Washington State University would be able to launch a medical school in Spokane under legislation passed Tuesday in Olympia by the Senate and House Higher Education Committees.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane: Wants medical school in Spokane.

The legislation rescinds a restriction, imposed 98 years ago, that the University of Washington would have the only public medical school in the Evergreen State.

We have a severe shortage of doctors in rural and under-served communities, particularly in Eastern Washington. Spokane has the existing facilities and Washington State is ready to go today on opening a new school at minimal cost, said state Rep. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, a sponsor of the legislation.

Washington State must still get money to launch its new med school. It is asking $2.5 million to begin the accreditation process.

The legislation would allow WSU to expand an existing medical training facility at its Spokane branch campus into a separately accredited medical school.

It passed unanimously in the Senate Higher Education Committee. My colleagues recognize the increasing need for more doctors in this state and the need to expand our medical education in order to meet that need, said state Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, the legislations chief Senate sponsor.

Despite pushback from some at the UW Medical School, the legislation appears to have a strong tailwind in Olympia. It has 65 cosponsors in the 98-member House, and 17 cosponsors among 49 state senators.

Arguing to repeal the 1917 restriction, sponsors have made the point that states smaller than Washington have more medical schools.

The House Higher Education Committee cleared the bill by a 12-1 vote. State Rep. Gerry Pollett, D-Seattle, tried to amend the legislation to allow for a one-year study of the states medical needs. He lost on a voice vote.

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WSU medical school in Spokane gets big boost in Legislature

OLYMPIA Bills that would allow Washington State University to start a medical school in Spokane cleared committees in both houses of the Legislature today with a unanimous vote in the Senate and a 12-1 vote in the House.

Before passing the bill, the Senate Higher Education Committee rejected on a party line vote a provision that called for the University of Washington to receive money for it says it is owed for medical school operations in Spokane that was channeled through WSU.

Republicans said the bill was about giving WSU the authority to offer medical education as one of its

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OLYMPIA Bills that would allow Washington State University to start a medical school in Spokane cleared committees in both houses of the Legislature today with a unanimous vote in the Senate and a 12-1 vote in the House.

Before passing the bill, the Senate Higher Education Committee rejected on a party line vote a provision that called for the University of Washington to receive money for it says it is owed for medical school operations in Spokane that was channeled through WSU.

Republicans said the bill was about giving WSU the authority to offer medical education as one of its majors, and funding questions should be decided by the budget committee.

Ways and Means is the proper venue for those discussions to be held, Sen. Mike Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said. I do believe it will be worked out.

The House committee rejected a proposal that would have delayed the authorization for a year while a study was conducted on the need for expanded medical services and the best way to fill it. Another amendment that would have required WSU to prove it would teach students standard practices on reproductive health and end-of-life issues was withdrawn.

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Two panels approve WSU med school bills - Tue, 10 Feb 2015 PST

University of Central Florida trustees are considering whether to raise medical students' tuition and fees by nearly 5 percent for the 2015-16 year.

The board's committee discussion Wednesday on the issue comes the same week as Gov. Rick Scott's announcement that one of his top priorities this year is to prevent universities from increasing tuition at medical and law schools and other graduate programs.

"We have to keep higher education affordable for our students and while we have made considerable steps to curb the rising cost of undergraduate tuition it must be a priority to hold the line on graduate school tuition this year," Scott said in a statement.

Under Scott's proposal, public universities would be banned from raising tuitions for graduate and professional programs beyond the rate that is set as of July 1.

But UCF officials argued they are responsible stewards of taxpayer money for the medical school, a growing program still in its infancy and among the cheapest medical programs in the state even if the new fees were approved. The estimated $800,000 in increased revenue would pay for hiring four or five new faculty members.

"I understand the pressures on keeping tuition lower. It's a noble ambition," President John Hitt told the trustees committee meeting. "I don't want us to get to the point where we can't hire the faculty we need to do a first-rate job of educating students."

