UofL has a long history of preparing physicians for practice in rural and smaller communities through the��, which began in 1998 with the goal of increasing the number of physicians practicing in rural areas, and in existing UofL family medicine residencies in Glasgow and Owensboro.

Supporting this mission, UofL was awarded a $16 million��Health Resources and Services Administration grant in 2023 to expand the training of primary care physicians and encourage their practice in underserved areas.

UofL is also a part of the a collaborative effort of the UofL Health Sciences Center, the University of Kentucky Medical Center and eight regional centers. The AHECs work to improve the recruitment, distribution and retention of health care professionals in medically under-served areas throughout the state commonwealth.

“These national rankings affirm the University of Louisville School of Medicine’s deep commitment to improving access to care in communities that need it most,” said Kelli Bullard Dunn, MD, vice dean for community engagement. “Our longstanding efforts, alongside new investments like the HRSA grant and ongoing support from the Kentucky General Assembly, are strengthening the pipeline of primary care providers and creating real change for families across Kentucky and beyond.”

Other key highlights in the U.S. News & World Report graduate and professional schools ranking include:

• No. 29 in criminology��
• No. 36 in audiology��
• No. 43 in social work��
• No. 46 in healthcare management

All graduate school rankings can be found on the U.S. News & World report��.��

Graduate education at UofL provides over 130 graduate programs to approximately 5,800 graduate students. Learn more on the .

Previously, U.S. News & World Report had ranked the university in the top 100 public universities in the nation. Additionally, UofL Online Learning received a five-star rating and came in it at No. 53 in America’s Top Online Colleges 2025 listing.

At the University of Louisville, some Cardinals follow those migratory birds’ patterns and fly away once they leave the school’s nest, returning to home states or embarking on exciting adventures in new cities. But many UofL Cardinals stick around Kentucky and focus on ways to make a difference right here in the commonwealth.

Whether near or far, every Cardinal makes the personal and academic journey to become a champion for their community. For many, the journey to keep moving forward never ends. That’s why we’ve assembled this micro playlist inspired by the momentum and spirit of that journey and are introducing you to five Cardinals who influenced each track.

Meet them now, click through to explore more of their stories and set your Cardinal playlist for the summer.

Track One: “1234” by Feist

To some, data is just numbers. But to alumnus Danial Malik ’15, ’22, ’25, those numbers tell human stories. With a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), master of public health in epidemiology from the School of Public Health and Information Sciences and master of science in business analytics–health analytics from the College of Business, the first-generation immigrant from Pakistan has found his purpose in using data to improve lives in the commonwealth.

Malik combines his technical prowess with compassion to use analytics that identify health care gaps in patient communities across Louisville. His work highlights how technology, when paired with empathy, creates healthier and happier communities.

Track Two: “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon & Garfunkel

The anthropology department’s Chloe Hale ’24 came west to UofL from Martin County, a rural area in eastern Kentucky along the West Virginia border. Hale’s Appalachian community suffers from regular access to clean drinking water due to factors such as infrastructure and mining contamination, leading her to feel a sense of guilt when she was a student in an urban center with safe, easily accessed water always a twist-of-a-knob away.

Hale took her feelings and used them as fuel to focus her studies on an anthropological exploration of Martin County’s water supply and local hairdressers who rely on clean water to make a living, showcasing the impact water insecurity has on Kentucky communities and inspiring others to help make a difference.

Read more about Hale’s hometown hairstylists project here.

Track Three: “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus

The idea of community wasn’t something Ben Donlon ’12, ’16 learned in a textbook – but it was taught to him by his parents, both educators in his Danville, Kentucky, home. As Donlon journeyed to UofL to earn his undergraduate degree from A&S and professional master of business administration from the College of Business, the commitment to service they instilled stuck to him like glue.

After years of experience with nonprofits and success-nurturing leadership, and as the current 2024-2025 president of the Young Professionals Association of Louisville, Donlon is fostering leadership and connection among emerging young professionals around the city – proving that the best way to help a community grow is to plant strong roots.

Track Four: “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree

Philosophy major Tanisha Ann Hickerson ’03 graduated from UofL with a bachelor’s degree from A&S, but her lifelong philosophy has been one of community involvement. Hickerson, a former attorney and now Jefferson County district court judge, has dedicated her personal and professional life to serving others – both in and outside the courtroom. Whether mentoring students or young professionals in Louisville, she pushes those around her to realize their protentional and see how their work helps others.

