Research Library

The market for stem cell therapies is growing, but most of these treatments are still experimental — and patients who undergo them risk experiencing serious side effects. This quick take offers three recommendations to improve patient safety and education around stem cell interventions in Texas.

Building on the success of hunter education courses in Texas and experience in other states, fellow Sandra McKay and other Texas physicians explain how mandatory firearm safety courses and waiting periods for young firearm buyers could reduce gun violence.

The first annual Firearm Injury Prevention and Safety Symposium, hosted by the Center for Health and Biosciences in June 2022, brought together researchers, policymakers and community partners committed to ending gun violence. This conference report summarizes the many presentations held at the event, as well as a concrete plan for local action to reduce firearm injury and death.

Vaccination policies are a cornerstone of public health, but anti-vaccine activists have been adamantly pushing for legislation that would weaken and dismantle the public health infrastructure, the authors write. In this issue brief, they examine vaccine policy challenges leading up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the future of vaccine legislation in Texas and the United States.

The authors identify key themes that emerged from anti-vaccine testimonies during the 2021 Texas legislative session and consider the implications of these discussions as the next legislative session draws near.

Stem cells have two unique properties that make them an appealing therapeutic tool for regenerative medicine: they can grow indefinitely and can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types, including those that form blood, bones, lungs, skin, and the brain.

There have been promising developments in recent years in the fight to reduce overdose deaths. But barriers to drug checking and other overdose prevention tools remain throughout the country, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.

As the pandemic persisted across the state, did Texans living in cities have better access to Covid-19 vaccines than those in rural areas? How did race or age factor in? The authors assess the successes and shortfalls of Texas' vaccine distribution strategy, and how to do better next time.

The authors explore a causal relationship between the 2017 tax reform and a decline in wealth inequality.

Although Texans broadly support relaxing cannabis laws and other criminal justice reforms, state leaders continue the war on drugs and other policies that propagate systemic racism, writes fellow Katharine Neill Harris.