Local news outlets continue to report on the unprecedented demand for emergency care following Thanksgiving.

In a story about so-called “super-dodgers,” or people who either haven’t had COVID-19 or who didn't experience symptoms when they did, William Messer, M.D., Ph.D., says: “Some people are not getting sick because they got a great immune response to the vaccine, and others are not getting sick because they got lucky.”

In a Portland Business Journal article, Nathan Selden, M.D., Ph.D., discusses a new brain surgery simulator that allows doctors in training to practice in a realistic situation without risking the life of a patient.

Research led by Blair Peters, M.D., found the human clitoris has more than 10,000 nerve fibers. Noting transmasculine patient volunteers who underwent gender-affirming phalloplasty surgery donated the clitoral tissue that made this study possible, Peters says: “As soon as we start limiting or oppressing care for one group, it really does have implications for everybody else. Everyone deserves equal access to care."

In a story about researchers and national obstetric groups advocating for stillbirth evaluations, Karen Gibbins, M.D., describes how an autopsy of her stillborn son revealed he had a rare disease. She later gave birth to a healthy child, after her provider was prompted by the earlier autopsy results to prescribe an antibody treatment during that pregnancy. Gibbins now plans to develop a tool to help providers walk their patients through the autopsy process.

Roger Chou, M.D., provides outside expert commentary on a randomize trial that found medical masks fall “within predefined margins of noninferiority” against N95 respirator in protecting against COVID. Chou says that the trial offers the best evidence thus far on masking effectiveness among healthcare workers providing routine patient care, it “results are not definitive” and “indicate that medical masks may be similar to N95 respirators in Omicron-era settings with high COVID-19 seroprevalence.”

OHSU is among local health systems supporting a proposed ban on flavored tobacco and nicotine products, including menthol, in Multnomah County.

A new statewide forecast led by Peter Graven, Ph.D., suggests Oregon hospitals will be under intense strain for the next several weeks managing a wave of critically ill infants and toddlers suffering from RSV. The forecast projects RSV hospitalizations, including infants and toddlers, could peak on Nov. 30.

In a story about various efforts to educate and train Oregonians to become healthcare workers, Paul Gorman, M.D., describes three OHSU programs: the Wy’east Post-Baccalaureate Pathway to encourage Native Americans to become physicians, the California Oregon Medical Partnership to Address Disparities in Rural Education and Health and the Oregon state-funded 30-30-30 plan to increase the number of graduates from several OHSU health professional programs by 30% and to increase student diversity by 30% by 2030.

Benjamin Hoffman, M.D., was among those who testified before Multnomah County commissioners Nov. 28 as they considered banning the sale of flavored tobacco products. Hoffman said there is “no coincidence” that products are sold flavors like banana split and blueberry cake, which he said are aimed at hooking kids on tobacco.