March
The Curriculum Retreat was held in Temple earlier in the month. While we made progress on developing a road map for the new curriculum, we still have work to do. The "Road Map" group will be meeting again this month to finalize a curricular model that will fit a two-campus model and our anticipated class size expansion.
Round the Wards was held in Temple for the College of Medicine Class of 2010 on Friday, February 24. More than 50 pre-matriculants attended the event, which kicked off with a continental breakfast, followed by rounds with current third and fourth-year medical students. The incoming class then attended a celebratory luncheon with guest speaker and member of the College of Medicine's Class of 1999 Christian T. Cable, M.D., assistant professor of Internal Medicine and a member of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology.
The Town Hall Meeting on March 1 will be a candidate forum for all the applicants for the position of Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. I am excited about this new position, and look forward to hearing the candidates' perspectives and plans for the position.
M2 Students Receive TMA Honors, Executive Council Positions
The weekend of February 3-4 was a good one for second-year students Rob Bour and Brad Faglie. At the Texas Medical Association (TMA) Winter Conference in Austin, Bour was elected to serve as next year's chair of the Medical Student Section Executive Council and was named the TMA Student of the Year. Faglie will also sit on the Executive Council as an American Medical Association Delegate Co-leader.Bour served as the chapter president for the College of Medicine during the 2005-2006 academic year and will be the chair-elect for the Executive Council until May, when he will take over his new position.
"It's been a really great year for our chapter," Bour says. "We have put on a lot of educational programs and sponsored a medical economics course for the first and second-year students. We also took a huge group of students to Austin last spring for "First Tuesday" at the state capitol."
First-Year Student is "Shaping Destiny" of Children in Cameroon
Born in Cameroon, Kenneth Acha was the third of six children in his family. His father, a kindergarten teacher, died when he was five and the family was left in a difficult financial situation, forcing them to go on welfare. "In Cameroon you have to pay to go to school," Acha explains. "We couldn't afford it so I had to drop out twice, once when I was 13 and again when I was 17. This was difficult for me because I had developed a passion for learning."Through the help of others, Acha was able to finish school and move to the United States for college. Today, he is a first-year student at the College of Medicine and continues to follow his dream of education. However, Acha's goals aren't self-centered, as he has worked to start a non-profit organization called "Shaping Destiny" for orphaned and needy children in his home country of Cameroon.
Health Circus Members Elect New Officers
Members of the student organization Health Circus have elected officers for the 2006-2007 academic year. They are:Co-directors: Laura Hattox & Neel Patel
Immunizations Chair: Connie So
Services Chair: Cheryl Stecher
Publicity Chair: Autumn Stratton
Clown Chair: Salil Bhandari
Finance Chair: Amy Wang
Congratulations to these student leaders!
Prairie View Undergraduate Medical Academy Student Wins Poster Award
Julián Restrepo, a student in the Prairie View Undergraduate Medical Academy participated in the 7th Annual HBCU-UP National Research Conference held in Baltimore, MD, February 9-12. He was awarded 2nd prize for poster presentations in the subfield of Organismal Biology.Julián commented on the experience:
"It was a great accomplishment given that there were more than 700 student presenters representing 65 different universities across the U.S. Prairie View A&M received three awards, including mine. I am very happy because I presented the poster I printed last summer at the College of Medicine. I want to thank all of you who worked so hard to give me the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful project. Also, I want to thank the Undergraduate Medical Academy and the persons involved in it for their continuous unconditional support."
Julián worked under Dr. Janet Parker at the College of Medicine and Dr. Chris Heeps at the A&M College of Veterinary Medicine last summer during his research experience.
DEPARTMENT OF HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE
Barbara Gastel, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor in the Department of Humanities in Medicine, will be publishing the sixth edition of her co-authored book, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper , at the end of March. Published by Greenwood Press, the book gives beginning scientists and experienced researchers alike practical advice on writing about their work and publishing what they write.Additionally, Dr. Gastel was awarded an honored membership into Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS). This will permit Dr. Gastel to use the letters ELS(H)--for Honored Editor in the Life Sciences—after her name. This is awarded "to persons who in the judgment of the Council have distinguished themselves in the field of life sciences editing." Dr. Gastel will be honored at the BELS 15 th annual meeting in Tampa on Sunday, May 21.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
Paul E. Ogden, M.D., associate professor of Internal Medicine, was honored as "Volunteer of the Year" by the Temple Community Free Clinic for his work with College of Medicine third-year students at the free clinic. Following Hurricane Katrina, eight medical students accompanied Dr. Ogden and Dr. Darla Lowe to help tend to the immediate health care needs of hurricane evacuees. The experience was so successful both for the free clinic and as an educational opportunity that Dr. Ogden decided to permanently move his outpatient teaching clinic to the Temple Community Free Clinic, and Dr. Lowe will soon be moving her teaching clinic there as well.Now every Tuesday afternoon, from 2-4 p.m., College of Medicine M3s provide primary care for 12 patients at the free clinic. This partnership has allowed the free clinic to increase and improve their services, while allowing supervised direct care responsibility for the students in a busy adult teaching clinic.
