UConn Health Pulse

Season’s Eatings: Tips From an RD

Temptation surrounds us during the holiday season. How do we navigate those holiday parties, potlucks and happy hours so we can be reasonably healthy and still be festive? Linda York, registered dietitian at UConn Health, has some tips on how to "brave the buffet" and still share in the merriment.

(Linda York, Chris DeFrancesco, November 2023)

 

Meet the ’Trauma Avengers’

A nationwide child and adolescent behavioral health project that originated at UConn Health takes a creative, modern approach to helping young people cope with mental health challenges. At the same time, it creates educational resources for therapists throughout the country. A component of this includes the "Trauma Avengers" sharing their "Digital Diaries." Clinical psychologists Julian Ford and Rocio Chang, co-directors of the Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders, join Carolyn and Chris to explain.

(Dr. Rocio Chang, Dr. Julian Ford, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, August 2023)

Julian Ford, professor of psychiatry, UConn Health 
https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Ford-Julian

Rocio Chang, assistant professor of psychiatry, UConn Health
https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Chang-Roc%C3%ADo

Center for Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders
https://developmental-trauma.org/

Trauma Avengers (Digital Diaries: Rx)
https://traumaavengers.com/

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UConn Health
https://health.uconn.edu/psychiatry/areas-of-care/child-and-adolescent/

860-523-3745

Start School Sleep Schedule Soon!

When is the best time to start moving up bed time? Hint: it's not the night before the first day of school! Dr. Jennifer Kanaan from UConn Health's Sleep Disorders Center works with adults, adolescents, and children. She joins the podcast to explain what's happening in our bodies when we sleep and why it's so beneficial to our performance, particularly in school. Listen to her advice and start the school year off right!

(Dr. Jennifer Kanaan, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, July 2023)

Dr. Jennifer Kanaan
https://health.uconn.edu/find-a-provider/physician/Kanaan-Jennifer

UConn Health Sleep Disorders Center
https://health.uconn.edu/pulmonary/sleep-disorders-center/
860-679-4090

 

Managing Movement Disorders Like Parkinson’s

Identifying Parkinson's disease early and starting a treatment plan can go a long way in delaying the onset of disability or loss of function. Once that diagnosis is made, supportive care and planning become crucial parts of managing the disease. Dr. Bernardo Rodrigues, director of UConn Health's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, explains.

(May 2023, Dr. Bernardo Rodrigues, Chris DeFrancesco)

Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center at UConn Health
https://health.uconn.edu/parkinsons/

Call for appointment: 860-679-4888

Dr. Bernardo Rodrigues
https://facultydirectory.uchc.edu/profile?profileId=Rodrigues-Bernardo

Parkinson's disease patient support group at UConn Health
https://health.uconn.edu/parkinsons/patient-resources/

Parkinson's disease caregiver support group at UConn Health
parkinsons@uchc.edu, 860-679-3224

Education as a Diabetes Management Tool

Two UConn Health endocrinologists, Drs. Pooja Luthra and Parvathy Madhavan, and the coordinator of UConn Health's Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, nurse practitioner Luriza Glynn, discuss the importance of recognizing early signs of diabetes and managing it once diagnosed with the benefit of education.

(Luriza Glynn, Dr. Parvathy Madhavan, Dr. Pooja Luthra, Chris DeFrancesco, April 2023)

Diabetes care at UConn Health:
https://health.uconn.edu/diabetes/

UConn Health Diabetes Self-Management Education Program:
https://health.uconn.edu/diabetes/diabetes-self-management-education-program/

Prediabetes risk test:
https://diabetes.org/diabetes/risk-test

UConn Health endocrinology:
https://health.uconn.edu/endocrinology/
860-679-3245

Alternatives to Opioids in Pain Management

When it comes to pain management, particularly back and neck pain, narcotics are not the only option. We ask two UConn Health physiatrists — Dr. Joseph Walker and Dr. Durgadas Sakalkale — about the approaches they take in the UConn Musculoskeletal Institute.

