In the News
In the News
Good things are happening at UNLV Health, the medical practice where Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV doctors treat patients.
Here you will find the latest news stories and contact information for media relations. Our media relations team is available to assist with news inquiries involving UNLV clinics, doctors, patients, and programs.
If you are a journalist looking for more information about UNLV Health clinics, or the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, our media relations team can help you with:
- Setting up interviews with our expert physicians and other healthcare professionals
- Access to our facilities for reporters/photographers/videographers and news crews.
We look forward to working with you. You can find more information about UNLV Media Policies, or contact our manager of media relations, Mr. Paul Joncich at (702) 895-1696 for stories about our doctors and medical clinics.
Dr. Ashley Pistorio – Carpal Tunnel
A UNLV Health doctor is now one of just over 100 across the nation offering a newer procedure to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.
Dr. Ashley Pistorio demonstrated the technique to News 3 on Tuesday morning at the UNLV Health Plastic Surgery Clinic.
Pediatrician’s Philanthropic Work Is a ‘Game Changer’
Award-winning associate professor and nonprofit medical director shares what drew her to a career in medicine.
One of eight children, Dr. Oriaku A. Kas-Osoka, MD, an associate professor in the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV department of pediatrics, began reading fluently on her mother’s knee at age three. During her childhood, nothing was more enjoyable than burrowing deep under her bed covers and reading by flashlight late into the night.
The Interview: Frederick “Rick” Smith
This UNLV Health Pediatric Clinic administrator, gospel quartet singer, and colon cancer survivor is an unstoppable force.
‘Delivering’ on Health Care is New Assistant Professor’s Specialty
Dr. Leanne Free’s passion for building relationships has led to a satisfying career as an OB/GYN physician — and to the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.
When did Dr. Leanne Free, brand-new assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, know she wanted to get into medicine? As a 15-year-old candy striper at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. The proof? She logged over 1,000 volunteer hours in two years.
UNLV Health Maternal Child Wellness Program Awarded Renewal of Grant To Help HIV-positive Women And Youth
Dr. David Di John, professor and section chief for pediatric infectious diseases at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, is the director of the UNLV Health Maternal Child Wellness Program
In the 1980s and 90s, when David Di John, MD, worked at and later headed an AIDS clinic in New York City, an outbreak of HIV and AIDs swept across the United States and the rest of the world. He remembers it, in part, as a time when there were numerous instances of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, which led to children dying young.
Leading the Largest Military-Civilian Partnership in the Country
Air Force Lt. Col. Jeremy Kilburn, a doctor specializing in pulmonary and critical care medicine, is an associate professor of medicine at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV as well as the school’s director of the Office of Military Medicine. Here, he provides insight into a unique military-civilian partnership that he says is the most complex in the United States.
Pediatrician Alerts Community About Polio, Need For Vaccinations
Assistant professor Josephine Sun offers expertise on the re-emergence of the polio virus and the importance of routine immunizations.
When Josephine Sun, MD, finished her pediatric residency last year at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, it had been more than 40 years since a case of polio originated in the United States.
Dr. John Fildes’ Lifelong Commitment to Serving Southern Nevada Continues After Retirement
Even if Ben Franklin, one of the nation’s Founding Fathers who seemed capable of doing almost everything to enhance the common good – from helping draft the Declaration of Independence to inventing the flexible catheter – could have broken the time barrier to share his wisdom with Americans of every generation, there would have been no need for him to share one of his most important observations with John Fildes: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Doctor Reunites With Patient 14 Years After Saving Her Life
Dr. Michael Scheidler performed life-saving surgery on tiny Annalisa Gubler when she was an infant with a dim prognosis.
For as long as she could remember, 15-year-old Annalisa Gubler had heard about the crucial role Dr. Michael Scheidler had played in her life.
She heard about how excited her parents had been to welcome their firstborn child into their family, how ill she soon became as an infant, and how Scheidler, a Las Vegas pediatric surgeon who now is with the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV, saved her life.
UNLV Health Dr. Michael Gardner among the 1st to get COVID vaccination.
