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Mason Spirit is published three times a year by the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations in conjunction with the Office of Communications and Marketing.
Research
Creative Differences
By Priyanka Champaneri, BA '05, MFA '10 on March 20, 2019
When most people think of how the great ideas of our time came about, they envision a single ‘eureka!’ moment when the idea arrives, fully formed, to only a special few. Mason management professor Matthew Cronin’s new book argues otherwise.
Unraveling a Tragedy
By Colleen Kearney Rich on November 26, 2018
In her latest book, The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life (Pegasus Books, 2018), Antonin Scalia Law School professor Joyce Lee Malcolm takes a new look at the man commonly known as one of the most infamous traitors in U.S. history.
Ancient Text Yields New Understanding
By Anne Reynolds on November 26, 2018
A Mason religious studies professor is leading a team of scholars who are translating a rare 16th-century Maya text.
Targeting Treatments
By Colleen Kearney Rich on August 6, 2018
Researchers at Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine are bringing personalized medicine to more people with metastatic breast cancer in their latest clinical trial. This third phase of breast cancer research, supported the Side-Out Foundation, involves 100 patients from 10 sites around the United States and is the center’s largest clinical trial yet.
There Is No One Right Way to Treat a Patient—There Are 7 Billion
By Mason Spirit contributor on August 6, 2018
Personalized. Precision. Predictive. One size doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to health care.
Continue Reading There Is No One Right Way to Treat a Patient—There Are 7 Billion
Unlocking Key Information in Health Records
By Mason Spirit contributor on August 6, 2018
Analyzing the wealth of data available in electronic health records is a powerful new weapon driving personalized medicine and helping improve health care delivery. It is the central focus of Mason’s highly specialized health informatics program. The key to predicting a disease, identifying likelihood of a hospital readmission, or determining the best drug to prescribe in a given circumstance may be found in these records.
Continue Reading Unlocking Key Information in Health Records
Microorganisms and How They Relate to Disease
By Mason Spirit contributor on August 6, 2018
Mason researcher Patrick Gillevet, director of Mason’s MicroBiome Analysis Center, studies the microbiome—the assortment of microorganisms in a given environment—and its relationship to human disease. Studies have found an individual’s microbiome can affect many aspects of health and illness, including cognition, obesity, cirrhosis, and even autism.
Continue Reading Microorganisms and How They Relate to Disease
Beating the Odds for Better Clinical Trials
By Mason Spirit contributor on August 6, 2018
William Rosenberger would like to see more favorable odds for patients in clinical trials. So the University Professor and chair of Mason Engineering’s Department of Statistics is helping medical researchers apply the concepts used in personalized medicine to better design studies—and benefit patients. In personalized medicine, patients get targeted treatments based on their genetics, specific…
Continue Reading Beating the Odds for Better Clinical Trials
Q&A with Peter Leeson
By Lindsay Bernhards, BA '18 on August 6, 2018
In his second book, Peter T. Leeson, PhD Economics ’05, shares the economic reasoning behind some of the world’s strangest practices and superstitions. It turns out that these rules were actually not so much strange as they were meticulously planned responses to pressing social problems. From Italy’s criminal prosecution of cockroaches and crickets to accused criminals in Liberia choosing to drink poison to determine their fates, Leeson’s new book studies the rational thought behind irrational practices.
Rice, Beans, and a Serving of Reality
By Jamie Rogers on November 7, 2017
Barbara Gomperts, MA English ’08, wondered how she was going to make one can of beans last three days. She had $4.18 to spend on food each day for the next three days—a total of $12.54. For Gomperts, a nutrition major, this was a project for the NUTR 626 Food Systems class, offered at Mason this summer. But for others, it’s a way of life. Students in the class…
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