The Women in Science video series on UMassMed News highlights the many areas of research conducted by women at UMass Medical School.

Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology & physiological systems, has been fascinated by the relationship between diet, bacteria in the gut and health throughout her career.

UMass Medical School postdoctoral fellow Anna Loveland, PhD, has been named a STAT Wunderkind by the health and science media company STAT. STAT Wunderkinds honors the brightest young minds in life science for their work in academia, industry and in the clinic.

Dozens of UMass Medical School administration, faculty, staff and student leaders came together Thursday, Nov. 12, for Diversity Summit V, a two-hour virtual conference assessing the state of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at UMMS and outlining plans for future work.

While participants identified improvement targets, the summit included an extensive report of progress.

Chancellor Michael F. Collins called for concrete recommendations and requested resources to be compiled by early December in preparation for a final report.

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of those times in life when there is a clear division between “before” and “after,” according to UMass Medical School’s infection control officer, Sharone Green, MD. While she prefers not to use the term, “new normal,” she said things are different now that the coronavirus is widespread and will probably not go back entirely to the way they were before.

Looking Ahead

AMHERST, MASS. – Most women are receiving fewer than half the services recommended during their comprehensive postpartum medical checkup, according to a study by University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers.

AMHERST, Mass. –  Simplilearn, the world's number one Online Bootcamp for digital economy skills training, today announced its partnership with the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) to offer a specialized Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Agile.

AMHERST, Mass. – Visitors strolling the Boston Harborwalk along Fort Point Channel will now be able to visualize the scientific predictions for future flood levels and their proposed solutions, thanks to a new public art installation created by University of Massachusetts Amherst artist and landscape architect Carolina Aragón.

Axovant Gene Therapies, a clinical-stage company developing innovative gene therapies based on UMass Medical School research discoveries, has announced that the FDA has lifted its clinical hold and cleared Axovant’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application to initiate a registrational study of gene therapy to treat patients with Tay-Sachs disease and Sandhoff disease. The Axovant therapy, AXO-AAV-GM2, is the first investigational gene therapy to achieve IND clearance for Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff.