Rutgers Champion of Student Health and Wellness is Retiring

When Melodee Lasky joined Rutgers University 19 years ago, behavioral and mental health services were scattered across the individual colleges with little coordination. Psychiatry and the Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program were part of student health, but counseling services were separated and college-affiliated. Lasky, a physician who recognized the connection between physical and emotional wellness, recommended that mental and behavioral health be integrated within the framework of student health. That led to the creation of CAPS – Counseling, Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program & Psychiatric Services – a program that helps about 4,500 students each year.

Rutgers University’s Resilient, Innovative Year Confronting COVID-19

The last year, which has been unlike any other in Rutgers’ 254-year history, has centered on keeping the Rutgers community safe, providing top-notch health care, developing the first saliva test for the coronavirus and helping society cope with the biggest global public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Four Rutgers Professors Named AAAS Fellows

Four Rutgers professors have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor given to AAAS members by their peers. They join 485 other new AAAS fellows as a result of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. A virtual induction ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 13, 2021.

Vitamin D Boosts Chances of Walking After Hip Fracture

Senior citizens who are not vitamin D deficient have a better chance of walking after hip fracture surgery, according to a Rutgers-led study. The findings in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest that vitamin D deficiency could limit mobility in older adults, said senior author Sue Shapses, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss How Robots Enable Chemical Exposure Assessment

New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 27, 2020) – Robots can be programmed to perform tasks such as painting to generate exposure data on potentially harmful contaminants, according to a study in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology that was co-led…

‘Are Noncommunicable Diseases Communicable?’ Rutgers Experts Available to Discuss Paper in Science Today

New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 16, 2020) – Rutgers professors Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello and Martin J. Blaser are available to discuss a paper in the journal Science today on whether diseases long thought to be noncommunicable – such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer…