Half of the people in Canadian prisons experienced abuse during childhood, according to research led by McMaster University.

The division of neurosurgery at McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine has undergone significant reorganization in the past four years, and the division has become a more cohesive group academically, as well as for providing clinical service.

Memorial services will be held for two faculty members, Del Harnish and Joshua Shadd on Thursday, Feb. 7. The location has been changed for the Shadd memorial.

Providing additional health-care services for heart failure patients to help them transition from hospital to home does not improve their outcome, according to research led by the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS).

You may think you have an allergy to penicillin, but you probably don't. Nine out of 10 people who believe they're allergic to the antibiotic either aren't allergic or have only some intolerance, and eight of 10 people who had an allergic reaction to penicillin 10 or more years ago will now be fine.

The Honours Biology and Pharmacology program offered by McMaster University has switched Faculties for its administration, to the Faculty of Health Sciences. It has always been a joint program between the Faculties of Science and Health Sciences but its administration had been housed in the Faculty of Science for almost 30 years.

Do you know a former faculty, staff or alumni member who is deserving of being recognized by the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University? Nominations are now open for the 2019 inductees to the Community of Distinction.

A McMaster scientist has co-lead new research which suggests increased activity in neurons that are deficient in two genes could cause autism-related characteristics in humans.

Two Faculty of Health Sciences faculty members are receiving funding to support their research on post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) in public safety personnel.

To tweet, or not to tweet, that is the question. According to a study from McMaster University, academic thoracic surgeons who are already on Twitter should choose to share their research in 280 characters if they are looking to get noticed.

Two professors of the Faculty of Health Sciences who spent their careers improving the lives of women and children across the country, have been named Officers of the Order of Canada.

A new Science of Cannabis program is being launched by McMaster University – one of the first post-secondary programs in the country focused on the scientific study of cannabis and its therapeutic applications, risks and harms.

Cameron Siou, graduate of the Health Leadership Academy’s Innovation by Design course, went onto apply his newfound design thinking skills to a startup venture.

McMaster University is receiving $8.45 million from the federal government to support 13 health research projects.

McMaster University’s Midwifery Education Program has released the final instalment of a collection of interactive ebooks that comprise Canada’s first midwifery textbook.

McMaster University is the 15th best school to study nursing in the world, and second best in Canada, according to an international ranking system of universities.

The late Joshua Shadd was known for his collaborative leadership style, compassionate approach to palliative care, and his unique socks. His colleagues in the Division of Palliative Care at McMaster University’s Department of Family Medicine are rallying to honour his memory, and raise money for his family, through the sale of Shadd socks. The initiative is also gaining traction on social media, with #ShaddSocks.

If you have a peanut allergy, avoiding them is safer than current therapies that desensitize people through gradual exposure by eating peanuts, according to research led by McMaster University.

One in five Ontario children and youth suffer from a mental disorder, but less than one-third have had contact with a mental health care provider, says the Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS).

The name of May Cohen, a McMaster University professor emerita of family medicine and pioneer for the rights of women, is in lights.

A team of McMaster University researchers has discovered a unique subset of cells within human stem cells that appear to signal how the surrounding cells will develop and grow.

Three McMaster University researchers will lead new projects analyzing data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

There is little chance you are actually allergic to vaccines and, if you are, your allergist can give it to you.

Physicians are told to gauge the severity of a child’s problem with obesity using the body mass index (BMI) that measures weight against height. But that doesn’t work well to identify health issues, especially those of mental health, in children with obesity seeking care, says a study led by McMaster University.

Hamilton philanthropists Charles and Margaret Juravinski will create an endowment of more than $100 million to support researchers across Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton.

When the Bachelor of Health Sciences degrees in midwifery are conferred at McMaster University today, there will be 12 special graduates from Manitoba. The class of midwifery students had completed their first year of training at the University of Manitoba when their program was discontinued, and McMaster and the University of Manitoba formed a partnership enabling the students to take the McMaster program while remaining in Manitoba.

