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Tops Again |
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 ome of the best care in the nation for serious medical conditions can be found at Emory University Hospital, says U.S. News & World Report. The magazine once again has singled out Emory as one of America's Best Hospitals - this year in 10 of 16 medical specialties: cardiology (8th), ophthalmology (10th), neurology and neurosurgery (16th), urology (17th), orthopedics (22nd), cancer (27th), gastroenterology (28th), gynecology (31st), geriatrics (39th), and otolaryngology (47th). Crawford Long Hospital of Emory University earned the 39th spot in hormonal disorders.
The rankings are aimed at consumers seeking maximum care in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of difficult medical problems. The magazine ranks the top 50 hospitals in 16 specialties and gives data on 188 hospitals. In 12 of the 16 specialties, hospitals were evaluated using a model that combines reputation among specialists with death rates and a collection of other measures that physicians and social-science researchers believe reflects quality of care. The remaining four specialties, such as ophthalmology, are ranked by reputation alone because mortality data are unavailable or are unrelated to treatment. Emory's cardiology program has been recognized as one of the top 10 programs ever since the magazine began ranking hospitals in 1990. This year, Emory was the only Georgia hospital and one of just two in the Southeast to be ranked in the top 10 in cardiology.. |
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ome 260,000 Americans, including 6,700 Georgians, are hospitalized each year with traumatic brain injuries (TMI) - most suffered during automobile accidents, falls, and violence, including gunshot wounds.
To better understand the causes and treatment of TMI, the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has awarded $1.38 million to Emory and the Shepherd Center to fund the Georgia Model Brain Injury System (GAMBIS), one of only 17 such model centers in the nation. Each center provides a coordinated system of emergency care, acute neurotrauma management, comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation, and long-term interdisciplinary follow-up services. "No comparable system of resources for people with brain injuries exists within one organization anywhere else in the Southeast," says Anthony Stringer, principal investigator of the study and associate professor of rehabilitation medicine. GAMBIS begins with trauma care at Grady Hospital, Piedmont Hospital, and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. Patients who agree to receive rehabilitation within GAMBIS are then admitted to either Emory's Center for Rehabilitation Medicine or to Shepherd Center, where they get comprehensive medical, physical, cognitive, psychological, and vocational rehabilitation in order to be reintegrated into their communities. Emory and the Crawford Research Institute of Shepherd Center will also collect and analyze data and share it with other centers. |
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 o one really wants to get old. In fact, for one in six older adults, aging can be downright depressing. That's why the Wesley Woods Center on Aging has established a clinical program to aid in the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of depression. Funded by a $1 million grant from the J.B. Fuqua Foundation, the Center for Late-Life Depression provides educational services for patients, their families, and physicians.
Center clinicians are also involved in novel treatment for depression. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in up to 90% of patients resistant to antidepressant medication. Patients respond to the treatment within days rather than weeks, as with traditional antidepressants. Another research focus is transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which uses electromagnetic pulses and helps up to 60% of patients with depression. Unlike ECT, rTMS has few side effects and does not require anesthesia. For more information, call the Wesley Woods Aging Helpline at 404-778-7710. |
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 linicians don't know how to best prevent stroke caused by clogged arteries in the brain - a condition known as intracranial arterial stenosis. But two blood-thinning medications may hold the key - warfarin (also known as Coumadin) and aspirin. To better evaluate their potential for preventing this type of stroke in high-risk patients, Emory researchers are coordinating a five-year, $14-million trial during which 806 patients will be evaluated at 50 sites in North America.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH is funding the warfarin-aspirin symptomatic intracranial disease (WASID) study. Its clinical coordinating center will be based in the neurology department of the Emory School of Medicine; the statistic coordinating center in the biostatistics department at the Rollins School of Public Health; and the pharmacy coordinating center at Emory University Hospital. "This year we expect more than 700,000 Americans to experience a stroke, some 40,000 of which will be caused by narrowing of the intracranial arteries," says WASID principal investigator Marc Chimowitz, who also co-directs the Emory Stroke Center. "This type of stroke disproportionately affects minorities, including African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics." Patients who have recently had a minor stroke or transient ischemic attack are eligible to participate. |
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 IDS researchers at Yerkes Regional Primate Center have taken a promising step toward stemming the transmission of AIDS. Led by Harriett Robinson, chief of microbiology and immunology, researchers have created a DNA vaccine that protects monkeys against HIV. The vaccine, made with harmless components of SHIV - a blend of HIV and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) - successfully contained the virus over a 62-week period. During that time, there were no detectable levels of virus in the blood, while unvaccinated animals had large quantities of the virus.
