October was a busy month. I have been on the road every week for professional events, meetings with legislators and appointments with potential donors. Several of us from the college will be attending the AAMC Annual Meeting Nov. 5-10 in Boston. The hectic schedule doesn’t end there though, as I have more meetings to attend in November!

Dr. Alicia Dorsey, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at the HSC, has been conducting focus group meetings at each component to gather information for the HSC's “2015: Striving for Excellence” strategic planning process. Dr. Dorsey met with administrative, faculty and student groups to gather the following information:

• Awareness of the HSC mission and componentsm
• Perception/image evoked by "university of the health sciences" (not as a new name, per se, but rather the concept of the HSC as a single university)
• Potential areas of excellence for the HSC
• Core values the HSC should represent
• Ideal image of the HSC by 2015

If you have any comments you would like to share regarding these items, please send me an email. I will do my best to keep you posted as the HSC’s planning progresses and make available any documents we receive.

COM Accredited By LCME For Eight Years

The College of Medicine was notified Thursday, Oct. 14 by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) we have received accreditation for the next eight years. Following a site visit in early March, the LCME evaluated information about the college, including our site (building and facilities), faculty, access to libraries and resources, educational programs, etc. In its review of our college, the LCME found one of our major strengths to be the relationship between faculty and students which fosters a nurturing learning environment.

We are proud and excited about this achievement and will continue to work on the suggestions for improvement in the future. The next full survey conducted by the LCME will be during the 2011-2012 academic year. Thank you to all who participated in making this process successful!

Accreditation of GME Programs by ACGME

The GME office has received notification from the ACGME of institutional accreditation of the College of Medicine and Scott & White graduate medical education programs for a five-year term. The faculty, administration and housestaff have every reason to be proud of the contributions and accomplishments that form the basis for such accreditation. The program directors deserve special recognition for their hard work.

Marketing Committee

The Marketing Committee has been reviewing proposals from three different ad agencies and recently hired BRSG from Austin to develop a marketing plan for the college. The president of the firm, along with their primary health care market consultant and account manager, delivered a compelling presentation of their experience in creating and executing marketing plans.

Some of BRSG’s strengths include previous experience with academic institutions and health care systems, creative designs and regular results analysis to determine the most effective way to allocate the college’s marketing funds. BRSG also provides marketing services to Scott & White, which the committee believes could be an asset to our own efforts, especially when coordinating co-branding strategies.

COM, Mays Business School Offer MD/MBA Program

Starting in the fall of 2005, the College of Medicine and the Mays Business School are offering medical students the opportunity to receive an MBA degree in conjunction with the College of Medicine’s M.D. degree.

The cooperative degree program adds an additional year of coursework to our traditional four-year plan, requiring a full year of MBA studies after the second or third year of medical school. Candidates for the combined degree are also obliged to complete a 10-12 week health-related business project during the fourth year of study.

We are very pleased about this new opportunity for our students to expand the traditional medical education with a cooperative degree from the Mays Business School. We believe this program will prove beneficial for the students, faculty and staff of both entities and will help create the next generation of physician executives.

Excellence in Research Awards

The college hosted a wine and cheese reception for the presentation of the 2004 Excellence in Research Awards Monday, Oct. 25. Dr. Kelly Hester and I presented the honors for Senior Investigator and Distinguished Basic Science Teacher to Dr. Gerald Meininger and Dr. George Davis, respectively.

The awards ceremony recognized the Dr. Meininger and Dr. Davis for their significant contributions to the college in the areas of research and student instruction. Both received a plaque and monetary award.

I appreciate the faculty, staff and students who took the time to honor these exemplary men with their presence at the ceremony. However, I was disappointed with the overall turnout by the faculty and expect greater support for colleagues at similar events in the future.

Dr. Nick Pace Named Distinguished Professor by HSC

The Health Science Center recently named Dr. Nick Pace the newest Distinguished Professor at a Nov. 1 ceremony. Dr. Pace, the college’s Regents Professor and McMullin Professor of Genetics, gave a lecture to approximately 70 faculty, staff, students and friends entitled “Proteins: The Secret of Life." Following the talk, Dr. Nancy Dickey presented Dr. Pace with a medal and $5,000 bursary in recognition of his achievements in protein folding. Previous recipients of the Distinguished Professor honor are COM’s Dr. James West, Dr. Harris Granger, Dr. Art Johnson and IBT’s Dr. Stephen Safe.

