NIH Record - National Institutes of Health
Illustration of torso/chest with heart and DNA fragments

February 19, 2021

  • Seated with left arm exposed, Harris receives a shot in the arm from Chan.

    Vice President Visits NIH to Complete Covid Vaccination

    By Carla Garnett

    Vice President Kamala Harris visited NIH on Jan. 26 for the first time as VP. She was on a priority mission—vaccination against Covid-19. “NIH scientists created something that will save your life and the life of your family and the community,” she said, after being injected with her second dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. “I want to urge everyone to take the vaccine when it is your turn."
  • Dr. Lisa Cooper

    Cooper Navigates Lifelong Journey Toward Health Equity

    By Dana Talesnik

    Guided by her early memories of dire poverty in Liberia, JHU's Dr. Lisa Cooper seeks to change how health care is delivered to underserved populations in the U.S. She and her team are conducting clinical trials examining disparities in care delivery, results that could help inform changes in health policy.

  • Covid-19 Affects Heart, Other Organs

    By Eric Bock

    Covid-19 is not just a respiratory virus. The virus affects many organs, including the heart, said Dr. Eric Topol. “The more we learn about Covid, the more we learn about other aspects of its attack,” said Topol, executive vice president and professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research Institute and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
  • Dr. Zenk

    Zenk Examines How Communities Affect Our Health

    By Ellen O’Donnell

    In a virtual lecture, “All Health Is Not Created Equal: Where You Live Matters,” NINR director Dr. Shannon Zenk discussed her research, which has revealed that the places people live shape their health more than they may know. Her talk was the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health’s 2020 Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture in the Science of Complementary Therapies, honoring the center’s founding director.
Illustration of torso/chest with heart and DNA fragments

On the Cover

DNA fragments (yellow) derived from a transplanted heart alongside the patient’s own DNA (blue). A new blood test measures donor DNA fragments and detects acute heart transplant rejection earlier than current methods. A study on the new test was published in the journal Circulation and was funded by the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research. February is American Heart Month.

Erina He, NIH Medical Arts

The NIH Record

The NIH Record, founded in 1949, is the biweekly newsletter for employees of the National Institutes of Health.

Published 25 times each year, it comes out on payday Fridays.

Assistant Editor: Eric Bock
Eric.Bock@nih.gov (link sends e-mail)

Staff Writer: Amber Snyder
Amber.Snyder@nih.gov (link sends e-mail)

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