Deborah Cook, a renowned McMaster University professor, researcher and physician, has been named the recipient of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Gold Leaf Prize for Impact.

McMaster University researchers, including from the Faculty of Health Sciences, have invented a stable, affordable way to store fragile vaccines for weeks at a time at temperatures up to 40C, opening the way for life-saving anti-viral vaccines to reach remote and impoverished regions of the world.

Spring convocation ceremonies for McMaster University's School of Nursing and Faculty of Health Sciences are being held on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. There will be 562 nursing students from the nursing school consortium of McMaster and Conestoga and Mohawk colleges conferred their degrees at its convocation on Wednesday, May 22 at 2:30 p.m.

Physician suicide is an urgent problem with suicide rates higher than those found among the general public, with potential for an extensive impact on health-care systems. An article on five facts about physician suicide, authored by Sarah Tulk and Joy Albuquerque was published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Incorporating community volunteers into the health-care system shows promise in reducing health-care usage by older adults through a shift from hospitals to primary care, according to research from McMaster University.

A forward-looking McMaster donor is investing $7 million in a new research centre dedicated specifically to tackling the growing global threat of antimicrobial resistance. David Braley, whose gifts to the university include a $50-million investment in McMaster teaching, learning and health-care research and delivery, has allocated $7 million from that 2007 gift towards the new David Braley Centre for Antibiotic Discovery.

The offices of an institute dedicated to broadening Canada's research capacity in infectious disease and the response of the human immune system, opened today at McMaster University. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Infection and Immunity (CIHR III) is McMaster's first institute sponsored by the federal health research funding agency.

Lynda Redwood-Campbell is a professor with the Department of Family Medicine as well as an active member of the Canadian Red Cross International Emergency Response Unit (ERU) team.

A clinical trial that followed more than 9,900 people in 24 countries has found that the drug dulaglutide reduced cardiovascular events and kidney problems in middle-aged and older people with Type 2 diabetes.

The first question of parents of a child with cerebral palsy is about their child's future physical capabilities. To date, health professionals have had little information to share. Now an international team of researchers, including those at McMaster University, has established a trend line for people with cerebral palsy from age one to 21, describing the developmental paths for their mobility and looking after themselves in day-to-day tasks like dressing.

Older adults range in age from 65 to 105 and represent widely varying health and social needs, yet this growing cohort is often grouped in one category. Two established research platforms of McMaster University aim to address the diverse needs of Ontario's older adults by supporting and advancing patient and caregiver-partnered research in aging.

More than four in 10 Canadian veterans face chronic pain, double the proportion of other adults in the country. Now, a new research centre has been established at McMaster University to specifically address the issue. The Centre of Excellence on Chronic Pain will focus on research on chronic pain of veterans, setting standards of care and ensuring that information is shared across the country.

It's the recovery period, not the operating room that is risky for patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery, according to a large international study led by McMaster University. Based on patients at 28 health centres in 13 countries, the results show less than one per cent of deaths of these patients occurred in the operating room, but 29 per cent of deaths occurred after discharge from hospital.

Nearly 1 in 5 Canadians may try cannabis or increase consumption of the drug after legalization for recreational use, according to research from McMaster University. Those more likely to do so are younger in age, have used cannabis in the past three months, have a higher income, and self-report their mental health as poor or fair.

Recent cannabis users may be more likely to experience memory problems or difficulties with cognitive function than those who don’t use the drug, says a study led by McMaster University researcher James MacKillop. The professor of psychiatry holds the Peter Boris Chair in Addictions Research and he is director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research.

Three national research groups and a leading biotechnology company are teaming together to discover the frailty biomarkers that may shed light on why some people become frail, how to determine the severity of frailty and what can be done to help avoid the condition.

The 2019 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects has ranked McMaster’s clinical medicine and civil engineering programs 29th in the world. The clinical medicine is ranked second in Canada, and the civil engineering program is third in the country.

