EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Jan-2026 18:11 ET (19-Jan-2026 23:11 GMT/UTC)

Modeling the health impact of discontinuing COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy in the US

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This decision analytical model study estimates that COVID-19 vaccination (primarily annual COVID-19 vaccination) during pregnancy will likely continue to yield meaningful public health benefits in the U.S., especially to reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations in infants. COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been shown to be safe. While there is global variation in policy recommending COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy, the U.S. has a high risk of severe COVID-19 in newborns, underscoring relevance of maternal COVID-19 vaccination.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

Reform of federal drug discount program should target misaligned incentives

University of Southern California
Reports and Proceedings

Meaningful 340B reform must end “spread pricing,” the practice where providers buy discounted drugs and bill insurers at higher rates, pocketing the difference.

Funder: Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics

Study shows HPV vaccine protects vaccinated — and unvaccinated — women

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A large, long-term study led by an Albert Einstein College of Medicine researcher has found that the introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in community settings is highly effective in protecting young women from infections caused by the cervical-cancer-causing virus—including women who didn’t even receive the vaccine. The study was published today in JAMA Pediatrics.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

Helping older adults embrace AI and emerging technologies with a National Science Foundation grant

George Mason University
Grant and Award Announcement

George Mason University faculty member Y. Alicia Hong, a digital behavioral health interventionist, will support older adults in honing their digital technology skills. The program, through an interdisciplinary partnership, will pair youth and older adults to practice real-life AI scenarios.

Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation

Cornell launches initiative to unravel the science of menopause

Cornell University
Business Announcement

Drawing on cutting-edge technology and interdisciplinary expertise, researchers are launching Menopause Health Engineering, a new initiative uniting faculty from Cornell’s Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medicine, to uncover how menopause shapes health and disease, and to develop urgently needed treatment strategies. The inaugural team includes nine faculty across four departments, with a core in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

Ontology 2.0 deepens LOINC®-SNOMED collaboration, speeds global lab interoperability

Regenstrief Institute
Business Announcement

Regenstrief Institute and SNOMED International have released LOINC® Ontology 2.0, the next version of The LOINC Ontology: A LOINC and SNOMED CT Interoperability Solution and a significant advance in their ongoing collaboration to streamline the exchange and use of health data worldwide. Version 2.0 continues to support the ongoing development of standardized laboratory orders and results for exchange and use in health data systems globally. The LOINC Ontology is fully owned by Regenstrief Institute and is available free of charge under the existing LOINC royalty-free license.

New one-hour, low-cost HPV test could transform cervical cancer screening in Africa and beyond

Rice University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of researchers led by Rice University, in collaboration with colleagues in Mozambique and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has developed a simple, affordable human papillomavirus (HPV) test that delivers results in less than an hour with no specialized laboratory required. The breakthrough could provide an option for women in low-resource settings to be screened and treated for cervical cancer in a single clinic visit, a step that global health experts say could save countless lives. The research was recently published in Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications