JAMA Medical News

Discussions of timely topics in clinical medicine, biomedical research, public health, health policy, and more, featured in the Medical News section of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

September 2025 Medical News Summary

Ultraprocessed Foods and Cardiometabolic Health—New Report on a “Growing Public Health Challenge”; New Analysis of Women’s Health Initiative Data Aims to “Clear the Air” Over Menopausal Hormone Therapy Related Content: New Analysis of Women’s Health Initiative Data Aims to “Clear the Air” Over Menopausal Hormone Therapy Ultraprocessed Foods and Cardiometabolic Health—New Report on a “Growing Public Health Challenge”

09-26
11:25

Cardiovascular Highlights From ESC 2025

Updates on GLP-1 drugs in heart failure, β-blockers after myocardial infarction, the shingles vaccine, and more: Felix Mahfoud, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiology at University Hospital Basel, shares clinical research highlights from the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress. Related Content: GLP-1 Drugs in Heart Failure, β-Blockers After MI, the Shingles Vaccine, and More From ESC 2025

09-19
17:02

How Did Cystic Fibrosis Go From Fatal to Treatable?

Pulmonologist Michael J. Welsh, MD, is the co-recipient of the 2025 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his research on cystic fibrosis. In this interview, he discusses his early clinical encounters with the disease, the foundational work that led to the lifesaving drug Trikafta, and future directions for cystic fibrosis treatment. Related Content: How Cystic Fibrosis Went From Fatal to Treatable Rewriting the Chapter on Cystic Fibrosis

09-11
23:08

August 2025 Medical News Summary

What Is 7-OH?; Real-World Experience With Antiamyloid Therapies for Alzheimer Disease; FDA Panel on SSRIs and Pregnancy Lacked Nuance, Experts Say Related Content: What to Know About 7-OH, the New Vape Shop Hazard Treating Alzheimer Disease With Antiamyloid Therapies—The Real-World Experience Grows FDA Panel Casts SSRIs During Pregnancy as Risky—Many Experts Disagree  

08-29
15:26

July 2025 Medical News Summary

The Effects of Newly Changed Guidance on COVID-19 Shots During Pregnancy; Heart Disease Deaths Have Changed; Progress Toward a Norovirus Vaccine Related Content: The CDC No Longer Recommends COVID-19 Shots During Pregnancy—Now What? New Research Finds Long-Term Shifts in Heart Disease Mortality Is There a Norovirus Vaccine on the Horizon?

07-25
18:36

Socially Assistive Robots, Part 2

In this follow-up to a 2017 interview with JAMA Medical News, the University of Southern California’s Maja Matarić, PhD, the computer scientist who pioneered the field of socially assistive robotics, discusses how artificial intelligence is advancing the field in areas ranging from autism to physical rehabilitation to anxiety and depression. Related Content: Social Robots That Help Support People’s Health Are Getting a Boost From AI Socially Assistive Robots

07-02
21:32

Clinical Highlights From ASCO 2025

Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, a JAMA associate editor and associate chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, shares highlights from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, including new research on diet, exercise, and cancer survival and the best time of day for treatment. Related Content: Lifestyle and Cancer Survival, the Best Time of Day for Treatment, and More—Highlights From ASCO

06-27
19:55

June 2025 Medical News Summary

New NIH-FDA Partnership Targets Nutrition Research Gaps; First Blood Test for Alzheimer Biomarkers Receives FDA Clearance; A Growing Movement to Care for Caregivers Related Content: New Federal Program Seeks to Bridge Nutrition Research With Regulatory Policy What to Know About the First FDA-Cleared Blood Test for Alzheimer Biomarkers As the US Ages, a Growing Movement Aims to Care for Caregivers

06-27
25:08

AI-Based Analysis for Parkinsonism

Delaying diagnosis of parkinsonism can mean delaying care. In a study recently published in JAMA Neurology, David Vaillancourt, PhD, and colleagues tested the ability of an AI model to differentiate between Parkinson disease and other neurodegenerative disorders when paired with MRI. He joins JAMA and JAMA+ AI Associate Editor Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH to discuss. Related Content: A Large Proportion of Parkinson Disease Diagnoses Are Wrong—Here’s How AI Could Help Automated Imaging Differentiation for Parkinsonism

06-16
11:48

May 2025 Medical News Summary

Federal Funds for Rural Health Care May Be Cut; Why the IV Fluid Shortage After Hurricane Helene Was Years in the Making; Surge in US Sports Betting Raises Public Health Concerns Related Content: Federal Funds for Rural Health Care Are on the Chopping Block—Here’s What That Could Mean IV Fluid Shortages Persist Months After Hurricane Helene Hit a Supplier—Hospitals Have Had to Adapt The Hidden Health Costs Associated With Legalized Sports Gambling

05-30
23:11

When Do Nudges Help?

