FROM THE DEAN

I hope everyone’s semester is off to a good start. Our new students are enthusiastic and seem to be adjusting well to medical school. It’s always great to get to know a new group of students. I recently met with the M1s to discuss our plans for class expansion and multiple campus implementation as well as address any questions they may have. They were very interested in our plans, and had some excellent questions. I have also met with the M2s and M3s to provide all of our students with a good understanding of our class expansion plans.

We are moving ahead with development of the Round Rock campus. We are currently hiring a staff for that campus, finding facilities to locate the administrative offices, and we will soon be establishing affiliations with the local hospitals in Round Rock.

The Curriculum Committee will be holding a retreat this month to determine a plan for the next year as we move forward with curricular reform.

Dr. Rod McCallum will be attending the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday, September 6 to discuss the revised APT process.

COLLEGE NEWS

Parmer Retires from S&W, Joins COM Full-Time

Marie has worked in several different offices including Surgical Pathology, Hematology/Oncology (where she and Doctor John Bonnet established the first SWOG Office at Scott & White) and GI before transferring to her current position. She also spent seven years working for the S&W Employees Credit Union.

Marie has worked in the R&E/College of Medicine Office officially since the fall of 1995, although she worked with the College of Medicine since 1977. She currently serves as President for the National Dean's Assistants Group. Marie will officially begin work for the COM in the Dean's Office in Temple on September 1.

Congratulations, Marie! We’re lucky to have you!!!

STUDENT NEWS

Two Fourth Year Students Receive AMA Scholarships

Two fourth-year students from the College of Medicine recently were awarded Physicians of Tomorrow scholarships of $10,000 from the American Medical Association Foundation. Rob Bour and Ervin Lowther were just two of 11 students from medical schools nationwide chosen for the scholarships.

The Physicians of Tomorrow scholarships were created in 2004 as part of an AMA Foundation effort to provide financial assistance to medical students facing medical school debt. Multiple scholarships, funded by the AMA Foundation (eight scholarships), the Audio-Digest Foundation (1), Johnson F. Hammond, M.D. Fund (1), and the Rock Sleyster, M.D. Fund (1) were awarded this year.

Mr. Lowther received an AMA Foundation-funded scholarship, which is given to promising fourth-year medical students selected for awards based on personal commitment, scholastic achievement and financial need. Mr. Bour’s scholarship was funded by the Audio-Digest Foundation, which awards a student with interests in “communication of science,” or mentoring and teaching.

For the full story, visit: http://www.tamhsc.edu/news/index.html?postID=2414

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE NEWS

LEARNING RESOURCES

New SMART Board™ Technology

Students and faculty are encouraged to take advantage of two large interactive whiteboards now available for use in Learning Resources, College Station. The SMART Board™ allows you to use the touch screen for moving through, writing on and adding to your presentation as needed. Please contact Pam Baker at 979-845-2887 or PBBaker@medicine.tamhsc.edu, to receive instruction or obtain expert advice to enhance your teaching and learning.

OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

IAMSE Audio Webcast Series

The International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) will be offering a webcast audio seminar series on “Maximizing Your Leadership Potential – Part II”. This particular series will complement Part I of this series topic that was given last spring. These types of programs are offered on a regular basis by this organization and provide valuable and useful information on various topics in medical education. This particular series consists of one-hour presentations on the following dates and topics: October 2 – “Leadership and the Complexity of Change”, October 9 – “Effective Committees/Meetings”, October 16 – “Negotiations and Conflict Management”, October 23 – “Money Matters”, October 30 – “Multi-disciplinary Team Building”, November 13 – “Aspiring to a Leadership Position”. All of the presentations are at noon (CST). The OED will be subscribing to this series as an institutional group meaning that any interested faculty may attend any of these programs. Information on room locations for College Station and Temple will be provided later.

