Research media coverage
Advocate Aurora Research Institute makes local and international news. Here are summaries of some of the stories along with links to the sources.
Young lymphoma patients face more health woes down the line. Advocate wants to know why.
Crain's Chicago Business - Aug. 16, 2024
The specter of childhood cancer looms large in patients long after successful treatment, as they tend to carry a heightened risk of other health problems into adulthood. Advocate Aurora Research Institute oncologists want to figure out why.
Researchers in Milwaukee studying how Tums can speed up labor
WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee - Aug. 15, 2024
Doctors believe the drug may help mother dilate faster if they're experiencing prolonged or stalled labor. The idea is to cut down the need for cesarean sections.
Could Tums speed up a baby's delivery? A Milwaukee doctor thinks so
Spectrum News 1 - Aug. 15, 2024
An OB-GYN in Milwaukee is helping lead a study into whether simple antacids like Tums could help pregnant people to hasten their labor and delivery, welcoming their newborns into the world faster.
HealthWatch: Colorectal cancer before age 40
WFRV Local 5 - April 4, 2024
At just 34 years old, Kyle Scofield never expected he would be diagnosed with colon cancer. Thanks to the team at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Scofield’s tumor was successfully surgically removed. He also had the chance to participate in a clinical trial to see if an added drug during chemotherapy, would provide a better outcome.
Amit Acharya, President of Advocate Aurora Research Institute
Becker's Healthcare Podcast - April 1, 2024
Join us for an illuminating episode with Amit Acharya, President of Advocate Aurora Research Institute. Explore the Learning Health System framework, key research priorities, integration strategies, and future growth opportunities in this insightful discussion.
Advocate's Ali Valika talks rise of cardiac research
Health News Illinois - March 1, 2024
Dr. Ali Valika spoke with Health News Illinois during February's American Heart Month to highlight several of the exciting clinical trials open at Advocate Health Care.
Read moreAfter merger, Advocate Christ in Oak Lawn gets piece of Atrium's research pie
Crain's Chicago Business - Feb. 26, 2024
Atrium Wake Forest, the academic core of the six-state Advocate Health, is expanding a clinical trail for heart failure patients to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in the coming weeks.
Advocate researchers to study potential inequities in long COVID diagnoses
Health News Illinois - Dec. 8, 2023
Researchers at Advocate Health Care are set to explore whether providers are under-diagnosing long COVID in Chicago's Black community.
Advocate institute eyes inequity in long COVID diagnoses
Crain's Chicago Business - Dec. 8, 2023
There's plenty of evidence that majority-Black communities were hit harder by COVID-19 than majority-white counterparts, but the prevalence of long COVID diagnoses doesn't match that trend. Advocate Health Care researchers think that may be due to another inequity, the under-diagnosis of people of color.
Defying fate, woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s gene joins new drug trial at Park Ridge hospital
Park Ridge Herald-Advocate - Nov. 29, 2023
When Heather Mejia, 44, learned she carried a gene for early onset Alzheimer's disease, she enrolled in a clinical trial at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, the first Illinois site of an international study. Dr. Darren Gitelman, senior medical director of Advocate Memory Center and Advocate Aurora Research Institute, is the principal investigator for the study.
Advocate researchers dig into data on moms and kids
Crain's Chicago Business - Nov. 27, 2023
Scientists at the Advocate Aurora Research Institute are using a host of electronic health records of both mothers and their infants to, hopefully, improve health outcomes for both.
Suburban Advocate hospitals join research from North Carolina sister site
Crain's Chicago Business - Nov. 22, 2023
A clinical trial launched in 2021 at Wake Forest University School of Medicine is expanding to two of its affiliated hospitals in Illinois, one of the first clinical research collaborations since the Atrium-Advocate merger creating Advocate Health.
