Celebrate an incredible patient success story. Explore a clinical breakthrough. Discover news that shapes the future of health care.
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![surgeons](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/surgery-surgeons-operating-bucket-forceps.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=4eaK1qtu)
![weight scale black white in exam room close up](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/doctor-office-scale-weight-measurement.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=DVCQ_vQ7)
![vials in blue and yellow with syringe](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/vaccine.jpg?h=ae21e8e5&itok=ubGB-fio)
![xray on tablet held by clinician in white coat and stethoscope](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/doctor-holding-tablet-xray-lungs.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=JnEBiq07)
![provider sitting writing something down with person in khakis and blue shirt unbuttoned with white shirt under](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/nurse-clipboard-patient-survey-exam.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=Op2WJ8Hj)
![Mott Poll teens and caffeine](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/caffeine-teens-coffee-soda-energy-drink.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=dcwUBSO_)
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![Hands holding a miniature version of the planet Earth.](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/earth_day_top_story.jpg?h=0f990fc1&itok=HCoPg753)
![A graphic of the brain](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/brain-paper-cutout-lobes-colorful.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=x_s92kHC)
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![Shirtless boy with hospital tube smiling and wearing large green Hulk gloves](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0007_booth_bentley_michigananswers_mott_0.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=BvKoriI7)
As Marguerita Booth had never heard of a child being born with their organs on the outside of their body. And yet as she lay in the darkened room of her first ultrasound of her first pregnancy, she was suddenly introduced to a condition that surprisingly affects 1 in every 3600 babies.
![Man shaving in front of mirror with white and blue striped shower curtain in the background](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0005_fitzgerald_kade_michigananswers_vvwh.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=I7IvilKq)
Alone. Scared. Never knowing who to trust or where to turn for help. That’s how Kade Fitzgerald of Jackson, Michigan lived the first 32 years of his life. Assigned female at birth, Kade knew at age 6 that he was meant to be a man.
![Black woman holding two sleeping babies wearing pink patterned sleepers and with nasal tubes facing each other](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0002_smith_merrick_merriah_and_melliah_michigananswers_mott_vvwh_2.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=LmPhB6ys)
Few moments eclipse the joy of discovering that you’re pregnant with twins. But for 37-year-old Merrick and 37-year-old Mychal, the news that they’d be having fraternal girls with an expected delivery date of Christmas Day 2020 made the news even more exciting.
![Little boy in green shirt and blue pants holding a blue toy airplane](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0004_hilton_carter_michigananswers_mott_0.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=7KJCt_Ny)
Carter Hilton celebrated his sixth birthday by doing what he loves most: running around his backyard, dancing with his younger brother, and being chased throughout the house by his mom. It helps that Carter is a naturally exuberant child. It also helps that Michigan Medicine performed the first in-womb spina bifida surgery in Michigan nearly four months before Carter was born.
![Black woman in white coat and wearing blue surgical gloves holding scientific instrument in a lab](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0003_nance_sierra_michigananswers_umms.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=TmkVJD0o)
Imagine two patients. Both the same age and height. The same gender and race. Both have a similar medical history. Two people, almost identical in every way. So, why does one of them, seemingly at random, develop diabetes?
![Female doctor wearing scrubs and glasses with large surgical lights behind her](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0001_valbuena_valeria_michigananswers_umms_surgery.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=wGGYyEtO)
Most aspiring physicians study medicine with the hopes of saving lives, being on the cutting edge of research, or developing the latest therapies and technologies. For Dr. Valeria Valbuena, it was all of the above, plus one additional life-affirming goal.
![Man gesturing at glass board filled with numbers with a young man standing in the background](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0000_vydiswaran_vinod_michigananswers_research.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=OXpihZzd)
What if the true power of social media isn’t found in a like, tweet or follow? For an emerging field of research taking place at Michigan Medicine, it’s the data inside social media that may have the power to give patients bigger answers and better outcomes.
![Male doctor holding tiny pacemaker in his hand](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/portrait_3_4/public/2022-10/portrait_0006_cunnane_ryan_michigananswers_cvc_1.jpg?h=f803f42f&itok=Ml7L6Hrh)
Since 1958, millions of lives have been saved by what could arguably be considered as medicine’s biggest breakthrough – the pacemaker. And while its technology has dramatically improved over the last 63 years, chief concerns regarding the pacemaker have always been that it was too big and bulky and that the wires leading from it would sometimes break. But in February of 2020, Michigan Medicine helped change all of that.
![surgeons](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/surgery-surgeons-operating-bucket-forceps.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=4eaK1qtu)
![vials in blue and yellow with syringe](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/vaccine.jpg?h=ae21e8e5&itok=ubGB-fio)
![weight scale black white in exam room close up](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/doctor-office-scale-weight-measurement.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=DVCQ_vQ7)
![xray on tablet held by clinician in white coat and stethoscope](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/doctor-holding-tablet-xray-lungs.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=JnEBiq07)
![provider sitting writing something down with person in khakis and blue shirt unbuttoned with white shirt under](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/nurse-clipboard-patient-survey-exam.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=Op2WJ8Hj)
![Mott Poll teens and caffeine](https://enterprise-dev.uofmhealth.org/sites/default/files/styles/card/public/2024-05/caffeine-teens-coffee-soda-energy-drink.jpg?h=f0fb51a5&itok=dcwUBSO_)