From the Dean

Welcome to our new and returning students!  We hope you all had a great summer and are ready to start another year.  It seems like we just had Commencement, and now we are already starting classes again.  Amazing!

• We are welcoming our largest entering class to date.  We have 135 new students starting with 100 new students in College Station and 35 new students in Temple.  Our class size is expanding as promised!
• I would like to welcome Dr. Robert Hash as our new Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.  It is great to have him here and I am very excited about the plans he has for Academic Affairs on all campuses.
• We will be having a reception at the Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program in Sugarland on August 22.  We have recently affiliated with this program and will be hosting an open house at their facility to publicly announce this affiliation.
• Thanks to everyone for supporting our students and alums by attending the Welcome Dinner, White Coat Ceremony and Gala.  Your support is greatly appreciated and important to the development efforts of the college.

Have a great month!
 
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

Dates to Remember

• August 1: CME Symposium; 12-4 p.m. – Hyatt Place Hotel
• August 1: Dean’s Welcome Dinner; 5:30-8 p.m. – RMB/MSL courtyard
• August 2: Class of 2012 White Coat Ceremony; 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Rudder Theater
• August 2: Reunion ’08; 6-10 p.m. – Bush Museum Rotunda and Annenberg Conference Center
• August 20: Faculty Research Colloquium; Speaker: Dr. Jay Puschett – LH 2 MEC (Temple)

College News

Parmer Receives Employee of the Quarter Award

Marie Parmer, Assistant to the Dean on the Temple campus, was awarded the Employee of the Quarter award for the second quarter. She is being recognized especially for all her hard work helping the faculty and staff transfer from Tulane or other universities to join the COM/S&W Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM) in Temple.

The following comments were made about Marie from her nomination submission:

“All of us have been made welcome and grafted into the Texas A&M family because of her efforts and endless energy. She is a great resource of institutional knowledge for us and assists us in networking with our new colleagues at A&M and Scott & White. She is the perfect ambassador for the college and the Dean’s Office.”

“The IRM team is greatly indebted to her and we see how she helps others as well. Marie is just that way! She is the ‘poster-person’ of what a great A&M employee is.”

Congratulations, Marie!

Faculty

Reddy Joins NEXT Department

D. Samba Reddy, Ph.D., RPh., joined the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics as an Associate Professor on July 1, coming to us from North Carolina State University.

Dr. Reddy’s major research goals are to understand the molecular pathophysiology and develop novel therapeutic strategies for epilepsy, with an emphasis on steroid hormones and endogenous neurosteroids.

For more information, visit Dr. Reddy’s bio page at: http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/basic-sciences/next/faculty/samba-reddy.html

Fonseca To Join COM/S&W as Diabetes Institute Director

Vivian Fonseca, M.D., F.R.C.P. has been recruited to head a newly established Diabetes Institute on both the Temple and Round Rock campuses and to become the Chief of Endocrinology at Scott & White/TAMHSC-COM. His recruitment is a joint effort between the College of Medicine, Scott & White and the VA.

Dr. Fonseca will be coming to us from New Orleans, where he serves as Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Tullis-Tulane Alumni Chair in Diabetes and Chief of the Section of Endocrinology at Tulane University Health Sciences Center. His research interests include prevention and treatment of diabetic complications and risk factor reduction in cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Fonseca graduated with a M.D. from Bombay University and later received his M.R.C.P. and F.R.C.P. from the Royal College of Physicians in London.

He is a member of the American Diabetes Association and has served on the Board of Directors since 2005. He is also a fellow of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and is on the association’s Clinical Research Committee and Publications Committee. Dr. Fonseca is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and is on the Executive Committee of the National Diabetes Education Initiative.

Dr. Fonseca has lectured in the United States and abroad and published over 200 papers, review articles, and book chapters, and is currently the Editor in Chief of Diabetes Care, a leading journal in his field. He also is a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, JAMA, Diabetes Care, Kidney International, Metabolism, Diabetic Medicine, the British Medical Journal and many others.

Dr. Fonseca plans to begin working in Texas part-time October 1 and will move to full-time status by spring 2009.

Students

Get To Know: Our Temple Campus First-Year Students

Temple campus has a total of 37 M1 students who come from a variety of backgrounds. There’s a pharmacist in the class, a mother with teenagers, a former EMT on the ski slopes in Colorado, a student who just became a U.S. citizen last Thursday and a student who worked full-time (6 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and attended college full time to pursue his education, just to name a few.

The students completed their undergraduate degrees at UT-Dallas, Texas Tech, Abilene Christian Univ., Univ. of Incarnate Word, UT-Austin, Texas A&M, Rice, UT-Arlington, Louisiana Tech, Univ. of Houston, Vanderbilt Univ., LeTourneau Univ., Univ. of Alaska, Prairie View A&M, San Jose State Univ., Trinity Univ., Davidson, Air Force Academy, Baylor and Univ. of Virginia.

Administration

Office of Academic Affairs

Faculty

Dr. Jose Pliego has the following recent professional activity:

• Nominated as one of the Texas Super Doctors again this year for a total of four years, three of them being consecutive.
• Consultant on the American Board of Internal Medicine Teamwork Task Force in Philadelphia, June 25-26.
• Appointed as an active member of the newly formed Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) Education Committee and the Simulation in Healthcare Certification, Accreditation and Technology Standards Subcommittees. 
• Appointed Chair to the American College Obstetrics Gynecology (ACOG) Simulation Consortium.
• Appointed as an active member of the newly formed Technology Standards Subcommittee of the SSH Certification Accreditation and Technology Standards (CATS) committee.
• Invited to participate as the Co-Chair for the 2009 IMSH Technology Workshops Committee.
• Invited to serve on the American Board of Internal Medicine Teamwork Task Force. 

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Jose Pliego has given the following recent presentations:

•  “Collaborating with Patient Safety: The Role of the SPs in Changing Culture” at the 2008 ASPE Conference in San Antonio, June 29-30.
• “High Fidelity Simulation as a Competency Evaluation Tool: Opportunities and Limitations” and “The SimCom-T” at the 2008 SESAM Annual Meeting, held at the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, June 19-21.
•  “Human Error Theory and Prevention Techniques: The Role of Clinical Simulation” as a visiting professor at St. Barnabas Hospital Grand Rounds (presentation & workshop) in New York, June 4.

Office of Educational Development

The College of Medicine Offices of Educational Development and Faculty Development are pleased to announce the start of “College of Medicine Education Grand Rounds”, to be held monthly throughout the year, Noon-1:00 p.m., except for December.  The College of Medicine Education Grand Rounds have been approved for CME Category 1 Credit through the Scott & White Office of Continuing Medical Education.  For August and September the College of Medicine Education Grand Rounds presents:

• “Leadership As Seen Through Different Frameworks”; featured speaker Mohsen Shabahang, M.D., Ph.D.; Wednesday, 08/27/08, Noon-1:00 p.m. 
• “Updates From the LCME”; featured speaker Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.; Wednesday, 09/24/08, Noon-1:00 p.m.

The above presentations will be scheduled in Lecture Hall I, Reynolds Medical Building, College Station; R109, Medical Education Center, S&W, Temple; Suite 400, Old Town Square, Round Rock; and 1R21, CVRI, Temple.

Office of Research & Graduate Studies

Faculty Research Colloquium:

Featured Speaker- Jules B. Puschett, M.D.
Title of Lecture- “Experimental Studies of Volume Expansion-Mediated Hypertension”
Date- Wednesday, August 20, 2008 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Where -Lecture Hall 2, Education Center, Temple-simulcast to: Lecture Hall 1, Reynolds Medical Building, College Station

Funding Opportunities

Metlife Foundation Award for Medical Research
Award: up to $50,000 personal prize and $200,000 to support further laboratory research
Nominees: Scientists who have made a major contribution toward the understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease

Basic Science

Microbial & Molecular Pathogenesis

Faculty

Dr. Amminikutty Jeevan attended the 34th Meeting of American Society of Photobiology, Burlingame, CA from June 21-25.

Dr. David McMurray traveled to Minneapolis, MN, from 14-18 June to attend the 44th Annual Joint Committee meeting of US-Japan Cooperative Medical Sciences Program (USJCMSP), and a mini-symposium at the University of Minnesota entitled “Imaging and Medicine in the 21st Century”. As the US Chair of the Joint Tuberculosis and Leprosy Panels, he presented an annual report on the activities of the Panel.

Dr. John Quarles continues to work with other members of the Editorial Board of Current Protocols in
Microbiology, a publication developed by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  He participated in a meeting with the editorial board in Boston, MA, June 1.

Dr. Jon Skare participated in a site visit for Science Foundation of Ireland to the University of Dublin in Dublin, Ireland from June 16-18.

Dr. Vernon Tesh attended the “Ricin and Shiga Toxin Workshop: Pathogenesis, Immunity, Vaccines and Therapeutics” jointly sponsored by NIAID and the Northeastern Biodefense Center of Excellence at the Albany Medical College in Albany, NY, from June 17-19.

Recent Publications

Proulx, F and Tesh, VL. Renal diseases in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: thrombotic microangiopathy, hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. In: Wheeler, DS, Wong, HR, and Shanley TP (eds.) Pediatric Care Critical Medicine: Basic Science and Clinical Evidence, pp. 1189-1203. Springer-Verlag, London, UK (2008).

Via, LE, Lin, PL, Ray, SM, Carrillo, J, Allen, SS, Eum, SY, Taylor, K, Klein, E, Manjunatha, U, Gonzales, J, Lee, EG, Park, SK, Raleigh, JA, Cho, SN, McMurray, DN, Flynn, JL and Barry, CE. Tuberculous granulomas are hypoxic in guinea pigs, rabbits and non-human primates. Infect Immun 76: 2333-2340 (2008).

Cho, H, de Hass, R, Jeevan, A and McMurray, DN. Differential activation of alveolar and peritoneal macrophages from BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs. Tuberculosis 88: 307-316 (2008).

Ly, LH and McMurray, DN. Tuberculosis: vaccines in the pipeline. Exp Rev Vacc 7: 635- 650 (2008).

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Van Wilson presented a talk entitled “Modulation of Host Sumoylation by High-risk E6 Proteins” at the TAMHSC-TAMU Cancer Workshop in June.

Molecular & Cellular Medicine

Sebastian Yakisich (M.D./Ph.D), Assistant Research Scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Geoffrey Kapler, will be leaving Texas A&M College of Medicine to begin an independent research position in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Huddinge Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

Grants Received

Dr. Arthur Johnson received an Award Notice from the NIH for the renewal of his grant entitled "Protein Trafficking and Dislocation at the ER Membrane".  Project period 4/1/79-6/30/12. Budget Period 7/1/08-6/30/09 (Total costs $352,110).

Recent Publications

Sun, C, Yang, W, Tu, L-C and Musser, SM. "Single Molecule Measurements of Importin a/Cargo Complex Dissociation at the Nuclear Pore," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,105:8613-8618 (2008).

Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics

Recent Publications

Lamon TK, Browder EJ, Sohrabji F, Ihrig M. Adverse Effects of Incorporating Ketoprofen into Established Rodent Studies. JAALAS, 47 (4): 1-5 (2008).

Lollis, SS, Quebada, PB and Friedman, JA. Traumatic Brain Injury.  In Handbook of Clinical Neurology.  Aminoff, MJ, Boller, F and Swaab, DF, eds. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 217-229 (2008).

Scientific Presentations

Dr. George Chiou presented a seminar entitled “Enjoy retired life with good vision” to the Evergreen Club in Houston on July 12.

Dr. David Earnest presented a research abstract titled “Effects of Neonatal Alcohol Exposure on SCN Neurotransmitters Involved in the Light-Dark Regulation of Circadian Rhythms” at the Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in Washington, D.C., held June 29 to July 3.

NEXT abstracts for the Medical Student Summer Research Program, held July 25 were as follows:

• Hemorrhagic Complications of Ventriculostomy Placement: A Meta-analysis; D. Binz and J. Friedman.
• Properties of cholinergic neurons in eGFP-ChAT mice; A.E. Childress, K.A. Peebles, D. Murchison and W.H. Griffith
• CSF Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease; S. Desai and Ian V.J. Murray.
• Tumor Progenitor Cells in Glioblastoma Multiforme; D. Jiang, G. Martin, G. Toussaint
• Effect of Estrogen on Blood Brain Barrier following Endothelin-induced Stroke in Reproductive Senescent Female Rats; M. Lafferty, S. Bake, A. Selvamani, and F. Sohrabji
• The Developmental Toxicity of Ethanol or Nicotine: A Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Model; A. D. Leal and Wei-Jung A. Chen
• Effects of Reproductive Senescence on Astrocytes Using an in vitro Stroke Model; K. A. Patel, D. K. Lewis and F. Sohrabji
• Perlecan Expression in Glioblastoma Multiforme; C. Q, L. G. Toussaint, G. Bix, and G. Martin.
• The Role of MicroRNAs in Glioblastoma Multiforme Invasion; K. Shultz.

Systems Biology & Translational Medicine

Faculty

Dr. Warren Zimmer was elected to the Scientific Council of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine for the period July 2008 – June 2012; he was elected chair of the Publications Committee, November 2008.

Grants Received

Daniel Jupiter received an $82,000 American Heart Association, South Central Association Postdoctoral Fellowship award entitled "STARNET 2: enhanced visual data mining for cardiac gene network discovery" for the period 07/01/08-06/30/10.

Recent Publications

Behnke BJ, Zawieja DC, Gashev AA, Ray CC, Delp MD. Diminished mesenteric vaso- and venoconstriction and elevated plasma ANP and BNP with simulated microgravity. J Appl Physiol 104: 1273-1280 (2008).

Muthuchamy M, Zawieja DC. Molecular Regulation of Lymphatic Contractility. Ann NY Acad Sci 1131: 89–99 (2008).

Young JL, Zimmer WE, Dean D. Smooth muscle-specific gene delivery in the vasculature based on restriction of DNA nuclear import. Exp Biol Med 233: 840-848 (2008).

Zawieja DC, Muthuchamy M, Gashev AA. Modulation of Lymphatic Muscle Contractility by the Neuropeptide Substance P. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, (2008).

Zawieja DC, von der Weid PY, Gashev AA. “Microlymphatic Biology.” In the Handbook of Physiology, Section 2: The Cardiovascular System, Volume IV, Parts 1 & 2, Microcirculation, Edited by Klaus Ley and Walter Duran (2008).

Scientific Presentations

Dr. Mariappan Muthuchamy presented “Myofilament activation by mechanotransduction” at the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri, June 2008. He also presented “Mechanotransduction and myofilament activation processes in heart muscle” to the Department of Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology at Washington State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, July 2008.

Dr. David Zawieja presented “The physiology of lymphatic contractile function and relationship to disease” at an invited lecture given at the The 17th International Workshop on Vascular Anomalies, Harvard Medical School and The International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies, Boston, Massachusetts, June 2008. He also presented “Developing Computational Flow Models for the Lymphatic Vasculature” at the Proceedings of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers - 2008 Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC2008), Marco Island, Florida, June 2008.

Dr. Warren Zimmer presented “Molecular Mechanism of Nkx3.1 Expression: a Prostate Tumor Suppressor-Like Gene” at the TAMHSC-TAMU Cancer Workshop 2, College Station, June 25.

