HJNO Mar/Apr 2022

38 MAR / APR 2022  I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   Healthcare Briefs New Orleans Public Schools approached Springgate and Pasternak during the spring of 2020, shortly after the pandemic was declared, about providing their medical expertise. The relationship became official in July 2020 and was extended in November 2020 when Springgate was named chief health officer, and Pasternak began serving as chief medical officer. “Schools and parents are making the right choices to proceed with vaccinating our children against COVID-19,” said Springgate. “Vaccinat- ing all eligible children reduces the burden of ill- ness and transmission, allows parents to work instead of staying home with quarantined stu- dents, and keeps schools open to in-person learning.” The school system requested that vaccina- tion against COVID-19 be added to the list of required vaccinations, and the Louisiana Depart- ment of Health approved the request. As with other mandated vaccinations, parents can file for an exemption for medical, religious, or philosoph- ical reasons. “Vaccinating all eligible children ages five and up against COVID-19 will give us the best chance to keep our school children healthy and keep schools open to in-person learning,” said Pasternak. According to the Centers for Disease Con- trol and Prevention, children are as likely to be infected with COVID-19 as adults and can get very sick from COVID-19, having both short and long-term health complications from COVID-19. They can spread COVID-19 to others, including at home and school. Tulane University Awarded $1MNIHGrant to Train Medical Residents The National Institutes of Health has awarded Tulane University a $1 million grant to increase the number and diversity of physician scien- tists engaged in heart, lung, and blood disease research. The four-year grant will provide mentored research opportunities and support for a diverse cohort of medical residents in internal medicine and pediatrics seeking independent, interdisci- plinary research careers as board-certified phy- sician scientists through Tulane’s Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (StARR) program. Tulane physician-scientists Marie “Tonette” Krousel-Wood, MD, and Jay Kolls, MD, are lead- ing the initiative to recruit and train diverse resi- dent-scholars committed to research careers and to provide individually tailored career develop- ment programs. Resident-scholars in the four-year Tulane StARR program focus their research in their chosen field of medicine or pediatrics. For six months of each year beginning in year two of the program, scholars will have 80% protected time to con- centrate on building research skills and conduct- ing research with established research groups while keeping 20% of time dedicated to clinical care. The second six months of each year will be devoted to clinical training to ensure that resi- dents have sufficient time and continuity in build- ing clinical skills. “Throughout the StARR program, resident- scholars alternate research and clinical rota- tions to ensure that they are proficient in deliv- ering clinical care and in building their research careers,” Krousel-Wood said. The StARR program is supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award num- ber R38HL155774. LSUHealth NOOpens Clinical Trial Studying Liquid Aspirin for Early COVID-19 LSU Health New Orleans is recruiting up to 200 participants recently diagnosed with COVID-19 to a proof-of-concept clinical trial to test whether early outpatient treatment with liquid aspirin can reduce hospitalization rates. This liquid aspirin formulation is currently not FDA-approved in the United States. Frank Lau, MD, associate professor of surgery at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medi- cine, is the principal investigator. Supported by UK-based Innovate Anti-infectives Ltd., it uses enhanced liquid aspirin (ELA), a drug formulated by Innovate Anti-infectives Ltd., led by Medical Director Jimmy Stuart and CEO Simon Cohen. Although COVID-19 is classified as an acute respiratory infection, COVID-associated coag- ulopathy (CAC) has been linked to death and severe illness. This condition can cause abnormalities of blood flow, including the ten- dency toward prolonged or excessive clotting. Anticoagulant therapies such as heparin have been shown to reduce CAC-related mortality and are now standard of care for hospitalized COVID- 19 patients. However, no data regarding outpa- tient management of COVID-19 with anticoagu- lant therapies have been published. The trial is a randomized, double-blind pla- cebo control study. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two study arms. Participants in Arm 1 will receive a placebo, which is an inactive substance of soybean oil. Participants assigned to Arm 2 will receive 150 mg of liquid aspirin daily. As with any study, there are risks, including aller- gic reactions to study drugs. Although conven- tional aspirin is an over-the-counter medication that is routinely taken by patients who are at risk for cardiovascular events, some side effects have been noted. Possible side effects include nau- sea, upset stomach, heartburn, gastritis, gastric bleeding, soft tissue bleeding, or bruising. Par- ticipants could also experience intolerance and allergic reaction to the soybean oil in the placebo. Patients with preexisting risk factors of bleeding will be excluded from the study. If the study’s hypothesis is correct, subjects who receive the treatments may benefit through reduced disease severity and reduced chances of hospitalization, although no direct medical ben- efit can be guaranteed. Study results may lead to a low-risk and early outpatient treatment method to reduce the hospitalization rate for newly diag- nosed COVID-19 patients. This study will also help the researchers learn more about how liq- uid aspirin and serum vitamin D levels can affect COVID-19 disease severity and hospitalizations. This information may help in the treatment of future patients with COVID-19. “COVID-19 has affected millions of people world-wide,” said Stuart. “The available vac- cines have proven to be effective against COVID- 19, but with some limitations. In particular, the protection they give seems to decline after six months. While vaccines will continue to be the main defense against COVID, we also need to develop medications that are effective in treat- ing this disease.” For more information, contact Catherine Pow- ell at (504) 568-2202. n