December 18, 2020
It’s been a year — but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to celebrate, recognize and honor at the University of South Carolina in 2020. UofSC rose to each and every challenge this year and raised the bar for the year to come.
December 15, 2020, Chris Horn
To earn a nursing degree, Thien Nguyen had to overcome a language barrier and financial hardship — a familiar tale for many young immigrants to the United States. But there’s much more to Nguyen’s story, and it began 20 years ago in Vietnam when he was 5 years old.
December 03, 2020, Craig Brandhorst
If you think the visual arts and the hard sciences don’t mix, think again. Or maybe just talk to Eliza Stierle. The Dayton, Ohio, native and 2020 University of South Carolina graduate double-majored in studio art and biology (with a minor in art history) and aspires to become a medical illustrator.
November 17, 2020, Alyssa Yancey
A center based at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia is working to put boots on the ground to improve access to health care for South Carolinians in rural communities.
November 09, 2020, Margaret Gregory
Two members of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia Class of 2024 are bringing unique perspectives as they train for their future careers in medicine. Before entering medical school, Ian MacLeod and Shane Weatherford served their country in the U.S. armed services. Both are able to pursue their education thanks to the Veterans Healing Veterans Scholarship.
November 03, 2020, Megan Sexton
When Dr. Andrew Sides was a student at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, he always valued the instruction he received from the students in classes ahead of him. And he enjoyed sharing his knowledge, too.
October 30, 2020, Chris Horn
Patricia Wilson Witherspoon and her siblings might never have made it to college had it not been for their father’s resolve that his children would get a better education than he did, no matter what. Patricia didn't stop until she had earned a medical degree.
October 21, 2020, Jeff Stensland
The University of South Carolina will expand rapid saliva-based COVID-19 testing to other colleges and universities across the state.
October 15, 2020, Chris Horn
In this age of COVID-19 concerns, what’s the safest indoor environment? One without humans, of course. In a practical world the answer lies partly in understanding how the virus moves and where it lands in indoor spaces because air ow and surfaces are important routes for transmission of COVID-19.
September 25, 2020, Bryan Gentry
Marius Valdes, a University of South Carolina studio art professor and Charleston native, created murals that reflect the wildlife of his hometown and brighten the day for children and families at MUSC's new children's hospital.
August 23, 2020, Chris Horn
Development of a saliva COVID-19 test might never have happened if not for the efforts of a spontaneous coalition of scientists in South Carolina and across the country who worked nearly nonstop and shared results and materials with one another in the weeks before and after the initial lockdown in March.
August 11, 2020, Craig Brandhorst
This spring, as COVID-19 spiked in New York City, the nation’s largest metropolitan area became the face of the U.S. pandemic. Nurses from across the U.S. — including UofSC alumni — descended on the region, enduring personal hardship and risking their own health to help stem the tide.
August 07, 2020, Craig Brandhorst
Amelia Wilks describes her high school self as a “follower,” but the University of South Carolina provided the 2020 graduate with a stage, a microphone and the confidence to finish college as a leader.
July 27, 2020, Page Ivey
Millions of American children have serious mental health and behavioral challenges that could be improved with psychological counseling and support. Samuel McQuillin wants to provide people who work with these children every day — parents, teachers, community- and church-based volunteers — with science-based resources and tools to help.
June 30, 2020, Megan Sexton
A new cardiothoracic assessment tool pioneered at the University of South Carolina combines a hand-held ultrasound device, an electronic stethoscope, and an EKG, all tied together with artificial intelligence.
June 23, 2020, Megan Sexton
Caryn Outten, the Guy F. Lipscomb Professor of Chemistry, researches iron metabolism and uses biochemical methods to understand how cells maintain iron levels that are not too high or too low
June 15, 2020, Page Ivey
When Brooks Herring decided to give college a try after serving in the U.S. Navy and Army, he had one goal in mind: Creating a physical therapy program that would help wounded service members get back to the level of strength and activity they had before their injury.
June 08, 2020, Megan Sexton
Ashley Fellers is finishing her first year at the School of Medicine, a program she entered a year early through the South Carolina Honors College's BARSC-MD program.
