Noteworthy


The School of Medicine had two class speakers at commencement this year -- David Altman and Otis. Altman did most of the talking, but Otis, a googly-eyed puppet fashioned from a cast on Altman's hand, made the point: "Never forget you are treating people. Every patient is a 'me,'" Altman told the graduates.

He spoke from experience. Last April, Altman was coring apples when he sliced his index and middle fingers, severing two tendons, three nerves, and an artery. "I'd never had surgery before," says Altman. "I couldn't even dress myself, which was scary. I saw how an accident, even a minor injury, can change your life for six months or even forever. If I had planned to be a surgeon, I might have had to change careers."

Altman was among the 103 medical students who received their MD degrees this spring, including 10 dual-degree recipients (five MD/PhD and five MD/MPH degrees). The medical school also awarded the Evangeline Papageorge Award for the second time to Jonas Shulman, executive associate dean for medical education and student affairs. Allied Health awarded 75 masters degrees, three bachelors, 17 associates in medical science, and 28 masters of physical therapy degrees.

In the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, 136 degrees were awarded: 66 BSN and 70 MSN degrees, of which five were dual MSN/MPH degrees. Rose Cannon, family and community nursing, received the university's oldest and highest award, the Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her teaching, research, and clinical interests are largely in maternal-infant nursing. Darla Ura, adult and elder health and HIV/primary care, received the Distinguished Professor in Teaching Award, and Joyce Murray, adult and elder health, received the Teaching Scholar Award.

The Rollins School of Public Health graduated a record 299 students, awarding 264 MPH degrees, 19 MSPH degrees, three masters of science, 11 dual degrees, and four PhDs.

Three RSPH faculty members were named Professors of the Year, awards given by students to outstanding faculty who demonstrate leadership, a genuine concern for students, and a sense of academic excellence. Roger Rochat, epidemiology and international health, spent 31 years at the CDC before coming to Emory to teach the tricks and techniques of applying analytical skills to solving reproductive health problems. Kimberly Sessions, behavioral sciences and health education, and assistant director of the Center for Aids Research, is known for making required courses interesting. As director of the Peace Corps Master's International Program for the last five years, Jim Setzer guided students in a special MPH program that required two years in the Peace Corps.

RSPH professor Stanley Foster, international health, received the Thomas F. Sellers Award for support of faculty colleagues in public health. Early in his career, Foster worked in the smallpox eradication program in Africa in the 1970s.

Learning the hard way about the patient experience



Medical school class speakers
David Altman and "Otis."


Twenty-seven mid-level physicians, representing all clinical sections in the School of Medicine, have been selected for awards that effectively purchase a portion of their time for them to devote to teaching students. Thanks to the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Fund, the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs will provide $10,000 of salary support to each clinic section as a salary offset for the selected physician. Each section has committed to a fund-raising plan to raise at least an equivalent amount to fund a clinician teacher for next year as well. The recipients include: Douglas Ander, director of student education for emergency medicine and clerkship director; Elliot Chaikof, director, vascular surgery; Jay Cinammon, chief, neuroradiology; Joanne Williams-Cooper, family and preventive medicine; Celia Dominguez, gynecology/obstetrics; Gary Freed, neonatology and leader of the Apnea/SIDS prevention program; Jane Gilmore, associate director of the neurology resident training program; Karen Godette, director, radiation oncology resident program; Andrew Gutow, orthopaedics; Theresa Kramer, head of comprehensive ophthalmology; David Lloyd, general pediatrics; Timothy Mapstone, vice chair of neurosurgery; Calvin McCall, dermatology; Charles Moore, chief of otolaryngology at Grady; Michael O'Grady, rehabilitation medicine; Chad Ritenour, urology; Shobha Sharma, pathology; Andrew Smith, medical director, heart failure and transplant program; Nathan Spell, associate program director, Emory University Hospital; Charles Staley, surgical oncology; James Steinberg, internal medicine and infectious diseases; Steven VanderSluis, director of medical student education for anesthesiology; David Vega, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the VA Medical Center; Jonathan Waltuck, medicine; and Lee Winton, Winship Cancer Institute.

Scott Boden, director of the spine center, is secretary of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine.

