2006  

December

12/28 - Medical Teams Are Key to Patient safety - An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine says that medical teams – not individuals – are critical to the prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infections, as well as for the overall health, safety, and welfare of patients. The editorial accompanies a study that "is the most important paper published in infection control in the last decade because it demonstrates that careful attention to good practices results in a dramatic reduction in bloodstream infections," according to Michael B. Edmond, M.D., acting chair in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Edmond co-authored the paper with Richard P. Wenzel, M.D., professor and chair in the Department of Internal Medicine and president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. Read more.

12/20 - Resident and Medical Student Win Awards at National Medical Meetin - Last month in Las Vegas at the annual American Medical Association Interim Meeting’s research poster symposium, orthopaedic surgery resident Candice McDaniel, M.D., and first-year medical student Anshu Shukla received awards for their presentations. Read more.

12/4 - MCV Foundation Hires William Kotti as President - As president of the MCV Foundation, Kotti will manage the foundation, which serves as the repository for most of the private gifts received by the MCV Campus schools and centers. Most recently, he worked as associate dean for resource planning and development for the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he managed the school's effort to raise $275 million. He will start his new duties at the MCV Foundation on Jan. 8. Read more.

November

11/16 - Antibiotics Prescribed Unnecessarily for Acute Bronchitis - Physicians for years have prescribed antibiotics for the treatment of acute bronchitis, a common condition caused by inflammation of the bronchi of the lungs that occurs in 5 percent of adults each year. Richard P. Wenzel, M.D., professor and chair in the Department of Internal Medicine, and Alpha A. Fowler III, M.D., chair in the Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, examined research studies and clinical trials regarding acute bronchitis and any data supporting the potential benefits of anti-bacterial agents. They concluded there is no evidence in current literature to support prescribing antibiotics for the treatment of short-term bronchitis as almost all the causes of such infections are viral and therefore don't respond to the therapy, according to the article. Read more.

11/13 - VCU helps teen girls boost their heath knowledge and explore health careers - Approximately 600 teenage girls packed the gymnasium of Huguenot High School to learn what it takes to be healthy, eat right and get inspired for a future in the health care field. It was the first ever Young Women’s Health Day. Led by the VCU Institute for Women's Health and the Women in Medicine Student Organization, the event was held to provide health education and to promote health career opportunities for young women. Read more.

11/9 - Medical Society of Virginia Foundation Salutes MCV graduate and Current Student - Clarence “Clancy” A. Holland, M'62, and David C. Buxton recently were honored during the organization’s fifth annual Presidents’ Gala at Kingsmill in Williamsburg. Read more.

11/9 - Proving His Doubters Wrong, Day by Day - The AAMC has featured second-year student Olakunle Idowu in its new campaign to increase diversity in medicine.  You can read about Kunle's inspiring story at the AAMC's AspiringDocs.com Web site.  Read more.

11/8 - School of Medicine Honor Outstanding Faculty - School of Medicine students, faculty and staff gathered in the Kontos Medical Sciences building to honor distinguished faculty at the 8th annual faculty excellence awards.The faculty excellence awards, presented Oct. 11, recognize and reward teaching excellence in the School of Medicine. The awards honor faculty members for extraordinary accomplishments in teaching, humanism, professional development of women faculty and clinical excellence. Read more.

11/3 - Andrea Ferreira-Gonzalez, Ph.D., professor of pathology and director of the Molecular Diagnostics lab - has been named to the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society (SACGHS). The committee’s charge includes considering the clinical, ethical, legal and societal implications of genetic testing and other technologies. Gonzalez has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics and the Journal of Clinical Lab Analysis.

October

10/30 - Pulmonary-Hypertension - No one is immune. It can attack at any time. It is not specific to any age, ethnicity or gender – but African Americans may be at greater risk. And the worst part: pulmonary hypertension, known as PH, is difficult to diagnose. Wally Smith, M.D., and Paul Fairman, M.D., are part of a nationwide campaign to create public awareness about PH, which is often associated with sickle cell disease. Read more.

10/19 - Third Time's the Charm - Debbie Stewart, program assistant in the School of Medicine’s Office of Faculty and Instructional Development, was named the 2006 winner of the Dorris Douglas Budd Award. Read more.

10/13 - VCU Health System Names 2006 Distinguished Clinician - The VCU Health System has bestowed its highest honor for a physician — the Distinguished Clinician Award — to Lenore Buckley, M.D., professor in the departments of internal medicine and pediatrics. Read more.

