick, so their blood may be used to help others fight off the disease through convalescent plasma.
• A more complete understanding of the role antibody tests can play in Nevada’s fight against COVID-19 is taking shape. Scientists at the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory will soon begin to gather critical data needed before the tests are made widely available for clinical use.
• Through genomic sequencing much is being learned about the novel coronavirus (nCoV-SARS2) that causes COVID-19, and now Nevada is contributing to this important body of scientific knowledge. The Nevada Genomics Center, one of several core laboratory facilities at the University of Nevada, Reno, is completing genomic sequencing on samples from northern and southern Nevada that initially tested positive for the virus through the Nevada State Public Health Lab (NSPHL). The effort is happening in collaboration with the NSPHL and researchers in the department of microbiology and immunology, both part of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.
• The Nevada State Public Health Lab (NSPHL) is currently conducting COVID-19 testing by way of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR), which is a form of testing that detects the virus itself. In the coming weeks, the NSPHL will begin a new form of testing, which includes detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Such a test may be able to determine whether a person has been infected with the virus, in the past.
• As the U.S. continues to face a dire shortage of COVID-19 collection (testing) kits, scientists from the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL) and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), are teaming to facilitate faster COVID-19 testing in the state by manufacturing their own COVID-19 collection kits.
• The April issue of Reflections typically focuses on the results of the residency match process for our graduating medical students. This is anything but a typical time.
• In February, following Jessica's official retirement from UNR Med, I was able to recognize her many accomplishments and contributions with the Dean's Distinguished Service Award. While Jessica wasn't able to attend her celebration, she joined in from home. I'd like to share with you much of what I said that evening in an effort to encapsulate a spirit that shone so brightly and will be forever missed.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much uncertainty and change at all levels of education. Medical education is no exception. While the COVID-19 outbreak has complicated the learning process, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) students are taking what they’ve learned in the lecture halls and during clinical rotations to mobilize in response to the COVID-19 crisis, bolstering the health care workforce in northern Nevada.
• The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has received 36,650 gloves, 61 masks, 10 face shields and 13 goggles - personal protective equipment much needed for the COVID-19 testing medical students are performing at the School's University Health internal medicine practice in Reno, and for other care UNR Med and University Health clinical operations are providing across the state.
• Today, the State of Nevada announced it has received notification from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take responsibility to determine the quality of newly developed COVID-19 test kits and kit components, one of three states to earn the flexibility from the FDA.
• "The State of Nevada has established a system which allows the State, not the FDA, to be responsible for laboratory testing options within the State. This change now allows Nevada labs to submit their findings to the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH), not the FDA, for approval - which is a much faster process and should increase testing capacity considerably. The NSPHL currently has the capacity to test for multiple weeks, and will continue doing so while it is evaluating new products for use in testing," said Dr. Mark Pandori, director, NSPHL.
• Fourth-year medical students from the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) learned where they will spend their residencies today on Match Day - including in northern Nevada, throughout the state and across the nation.
• The Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL) at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has been performing laboratory testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) seven days a week since the onset of COVID-19 in Nevada. The number of patients tested for COVID-19 at the NSPHL is posted Monday through Friday at the site, med.unr.edu/nsphl
• The University Health clinical operations serving primary care patients on the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine campus remain open and prepared to continue to serve patients.
• Out of an abundance of caution, and to help stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has canceled all Student Outreach Clinics, until further notice.
