School Notes: School of Medicine
March/April 2018

New surgery chair and chief of surgery appointed

Nita Ahuja has been named chair of the Department of Surgery at the School of Medicine and chief of surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital. Ahuja formerly served as the Jacob C. Handelsman Professor in Abdominal Surgery and professor of surgery, oncology, and urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and chief of surgical oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also served as vice chair of academic affairs for the Department of Surgery and associate director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. “Nita is widely respected for innovative patient care, renowned for her research on cancer epigenetics, and passionate about mentoring the next generation of surgeon scientists,” says Robert J. Alpern, dean and Ensign Professor of Medicine.

Experimental test shows when body is fighting a virus

A new test that measures RNA or protein molecules in human cells can accurately identify viral infection as a cause of respiratory symptoms, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Performed with a simple nasal swab, the test could prove to be a quicker, cheaper way to diagnose respiratory viral illnesses than current methods, the researchers said. “It’s a simpler test and more cost-effective for looking at viral infection,” said Ellen Foxman, assistant professor of laboratory medicine at Yale School of Medicine. The researchers hope to develop the method into a rapid gene or protein test that doctors could perform in their offices. Such a test could help providers diagnose a viral infection more quickly and accurately than with routine evaluation or more time-consuming and expensive tests, the researchers said.