Opening the morning at our 2021Research Day were four faculty talks on highly influential work. Sean Hennessy, PharmD, PhD (epidemiology) highlighted medications that might protect against heat-related deaths in high-risk groups, as global temperatures rise. Hongzhe Li, PhD, explored better precision approaches for Crohn's disease, based on better understanding microbiome differences. Blanca Himes, PhD, illustrated how we can battle asthma disparities by enhancing EHR-derived data with data on social, economic and environmental factors. Pamela Shaw, PhD, showed how to improve research that uses EHR data—which can be prone to error. View highlights or their full talks below.
 

 

In his full 2021 Research Day talk, Sean Hennessy, PharmD, PhD, highlights medications that might protect against heat-related deaths in high-risk groups, as global temperatures rise.

 

Drugs’ possible protective effects against heat aren’t usually talked about—and these could be especially important in some populations, for whom heat could exacerbate disparities, Dr. Hennessy points out in this excerpt.

 

Here Dr. Hennessy highlights the potential protective effects of drugs acting through two mechanisms: by preventing electrolyte depletion and by improving ability to release excess body heat via the skin in response to a heat challenge.

 

Many questions remain about the microbiome's effects in the immune system. In his full 2021 Research Day talk, Hongzhe Li, PhD, explores how better understanding the microbiome can lead to better precision approaches.

 

How does the microbiome produce the metabolites that trigger host receptors and targets? In this highlight from his talk, Dr. Li demonstrates how a clearer view of microbiome differences yields a better precision approach for Crohn's disease.

 

This full talk by Blanca Himes, PhD, ATSF, illustrates how we can study asthma disparities by enhancing electronic health-record-derived data with data on social, economic and environmental factors.

 

In this highlight from her talk on data to study asthma disparities, Dr. Himes discusses the feasibility of monitoring personal exposure to air pollution.
 

In this full 2021 Research Day talk, Pamela Shaw, PhD, discusses statistical approaches to improve research that uses electronic health record (EHR) data—which can often be error prone.

 

In this excerpt from her 2021 Research Day talk, Pamela Shaw, PhD, uses a case in point — a study on the relationship between maternal weight gain and childhood obesity — to illustrate how to improve research that employs electronic health record (EHR) data.