Honored as philosophy department’s 2025 Outstanding Alumni, Hickerson shows that when you participate in your community you not only make a difference, but you also open doors for impactful career opportunities.

Track Five: “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers

Typically, we go to doctors. But thanks to School of Medicine alumna and Department of Medicine assistant professor Bridget Hittepole ’06, we go with doctors as part of Walk with a Doc. Hittepole leads the Louisville chapter of the program, which welcomes everyone of any age or ability to walk or roll their way to better health. The monthly, family-friendly event helps community members connect with health care professionals outside the four walls of an office.

Recognized as a 2025 Health Care Hero by Louisville Business First, Hittepole embodies the passion for bettering the Louisville community through health and wellness initiatives that improve care access for all.

The program is a nine-month training course where students gain hands-on experience creating and testing their ideas in the real world. The curriculum includes opportunities to prototype new designs while participating in workshops and lectures led by faculty at the UofL School of Medicine, College of Business and J.B. Speed School of Engineering.��

“This is about training the next generation of innovators in health care and medicine,” said In Kim, a professor of pediatric medicine and program lead. “With Bluegrass Biodesign, we hope to equip UofL students with the tools they need to launch technologies that can save lives.”��

Students complete the program in multidisciplinary teams, each blending undergraduate and graduate students in medicine and engineering. The idea is that they each bring insights from their own area of expertise that could help them solve problems and innovate.

“What we find is that innovation is a team sport,” said Beth Spurlin, an associate professor and co-director of the program. “The best solutions come from different people with different perspectives working together. With Bluegrass Biodesign, we give students the opportunity to experience that before they even leave campus.”

Eight teams — a total of 58 students —participated in the 2024-2025 cohort.��Logan Davis, an M.D./MBA student, said the experience taught him just how much work goes into developing the innovations his patients will one day rely on. His team worked on a device to help patients who struggle with both urinary control and motor tremor and/or dexterity. The solution for the former is to self-catheterize, which can be difficult without full control of your hands or arms.��

“We wanted to target this set of problems to give back some comfort and autonomy to these patients,” said Davis, who also was co-president for the 2023-2024 cohort. “This is a process I am so thankful to have been a part of, and I plan on using the biodesign process Bluegrass BioDesign is based on for the rest of my career to design/improve care for all of my patients.”

The student teams also complete business training via , the office’s accelerated entrepreneurial bootcamp that is part of UofL’s National Science Foundation program, housed in the . In the 2024 cycle, all eight teams received $3,000 in funding, along with mentorship and training, via the I-Corps program.

“We are thrilled to formalize the collaboration between Bluegrass Biodesign and UofL’s I-Corps program,” said Jessica Sharon, senior director of innovation programs and new ventures, who leads I-Corps and LaunchIt. “We are proud of these students’ hard work in the program to identify and validate market needs they are working to solve!”

Applications for the next cycle of Bluegrass Biodesign will be open for submission at the beginning of the spring 2025 semester. Learn more and apply .

FASD is caused by alcohol exposure during pregnancy, but some pregnancies are higher risk than others and not all babies exposed to alcohol will develop symptoms. The UofL researchers believe that understanding what genes might increase that risk could lead to better therapeutics and help mothers make safer, more informed choices.��

“This condition can be harmful to both mom and baby,” said Ben Lovely, the study’s principal investigator and an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics in the . “Our goal is to help both by gaining insight into not just the surface-level risk factors, but also the genetic risk factors that haven’t really been explored.”

Symptoms of FASD vary, but can include problems with behavior, learning and physical development, including craniofacial malformations, such as a thin upper lip or small eye openings. According to the U.S. , one in 20, or 5% of school-aged children in the U.S. may be affected.

For mothers, Lovely said, it may be more complicated than just avoiding alcohol during pregnancy. The most sensitive window for FASD exposure is before many women even know they’re pregnant, and .

“Part of this is removing the stigma so we can talk about these things and find solutions that prevent or help mitigate the risks and effects of FASD,” Lovely said. “And the good news is, there may be some ways to do that.”