June 08, 2020, Chris Horn
Shan Qiao, an assistant professor in the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, is engaged in HIV-related research on three continents with a focus on promoting the linkage to care among people living with HIV and improving their clinical outcomes and quality of life.
May 28, 2020, Dr. Jennifer Meredith
States are working hard to take the necessary steps to reopen safely. When Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, explained that task to the U.S. Senate recently, he pointed to South Carolina as a model for the country, one that he would “almost like to clone.” So, what is South Carolina getting right?
May 28, 2020, Page Ivey
Jeremy LaPointe has been interested in learning more about why people behave in certain ways since he was in high school. He has been able to pursue that interest at the University of South Carolina in the classroom and in research labs as an undergraduate majoring in experimental psychology with a minor in neuroscience.
May 27, 2020, Tenell Felder
UofSC Today reached out to University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia alumni Dr. David Ford and Dr. Cedric Rivers for insight into how COVID-19 has impacted health care in South Carolina, as well as how the state might move forward in upcoming months. Both Ford and Rivers work at hospitals in Columbia, treating patients with COVID-19.
May 14, 2020, Megan Sexton
Madhura Pande, who graduated in May from the South Carolina Honors College with degrees in biological sciences and Spanish, has been working on research since she arrived on campus as a freshman.
May 11, 2020
A national study sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Mayo Clinic is examining the use of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, known as convalescent plasma, to treat patients who are currently suffering from the virus. Physicians hope the antibodies in the donor plasma will neutralize the virus in these ill patients and improve outcomes.
May 11, 2020, Craig Brandhorst
When the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy and the Center for Colon Cancer Research recruited Lorne Hofseth as one of the center’s first faculty hires in 2004, they knew they had a rising star on their hands.
May 08, 2020, Chris Horn
Though the U.S. is far from being able to quickly test its entire population for COVID-19, scientists in the university’s Arnold School of Public Health might have a faster and better alternative — monitoring sewage for traces of the virus that causes the disease.
May 05, 2020, Tenell Felder
It’s a challenging time to be a nurse. Serving on the front lines of a pandemic, nurses are not only tasked with helping COVID-19 patients — they’re also tasked with doing it in full protective gear and while simultaneously managing non-COVID patients.
May 04, 2020, Cheedy Jaja
Since the beginning of the profession, nurses have played pivotal roles during outbreaks of disease, delivering care throughout even the bleakest of public health emergencies. College of Nursing professor Cheedy Jaja recalls for The Conversation his experience being on the front lines of Ebola.
April 30, 2020, Chris Horn
COVID-19 is affecting more than physical health. Many hospitals are struggling financially because of strains brought on by the pandemic. Health services policy and management faculty member Banky Olatosi explains what is happening and why.
April 30, 2020, Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, who is the “fittest”? This is a challenging question. But as immunology researchers at the University of South Carolina, we can say one thing is clear: With no effective treatment options, survival against the coronavirus infection depends completely on the patient’s immune response. School of Medicine Columbia professors Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti write for The Conversation about immune response to COVID-19.
April 29, 2020, Tenell Felder
Like many University of South Carolina students, Heather Hembree recently saw her post-graduation plans take an unexpected turn. The College of Pharmacy graduate student, who graduated in May, learned that her board tests might be canceled because of the COVID-19 threat. Despite the setback, Hembree plans to eventually practice pharmacy in a rural community similar to her hometown of Ware Shoals, South Carolina
April 28, 2020, Page Ivey
Melissa C. Reitmeier is an associate clinical professor and director of field education in the College of Social Work. She addresses how COVID-19 is impacting both the need for and the delivery of social services.
April 27, 2020, Amit Sheth
Social media posts and news reports are rich sources of data about people’s attitudes and behaviors. Performing this analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the damage the pandemic is doing to the social and psychological well-being of the U.S. Amit Sheth, Founding Director, Artificial Intelligence Institute and Computer Science & Engineering professor writes for The Conversation on examining online conversation about COVID-19.