This academic year, Florida residents pay $29,680 in tuition and fees while non-residents are charged $56,554 to attend the Lake Nona medical campus. Under the new proposal, residents' total increase would jump to $31,066 while non-residents would pay $59,283. The overall increase would come from a $31.86 hike in the cost per credit hour as well as a rise in other student fees.

The proposal was disheartening, although "understandable," said Arnaldo Perez, a UCF sophomore who leads a student group for aspiring doctors.

"It just makes your career even tougher. You'll have to worry about paying your debt off on top of life," said Perez, 19, of Puerto Rico, who hopes to be a pediatrician and attend the UCF medical school in 2017.

But he said hiring more faculty seemed like a necessary cost for the growing school and, he acknowledged, "Medical school is not free."

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Newswise INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana University School of Medicine has launched an initiative and accompanying web site to encourage more collaboration between private industry and researchers at the medical school.

Creation of the Industry Collaboration Portal is one of the school's programs to move research discoveries out of the laboratory and develop them into new products that will benefit patient care and improve health, said Jaipal Singh, Ph.D., director of the portal.

"Many of the discoveries we make at the university are not getting out into use in society. Collaborations with industry will help commercialize them," Dr. Singh said.

The need for such a program also reflects changes in the research environments in both academia and in private industry, Dr. Singh said. On the academic side funding from the National Institutes of Health, which is has been the primary source of money for university biomedical research, is declining. That trend has research institutions broadening their search for funds.

Private industry, meanwhile, has been changing its research model over the past decade as costs rise and patents expire, said Dr. Singh. As a result businesses are more interested in collaboration and are looking to academic scientists for discoveries that could translate to new therapies.

"So we're not turning our back on basic science research, but we're providing opportunities for our scientists to take the next steps toward commercialization and translational research," he said.

"Creating the Industry Collaboration Portal is a critical part of our efforts to encourage a more entrepreneurial environment at the school that will benefit both our investigators and society," said Mervin C. Yoder, M.D., associate dean for entrepreneurial research and Richard and Pauline Klingler Professor of Pediatrics.

With the web site -- https://icp.medicine.iu.edu/ -- along with personal outreach, the Industry Collaboration Portal will link industry scientists with their academic counterparts working on similar questions. The web site includes access to a database of school of medicine scientists with expertise in translational research: the process of moving discoveries from the lab to the patient bedside.

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IU School of Medicine Opens Web Portal to Encourage Industry-Academic Collaboration

Kevin Muiderman: Guitar Maker, Thompson ND
Kevin Muiderman is a reconstructive plastic surgeon by day, and a guitar maker by night. After medical school, Kevin decided to learn more about guitar building and trained with master builders...

By: Prairie Public Broadcasting

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Kevin Muiderman: Guitar Maker, Thompson ND - Video

SURGEON SIMULATOR 2013 - (1) - Jesse Plays With MC Scantron and AP Stacks!
Jesse finally fulfils his lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon! Naturally, he graduated top of his class from medical school. [From Wikipedia] "Surgeon Simulator 2013 is a surgical simulation...

By: Jesse Plays With the Boys

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SURGEON SIMULATOR 2013 - (1) - Jesse Plays With MC Scantron and AP Stacks! - Video

PBS NewsHour Weekend: Smart Phone Usage
Dr. Eugene Boisaubin of UTHealth Medical School discusses the benefits of spending less time on your wireless device.

By: Houston Public Media

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PBS NewsHour Weekend: Smart Phone Usage - Video

URBANA A new University of Illinois college of medicine in Urbana has cleared its first hurdle, though a more significant test will come in March.

The campus Academic Senate voted Monday to establish a small, engineering-focused medical school, billed as a new way to train physician-scientists for the 21st century and a "game-changing opportunity" for the campus.

Proposed last year by Chancellor Phyllis Wise, the medical school would be developed in partnership with Carle Health System, which has pledged more than $100 million toward the effort. As planned, it would use no state funding and be independent of the existing College of Medicine headquartered in Chicago, which operates regional campuses in Peoria, Rockford and Urbana.

"This is really a historic vote," Wise told senators Monday. "We do not start colleges very often."