As reported in the May issue of Nature Medicine, Robinson compared combinations of three different vaccine approaches and two different delivery methods for administering them. The most effective vaccination involved two steps: first priming the immune system with a DNA vaccine which consisted of genes taken from SHIV. The genes express specific SHIV proteins that help the body produce an initial immune response. This was followed 46 and 66 weeks later with booster immunizations with the same SHIV DNA inserted into a pox virus which invades the host's cells, expressing very high levels of the useful SHIV proteins. However, once in the cells, the virus itself does not replicate and poses no risk of spreading in the vaccinated individual. Robinson also found that skin inoculation was more effective in containing the virus than administering the vaccine with a gene gun, which bombards cells with DNA-coated gold beads. Future studies will include expanded testing in preclinical models and eventually phase 1 studies in humans.The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. |
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 mory Healthcare has launched a $27-million package of initiatives designed to significantly reduce the financial pressures on The Emory Clinic as it continues to realign and improve services.
The eight initiatives include offsetting the clinic's teaching and clinical research contributions to the School of Medicine, forgiving loans and interest to fund the clinic's retirement plan, and relieving the clinic of all financial responsibility for funding the Emory primary care network. Emory Healthcare will give a one-time, $1-million financial boost to Emory Clinic North and fund the Huntington information system's project. The hospitals will continue to support the clinic in the next fiscal year at current levels. Restructuring the clinic's debt by using the university's credit rating to gain better interest rates and terms is expected to result in substantial savings. These unprecedented financial commitments represent a resounding vote of confidence in the work ongoing within the clinic to improve service and operations. In return, the clinic is rigorously evaluating its strategies and operation. In an effort led by clinic CEO Rein Saral and Emory Healthcare President and COO John Fox, the Leadership Committee for Assessment of Strategy and Reorganization Options will issue specific recommendations this fall. |
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 esearchers with good ideas and students with ability - but both without means to realize their potential - will benefit for years to come from the late Reunette Harris's bequest of more than $17 million to Emory's School of Medicine. |
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The gift is the largest in a legacy of generosity to the school begun decades ago by W. Clair Harris of Winder; his wife, Reunette; and their daughter, Lucy Clair. About $1.5 million of the bequest will endow a new Emory Eye Center professorship. Of the remainder, 60% is earmarked for cutting-edge biomedical research, and 40% will support medical scholarships. Numerous medical students, faculty members, and research teams at Emory have benefited from previous Harris family support. Several Harris scholars have already gone on to distinguished medical careers with expertise ranging from primary to subspecialty clinical care and interests in basic science and clinical investigation. The Harris Medical Research Fund has supported investigations at Emory in heart and vascular disease, mental health, and arthritis. In addition, the Harris family has played a key role in funding facilities and enhancing research at the Emory Eye Center and Winship Cancer Center. The family has endowed two chairs: the Carter Smith Sr. Chair in Medicine held by William Branch, vice chairman for primary care and director of the division of general medicine in Emory's department of medicine; and the Reunette W. Harris Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences held by department chair Charles Nemeroff. |
Copyright © Emory University, 1999. All Rights Reserved.
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Web version by Jaime Henriquez.