Congratulations to Dr. Pace!

Dr. Julian Liebowitz Appointed New Chair of MD/Ph.D. Program

Dr. Julian Liebowitz has recently been appointed the new Chair of the MD/Ph.D. program. Dr. Liebowitz, a professor in the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department, will be responsible for the overall direction of the program, including admissions, new student orientation, administration and the journal club.

The MD/Ph.D. program’s focus is to educate and train clinical scientists who will become proficient in translational research. Three students have graduated from the eight-year program, while 14 students are currently seeking the MD/Ph.D. degree.

For more information about the MD/Ph.D. program, visit http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/education/md-phd/index.html

Dr. John Quarles, Nancy Arden Awarded NIH Grant

Dr. John Quarles and Nancy Arden have worked for the last year and a half with DelSite Biotechnologies, Inc. and colleagues in the College of Veterinary Medicine to develop a nasal powder influenza vaccine. DelSite, headquartered in Irving, announced in October the company has been awarded a $6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to continue preclinical work on the project.

Approximately $600,000 of the three-year, $6 million grant will be used by Quarles, Arden and their research colleagues to continue conducting preclinical tests to study protection against the flu in animals. The remainder of the grant will be utilized by DelSite for product development and toxicology testing.

COM Fundraising Efforts Contribute to SECC

The College of Medicine worked hard hosting numerous fundraisers for the State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) during October. The College of Medicine Bake Sale, along with the Business Affairs Office’s Friday popcorn sales and charity concert by Cooder Graw earned $798.77 for Scotty’s House and Brazos Valley Hospice organizations. The Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology hosted a silent auction in the lobby of the Reynolds Building, earning more than $3,100 for Brazos Valley Hospice and Health For All charities. Overall employee contributions from the college totaled more than $7,120.

Thank you to those who invested their time and effort into making these events a success – and to those who participated by donating to these worthy charities!

Selection Process Updates

According to the office of Student Affairs and Admissions, as of Nov. 1 the college has received more than 1,850 applications for the 2005-2006 academic year and they expect between 300 and 500 applications to roll in during the next several days.

The Selection Committee is currently booked for interviews through Nov. 18 and hopes to schedule visits for 300 more prospective students through December.

Dean’s Office Remodeling

Starting Nov. 2, the Dean’s Office will be undergoing remodeling for four to six weeks to add an additional office to the current space. As a result of the construction, staff in the Dean’s Office have been temporarily moved to different office locations. To locate us, please see the interim office assignments below:

Dr. Colenda: Room 108 Kathy Warren: Room 106
Annette Tommerdahl: Dean’s Office Conference Room
Sandy Bruno: Room 102 (Business Affairs Office)
Summer Hicks: Dean’s Office Conference Room
Monica Krenz: Dean’s Conference Room
Rozalyn Dixon, Juliann Sharpley (Dean’s Office Student Workers): Dean’s Conference Room
Kelsey Walker, Candace Mancil (Research and Institutional Advancement Student Workers): Room 104

RESEARCH

Division of Molecular Cardiology

George W. Booz, Ph.D.: A proposal entitled Role of STAT3 in Defining IL-6 Signaling in Myocardial Infarction was funded for $124,000 by the American Heart Association, Texas Affiliate for the time period 07/01/04-06/30/06

Ajay Rana, Ph.D.: A proposal entitled Mixed Lineage Kinase-3: A Potential Target of Cytotoxic Drugs in Breast Cancer was funded for $109,125 by the Department of Defense for the time period 08/15/04-08/14/05

Medical Pharmacology and Toxicology

William Griffith, Ph.D.: Received the second year funding of the NIH research grant R01-AG007805 entitled “Physiology of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons”, for $175,000 (direct costs) for the period 09/01/04 to 08/31/05.

FACULTY

Division of Molecular Cardiology

George W. Booz, Ph.D. has been honored by being named a fellow of the American Heart Association and was also appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.

