Greg Davis

As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches the three year mark, University of Kentucky clinical microbiologist Dr. Vaneet Arora says both the virus - and the efforts to combat it - continue to evolve. Dr. Arora joins Greg for an update.

The quick action of athletic trainers is credited with saving the life of Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin. This week on Dr. Greg Davis we take a deep dive into how athletic trainers are trained to respond to even the most unimaginable sports-related emergency situations. He goes one on one with Dr. Johanna Hoch, Program Director of the Professional Masters in Athletic Training at the University of Kentucky.

What do you do when you witness someone struggling with suicidal thoughts or when someone tells you they intend to harm themselves? The University of Kentucky offers an online program called QPR to equip you with the right answers and actions. Think of it as a CPR program for mental health crises. Dr. Greg talks with Marc Woods, Chief Nursing Officer for Behavioral Medicine at UK HealthCare and Eastern State Hospital about QPR, which stands for Question, Persuade and Refer.

For many of us the holidays can quickly go from Seasons Greetings to Seasons Eatings! But never you fear, UK Health and Wellness registered dieticians Dr. Karen Bryla McNees and Vanessa Oliver have strategies to help you survive the holidays without busting your buttons, or becoming too much of the life of the party.

An innovative University of Kentucky program called #iCANendthetrend, provides tobacco use prevention services to youth, families and community members across Kentucky. It was developed by Melinda Ickes, Ph.D., UK College of Education faculty in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, and college students who served as tobacco-free ambassadors.  Dr. Greg talks with Melinda about where she wants the program to go next.

This week Dr. Greg talks with friend and colleague Vaneet Arora, Associate Professor and Associate Director - Clinical Microbiology in the UK College of Medicine, about how best to avoid the potential triple whammy of COVID 19, influenza, and RSV.

November is both National Caregiver’s Month and National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. UK HR Elder Care will be hosting a Senior Caregiving Week offering two great caregiving events November 1-3. Dr. Greg gets a preview from UK Eldercare specialist Terri Weber and shares his own profound revelations from taking the virtual dementia tour several years ago.

The Curiosity Fair at UK is an annual, community event that highlights the role of curiosity in education. Faculty, staff and students create “Curiosity Stations” or short demos that represent ideas from their classes, fields or research. There is always a wide variety of disciplines, and the event is an informal and fun way for participants to engage with new people and ideas. Dr. Greg talks with co-organizer Dr. Hannah Ruehl and past presenter Dr. Lou Hirsch about what to expect this year.

The University of Kentucky is home to a new center that will advance research on the medical use of cannabis. The center will conduct research on the health effects of cannabis, including its risks and benefits when used to treat certain medical conditions. Dr. Greg speaks with UK Cannabis Center director Shanna Babalonis.

Findings from a new University of Kentucky College of Medicine study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry May 28 may lead to a new treatment against Toxoplasma gondii, the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. The labs of Matthew Gentry, Ph.D., and Craig Vander Kooi, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Anthony Sinai, Ph.D., in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and Zhong-Yin Zhang, Ph.D., at the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery, collaborated to develop a drug that targets the cyst form of the parasite. Dr. Greg talks with Gentry about the breakthrough research.