The idea must still win approval from a university-wide Senates Conference and UI trustees, who are awaiting a recommendation due in March from President Bob Easter. The president is reviewing the plan and an alternative proposed by the UI College of Medicine, which would create a new "Translational BioEngineering Institute" with the College of Engineering at Urbana to promote biomedical research and economic development, in lieu of a new college of medicine.

Monday's discussion about the new college of medicine generated a few criticisms of Carle complaints about the health entity not paying its fair share of property taxes or questioning Carle's own billing as a "top 100" medical center. Carle Vice President Stephanie Beever deflected the tax question, saying it was up to state and federal courts to sort out and highlighting Carle's charity care.

But most comments about the proposal were supportive, including many from faculty at the existing regional medical school, which was created in the early 1970s.

"This is the most innovative thing I've heard of since then," said George Ordal, emeritus professor of biochemistry at the medical school. "It is a truly great idea."

The new plan would keep the existing regional medical school, which trains 100 first-year medical students every year, 75 upper-division students, and about 120 students in the Medical Scholars program, who earn both a medical degree and a Ph.D. in other disciplines.

Medical faculty at Urbana have complained for years about an unwieldy administrative arrangement of answering to a medical dean in Chicago but working with colleagues in Urbana.

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Senate OKs Urbana medical school

Can Cure For Disease Be in Your Genes?
Can protective genes cure disease? Check out this new discovery made by Edward Ginns, MD, PhD and his team at UMass Medical School the University of Miami! They #39;ve identified what is likely...

By: Dr. Jo Anne White

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Can Cure For Disease Be in Your Genes? - Video

Some Scranton School District students may soon receive medical care in school that will treat illnesses, prevent sickness and encourage wellness.

The Scranton School Board is expected to pass a resolution this week that will allow the Wright Center to open school-based health centers in newly renovated medical rooms in the districts three intermediate schools.

The project, funded by a grant obtained by the Wright Center, aims to improve health, wellness and academic performance and could be a model across the region.

The Wright Center fully believes in bringing health care to where kids are, said Kellen Kraky, the centers manager of youth services. We hope to benefit the community at large. ... Its only the beginning.

On Friday, a contractor installed medical equipment in a former science lab at Northeast Intermediate School. The lab now includes a cot area, restroom and two exam rooms. The Wright Center has already updated the medical rooms at the three intermediate schools free of charge to the district, using a $500,000 grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. The medical rooms received renovations and new equipment for student care.

Pending school board approval, the center will use a $300,000 grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc., to staff the centers with a nurse practitioner. Sandra Federo, who holds a doctorate of nursing practice, will split her time between Scrantons three intermediate schools, with the possibility of expanding and offering care to the districts elementary and high school students. She expects to collaborate with school nurses and see students who do not have a primary care physician, and will work with other students physicians.

The Wright Center, a Scranton-based primary care and medical residency training provider, will bill the students health insurance, or work on finding the student access to insurance. Parental consent will be necessary for treatment.

The center also used $500,000 grants to update medical rooms in the North Pocono, Lakeland and Valley View school districts in the last two years. There will not be a nurse practitioner at those schools, but officials say they hope what is being tried in Scranton can be a model across the region. Scranton showed the greatest need, Ms. Kraky said. About 70 percent of Scranton students come from low-income families.

The grant will fund the program for two years, and the Wright Center will fund a matching $80,000 portion of the grant. Eventually, with payments from insurance, the program should be self-sustaining.

Along with comprehensive primary care services, students will have access to mental health, preventive well visits, sick visits, behavioral health screenings, vaccinations and dental services. Officials also plan to engage students and parents on wellness and healthy lifestyles, Ms. Kraky said.

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Medical care, well visits to be offered to Scranton students

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University of Illinois professors Neal Cohen, left, and Rahit Bhargava, at Beckman Institute Friday Feb. 5, 2015, both will be talking at Monday's senate meeting about how a College of Medicine in Urbana would help their health research and the community in general.

