In partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health, the Medical School’s Wastewater Surveillance study is moving into a new realm of data analysis by monitoring for influenza and RSV viral protein. Public release of information is targeted before the end of 2023. The study delivers weekly public dashboard updates to subscribers, providing a window into the ongoing work. The study’s success is based on our partnership with 38 wastewater treatment plants throughout Minnesota and began in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Medical School deployed the world's first specialized emergency vehicle focused on cardiovascular emergencies, the ECMO truck. ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, temporarily supports heart and lung function, increasing survival chances for people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. U of M-led research resulted in a $10 million grant from The Helmsley Charitable Trust, which will be used to launch a new ECMO Center of Excellence.

Organ donations provide the gift of life to thousands of people every year. This year, the Medical School and our clinical partners at M Health Fairview opened a new Donor Care Unit at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, the first in the upper Midwest region. This new facility allows our transplant team to more efficiently care for donor organs to ensure donors’ lifesaving gifts make it to transplant, increasing the lives saved through organ donation in Minnesota and beyond.

The Medical School is establishing a regional campus in St. Cloud, in partnership with CentraCare Health System. This new program allows our Medical School to increase its class size by 10 percent at a time when the need for physicians is growing. In addition, with its focus on rural and immigrant health, this new regional campus will serve an important role for the communities of Greater Minnesota. View full story