Lawsuit: Corpse was too fat for med school

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Published: Aug. 2, 2012 at 12:01 PM

NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A New York family's lawsuit against a hospital alleges a medical school rejected a man's corpse for being too large.

The family of George Cardel filed a lawsuit after the 59-year-old man, who weighed about 300 pounds, was pronounced dead at Long Island Jewish Medical Center after suffering a heart attack Dec. 29, 2011, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

The lawsuit alleges Cardel's last request was for his body to be donated to science, but the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine at Hofstra University rejected the corpse for being too large and the hospital took 13 days to return the body, resulting in heavy decomposition that led to the body needing to be cremated.

"We thought everything was taken care of until 13 days later," said Cardel's sister, Maryann O'Donnell.

Officials at the hospital said they attempted to donate the corpse to multiple medical schools, but there were no takers.

The lawsuit alleges "grave humiliation."

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UK medical school teaching on physical activity virtually 'non-existent'

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Public release date: 27-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Stephanie Burns sburns@bmjgroup.com 44-020-738-36920 BMJ-British Medical Journal

[Physical activity education in the undergraduate curricula of all UK medical schools. Are tomorrow's doctors equipped to follow clinical guidelines? Online First doi 10.1136/bjsports-2012-091380]

UK medical school teaching on physical activity is "sparse or non-existent," finds research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine today.

This knowledge gap will leave tomorrow's doctors ill equipped to promote physical activity effectively to their patients and stem the rising tide of serious disease associated with lack of exercise, say the authors.

They base their findings on the results of a survey sent to the curriculum lead or director for medical studies for each of the UK's 31 medical schools.

This asked about the form and content of key aspects of education on the promotion of physical activity, in accordance with national guidelines, and the total amount of time given over to teaching the basic science and health benefits of physical activity across the undergraduate course.

The education leads were asked to name the specific teaching modules in which physical activity education appeared. And they were asked if the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO's) guidance on physical activitywhich spans all age groups, and which was published last Julyappeared anywhere in the curriculum.

The responses uncovered "some alarming findings, showing that there is widespread omission of basic teaching elements," say the authors.

All the medical schools responded. Only four (15.5%) included physical activity in each year of the undergraduate course. Five (16%) did not include any specific teaching on it in their undergraduate courses.

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Medical merger is enticing to college

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Susan Robertson

Merging with Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk to form the William & Mary School of Medicine definitely has potential, but the benefits have yet to be spelled out.

The possible partnership, announced Wednesday, would make William & Mary the fourth state university with a medical program. The obvious benefits include prestige for William & Mary and state funding for EVMS.

W&M President Taylor Reveley said serious consideration of a merger began only recently, and a look at similar partnerships will undergo due diligence by the administration and the Board of Visitors.

Im well aware of the resources a medical school can bring to a university, he said. Although William and Mary and EVMS have cooperated in the past, making EVMS a part of the college would provide greater opportunities for collaboration and the development of innovative learning and research opportunities for William & Mary undergraduate and graduate students.

Out in Roanoke, Virginia Tech had four big reasons for merging with the Carilion hospital system in 2007, according to Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech.

To address a looming shortage of doctors.

To improve health care delivery in Southwest Virginia.

To expand Virginia Techs life science and human health research.

To link efforts of Virginia Tech and Carilion and create jobs in the region.

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Dr. Hugh Stephenson: Instrumental in developing four-year medical school at Mizzou

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Dr. Hugh Stephenson, who died Thursday (July 26, 2012), helped turn the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri at Columbia into a full, four-year institution.

During the 1950s, he successfully lobbied the Legislature to build a medical school to replace one that provided only two years of training. Students had to transfer to a four-year medical program to finish their degrees.

Dr. Stephenson was a popular professor and the first full-time surgery faculty member at the medical school. In 1958, he performed the university's first open-heart surgery.

The university also credits him for designing the "crash cart" the Mobile Cardiac Resuscitation Unit as well as being one of the first surgeons to implant an automatic cardiac defibrillator for shocking the heart after it goes into arrest.

Dr. Hugh Edward Stephenson Jr. died at his family's summer home in Rehoboth Beach, Del. He was 90 and also had a home in Columbia.

He had been treated for at least 10 years for complications of Parkinson's disease, a family friend said Monday.

Before Dr. Stephenson, university officials had been trying since the early 1930s to build a four-year medical school. There was never enough money during the Depression or World War II.

Dr. Stephenson was from a prominent family in Columbia, where his father was a dentist. He earned his undergraduate degree at Mizzou and studied for two years at the medical school.

Then, he was accepted at the Washington University School of Medicine, which had just three or four slots a year for third- and fourth-year students from Mizzou.

After graduating, Dr. Stephenson served as an Army radiologist in Italy. He was on the faculty at New York University Post Graduate Medical School and was chief surgical resident at Bellevue Hospital there.

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Poff, Tycoles like satellite med school idea

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A stand-alone medical school for Brandon University may not be realistic, but the findings of the Brandon Medical Education Study to increase training of doctors in rural environments is encouraging, said Ross Tycoles, chairman of the Assiniboine Municipal Health Committee.

"Honestly, I think all along (a satellite medical school in Brandon) was their plan," Tycoles said. "Im disappointed that the stand-alone school didnt come through, but the fact is the satellite school will help and it will address the concerns rural communities have."

His view was shared by Brandon University president Deborah Poff, who called the study "a small step in the right direction."

"It doesnt surprise me that there would be no recommendation for an independent medical school," Poff said. "Given the context in Manitoba, I knew that was a long shot beyond belief and I had said that to a lot of people. The satellite school is a half step in that direction."

Poff said her disappointment with the report rests on a conservative implementation schedule of the findings, which includes more residencies in later years of the four-year medical school program and community campuses with teaching units geared towards practising medicine in rural areas.

The provincial government stated in a press release that six residencies were already planned for Brandon, Steinbach and the Boundary Trails Hospital between Morden and Winkler this year and the study called for more next year. A satellite campus of the University of Manitobas medical school in Brandon is listed as a possibility, if more students need to be accepted in the future.

"I think it will take a long while unless theres the political will within the implementation committee to move a little faster," Poff said.

"In every province where this has been happening, which is now the majority of provinces, its taken some political will and commitments. The recommendations are not bad, just extremely slow in terms of the time horizon."

Tycoles said the study recognized the "problem that has always been around" and dealt with those issues, but Dr. Derry Decter, a proponent for training doctors in rural communities, said the study doesnt go far enough, or fast enough to deal with the doctor shortages faced by rural and northern residents.

"There is a bit of a red herring in there," Decter said.

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DMU medical school dean loses his position

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The dean of Des Moines Universitys medical school has been forced out of the position by the universitys president.

Dr. Kendall Reed was the medical-schools dean since 2003.

Dr. Angela Franklin became the universitys president last year. When asked today about word that Reed was out as dean, university spokeswoman Kendall Dillon replied in an e-mail: Yes, President Franklin made that administrative change last week. Dillon said the move was not part of a restructuring. Its really just a leadership change, she said. There wasnt any wrongdoing or anything scandalous or anything like that.

The spokeswoman said Reed remains a tenured professor in the medical school, which trains osteopathic physicians. She said Dr. David Plundo, who was already an associate dean, has been named acting dean. Franklin will conduct a search for a permanent replacement. The spokeswoman declined other comment on the situation.

Reed, who is a surgeon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tags: Des Moines University, Dr. Angela Franklin, Dr. Kendall Reed

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Drinking from a firehose: can research into the human mind help with medical school memorization?

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Ive come across many analogies that try to convey the amount of memorization required in medical school. The most popular is drinking from a firehose. One physician writer put it like this: It was like being asked to enter a grocery store and memorize the names of every product in the store, their number and location, every ingredient in every product in the order in which they appear on the food label, and then to do the same thing in every grocery store in the city.

In medical school, we talk in terms of high yield and low yield information. Basically, everyone accepts that it is impossible to know everything or even close to it, so medical school becomes an exercise in figuring out what is most important. For every conversation about memorizing, there are also a couple of self-deprecating quips about forgetting. Ive had times where I studied something, took a short break, and then forgot what I was just reading. Is it sad? Yes. Demoralizing? Can be. But unique? Talking to other medical students, Ive found the answer is a resounding no. The consensus on memorization among my peers is comically Lake Wobegon in reverse: here, everyone is convinced (s)he is below average.

Are we inherently bad at memorizing? Are we just not programmed to be effective at learning everything the modern medical landscape demands from us? I wondered about that. But more so, I wondered about solutions. If we ask for help, most of us rely on casual tips from those who have gone through the process before us, and we try to assemble diverse anecdotes into a feasible personal plan. But research into the human mind and its ability to remember is vast. And that knowledge says that memorization is a skill that can be improved upon with strategy and practice.

What of that knowledge can apply to medical training, specifically? Which techniques can help information stick in ways that are meaningful, relevant, and ultimately useful for patient care?

***

Chunking. Our short-term memory can store and retrieve a limited number of facts and researchers have honed in that number. In 1956, cognitive psychologist George Miller published a paper providing evidence for seven being the magic number, plus or minus two. It was one of the most widely cited psychology papers ever, and Millers figures are ones that many in modern psychology circles still go by. What does that mean if you want to remember more than seven items? The solution involves breaking down or chunking larger sequences into smaller ones. For example, if you want to remember the ten digit sequence 6256493174, you could instead think of it as 6, 256, 493, 174. Or 62, 56, 49, 31, 74. Or some other combination, as long as its in a retainable number of chunks.

We remember chunks better than long sequences. In medicine, chunking is really a way of saying simplify and organize.

Does it work? In medicine, we constantly need to remember facts that relate to a particular umbrella subject. Chunking is useful as a guide in keeping relevant concepts together, within a range that is ideal for memorization. I know, for example, that if I am trying to remember bacteria, it helps to classify them into groups with each group containing facts of nine or fewer items. In that sense, perhaps chunking is little more than a fancy way of saying organizing with the additional recommendation of what size you should organize subjects into to increase your chances of retaining.

One issue is that chunking refers to a technique for short-term memory. In medical training, I care about knowing things for the long term. Can chunking still help? Psychologist opinion seems to say yes: chunking improves the transfer of short-term memory to long-term memory. Some have used the example of language to make this point, in that we regularly use single words or phrases to capture complex meaning and remember it in the long-term. Medicine uses similar principles. That is, whenever we have a medical term for a constellation of symptoms, a disease progression, or a type of treatment, we are actually chunking multiple concepts into a single phrase. Taken in reverse a single medical term connotes multiple ideas. Medical language enables us to memorize better by having us memorize in chunks.

The bottom-line on the usefulness of chunking in medicine is that its a way of thinking consciously about something we tend to do naturally organizing complex ideas into simpler ones. Having that conscious awareness of why condensing works can make the number of facts we are expected to learn in medicine less intimidating.

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No medical school for Brandon: Study

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The Brandon Medical Education Study was released Wednesday. (TIM SMITH/BRANDON SUN)

A stand-alone medical school at Brandon University proposal has been deemed ill-advised because western Manitobas population base is too small, according to the Brandon Medical Education Study that was released to the public on Wednesday.

Instead, the report offers a progression of steps, such as offering more residencies to Brandon and other hospitals, eventually leading to a satellite medical school that works in conjuction with the University of Manitoba.

"The study recommends focusing on more rural medical residencies and doctors, when they are in that final stage of their studies, they start making those decisions on where they want to practice and very often thats the point when they start putting down roots in the community," Manitoba Advanced Education Minister Erin Selby said. "Those decisions are often linked to where they want to where they want to practice afterwards."

The study examined how to recruit and retain more doctors to serve in rural Manitoba, and one of the recommendations to create more residencies in Brandon, Steinbach, as well as the Boundary Trails hospital between Morden and Winkler has already started. Ten more residencies are recommended to start next year, with increases of seven positions each year for four years also planned.

"Thats an effective way to encourage more doctors to practice in rural Manitoba because they have already started to develop connections with the community," Selby said.

There were other components to the 10 key recommendations listed in the report, such as ensuring rural students have access to medical school spots and that the University of Manitoba plan for an increase in the number of students wanting to work in rural, remote and underserved areas. Once the residencies are in place, rural clinical teaching units will be set up in Brandon and other communities for third- and fouth-year medical student.

While the 110 spots at the University of Manitoba medical school are considered adequate for the provinces population, plans to increase capacity to 130 students may be required, and its at that point a satellite campus could be considered for Brandon, Thompson, Steinbach, Boundary Trails and/or Dauphin.

"When we came into office, there were 70 seats in the medical school and now there are 110," Selby said. "A population of our size is probably best served with 110 to a maximum of 130, but should we be looking down the road at increasing seats, thats what the study recommends. We have a number of things already in place to help increase the number of doctors practicing in rural Manitoba. We have seen an increase of 100 doctors practicing in rural communities, including 30 more since 1999. The study reinforces some of the things we are already doing."

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A $6.7 million federal grant to UMass Medical to battle health disparities

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By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School say they will use a new $6.7 million grant to battle significant health disparities in the region by using a grassroots approach that features patients telling their stories to inspire others.

The school announced Thursday that it was awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a new Health Equity Intervention Research Center with scientists from UMass Boston.

Low-income patients, and those from certain minority groups, including African Americans and Latinos, often suffer disproportionately higher rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other illnesses. The Umass researchers aim to test various cultural approaches to reduce health disparities.

Lead investigator Dr. Jeroan Allison, vice provost for health disparities research at UMass Medical School, said obesity is one of the most stubborn health problems in the Worcester area, a region with a large low-income population, and that can trigger a cascade of other health issues, such as diabetes and heart problems.

One of three programs the new research center will focus on is helping low-income, new moms lose excess weight after their pregnancies by increasing physical activity and improving their diets. The program will include nutritionists, peer leaders and encouragement from patients who have been successful in losing weight and who will share their stories, Allison said.

When someone looks like you and you see yourself in their world, you sort of enter their world and become more open and receptive to the idea, Allison said. It taps into the community itself as a source of wisdom, as opposed to putting all the authority on the physicans.

The idea of using storytelling comes from Allisons earlier work in Alabama that found that patients could better control their blood pressure if they heard stories from other patients who were successfully controlling their hypertension.

We found story telling to be amazingly effective, often as successful as prescribing a drug, Allison said.

The grant money will also be used to fund two other programs. One, in the Springfield area, will focus on the high rates of teen pregnancies and HIV in the Puerto Rican community by encouraging conversations between mothers and children about sexuality.

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EVMS may become W&M School of Medicine

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WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) - The Eastern Virginia Medical School is exploring the option of becoming the William & Mary School of Medicine, according to the college.

In a statement issued by both the College of William & Mary and the Easter Virginia Medical School, the possible change must be carefully investigated before a decision is made. The length of the process is unknown.

William & Mary President Taylor Reveley sent the following message Tuesday:

Later today we will issue a joint statement with Eastern Virginia Medical School saying that both institutions will take a long, hard look at whether EVMS should become the William & Mary School of Medicine.

There are miles to go and much information to be developed and studied before either W&M or EVMS will be ready to make a decision, one way or the other. Any such combination would require approval by the College's Board of Visitors as well as the Governor and General Assembly.

It will be important to engage the W&M community in consideration of this possibility. To that end,I will ask a group, led by the Provost, to pull the laboring oar on our due diligence.

In my view, the EVMS possibility is worth careful consideration. EVMS is an institution we know and respect. Many W&M graduates have gone to medical school there. And there has been productive research collaboration between the two schools.

Whether asking for state approval of this combination will ultimately prove to be in our best interests, all factors considered, is what we must now carefully determine. The same, obviously, is true of EVMS from its perspective.

If the choice is made to proceed, the General Assembly and Governor will have to approve.

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EDITORIAL: W&M Medical School

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That certainly has a nice ring to it, if it comes to pass. The news broke Wednesday that the College of William & Mary is in preliminary talks with Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk for some sort of merger that would rename the school.

The undergraduate and graduate science programs compel the college as a logical choice over other universities. For years, W&M has had a famous pre-med program that placed applicants at med schools all over the nation. Indeed, an early-admit program lets sophomores commit to EVMS as they continue toward their undergraduate degree. W&M President Taylor Reveley talked about a productive research collaboration between both institutions.

Wednesdays announcement had a big surprise element, as if to head off objections from Old Dominion University and Hampton University for missing the thrown bouquet. A merger by ODU came up last winter at the General Assembly, to no avail. Merger would seem to make more sense for ODU since the proximity is much greater.

This raises several questions.

What are the local implications? If all they do is rename the place, it would seem greater Williamsburg would miss out on substantial educational and economic benefits. If, however, a remote campus develops, the vacated land in back of Eastern State Hospital would be the obvious choice. The community group Crossroads identified the acreage for mixed use and research, so it would be perfect.

What are the state implications? The General Assembly has famously stripped state funding from William & Mary to a point where it comprises around 12% of the operating budget. If the Commonwealth underwrites a medical school, that percentage would go up, but only artificially so. The upshot is a wash for the rest of the college, except for prestige.

Is that all there is, prestige? ODU was once an extension school of William & Mary, and that worked out well. The prestige of a medical school connection would enhance the already-vaunted reputation of the college.

What are the cost implications? Medical schools are expensive to operate, so much so that they can drain a university. Close to home, Georgetown was lucky to sell its medical school some years ago and get out from under. William & Mary does not need a millstone, especially if it comes with operating deficits of millions or tens of millions.

Who decides? The legislature and the governor will make the call. This could become the next political football in the 2013 session, a major distraction just when Virginias public universities need more state funding for undergraduate schools. If a medical school sucks up all the oxygen (and money!), it will not serve us well.

Is this a done deal? Not hardly, according to official statements. But its fair to say things are pretty far along if the college is going public with the idea. It doesnt seem like the faculty have been consulted as a formal group, but surely the science profs are in the loop.

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EDITORIAL: W&M Medical School

W&M, Eastern Virginia Medical School may join forces

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WILLIAMSBURG Pre-med students at the College of William & Mary might be able to stay with their alma matter for medical school.

The college will consider merging with Eastern Virginia Medical School to create the W&M School of Medicine, the schools announced in a joint statement Wednesday.

Any action would require approval of the university's board of visitors, the governor and the General Assembly, President Taylor Reveley said in a letter to the campus community.

A group led by the provost will explore the possible merger with the Norfolk-based medical school, which Reveley said is "worth careful consideration."

"EVMS is an institution we know and respect," he said. "Many W&M graduates have gone to medical school there. And there has been productive research collaboration between the two schools."

W&M currently offers an early-assurance program that allows pre-med students to apply to EVMS the spring of their sophomore year.

The provost-led group tasked with exploring the merger will include faculty and administrators, said W&M spokesman Brian Whitson.

Wednesday's statement noted that the talks are exclusive, which Whitson said is standard practice in such situations.

That drew disappointment from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, where President John Broderick sent a letter to campus saying the discussion should be broadened to include ODU and others.

ODU was already eyeing a union with EVMS, he said, noting that a study about the two schools possibly merging was proposed but tabled at this year's General Assembly session.

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South Jersey celebrates grand opening of Cooper Medical School

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CAMDEN After nearly four decades of efforts, South Jersey politicians and community leaders celebrated the grand opening of a new medical school in Camden today.

"This is part of a beginning," a beaming George Norcross, chairman of the Cooper University Hospital board, told a standing-room-only crowd today.

Norcross was instrumental in convincing then-Gov. Jon Corzine to authorize a medical school in Camden, but he wasnt the first in his family to have a role. His father, who was director of the local AFL-CIO, began banging the drum for the Camden school about four decades ago.

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, along with the recent realignment of higher education in the state, will bring more than $1 billion of much needed development to Camden over the next decade, boost public safety, enhance education and transform the neglected city, Norcross said.

The new medical school will eventually enroll 400 students. But the first class, which begins next month, is limited to 50 students who were chosen from among 2,900 applicants willing to take a chance on a new school.

Gov. Chris Christie said politicians often overemphasize the importance of events, but that the opening of the medical school was not one of those occasions. He called it a "big deal" and said jokingly that his praise has "the added bonus of being true."

More than 300 people crammed into a 250-seat auditorium in the state-of-the-art facility for the opening, which marked the states first new medical school in more than 35 years.

The 200,000 square-foot-building took 17 months to complete at a cost of $139 million.

Many of the speakers at the hour-long dedication also praised the Legislatures recent approval of a higher education restructuring plan that dismantled the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, sending its School of Osteopathic Medicine to Rowan and giving the rest to Rutgers University.

"We will teach the rest of the world" how to embrace and impose change in higher education, Ali Houshmand, the president of Rowan, said in an impassioned speech that echoed the excitement of the day.

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Christie, officials dedicate opening of new medical school at Rowan University

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CAMDEN - On a site once occupied by a methadone clinic and abandoned buildings, state and local officials celebrated the opening Tuesday of a medical school in Camden that was 40 years in the making.

MITSU YASUKAWA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Governor Christie and George E. Norcross III, chairman of Cooper Board of Trustees, examine their scissors before the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

MITSU YASUKAWA / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

As you take a walk around this beautiful building today, you can see the community is changing, state Sen. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, whose father first envisioned the school four decades ago. In addition to that, its changing lives.

The dedication of Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, where Governor Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, helped cut the ribbon, carried with it hope for a city that has the highest crime rate in the nation.

Camden Mayor Dana Redd said this was one of many steps that is leading to the citys long-awaited resurgence.

Im really overjoyed, she said. Im really overwhelmed at what has transpired here in our city. I want to thank our partners who are helping Camden move forward. Christie praised the opening of the school as another example of what can be done when partisan politics is put aside.

The folks who will come through here and learn here and then come and serve this community will be an ongoing example, a legacy, for all of us who played some small part in making it happen, he said.

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Rowan University’s New Medical School Opens In Camden, NJ

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(Dignitaries cut a ribbon marking the opening of the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, in Camden. Credit: Mike DeNardo)

By Mike DeNardo

CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) New Jerseys first new medical school in 35 years is now open in Camden.

Governor Chris Christie (fourth from left in top photo) joined legislative leaders in cutting the ribbon on the gleaming new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Christie reached across the political aisle to credit Democratic power broker and Cooper board chairman George Norcross III (fifth from left) as the driving force behind the new $139-million building.

Without his commitment to this, it simple wouldnt have happened, said the governor. No matter what else you hear from anybody else who stands behind this podium, it wouldnt have happened without George.

(Credit: Mike DeNardo)

The school is so modern that theres only one lecture hall. Students will learn mostly from working on hypothetical patient cases and interacting with actual patients.

The schools first fifty students begin August 13th.

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Rowan University’s New Medical School Opens In Camden, NJ

New Cooper-Rowan medical school ready to open

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CAMDEN Revitalization of a depressed city was on many minds Tuesday morning at a formal celebration for the new Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

Scheduled to open to its first 50 students Aug. 13, an open house brought together more than 300 medical, academic, political and community leaders, including present and past governors.

The establishment of a four-year medical school in Camden is long overdue, said Gov. Chris Christie. Children throughout New Jersey who dream of one day becoming a doctor now have another medical school option, right in their own state.

Former Gov. Jim Florio also was in attendance to see the projects completion.

Camden Mayor Dana Redd said the new institution is expected to boost the local economy and its level of health care, while creating a population of medical scholars and physicians.

I believe it is an indicator and a catalyst for future development to come, she said. Im really overjoyed. Im really overwhelmed at what has transpired in this city. Its Camdens time.

State Sen. Donald Norcross, D-5 of Camden, whose father George, a Cooper Hospital trustee, was instrumental in moving the project toward fruition, said the new six-story structure replaced abandoned buildings and a methadone clinic that previously sat on the Broadway site.

Construction on the school began in October 2010. On Tuesday, a time-lapse video showed the audience the evolution of the building as the U2 song Beautiful Day played. The project, Norcross said, relied on a variety of building trades that created apprentice opportunities for young people to learn skills.

Changing communities and changing lives. Thats what this great facility will do, he said.

According to medical school officials, about half of the institutions inaugural class has chosen to reside in the city while pursuing their educations. Since the school does not offer dormitory housing, those students are finding accommodations in nearby neighborhoods.

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Cooper Medical School opening brings hopes of education opportunities, economic boost

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CAMDEN The Cooper Medical School of Rowan University has been touted as a state-wide win for New Jersey students.

But with the schools opening Tuesday, the Camden-based $139 million project is expected to have the most impact on Gloucester County the home of Rowan University and the city, which is anticipated to get a much-needed economic boost.

Gloucester County is one of the biggest winners in this mix, said Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3, of West Deptford).

His home county claims Glassboros Rowan University, which is now the second college in the country to offer doctors of medicine (MD) and osteopathic medicine (DO) programs, according to Sweeney.

The Cooper Health System partnership adds an MD program to the universitys already existing affiliation with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and DO program.

This is Rowans medical school ... we are going to be known as the center of excellence for education, Sweeney said. This is an amazing day. Im extremely proud of what we accomplished this last year ... and what weve done in Camden.

The six-story high medical school building has replaced the abandoned houses and buildings that lined Broadway between Benson and Washington Streets just two years ago. The East side view to abandoned houses, windows broken out or boarded, is a reminder of what the 200,000-square-foot building replaced.

Not only will this wonderful facility be a boost to our economy, Redd said the scholars and physicians that emerge from the school and the services provided here will impact the delivery of health care in the city.

We are very grateful that Cooper Medical School of Rowan University has chosen Camden as its home, as its classroom, the mayor added. It exemplifies Camdens long-awaited, long-talked about resurgence.

The opening of the medical school marks Camdens time to come back, she said.

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Real life shooting imitates training exercise at Parker medical school

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The tragedy that played out in an Aurora movie theater Friday was ironically paralleled as a classroom learning experience in a medical school in Parker the same day.

Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine is in the middle of holding specialized classes in disaster life support for 150 second-year medical students. Along with response to natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and terrorist attacks, one of the scenarios being used to train the students is how to respond if a shooter fires at people in a movie theater and also uses a bomb in the attack.

"The irony is amazing, just amazing," said Rocky Vista Dean Dr. Bruce Dubin.

He said emergency specialist physicians from Parkland Hospital in Dallas as well as from several other emergency programs around the country are teaching the Advanced Disaster Life Support Training. Rocky Vista is the only medical school in the nation to make that training a part of the curriculum.

"They are trained to respond in every type of disaster," Dubin said.

The shootings in Aurora were incorporated into the teaching Friday, Dubin said.

"It made these medical students very aware that these kinds of things can happen anywhere," he said. "The events of this tragedy have helped to drive that home."

Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957, nlofholm@denverpost.com or twitter.com/nlofholm

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Soon-to-open Cooper Medical School ready to take its place in history

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All Cooper Medical School needs is students.

Gov. Chris Christie and a bevy of politicians, higher education officials and community leaders will gather Tuesday in Camden to cut the ribbon on New Jerseys first new medical school in nearly 35 years.

The school, part of Rowan University, will be housed in a new $139 million state-of-the-art building diagonal from Cooper University Hospital in the citys Lanning Square neighborhood. Its first class of 50 future doctors arrives next month.

As workmen buzzed around the lobby completing the building last week, founding dean Paul Katz said the incoming students are poised to make history.

"There is only one charter class ever in this school," Katz said. "And you have a certain responsibility and obligation to create the traditions and legacies that everyone will build upon."

Cooper Medical School has been decades in the making. Since the 1970s, South Jersey leaders have been pushing to bring a four-year allopathic medical school to Camden to help spur the revitalization of the troubled city.

In the end, it was South Jersey political power broker George Norcross, head of Cooper University Hospitals board, who helped lead behind-the-scenes efforts in Trenton to make the medical school a reality.

In 2009, Gov. Jon Corzine, who had been treated at Cooper after his near-fatal car accident two years earlier, signed an order giving the school the state money and approvals it needed to get started.

Cooper Medical School is opening amid great upheaval in New Jerseys higher education system. The states other three medical schools, which are all part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, are scheduled to be transferred to other universities under a higher education reorganization approved by the Legislature last month.

Under the plan, UMDNJs New Jersey Medical School in Newark and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway-New Brunswick will become part of Rutgers University in July 2013. UMDNJs School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford will be taken over by Rowan.

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Soon-to-open Cooper Medical School ready to take its place in history

At 46, Ohio businessman heading to medical school

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A 46-year-old Ohio businessman inspired by the service of others is heading to medical school to become a doctor working in an urban setting.

Ive been inspired by the differences Ive seen other people make in the inner city, Bill Downing told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

Pastors, doctors, nurses, social workers, urban pioneers. I felt I needed to invest the rest of my active career on a fulltime basis.

He will enroll at Cleveland State University in the fall in its new joint program with Northeast Ohio Medical University to provide doctors in underserved urban neighborhoods.

Rev. Duane Crabbs, who founded South Street Ministries in Akron with his wife, Lisa, 15 years ago, has worked with Downing for six years and calls him humble and a man of great integrity.

He understands that to impact in a substantial way there has to be a commitment to community, Crabbs said.

After graduating from Bowling Green State University, Downing began working full time at the familys Downing Enterprises in Copley Township near Akron. The company makes trade show exhibits and checkout counter displays.

Five years later, he enrolled at Harvard Business School and received a masters in business administration and now serves as chairman and CEO of the company.

A member of Grace Church in Bath, he began volunteering in urban Akron areas about 10 years ago. Thats how he met Crabbs and became active in his ministry.

About three years ago, Downing began thinking about a new career focused on helping those in the inner city.

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At 46, Ohio businessman heading to medical school