10/13 - Relief from Moderate-to-Severe PMS - Some women who experience moderate-to-severe premenstrual syndrome may benefit from treatment with low doses of anti-depressant medication. "Our study is the first to evaluate the use of low-dose antidepressant medication for women who have moderate-to-severe PMS, and the first placebo-controlled study to include the novel dosing strategy of 'symptom-onset dosing,'" said Susan G. Kornstein, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, and lead author on the study published in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Read more.

10/11 - Researchers Uncover Novel Mechanism of Action of a Potential New Drug for the Treatment of MS - Researchers report the unique action of the immunosuppressant drug FTY720, or Fingolimod. Lead author Sarah Spiegel, Ph.D., professor and chair in the VCU Department of Biochemistry, says the drug inhibits the activity of a key enzyme called cPLA2, which can shut down the entire inflammatory pathway, possibly without the side-effects caused by medications such as Vioxx. The article was pre-published as a First Edition Paper in Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, which appeared online on Sept. 28. Read more.

10/3 - Fulbright Scholar - Fourth-year student Sohaib Mohiuddin and his wife Sana Malik will depart in December for a nine-month stay in Jordan. Remarkably, both Mohuiddin and Malik were selected for prestigious Fulbright Scholarships. Mohiuddin will concentrate his research on the prevalence, presentations and risk factors of Alzheimer's in the Jordanian population. Malik will examine the perceptions of water-pipe smoking among Jordanians. Read more.

10/3 - Association Between Neuroticism and Risk for Depression May Be Genetic - "The personality trait of neuroticism - perhaps better understood as "negative emotionality" is a strong risk factor of major depression," said Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and human genetics and lead author on the study that was published in the October 2nd issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. Using twin modeling, the researchers determined that a substantial proportion of the genetic vulnerability to depression is shared with neuroticism. Read more.

10/3 - Musicians' Talents Please Hospital Patients - A new program at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is bringing musicians into the hospital to share their talents with patients. “Musicians on Call” is a four-week pilot program that engages the talents and expertise of performing artists to work with patients and perform for patient groups in the hospital. Artists in the new program are “on-call” for six hours, two days a week. They work with patient populations in units and rooms and also outpatient populations and visitors in waiting areas. Read more.

10/3 - Margaret M. Grimes, M.D., professor of pathology and vice chair for graduate medical education, has been elected trustee to the American Board of Pathology. Grimes was nominated by the Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology during its 16th annual meeting in February. Grimes’ leadership extends to an array of national-level committees, several of which she has chaired, including the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Residency Review Committee for Pathology. She also has received numerous teaching awards and was listed among Richmond Magazine's Top Doctors in the April 2006 issue. She will begin her term of service in January. The mission of ABP is to promote the health of the public by advancing the practice and science of pathology.

10/3 - VCU Pathology Faculty Members Contribute to Clinical Diagnosis Text - Eleven faculty members in Department of Pathology have contributed to the 21st edition of "Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods." This comprehensive textbook includes new sections on hemostasis, thrombosis and the clinical pathology of cancer, and a new chapter on the microbiologic aspects of bioterrorism. Read more.

10/2 - Weekly Health Segment on New Morning TV Show - Experts at the VCU Medical Center now have a weekly television forum on which to discuss the latest healthcare news. Beginning this week, WTVR-TV6, the CBS affiliate in Richmond, will debut a live, morning variety show called “Virginia This Morning.” Each Friday, the VCU Medical Center will sponsor a four-minute, interview-style medical segment. Read more.

September

9/27 - Toxic Snake Venom to Fight Human Disease - “Snake venoms are cocktails of pharmacologically active proteins and peptides," said R. Manjunatha Kini, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore, and an affiliate professor in the Department of Biochemistry. " A number of these toxins could also help us in developing therapeutic agents for the treatment or prevention of human diseases.” Read more.

9/18 - Researchers Patent New Method for Measuring Blood Pressure in the Heart - Determining central venous pressure (CVP) – a reading that gives doctors important information about the volume of blood circulation and how well the heart is pumping – now can be done using a simple blood pressure cuff and special electrodes connected to a computer. The new non-invasive method could replace the time consuming procedure of threading a catheter through the neck or chest to a point near the right atrium to accurately determine CVP. Read more.

9/15 - How the Eye Works - Biochemistry's Ching-Kang Jason Chen, Ph.D., together with researchers from VCU and other U.S. laboratories, have been examining the molecular details of the visual signaling pathway and the mechanisms underlying the death of retinal photoreceptors. Last month, in the journal Neuron, the team reported the kinetic differences between light-sensing cells known as rods and cones in the mouse retina. Read more.

9/14 - Departments Receive Grants to Help People with Acquired Neurotrauma - Rehabilitated reckless drivers are inadvertently funding two VCU departments -- including the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation -- that help people with traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries. The department will use its three-year $426,949 grant to fund the Virginia Clubhouse Vocational Transition Program, which improves consumers’ work-related skills so they successfully can join the work force. Read more.

9/7 - Two Medical School Faculty Will Be Honored at Faculty Convocation - On Sept. 19 during VCU's 24th Opening Faculty Address and Convocation at the Medical Sciences Building, Alpha A. Fowler, M.D., will be honored with the University Distinguished Teaching Award, and Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, M.D., the University Distinguished Service Award. Read more.

9/1 - Siminoff to Lead New Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion - The VCU School of Public Health has appointed a nationally recognized expert on health communication and decision making in disease treatment and organ donation as chair of the new Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Promotion. Laura Siminoff, Ph.D., will also serve as associate director of Cancer Prevention and Control at the Massey Cancer Center, where she will continue her current work on treatment decision-making, and develop the cancer control research program. Read more.

August

8/29 - Severely Poor are Fastest Growing Segment of US Population - Americans are getting poorer each year despite reports of positive economic growth, and the severely poor are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, according to a Virginia Commonwealth University study. “These trends have disturbing implications for society and public health,” said Steven H. Woolf, M.D., professor and director of research in VCU’s Department of Family Medicine and a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. Read more.

8/24 - Hubert Humphrey Fellows to Study at Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies - The Institute has been selected by the Institute of International Education and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, as a new site for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program. Read more.

8/22 - $1 Million Gift Establishes Neuro-Oncology Chair - A $1 million pledge to endow a chair in neuro-oncology in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine will expand options for patients with cancers of the brain and spinal cord. The Richard S. Reynolds Foundation made the commitment in memory of businessman and philanthropist William G. Reynolds Jr., who served the Richmond community until his death in 2003 from a brain tumor. Read more.

8/21 - Genetic Variant Associated with Premature Delivery - A team of researchers has identified a genetic variant that may account for the higher rates of premature delivery experienced by African-American women, according to findings to be published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine, led the study whose findings may help physicians identify patients who may benefit from therapeutic interventions and preventative measures, including lifestyle change or medical therapy to reduce the risk of premature birth. Read more.

8/14 - 11th Annual White Coat Ceremony - Incoming first year Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine students were greeted Thursday with the 11th annual White Coat Ceremony, which marked the beginning of the medical education for the class of 2010. Read more.

8/4 - Ceremony Marks Transition to Third Year - The School of Medicine held its first Arnold P. Gold Foundation Student Clinician Ceremony, which for third-year students marks their transition from the preclinical to the clinical years. Speakers shared personal stories encouraging students to emulate compassionate care even in the face of the rigors of third-year clerkships. Read more.

8/1 - National Study Concludes on Blood Substitute Used in Trauma Cases - The VCU Medical Center, one of 32 Level-1 trauma centers in the country to participate in a study of an experimental blood substitute, PolyHeme, has been notified that the trial has completed its enrollment nationally and no more patients will be enrolled. Read more.

July

7/31 - Azhar Rafiq, M.D., associate professor, VCU Department of Surgery and chief scientific officer, NASA Research Partnership Center at VCU, will participate in an international research project on Devon Island in the Territory of Nunavut in Canada. Devon Island serves as a living laboratory to scientists and is very similar to the terrestrial setting of Mars with its rocky, polar, desert setting. Read more and find a link to the team's weblog.

7/31 - Kenneth Kendler, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics and psychiatry at VCU, and director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, has published a new book titled, “Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology,” with The Guilford Press. The book helps readers understand the causes of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. Specifically, the book looks at the interplay of a number of genetic and environmental factors and how they influence the risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, alcoholism, and substance abuse. The book is based on the results of the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, which includes data on more than 9,000 individuals. Kendler collaborated with Carol A. Prescott, Ph.D., who is affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California.

7/31 - VCU Hosts International Medical Science Students and Faculty - A delegation of medical science students and faculty from universities in Italy and Spain recently spent a week on VCU’s MCV Campus to focus on health and peace in the Mediterranean region. Read more.

7/25 - Guidelines for Recalled pacemakers, ICDs Developed - A team of medical experts led by a VCU researcher has established a set of clinical guidelines to help physicians determine how to best care for patients with pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators that are the subject of an advisory or recall. The guidelines appear in the July 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Read more.