To explore genetic risk factors of FASD, researchers are looking to an unlikely source: zebrafish, which share 82% of the same genes as humans. Early studies have shown there may be some relatively simple ways to protect against FASD, such as by tweaking the formula of prenatal vitamins to lessen risk or developing therapeutics that address the birth defects that do happen.

“FASD is a complicated issue, and we need to address it from many angles,” Lovely said. “This isn’t as simple as saying ‘don’t drink.’ We need to develop more ways to help both mom and baby stay safe.”��

Arsenic is highly poisonous and occurs naturally in some rocks and soil. As a result, of exposure is drinking contaminated water, particularly ground water from private wells. More than get their water from private wells, including many in areas of Kentucky that may be contaminated from previous coal mining.��

“What people don’t realize is that private wells and even public water supplies serving smaller numbers of people are not regulated,” said , a UofL researcher who’s been studying arsenic’s role in cancer for more than 25 years. “People using private wells for their water are on their own to test for toxic chemicals.”��

Chronic exposure to low doses of arsenic, as from drinking water, can cause a host of serious health concerns, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and several cancers, including skin, lung and bladder cancer. In high doses, arsenic can also be fatal.��

States and collaborator, , backed by two new grants from the National Institutes of Health and American Cancer Society totaling $3.6 million, are working to discover what specifically about arsenic exposure can cause and accelerate the development of those conditions. Understanding this cause and effect could help researchers and public health officials find ways to keep people safe and healthy.

States and Banerjee believe it may all come down to how arsenic binds with proteins that help the body regulate the expression of genes. When gene expression isn’t properly regulated, your cells can begin to behave abnormally, mutating and multiplying out of control and not dying when they should. In other words, they become cancer cells.��

Many proteins need zinc to do their jobs properly. When arsenic binds with these proteins instead, it takes the place zinc would normally fill. This disables these regulatory proteins and accelerates dysregulation.

Even worse, Banerjee said, is that there’s significant overlap between the communities who drink potentially contaminated well water and those who are more likely to have a zinc deficiency. If the body doesn’t have enough zinc to bind with the regulatory proteins in the first place, it can increase your risk of some of the same health concerns as arsenic exposure — including heart disease and cancer. An of the global population is zinc deficient.��

“It’s a double whammy,” said Banerjee, an assistant professor of pharmacology. “The populations we’re talking about are largely impoverished and rural, who are already more likely to be zinc deficient because they don’t have access to healthy, nutritious foods. So, you have a lack of zinc in the diet exacerbated by arsenic preventing what zinc they have from doing its job in the body.”��

There isn’t currently any medication that treats chronic arsenic exposure. However, Banerjee said, there may be a simple, over-the-counter solution — if the problem is a lack of zinc, it may be treatable with a zinc supplement. His research has shown zinc supplementation can mitigate or even regress some of the worse effects of arsenic exposure.��

“Zinc is over-the-counter, which makes it cheaper and readily accessible,” Banerjee said. “But I don’t think a lot of people are even aware of the potential danger of well water or what it can cause. We really hope this work can help those people.”

Their award-winning , named Paper of the Year by the American Journal of Physiology, sheds light on the heightened risk of kidney complications in cancer patients undergoing treatment. The study revealed that cancer itself may harm the kidneys, but that damage and scarring is intensified when patients take cisplatin, a commonly used chemotherapy drug.��

“Everything in your body is connected, from your internal systems to the medications we take,” said Andrew Orwick, lead author and recent doctoral graduate in pharmacology and toxicology.

Orwick’s doctoral research in the laboratory of researchers Leah Siskind and in collaboration with Levi Beverly, both from the and , examined the interplay of cisplatin and lung cancer, which is highly prevalent in Kentucky.

“By better understanding what those interactions are and how they happen,” he said, “we can take them into consideration and improve outcomes for the patient.”

Ultimately, that could lead to new diagnostics, more effective drugs and treatment plans that better consider the patient’s overall health and avoid or limit kidney damage.

Chronic damage to the kidneys can nausea, vomiting, fatigue, high blood pressure and even death, without transplant or dialysis. Because symptoms progress slowly, patients may not notice the condition until its advanced stages. Even so, current testing methods are difficult and invasive.

The UofL researchers think their work could help clinicians better predict not only which patients will react negatively to cisplatin and other chemotherapy drugs, but also identify potential kidney problems early. The goal is to better understand the underlying mechanisms and biomarkers, so clinicians can make more informed decisions.

