Maureen Baldwin, M.D., and Paula Bednarek, M.D., are interviewed for an in-depth OPB News piece on medication abortion. Baldwin says: “Some people really want to have a visual. In fact, we know that a lot of people come to emergency departments after a medication abortion for reassurance actually that the pregnancy has completed.”

The Daily Wire reports Kara Connelly, M.D., received payment from Endo Pharmaceuticals. OHSU response: "As part of its mission to ensure the health and well-being of all patients, Oregon Health & Science University collaborates with a variety of external entities. External collaboration is done in accordance with OHSU’s strict ethical guidelines as well as federal and state regulations. OHSU pediatrician Kara Connelly, M.D., briefly served as a consultant for Endo Pharmaceuticals in 2018, and has not done so since that time. OHSU proudly offers gender-affirming health care to patients of all ages and the hospital’s medical transition of minors follows established, evidence-based medical standards, and are offered through a thoughtful, multidisciplinary process that involves both patients and their support systems.”

In a follow-up story to the world’s smallest skin cancer, Insider interviews Alexander Witkowski, M.D., Ph.D., and Joanna Ludzik, M.D. Ph.D., about the risk from tattooing over moles. Witkowski says, “I’d say 80-90% of our patients have tattoos and at least 30% have more than one.”

In an interview with Good Morning America, Alexander Witkowski, M.D., Ph.D., discusses the recent news that he and an OHSU dermatology team discovered the world’s smallest skin cancer. He says: “This was a team effort. But more importantly, this achievement for our group allows us to start a national conversation and get the word out that skin cancer does affect a lot of Americans."

MedPage Today covers new evidence review by Roger Chou, M.D., and Tracy Dana, MLS, regarding the effectiveness of masks in reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19. Study updates initial living, rapid review from 2020 that was highlighted in OHSU News.

David Lieberman, M.D., provides comment for a STAT story on a ‘stunning’ change to United Healthcare’s colonoscopy coverage. Lieberman says: “Patients aren’t necessarily eager to have a colonoscopy. If you put a barrier in front of them to schedule that procedure, they may not end up completing.”

At a June 4 event on summer safety in Fairview, OHSU will provide education and information on melanoma prevention, including free skin checks.

Anastasia Shanks, a third-year OHSU Knight Cancer Institute intern, is named a Ford Family Foundation Scholar.

In an Inverse story about a science fiction TV series highlighting the still-experimental procedure known as ovarian tissue cryopreservation, Elizabeth Rubin, M.D., says, “Typically [it’s done] in situations in which people with ovaries are about to undergo an extremely gonadotoxic therapy, such as certain types of chemotherapy, or are known to have a condition, usually genetic, in which they will go through menopause, either around or even before the time of puberty.”

In an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, James Lewis, Pharm.D., talks about mRNA technology used in vaccines for COVID-19 expanding to influenza and other viral diseases. He says, “As a health care system, we need to think about how can we effectively communicate to our patients that this is important, that it is safe and does work.”