7/25 - Medicine Alum Joins Nation's Largest Health System - Jonathan Perlin earned all three of his graduate degrees — a master’s in health administration, a Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology and an M.D. — from VCU. He will become chief medical officer and senior vice president of quality at the Nashville-based HCA Inc. on Aug. 17. He most recently served as undersecretary for health for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Read more.

7/25 - Verizon Helps Support Dogs on Call Program - Twice Verizon has made gifts in support of Dogs on Call, in recognition of Michael Kallighan, a firewall specialist with Verizon, and his 6-year-old Irish Setter, Reilly. Read more.

7/25 - Forrest Smith, Ph.D., associate professor of clinical toxicology and pharmacology, and the medical technology company TyRx Pharma Inc. were awarded the 2006 Fruchaud Prize for Best Scientific Poster Presentation during the 3rd International Hernia Congress in Boston. A panel of three judges recognized Smith and TyRx Inc. for their presentation titled “Pharmacokinetic and Dermal Anesthetic Properties of an Anesthetic-Eluting Surgical Mesh,” a mesh product that would be used by surgeons to repair hernias. The Fruchaud Prize is named after Henri Fruchaud, a French anatomist, surgeon and pioneer in hernia surgery. Sponsored by the American Hernia Society, the congress is a forum where professionals can exchange information and instruction regarding historic, current and future methods of diagnosis and treatment of abdominal wall abnormalities.

7/17 - New Surgical Procedure Treats Irregular Heart Rhythms - Doctors at the VCU Medical Center are performing a new procedure that may eliminate atrial fibrillation, a common rhythm abnormality in the heart’s upper chambers and a major cause of stroke. The technique, called a modified Mini-Maze, offers hope to patients who previously have had limited treatment options. Read more.

7/13 - Richard Wenzel, M.D., chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, has been elected president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases for the 2006-2008 term. He recently returned from Lisbon, Portugal, where 3,000 delegates from 106 countries gathered for the 12th International Congress on Infectious Diseases. The society, which focuses on infectious diseases in the third world, has 35,000 members mostly from poor, third world countries and it also owns and edits ProMed, the largest international surveillance system in the world for emerging infections.

7/6 - New Associate Dean for Admissions - Michelle Whitehurst-Cook, M.D., has been named Associate Dean of Admissions in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, effective July 1. Read more.

7/5 - Antibiotic May Protect the Heart - Researchers studying rapamycin, an antibiotic used to boost organ survival in transplant patients, have found that the drug may protect the heart against tissue damage following acute heart attack. In the July issue of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, researchers demonstrated for the first time that pretreatment with a clinically relevant dose of rapamycin induces a protective effect against heart attack injury and reduces programmed cell death. Read more.

7/5 - Illicit Drug Use and Abuse May Be Genetic - Researchers have found that genetic factors may play an important role in a person’s use, misuse or dependence of illicit drugs. “Prior twin studies of illicit drug use and abuse have all been conducted in Anglophonic countries, specifically the United States and Australia, with high levels of such use. This is the first study of a non-English speaking country with much lower rates of drug use - yet results are similar - drug use and abuse or dependence is quite heritable,” said lead author Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and human genetics in VCU’s School of Medicine. Read more.

June

6/26 - Sica Receives Award for Contributions to Ethnic Minority Health - Domenic Sica, M.D., professor of internal medicine and nephrology, has been awarded a 2006 Master Clinician Award from the International Society of Hypertension in Blacks. Recognizing leadership and achievements in overcoming health disparities in ethnic minority populations, the award honored Sica's research, clinical care, education and philanthropy. Read more.

6/26 - Pediatric Palliative Care Room Opens - The VCU Children’s Medical Center celebrated the grand opening of its new Pediatric Palliative Care and Pain Management room. “The goal of the patient room is to provide a more spacious and homelike atmosphere for our palliative care patients,” said Deborah Fisher, clinical director of the pediatric palliative care program and pain management team. Read more.

6/16 - Controlled Hypothermia: A New Take on Protecting the Brain After Cardiac Arrest - Researchers are examining ways to reduce neurological damage and improve the survival of a person who suffers a cardiac arrest. In May, at the 2006 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual meeting in San Francisco, the VCU MEdical Center team was the first in North America to report on the benefits of controlled hypothermia as post-cardiac arrest therapy. Read more.