FACULTY
Humanities in Medicine
Charles W. Sanders, M.D. will be presenting a poster at the 2006 CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, Thursday, March 2- Sunday, March 5 in Orlando. This is a joint meeting between the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) and the Council of Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) that offers exhibits, receptions, seminars, and plenary and breakout sessions of interest to members of both organizations. Dr. Sander's poster will be titled "Can Your Medical Students Draw Blood? Are They Competent?" and depicts a cooperative project between Dr. Sanders, Mark Sadoski, Ph.D., Mark English, M.D. and Robert Wiprud, M.D.The objective, "Can Your Medical Students Draw Blood?" a simple question that does not have a simple answer. This presentation reports the first steps in developing a reliable and valid educational grading instrument (RVGI) to measure medical students' ability to draw a small amount of blood (venipuncture). This is considered a basic clinical skill, but no reliable and valid assessment instrument is currently available in the research literature.
Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis
Dr. McMurray traveled to Honolulu, HI, from 8-11 January to attend the 42 nd US-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program Joint Committee meeting. He presented a summary of the past year's activities of the US-Japan Tuberculosis and Leprosy Panel, which he chairs.Radiology
Mark Montgomery, M.D., Assistant Professor, Vice Chair of Education and Director of Interventional Radiology has been selected as one of an elite group of radiologists from across the country to participate in the 2006 AUR-Kodak Radiology Management Program to be held in Austin during the 54 th Annual Meeting of the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) on Friday and Saturday, April 7-8, 2006.Jose Santiago, M.D., Assistant Professor and Chief of Pediatric Imaging has been selected as one of an elite group of radiologists from across the country to participate in the 2006 AUR-Philips Faculty Development Program to be held in Austin during the 54 th Annual Meeting of the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) on Thursday, April 6, 2006.
RESEARCH
Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis
Dr. McMurray received the Award Notice from NIH for year 24 of his R01 (AI 15495) grant entitled "Dietary deficiencies and tuberculosis vaccine efficacy". The total award for the fiscal year beginning 1 February, 2006, is $284,162.Dr. German Rosas-Acosta and Dr. Laura Hendrix received Research Development Grants. The title of Dr. Hendrix's is "Response of Nucleated Hematopoietic Cells to B. Bacilliformis Infection". The title of Dr. Rosas-Acosta's is "The Role of SUMO and Ran Sumoylation in Nucleocytoplasmic Traffic". Funding is in the amount of $15,000.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Humanities in Medicine
Lekawski, L, and Herring, ME. HIPAA: Applications in Research. American College Health Association: College Health in Action Vol. 45, No. 3 (2006).Self, DJ, and Baldwin, DC. Measuring Medical Professionalism (book chapter). The Assessment of Moral Reasoning and Professionalism in Medical Education and Practice 74-93 (2006).
Microbial and Molecular Pathogenesis
Cherla, RP, Lee, S-Y, Mees, PL, and Tesh, VL. Shiga toxin 1 induced cytokine production is mediated by MAP kinase pathways and translation initiation factor eIF4E in the macrophage-like THP-1 cell line. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 79:397-407 (2006).Jeevan, A, McFarland, CT, Yoshimura, T, Skwor, T, Cho, H, Lasco, T and McMurray, DN. Production and characterization of guinea pig recombinant gamma interferon and its effect on macrophage activation. Infection and Immunity 74: 213-224 (2006).
Ly, LH, Smith, R, Switzer, KC, Chapkin, RS, and McMurray, DN. Dietary eicosapentaenoic acid modulates CTLA-4 expression in murine CD4+ T cells. Prost Leuko Essen Fatty Acids 74: 29-37 (2006).
Molecular and Cellular Medicine
Hamai, C, Yang, T, Kataoka, S, Cremer, PS, and Musser, SM. "Effect of Average Phosopholipid Curvature on the Formation of Supported Bilayers by Vesicle Fusion" Biophysical Journal , 90, 1241-1248 (2006).Systems Biology and Translational Medicine
Chao, J-T, Martinez-Lemus, L, Kaufman, SJ, Meininger, GA, Ramos, KS and Wilson, E. Modulation of alpha7 integrin-mediated adhesion and expression by platelet-derived growth factor. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol (2005).Heaps, CL, Mattox, ML, Kelly, KA, Meininger, CJ and Parker, JL. Exercise training increases basal tone in arterioles distal to chronic coronary occlusion. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 290(3): H1128-H1135 (2006).
Huang, LZ, Hsiao, S-H, Trzeciakowski, J, Frye, GD and Winzer-Serhan, UH. Chronic nicotine induces growth retardation in neonatal rat pups. Life Science 78(13): 1483-1493 (2006).
Trache, A and Meininger, GA. An atomic force - multi-optical imaging integrated microscope for monitoring molecular dynamics in live cells. J Biomed Opt 10(6): 64023 (2005).
Weylie, B, Zhu, J, Singh, U, Ambrus, S and Forough, R. Phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase is important in late-stage fibroblast growth factor-1 mediated angiogenesis in vivo. J Vasc Res 43(1):61-9 (2006).
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DATES TO REMEMBER
March 1: Town Hall Meeting, Lecture Hall 1; 4 p.m.
March 3: Dean's Staff Retreat, Briarcrest Country Club; 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
March 13-17: Spring Break
March 24: Donor Recognition Reception, Medical Sciences Courtyard; 2 p.m.
April 13: Graduate Student Organization Research Symposium, RMB; 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
May 3: Magnolia Tea, The Greenbranch; 2 p.m.
May 19: Senior Banquet, Reed Arena
May 20: Class of 2006 Commencement, Rudder Auditorium; 2 p.m.
Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean, College of Medicine
The Texas A&M 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