Delegations from two Japanese universities visited McMaster recently for an experiential learning exchange, designed to share knowledge, ideas, cultural approaches and best practices in health sciences education. “The success of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals depends on collaboration and partnerships with other universities and networks,” explains Andrea Baumann, McMaster’s associate vice-president, global health.

Individuals with many different psychiatric disorders have a higher tendency to choose smaller, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards, a study led by Hamilton researchers has found. The findings of a meta-analysis by researchers of McMaster University and St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, which combined data from more than 40 studies, was published in JAMA Psychiatry today.

Canadian researchers have discovered that covert – or 'silent' - strokes are common in seniors after they have elective, non-cardiac surgery and double their risk of cognitive decline one year later.

A study from McMaster University has unearthed new details about the evolutionary history of both antibiotic production and resistance and dates their co-emergence as far back as 350 to 500 million years.

A large international study led by McMaster University shows that low risk pregnant women who intend to give birth at home have no increased chance of the baby’s perinatal or neonatal death compared to other low risk women who intend to give birth in a hospital. The results have been published by The Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine journal.

A Hamilton-led international study of more than 3,000 patients could set the stage globally for how patients can safely use blood-thinning medications before and after surgery to mitigate risk of bleeding and stroke. The Perioperative Anticoagulation Use for Surgery Evaluation (PAUSE) study was conducted across 23 clinical centres in Canada, United States and Europe.

Every day in Ontario, long-term care residents are at risk of receiving unwanted and non-beneficial treatment because of errors related to consent. Now McMaster University's Department of Family Medicine and the William Osler Health System (WOHS) are teaming together on a project to reduce the number of long-term care patients in Ontario who, because of these errors, are transferred back and forth to hospital multiple times before they die.

A simple cardiac risk score can indicate who may have carotid artery plaque and silent strokes which often come before a serious clinical stroke. The findings come from one of the largest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cohort studies in North America, a study designed to understand the risk factors associated with cerebrovascular disease before the person is aware of it.

Gordon Guyatt, Distinguished University Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University, is one of six outstanding citizens to be named to the Hamilton Gallery of Distinction this year. The 2019 inductees include leaders in medicine, education, theatre, environmentalism, community improvement, mentorship and civic engagement. Each has made a lasting contribution to Hamilton.

To do a total or partial hip replacement for older adults who have a hip fracture has been the question. Now a large clinical study of almost 1,500 patients in 10 countries world-wide has found those who had a total hip arthroplasty have modestly better function after two years, but a higher incidence of serious complications. The study authors suggest the advantages of total hip replacement may not be compelling.

A information technology (IT) needs assessment for the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) has gotten underway with Kathy Denney as project manager. This assessment is to understand the IT needs within the Faculty, identify how those needs are currently being met by the existing IT organization and service delivery model.

Kira Slivitzky was a molecular biologist and researcher who found she always enjoyed talking to people rather than mice. Raymond Khanano, with a master's in public health, sought a clinical career with flexibility. Nicole Veloce, with a life sciences degree, was attracted to being part of the health care team.

Researchers at McMaster University have designed a new way to rapidly identify antibiotics hidden in common dirt. Their method, published today in Nature Biotechnology, may help guide drug discovery by allowing researchers to reassess the potential of bacteria that have already been mined for rare or new compounds with antibiotic activity. The goal is to develop the medicines in response to the current global antimicrobial resistance crisis.

More than 1,125,000 men around the world have the inherited bleeding disorder of hemophilia, and 418,000 of those have a severe version of the mostly undiagnosed disease, says a new study led by McMaster University researchers. This is three times what was previously known. Only 400,000 people globally were estimated to have the disorder which is caused by a defect in the F8 or F9 gene which encodes instructions for making the factor proteins that helps blood clot. For those with hemophilia, lack of treatment leads to chronic and disabling joint disease, while bleeding into organs and brain hemorrhages can lead to disability and death.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of death among middle-aged adults around the world; however, in high-income countries deaths from cancer have become twice as frequent as those from CVD. The findings come from the first large prospective international study documenting the frequency of common diseases and death rates in high-, middle- and low-income countries using a standardized approach.

