Kara Gavin
Research and Policy Media Relations Manager
Gavin draws on more than 25 years of experience in communicating about science, medicine and health policy. She focuses mainly on the health services research done by members of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, who work to understand and improve the safety, quality, equity and affordability of health care. As part of the Michigan Medicine communication team, she has lead responsibility for primary care and mental health topics. Contact: [email protected]; Twitter: @Karag
Health Lab
1 in 8 Americans over 50 show signs of food addiction
Highly processed foods can act on the brain in ways that spark cravings, emotional reactions and signs of addiction, and a new poll shows how many older adults experience this.
Health Lab
Support from others in stressful times can ease impact of genetic depression risk
Stress can interact with genetic vulnerability to depression, and with added or lacking support from friends and family, to affect depressive symptoms.
Health Lab
ECMO offers sickest COVID patients a chance to survive, but a slimmer one than previously thought
ECMO life support can save the lives of about half of the critically ill COVID-19 patients who are placed on it by their ICU teams.
Health Lab
What happens when preventive care becomes free to patients?
Preventive services such as mammograms, birth control, immunizations and colonoscopy have no out-of-pocket costs under the Affordable Care Act.
News Release
More Michigan Medicine patients will get hospital-level care at home through new programs
Michigan Medicine is the first hospital in Michigan to be accepted into the Acute Hospital Care at Home program of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Health Lab
ECMO: Last-Resort Life Support Option Helped Majority of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients Survive, Global Study Shows
Survival rates for COVID-19 patients on ECMO life support is similar to that for other ARDS causes, a new study finds.
News Release
“Among the finest hospitals in the country”: The University Hospital of 1925
The University Hospital that served as U-M's main inpatient facility from 1925 to 1986 was an architectural marvel and drew patients from far and wide.
Health Lab
When Ventilators Don’t Help COVID-19 Patients, This Might
A life support system called ECMO has helped ARDS patients in past pandemics and other situations; now critical care teams are trying it in COVID-19 patients.
News Release
Champion of surgical quality named chair of U-M Department of Surgery
The University of Michigan Board of Regents today approved Justin B. Dimick, M.D., M.P.H. as the next chair of the Department of Surgery at the U-M Medical School.
Health Lab
Hospitals Send Some Patients Home With Risky Antibiotic Prescriptions
Targeting fluoroquinolone prescribing in hospitals is effective, a 48-hospital study shows, but many patients still get discharge prescriptions for them.
Health Lab
Predicting C. Diff Risk with Big Data and Machine Learning
A new model analyzes a wealth of information to better predict which patients are more prone to the dangerous infection.