What Chicago-area researchers are still trying to learn about long COVID, as treatment clinical trials roll out
WTTW Chicago - Sep. 28, 2023
Ongoing research efforts come as many long COVID patients have already exhausted available treatment options and are now left to manage and live with a variety of chronic symptoms.
HealthWatch: Nightingale Study for lung cancer risk
WFVR CBS Green Bay - Sep. 13
Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay is the only northeast Wisconsin hospital taking part in a national study to determine a patient’s risk of developing lung cancer through genetics gathered with a simple a nasal swab.
An experimental medical device saved a Gurnee man after a stroke – and now it has FDA approval
Daily Herald - June 19, 2023
Bob Metcalf was among 23 patients to enroll in the pREset thrombectomy device clinical trial at Advocate Health Care, which was recognized as a top-enrolling site in the trial. The Advocate Health Care research team also was recently recognized for stroke care excellence for the pREset device trial at the American Heart Association's 2023 International Stroke Conference. Earlier this year, that device got the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's seal of approval based on data collected during surgeries like the one that saved Metcalf's life.
Hospitals, Walgreens moving toward more equitable clinical research
Crain's Chicago Business - June 16, 2023
At Advocate Health Care, the Advocate Aurora Research Institute is improving its approach to screening for clinical trials to ensure invitations to participate are made across all populations, Nina Garlie, vice president of clinical trials research for the institute, said in a statement. The research institute is also creating enhanced interpreter services for consenting clinical research participants who do not speak English.
Who benefits most from pregnancy guidelines
Crain's Chicago Business - June 14, 2023
Pregnant women, especially those with lower incomes, can significantly benefit from prenatal care tips and resources that are incorporated into a hospital-provided appointment tracking tool, according to an Advocate Health Care study published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health.
Local doctor speaks on intervention to help teenage depression: ‘The primary goal is prevention’
WGN-TV - May 31, 2023
Dr. Huma Khan, an adolescent medicine physician with Advocate Children’s Hospital, is interviewed about a clinical trial testing an online program called CATCH-IT, which was shown to prevent depressive episodes in teens by 30-40% six months after completing the program. Although the current CATCH-IT program has proved beneficial, its complexity and length have seemingly become barriers for some to complete the program in its entirety, with teens typically completing only half of it. Researchers at Advocate Children’s Hospital hope to help create a shorter version of the program that teens are more likely to complete.
Clinical trials show progress in treating migraines, skin cancer
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - May 31, 2023
Dr. Nina Garlie, Vice President of Clinical Trials Research at Aurora Health Care, discusses noteworthy clinical trials being conducted at Aurora clinics and hospitals.
What to know about clinical trials
Becker's Hospital Review - May 19, 2023
For International Clinical Trials Day 2023, learn about the groundbreaking contributions of clinical trials, why people participate and how they are protected.
Artificial Intelligence Platform Deployment Aims to Enhance Surgical Care
Health IT Analytics - April 14, 2023
Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care are using predictive software to assess surgical risk and improve outcomes. Their Research Institute aims to use KelaHealth’s Surgical Intelligence Platform to combine the capabilities of artificial intelligence and machine learning to determine the efficacy of robotic surgical techniques and the types of surgical care that would help boost patient outcomes.
Advocate Aurora Research Institute pilots KelaHealth's predictive software to assess surgical risk, improve outcomes
Fierce Healthcare - April 10, 2023
Advocate Aurora Research Institute is leveraging KelaHealth, a predictive analytics company, to improve surgical care outcomes across Advocate Health Care and Aurora Health Care sites. The 12-month pilot project relies on KelaHealth’s Surgical Intelligence Platform, which uses machine learning and predictive analytics to evaluate surgical techniques and help reduce variability and improve patient outcomes.