“Obviously, addressing the cancer is first and foremost, but if we can do that while also preserving the patient’s overall health and feeling of health, that’s optimal,” said Siskind, a professor and senior author on the study. “The great news is that the fact that we’re even having this conversation means we’re making progress in solving cancer — we’re considering not only life, but the quality of that life.”

Siskind said the paper represents a paradigm shift in how researchers think about and treat both cancer and kidney disease. As it stands, no treatment for this form of kidney disease has made it past a phase 2 clinical trial or been approved for use in patients. This research could also help inform better drugs and experiments to fill that need.��

That innovative thinking and broad impact is likely part of why this work was selected as Paper of the Year, said Jon Klein, interim executive vice president for .

“Being selected for this honor is a massive accomplishment and underpins the immense value of the research being done by this team and across UofL,” Klein said. “This is work that truly can save and improve lives.”��

Autism is a spectrum of developmental disabilities impacting social skills, language processing, cognition and other functions. The UofL tool has been shown to be 98.5% accurate in diagnosing kids as young as two, which could give doctors more time to intervene with potentially life-changing therapy. Their results were published in the journal .

“Therapy could be the difference between an individual needing full-time care and being independent, holding a job and living a fulfilled life,” said Ayman El-Baz, a co-inventor and professor and chair in the . He developed the technology with Gregory Barnes and Manuel Casanova of the UofL .

shows therapy can have the most impact if done in early childhood, when the brain is more elastic. However, currently, and even fewer are diagnosed by age eight. The problem, the researchers say, is one of supply and demand — there are too many patients and too few specialists to conduct the interviews and examinations needed for diagnosis.

“As a result, there’s an urgent need for a new, objective technology that can help us diagnose kids early,” said Barnes, a professor of neurology and executive director of the . “We think our tool can help fill that need, while providing more objectivity over the current interview method.”

With the UofL technology, AI can make the initial diagnosis, which researchers think could reduce specialist workload by as much as 30%. The specialist would meet later with the patient to confirm the diagnosis and talk about next steps.

The UofL technology works by using AI to analyze magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans for differences and abnormal connections that may indicate autism. Tested against scans of 226 children between the ages of 24 and 48 months, the technology was able to identify the 120-some children with autism with near perfect accuracy.

By looking at the physical structures of the brain rather than using interviews, researchers believe they can make diagnoses more objective and target the specific parts of the brain that may benefit most from therapy.

“The idea is that by drawing from both medicine and engineering, we can come up with a better solution that improves lives,” said Mohamed Khudri, a undergraduate student and author on the paper.

The diagnostic technology and intellectual property received support through . That includes the office’s suite of innovation programs, aimed at developing research-backed inventions for market, including the prestigious national Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program through the National Science Foundation. UofL is one of only a handful of universities nationwide to have each of these programs — and it’s the only one to have them all.

The list includes researchers whose work was the most cited — that is, referenced by another researcher — in either calendar year 2022 or over the course of their career. The list spans 22 disciplines, from business to engineering to medicine.

“Each and every day, UofL researchers are breaking ground by discovering new knowledge,” said Jon Klein, UofL’s interim executive vice president for research and innovation. “The citation of a scholar’s work is essentially a stamp of approval that the work is important and worthwhile. The fact that so many of our researchers are listed among the most cited shows that knowledge is truly groundbreaking and has impact. It shows UofL research is being used to help to improve lives and expand our understanding of the world and our place in it.”

Citations are an important measure of success for academics. Typically, citations mean the researcher made a meaningful and original contribution to the world’s knowledge — and that their peers agree.

The 119 current UofL researchers, representing eight UofL schools and colleges, included on list are below.