Project Prevent Director Donna Carson received the 2002 Biography Community Hero award from A&E Television Network. She is founder and executive director of My House, an emergency shelter that provides a home for newborns with special medical problems.

Wright Caughman, chair of dermatology, is on the board of directors for the Society of Investigative Dermatology.

Leland Chung, who directs the molecular urology and therapeutics program in the School of Medicine, has been elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars for international leadership in the field of urological research.

Five School of Medicine faculty members are among the world's most highly cited scientific researchers. Included in www.ISIHighlyCited.com are Mahlon DeLong, chair of neurology; Michael Kuhar, Georgia Research Alliance eminent scholar and chief of neuroscience at Yerkes; Allan Levey, director of Emory-Morehouse Alzheimer's Disease Center and the Emory Neurodegenerative Disease Center; Kenneth Minneman, Charles H. Candler Professor of pharmacology; and Bruce Wainer, chief of pathology at Wesley Woods Geriatric Center.

Director of the Center for Public Health Practice Joyce Essien and Associate Director Jane Nelson have developed the Public Health Competency Handbook. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the handbook will be distributed free to local and state health departments throughout the United States.

Michael Frankel, chief of neurology at Grady, has been appointed vice president of the southeastern affiliate of the American Heart Association.


David Harrison, director of medicine, is the first person to hold the Bernard Marcus Chair in Vascular Medicine, created through a generous contribution from the Marcus Foundation of Atlanta.

Emory collaborators - Vicki Hertzberg, chair of biostatistics in the Rollins School of Public Health; Allan Levey, neurodegenerative diseases; and neurologist Barney Stern - are among 11 groups to receive the 2002 Doris Duke Innovation in Clinical Research Award and $200,000 over the next two years to study cardiovascular diseases and blood disorders.

Former School of Medicine faculty member, Rod Hester, has rejoined Emory as chief of plastic surgery.

Phil Hills is now interim senior associate vice president for health sciences development, following the resignation of John Blohm, who had served in that position for the past four years.

Arthur Kellermann, chair of emergency medicine, testified before the Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce on behalf of the Institute of Medicine.

Jeffrey Koplan, vice president for academic health affairs, was winner of this year's Health Care Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award. The Atlanta Business Chronicle cited Koplan as "the man who steered the CDC through the country's biggest public health crisis," and protected the nation's health, including helping rid the world of smallpox, helping in the fight to see polio eradicated, and establishing a national breast and cervical cancer early-detection program that now reaches every state. Elizabeth Capezuti, who holds the Independence Foundation-Wesley Woods Chair in Gerontological Nursing, was a finalist in the allied health professional category. She has devoted her career to developing alternatives and improving safety conditions and care for seniors. Carlos del Rio, chief of medicine at Grady and director of Emory's AIDS International Training and Research Program, "may just be the best example of Atlanta's world-class citizen," said the Chronicle in selecting him as a finalist in the physician category. Don Speaks, director of Emory Healthcare's Office of Community Affairs and Market Development, was a finalist in the community outreach category and was recognized for his work at the grass-roots level, especially in the black community, and for his "rare ability to transcend societal barriers."

Emory Transplant Center Director Christian Larsen has been elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Charles Nemeroff, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, received the Charles Burlingame Award from the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT, for his lifetime achievements in psychiatry research.

Emory Eye Center neuro-ophthalmologist Nancy Newman has been appointed the LeoDelle Jolley Chair of Ophthalmology.

Laboratory Director Frederick Nolte has been elected a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology for his leadership and advancement in the microbiological sciences.

Ruth Parker, medicine, received the Association of American Medical Colleges 25th Anniversary Women in Medicine Silver Achievement Award.

Roderic Pettigrew, radiology and medicine, was named the first permanent director of the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Alan Plummer, chief of pulmonary diseases and critical care, is now president of the Medical Association of Georgia.


CORRECTION
Linda Gooding, microbiology and immunology, is a member of the National Institutes of Health recombinant DNA advisory committee.

In this Issue


From the Director  /  Letters

Banking on benevolence

Healing the bottom line

Moving forward  /  Noteworthy

On point: Tell Congress what's at stake

Stopping the AIDS cycle

 


Copyright © Emory University, 2002. All Rights Reserved.
Send comments to the Editors.
Web version by Jaime Henriquez.