April 21, 2020, Tenell Felder
Swann Arp Adams researches disparities in cancer prevention and screening. She has practiced in diabetes care, bone marrow transplant, mammography and oncology. Adams provides insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic might affect current or recovering cancer patients and their families.
April 14, 2020, Kevin Bennett
Director of Research & Evaluation for the Center for Rural & Primary Healthcare Kevin Bennett, School of Medicine Columbia, writes for The Conversation on how COVID-19 could impact rural health care.
April 14, 2020, Laura Kammerer
Cheedy Jaja, associate professor of nursing, in 2014 and 2015 treated patients during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. He says health care workers caring for coronavirus patients are at risk for psychological trauma.
April 13, 2020, Chris Horn
Dawn Wilson-King has devoted her career to helping people pursue active and healthy lifestyles, and what a career it’s been. Since 2001, the psychology professor has collaborated on more than 30 grant-funded projects that brought some $40 million in grant funding to the University of South Carolina and she served as president of two prominent national organizations.
April 07, 2020, Chris Horn
Twitter data could be a useful tool in tracking human movement in this and future disease outbreaks, says a UofSC geography scientist who used Twitter data to track historic flooding in 2015 in South Carolina.
April 06, 2020, Chris Horn
Some aspects of nursing education involve face-to-face interaction with patients, but virtual simulation is the next best thing during COVID-19 restrictions.
April 03, 2020, Tenell Felder
Alicia Ribar, clinical associate professor at the College of Nursing, provides insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has and will affect the field of nursing. Ribar has practiced nursing for 26 years and has had active clinical practices in acute and primary care pediatric and family practice.
April 01, 2020, Craig Brandhorst
In the new world of distance learning, faculty are getting a crash course in online education — and the learning curve can be steep. But it’s not insurmountable, says Lucy Ingram, assistant dean for academic affairs and online education at the university’s Arnold School of Public Health.
March 27, 2020, Chris Horn
Faculty members from the School of Medicine Greenville and the College of Engineering and Computing worked quickly to get FDA approval for a device that could help address the potential shortage of ventilators at COVID-19 hotspots.
March 25, 2020, David Lee
A collaborative effort involving Prisma Health and the University of South Carolina has resulted in emergency use authorization for a ventilator expansion device to support multiple patients during times of acute equipment shortages such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
March 24, 2020, Tenell Felder
Kevin Bennett, School of Medicine Columbia faculty member and director of research and evaluation at the Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare, discusses issues rural communities will face during the coronavirus pandemic as well as future steps that can be taken to strengthen rural health care systems.
March 20, 2020, Alyssa Yancey
Vida Yousefian, a School of Medicine Columbia student, has navigated a rollercoaster ride to reach Match Day, where she will find out her residency placement.
February 14, 2020, Margaret Gregory
Alumni of the genetic counseling program at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia are making a major impact on their field. More than 25 percent of the nation's genetic counseling training programs have had School of Medicine alumni in leadership roles and five programs were founded by South Carolina graduates.
February 12, 2020, Megan Sexton
All of the university’s undergraduate chemistry labs moved this semester into the newly renovated building at Greene and Main streets, offering state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
February 11, 2020
Students who are taught by more than one teacher in the same classroom benefit from their exposure to different teaching styles, additional expertise and lower student-teacher ratios. But the first step is making sure the partners click, like public health professors Lee Pearson and Megan Weis.
February 03, 2020, Tenell Felder
Innovative technology in the classroom results in better patient care. University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville uses this approach to produce exceptional future physicians.
January 30, 2020, Chris Horn
It’s been called the Silver Tsunami — the coming wave of older adults — and it’s already leading to an increase in Alzheimer’s and related dementia diagnoses. Naturally, there is also an increase in the associated burden on caregivers.
January 29, 2020, Page Ivey
Public Health professor Katrina Walsmann’s plan for a new research center at the University of South Carolina is all about collaboration. In fact, creating an umbrella for a variety of disciplines to study health, inequalities and the population is the goal.
January 14, 2020, Tenell Felder & Amanda Hernandez
The University of South Carolina ranks No. 1 in the nation among public universities (No. 2 overall) for its online graduate nursing program, according to U.S. News and World Report’s annual online rankings.