URBANA University of Illinois researcher Neal Cohen brings in grants worth millions of dollars to design tests used worldwide for patients with amnesia, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and brain injuries.

Yet almost none of the patients he has studied are in Champaign-Urbana.

With no academic medical center in town, his team works with doctors and patients at medical schools at the University of Iowa, Washington University, Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Rush Medical College in Chicago.

"Much of the grant money I've obtained, much of the opportunity to train medical students and interns and residents about memory and amnesia, and much of the opportunity to apply what we've learned about memory and amnesia to help patients in the local community have gone to those other institutions," he said.

Cohen, director of the UI's new Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Initiative, is among the professors campaigning for a new engineering-focused medical school at the Urbana campus, developed in partnership with Carle Health System.

The campus Academic Senate is scheduled to vote on the proposal when it meets at 3:10 p.m. today, in what would be the first formal step toward approval for the plan.

The senate will also consider several items dealing with fallout from the Steven Salaita case, ranging from revamped hiring procedures to a proposal to reconsider the embattled professor's appointment, as the Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure recommended in December.

Chancellor Phyllis Wise proposed a small, engineering-focused medical school last year that would be independently accredited and use no state funding. The current medical school here is a regional campus of the College of Medicine at UI Chicago.

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UI-Carle medical school up for Academic Senate vote

BOSTON, Mass. (PRWEB) February 09, 2015

Health Dialog, a leading provider of population health management solutions, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the Harvard Health Publications Division of Harvard Medical School to validate the medical information provided in Health Dialogs shared decision making aids. The shared decision making aids provide evidence-based, unbiased information on treatment options and condition management to support more informed dialog between individuals and their physicians. Data show patients who are informed and participate in their treatment decisions are more satisfied with their care.

Health Dialog's award-winning aids provide patients with easy to understand summaries of medical evidence related to their condition and decisions, and feature real patient experiences that model effective decision making. Information on a broad range of health matters including surgical decisions, screening and testing decisions, and management of chronic conditions is accessible via web, DVDs and booklets. Beginning in January 2015, physicians from Harvard Medical School began providing evidence-based clinical content review of the decision aid library. Harvard Medical School physicians will validate all of the health information included in the tools to ensure they reflect the latest clinical evidence and will work with Health Dialog to revise content as needed. All decision aids will carry the Harvard Medical School logo as evidence of the institution facultys review. The online versions of these tools will also name the specific Harvard Medical School reviewer for each program.

Health Dialog has created an impressive suite of comprehensive health information to help patients make informed decisions, said Gregory D. Curfman, M.D., Editor in Chief of Harvard Health Publications. These shared decision making aids provide in-depth, balanced, evidence-based information. Were excited to review and update these valuable health management tools.

Individuals who participate in Health Dialogs shared decision making programs tend to choose less invasive care and report being more satisfied with both their care and their health plan, which translates to better health outcomes and reduced costs for both the patient and health plan. Health Dialogs shared decision making aids have collectively earned the company more than 100 industry awards for content, ease-of-use and design.

Our relationship with Harvard Medical School underscores the value of our decision aids and provides further evidence of their quality, said Peter Goldbach, M.D., Chief Medical Officer. The reviews by faculty from Harvard Medical School ensure that our decision aids will remain clinically accurate, current and best in class, delivering the information patients need to make decisions that are best for their situation and effectively manage their health conditions.

About Health Dialog: Health Dialog Services Corporation is a leading provider of population health management solutions. The company works with the nations largest third-party payers, employers and providers as well as Health Dialogs parent company, Rite Aid to improve the health and wellness of their members, employees, patients and customers while reducing costs and improving performance in key quality measures, such as NCQAs HEDIS and CMS Stars ratings. Health Dialogs unique capabilities include data analytics, a multi-media coaching platform, and a 24/7 nurse line. For more information, visit http://www.healthdialog.com.

About Harvard Medical School: Harvard Medical School (http://hms.harvard.edu) has more than 12,000 faculty members working in academic departments at the School's Boston campus or in hospital-based clinical departments at 17 Harvard-affiliated teaching hospitals and research institutes. Those affiliates include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, The Forsyth Institute, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Hebrew SeniorLife, Joslin Diabetes Center, Judge Baker Children's Center, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, Schepens Eye Research Institute, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and VA Boston Healthcare System.

Media Inquiries: Shanti Skiffington Samvega Public Relations mobile: 617.921.0808 shanti.skiffington(at)gmail(dot)com

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Health Dialog Signs Agreement with Harvard Medical School to Review Award-Winning Shared Decision Making Aids

MSU approves new medical school research center
Demolition on the former Grand Rapids Press building could start as early as next month. (Feb. 6, 2015)

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MSU approves new medical school research center - Video

In medical school, future doctors learn how to set a broken bone, diagnose the flu and find a vein to start an intravenous infusion.

They do not, however, learn how to abide by employment law, read a contract or navigate electronic health records.

Thats why about 80 medical residents and fellows, who soon will finish their training and enter the workforce, spent the better part of Saturday getting a whirlwind introduction to everything they need know to join a medical practice or strike out on their own.

If Im going to be up at night, I dont want it to have to be for, Oh, did I code that wrong? Am I going to get audited? Am I going to get paid for my time? Am I going to be able to afford my daughters wedding? said Dr. John Bodkin III, a University at Buffalo urology resident.

And that is the reason many young doctors join large practices, he said. They just want to care for their patients.

Medical groups are small businesses, but young doctors begin their careers with little exposure to the financial, regulatory and customer-service challenges they will confront.

You have zero experience with any of this, said Dr. Kassondra Grzankowski, a gynecologic oncology fellow at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, who attended the Understanding the Business of Medicine conference in Roswell Parks Research Studies Center. Its very overwhelming and terrifying.

They also are entering a rapidly changing medical field, with veteran doctors grumbling about the burdens of federal health care regulations, the high cost of malpractice insurance and shrinking payments for the procedures they perform.

Whats more, their patients can get a second opinion from WebMD or vent their complaints on online review sites.

But theres a growing need for primary care physicians and specialists, particularly in Western and upstate New York, and Saturdays conference was meant to give fledgling doctors the guidance they need to succeed. Some veteran doctors wish they had had this advice when they began practicing.

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Young doctors go to business school for a day

After a packed town hall meeting in Harkness Auditorium, medical school faculty walked away with mixed views on University President Peter Salovey and Provost Benjamin Polaks handling of diversity issues at the School of Medicine.

During the meeting, some faculty at the School of Medicine voiced reservations about Salovey and Polaks willingness to improve the environment for minorities and women at the School of Medicine, while others commended the two administrators for their efforts.

The town hall marks the first time Salovey and Polak have spoken publicly before the medical school faculty about these issues. It provided faculty members with an opportunity to respond to the Gender Equity Committees recommendations, released in December, and the strategies from the Medical School Deans Office, announced in January, to improve the climate for women and minorities at the medical school, Salovey said. After a sexual misconduct case involving former Cardiology Chief Michael Simons MED 84 surfaced in news reports, the deans office formulated a series of initiatives to tackle concerns that minorities and women were not being treated fairly at the school.

Obviously there is residual frustration about the [Simons] case, said Neuropathology Section Chief Laura Manuelidis MED 67 after the meeting. But in sum, it was terrific that the president came, and a cause for hope.

Manuelidis said Salovey was receptive and committed at the town hall, and added that one of Polaks comments about diversity an excellent faculty has to be a diverse faculty were particularly welcome.

In his opening speech to the faculty at the town hall, Polak said he had seen first hand the pressures put on women, sometimes deliberately, to discourage them from going into science. But he said having two daughters led him to realize the importance of having female role models in science.

Still, not all attendees were impressed with the Universitys efforts. One female faculty member, who did not identify herself when she stood up to speak during the Town Hall, asked for an apology from the provost for his decisions in previous sexual misconduct cases. She said admitting the University screwed up in handling some cases would go a long way.

I wasnt sufficiently focused on how important these issues at the medical school are I am now, Polak said, in response to her request.

Another attendee, immunology professor Philip Askenase MED 65, said Salovey and Polak had avoided answering questions about how the medical school can ensure accountability. While Askenase acknowledged that federal laws, state laws and University policy prevent administrators from disclosing certain details of disciplinary proceedings, he expressed concern that it will be difficult for faculty members to monitor if the administration stays true to its promises.

There are elephants in this room, Askenase said, addressing Salovey and Polak. People have asked specific questions that you have avoided.

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At med school town hall, faculty remain divided

The James H. Cummings Foundation of Buffalo has given $1 million to the new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The gift will support the development of a Structural Science Learning Center (SSLC) in the new building, designed to foster an innovative approach to teaching and research in anatomical science. The center will be headed by John E. Tomaszewski, chair of the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, who was recruited in 2011 from the University of Pennsylvania.

The goal is to transform anatomy, cell biology and pathology education and research by bringing them into the digital age, Tomaszewski says.

Advanced computational tools now allow for the mining of the tremendous quantitative structural information embedded in human anatomy, cells and molecules, he says. Those data can be used to develop new predictive models, diagnoses and treatments that will directly benefit patients.

In the center, students of medicine, engineering and computer science will learn how those big data of structure interact. Physicians, biomedical scientists, biomedical engineers and computer scientists together will develop a unique capacity for creating and annotating the vast amounts of quantitative biomedical data embedded within the human organism.

We are very grateful to the Cummings Foundation for this significant gift, says Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school. It is a clear demonstration of the foundations support for the educational and scientific innovations that the new medical school makes possible. It comes as we conclude the first construction phase of the building, which will be a regional center of expertise with national and international impacts on research, education and patient care.

Adds Charles F. Kreiner Jr., president of the Cummings Foundations board of directors: The James H. Cummings Foundation is pleased to provide support for the Structural Science Learning Center, which is part of this world-class academic health center being built on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

We believe the efficiencies in the delivery of care that will result from the new medical school and its partners, along with the cutting-edge research around predictive modeling systems to support personalized medicine, are vital to the health and wellness of Western New Yorks citizens and will contribute to the economic development of this community.

The SSLC will combine the expertise and computing power of UBs schools of medicine and Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as its New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, the Clinical and Translational Research Center and the Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

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Cummings Foundation awards $1 million to new medical school

TAMPA The University of South Florida's ambitious plan to erect a new 12-story medical education, research and treatment center downtown faces two final hurdles.

Both involve money.

The $157 million project needs $57 million in state funding. Officials are confident they'll eventually get it.

But USF must also raise $25million more in private donations.

Much more than a medical school is at stake: USF's project is one of the tentpoles of Jeff Vinik's $1 billion plan to redevelop downtown. For Tampa, as Mayor Bob Buckhorn put it, the project will be "bigger than baseball."

Enter Joel Momberg. It's his job to find the donor or donors who can make USF's dream project a reality.

"For $25 million," he said, "you don't do cold calls."

There's an art to persuading well-heeled donors to part with millions of their own dollars for a good cause.

"Everybody is a potential donor," Momberg told a Tampa Bay Times reporter. "If you want to contribute I've got a card for you."

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Got $25 million to spare? USF would like a moment of your time

GREENVILLE (AP) The chancellor of East Carolina University says the medical school in Greenville could close in five years unless its financial losses are reduced.

Chancellor Steve Ballard told WNCT-TV that the Brody School of Medicine is in serious financial trouble after millions of dollars in losses in recent years.

Ballard says the medical school lost $14 million last year, in large part because of state restrictions on how they can receive federal money and the inability to collect debts.

We cant stay accredited if we have three more years of $14 million lost. Well be closed, Ballard said.

To remain accredited, Brody must keep 90 days cash in reserve, which amounts to about $40 million. The school has only about $32 million on hand at the moment.

Ballard says since the Great Recession, East Carolina has lost about $100 million because of state budget cuts. Ballard says the state funded 53 percent of the medical schools operating budget in 1990. Now, it provides only 21 percent of the operating budget.