More than 70 per cent of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and deaths around the world may be attributed to a small number of common but modifiable risk factors. The findings are the result of large international study, involving more than 155,000 people in 21 countries, led by researchers of the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.

Concerted effort by friends, family and non-physician health workers can make a dramatic difference in reducing the risk factors for heart problems in patients with hypertension, an international study by Hamilton researchers has found. People with new or poorly controlled hypertension given an integrated and comprehensive intervention by non-physician health workers along with personal supporters over a year had a reduction in cardiovascular risk of more than 40 per cent compared to usual care.

A major international study has shown that opening all clogged arteries with stents after a serious heart attack is much better than opening only the single clogged artery that caused the heart attack. About half of all heart attack victims are found to have additional clogged arteries in addition to the one that caused their heart attack. Previously, doctors focused on opening the one artery responsible for the heart attack, leaving the other blockages for treatment with medication alone.

Three professors of the Faculty of Health Sciences who brought distinction and recognition to McMaster University and the Faculty through their innovative teaching, outstanding scholarship and innovative research, will join its Community of Distinction in a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 8 at 4 p.m.

The first edition of the McMaster Textbook of Internal Medicine is making its formal debut, fittingly, in time for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine this month.

The Boris Family has made a $2 million investment to the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health.

Do young teens who spend more time with TV and electronic devices drink more sugared or caffeinated drinks than others? Yes, they do, says a study of U.S. teens led by McMaster University researchers. It is a concern because many exceed recommended levels of both sugar and caffeine, says pediatrician Katherine Morrison, who led the research together with colleagues at McMaster and California State University - Fullerton.

Mark Magenheim says it was an easy decision on how to best commemorate the 50th anniversary of McMaster University’s medical school. As a long-time donor, an MD ’74 alumnus and a former faculty member, a financial gift to mark this momentous occasion only seemed apt.

The 50th class of undergraduate medical students of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is the Class of 2021. Three medical students of the class of 206 share their stories, motivations and their hopes.

McMaster University has been recognized as Canada’s most research-intensive university for the past two consecutive years. That recognition, in part, can be attributed to the quality, quantity and impact of the research that’s coming from its Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

Problem-based learning. Creativity in developing better ways to select medical school candidates. National and international awards for teaching and education research. Innovation in starting Canada’s first midwifery and civilian physician assistant programs. These are just a few of the many ways the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine has earned a reputation in Canada and around the world as a risk-taker, innovator and leader in medical education.

McMaster University's medical school campuses in Hamilton, Niagara and Waterloo are woven into the fabric of their communities. From undergraduate medical students in family medicine clinics to residents in McMaster Children's Hospital, they impact the quality and availability of care in the health-care systems where they learn and work.

From symposiums on the continuing development of problem-based learning and the latest in health research to campus tours and a gala party, the program is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. The three days of activities will highlight the five decades since the first medical school class began in the fall of 1969.

Most people can continue to eat red and processed meat as they do now. A major study led by researchers at McMaster and Dalhousie universities has found cutting back has little impact on health.

The Department of Family Medicine of McMaster University is helping provide leadership of the Hamilton Ontario Health Team announced by Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott this week. The department is an executive sponsor and provides one of the five executive leads for the new organization which will implement a new model of organizing and delivering health care for the region.

A study led by Hamilton researchers has found a new way to interpret blood test results in patients who are investigated for blood clots in their lungs, a condition known as pulmonary embolism. This new approach applies to D-dimer blood tests, which are used by physicians to rule out the presence of a blood clot. Researchers found that a higher than usual D-dimer level can be considered a negative result if the physician has assessed the patient as having a low probability of having a pulmonary embolism.

Nina Acharya, a first year medical student at McMaster, has been awarded a distinguished Rhodes scholarship. The Ottawa native hopes to complete a master's of philosophy in international development with an emphasis on children's nutrition while a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in the U.K.