Kenosha cancer clinic gives Wisconsin woman second chance on cancer treatment
Kenosha News - March 26, 2023
Despite receiving aggressive treatment, Myra Gallagher’s bladder cancer remained. Then her oncologist, Aurora Health Care’s Dr. Malik T. Bandealy, told her she qualified for a clinical trial in which the health system’s research institute is participating. The Targeted Agent and Profiling Registry (TAPUR) study aims to provide patients who have exhausted standard treatment options with access to targeted study drugs matched to the genomic profiles of their cancers. Because Aurora is participating in the study, Gallagher’s cancer now can be treated with drugs not previously available to her.
Compass trial: A new way to approach breast cancer
WGN-TV - Nov. 22, 2022
A new approach to cancer care is about reducing the short and long-term toxic side effects while still reaping the benefits of a powerful treatment regimen. Investigators with Advocate Aurora Research Institute at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital are testing the concept of lower dose chemotherapy, in some cases even excluding the drug, in patients with breast cancer.
Advocate Aurora Research Institute's president highlights how their work impacts patients
Health News Illinois - Oct. 14, 2022
Amit Acharya, PhD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute president and chief research officer for Advocate Aurora Health, explains that the Research Institute’s work is aligned with Advocate Aurora Health's service lines, care delivery and specialties. Other research priorities focus on health equity, diversity and inclusion. “End of the day, research is not something that happens and sits in a silo,” he says. “I’m a firm believer that research is part and parcel of how medicine and how health care needs to be practiced."
Milwaukee hospital conducts water birth trial
Spectrum News 1 - Sep. 5, 2022
A group of midwives and obstetricians with Advocate Aurora Research Institute are conducting a water birth clinical trial at Aurora Sinai Medical Center. MaryAnne Scherer, Aurora Sinai’s lead certified midwife, says the hope is for water birth to become part of standard practice at Aurora Sinai, and it will be offered to any low-risk pregnant woman who would like to give birth that way.
Trusting the tub: Aurora Sinai conducts water birth study in Milwaukee
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - Aug. 24, 2022
An Advocate Aurora Research Institute clinical trial underway at Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee aims to explore water birth as a method to control pain throughout the labor and delivery process and improve outcomes for mom and baby. Over the course of the clinical trial, researchers plan to enroll 120 healthy women at or around the 28th week of their low-risk pregnancy. Aurora Sinai has wanted to offer a water birth option for decades. "One way to move forward in our goal to offer it to more low-risk people would be to study it and show safety," says Emily Malloy, a certified nurse-midwife and the trial’s principal investigator. New mom Beth Connors was enrolled in the trial and opted for water birth. If she chooses to have another child, she wants water birth again. “Definitely. 100 percent yes,” she says.
Milwaukee hospital studies water births as way to manage pain for women, baby
WISN-TV ABC 12 Milwaukee - Aug. 24, 2022
Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee is running a two-year clinical trial researching benefits of women having water births.
Study finds mental health patients prefer virtual visits more now
WBBM Radio 780/105.9 Chicago - July 20, 2022
Virtual visits are the method of choice when it comes to mental health treatment, according to a recently published study by Advocate Aurora Research Institute. Researchers found that patients seeking virtual mental health care had much higher rates of attendance, a greater number of visits and were more likely to complete treatments.
Research project seeks to find out why people of color are underrepresented in clinical trials
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service - July 20, 2022
Veronica Fitzpatrick, a research scientist with Advocate Aurora Research Institute, is heading the project to research racial inequities in clinical trials. “Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the disparities in health care, so that’s what we’re focusing on,” she says. The study started at the beginning of 2022 and is expected to wrap up by the end of the year.
Becker's Healthcare Podcast
Becker's Healthcare - July 7, 2022
Dr. Amit Acharya, president of Advocate Aurora Research Institute and chief research officer and system vice president for research, discusses the growth of the Research Institute. He describes three key areas of focus, offers examples of current clinical trials and talks about priorities for the future. Those priorities include expanding work with strategic partners, increasing the size of the Research Institute by further developing its capacity, and bolstering the design of clinical trials to broaden diversity among participants
Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s latest annual report highlights a research project aimed at addressing racial inequalities in clinical trials
WisBusiness - June 10, 2022
Veronica Fitzpatrick, a scientist with the institute, has received $119,910 from the Advocate Aurora Health Foundation through its COVID-19 Relief Fund for this effort. Her project will analyze the racial makeup of COVID-19 clinical trials conducted at Advocate Aurora study sites. These findings will be compared with overall diversity measures among the millions of patients that receive care through the health system.
Consider taking part in clinical trials
Daily Herald - May 21, 2022
Amit Acharya, MD, chief research officer and system vice president for Advocate Aurora Health, writes that anyone – healthy or sick, young or old – can play a role in advancing scientific knowledge by participating in clinical trials.
Advocate Aurora Research Institute: What you should know about being in a clinical trial
Daily Herald - May 18, 2022
Involving clinical trial participants who represent diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, age and other backgrounds is paramount to advancing health equity, writes Amit Acharya, PhD, president of Advocate Aurora Research Institute, which has more than 500 clinical trials currently underway. “Anyone – healthy or sick, young or old – may have a role to play in advancing scientific knowledge and helping researchers find better treatments for others in the future,” he notes.
Study evaluates AI software that aids novice users performing echocardiograms
Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology - April 29, 2022
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee is the first site in the country to join a clinical trial studying machine-learning software designed to help novice users perform echocardiography exams. “Echocardiography, or an ultrasound of the heart, is the most widely used imaging method in cardiology,” says Bijoy Khandheria, MD, Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s principal investigator for the study. “It is more portable, less expensive and has fewer side effects than other cardiac imaging technologies. However, echocardiography requires intensive training in order to obtain accurate results.”
Study finds nearness to trees, grass and other plants can lower risk of strokes
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service - April 19, 2022
A study by Advocate Aurora Research Institute suggests a person’s nearness to green space, or areas covered with trees, grass and other plants, is linked to a lower risk for strokes. The study found that people living near green space in Milwaukee County were 19% less likely to have a stroke than those with less green space nearby. Richard Rovin, MD, a neurosurgeon at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center and one of the lead researchers, says the decrease might be tied to protection from air pollutants, solar radiation and heat provided by natural green spaces.
Advocate Aurora to lend lab, clinical research capabilities to Madison biohealth startups
Milwaukee Business Journal/Wisconsin Inno - April 7, 2022
Advocate Aurora Research Institute will extend its laboratory and clinical research capabilities to emerging biotech companies through its new partnership with biohealth startup incubator Forward BIOLABS. Using resources from sponsors like Advocate Aurora Health, the 18 biotech startup companies that are currently Forward BIOLABS members can access possible patient participants and patient data for research. Advocate Aurora's collaboration with biohealth startups is important so that its patients are represented in studies that could lead to innovative treatments, says Advocate Aurora Research Institute chief research officer and system vice president Amit Acharya, PhD. In 2020, the Research Institute supported more than 1,100 research projects, including preclinical studies, clinical trials and other studies, with nearly 4,000 consenting participants. Advocate Aurora aims to double the size of its Research Institute over the next three to five years.
A friend's promise following cancer diagnosis saved a Hartland woman's life
WTMJ-TV NBC 4 Milwaukee - March 22, 2022
Before Kari McMannes’s 47-year-old friend died of colorectal cancer, Kari promised her she would get a colonoscopy at age 50. Thankfully she did because Kari was also diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Last year, guidelines for the recommended age to start colorectal screenings dropped from 50 to 45. A recent Advocate Aurora Research Institute study supported the change. "Last year we published a very large study of 10,000 patients within the Aurora system and we had almost 1,000 patients under the age of 50 who had colon cancer," says Dr. Nimish Vakil, the Aurora Medical Center – Summit gastroenterologist who found Kari’s cancer. He said it is unclear why this cancer is showing up in younger people but stressed that a colonoscopy can catch precancerous growths and prevent cancer from progressing.
