UConn Health Pulse

We're learning more about the growing field of orthobiologics, the use of treatments derived from individual patients' own cells and injected at the injury site to promote healing. Dr. Allison Schafer , a nonoperative sports medicine physician at the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute , offers bone marrow aspirate concentrate, or BMAC, for this purpose. She joins Carolyn and Chris to explain how it w...

Some of the most advanced lasers and other devices used in cosmetic dermatology are available at UConn Health — with dermatologists who have the expertise to use them. Drs. Maritza Perez and Hao Feng join Carolyn and Chris to explain how they provide the latest available treatment options, not by fitting the device to the patient, but the patient to the device (or other method), safely and effecti...

Drs. Anthony Parrino and Joel Ferreira, UConn Health hand, wrist and elbow surgeons , offer an approach to hand surgery that is not widely available in American health care. They can repair problems like trigger finger and carpal tunnel syndrome using a local anesthetic, enabling the patient to remain awake and test the repair during the procedure. They join Carolyn and Chris to explain the advant...

Dr. Jennifer Kanaan from UConn Health's Sleep Disorders Center joins Carolyn and Chris to talk about the impact of sleep has on how adolescents do in school and in their relationships. She explains the advantages of later school start times and offers some advice on how to build good sleep habits. (Dr. Jennifer Kanaan, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, September 2020)

The complex nature of tumors of the central nervous system (brain and spine) has given rise to a subspecialty known as neuro-oncology. It's a still relatively new and uncommon discipline, and was not in place at UConn Health until the arrival of Dr. Kevin Becker in the summer of 2019. Dr. Becker joins Carolyn and Chris to explain his role as a neuro-oncologist and the advantages a neuro-oncology p...

Success in managing diabetes largely depends on being an informed patient, as we hear from Jean Kostak, a certified diabetes care and education specialist at UConn Health. We're also joined by Martina Sinopoli, who as a fourth-year UConn medical student developed, as her Capstone project, a nutrition and recipe website that UConn Health's diabetes education program uses as one of its resources for...

The challenges associated with our gradual return to some kind of normal are sure to vary throughout our populations. Will our older neighbors be hesitant to leave homes for a while? How has the isolation affected them? What about our children and teens, who lost the last three months of school? How has this disruption of routine and regular interaction with peers affected them? In this low-fideli...

Dr. Flavio Uribe, chair of orthodontics at the UConn School of Dental Medicine, explains how the benefits of correcting a child's bite go well beyond the cosmetic, plus Courtney and Chris learn about some orthodontic options that weren't options when they were kids. (Dr. Flavio Uribe, Courtney Chandler, Chris DeFrancesco, February 2020)

Physician Assistant Brad Biskup from the Lifestyle Medicine Program at UConn Health's Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center tries to help Carolyn and Chris understand the seemingly ever-changing prevailing wisdom on cholesterol, diet, and heart health. (Brad Biskup, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, January 2020)