This week, President DeGioia announced the launch of Racial Justice Institute (RJI). Derek M. Griffith, PhD, – a professor of medicine, health, and society and founding director of the Center for Research on Men’s Health at Vanderbilt – will begin his new role at Georgetown on July 1, as founding co-director of RJI. Griffith joins Robin Lenhardt, JD, and Anita Gonzalez, PhD, as founding members of the RJI. EVP Edward Healton, MD, MPH, shares more here. 

During the past year, many Georgetown alumni have used their education to help address the COVID-19 pandemic – providing patient care, conducting scientific research, promoting public health and managing hospital responses. Georgetown’s Office of Mission & Ministry sponsored a special Ignatian retreat to acknowledge their values-based dedication and provide a space for reflection during Lent.

Proving that scholarly sparks can fly in unexpected ways, a cross-campus collaboration between Georgetown University Medical Center and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is applying a holistic new lens to COVID-19.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that starting the week of March 1, DC residents who are 16 to 64 years old with qualifying medical conditions will become eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. DC’s list of qualifying medical conditions is included on slide 10 of Mayor Bowser’s presentation. People who are 16 to 64 years old with an underlying medical condition also are eligible to be vaccinated in Virginia. Please refer to the Virginia Department of Health website for more information. Learn more here. 

GUMC Shared Resources is conducting a brief (5-10 minutes) survey on user needs and satisfaction. Even if you have never heard of or used Shared Resources, your responses are requested. Learn more about Shared Resources here and take the survey here.

Following the traditional disciplines that medical students encounter during their training, Mini Medical School offers community members presentations on a variety of topics related to the biomedical sciences and health. Learn more and register here. 

The 18th annual John Collins Harvey Lecture, sponsored by the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics, featured a discussion between Anthony Fauci, MD, NIAID director, and the Pellegrino Center’s new director, Fr. Myles Sheehan, MD. Fauci talked about several topics including the public role of the physician, the future of ethics in health care and the pandemic. The transcript and recording of the event are available here.

All School of Medicine and School of Nursing & Health Studies faculty are encouraged to participate in this short (3 minute) anonymous survey on the needs and most effective resources to improve English language services for faculty. Survey participants will have the opportunity to enter into a raffle with your email address to win a $100 gift card. Entering into the raffle will not connect your email address to your responses for the survey. Please complete the survey by March 11, 11:59 PM EST. Contact Karen.Bokoski@georgetown.edu with questions. 

People living with HIV who have a history of severe immunosuppression and at least one copy of the Alzheimer’s disease-related gene variant APOE4 might see a compounded adverse effect on the circuitry that impacts memory. This could eventually lead to an increased risk for dementia after age 65, according to Georgetown University Medical Center investigators.