(Press-News.org) CLEVELAND – A new visionary gift from the Veale Foundation will establish the University Hospitals Veale Healthcare Transformation Institute. The $23.5 million in support represents an investment in University Hospitals’ value-based care initiatives. Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, UH Chief Quality and Clinical Transformation Officer, will serve as the institute’s founding and first president.
“Healthcare today tells a story of scarcity – it harms too often, costs too much and learns and improves too slowly. It’s daunting work, but there is an urgent need to improve value for patients and hospitals alike,” said Dr. Pronovost, who also holds the Veale Distinguished Chair in Leadership and Clinical Transformation. “The UH Veale Institute has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, tell the story of abundance and produce more of what matters to us all.”
In June 2023, UH launched the Veale Initiative for Healthcare Transformation, a two-year pilot program to improve patient value by reducing costs, enhancing quality and eliminating waste. Under the leadership of Dr. Pronovost, the initiative confronted high-value problems within healthcare today, such as hospital lengths of stay and the factors inhibiting nurse productivity. The initiative found quick success and made clear and demonstrable impact; as a result, the Veale Foundation has increased their support and UH has established an institute dedicated to the effort.
“Healthcare transformation is challenging and complex, but UH knows that it is work worth doing,” said foundation chairman Daniel P. Harrington. “We are thrilled by the impact – both quantitative and qualitative – that Dr. Pronovost and his team have already made.”
The new gift builds on the incredible momentum of UH’s Because of You campaign and will further the health system’s commitment to discovery and innovation. News of the gift and the new institute were announced at a UH campaign event last week in Cleveland.
“University Hospitals is deeply grateful to the Veale Foundation for its visionary and unprecedented support to transform healthcare,” said Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS, UH Chief Executive Officer, Jane and Henry Meyer Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Chair. “Together, we can continue to expand our scope, bettering UH, Cleveland and beyond.”
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About The Campaign for University Hospitals
Because of You: The Campaign for University Hospitals is a $2 billion fundraising effort to support the UH mission. It is the most ambitious fundraising campaign in UH’s 158-year history and led by dedicated volunteer leaders Dee Haslam and Shelly Adelman. The Because of You campaign will strive to make a profound and indelible impact in five key areas: Caring for our children; Transforming cancer care; Investing in our community; Leading discovery and innovation; and Embracing emerging priorities. Learn more about UH’s historic effort to advance the care of patients throughout our community and beyond at UHgiving.org/BecauseofYou
About University Hospitals / Cleveland, Ohio
Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 21 hospitals (including five joint ventures), more than 50 health centers and outpatient facilities, and over 200 physician offices in 16 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship quaternary care, academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Oxford University, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and National Taiwan University College of Medicine. The main campus also includes the UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, with more than 3,000 active clinical trials and research studies underway. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to 19 Clinical Care Delivery and Research Institutes. UH is one of the largest employers in Northeast Ohio with more than 30,000 employees. Follow UH on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit UHhospitals.org.
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In a new JNeurosci paper, Adrian Rothenfluh and colleagues from the University of Utah developed a fruit fly model of cocaine self-administration that can be used to explore the genetic underpinnings of cocaine addiction.
To model voluntary cocaine intake in fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, the researchers first assessed cocaine consumption and preferences of this insect. Cocaine was innately aversive to fruit flies because it activated their bitter-sensing receptors. In other words, the fruit flies did not like cocaine’s ...
For the first time, researchers have created genetically modified fruit flies that can become addicted to cocaine. The flies will self-administer cocaine if given the option. The new model could prove immensely valuable for the development of new therapies to prevent and treat cocaine use disorder, a growing and deadly concern that affects about 1.5 million people nationwide.
Heredity strongly impacts the risk of developing cocaine use disorder, but the large number of genes implicated in addiction risk has made it difficult to determine which might be the best targets for therapeutics.
With their new fruit fly model ...
A new county-level dataset from Johns Hopkins University researchers reveals a national decline in the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination rate among U.S. children since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Out of 2,066 studied counties, 1,614 counties, 78%, reported drops in vaccinations and the average county-level vaccination rate fell 93.92% pre-pandemic to 91.26% post-pandemic—an average decline of 2.67%, moving further away from the 95% herd immunity threshold to predict or limit the spread of measles.
Only four of the 33 states in studied—California, ...
About The Study: In an average-risk colorectal cancer screening population, a blood-based test demonstrated acceptable accuracy for colorectal cancer detection, but detection of advanced precancerous lesions remains a challenge, and ongoing efforts are needed to improve test sensitivity.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Theodore R. Levin, MD, email theodore.levin@kp.org.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jama.2025.7515)
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional ...
About The Study: The finding of a slightly lower prevalence of any adenoma in the younger compared with the older age group (35.4% vs 40.8%) in the current study is consistent with an evaluation of 2001 screening colonoscopies from a university-based medical center between 2019 and 2021, which reported slightly lower rates of adenoma detection in those ages 45 to 49 vs 50 to 54 (34.3% vs 38.2%) and with a large study of adenoma detection rates in those ages 45 to 49 vs 50 to 54 (28.6% vs 31.8%) who underwent a screening colonoscopy before the change in guidelines ...
About The Study: This county-level dataset complements the state and national-level Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, confirming a widespread decline in measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination rates in the U.S. after the COVID-19 pandemic while revealing significant heterogeneity in vaccination patterns within and across states. This dataset can be used in spatial and statistical analyses to identify factors associated with low or declining MMR rates in U.S. counties and help inform targeted vaccination strategies to reduce the risk of measles outbreaks.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Lauren M. ...
Findings from a new study of almost 50,000 women followed for 30 years suggest that a morning cup of coffee might do more than boost energy; it could also help women stay sharp, strong and mentally well as they age.
The analysis found that women who drank caffeinated coffee in midlife were more likely to exhibit healthy aging. However, the researchers didn’t find any links with tea or decaf coffee, while drinking more cola was tied to a significantly lower chance of healthy aging.
“While past studies have linked coffee to individual health outcomes, our study is ...
For more information, contact:
Nicole Fawcett, nfawcett@umich.edu
EMBARGOED for release at noon ET June 2, 2025
Researchers find early driver of prostate cancer aggressiveness
Study links higher expression of the gene PROX1 to aggressive change in prostate tumor cells; FDA-approved class of drugs can disable PROX1
ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center identified a gene that plays a key role in prostate cancer cells that have transitioned to a more aggressive, treatment-resistant form. ...
A protein that gives fleas their bounce has been used to boot out bacteria cells, with lab results demonstrating the material’s potential for preventing medical implant infection.
The collaborative study led by researchers at RMIT University in Australia is the first reported use of antibacterial coatings made from resilin-mimetic proteins to fully block bacteria from attaching to a surface.
Study lead author Professor Namita Roy Choudhury said the finding is a critical step towards their ...
Scientists from Helsinki, Durham and Toulouse universities used data from NASA’s Hubble and the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescopes to simulate how the Milky Way and Andromeda will evolve over the next 10 billion years.
The two galaxies are currently heading towards each other at a speed of about 100 kilometres per second.
A collision would be devastating for both galaxies which would be destroyed, leaving behind a spheroidal pile of stars known as an elliptical galaxy.
The team ran 100,000 simulations of both galaxies based on the latest observational ...