Susan Athey, PhD, of Standford University joins JAMA+ AI Editor in Chief Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, to discuss her research on machine learning to target behavioral nudges for college students and their potential implications for health care. Related Content: How an Economist’s Application of Machine Learning to Target Nudges Applies to Precision Medicine

05-16
21:35

Highlights From the American College of Cardiology’s 2025 Scientific Session

Ajay J. Kirtane, MD, SM, a professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, discusses late-breaking clinical research presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in an interview with JAMA Medical News Director Jennifer Abbasi. Related Content: Heart Health Highlights From ACC—Marathon Runners and Mortality, Oral GLP-1 Drugs, and More

04-25
13:28

April 2025 Medical News Summary

Axe Falls on Federal Health Workforce; Experts Say CDC Cuts Will Cost Lives Related Content: “Guaranteed Pandemonium” as HHS Secretary Slashes Federal Health Workforce Experts Say Abrupt and “Staggering” CDC Cuts Will Cost Lives

04-25
15:39

Real-World Performance of AI in Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy remains a leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide, and AI may facilitate screening, if such models continue to perform well when they are deployed in the real world. Coauthors Arthur Brant, MD, of Stanford University, and Sunny Virmani, MS, of Google join JAMA+ AI Editor in Chief Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, to discuss a new study published in JAMA Network Open. Related Content: Diabetic Retinopathy Is Massively Underscreened—an AI System Could Help Performance of a Deep Learning Diabetic Retinopathy Algorithm in India

04-18
16:25

Can Open-Source LLMs Compete With Proprietary Ones for Complex Diagnoses?

A recent study published in JAMA Health Forum suggests that institutions may be able to deploy custom open-source large language models (LLMs) that run locally without sacrificing data privacy or flexibility. Coauthors Thomas A. Buckley, BS, and Arjun K. Manrai, PhD, from the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School join JAMA+ AI Editor in Chief Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, to discuss. Related Content: Can Open-Source AI Models Diagnose Complex Cases as Well as GPT-4?

04-04
18:12

Rethinking Race in Prenatal Screening for Open Neural Tube Defects

Correction: This podcast has been updated to add additional context on the frequency of false positives. Open neural tube defects affect approximately 1 in 1400 births. Daniel Herman, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine joins JAMA+ AI Editor in Chief Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, to discuss a quality improvement study examining the need to continue to incorporate race in tests that screen for these defects. Related Content: Study Findings Question Value of Including Race in Prenatal Screening for Birth Defects Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Prenatal Screening for Open Neural Tube Defects

03-28
15:49

March 2025 Medical News Summary

The US Is Suing Pharmacies for Aiding in the Opioid Crisis; Texas Measles Outbreak Spurs Call for Stronger Vaccine Advocacy; Study Finds Sleep-Related Infant Deaths Are on the Rise Related Content: US Government Sues Pharmacy Chains CVS and Walgreens for Their Alleged Role in the Opioid Epidemic Amid Texas Measles Outbreak, Clinicians Struggle to Offset Increasing Vaccine Hesitancy Amid Decreasing Infant Mortality, Sleep-Related Infant Deaths Are on the Rise

03-28
20:03

AI’s Role in Advancing Equity for Individuals With Developmental Disabilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) in health care is advancing, despite concerns about how its use may impact health disparities. Dimitri Christakis, MD, MPH, chief health officer at Special Olympics, joins JAMA Associate Editor Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH, to discuss AI’s potential role in improving health care delivery for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Related Content: How AI Could Improve Health Care for People With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities How Artificial Intelligence Can Promote Inclusive Health

03-21
14:23

Prescreening for Clinical Trial Eligibility Using Large Language Models

A recent study showed AI-assisted screening using a large language model tool reduced time to determine trial eligibility compared with manual methods. Author Alexander J. Blood, MD, MSc, cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Associate Director of the Accelerator for Clinical Transformation Research Group at Harvard Medical School joins JAMA Associate Editor Yulin Hswen, ScD, MPH, to discuss this topic and more. Related Content: Study Finds AI Can Quickly Prescreen Patients for Clinical Trials, Speeding Enrollment Manual vs AI-Assisted Prescreening for Trial Eligibility Using Large Language Models—A Randomized Clinical Trial

03-14
12:06

Machine Learning for Earlier Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

In a recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry, researchers reported that a machine learning model was able to stratify risk for subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder among individuals already receiving psychiatric treatment. Coauthor Søren Dinesen Østergaard, PhD, of Aarhus University in Denmark joins JAMA+ AI Editor in Chief Roy H. Perlis, MD, MSc, to discuss. Related Content: Machine Learning Model Shows Promise in Early Detection of Serious Mental Illness Predicting Diagnostic Progression to Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder via Machine Learning

03-07
16:59

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