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
News Release
Three in one: How academic medical centers came to be
Today, we take them for granted. Huge university medical centers, filled with patients who travel miles to receive care that’s available nowhere else, from teams of highly specialized clinicians.
News Release
U-M Life Sciences Orchestra kicks off 20th season with a free concert on January 12
Twenty years ago, a musical experiment started on the University of Michigan campus. A group of amateur musicians, all of them working or studying in medicine and science, put out the word that they wanted to form an orchestra for people like them.
News Release
Michigan Medicine kicks off celebration of 150th anniversary
One hundred and fifty years ago this month, something extraordinary happened at the University of Michigan. Its effects have reverberated down through history – not only on the campus, but across the state and nation.
Health Lab
In Sickness and in Health: Study Looks at How Married Couples Face Chronic Conditions
Older married couples facing multimorbid chronic diseases experienced a rise in depression symptoms over time if those conditions required different types of preventive care or risk reduction.
Health Lab
Medicaid Expansion Doubled Access to Primary Care and Increased Attention to Health Risks in Low-Income Michiganders
Medicaid expansion in Michigan emphasized primary care and prevention, and based financial incentives for enrollees on examining health risks and engaging in healthy behaviors. Two new studies look at the results.
Health Lab
How Does Political News Affect Moods? New Study in Young Doctors Shows Real-time Effects
Major political events including the 2016 election and 2017 inauguration affected the moods of medical interns, while other major events in the same years did not, signaling a politically aware generation of young physicians.
Health Lab
More Medical Students Are Disclosing Their Disabilities, and Schools Are Responding, Study Finds
Disability disclosures by medical students to medical schools have increased, as have accommodations for conditions ranging from attention ones like deficit disorder and depression to hearing impairment.
News Release
14 Medical School faculty named AAAS fellows
The University of Michigan led the nation with 22 faculty members -- 14 of them affiliated with the U-M Medical School -- elected as 2019 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Health Lab
Middle-Aged Americans & Dementia Risk: Lots of Worry, Not Enough Proven Prevention
Nearly half of older Americans think they may develop dementia, but few have asked their doctor about it.
Health Lab
Health Insurance for 2020: What You Need to Do Now During Open Enrollment
Open enrollment tips for buying health insurance through the Obamacare marketplace on healthcare.gov.
News Release
U-M and MDHHS launch a one-stop website to guide safe pain treatment across Michigan and beyond
No matter where in Michigan they are, people in pain will soon have a chance to get effective care with less risk of opioid-related problems, thanks to a new website launched by the CDC-funded University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center and the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Health Lab
Poll Reveals Risky Antibiotic Use by Older Adults, and Opportunities to Improve Prescribing
A new Healthy Aging Poll finds many older adults say they take leftover antibiotics without physician guidance, despite awareness of antibiotic resistance risks.
News Release
Everyone who works in health care needs to know about opioids – and a free new online course from U-M can help
Even if they never write a single prescription for an opioid painkiller, or care for someone who has overdosed on heroin or fentanyl, people who work in every area of American healthcare need to understand how the opioid epidemic is affecting their patients, their families and their communities, and how to prevent new cases of opioid addiction.
Health Lab
In the Long Run, Drugs & Talk Therapy Hold Same Value for Depression Patients
Treating newly diagnosed depression patients with antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy, or “talk therapy”, is roughly equal in cost and benefit when measured over the long term of five years.
Health Lab
Who Gets Depressed Under Intense Stress? Genetic Risk Prediction Shows Promise
Medical residents called interns serve as a test population to show the promise of a predictive genetics tool called a polygenic risk score in depression risk and resilience.
