University of Rochester Medical Center

The University of Rochester Medical Center opened a downtown COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Friday. It’s located at Manhattan Square Family Medicine on East Broad Street. 

John Clark is Regional Administrative Director with URMC’s Center for Primary Care. He said they started off with a small number of vaccinations on Friday, but they expect to ramp that up in the weeks ahead.

The University of Rochester Medical Center will resume the clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine after it was halted in early September.

The trial of the vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, was stopped after one British participant developed severe neurological symptoms consistent with a rare inflammation of the spinal cord.

Recently, the drug maker got the go-ahead from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to restart tests in the U.S.

A graduate of the University of Rochester Medical School is one of three winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine announced early on Monday.

Harvey J. Alter earned a 1956 bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, and a 1960 M.D. degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. 

He trained in internal medicine at Strong Memorial Hospital and at the University Hospitals of Seattle.

The University of Rochester Medical Center is conducting another Phase 3 clinical trial for a potential coronavirus vaccine under the federal Operation Warp Speed initiative.

More than 30,000 people from around the country will be recruited for the study, including 1,000 in Rochester. Volunteers will receive the first doses of the vaccine, which was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

Officials at the University of Rochester Medical Center are remembering a beloved and iconic personality from their surgical staff, Dr. Seymour Schwartz. He died Friday at the age of 92 at his son's home in St. Louis, Missouri.

A bio on URMC’s website says that Schwartz was “one of the most distinguished surgeons in America,” having edited and co-written a textbook used to teach generations of young doctors.

Well-known local real estate developer and philanthropist David Flaum has died. A statement from the family on Thursday night said that Flaum, the CEO and founder of Flaum Management, has died at the age of 67.

Flaum built a diverse real estate portfolio and his family says that while he took pride in redeveloping undervalued and empty properties and transforming them into thriving commercial centers, it was also his philanthropic actions that defined his life.

The University of Rochester Medical Center is joining two clinical trials exploring the treatment potential of plasma transfusions from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to patients currently battling the virus.

In the early months of the global pandemic, health researchers identified convalescent plasma transfusions as promising potential treatment for COVID-19.

The University of Rochester Medical Center has been named the recipient of a grant for sickle cell anemia treatment, a condition that disproportionately affects Black people and increases susceptibility to COVID-19.

URMC was one of five institutions to pull from a total of $250,000 in Access to Excellent Care for Sickle Cell Patients (ACCESS) grants from Global Blood Therapeutics. The funding to URMC will be specifically oriented toward transitional care from pediatric to adult sickle cell patients and community outreach.