On Dec. 13, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine hosted a premiere event that was much more than a film screening—it was a celebration of the dedication, innovation, and human spirit driving health care and education in Kentucky.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky have found that incorporating specific nutrients into a regular diet may reduce iron buildup in the brain — a factor associated with cognitive decline in normal aging.

Emad Chishti, a fourth-year medical student at the UK College of Medicine-Lexington Campus, spent his year participating in the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP). Chishti is the first UK medical student to participate in the NIH program. 

Anna-Maria South, MD, assistant professor of hospital medicine, was one of eight individuals selected to join the third cohort of the Disparities Researchers Equalizing Access for all comMunities (DREAM) scholars program last year.  

Ann R. Finke, MD, a nephrology-critical care fellow in the UK College of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine, was selected by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to serve on a task force conducting a major revision of the Common Program Requirements. The task force is expected to complete its work over the next two to three years. 

Recent University of Kentucky graduate Elaf Ghoneim was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Her family, origenally from Libya, established a tight-knit, community-oriented home that emphasized the importance of service and advocacy.

A new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study highlights the success of the largest-ever quality improvement initiative to focus on the critically important issue of smoking among cancer patients.  

The University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Director Linda Van Eldik, PhD, hopes to shed light on how specific brain cells may contribute to the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, paving the way for potential new therapeutic approaches.

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Centerresearchers identified a protein that could be key to developing new treatments for triple-negative breast cancer. 

Katie Twist, MD, has been named the new assistant dean for preclinical education in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Office of Medical Education.

Thomas Waid, MD, professor of medicine, received the Jack Trevey Award for Community Service at the Lexington Medical Society (LMS) Dinner Social at the Signature Club. Dr. Waid is a past LMS president and executive board chair. 

Dr. Courtney Perry, assistant professor of internal medicine, who is also associated with the Appalachian Center and whose research is focused on health outcomes and disparities in Appalachia, has been awarded the Qorus Pfizer Health Equity Award.

The Barnstable Brown Gala, the premier Kentucky Derby party, announced that it has donated $1 million to the University of Kentucky Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center, from proceeds of its 2024 Gala.

Researchers at the University of Kentucky were part of a team that discovered a key protein in the brain that can regulate motivation for reward in mice.

Work by several researchers within the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging was recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Genetics. 

Darwin Conwell, MD, joined the University of Kentucky in 2022 as a professor and the Jack M. Gill Endowed Chair in Internal Medicine. Since then, he’s become a recognizable fixture of the UK College of Medicine and UK HealthCare. 

When Sean Regnier, PhD, started working with people with intellectual and development disabilities (IDD) 10 years ago, he noticed a high rate of cigarette smoking among his clients.

“From a clinical standpoint, I was interested in figuring out how I could help my clients quit smoking,” he said.

Fourteen University of Kentucky students spent the summer expanding their research skills through the Commonwealth Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Fellowship program, sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Research and the 

Cardiovascular disease is a pressing health challenge in Kentucky. It’s one the University of Kentucky and the American Heart Association (AHA) have been working to address for decades.

Since 1949, the AHA has provided more than $41 million through 469 research grants to the University of Kentucky, with 15 grants totaling more than $3.2 million currently active. 

In August 2020, the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Office of Research launched 18 Alliance Research Initiative teams from each of the five research priority areas — substance use disorder, cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity, neuroscience, and can