FSU Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine

What can history teach us about today's healthcare challenges? 📖

In a new podcast episode, Joseph M. Gabriel, Ph.D., discusses an upcoming volume he co-edited that examines how changing ideas about risk have influenced the development, regulation, and public understanding of drugs.

The episode offers a historical scholarship on contemporary healthcare challenges and invites listeners to consider how historical debates continue to shape the ways we think about medicine today.

Listen to the Full Podcast: https://boydellandbrewer.com/blog/university-of-rochester-press/rethinking-drugs-history-power-and-the-human-stories-behind-medicine/?v=0b3b97fa6688

What if monitoring HIV treatment could be as simple as collecting a few drops of blood at home?

Youth with HIV often face barriers to routine viral load testing, including transportation challenges, clinic access, and the need for in-person blood draws. Viral load testing measures the amount of HIV in the blood and helps determine how effectively treatment is controlling the virus.

A study by Associate Professor Karen MacDonell, Ph.D., Professor Sylvie Naar, Ph.D., and colleagues explored whether home-based dried blood spot (DBS) biosampling could provide a more accessible option.

Read the Full Article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42070204/

The FSU College of Medicine is helping to advance student and faculty well-being through a program called Early Alert, which provides structured, weekly check-ins via text message designed to identify concerns early and ensure access to mental health resources and support.

For the full WCTV.tv news story, visit https://wctv.tv/2026/05/19/fsu-college-medicine-implements-program-designed-check-student-faculty-mental-health/

As mental health needs continue to rise globally, limited access to care remains a major challenge for health systems and behavioral health providers. Researchers are exploring new ways to better train the next generation of clinicians to provide treatments that are both evidence-based and accessible to more patients. 🎓

In an article led by Mike Drury, PsyD, ABPP, researchers examined how transdiagnostic approaches, which focus on shared features across mental health conditions, could help strengthen graduate training in health service psychology.

Read the Full Article: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-65836-006.html

Children with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumors along nerves, often experience emotional and behavioral difficulties as they grow and develop. However, these experiences are not one-size-fits-all, as age and co-occurring conditions can influence how symptoms emerge and change over time.

An international study by Assistant Professor Yang Hou, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholars Dan Liu, Ph.D., Xiaoli Zong, Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data from more than 1,000 children ages 3 to 18 using two large, harmonized datasets focused on mental health outcomes in NF1.

Read the Full Article: https://rdcu.be/ff0wk

Interdisciplinary researchers from the FSU College of Medicine and FSU Anne's College received a $50,000 Clinical Catalyst Award in support of a new initiative focused on nutrition and healthy aging. 🏆

The funded project addresses a key gap in geriatric care by expanding evidence-based nutrition education and support for older adults at high risk for cognitive decline.

The project will evaluate the feasibility of integrating the Improving Cognitive Aging through Nutrition (ICAN) program, developed by Assistant Professor Julia Sheffler, Ph.D., into clinical workflows at the Nancy Van Vessem Center for Healthy Aging.

Learn more about the ICAN program: https://ctbs.fsu.edu/programs/integrative-science-healthy-aging-ctbscience

Feeling a sense of purpose in life can be shaped by the small activities people engage in every day, from spending time with others to staying active and pursuing hobbies. 🌻

Researchers followed 303 middle-aged adults over eight days to explore how daily experiences influence purpose in life. Results showed that people felt more purposeful on days when they socialized in person, exercised, cared for children, worked on hobbies, or completed household tasks. Among these activities, in-person interaction had the strongest association with daily purpose, while digital socializing showed little to no effect.

Overall, the research suggests that active, socially engaging everyday experiences may help strengthen a person’s sense of direction and meaning in life.

Authors: Angelina Sutin, Martina Luchetti, Yannick Stephan and Antonio Terracciano

Read the Full Article: https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/5889

Micronutrients are essential for health across the lifespan, yet many Americans do not consistently meet recommended intakes through food alone. 🍎

A study led by Research Faculty III Alexandra Cowan-Pyle, Ph.D., and Principal Investigator Regan Bailey, Ph.D., used the Total Nutrient Index (TNI) and Food Nutrient Index (FNI) to assess nutrient adequacy from both foods and dietary supplements, providing a more complete picture of overall diet quality. Using national survey data from nearly 20,000 children and adults, the research compared micronutrient intake with broader measures of diet quality.

Findings point out notable differences in how nutrient needs are met across age groups and suggest that diet quality and supplement use may play a more complex role than expected, highlighting areas where nutrient gaps may remain.

Read the Full Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212267226000833

Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a rare gene condition affecting the nervous system, often experience difficulties with attention, memory and task management, yet how these challenges change across age has remained unclear.

To address this gap, Assistant Professor Yang Hou, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholars Xiaoli Zong, Ph.D., Dan Liu, Ph.D., and colleagues combined data from over 1,000 children with NF1 across multiple international research sites to examine developmental patterns in executive function.

Hou emphasized, “this project reflects years of collaboration across institutions and countries, all working toward a shared goal of better understanding neurobehavioral challenges in children with NF1. By bringing together these datasets, we can move beyond small, single-site studies and begin to capture developmental patterns with greater precision.”

Researchers found that children with NF1 exhibited greater executive function difficulties than typically developing peers, with the most pronounced challenges emerging from mid-childhood through mid-adolescence. These findings highlight the importance of multi-site collaboration and data sharing in rare disease research, where individual studies often lack the sample sizes needed to detect developmental patterns with confidence.

Read the Full Article: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13089308/