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News Briefs research institutions worldwide, including the UASOM’s Department of Anesthesiology. WHITLEY NATIONAL FINALIST FOR HUMANISM IN MEDICINE AWARD Richard Whitley, M.D., professor of pediatric and infectious diseases at the UASOM, has been selected as a distinguished finalist for the 2003 AAMC Humanism in Medicine Award. The annual award is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) through the support of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. Whitley is one of 50 honorees from across the nation nominated by the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives, based on five defining characteristics of humanism in medical education: positive mentoring skills, involvement in community service, compassion/sensitivity, collaboration, and observance of professional ethics. Whitley’s nomination is a tribute to his commitment to training and mentoring young physicians and having them, in turn, pass on their knowledge to a new generation of physicians. “Like healing, learning happens best when expertise is joined with caring and partnership,” says Mike Magee, M.D., vice president of medical relations and science policy for Pfizer Inc. and director of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative. “The medical students who nominated Dr. Whitley recognized the human qualities that make him both an outstanding teacher and an outstanding physician. It’s through the stellar example of mentors like Dr. Whitley that the next generation of physicians will learn how to practice compassion, partnership, and understanding in the practice of medicine.” KOEHLER NAMED RADIOLOGY CHAIR Robert E. Koehler, M.D., has been appointed chair of the Department of Radiology effective Nov. 1, 2003. Koehler was vice-chair of the department before being named interim chair last year. In announcing the appointment, William B. Deal, M.D., dean of the School of Medicine, said, “We are pleased that we were able to find such a highly qualified person within our own faculty to lead this large department that is so integral to the quality of patient care and research at UAB. Bob Koehler’s credentials and long service to UAB will serve him well.” Koehler, who joined UAB in 1982, says, “It is definitely an honor and a challenge to have the opportunity to lead this distinguished faculty. The talent and dedication of our radiology faculty have brought national recognition to UAB, especially for resident education and skilled, subspecialized service to patients. We will now work to further strengthen those areas and to grow the department’s research and extramural funding.” For more on Koehler and his new position, see the article Making Connections on page 12. DACHEUX WINS EYE RESEARCH AWARD Ramon F. Dacheux II, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, has been granted a $65,000 Senior Scientific Investigator Award by Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB). RPB Senior Scientific Awards support nationally recognized scientists conducting eye research at medical institutions in the United States. Dacheux is one of 122 scientists at 50 institutions to be honored since the award was established in 1987. Dacheux’s primary research interest is in the role of the ganglion cell in the onset of glaucoma, the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Dacheux is examining how different ganglion cell types respond to changes in intraocular pressure. This information could lead to a test for early diagnosis of glaucoma, before cell death and vision loss occur. RPB is the world’s leading voluntary organization supporting eye research. Since it was founded in 1960, RPB has channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to medical institutions throughout the United States for research into all blinding eye diseases. To date, the organization has awarded grants totaling more than $2 million to UAB. PIONEERING ENT JACK ODESS DIES John S. “Jack” Odess, M.D., of Chelsea, a pioneer in developing new services and new medical procedures for ENT patients, died Nov. 4, 2003. He is credited with helping organize the first cleft-palate clinic in the United States and with pioneering the operating microscope. He was 80 years old. “Dr. Odess was a brilliant and generous man, who was dedicated to the health and well-being of this community,” says UAB president Carol Garrison, Ph.D. Odess was a graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. In the 1950s, he returned to Birmingham, where he entered private practice and joined the faculty of the UASOM. In 1956, he helped reestablish the otolaryngology residence training at University Hospital. He pioneered the operating microscope and became the first surgeon in the state to use it to perform a stapedectomy, a procedure that restores mobility to the small bones of the inner ear, thereby improving hearing. He also worked with the Talladega School for the Deaf and the Junior League Speech and Hearing Clinic, and was on staff at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Baptist Medical Center–Montclair and –Princeton, and Children’s Hospital. In addition, he worked with the Council of Accreditation on Hearing Conservation and assisted in the development of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards to prevent hearing loss from industrial noise. Although Odess retired from private medical practice in 1981, he remained active in business and civic endeavors and the ongoing evolution of the UASOM’s Division of Otolaryngology. In 1989, he provided funding to establish the John S. Odess Professor and Division Director-Otolaryngology/ Head and Neck Surgery Chair in the School of Medicine. RESEARCH AND CLINICAL NEWS UAB JOINS CONSORTIUM TO STUDY RARE DISEASES Researchers at the UAB Civitan International Research Center will be part of a new multicenter Rare Diseases Clinical Research Center (RDCRC) to study three rare syndromes: Rett, Angelman, and Prader-Willi. The center is funded by a $6.25 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “The center will help develop an understanding of how these diseases affect individuals throughout their lives and set the stage for studying treatments that may help reduce the effects of such diseases,” says Alan K. Percy, M.D., associate director of the Civitan Center and a leading international authority on Rett syndrome. The grant is intended to interface with the UAB General Clinical Research Center and the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center. The principal investigator in the study, Arthur Beaudet, M.D., chair of the Baylor College of Medicine’s Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, says the grant will promote clinical research into disorders that are “often neglected because they affect a small percentage of the population.” Beaudet expects that the focus of the center will expand to other disorders in the coming years. UAB NAMED AUTOIMMUNITY CENTER OF EXCELLENCE UAB has received a five-year, $3.6 million NIH grant to establish an Autoimmunity Center of Excellence—one of four newly named centers and one of only nine such centers nationwide. The centers bring together investigators representing diverse disciplines from across the country to conduct basic research and clinical studies aimed at developing new therapies for autoimmune diseases. “Autoimmune disorders and diseases comprise a significant portion of the health-care burden in this country,” says Robert H. Carter, M.D., associate professor of medicine with the Division of Clinical Immunology/Rheumatology and director of the UAB center. “NIH created the network 4