Milwaukee cancer survivor encourages people to get colonoscopy on time after best friend dies of colon cancer
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - March 22, 2022
Doctors are pushing for people to get colonoscopies even earlier after a new study from the Advocate Aurora Research Institute showed rates of colorectal cancer increasing in younger people.
WisBusiness the Podcast with Amit Acharya of Advocate Aurora Health
WisBusiness - March 17, 2022
Amit Acharya, PhD, chief research officer and system vice president for research, talks about Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s new sponsorship of Forward Biolabs, through which Advocate Aurora Health will offer lab services, instrumentation and scientific capabilities to participating biotech companies.
Clinical trial observes new medical device for AFib patients, doing away with blood thinners
Spectrum 1 News - March 7, 2022
Advocate Aurora Research Institute participates in the CHAMPION-AF clinical trial, which aims to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with AFib. Participation in the trial provided Wayne Christiansen access to a device that replaces his need for blood thinners. Principal investigator Jasbir Sra, MD, calls it a game-changer. “The device can be placed in a patient during a two-hour procedure, and the patient may not have to take blood thinners for the rest of their life,” he explains.
Milwaukee trial site internationally known for heart arrhythmia research conducts AFib study
Trial Site News - March 5, 2022
A trial site in Milwaukee well known for its work in arrhythmia research, the Advocate Aurora Research Institute, is conducting a clinical trial that hopefully will advance a standard care for almost three million Americans. The trial site is part of one of the top 12 not-for-profit health systems in the country: Advocate Aurora Health.
Clinical trial at Advocate Aurora in Milwaukee aims to improve standard of care for AFib patients
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - March 2, 2022
Advocate Aurora Research Institute participates in the CHAMPION-AF clinical trial, which aims to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with AFib. Access to the trial offered new hope to Wayne Christiansen, whose participation in the study provided him access to a device that replaces the need for blood thinners. "Our patients that are in the CHAMPION study for instance, have the opportunity of being able to get the WATCHMAN device in a situation they would not have had that capability before," says Research Institute clinical research coordinator Anthony Chambers. Principal investigator Jasbir Sra, MD, calls it a game-changer, significantly lowering the risk of stroke in AFib patients. "You can put it in a patient with a two-hour procedure, and then they don't have to take a blood thinner for the rest of their life," he explains.
Drug to prevent blood clots in children gets tested in Chicago area
WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Chicago - Feb. 9, 2022
Four-year-old Amara Sherko’s heart condition had required a blood thinner, which meant frequent needle pricks for blood draws to monitor dosage. Her parents enrolled her in a clinical trial at Advocate Children’s Hospital to study rivaroxaban (XARELTO®) for its effectiveness in preventing blood clots in kids who underwent the same procedure Amara had. The trial had 20 participants at Advocate Children's Hospital, making Advocate Children's Hospital the top-enrolling site in the world. Thanks to the clinical trial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved XARELTO® for use in children two years and older who are undergoing the Fontan procedure. “I don’t know many patients that enjoy going to the hospital to get their blood drawn frequently. So if we can do anything to offset the downside of having heart disease, all the power to us,” said Andrew Van Bergen, MD, a pediatric cardiologist at Advocate Children’s Hospital. Dr. Van Bergen was the study’s principal investigator for Advocate Aurora Research Institute. “What a wonderful opportunity she gave other kids in the future,” Dr. Van Bergen said of Amara.
Michael Thompson: beating bureaucracy in oncology trial initiation
Clinical Trials Arena - Nov. 16, 2021
Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, oncologist investigator with Advocate Aurora Research Institute, discusses clinical trial design.
Advocate Aurora Health researchers studying AI that could detect mental health conditions
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - Sep. 27, 2021
Mindy Waite, PhD, research scientist with Advocate Aurora Research Institute’s Ed Howe Center for Health Care Transformation, discusses a newly opened clinical trial studying an artificial intelligence telehealth platform that analyzes a patient’s words, voice and facial expressions to detect signs of mental health conditions.
