Four faculty members from the University of Oklahoma have been named 2025-26 Fellows of the Southeastern Conference Academic Leadership Development Program, an initiative aimed at preparing the next generation of academic leaders to meet the evolving challenges of higher education.

The University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry recently hosted the Discovering Dentistry Symposium presented by the non-profit organization, Planet Smilez, to inspire and educate middle and high school students about careers in dentistry as part of an effort to address critical workforce gaps and improve access to care.

An international study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds light on acute normovolemic hemodilution, also known as ANH, a blood conservation technique. ANH involves removing a patient’s blood before the patient goes on heart-lung bypass, and then reinfusing it toward the end of heart surgery. Long debated for its effectiveness, ANH does not appear to reduce the need for red blood cell transfusion, according to results of the global clinical trial. However, study co-author Kenichi Tanaka, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, said the outcomes necessitate further scrutiny and may not be applicable to U.S. patients.

Mariana Georgeta Varga, MD, joined the Department of Neurology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and OU Health as the inaugural Medical Director of the Movement Disorder Center. Dr. Varga is a graduate of the OU neurology residency program and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Eating a high-fat diet containing a large amount of oleic acid – a type of fatty acid commonly found in olive oil – could drive obesity more than other types of dietary fats, according to a study published in the journal Cell Reports.