News Cover Briefs Story of autoimmunity centers to speed translation of basic research into new therapies and to further our understanding of human immunology.” UAB’s long and notable history of basic and clinical study in the field of autoimmune research was a key factor in the NIH’s decision to name it a center of excellence. “UAB received the highest score among all institutions applying for this award,” Carter says. “We have great expertise and many proven strengths in this area of research.” In addition to its basic research activities, the center, as part of its grant application, has proposed two clinical studies: one on psoriatic arthritis and one on lupus. “A steering committee of leaders representing all the centers will decide which clinical studies to conduct and which centers will participate based on each center’s expertise,” Carter says. “If one or both of UAB’s proposed clinical studies are selected, the center will receive additional funding to support these trials.” “Collaborative center projects will unite the expertise of investigators working in diverse areas of human autoimmune disease,” says Larry W. Moreland, M.D., director of clinical activities for the UAB center. “Taking part in the development and implementation of these groundbreaking investigations will expand our collective knowledge and place UAB at the forefront of human immunological research.” NIH AWARDS UAB NEW CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH DISPARITIES Diabetes kills African Americans at a rate double that of whites. Colon-cancer mortality is a third higher, and overall mortality is 50 percent higher. Now UAB will use a $4.25 million federal grant to try to help change those statistics through research, screening and education programs, and training of health-related professionals. The four-year grant comes from the NIH’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. It establishes a Regional Deep South Project Export Center of Excellence for Minority Health (Project Export) to begin developing a health-disparities center. Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., professor of surgery, is principal investigator for the program. The grant was developed in conjunction with co-principal investigators Mona Fouad, M.D., Edward Partridge, M.D., and Catarina Kiefe, M.D. “The health gap between minorities and whites is a problem that statistics make obvious, and it is particularly severe in the Black Belt counties of Alabama with highest concentrations of African Americans,” Vickers says. “This new center of excellence, incorporating Project Export, will help coordinate and build on existing efforts at UAB to combat this problem of health disparities in our state and region.” UAB’s center is one of seven around the nation to receive status as a comprehensive center of excellence and full funding in this fiscal year. The center aims to build partnerships at institutions enrolling a significant number of students from health-disparity populations and will promote participation and training in biomedical and behavioral research at these historically black colleges and universities. Vickers noted that Project Export initially will reach out to the community through screening and education programs for diabetes and colon cancer. The diabetes program will be conducted in Jefferson County in association with the faithbased Center for Urban Missions, and colon cancer will be the target of programs in Macon County in partnership with the BND Cancer Center, a private organization. Project Export will be an integral part of the center and make use of UAB’s research and training expertise in partnership with historically black colleges and universities in the state. “There is a need to recruit and train minorities as health workers, particularly in the Black Belt,” Vickers says. “A summer training program is planned in conjunction with the black colleges in order to prepare students for careers in allied-health professions.” USING WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE Rapid advances in wireless communication technology could provide big benefits in improving emergency medical response, say UAB researchers. The latest technology could produce major improvements in the 911 system and in how Emergency Medical Services (EMS) teams handle medical emergencies ranging from heart attacks to large-scale disasters. UAB researchers have received a $3.2 million contract from the National Library of Medicine, a branch of the NIH, to study the integration of wireless technology with EMS services. The study, called Advanced Network Infrastructure for Health and Disaster Management, is directed by Helmuth Orthner, Ph.D., professor of health informatics in UAB’s School of Health Related Professions. “Our ability to handle medical emergencies is at a revolutionary threshold with the emergence of technologies such as secure, high-speed wireless communications and powerful hand-held computing and communication devices,” says Orthner. “This study will allow us to test how to integrate these technologies within the EMS community in an important new way.” Orthner says the lessons learned will have value for EMS teams responding to any kind of medical emergency. He says any changes to the current system must be capable of rapid, failsafe escalation so that the system can seamlessly respond to situations ranging from an individual 911 call to major disasters such as catastrophic weather events or terrorist attacks. Co-principal investigators with Orthner are Gary Grimes, Ph.D., UAB professor of engineering, and Thomas Terndrup, M.D., chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. SCREEN-SAVER PROVES EFFECTIVE IN EDUCATING HOSPITAL PHYSICIANS A training program that uses interactive screensaver images linked to a Web site to prepare hospital-based clinicians to respond to bioterrorist attacks is an effective alternative to more costly and more time-consuming educational methods, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Thomas Terndrup, M.D., chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Center for Emergency Care and Disaster Preparedness, led the pilot study to develop and test the new training program, available on the center’s Web site at [www.uab.edu/cecdp]. “Before the terrorist attacks in September 2001 and subsequent anthrax attacks, few hospitals considered it a priority to integrate bioterrorist preparedness into their disaster plans,” Terndrup says. “Afterward, however, the challenge to educate hospital-based clinicians and infection-control practitioners to recognize and respond to a bioterrorist event took precedence.” The pilot study, funded in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, aimed to streamline hospital preparedness efforts through the implementation of a screen-saver program as an educational tool for clinicians. “Initiatives to prepare hospital-based practitioners must fit among the demands of patient care, administrative duties, and continuing education within specialties,” Terndrup says. “The interactive screensaver program was designed with these considerations in mind.” The screen-saver program also may direct the user to access a Web site for additional bioterrorist information and Web-based learning modules relevant to the user’s particular specialty. The site, [www.bioterrorism.uab.edu], currently offers nine continuing-education courses developed specifically for the following specialties: emergency medicine, radiology, pathology, infection control, pediatrics, family practice, internal medicine, and dermatology. 5
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