Dr. Lorenz Studer was part of a team of researchers from MSK and Weill Cornell that screened over 1,000 FDA-approved drugs and traditional medicines to determine which, if any, could block the Zika Virus in human fetal brain cells. The team found that the compound hippeastrine hydrobromide, an active ingredient of the medicinal plant Lycoris radiata (red spider lily), was able to not only block the infection in the fetal brain cells, but also eliminated preexisting Zika infection. The compound also showed promise in infected brains of adult mice.

Kent Sepkowitz, the Deputy Physician-in-Chief of Quality and Safety at MSK, an Infectious Disease Specialist, and a Game of Thrones fan, highlights how Hollywood is not always the most adept at providing historically accurate depictions, especially when it comes to healthcare and modern medicine. His assessment of the season premier of Season 7 of Game of Thrones tackles the odd appearance of rubber gloves in a storyline depicting contact isolation and hygiene, three concepts foreign to the medieval world. Sepkowitz provides a brief background to the invention of rubber gloves along with his analysis of last week’s plot.

Dr. Craig Thompson received a well-deserved honor last month, when he was rated as Glassdoor’s #1 highest employee-rated health system CEO for 2017, taking the #4 slot among all industries. Glassdoor’s annual Employee’s Choice Awards, lists the 100 highest-rated CEOs across the country. These awards are based on voluntary feedback from employees through anonymous reviews of their company’s leadership, job satisfaction, and work environment over the past year. According to Glassdoor’s analyses, high rated CEOs are correlated to companies with great cultures. Keep up the good work MSK!