Medical Pharmacology and Toxicology

Dr. G. Chiou accepted the Pioneer Award and presented a lecture entitled: “Scientific development of traditional Chinese medicine to address eye diseases” to the Chinese American Ophthalmology Society/American Academy of Ophthalmology on Oct. 24.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Medical Biochemistry and Genetics

Saksena, S., Shao, Y., Braunagel, Sharon C., Summers, Max D. and Johnson, Arthur E. (2004) Cotranslational integration and initial sorting at the endoplasmic reticulum translocon of proteins destined for the inner nuclear membrane. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 101, No. 34; 12357-12542.

Yang, W., Gelles, J., Musser, Siegfried M. (2004) Imaging of single-molecule translocation through nuclear pore complexes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 101, No. 35; 12887-12892.

Medical Pharmacology and Toxicology

Neerman, M.F., Chen, H.-T., Parrish, A.R., and Simanek, E.E. Reduction in Drug Toxicity using Dendrimers based on Melamine. Molecular Pharmaceutics 1:390-393 (2004)

Division of Molecular Cardiology

Baker KM, Chernin MI, Schreiber T, Sanghi S, Haiderzaidi S, Booz GW, Dostal DE, Kumar R. Evidence of a novel intracrine mechanism in angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Regulatory Peptide. 2004 Aug 15;120(1-3):5-13.

Pan J, Singh US, Takahashi T, Oka Y, Palm-Leis A, Herbelin BS, Baker KM. PKC mediates cyclic stretch-induced cardiac hypertrophy through Rho family GTPases and mitogen-activated protein kinases in cardiomyocytes. J Cell Physiol. 2004 Aug 12 [Epub ahead of print]

Ants Palm-Leis, Ugra S. Singh, Bradley S. Herbelin, Greg G. Olsovsky, Kenneth M. Baker, and Jing Pan. Mitogen-activated protein kinases and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatases mediate the inhibitory effects of all-trans retinoic acid on the hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes. J. Biol. Chem., Oct 2004; 10.1074/jbc.M407383200.

Kule CE, Karoor V, Day JNE, Thomas WG, Baker KM, Acker KA, Booz GW. Agonist-dependent internalization of the angiotensin II type one receptor (AT1): Role of C-terminus phosphorylation in recruitment of ß-arrestins. Reg. Peptides 120: 141-148, 2004.

Baker KM, Chernin MI, Schreiber T, Sanghi S, Haiderzaidi S, Booz GW, Dostal DE, Kumar R. Evidence of a novel intracrine mechanism in angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Reg. Peptides 120: 5-13, 2004.

Booz GW. The cardiac angiotensin AT2 receptor, what exactly does it do? Hypertension. 43: 1162-1163, 2004.

Song DH, Rana B, Pradeep A, Wolfe JR, Wolfe MM. Gastrin and Gastric cell growth. In Gastrin in the New Millennium, (Invited Book Chapter). 2004; Chapter 25, Pg 299-310.

Pradeep A, Sharma C, Sathyanarayana P, Albanese C, Fleming JV, Wang TC, Wolfe MM, Baker KM, Pestell RG and Rana B. Gastrin mediated activation of cyclin D1 transcription involves beta-catenin and CREB pathways in gastric cancer cells. Oncogene. 2004; 23, 3689-3699.

Sharma C, Pradeep A, Pestell RG, and Rana B. PPARg activation modulates cyclin D1 transcription via beta-catenin independent and CREB dependent pathways in mouse hepatocytes. J. Biol. Chem. 2004; 279, 16927-16938.

Sharma C, Pradeep A, Wong L, Rana A and Rana B. PPARg activation can regulate beta-catenin levels via a proteasome mediated and APC independent pathway. J. Biol. Chem. 2004; 279, 35583-35594.

Singh US and Pan J (2004): Role of Transglutaminase-2 in Cell Survival. Progress in Experimental Tumor Research (Transglutaminases: the Family of Enzymes with Diverse Functions. Editors: Mehta K and Eckert R). Publishers S. KARGER AG, BASEL. Medical and Scientific Publishers, Verlag for Medizin und Natuturwissenschaften

Dates to Remember

• November 22 – Dean’s Annual Holiday Luncheon, 11:30-1:00 a.m.

• December 17 - HSC Holiday Open House, 10:00 a.m.

Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean, College of Medicine
The Texas A&M University Health Science Center
147 Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building College Station, TX 77843-1114
Phone:979-845-3431
Fax:979-847-8663
Email: Colenda@medicine.tamhsc.edu