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Two years of wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and trying not to catch COVID-19 had a welcome, if unplanned, byproduct: many people caught fewer colds and stomach bugs. But that could soon change. At the end of the month, Massachusetts will no longer require masks in schools and has dropped its recommendation that healthy vaccinated people wear masks indoors. Doctors say that means we should brace ourselves for the return of common infections many people have blissfully dodged for the past two years.

When to use blood, and how much to transfuse, is not always a given, said Dr. Vishesh Chhibber, the medical director for the transfusion service at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester.

To have a drug like that on hand would be a “game-changer,” said Lawrence Rhein, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and a specialist in pediatric pulmonology.

It joined community partners CENTRO, NewVue Communities, and UMass Memorial Health to host a virtual town hall last month that was open the public and featured a panel discussion and a question-and-answer session, enabling attendees to ask questions about vaccines and getting vaccinated and learn more about the COVID-19 omicron variant surge.

Results of the study are also intended to provide clinical evidence to support an application for FDA clearance. Thanh Nguyen, M.D., from Boston Medical Center, Guilherme Dabus, M.D., from Miami Cardiac and Vascular Institute and Baptist Neuroscience Institute, and Ajit Puri, M.D., from Umass Memorial Medical Center are the principal investigators of the study.

A phase 1 clinical trial for the Moderna vaccine recently kicked off, said Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, the study's principal investigator and chair of biomedical research for UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass.

A phase 1 clinical trial for the Moderna vaccine recently kicked off, said Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, the study's principal investigator and chair of biomedical research for UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester, Mass.

Above all, Dr. Shlomit Schaal considers her greatest strength to be her fierce curiosity; she finds beauty in grappling with scientific questions, learning the stories of her patients and approaching the mentorship of her students always with curiosity.

Mothers inspire daughters in untold ways, including choice of profession. However, that dynamic takes on special meaning when the profession is nursing during a pandemic – and when the mother and daughter work at the same organization.

Such is the case with Jonna Dube, MBA, BSN, RN and her daughter Alex Dube, BSN, RN.