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Volume 5 - Number 1 - Winter
2006
We hope that you'll enjoy these quick highlights from the
MCV Campus. Please forward
this newsletter to friends who might like to learn more
about the
School of Medicine! In this issue...
 Getting an Early Look at the Business of
Medicine
For
students in the midst of anatomy labs, respiratory
lectures and third-year clerkships, the life of a
practicing physician can seem like a far-off mystery. To
give their classmates an insider's look into the
business side of medicine, two student groups teamed up
with alumni and other experts. Read more about the popular lunch-lecture elective.
Skull
and Bones Hits the Stands - Electronically
After an almost 25-year
hiatus, the Medical Student Government has breathed new
life into the Skull and Bones. First introduced
in the fall of 1915, the student-produced weekly
newspaper was available for an annual subscription of
$1.50. Today, the publication has evolved into a
periodic electronic journal. The Skull and Bones
remains a student production, and its editors aim to
hold to the tradition of its predecessor. "We hope to
serve as an outlet for students' creative
expression-from photography and artwork to poetry and
prose; in addition, we hope to promote medicine as both
an art and a science."
 Medical Research Gets Major Funding Boost
In December, Gov.
Mark R. Warner included $255 million in his proposed
state budget to support research and development
facilities and faculty at Virginia's colleges and
universities. The institutions would have to provide a
$299 million match, resulting in a $544-million-dollar
investment. At the School of Medicine, the investment
would fund research into cancer, neurological and
metabolic disorders as well as help support a new
125,000 net-square-foot medical research building, which
will provide laboratory space that will be vitally
important to plans to recruit 102 new faculty members.
Read more about the Governor's proposal.
If You Live In
Virginia
The
voices of faculty, staff, alumni and students will be
needed to advance an effort in educating members of the
General Assembly on the importance of the Governor's
Higher Education Research Proposal, which, if enacted,
will have a dramatic impact on translational research
and economic development. Please consider contacting
your House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia
legislators by email or phone to inform them how the
recommendations will further the academic and health
care missions of the university and medical school. Your
message can be as simple as "I support Governor Warner's
research initiative and want my Delegate/Senator to
support it as well." For your convenience, click here
for a link to "Who's My Legislator" which includes a
link for their office contact information.
Researcher Named AAAS
Fellow
For his
research in developing promising new drugs to combat
leukemia, Steven Grant, M.D., has been named a fellow of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Read more about the award bestowed by the world's
largest general scientific society.
Ensuring Access to Medical
Treatments Would Save More Lives
More lives could be saved in the U.S.
by spending less money on making medical treatments
better and more on getting existing treatments to the
patients who need them. "For every dollar Congress gives
the National Institutes of Health to develop blockbuster
treatments, it spends only one penny to ensure that
Americans actually receive them," said Family Medicine's
Steven H. Woolf, M.D. Read more about the study
published in the Dec. 6 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.
Buckyballs to Target and Treat Brain
Tumors
Researchers
working with a man-made, metal-filled nanoparticle are
developing the material for use as a diagnostic and
therapeutic agent that may boost the sensitivity of MRI
techniques and improve the diagnosis and treatment of
brain tumors. Read more about buckyballs and the five-year, $3.7 million grant from the NCI
to Radiology's Panos Fatouros, Ph.D., who will lead
a team of scientists from VCU and Virginia Tech.
Heart Center Receives $5 Million
Gift
With a $5
million commitment, the Pauley Family Foundation has
signaled its confidence in the VCU Heart Center. "They
are doing a great job in making a difference in peoples'
lives," said Stanley Pauley, who was treated at the
center. Read more about the gift, which the family hopes will
extend the heart center's capabilities through providing
assets to keep up with the rapidly changing technology
needed to treat heart diseases.
New Critical Care Hospital
Launches New Era for Treatment
In November, former patients and
hospital officials turned earth together for a new
critical care hospital, launching a new era in how
seriously ill and injured patients will receive
treatment in Central Virginia. Read more about the
15-level, $192-million, 367,000-square-foot building that will
greatly enhance the VCU Medical Center's intensive-care
capability when it opens in fall 2008.
Plans Announced to
Create a Full-Service Children's Hospital
The university has announced
a partnership with the Children's Hospital of Richmond
to build a hospital on the MCV Campus dedicated to
pediatric care. The project will create a center of
excellence for the care of children in the region as
well as for research and medical education in pediatrics
and pediatric specialties. Read more about the project
and view architectural renderings.
Sharing
Trauma Expertise in the Amazon Jungle
Surgeon Michel Aboutanos,
M.D., is working with health-care providers in Ecuador
to develop a nation-wide trauma system for preventing
and managing injuries in the South American country.
Read how he built on rudimentary trauma care and
management to empower local physicians and health-care
workers.
 Earn CME, Reconnect
with Your Alma Mater
The medical school's popular Alumni
Update Course is back for a fourth year. The daylong
course will be held on Friday, April 21, 2006, when -
for the first time - it will kick off Reunion Weekend.
Offering up to 6.75 hours in CME credit, the course
features stellar faculty covering topics ranging from
pediatric obesity and geriatric medicine, to screening
tests and avian flu. The course brochure is available online.
Plan to start Reunion Weekend a day early, or even make
a special trip to Richmond - the course is available to
all alumni regardless of what year you graduated. You
can also register online.
Alumni, Parents and
Retired Faculty Meet Medicine's Dean Strauss
In October, Dr. Jerry Strauss and his wife Cathy
greeted more than 180 alumni, emeriti faculty and other
friends from the Central Virginia area at the annual
Dean's Tea. Guests met Dr. Strauss one-on-one and
connected with long-time friends and colleagues. View
photos from the Country Club of Virginia reception.
In December, the Dean shared the latest news
from the MCV Campus with several dozen alumni and
parents from the Virginia Beach area. View photos from
the afternoon reception at the Princess Anne Country Club.
Dr. Strauss will be on the road again in the
spring, with plans for alumni receptions in Roanoke,
Baltimore and the Washington DC areas. Make sure that
your contact info is up-to-date so that you'll receive your
invitation.
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School of Medicine eNews is prepared by
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We're interested in your
comments on this communication. Please email us your
thoughts.
Alumni from class years
ending in '6s and '1s should mark their calendars for
Reunion Weekend April 21 - 23! Alumni from these
classes should have already received information on
making hotel reservations and updating addresses with
the Alumni Association. If you did not, please call the
association at (800) 628-7799.
Update Your Contact Info and provide
the Alumni and Development Office with your latest news
via our online update form.
Check out the upcoming CME offerings from the medical
school's Office of Continuing Physician Professional
Development & Evaluation Studies including
conferences in liver and gastroenterology as well as the
14th annual Pathways to Leadership Conference.
Annual Fund dollars support
student interest groups and scholarships as well as
milestone events in the medical school. Learn about how
your Annual Fund gift impacts the school
and find a link to online giving via the MCV
Foundation's secure eGiving page.
For More Information:
MCV
Alumni Association
MCV
Foundation
VCU
VCUHS
VCU Campaign
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