“I am fortunate to be among the 1st to get vaccinated in the state of Nevada. I encourage everyone and their families to get vaccinated so that we can put this pandemic behind us and return to a more normal life for us and our community.”
New Medical Education Building Construction Begins
With Donor funding through the Nevada Health & Bioscience Corp., the 135,000 square foot building is expected to open in summer 2022.
No one will ever accuse Nevada Health & Bioscience Corp. (NHBC) of taking its time to make a difference in the community.
Not even a year has passed since Nevadans first heard of the new nonprofit — its mission is to develop healthcare education, research, clinical assets, and programming in Nevada.
How To Safely Celebrate Thanksgiving During a Pandemic
The founding dean of UNLV’s School of Medicine, Barbara Atkinson
recommends
observing the holiday virtually this year to help keep loved ones
well.
It’s a question millions of Americans are asking as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread disease in the United States: What kind of Thanksgiving celebration can we have this year?
Nurse Practitioner Improvises as She Earns Doctoral Degree
Dianne Galgana focuses on well-child care and management of common pediatric acute illnesses.
You look at a photograph of UNLV Medicine pediatric nurse practitioner Dianne Galgana and her daughter, Penelope, both dressed in red graduation regalia, and you can’t help but be reminded that a single image can carry a lot of power.
There’s pure joy in the photos. Pride of accomplishment. Love for each other. Love for life.
Hero Of The Week: Carmen Vargas
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - They say not all heroes wear capes. True. Some wear lab coats, scrubs and protective face masks.
In these unprecedented times, they are fighting along the front lines to win the battle to make us safe. We cheer them on, give our thanks and honor their efforts. Meet one of those heroes now.
Sacrificing Family Time and Finances to Help Fight Coronavirus
You might say Tiffany Robledo is on the front line of the front lines — she swabs inside the noses those arriving for UNLV Medicine’s curbside COVID-19 testing program. After the medical assistant collects specimens, they are then taken to a lab for testing. She is part of the program that has tested more than 3,000 people in Southern Nevada in less than a month.
“I’m only 21 and super proud that I’ve already been put in an important position to help people,” says Robledo. “It’s something that must be done to try and curtail the spread of this disease.”
Healthcare Students Learning
Healthcare Students Learning Around Big Obstacles
For students in Medicine, Nursing, and Dental Medicine, those furthest along heading to front lines while classmates cope with rearranged clinical work.
As many of us sit alone in our spare rooms, our home offices, our converted garages, as we perch on our couches doing what we can to find a kind of equilibrium of normalcy in the midst of the greatest public health crisis of the past 100 years, there are UNLV students already counting the days to when they will be on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Interview: David Di John
In the Age of COVID-19: How an Infectious Disease Doc and Family Live Their Lives
Dr. David Di John, who ran an HIV clinic in New York during the height of the AIDS crisis, hopes public awareness about good hygiene will carry on long after the coronavirus scare ends.
Just because Dr. David Di John has largely devoted his professional life to the treatment of infectious diseases doesn’t mean his personal life is immune from repeated discussions about the infectious coronavirus, COVID-19, an acute respiratory disease.
School of Medicine Resident Physicians Sharpen Surgery Skills
Working with cadavers provides medical students with valuable experience.
Inside the Oquendo Center, a large medical event space near McCarran International Airport, eight human cadavers lay on individual operating tables, each one surrounded by an array of surgical equipment.
Pot While Pregnant: UNLV Medicine Doctors Urge Caution
New study links daily marijuana use to adverse fetal health outcomes.
Daily marijuana use during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of low birth weight, low resistance to infection, decreased oxygen levels and other negative fetal health outcomes, according to a new study from a team of UNLV Medicine doctors.
The Interview: John Phelps
Dr. John Phelps says that no matter how many babies he delivers, he still is excited to be part of such an important family experience.
Though he’s delivered hundreds of babies, Dr. John Phelps, a professor and residency program director in the UNLV School of Medicine’s department of obstetrics and gynecology, says the experience never gets old.