6/14 - New Materials Developed for Vascular Graft - VCU engineers and scientists have developed a new material that may one day help patients with damaged arteries regenerate new ones. David G. Simpson, Ph.D., collaborated on the project that was reported in the June issue of the journal Biomedical Materials. Read more.

6/6 - First East Coast Artificial Heart Recipient Goes Home - More than two months after arriving at the VCU Medical Center with a failing heart, 60-year-old Cecil Nester publicly thanked the doctors, nurses and other staff members who “saved his life.” He also thanked Inga. Read more.

6/1 - Medical Students Have Heart - First-year medical students finished off the 2006 school year with a tribute to faculty and staff members who have mentored them as part of the university’s Project HEART program. Project HEART — Healing with Empathy, Acceptance, Respect and inTegrity — was launched at the beginning of the school year to serve as a constant reminder for students of why they were called into service as physicians. Read more.

6/1 - Anscher Joins as Chair of Radiation Oncology - Mitchell S. Anscher, M.D., today joined the School of Medicine as professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. Anscher, a 1981 graduate of the VCU School of Medicine, is a prostate cancer expert who most recently was professor, vice chairman and clinical director for the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Duke University Medical Center. Read more.

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May

5/25 - Artificial Heart Recipient Receives Donor Heart - A Virginia man who in April underwent implantation of the only total artificial heart approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was in stable condition at the VCU Medical Center’s Pauley Heart Center on MAy 25, a day after surgery to implant a donor heart. Read more.

5/19 - Rupert Schmidt-Ullrich to be Honored with Naming of Radiation Oncology Center - On Monday, May 22, a ceremony will be held to name the Massey Cancer Center's radiation oncology facility at Stony Point. The facility will be named the Rupert Schmidt-Ullrich Radiation Oncology Center in honor of the late Dr. Schmidt-Ullrich, the first chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology who served as chair for 16 years. The building dedication ceremony begins at 4:30 p.m. and will include the unveiling of a bronze plaque that will be mounted on the exterior of the building at Stony Point. Scheduled speakers are VCU President Eugene P. Trani, VCU Health System CEO and Vice President for Health Sciences Sheldon M. Retchin, Massey Cancer Center Director Gordon D. Ginder and Associate Professor Douglas W. Arthur of the Radiation Oncology Department.

5/17 - Screening Changes Could Help Detect Deaf Newborns - Walter E. Nance, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics, is corresponding author on an article in the May 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that summarizes four important criteria to be considered for screening programs throughout the country for newborn hearing defects. Read more.

5/17 - 14 Students to Participate in a Military Commissioning Ceremony - On Friday May 19, VCU will hold a military promotion ceremony to recognize 14 School of Medicine students who will be commissioned into the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force and the Virginia Army National Guard upon graduation. Read more.

5/16 - Road Map to Preventive Services with Greatest Impact, Best Cost Value - A new study released today by Partnership for Prevention identifies the most beneficial and cost-effective preventive health services, giving Americans a unique tool to make decisions about their health care. Steven H. Woolf, M.D., professor and director of research in the Department of Family Medicine, contributed to the report. Read more.

5/11 -Massey Cancer Center Dedicates Goodwin Research Laboratory - Researchers have begun to move into the new Goodwin Research Laboratory, an 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cancer research laboratory that will help spawn new discoveries at Massey. Read more.

5/10 - Three Students in the School of Medicine Recognized - VCU recently held its Leadership and Service Awards ceremony to salute those students who represent the best in both qualities. Myo Thwin Myint and Kristin M. Ondecko, both students in the M.D. program, were both recognized with the University's Leadership Award. Raymond P. Yeager, a graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Myint were included in Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. In addition, Myint received the University's Service Award. Read more.

5/10 - First Chief of Anesthesiology, Charles Paul Boyan, M.D., Dies - For 20 years at Cornell University and the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, Dr. Boyan conducted studies on blood transfusions and methods of warming blood for surgical patients. His pioneering work in the field led him to an invitation in 1968 to lead a newly organized Department of Anesthesiology at the VCU School of Medicine. He retired as professor emeritus and department chairman in 1981, but continued to consult and teach until 1986. Read more.

5/9 - Physicians Listed Among America's Best Doctors - Fifty-four full-time Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center physicians were listed among the 2006 Best Doctors in America by Best Doctors Inc. Only 3 percent of board-certified doctors in the United States made the list. Read more.

5/ 5 - Life Evac Meets National Accreditation Standards - The VCU Medical Center’s Life Evac program, has received full three-year accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, or CAMTS. Life Evac becomes one of 115 accredited services in the United States out of approximately 260 aero-medical programs. Read more.

5/3 - VCU Health System Named the Greater Richmond Area Employer of Choice - The award recognizes that the VCU Health System, with 7,500 employees, embodies a set of principles that are honored, a culture that is well defined and most importantly, is characterized by satisfied employees. Read more.

5/2 - Institute for Women’s Health Receives Grant for $70,000 - The grant from the Jenkins Foundation supports the Institute of Women's Health, in partnership with the YWCA of Richmond, Safe Harbor and Richmond Enhancing Access to Community Healthcare, in responding to a recent survey administered at local shelters that found that women often suffer from a host of chronic and acute health conditions, including depression, diabetes, respiratory disease and assault-related physical injuries. Most are not receiving regular health care, dental, vision or hearing screenings. Read more.

5/1 - U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary visits Traumatic Brain Injury Model System - John H. Hager recently met with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury researchers and had the opportunity to explore VCU’s medical facilities and rehabilitation centers. Read more.

5/1 - Egyptian Building Commemorated with an Historic Marker - A state and national landmark considered one of the finest examples of Egyptian Revival architecture in the United States, the Egyptian Building has been commemorated with a roadside marker. The effort to locate a historic marker at the site began with a group of students, alumni and faculty members who are involved in a secret philanthropic society called the Junto Society (of the Medical College of Virginia Campus at Virginia Commonwealth University.) Read more.

April

4/20 - Phase I Clinical Trial for Leukemia Patients with Poor Prognosis - The Massey Cancer Center, in conjunction with Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, opened a Phase I clinical trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute leukemia; blast crisis of chronic myelogenous leukemia; or poor prognosis myelodysplatic syndrome. The trial is the first to study the combination of two novel investigational drugs for leukemia. Read more.

4/18 - New Director of Breast Imaging - The Department of Radiology has appointed Gilda Cardeñosa, M.D., an internationally recognized radiologist, as its director of breast imaging. Read more.

4/11 - Protein's Role in Hemoglobin Gene Silencing Identified - Massey Cancer Center researchers have identified the role of a protein in hemoglobin gene silencing that may one day be a potential target for the treatment of genetic blood disorders like sickle-cell anemia and beta-thalassemia on the molecular level. “Understanding how these epigenetic switches turn specific genes on and off, and identifying the important proteins involved, could lead to more targeted ways to reactivate genes and determine if there is a therapeutic benefit for particular diseases,” said Gordon D. Ginder, M.D., director of the VCU Massey Cancer Center and lead author of the study. Read more.

4/5 - Richmond Academy of Medicine Presents Distinguished Service Award to Turner - “Whatever service I may have been able to offer over the years has been balanced by the rewards of practicing academic medicine and the satisfaction and gratification that has come from serving the profession," said Mary Ann Turner, M.D., vice chair of faculty in the Department of Radiology. Read more.

4/4 - VCU Medical Center Team Implants Total Artificial Heart - A cardiac surgery team at VCU’s Pauley Heart Center has performed the first artificial heart implant on the East Coast. The CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart, or TAH-t, is the only total artificial heart approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Read more.

March

3/29 - US Surgeon General is Keynote Speaker - Vice Adm. Richard H. Carmona, M.D., U.S. Surgeon General, will be the keynote speaker during VCU’s weeklong observance of National Public Health Week. He will speak at 10 a.m., Tuesday, April 4 in the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building Auditorium, 1217 E. Marshall St. at the VCU Medical Center. Read more.

3/27 - National Match Day Matches Medical Students with Residency Programs - Olivia Villamagna had a lot riding on the plain white envelope handed to her on National Match Day — the day when thousands of medical students learn which residency programs they will attend. It contained the name of the hospital where her father, Drew, would be assigned for the next few years. Eight-year-old Olivia had her fingers crossed that Drew would match with his first choice: the University of Wisconsin. Read more.

3/23 - Trauma Center Verified Level 1 by American College of Surgeons - The VCU Medical Center's trauma center has received national verification as a Level I trauma center by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma, making it one of only 41 centers in the nation to receive the verification. Read more.

3/22 - Women Honored for Leadership and Dedication - Wendy Klein, M.D., and Cynthia Heldberg, Ph.D., were honored for their dedication, leadership, mentorship and contributions to the field of medicine, dentistry and science during the14th annual Women In Science, Dentistry, Osteopathy & Medicine Pathways to Leadership Conference. Read more.

