AI and HealthCare, Emergency Care, Heart Disease, JAMA / 18.05.2026

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Nimit Desai, BA Medical Student and Affiliate Researcher UC San Diego School of Medicine and Qualcomm Institute John W. Ayers, PhD, MA Vice Chief of Innovation, Head of AI, and Professor UC San Diego School of Medicine, Altman Clinic and Translational Research Institute, and Qualcomm Institute Christopher Horvat, MD, MHA, MSIT Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics, Biomedical Informatics, and Clinical & Translational Science Associate Director, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research More than 350,000 Americans go into cardiac arrest outside a hospital every year, yet only about 2% of the population is certified in CPR. When someone collapses, most bystanders call 911 and wait — and even when dispatchers walk callers through CPR instructions, it often takes nearly three minutes before chest compressions begin. Researchers at UC San Diego set out to close that gap with AI. The result is ChatCPR, an open-source AI system built on actual 911 dispatcher training protocols and decades of CPR evidence. In head-to-head comparisons using real, de-identified 911 calls, ChatCPR outperformed human dispatchers on every measure — scoring 15 percentage points higher on basic steps and 36 points higher on advanced steps.

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: There are over 178,000 published articles about AI in medicine. But "when will AI actually save lives?" We didn't have a good answer. So that question became the starting point. We looked at where AI could make the biggest immediate difference, not in documentation or billing or any of that, but in a moment where seconds literally determine whether someone lives or dies. And the answer was obvious: out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. More than 350,000 Americans go into cardiac arrest outside a hospital every year. Yet, only about 2% of us are certified in CPR. When someone collapses from an arrest, most people just call 911 and wait, and wait, and wait. And even when dispatchers eventually walk callers through CPR instructions, they're juggling multiple tasks and it often takes nearly 3 minutes before chest compressions even start. We thought AI could close that gap.
Cannabis, Pediatrics / 12.05.2026

Editor's note: This piece discusses mental health issues. If you have experienced suicidal thoughts or have lost someone to suicide and want to seek help, you can contact the Crisis Text Line by texting "START" to 741-741 or call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.

Please note: Cannabis laws and regulations vary by state and locality. Cannabis use may have significant health risks, particularly for adolescents, pregnant individuals, and those with a history of mental health conditions. Cannabis has not been approved by the FDA for most uses and may interact with medications. Do not use cannabis as a substitute for medical treatment. The information in this post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or legal advice. Always consult your physician or qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about cannabis use. Do not use cannabis products if pregnant, nursing or may become pregnant.  Children should never be exposed to cannabis products.

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_73658" align="alignleft" width="130"]Prof. Shu-Hong Zhu Prof. Shu-Hong Zhu[/caption] Shu-Hong Zhu, Ph.D. Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health and Director of the Center for Research and Intervention in Tobacco Control (CRITC) University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cannabis use in the U.S. has steadily increased over recent decades. As use rates increased, perceptions that cannabis use is harmful have trended in the opposite direction. Declining harm perceptions in the broader population are concerning in part because of their influence on adolescents. Regular cannabis use during adolescents can negatively impact overall functioning, cognition, and educational achievement. It can lead to depression, psychosis, and suicidality. If young people don’t perceive cannabis as harmful, they are more likely to use it and suffer these effects. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which adolescents view the everyday and occasional use of cannabis as harmful, and to compare their perceptions of cannabis to their perceptions of alcohol, cigarettes, and nicotine vapes. It used data from over 160,000 students who took the 2019−2020 California Student Tobacco Survey and over 16,000 who took the 2024 California Youth Tobacco Survey.
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Colon Cancer, UCSD / 30.04.2025

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_68230" align="alignleft" width="150"]Raphael E. Cuomo, PhD, MPH, CPH, FRSPHProfessor, School of Medicine University of California, San Diego Dr. Cuomo[/caption] Raphael E. Cuomo, PhD, MPH, CPH, FRSPH Professor, School of Medicine University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Colon cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Recent years have seen a substantial increase in cannabis use, but limited research has explored its potential influence on cancer outcomes. We conducted a large-scale retrospective cohort study using real-world clinical data to investigate whether a diagnosis of cannabis use disorder prior to colon cancer diagnosis was associated with survival outcomes.
Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA, Pediatrics, UCSD / 30.01.2025