Timothy Whelan, a McMaster University clinical researcher who has made advances in breast cancer therapies, is being honoured by the Canadian Cancer Society. Whelan is the 2019 recipient of the O. Harold Warwick Prize for outstanding achievements in cancer control research.

Research led by scientists from McMaster University has yielded a potent antimicrobial that works against the toughest infectious disease strains. The find could be the beginning of developing new therapeutics to combat drug-resistant infections. The discovery is important as it is directly related to the development of Staphylococcus aureus diseases, known popularly as staph infections, which are the leading cause of the growing global danger of antimicrobial resistance, particularly the Methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains which are becoming resistant to all current antibiotics.

A study from McMaster University has shown that traditional ways of learning anatomy remain superior to those that rely on digital media. The research suggests that virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are inferior to traditional physical models of learning, and have major disadvantages in cost and functionality.

There has been interest in cannabis being used as a replacement drug for people with opioid use disorder, but research at McMaster University has found it doesn't work.

New McMaster research has found a program that honours dying patients by fulfilling end of life wishes can be powerful, affordable and sustainable in many settings.

Humanity’s defences against infection are wearing thinner by the day, and the microbes responsible are getting stronger. One in four infections is already resistant to antibiotics and other known forms of treatment, and 5,400 Canadians died last year from infections that until recently had been treatable. That’s according to a comprehensive peer-reviewed report presented by the Council of Canadian Academies this week.

Individuals entering financial information in Mosaic with a high transaction volume had a low error rate and those with a low volume had both a higher error rate and a longer than average entry time. Which made sense to them – if people don’t do this kind of work very often, how could they know all the ins-and-outs in Mosaic?

Construction is underway at the Health Sciences Library in the Health Sciences Centre to make room for the Michael G. DeGroote Initiative for Innovation in Healthcare (MGDII). The new area on the library's first floor will incorporate collaborative workspaces to be used in building a culture of health entrepreneurship at McMaster.

An international research collaboration has discovered a new bacteria-killing toxin that shows promise of impacting superbug infectious diseases. The discovery of this growth-inhibiting toxin, which bacteria inject into rival bacteria to gain a competitive advantage, was published today in the journal Nature.

A major study has found that Canadian First Nations communities with greater socio-economic advantages, educational opportunities, social support of family members and greater trust between community members, have lower cardiac risk factors. On the other hand, First Nations communities with difficulty accessing routine health care or affordable prescription medicines have a greater burden of cardiac risk factors.

There will be several holiday closures that impact Faculty of Health Sciences staff, students, faculty and visitors. These closures begin Wednesday January 25th. The University re-opens on Thursday, January 2nd 2020.

A networking think tank focused on fostering success in entrepreneurship and innovation has been formed at McMaster University. The College of Health Inventors comes out of the Michael G. DeGroote Initiative for Innovation in Healthcare (MGDII).

David Farrar is being welcomed as McMaster University's next president. "At the Faculty of Health Sciences we have been very impressed with Dr. Farrar since we began working with him after he arrived as provost and vice-president, academic, and even more recently in his role as the acting president," said Paul O'Byrne, dean and vice-president of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Researchers at McMaster University have unlocked one of the secrets behind the many benefits of metformin. One of the most widely used medications in the world; metformin is commonly prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. However, in addition to its effects on lowering blood sugar, in preclinical models, metformin shows benefits on aging and a number of diverse diseases such as cognitive disorders, cancer and cardiovascular disease.

A shorter course of higher-dose radiation treatment to part of the breast is showing promise in women with early-stage breast cancer who undergo breast conserving surgery, says a study led by Hamilton researchers. Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) sees larger doses of radiation delivered to parts of the breast affected by cancer. This treatment takes place in one week or less, further reducing length of treatment from the standard treatment of three to five weeks.

Another visit home has come to an end, and I say goodbye to my family. I look out the airplane window and see Mexico City's lights slowly getting smaller as we ascend, eventually fading to complete darkness.