When families receive counseling after a substance use disorder has wreaked havoc on parents and children alike, the desire for healing is often hampered by looming legal issues. To address both needs, the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine received a grant to launch an innovative medical-legal partnership.

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences grew its funding from the National Institutes of Health to $64.4 million in 2022-23, an increase of more than $4 million over the previous year. That improves the campus’s ranking to 122 out of 2,886 institutions and other entities that receive NIH funding. The listing is compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, which is regarded as the gold standard for ranking biomedical research institutions. Funding from the NIH is considered the key benchmark for research productivity and reputation for health sciences.

Leremy Colf, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, has been named a senior adviser to the newest agency in the federal government, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H. He will focus on health system resilience, a concept of critical importance as the world faces crises like climate change and emerging infectious diseases.

People who are diagnosed with head and neck cancer often receive a standard type of chemotherapy as part of their treatment. If they are exposed to secondhand smoke during chemotherapy — even if they have never smoked themselves — the treatment may be far less effective at killing cancer cells. That finding, considered the first of its kind, was revealed in a study recently published by researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences.

The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry provided free cleanings, fillings and crowns to over 100 children during the annual Kids’ Day. The event was sponsored in part by the Delta Dental of Oklahoma Foundation.