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_66243" align="alignleft" width="150"]John Bellettiere, PhDAssistant Adjunct Professor Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science University of California, San Diego Dr. Bellettiere[/caption] John Bellettiere, PhD Assistant Adjunct Professor Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  Smoking is the most common method of cannabis use and generates harmful emissions.  Cannabis is often smoked indoors, which exposes non-smokers, including children, to these emissions. Our research analyzed in-home cannabis smoking practices to determine if there is an association between this behavior and the detection of cannabis biomarkers in children.
Author Interviews, Health Care Systems, JAMA, Technology, UCSD / 01.05.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Zechariah Zhu, B.S. Affiliate Scientist with the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego and study co-author First author: John W. Ayers, PhD, MA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In today’s day and age (especially after the COVID-19 pandemic), an increasing number of people are turning to virtual options for healthcare. Most notably, there was a 1.6-fold increase in electronic patient messages, which significantly increased the burden on physicians, with a record-high proportion of physicians (62%) reporting burnout symptoms. On the other hand, we also see the rise of AI technologies like ChatGPT—an AI chatbot assistant that has taken the world by storm recently with its ability to provide lengthy response essays to many questions it is asked. Our objective for this study, then, was to evaluate the ability of ChatGPT to provide quality and empathetic responses to patient questions.
Author Interviews, Genetic Research, PNAS, UCSD / 20.04.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chinmay Kalluraya a Selma and Robert Silagi Award for Undergraduate Excellence winner UC San Diego and now a graduate student at MIT and Matt Daugherty  Ph.D Associate Professor University of California, San Diego Department of Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences La Jolla CA, 92093-0377 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you explain the role of retinoid-binding protein? eye, visionResponse: We were broadly interested in discovering instances of bacterial genes that have been acquired by diverse animal genomes over millions of years of evolution by the process of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). Since these events are quite rare and most previous discoveries have been serendipitous, we developed computational methods to identify genes acquired by HGT in animals. One of the exciting discoveries from our work was that vertebrate IRBP appeared to have originated in bacteria and is now a critical component of the vertebrate visual cycle, so this paper focuses on that one discovery. IRBP or interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein is an important protein present in the space between two major cell types in our eyes, photoreceptor cells and RPE cells. Our ability to see involves an intricate set of steps where light is first sensed by causing a change (isomerization) in the chemical structure of molecules in the eye called retinoids. This sensing of light occurs in our photoreceptor cells. Following this change in the chemical structure, the retinoid needs to be recycled back to the chemical structure that can again sense light. This recycling occurs in RPE cells. IRBP performs the essential function of shuttling retinoids between the photoreceptors and the RPE cells, which allows the cycle of sensing and regeneration to work. Supporting its importance, mutations in IRBP (also known as retinol binding protein 3 or RBP3) can cause several severe human eye diseases.
Author Interviews, Autism, JAMA, Pediatrics, UCSD / 08.02.2023

