Summer is coming. Roughly one-half of the United States population is vaccinated against COVID-19. Many are itching to venture out from their 14-month global pandemic hibernation to travel and visit friends and family again.

According to UMass Medical School’s infection control officer, Sharone Green, MD, a safe vacation starts with preparation, research and awareness of one’s own risk and risks to others.

As the nation’s only nonprofit FDA-licensed manufacturer of vaccines and biologics, MassBiologics is a special part of UMass Medical School, one with unique potential to improve the health of people around the globe. With this special mission in mind, Chancellor Michael F.

Several United States senators visited the National Institutes of Health at its Bethesda, Maryland, campus on May 17 for a tour of its Vaccine Research Center and discussion of COVID-19 initiatives, including the National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative, or RADx.

UMass Medical School researchers continue to play a key role in clinical trials to support development of convenient, affordable and rapid COVID-19 testing through RADx.

A new study co-authored by UMass Medical School preventive cardiology expert Lara Kovell, MD, finds that diets with lots of fruits and vegetables and not too much salt positively impact three markers that can predict or be evidence of existing cardiovascular disease.

Construction of the new education and research building on the UMass Medical School main campus in Worcester goes underground this week, as crews begin excavation for the foundation of the structure.

COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna announced on May 25 that its mRNA vaccine works in teens and it plans to submit to federal regulators data for emergency use authorization in early June.

UMass Medical School is a study site for the Phase II/III study of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents between ages 12 and 17, called TeenCOVE.

UMass Medical School will celebrate students across its three schools with a trio of award ceremonies on June 3 and 4, leading up to the 48th Commencement Exercises on June 6. The events will be held for a limited audience in-person, and broadcast virtually for all to follow along from home.

Incoming medical students should pay heed to what faculty tell them during orientation. Benjamin Cook, SOM ’21, from Andover, recalled being told by Michael Ennis, MD, professor of family medicine & community health and assistant dean for student affairs, “Look to your left and look to your right. One of you is never going to leave Worcester.”

Preliminary data published this month from a surveillance project conducted at UMass Medical School, evaluating the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, played a critical role in new guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that no longer require fully vaccinated individuals to wear masks indoors or to socially distance from others. On May 29, fully vaccinated individuals in Massachusetts will no longer need to wear masks inside.

AMHERST, Mass.