• Thomas Abell,
• Yousef Abu-Kwaik, School of Medicine
• David Adamkin, School of Medicine
• Manju Ahuja,
• Bahaaldin Alsoufi, School of Medicine
• Farrukh Aqil, School of Medicine
• Richard Baldwin,
• Charles Barr, School of Medicine
• Richard Baumgartner,
• Aruni Bhatnagar, School of Medicine
• Roberto Bolli, School of Medicine
• Douglas Borchman, School of Medicine
• Konrad Bresin, College of Arts & Sciences
• Lu Cai, School of Medicine
• Jeffrey Callen, School of Medicine
• David Casey, School of Medicine
• Matthew Cave, School of Medicine
• William Cheadle, School of Medicine
• Yanyu Chen,
• Jason Chesney, School of Medicine
• Kevin Chou, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Barbara Clark, School of Medicine
• Daniel Conklin, School of Medicine
• Michael Cunningham, College of Arts & Sciences
• Douglas Dean, School of Medicine
• Gill Diamond,
• Lee Dugatkin, College of Arts & Sciences
• John Eaton, School of Medicine
• Ayman El-Baz, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Rif El-Mallakh, School of Medicine
• Ronald Elin, School of Medicine
• Adel Elmaghraby, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Paul Ewald, College of Arts & Sciences
• Mary Fallat, School of Medicine
• Aly Farag, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Wenke Feng, School of Medicine
• James Fiet, College of Business
• Eugene Fletcher, School of Medicine
• Joseph Fowler, School of Medicine
• Per Fredriksson, College of Business
• Robert Friedland, School of Medicine
• Hichem Frigui, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Susan Galandiuk, School of Medicine
• Yury Gerasimenko, School of Medicine
• Mahesh Gupta, College of Business
• Ramesh Gupta, School of Medicine
• Lynne Hall,
• Gerald Hammond, College of Arts & Sciences
• Brian Harbrecht, School of Medicine
• Susan Harkema, School of Medicine
• Peter Hedera, School of Medicine
• David Hein, School of Medicine
• George Higgins, College of Arts & Sciences
• Thomas Higgins, School of Medicine
• Bradford Hill, School of Medicine
• Joshua Hood, School of Medicine
• Suzanne Ildstad, School of Medicine
• Steven Jones, School of Medicine
• Sham Kakar, School of Medicine
• Mehmed Kantardzic, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Carolyn Klinge, School of Medicine
• Charles Kodner, School of Medicine
• Richard Lamont, School of Dentistry
• Gerald Larson, School of Medicine
• Rainer Lenhardt, School of Medicine
• Cheri Levinson, College of Arts & Sciences
• Stanley Levinson, School of Medicine
• Yongsheng Lian, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Mark Linder, School of Medicine
• Bertis Little, School of Public Health and Information Sciences
• Yiyan Liu, School of Medicine
• M. Cynthia Logsdon, School of Nursing
• Frederick Luzzio, College of Arts & Sciences
• Arthur Malkani, School of Medicine
• Gary Marshall, School of Medicine
• Robert Martin, School of Medicine
• Craig McClain, School of Medicine
• Stephen McClave, School of Medicine
• William Paul McKinney, School of Public Health and Information sciences
• Kelly McMasters, School of Medicine
• Madhu Menon, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Michael Merchant, School of Medicine
• Carolyn Mervis, College of Arts & Sciences
• Donald Miller, School of Medicine
• Hiram Polk, School of Medicine
• Jan Potempa, School of Dentistry
• Julio Ramirez, School of Medicine
• Janina Ratajczak, School of Medicine
• Mariusz Ratajczak, School of Medicine
• Brad Rodu, School of Medicine
• William Scarfe, School of Dentistry
• Arnold Schecter, School of Medicine
• Charles Scoggins, School of Medicine
• David Seligson, School of Medicine
• Brad Shuck,
• Leah Siskind, School of Medicine
• Mark Slaughter, School of Medicine
• Joshua Spurgeon, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Thomas Starr, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• J. Christopher States, School of Medicine
• Yi Tan, School of Medicine
• Sucheta Telang, School of Medicine
• Kenneth Thomson, School of Medicine
• Gordon Tobin, School of Medicine
• Suresh Tyagi, School of Medicine
• Neetu Tyagi, School of Medicine
• Roland Valdes, School of Medicine
• Jeffrey Valentine, College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development
• Banrida Wahlang, School of Medicine
• Hui Wang, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Scott Whittemore, School of Medicine
• Kim Williams, School of Medicine
• Stephen Winters, School of Medicine
• Richard Wittebort, College of Arts & Sciences
• Roman Yampolskiy, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Jun Yan, School of Medicine
• Li Yang, J.B. Speed School of Engineering
• Pavel Zahorik, School of Medicine
• Jacek Zurada, J.B. Speed School of Engineering

Immunogenomics combines the fields of immunology (study of the immune system) and genomics (study of the genetic changes in cancer). According to the proposal submitted for approval, researchers are just now uncovering the extent of immunogenetic diversity among human populations. Genetic diversity in immune genes significantly impacts individual immune responses, with critical implications for how people develop and administer novel vaccines and therapeutics, as well as characterize complex and dynamic immune responses in infection, autoimmune disease and cancer.

