Author Archives: Johanna

I Have Symptoms. My COVID Home Test is Negative. Now What?

Posted on by

CNBC recently featured MSK’s Dr. Esther Babady in an article answering a question at the forefront of our minds: Why is my at-home COVID test negative when I have symptoms?

N. Esther Babady, PhD
N. Esther Babady, PhD

In the article, Dr. Babady hypothesizes that BA.4 and BA.5, the current most common COVID variants, may have undergone structural mutations that makes them more difficult for a home test to detect. She also says that people may not have enough detectable viral proteins early in the course of disease, and that some home tests may be better than others at detecting the current strains.  

Dr. Babady recommends getting a PCR test, which is more sensitive than home tests, and to isolate and wear masks around others if you have symptoms, even with negative test results. Even if you don’t have COVID, you can prevent spreading other viruses using these precautions.

CIOs Without Borders

Posted on by
Atefeh Riazi

Atefeh Riazi. Photo by Richard DeWitt.

Becker’s Hospital Review recently featured Atefeh Riazi, MSK’s Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, and her nonprofit CIOs Without Borders.

After visiting Guiyu, China in 2008 and witnessing people rummage through an enormous e-waste site, Riazi was driven to action. She founded a task force to reduce e-waste that eventually became the nonprofit CIOs Without Borders. Today, the organization focuses on providing health care technology and information to developing countries like Rwanda and Vietnam and is actively recruiting volunteers.  

Identifying Treatment Targets for Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer

Posted on by

The work of a team of researchers from MSK and Weill Cornell was recently featured by Australia’s The National Tribune, and could lead to more targeted therapies for certain types of prostate cancer.

The study, published in May in Science, used sequencing analyses of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) to define four subtypes of disease, including two newly identified by the team. One of these subtypes, stem cell-like (SCL) tumors, makes up around a quarter of CRPC cases. The team determined factors involved in the growth of SCL tumors, and treatments are already being tested that may improve outcomes for these patients.