Faculty Review of NBME Subject Exams

For the last several years the OED has organized a biennial faculty review of the NBME Shelf (Subject) exams in the basic and clinical sciences on both the College Station and Temple campuses. This year we will again be arranging exam reviews for selected dates in October and November. The OED will be sending out announcements and instructions about the program shortly. Faculty are encouraged to take advantage of this unique opportunity to review the construct, breadth and depth of the NBME Shelf exams. It is important to note that all faculty wishing to participate in this exercise must sign up in advance because a list of names of those individuals reviewing the exams must be turned in to the NBME prior to the exam review date. Further information will be sent out later.

DEPARTMENTAL NEWS

HUMANITIES IN MEDICINE

McGovern Lectureship

The Department of Humanities in Medicine was pleased to host Dr. Sandra O. Gold, speaker for the 2007 McGovern Award Lectureship in the Art and Science of Medicine, Tuesday, September 4, 2007. Dr. Gold is President and Co-Founder of The Arnold P. Gold Foundation, Englewood Cliff, NJ.

The foundation advances humanism in medicine, perpetuating the tradition of the caring doctor. Through innovative medical education, we promote and affirm more compassionate medical care and caregivers. Funding is provided by the foundation for several initiatives and awards to medical schools to promote the goals of humanism in medicine. Dr. Gold presented her lecture entitled “Medicine: A Career and a Calling” to the first year medical students, faculty and other guests

September Consultation Speaker and Year I Lecturer

The Department of Humanities in Medicine series of Medicine and Humanities Consultations will begin Monday, September 17, 2007, at the Halley House in Salado, Texas, 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. The Consultation will engage clinicians of medicine, nurses, social workers, clergy and academic humanist in an in-depth exposure to “Physician Insecurity”. The day will be spent in informal discussion led by our invited guest, Robert Kiser, M.D., as our facilitator. If you would like to register for the Consultation, please contact our department, 979-845-0755.

CAPT Bob Kiser, Medical Corps, United States Navy has held academic appointments at Texas A&M University, University of Washington, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; has served as the Navy Family Practice Specialty Lead; Commanding Office for United States Naval Hospital Guam; and most recently as Fleet Surgeon for the United States Pacific Fleet. In August 2007 he became the Chief Medical Officer for Navy Medicine.

“Dr. Bob” will also deliver a lecture to the Year I Humanities in Medicine class, Tuesday, September 18, 2007.  Over the years Dr. Bob has been our most popular and appreciated lecturer in the Year I Course.

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AND TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE

Faculty News

In her role as President of the Microcirculatory Society, Dr. Cindy Meininger helped host the 8th World Congress for Microcirculation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August.

Dr. David Zawieja chaired the Lymphatic Smooth Muscle Function symposium at the 8th World Congress for Microcirculation.

Anatoliy A. Gashev presented “Intrinsic and extrinsic flow in lymphangions: a balance for effective lymph transport” at the Lymphatic Smooth Muscle Function Symposium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August.

Dr. Mariappan Muthuchamy presented “Regulatory mechanisms in cardiac muscle contractility” to Dr. Richard Moss’ group at the University of Madison-Wisconsin Medical School in August.

Hung-Chung Huang, Daniel C. Jupiter, James M. Briggs and Dr. Vincent Van Buren presented “Cluster Analysis of Hydration Waters around Active Sites of Bacterial Alanine Racemase from 2-ns MD Simulations” at the Computational Systems Bioinformatics 2007 Conference of the Life Sciences Society, held at the University of California - San Diego in August.

The following presentations were made at the Presentations at the 8th World Congress for Microcirculation, held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in August:

• ”Activation of Rho kinase/NAD(P)H oxidase signaling by endothelin-1 impairs endothelium-dependent nitric oxide-mediated dilation of retinal arterioles” by Travis W. Hein, W. Xu, Yi Ren and Lih Kuo.
• “Endothelial activation of bradykinin and VEGF receptors mediates nitric oxide-dependent flow-induced dilation of retinal arterioles” by Travis W. Hein, W. Xu, Yi Ren, Z. Yuan, Taiji Nagaoka, Robert H. Rosa Jr. and Lih Kuo.
• “Regulatory mechanisms in lymphatic muscle contraction” by Mariappan Muthuchamy.
• “Fidarestat, an aldose reductase inhibitor, increases levels of tetrahydrobiopterin to support vascular function in diabetic rats” by Laura Hargrove, W. Jobjen, Christine Heaps, Janet Parker, Katherine Kelly, K. Wilbanks, V. Baweja, Guoyao Wu and Cindy Meininger.
• “Modulation of rat mesenteric lymphatic contractility by capsaicin-sensitive signaling pathways” by Eric Bridenbaugh, Zhanna Nepiyushchikh, Wei Wang, Olga Y. Gasheva, Pierre-Yves von der Weid and David C. Zawieja.
• “Transcriptional analysis of vessel-specific gene expression patterns in rat mesenteric blood and lymphatic vessels” by Eric Bridenbaugh, Maya Srimushnam and David C. Zawieja.
• “Rate-sensitive contractile responses of lymphatic muscle” by Michael J. Davis, Ann M. Davis, M. Lane, David C. Zawieja and Anatoliy A. Gashev.
• “Modulation of spontaneous lymphatic contractions by substance P” by M. Lane, Anatoliy A Gashev, David C. Zawieja and Michael J. Davis.
• “Flow-dependent inhibition of rat thoracic duct pumping is not dependent on K channels” by Olga Y. Gasheva, Anatoliy A. Gashev and David C. Zawieja.

Faculty Publications

Davis, MJ, Lane, MM, Scallan, JP, Gashev, AA and Zawieja, DC. An automated method to control preload by compensation for stress relaxation in spontaneously contracting, isometric rat mesenteric lymphatics. Microcirculation Aug;14(6):603-12 (2007).

Zhang, R, Gashev, AA, Zawieja, DC, Lane, MM and Davis, MJ. Length-dependence of lymphatic phasic contractile activity under isometric and isobaric conditions. Microcirculation Aug;14(6):613-25 (2007).

TEXAS BRAIN AND SPINE INSTITUTE

TBSI Annual Neuroscience Symposium

The Texas Brain and Spine Institute Annual Neuroscience Symposium is slated for September 14 at the Annenberg Conference Center of the George Bush Library. There is a morning session for the lay public, and scientific sessions in the afternoon.

All HSC faculty and students are invited to attend the scientific sessions in the afternoon, from 1:30-3:30. The afternoon sessions are as follows:

• Mahlon DeLong, M.D. Professor of Neurology, Emory University - Parkinson's and other 'circuit disorders': Pathophysiology and surgical therapy.
• Mark Cookson, Ph.D. Senior Research Fellow, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging - Pathways to Parkinsonism.

TBSI News & Notes

The following information was submitted by TBSI director, Dr. Jonathan Friedman:

College of Medicine student Puya Alikhani is presenting two papers this month with Dr. Friedman:

• Alikhani P, Lollis SS, Friedman JA. Implementing Intraoperative Angiography for Aneurysm Surgery – Lessons Learned and Practical Considerations. Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. September, 2007.
• Friedman JA, Taylor SA, McDermott W, Alikhani P. Multifocal and recurrent subarachnoid hemorrhage due to an herbal supplement containing natural coumarins. Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. September, 2007.

Puya also had one paper published:
Friedman JA, Taylor SA, McDermott W, Alikhani P. Multifocal and recurrent subarachnoid hemorrhage due to an herbal supplement containing natural coumarins. Neurocritical Care 7(1): 76-80 (2007).

GENERAL NEWS

SECC starts Sept. 1

The State Employee Charitable Campaign kicks off September 1 and is the only statutorily authorized workplace campaign for state agency and higher education employees throughout Texas. In 2006, the SECC marked its 13th year by raising $9.2 million for charitable organizations throughout the Lone Star state.

For more information about the SECC, visit: http://www.secctexas.org and be watching your email for College of Medicine-related SECC fundraisers.

DATES TO REMEMBER

September 1: SECC Kicks Off
September 3: Labor Day Holiday – COM offices closed
September 6: Executive Committee and Academic Council, 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.; Temple Only
September 14: Texas Brain & Spine Institute, 1:30-3:30 p.m.; Annenberg Pres. Conference Center
January 16, 2008: HSC Convocation

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