School of Medicine Interim Dean Jeffrey Bumpous said that the university is well-prepared to support this research with equipment that other research institutes do not have, and the new endowment will accelerate efforts to understand the rapidly expanding field of immunogenomics.

Funding for the endowment comes from the estate of Carolyn S. Browning ($934,498.15) and the estate of Clifford Ernst ($65,501.85). UofL will request the gifts be matched by a contribution of $1 million from the Commonwealth of Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund, resulting in a total contribution of $2 million.

Browning, the endowment’s namesake, was a longtime Louisville resident, teaching music and Spanish for more than 30 years. Her husband, Harold Alonzo Browning, Jr., was a city editor for the Louisville Times. The Browning estate has provided gifts to other medical schools as well as the American Diabetes Association, memorial Sloan Kettering and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

A new study from the University of Louisville shows the nicotine in certain types of e-cigarettes may be more harmful than others, increasing risk for irregular heartbeat, or heart arrhythmias.

A popular claim is that nicotine in e-cigarettes is relatively harmless, whereas additives and combustion products largely account for the harms of traditional cigarettes. The UofL research, which tested the effects of e-cigarettes with various types and doses of nicotine in animal models, showed that the nicotine form contained in pod-based e-cigarettes — nicotine salts — led to heart arrhythmias, particularly at higher doses.

In the study, published in , researchers compared heart rate and heart rate variability in mice exposed to vape aerosols containing different types of nicotine. The aerosols contained either freebase nicotine, used in older types of e-cigarettes; nicotine salts, used in Juul and other pod-based e-cigarettes; or racemic freebase nicotine, simulating the recently popularized synthetic nicotine; and their effects were compared to nicotine-free e-cigarette aerosols or air. In addition, the research team delivered increasing concentrations of the nicotine over time, from 1% to 2.5%, to 5%.

The nicotine salts induced cardiac arrhythmias more potently than freebase nicotine, and the cardiac arrhythmias increased with the higher concentrations of nicotine.

“This suggests the nicotine is harmful to the heart and counters popular claims that the nicotine itself is harmless,” said Alex Carll, assistant professor in UofL’s Department of Physiology and researcher with , who led the study. “Our findings provide new evidence that nicotine type and concentration modify the adverse cardiovascular effects of e-cigarette aerosols, which may have important regulatory implications.”

The study also revealed that the higher levels of nicotine salts increased sympathetic nervous system activity, also known as the fight-or-flight response, by stimulating the same receptor that is inhibited by beta blockers, heart medications which are prescribed to treat cardiac arrhythmias. In the autonomic nervous system, sympathetic dominance increases the fight-or-flight response in bodily functions, including heart rate.

“The nicotine in e-cigarettes causes irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias) in a dose-dependent manner by stimulating the very receptor that many heart medications are designed to inhibit,” Carll said.��

The findings conclude that inhalation of e-cig aerosols from nicotine-salt-containing e-liquids could increase cardiovascular risks by inducing sympathetic dominance and cardiac arrhythmias.

This work is part of a growing body of research on the potential toxicity and health impacts of e-cigarettes reported by the American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation and Addiction Center, for which UofL serves as the flagship institute. The team’s previous research found that exposure to e-cigarette aerosols containing certain flavors or solvent vehicles caused ventricular arrhythmias and other conduction irregularities in the heart, even without nicotine, leading Carll to speculate that the arrhythmias may not be the result of the nicotine alone, but also by the flavors and solvents included in the e-cigarettes.

The researchers concluded that, if these results are confirmed in humans, regulating nicotine salts through minimum pH standards or limits on acid additives in e-liquids may mitigate the public health risks of vaping.

Even without regulatory changes, however, the research suggests that users may reduce potential harm by opting for e-cigarettes with freebase nicotine instead of nicotine salts or using e-cigarettes with a lower nicotine content.