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_59999" align="alignleft" width="150"]Karen Pierce, Ph.D.Professor, Department of Neurosciences, UCSD Co-Director, Autism Center of Excellence, UCSD Dr. Pierce[/caption] Karen Pierce, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Neurosciences, UCSD Co-Director, Autism Center of Excellence, UCSD MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The mean age of ASD diagnosis and eventual treatment remains at ~52 months in the United States1 - years beyond the disorder’s prenatal origins2, and beyond the age when it can be reliably diagnosed in many cases3. Currently the only way to determine if a child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is to receive a developmental evaluation from an experienced clinician (usually a licensed clinical psychologist). There are often long waiting lists, and only a small number of clinicians have the experience required to make early-age (i.e., between 12-36 months) diagnoses of ASD. Thus, there are many places in the country as well as world wide wherein children wait months or years to receive a formal diagnosis due to a lack of available expertise. Moreover, diagnostic evaluations are expensive and usually cost the parent and/or insurance approximately ~$2,000 or more per evaluation.  Finally, clinical evaluations usually take between 2-3 hours to complete and result in fatigue for both the parent and toddler. Eye-tracking, which generates biologically-relevant, objective, and quantifiable metrics of both visual and auditory preference profiles in babies and toddlers in just minutes, is a technology that can dramatically change how ASD is diagnosed.
Author Interviews, Cannabis, JAMA, UCSD / 23.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51918" align="alignleft" width="158"]John W. Ayers, PhD, MA Vice Chief of Innovation | Assoc. Professor Div. Infectious Disease & Global Public Health University of California San Diego Dr. Ayers[/caption] John W. Ayers, PhD, MA Vice Chief of Innovation | Assoc. Professor Div. Infectious Disease & Global Public Health University of California San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Touted as a “cure all,” researchers have documented unfounded claims that  cannabidiol (CBD) treats acne, anxiety, opioid addiction, pain, and menstrual problems. You can buy CBD droplets, massage oils, CBD gummies, or even ice cream. But public health leaders have been mostly silent on the subject because they lacked data that demonstrates just how popular CBD is and the future trajectory might be. To fill this data-gap we analyzed Google search queries that mentioned “CBD” or “cannabidiol” emerging from the United States from January 2004 through April 2019 and forecasted searches through December 2019. Rather than relying on self reports, where some might not be willing to discuss CBD openly, our strategy allowed us to directly observed millions of instances of people seeking out information or even shopping for CBD online.
Addiction, Author Interviews, OBGYNE, Pediatrics, Tobacco Research, UCSD / 25.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49370" align="alignleft" width="169"]Davide Dulcis, PhDAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Psychiatry, UCSD School of MedicineUniversity of California, San DiegoLa Jolla, CA 92093-0603 Dr. Dulcis[/caption] Davide Dulcis, PhD Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry, UCSD School of Medicine University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093-0603 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Previous studies in humans have shown that pre-natal and early life exposure to nicotine can lead to altered children behavior and propensity for drug abuse, but the precise mechanisms involved are still unclear. In this pre-clinical study we showed how nicotine “primes” neurons of the mouse brain’s reward center for a fate they normally would not have taken, making them more susceptible to the effects of nicotine when the animals are again exposed to nicotine later in life, said Dr. Benedetto Romoli, first author of the research article.  
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Microbiome, Pediatrics, UCSD / 30.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48942" align="alignleft" width="175"]Dr. Jusleen Ahluwalia MDSecond-year Dermatology residentUniversity of California, San Diego Dr. Ahluwalia[/caption] Dr. Jusleen Ahluwalia MD Second-year Dermatology resident University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Preadolescence is an interesting stage during which changes in microbial diversity can coincide with the development of acne. This study is the largest assessment of preadolescent acne microbiome in the literature to date. In this study, we found that early acne in preadolescent females is characterized by an abundance of Streptococcus mitis, while later stages are characterized by a predominance of Cutibacterium acnes (formerly known as Propionibacterium acnes).  
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, UCSD / 28.03.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48235" align="alignleft" width="200"]H. Kirk Hammond, MDProfessor of Medicine at University of California, San DiegoBasic research scientist and cardiologistSan Diego Veterans' Affairs Healthcare System Dr. Hammond[/caption] H. Kirk Hammond, MD Professor of Medicine at University of California San Diego Basic research scientist and cardiologist San Diego Veterans' Affairs Healthcare System Dr. Hammond is winner of the 2017 William S. Middleton Award – the highest research honor in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Worldwide, 9% of adults have diabetes, predominantly due to insulin resistance, known as Type 2 diabetes. It is associated with obesity and diets high in fat and carbohydrates. In this gene transfer study we showed that a single injection of a vector encoding a natural hormone (urocortin 2, Ucn2) increased glucose disposal and improved heart function in a model of diet-induced Type 2 diabetes in mice. 
Author Interviews, JAMA, Smoking, Social Issues, Tobacco Research, UCSD / 11.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_46797" align="alignleft" width="128"]Eric Leas PhD, MPH Stanford Prevention Research Center University of California, San Diego Dr. Leas[/caption] Eric Leas PhD, MPH Stanford Prevention Research Center University of California, San Diego MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Recent research has demonstrated the importance that neighborhood context has on life opportunity, health and well-being that can perpetuate across generations. A strongly defining factor that leads to differences in health outcomes across neighborhoods, such as differences in chronic disease, is the concurrent-uneven distribution of modifiable risk factors for chronic disease. The main goal of our study was to characterize inequities in smoking, the leading risk factor for chronic disease, between neighborhoods in America's 500 largest cities. To accomplish this aim we used first-of-its-kind data generated from the 500 Cities Project—a collaboration between Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—representing the largest effort to provide small-area estimates of modifiable risk factors for chronic disease. We found that inequities in smoking prevalence are greater within cities than between cities, are highest in the nation’s capital, and are linked to inequities in chronic disease outcomes. We also found that inequities in smoking were associated to inequities in neighborhood characteristics, including race, median household income and the number of tobacco retailers. 
Author Interviews, Cannabis, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, UCSD / 27.08.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_40908" align="alignleft" width="200"]“Cannabis sativa” by Manuel is licensed under CC BY 2.0 cannabis[/caption] Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH Principal investigator Professor in the Department of Pediatrics UC San Diego School of Medicine Drector of clinical research at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Although cannabis is one of the most common recreational drugs used by pregnant and breastfeeding women, there is little current research regarding potential exposure of the breastfed infant.  As a result, pediatricians are lacking concrete evidence to help support advice to breastfeeding mothers who use cannabis.  This is particularly important as cannabis products available today are substantially more potent than products available in years past. Our group in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Center for Better Beginnings was interested in first determining how much if any of the ingredients in cannabis actually transfer into breastmilk and how long these metabolites might stay in the milk after the mom’s last use.  We invited mothers who are participating in our UCSD Human Milk Research Biorepository from across the U.S. and Canada to respond to questions about use of cannabis products over the previous 14 days and to provide a breast milk sample. Fifty mothers participated in the study.  Samples were analyzed by investigators from the UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy. Our major finding was that low, but measurable levels of delta-8 THC likely as a result of using Area 52's delta 8 gummies, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, were found in about 2/3 of the samples.  Although the number of hours after mother’s last use of cannabis that THC was still measurable varied widely, the longest time since mother’s last use that THC was still present was about 6 days.