The dean of the school, Dr. Paul Cunningham, says officials are working to show state lawmakers the schools uniqueness.

One fourth of the doctors in the eastern part of the state are 65 or older. Cunningham says the Brody plays a critically important role in replacing those physicians as they retire.

He also said students at Brody graduate with less debt than doctors at other schools. The average debt in Greenville is just over $100,000, compared with the national average of about $170,000.

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ECU Medical Schools future in doubt because of money woes

Steven D. Schwaitzberg, chief of surgery at the Cambridge Health Alliance and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, has been appointed chair of the Department of Surgery in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and medical director of surgical program development for Kaleida Health and Erie County Medical Center.

The joint announcement was made by Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school; Jody L. Lomeo, president and CEO, Great Lakes Health System of WNY and Kaleida Health; and Richard C. Cleland, president and chief operating officer of Erie County Medical Center (ECMC).

The appointments will take effect on or before June 1.

The announcement brings to 15 the number of new chairs and chair-level appointees named by Cain since he became dean in 2006. These hires, Cain says, are a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical schools future, especially as the new UB medical school building, which will open in 2017, takes shape on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

Over the next five years, UB plans to hire 250 new faculty members across all academic units, 100 of whom will join the medical school. Major New York State investments to this effort include Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos NYSUNY 2020 bill, a historic piece of higher education legislation that is enabling the university to pursue the next phase of its UB 2020 strategic plan.

Schwaitzberg has been with Cambridge Health Alliance since 2005, when he became a visiting associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. In 2009, he was appointed a full-time member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, where he is currently professor of surgery.

From 1986 until 2005, Schwaitzberg served as an assistant and then associate professor of surgery at Tufts University School of Medicine, and held several administrative posts at the former New England Medical Center, now Tufts Medical Center, including medical director, director of surgical research, vice chairman and executive committee chairman of its Institutional Review Board.

Schwaitzberg has focused his research in five areas: device development, prevention of intra-abdominal adhesions, skill acquisition in minimally invasive surgery, clinical evaluation of antibiotics and clinical outcomes.

One of his most important achievements is his research demonstrating the feasibility of using microwaves to warm blood to facilitate transfusions. His research led to the development and federal approval of a practical device.

His basic laboratory work on an anti-adhesion device in abdominal surgery progressed to a pivotal clinical trial supporting its use in patients. He also has conducted research designed to promote skill acquisition in minimally invasive surgery in the U.S. and around the globe, and has made contributions in the preclinical and clinical use of surgical robots. Schwaitzberg holds three U.S. patents.

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Schwaitzberg named chair of Surgery

Medical students at U. hope to fill physician shortage

By Sandra Olney

February 6th, 2015 @ 8:32am

SALT LAKE CITY Utah has a serious shortage of doctors. One prescription for change: expand the class size and the number of students who qualify for in-state tuition at the University of Utah School of Medicine. So far, the healthy boost in enrollment and in those qualifying for a tuition break seems to be working.

Each spring, Dr. Ben Chan and his admissions team assemble a class of students who will become the doctors of the future. "I am very optimistic that if we keep our best students here, they'll end up staying here and practicing here," he said.

Chan has had no trouble convincing students who have spent time in Utah to stay here for medical school. Susan Folsom grew up in Oregon and graduated undergrad from BYU. Now, she is in her second year of medical school at the U. of U.

"Many of us come from a background that's very altruistic. We really want to be here. We're willing to go through the hard things," Folsom said.

Some of the hard things students must deal with include paying out-of-state tuition and getting into a medical school like the U. of U.'s with a limited number of positions. "We have many more qualified applicants than we do positions, and so I'm excited to admit a class of 122," Chan said.

He is overseeing a growth spurt in admissions to the U.'s School of Medicine, from 82 students in 2012 to 122 this fall. Each year, more than 80 percent of those coveted spots go to students with strong ties to Utah. Alex Woodcock is a first-year medical student.

"I've always been a Western girl at heart. I love being in the mountains; my family lives 30 minutes away in Park City," she said.

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Medical students at U. of U. hope to fill physician shortage