University of Chicago Medicine Names First Deans for Faculty Affairs

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Newswise The University of Chicago Medicine named its first two deans for faculty affairs, appointments designed to support the needs of faculty within the Biological Sciences Division.

Melina Hale, PhD, professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, and Karen Kim, MD, professor in the Department of Medicine, will report to Kenneth Polonsky, MD, executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Chicago and dean of the Biological Sciences Division and the Pritzker School of Medicine, and work closely with faculty, the elected Faculty Advisory Committee, department chairs and section chiefs.

Both Drs. Hale and Kim have extensive experience in leadership and initiatives that support and promote faculty efforts, said Polonsky, who is also the Richard T. Crane Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine.

Hale and Kim will concentrate on identifying issues that are important to the faculty and developing mechanisms to address areas of concern. Kim will focus on clinical faculty, while Hales attention will be on basic science faculty, but their activities will not be restricted to these areas.

They will work with Melissa Gilliam, MD, MPH, in her role as dean of diversity and inclusion, and Martin Feder, PhD, dean for academic affairs, who will concentrate on academic appointments and reappointments, promotion and tenure, and other academic issues, Polonsky said.

Hale is chair of the Research Resources Oversight Committee, the faculty committee that oversees BSD core facilities, and she works with faculty across the university as the spokesperson for the Committee of the Council of the University Senate.

She also serves on various committees related to institutional initiatives and education, including the University of Chicago-Marine Biological Laboratories Faculty Advisory Committee and the College Council. Nationally, she has served on National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation proposal review panels and been involved in NSFs efforts to develop priorities related to the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative.

Kim is director of the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Centers Office of Community Engagement and Cancer Disparities, where she works with faculty across the institution to develop and support community-based research. She is chair of the Department of Medicines Womens Committee and is serving a three-year term on the Universitys Womens Leadership Council.

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University of Chicago Medicine Names First Deans for Faculty Affairs

Penn Medicine Study Reveals Genetics Impact Risk of Early Menopause Among Some Female Smokers

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PHILADELPHIA New research is lighting up yet another reason for women to quit smoking. In a study published online in the journal Menopause, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report the first evidence showing that smoking causes earlier signs of menopause in the case of heavy smokers, up to nine years earlier than average in white women with certain genetic variations.

Though previous studies have shown that smoking hastens menopause by approximately one to two years regardless of race or genetic background, this study is the first of its kind to demonstrate that genetic background is significantly associated with a further increased risk of menopause in some white women who smoke. No statistically significant relationships between smoking, the gene variants under investigation and earlier menopause were observed in African American women.

While symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, anxiety and insomnia can result in discomfort, embarrassment, and irritability, the onset of menopause is also associated with risks of coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, and death from all causes. On average, women enter menopause at around 50 years of age. However, the research team now reports that menopause may begin at an earlier age in white female smokers who are carriers of two different gene variants. While the genes themselves do not result in early onset menopause, variations of the genes CYP3A4*1B and CYP1B1*3 were found to increase the risk of entering menopause at an earlier age in white smokers. The genetic variants were present in seven and 62 percent of white women in the study population, respectively.

This study could shed new light on how we think about the reproductive risks of smoking in women. We already know that smoking causes early menopause in women of all races, but these new results show that if you are a white smoker with these specific genetic variants, your risk of entering menopause at any given time increases dramatically, said the studys lead author Samantha F. Butts, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Penn Medicine.

Results of the study, which enrolled over 400 women aged 35 to 47 from the Penn Ovarian Aging Study, found that in carriers of the CYP3A4*1B variation, the average time-to-menopause after entering the study in heavy smokers, light smokers, and nonsmokers was 5.09 years, 11.36 years, and 13.91 years, respectively. This means that for heavily smoking white females with this genetic background, the average time-to-menopause was approximately nine years earlier than in nonsmoking carriers.

In white carriers of the CYP1B1*3 variation, the average time-to-menopause in heavy smokers, light smokers, and nonsmokers was 10.41 years, 10.42 years, and 11.08 years, respectively -- a statistically significant difference although not as stark as the findings for the CYP3A4*1B variant.

The Penn study did not examine why no statistically significant relationships between smoking, the gene variants under investigation, and earlier menopause were observed in African Americans.

It is possible that uniform relationships among white and African American women were not found due to other factors associated with race that modify the interaction between smoking and genes, said Butts. It is well known that race affects multiple features of menopause, and this could be another. Further investigation is needed to clarify this question.

In addition to Dr. Butts, Penn co-authors are Ellen W. Freeman from the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Mary D. Sammel, and Timothy R. Rebbeck from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Other co-authors are Christine Greer, University of Miami School of Medicine, and David W. Boorman, Drexel University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

This study was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R01-AG-12745, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant 5P30ES013508-07, Perelman School of Medicine Translational and Clinical Research Center grant RR024134, and the Perelman School of Medicine Center of Excellence for Diversity grant.

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READER SUBMITTED: Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers Welcomes The Perfect Workout To Avon

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Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers (PTSMC) has formed a strategic relationship with the Perfect Workout. Alan Balavender, MS, PT, owner/president of PTSMC and Travis Lytle, PT, MSPT, OCS, partner/director of PTSMC in Avon welcomes Matt Saint Thomas, owner/president of the Perfect Workout, and his staff, who began seeing patients and clients Monday, Feb. 3 at PTSMC's Avon location at 44 Dale Road.

Matt Saint Thomas has over 15 years of experience in personal training and sports medicine. He is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University, Cum Laude, and has a B.S. in Physical Education/Athletic Training. Matt brings with him the expertise of two colleagues, Kurt Lillie, DPT, personal trainer, and Nancy Chilson, office manager.

Partner/Director Travis Lytle of PTSMC, comments "We are excited to begin this collaborative relationship. The Perfect Workout has been providing physical therapy, transitional rehabilitation, personal training and nutritional programs in the Farmington Valley for many years and will now complement the services of our Avon clinic."

Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers of Avon has been a leading provider of outpatient physical therapy in Avon since 2003. PTSMC has a reputation of improving the quality of life for its patients, returning them to work, athletics and the lifestyle they enjoyed prior to injury or surgery. The practice offers physical therapy services specializing in musculoskeletal, orthopedic and sport-related injuries. Its physical therapists focus on the individual needs of each patient and develop treatment programs that are the safest, most efficient routes to fast recovery.

PTSMC is located at 44 Dale Road, Suite 203 and is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. They welcome patients and personal training clients of all ages seeking exceptional physical therapy care and/or personal training. For more information, visit them on the web at http://www.ptsmc.com or call the office 860-674-1713.

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READER SUBMITTED: Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Centers Welcomes The Perfect Workout To Avon

Audio-Digest Foundation Announces the Release of General Surgery Volume 61, Issue 01: Gunshot Wounds/Cervical Spine.

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Glendale, CA (PRWEB) February 05, 2014

Audio-Digest Foundation Announces the Release of General Surgery Volume 61, Issue 01: Gunshot Wounds/Cervical Spine.

The goal of this program is to improve the management of gunshot wounds and injury to the cervical spine. After hearing and assimilating this program, the clinician will be better able to:

1. Weigh the evidence supporting selective nonoperative management of abdominal gunshot injuries. 2. Select patients that would benefit from nonoperative management of gunshot wounds. 3. Perform a stepwise clinical evaluation of the cervical spine in a patient who is alert and cooperative after blunt trauma. 4. Order appropriate imaging in patients with possible cervical spine injury. 5. Evaluate computed tomography scans to rule out injury to cervical spine after blunt trauma.

The original programs were presented by George Velmahos, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, and Division Chief of Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, presented on Nonoperative Management of Abdominal Gunshot Wounds, and Clearing the Cervical Spine.

Audio-Digest Foundation, the largest independent publisher of Continuing Medical Education in the world, records over 10,000 hours of lectures every year in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, family practice, gastroenterology, general surgery, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, otolaryngology, pediatrics, psychology, and urology, by the leading medical researchers at the top laboratories, universities, and institutions.

Recent researchers have hailed from Harvard, Cedars-Sinai, Mayo Clinic, UCSF, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Kansas Medical Center, The University of California, San Diego, The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, The University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and many others.

Out of these cutting-edge programs, Audio-Digest then chooses the most clinically relevant, edits them for clarity, and publishes them either every week or every two weeks.

In addition, Audio-Digest publishes subscription series in conjunction with leading medical societies: DiabetesInsight with The American Diabetes Association, ACCEL with The American College of Cardiology, Continuum Audio with The American Academy of Neurology, and Journal Watch Audio General Medicine with Massachusetts Medical Society.

For 60 years, the global medical community of doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and other medical professionals around the world has subscribed to Audio-Digest specialty series in order to remain current in their specialties as well as to maintain their Continuing Education requirements with the most cutting-edge, independent, and unbiased continuing medical education (CME).

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Audio-Digest Foundation Announces the Release of General Surgery Volume 61, Issue 01: Gunshot Wounds/Cervical Spine.

UQ medical school looks to even gender balance

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UQ's school of medicine is getting fewer women through the doors. Photo: Lawrence Dutrieux

The University of Queensland medical school may change its medical exam weighting for graduates after research showed it may be unnecessarily favouring men over women as future doctors.

Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday new research showing that since UQ removed interviews with potential students in 2009, the proportion of girls winning medicine places had slumped to 26 per cent by 2012.

Jennifer Schafer, director of the University of Queenslands School of Medicine, said the research by Professor David Wilkinson was commissioned by UQ to learn what impact the decision to scrap interviews had created.

I guess the numbers were a surprise to us, Dr Schafer said.

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We dropped the interview and the gender diversity changed a little bit.

But there are other variables that we think may have contributed to that.

Dr Schafer said UQs School of Medicine was now studying the research.

The 2012 results were very unexpected, she said.

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UQ medical school looks to even gender balance

UTHealth Introduces Nation's First Mobile Stroke Unit

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Newswise HOUSTON (Feb. 5, 2014) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, in partnership with Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, has unveiled the countrys first Mobile Stroke Unit.

On board the ambulance is a computed tomography (CT) scanner that allows a mobile stroke unit team member to quickly assess whether a patient is having a stroke caused by a blood clot and if so, the clot-buster tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) can be administered. The stroke unit will be run in conjunction with the Emergency Medical Services of the Houston Fire Department, Bellaire Fire Department and West University Fire Department.

Stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted by a blockage or a rupture in an artery, depriving brain tissue of oxygen. It is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability. According to the American Stroke Association and the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year one every 40 seconds and stroke costs the United States $38 billion a year. The only FDA-approved treatment for ischemic stroke, the most prevalent kind, is the clot-buster tPA, but it must be given within three hours of the first signs of stroke to be most effective, and the earlier the better within that three-hour time frame.

It typically takes roughly an hour once a stroke patient arrives in the emergency room to receive treatment. So if we can actually put the emergency room in the ambulance and take the CT scanner to the patient, we could treat the patient at the scene with the medication and save that hour, said James C. Grotta, M.D., director of stroke research in the Center for Innovation & Research at Memorial Hermann-TMC and director of the mobile stroke unit consortium that will also include the stroke teams from Houston Methodist Hospital and St. Lukes Medical Center, local businesses and philanthropists. That hour could mean saving 120 million brain cells.

After observing a similar unit in Germany, Grotta, a longtime faculty member who served as chairman of UTHealths Department of Neurology for seven years, had the opportunity to present his idea to UTHealth Development Board members. He was pleasantly surprised when a couple approached him and offered to help with the project after the meeting in March 2013.

That couple, John and Janice Griffin, are owners of Frazer Ltd., a third-generation, family-run Houston company that builds emergency vehicles. After looking at the needs of a mobile stroke unit, Frazer felt it would need to engineer a new unit from the ground up.

We really liked the possibilities of moving medicine forward, said Laura Griffin Richardson, CEO and president of Frazer. Our company likes to push the limits and this had never been done before. Were excited to be located in Houston, the forefront of the medical community. Once everyone sees the possibility of putting a CT scanner in an emergency vehicle, the question is what else can we do?

Other local businesses such as H-E-B and Gallery Furniture, along with philanthropists, also generously supported the mobile stroke unit, giving $1.1 million to the UTHealth Medical School for the scanner and personnel.

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ASU Says Study Confirms Need for Osteopathic School

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The Arkansas State University System said Tuesday that a study it commissioned found that an osteopathic medical school at its Jonesboro campus would help meet a demand for primary-care physicians in the Delta and inject $70 million into the region.

In a news release, ASU Jonesboro Chancellor Tim Hudson said the university is moving ahead with plans to found an osteopathic school. He expects a proposal about how to do so will go before ASUs Board of Trustees on Feb. 28.

The Delta Regional Authority, which supports ASU's plans for an osteopathic school, helped fund the study conducted by Tripp Umbach, a consulting firm based in Pittsburgh.

"The addition of a new medical school would be a much needed investment into the health, welfare, and economy of northeast Arkansas and the greater Delta region," Chris Masingill, federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, said in a news release. "We have a dire need for more physicians in the Delta region, as currently 230 of counties and parishes in the Delta are considered to be health professional shortage areas."

Enough Training?

Dan Rahn, the chancellor of the state's only medical school, theUniversityofArkansasfor Medical Sciences, on Tuesday agreed that there's a physician shortage inArkansas"with large areas of the state being underserved." But he said he's not sure how establishing a new medical school would address the problem.

Rahn told Arkansas Business that the focus should be on adding more residency slots, not opening another medical school.

"Because otherwise we run the risk of educating new graduates within the state ofArkansaswho aren't actually going to contribute to solving the problems inArkansas," of the physician shortage, he said.

In order to become a licensed doctor, a medical student has to go through a residency program. In 2013, there were 528 graduates nationwide who didn't find a residency program to become a medical doctor, which was double the amount from 2012, Rahn said.

The Tripp Umbach study listed a need to expand graduate medical education and residency training among its findings. It said, "Arkansas State must work with state universities, hospitals, health centers, government entities and businesses to add residency positions statewide."

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ASU Says Study Confirms Need for Osteopathic School

Arkansas State University finds demand for an osteopathic med school

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Least shocking news of the day is that, as I predicted back in September, a consultant hired by Arkansas State University has confirmed the university's belief that there's sufficient demand to start a medical school osteopathic medicine variety in Jonesboro.

The Delta Regional Authority has thrown its weight behind the idea. The selling point is to create more primary care doctors, particularly for the Delta. Many discussions will be held about whether doctors produced in these fields can be counted on to stay in the underserved areas the program is supposed to help.

Yet to be heard, too, are the likely cautionary words from the state's existing medical school, which enjoys a state subsidy through both direct contributions and UAMS' role as a major recipient of federally subsidized health spending dollars. The country's med schools are already producing more graduates than residencies to accommodate them. But the expansion of government health care might spur a demand for doctors that rebalances that equation. Note that UAMS has expanded its educational arm to Northwest Arkansas, though not yet with a full medical school.

UPDATE: UAMSChancellor Dan Rahn talked to Leslie Peacock about his reaction to ASU's announcement. His reaction: "I don't think this proposal addresses our problems in Arkansas."

To be eligible to practice as a licensed physician, doctors must have completed some kind of post-graduate training in an approved residency program.Rahn said that nationally, 582 med school graduates were unable to get into residency programs last year, and nine UAMS graduates did not. Some of them may have been simply outmatched, but, according to the chancellor, while medical schools have been graduating more doctors, "the number of available residencies has not kept pace with the medical school graduation rate." One reason is the fact that Medicare capped the number of residencies it would support in 1997.

What's needed to address the shortage of primary care physicians, especially in Arkansas's rural areas, Rahn says: Keep the "private option" viable to insure the working poor and help hospitals' bottom line, plan at the state level on ways to increase the number of resident slots and push forward with reforms of the healthcare delivery system, including adding to the numbers of advanced practice nurses and physicians assistants.

Those were the conclusions that Rahn and Paul Halverson, who was director of the state Health Department at the time, provided in a report to Gov. Mike Beebe.

Rahn also noted that private osteopathy schools will cost students far more in tuition and fees than the state-subsidized UAMS, where tuition and fees come to around $24,000. According to this chart by the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, which tuition and fees as high as around $54,000 and none lower than around $30,000.

A feasibility study is also underway about starting a D.O. medical school in Fort Smith.

A med school in Jonesboro with 100 students will create "thousands of jobs," the news release says.

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Arkansas State University finds demand for an osteopathic med school

Groups work to increase number of minorities in medical field

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by Erika Flores

azfamily.com

Posted on February 4, 2014 at 6:21 PM

Updated yesterday at 6:40 PM

PHOENIX -- With a growing minority population, Arizona is looking to keep pace by increasing the number of minorities entering the medical field.

Tour for Diversity in Medicine is helping make that push, but they arent the only ones. Its the first time the tour comes to a community college and the first time its in Arizona.

More than 100 students went to Estrella Mountain Community College in Avondale to learn about how to get into medical school. One of the biggest pieces of advice was to start early, and thats exactly what students at Alhambra High School are doing through a medical magnet program.

Most of Damian Fairbanks students are minorities. "Our school population is more than 80 percent Hispanic," he said. It's not unusual to hear Fairbanks speak Spanish to get his students to remember medical terms.

Marco Zaragoza grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. "Growing up was tougher. My parents knew little to no English, and when it came down to homework, they only went to a certain level of school to the point they couldn't help me anymore," said Zaragoza.

Zaragoza said it was a struggle getting through school. "It's a huge accomplishment for me to make it this far," he said. He said his aunt helped him with schoolwork. "Without her, I probably wouldn't be here right now, he said.

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