3/21 -Researcher Receives NIH MERIT Award for Research in Heart Protection - Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., professor of internal medicine and the Eric Lipman professor in cardiology in the VCU School of Medicine, has received a MERIT award from The National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute totaling nearly $4 million. Read more.

3//8 - School of Medicine Hosts first Open House for Prospective Students - "The overall goal was to highlight some of our combined programs and to show students what VCU is all about,” said Agnes Mack, director of admissions in the VCU School of Medicine. “We don‘t always get out to some of the smaller schools, so we invited them to take a tour and meet some of our students and professors." Read more.

3/8 - MPH Program Selected for initiative focused on eliminating health disparities - The School of Medicine’s graduate program in public health was one of 12 universities in the United States selected to participate in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Engaged Institutions initiative, which will focus on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities. Read more.

3/2 - New Method for Measuring Oxygen Level in Tissues - researchers have developed and patented a new means of measuring blood oxygen levels in tissue – a key barometer of how well the body is functioning, especially during a trauma as inadequate oxygenation can lead to organ failure and death. Researchers in VCU’s Reanimation Engineering Shock Center, VCURES, modified a decades-old technology called resonance Raman spectroscopy to track changes in hemoglobin oxygen saturation in tissues. Read more.

3/1 - Povlishock Named and Outstanding Scientist of 2006 - Gov. Tim Kaine and the Science Museum of Virginia have honored John T. Povlishock, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, as a top contributor in science for identifying how the brain responds to injury and translating that work into promising clinical trials for brain injured patients.  Read more and watch video clips of an interview with Dr. Povlishock.

3/1 - Bruce Spiess, M.D, professor, vice-chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, is the senior editor of “Perioperative Transfusion Medicine,” a text published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. The book, an updated 2nd edition, is a comprehensive current reference on perioperative transfusion medicine and coagulation. It provides complete information on all current blood products and transfusion risks, transfusion and coagulation issues during the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative periods, and specific concerns in each surgical subspecialty.

3/1 - Janet Niemeier, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, has been honored by the national certification body for Rehabilitation Psychologists. She has served as one of the six board members of the American Board of Professional Psychology and has received special certification in rehabilitation psychology.

3/1 - New additions to the School of Medicine include:

Florina Constantinescu, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, Division of Rheumatology Allergy and Immunology, plans to develop a clinical research program that blends her interests in rheumatology and bone metabolism. Constantinescu received her medical degree from the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, and her doctoral degree in nuclear medicine at the University of Medicine in Bonn, Germany. She will join the faculty in August.   Evren Burakgazi-Dalkilic Ph.D., Department of Neurology, joined the Department of Neurology in February. She will be seeing inpatient and outpatient general neurology patients and patients with seizure disorders as well as working in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. Burakgazi-Dalkilic has specialized training and is able to identify patterns of behavior in seizures that predict surgical outcome.    David L. Weaver, Ph.D., Department of Radiology, will work in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Neuroradiology. Weaver will join the faculty in April following nearly four years at Lakeland Regional Medical Center in Lakeland, Fla., Florida’s second busiest emergency department.

February

2/28 - Web-Based Course Trains Health-Care Providers in Standards for Children's Care - The medical school partnered with several state organizations to create an online course that teaches health care providers the Bright Futures Guidelines, the commonwealth’s standard for all children’s health care. “The Bright Futures Guidelines focus on an individual child’s needs, which the provider can discuss with the family or caregiver and then identify community resources and solutions that fit with the family’s values and goals,” said Linda Meloy, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics in the VCU School of Medicine. Read more.

2/28 - Designing New Skin cancer Prevention Programs - Researchers are searching for better ways to prevent skin cancer, a disease that affects more than 1 million Americans each year. Carolyn Heckman, Ph.D., assistant professor in VCU’s Department of Psychiatry, hopes to target young adults through her Skin Savvy study. Read more.

2/27 - Governor Recognizes Three VCU Faculty as Outstanding Faculty - Three VCU faculty members have been awarded the state’s highest honor for teaching excellence at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities. The School of Medicine's Joann N. Bodurtha, M.D., M.P.H., professor of human genetics, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology, and Alpha A. "Berry" Fowler III, M.D., professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, were honored last week during a ceremony at the Library of Virginia. Read more.

2/23 - Life Evac Adds Fetal Monitoring Capabilities - The VCU Medical Center’s Life Evac Program this month expanded its services by equipping each aircraft with fetal monitoring capabilities to aid in the transport of high-risk obstetric patients. The 24-hour transport service for critically ill or injured patients is the only air medical service in Virginia with fetal monitors on each of its helicopters. Read more.

