Health in the Heart and Mind

Through genetic screening, a heart clinic is able to assess a patient’s risk of inherited heart conditions that lead to sudden cardiac death.

At age 20, Ellison’s brother committed an awful crime and then took his own life. Ellison is now an advocate for suicide prevention and mental health counselor.

Depression affects almost 15 million American adults, yet doctors still don’t know much about how it works. New research shows that it may be possible to make a personalized diagnosis of depression through images of the brain. Our guest Pearl Chiu is an assistant professor of psychology at Virginia Tech who conducts her research at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke.

HIV infections are rising among a surprising segment of the population–African Americans over the age of 50. Fife is working to combat this disturbing trend.

Millions of people in developing countries go blind due to cataracts because there aren’t enough surgeons trained in the five-minute procedure to remove them. Strauss is designing a simulator that will train 30,000 specialists who could give millions the life-changing operation.