(March 2023, Dr. Joseph Walker, Dr. Durgadas Sakalkale, Chris DeFrancesco)

UConn Health Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
https://health.uconn.edu/orthopedics-sports-medicine/
860-676-6600

UConn Health Comprehensive Spine Center
https://health.uconn.edu/spine/
860-679-6662

Dental Care for Kids

Dr. Katherine Fleming from the UConn School of Dental Medicine's Division of Pediatric Dentistry and Dr. Michaela Matos, a UConn pediatric dental resident, join for Children's Oral Health Month. They explain what is (and isn't) a dental emergency, discuss the importance of establishing a dental home for your child, and offer tips for parents to cultivate health habits.

(Dr. Katherine Fleming, Dr. Michaela Matos, Courtney Chandler, Chris DeFrancesco, February 2023)

UConn Health Pediatric Dentistry Clinic
https://health.uconn.edu/dental/patient-services/pediatric-dentistry/
65 Kane St., West Hartford
860-523-3770

UConn Pediatric Dental Residency Program
https://dentalmedicine.uconn.edu/divisions/pediatric-dentistry/

Dr. Matos also would like to acknowledge her co-residents:

• Dr. Shailly Shah
• Dr. Marissa Ruggiero
• Dr. Dan Nyguen 

 

Addressing Alcohol Addiction

One of the founding fathers of the Alcohol Research Center at UConn Health — the longest-running NIH-funded center of its kind — is part of an international collaboration of addiction researchers out with updated findings on the social, cultural and environmental factors that influence alcoholism and harmful drinking. UConn School of Medicine Professor Emeritus Thomas Babor is a lead author of the third edition of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity, which explains those factors and makes policy recommendations on how to address them. The book is scheduled to be available for hard copy purchase in the U.S. in late January. An open-access PDF is available for free download now.

(Thomas Babor, Chris DeFrancesco, January 2023)

Thomas Babor, professor emeritus, public health sciences, UConn School of Medicine
https://health.uconn.edu/public-health-sciences/faculty-profile-tom-babor/

Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity (open-access PDF)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/alcohol-no-ordinary-commodity-9780192844484

UConn Health Alcohol Research Center
https://health.uconn.edu/psychiatry/research/alcohol-research-center/

UConn Today feature on Alcohol Research Center, June 2019
https://today.uconn.edu/2019/06/uconns-alcohol-research-center-continues-unprecedented-run/

Breaking Down Health Barriers With Urban Service

The Urban Service Track incorporates prevention and primary care in underserved communities into the training of future prepares health professionals. It's a program of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center, housed at UConn Health. This summer, Urban Service Track students worked with the Hartford Department of Health and Human Services to go door-to-door in city neighborhoods to have conversations about preventive medicine and offer COVID-19 vaccinations on the spot. Three students who took part in this effort, Brian Liang (fourth-year UConn medical student and master of public health candidate), Eddyson Altidor (second-year UConn dental student), and Julia Levin (first-year UConn medical student), share their experience and how it's shaping them as future clinicians.

(Julia Levin, Brian Liang, Eddyson Altidor, Chris DeFrancesco, December 2023)

Connecticut Area Health Education Center (CT AHEC)
https://health.uconn.edu/connecticut-area-health-education-center-network/

Urban Service Track/AHEC Scholars Program
https://health.uconn.edu/connecticut-area-health-education-center-network/urban-services-track-and-ahec-scholars/

TARGETing PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is often associated with military combat and experiencing a traumatic situation, such as the Sandy Hook school shooting. A few weeks ahead of the 10-year anniversary of that tragedy, we discuss PTSD with UConn Health clinical psychologists Julian Ford and Rocio Chang. They explain what PTSD is and isn't, differentiate between PTSD and the somewhat newly diagnosed form known as "complex PTSD," what we've learned in the 10 years since Sandy Hook, and how to help those affected by PTSD — including a treatment approach known as TARGET, which our guests helped develop.

(Dr. Julian Ford, Dr. Rocio Chang, Carolyn Pennington, Chris DeFrancesco, November 2022)

UConn Health Department of Pyschiatry
https://health.uconn.edu/psychiatry/