2/22 - Anscher Appointed Chair of Radiation Oncology - Mitchell S. Anscher, M.D., has been named professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology. The 1981 graduate of the School of Medicine and prostate cancer expert will join the medical school June 1, 2006. Read more.

2/22 - Aradhana Bela Sood, M.D., chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and medical director of the VCU Virginia Treatment Center for Children, was named by the YWCA of Richmond as one of its Outstanding Women of 2006 in the category of health and science. Dr. Sood, who is a recognized expert in child and adolescent mental health, was selected based on her leadership skills, personal and professional achievement, her impact on the community and her commitment to equality and racial harmony. She serves on a number of state and national committees advocating for children's mental health and is on the board of directors of the Virginia Department of Social Services. She is a well-known teacher and lecturer and has taught a wide range of classes in pediatric psychopharmacology. The honorees will receive their awards at a luncheon on April 21.

2/14 - Levitra May Protect the Heart - The widely used erectile dysfunction drug Levitra is now the second drug in its class found to protect the heart against tissue damage following acute heart attack, according to a new study currently available online and to be published in the March issue of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. "Our findings further support the concept that the novel class of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors, or PDE-5 inhibitors, including Levitra and Viagra, may have a new utility in cardiac protection, in addition to their well-known use for the management of erectile dysfunction in men,” said Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., professor of medicine, physiology, biochemistry and emergency medicine. Read more.

2/3 - VCU Takes National Wear Red Day to Heart - Faculty, staff and students from VCU and the VCU Medical Center kicked off American Heart Month by participating in National Wear Red Day to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness. More than 400 dressed in red gathered in the courtyard outside of the Hermes A. Kontos Medical Sciences Building on Feb. 3 to form a red heart. Read more and see a picture of the valentine.

2/3 - Vice President for Health Sciences Testifies Before Virginia Legislative Panel - Sheldon Retchin, M.D., vice president for Health Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University and CEO of the VCU Health System, testified in favor of a proposal to include $255 million in the state budget to support research and development at Virginia’s colleges and universities. Read more.

January

1/20 - VCU Takes National Wear Red Day to Heart - Faculty, staff and students from Virginia Commonwealth University and the VCU Medical Center will participate in National Wear Red Day on Friday, Feb. 3, to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness. Read more.

1/10 - Precise Treatment for Tumors - The VCU Medical Center now offers one of the most precise systems in the world to treat both cancerous and non-malignant tumors, making many operable that once were not. By combining two state-of-the-art systems for advanced precision image-guided radiosurgery, doctors are able to visualize and target tumors within 0.4 millimeters of accuracy. Read more.

1/9 - Risk factors for Depression Similar in Men and Women - Men and women may share more similarities than previously thought when it comes to the risk factors for major depression, according to a new study by VCU researchers in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry. “Initially, we thought that the pathway to depression through acting out behaviors such as conduct disorder and drug use and abuse would be significantly more important in men than in women. But we found that there are only very modest differences,” said Kenneth S. Kendler, a professor of psychiatry and human genetics. Read more.

1/8 - Woolf Pens Washington Post Opinion Piece - "Solutions that make the delivery of quality care more systematic are not as sexy as robotic surgery, gene mapping and other medical advances, but they are more apt to save lives," writes Steven Woolf, M.D., in his piece Unhealthy Medicine: All Breakthrough, No Follow-Through."  Read more (registration required).

1/5 - Heritability of depression higher in women than in men - Researchers have found that genes contribute more strongly to the risk of depression in women than in men, and that there may be some genetic factors that are operating uniquely in one sex and not in the other. In the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., reported that heritability of depression is higher in women – approximately 42 percent -- than in men, where it is approximately 29 percent. Read more.

1/3 - Heart Center Receives $5 Million Gift - The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center today announced a $5 million commitment to its heart center from the Pauley Family Foundation. In recognition of the gift, medical center officials said they will seek authorization from the VCU Board of Visitors to rename it the Pauley Heart Center. Read more.

1/2 - Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Accepts $15,000 for Brain Injury Endowment - A South Boston man who survived a traumatic brain injury returned with his family to the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center to present a $15,000 gift and to thank the doctors and health care providers who helped with his rehabilitation. Read about how former patient J.F. “Jeff” Gill beat the odds and regained a great deal of independence.

School of Medicine News 2005

School of Medicine News 2004

School of Medicine News 2003

School of Medicine News 2002

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