Colorectal cancer: Young adults see sharp increase, study says
WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee - Sep. 5, 2021
Gastroenterologist Nimish Vakil, MD, discusses how earlier screening for colorectal cancer can benefit Advocate Aurora Health patients.
New study warns of colorectal cancer rise in young people
Spectrum News 1 - Aug. 27, 2021
Gastroenterologist Nimish Vakil, MD, shares findings from a new research study into colorectal cancer rates in younger populations.
Woman makes history after undergoing new cardiac procedure at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center
WDJT-TV CBS 58 Milwaukee - Aug. 26, 2021
Eric Weiss, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, and clinical trial participant Barbara Bellin, talk to Milwaukee media about an investigative, minimally invasive heart procedure to replace a faulty tricuspid valve. Through the clinical trial, Bellin was the first person in Wisconsin and the eighth in the country to undergo the procedure.
Hartland woman gets new heart procedure
WITI-TV FOX 6 Milwaukee - Aug. 26, 2021
Hartland woman becomes Wisconsin's first to undergo new heart valve replacement procedure
WTMJ-TV NBC 4 Milwaukee - Aug. 26, 2021
Plasma from recovered COVID patients shows remarkable effectiveness for patients with coronavirus, blood cancer
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - July 7, 2021
Oncologist and hematologist Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, comments on a scientific journal article he coauthored about the effects of convalescent plasma in treating patients with COVID-19 and blood cancers.
Naloxegol reverses opioid-induced esophageal dysmotility
Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News - June 21, 2021
Study authors Tarun Sharma, MD, gastroenterologist at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee, Kristin Ciezki, PhD, researcher at Advocate Aurora Research Institute, and associate Megan Jacobson, PA, at Aurora St. Luke’s, comment about their recent study in an article from Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News.
Convalescent plasma can improve chances of survival among blood cancer patients with COVID-19
News Medical Life Sciences - June 18, 2021
An article from News Medical Life Sciences quoted oncologist and hematologist Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, as one of the coauthors of a newly published study.
Survivors' plasma helps blood cancer patients battle COVID-19
U.S. News & World Report - June 18, 2021
An article published in U.S. News & World Report quoted oncologist and hematologist Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, about the convalescent plasma study he coauthored.
Blood cancer patients with COVID-19 fare better with convalescent plasma
ScienceDaily - June 17, 2021
Oncologist and hematologist Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, was quoted in an article from ScienceDaily highlighting findings from a study he coauthored on the effects of convalescent plasma in treating patients with COVID-19 and blood cancers
Syapse announces new real-world data studies published at 2021 American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting
Chicago Daily Herald - June 3, 2021
In an article from the Chicago Daily Herald, Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, medical research director for Advocate Aurora Research Institute and study coauthor, says the studies he and his colleagues have worked on emphasize real-world data’s power to transform approaches to oncology research and development.
HealthWatch: Aurora BayCare Medical Center site of Auxora clinical trial
WFRV-TV Local 5 - March 17, 2021
WFRV-TV Local 5 in Green Bay ran a story highlighting Aurora BayCare Medical Center's participation in a drug trial for COVID-19 pneumonia.
Convalescent Plasma Improved Survival in COVID-19 Patients with Blood Cancers
News Wise - Feb. 5, 2021
Michael Thompson, MD, PhD, oncologist and hematologist and investigator for Advocate Aurora Research Institute, co-authors a study on the use of convalescent plasma in patients with cancer.
American Gastroenterological Association announces 2021 AGA recognition prizes
Science Magazine - Feb. 2, 2021
Advocate Aurora Health investigator Nimish Vakil, MD, was presented with the Distinguished Clinician Award in Private Practice from the American Gastroenterological Association.