Clinical Science

Emergency Medicine

From Dept. Chairman Dr. Keith Stone

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Dr. Ben Chlapek.  Ben has been senior staff in the Department of Emergency Medicine for 26 years.  He was a man of faith, a great father and an outstanding physician and teacher.  He loved Scott & White and always talked about what a privilege it was to practice here.  His gentle nature and caring for all patients who sought care in the ED served as a role model for countless resident physicians.  He will be greatly missed by the department and the institution. Please keep his wife Carolyn and the Chlapek family in your thoughts and prayers.

Internal Medicine

For the monthly departmental report, please click here (PDF).

Faculty

Colleen Colbert, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, was recently invited to serve on the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine (APDIM) Publications Committee.  The publications committee oversees production of APDIM’s manuals (The Toolkit Series: A Textbook for Internal Medicine Education Programs and The Toolkit Series:  A Textbook for Today’s Chief Medical Resident), coordinates APDIM’s contributions to Academic Internal Medicine Insight and The American Journal of Medicine and identifies potential APDIM publications. Dr. Colbert will serve a two year term through June 30, 2010.

Dr Sharon DeMorrow and Dr Shannon Glaser have been promoted to Assistant Professor (tenure track) effective 1st August, 2008.

Recent Publications

Gatto, M, Drudi-Metalli, V, Torrice, A, Alpini, G, Cantafora, A, Blotta, I and Alvaro, D.  Insulin-like growth factor-1 isoforms in rat hepatocytes and cholangiocytes and their involvement in protection against cholestatic injury. Laboratory Investigation 2008 Jul 7.

Scientific Presentations

Department of Systems Biology and Translational Medicine Seminar: Heather Francis, “The role of histamine in biliary growth” July 9, 2008.

Pediatrics 

Welcome New Faculty and Residents

Welcome to the following new members of the Peds Department:

Muralidhar Jatla, M.D. - Pediatric Gastroenterology, started June 23, 2008
Joyce Samuel, M.D., Chief Resident - General Pediatrics, started July 1, 2008
Trichelle Newman, M.D. - General Pediatrics, started July 1, 2008
Jill Flippin, General Pediatrics, started July 14, 2008
Jessica Choe, M.D., General Pediatrics, started July 15, 2008
Audra Stewart, D.O., Neonatology, started July 7, 2008
Vinayak Govande, M.D., Neonatology, started July 7, 2008
Michael Romano, M.D., MBA - Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Head, starts August 4, 2008
Neslihan Gungor, M.D., Pediatric Endocrinology, starts August 2008

The Pediatric Residency Program recruited the following physicians from the 2008 Match:

Paulina Castillo – TAMHSC-COM
Crystal Banks – TAMHSC-COM
Kristy Bybee - UNTHSC (TCOM)
Gary Jones - UNTHSC (TCOM)
Kathryn Roberts - UT San Antonio
Herald Surya - Ross University

Faculty

Dr. Robert Burke, Director of the Reach Out and Read (ROAR) program, announced that the program has received a monetary award from the national office. Reach Out and Read is a program designed to encourage early childhood literacy by providing age appropriate books with each new child visit. Dr. Burke and our Child Life Staff are to be congratulated on the success of our ROAR program.

Congratulations to the following faculty for:  2007-2008 TAMU Outstanding Teaching Award; Lisa Warren, D.O. and 2007-2008 TAMU Outstanding Resident Teacher Award; Trichelle Newman, M.D.

Recent Publications

Zempsky WT, Bean-Lijewski JD, Kauffman RE, et al. "Needle-Free Powder Lidocaine Delivery System Provides Rapid Effective Analgesia for Venipuncture or Cannulation Pain in Children: Randomized, Double-Blind Comparision of Venipuncture and Venous Cannulation Pain After Fast-Onset Needle-Free Powder Lidocaine or Placebo Treatment Trial." Pediatrics 121;979-987 (2008).

Academic Medicine

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