|
 |
Major changes are under
way to take the Department of Orthopaedics to even greater heights.
"While no one else locally can compete with our excellence in research,
education, and patient care�not to mention our talented cadre of surgeons
and physicians�we are working toward taking the department to new levels
of national prominence and enhancing customer service and access to
clinical care services," says Dr. James Roberson, chair
of the department since June 2002.
The department
will begin moving its outpatient services next month into a renovated,
95,000-square-foot building at 59 Executive Park South, near North Druid
Hills Road and I-85. The move is designed to bring under one roof all
comprehensive musculoskeletal and orthopaedic outpatient services, including
ambulatory surgery, spine medicine, sports medicine, alternative medicine,
radiology, physiatry, and physical therapy, as well as clinical and
basic science research space and a prosthetics and orthotics shop. All
five floors of the building should be occupied in February.
Here are some of the department's other major accomplishments
during the past year:
- Recruited Dr. Robert Harris as the new Chief of
Service at Grady Memorial Hospital and three additional orthopaedic
surgeons, Drs. Lisa Cannada and Mark Hammerberg,
who specialize in trauma surgery, and Sandra Tomack.
The new faculty have helped increase clinical productivity at Grady
by 75% and enhance research and teaching.
- Recruited faculty with subspecialty training to complement musculoskeletal
services. They are Drs. Greg Erens (reconstructive
surgery), Rick Hatch (sports medicine), Laura
Hatch and Ken Mautner (physiatry), and Shervin
Oskouie (musculoskeletal oncology).
- Continued participation in the Spine Patient Outcomes Research
Trial (SPORT): Degenerative Spondylolisthesis with Spinal Stenosis.
The largest federally funded research study in orthopaedics, SPORT
tests the effectiveness of different treatments for the three most
commonly diagnosed conditions of the lumbar spine and determines whether
surgery or nonsurgical therapy works better for specific types of
low back pain. Dr. Scott Boden serves as Emory's
principal investigator.
- Began recruiting patients for 12 new clinical research trials,
including a study using a new disc substitute, the Bryan Cervical
Disc, and a pilot study on a minimally invasive procedure for herniated
discs called electrothermal disc decompression (EDD). Dr.
John Ree is leading the study on the disc substitute, which
is used for patients undergoing discectomy. The disc helps keep range
of motion and helps eliminate the need for a spine fusion. The EDD
study, led by Dr. Michael Schaufele, uses a catheter
to heat the herniated disc material to reduce pain and size of herniated
discs.
"...For you will be
invincible and vulnerable in the same breath/ which is the breath of
your patients/ For their breath is our breathing and our reason..."
So goes an excerpt from Professor of Medicine Emeritus Dr. John
Stone's poem, "Gaudeamus Igitur,"* a fitting reminder of the
impact of wearing a "white coat." On October 11, 114 M1 students and
nearly 500 family members and guests learned that the first white coat
is a vital step in the exciting journey to become a doctor. The annual
White Coat Ceremony began with music from the Teresa Texeria Trio and
a procession of students, led by Associate Dean Dr. Robert Lee.
Dr. Jonas Shulman, Executive Associate Dean, provided an overview
of what the students will experience in medical school. Dr.
William Wood, Chairman, Department of Surgery, gave an eloquent
presentation about professionalism and the need for physicians to remain
true to the altruism and high ideals that initially brought them to
medical school. Drs. Shulman and Maxwell White, President,
Emory Medical Alumni Association, and William Eley and
Ira Schwartz, Associate and Assistant Deans, respectively,
presented the white coats and copies of Dr. Stone's book, On Doctoring.
Following Dr. Schwartz's closing remarks, we all recited the Hippocratic
Oath. The Office of Medical Education and Student Affairs then hosted
a reception on the WHSCAB Plaza.
Dr. Igor Stojiljkovic,
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, passed
away on Friday, October 10, after a long illness. He was only 44. "Dr.
Stojiljkovic was recognized internationally as an outstanding young
investigator in microbial pathogenesis," remembers his department's
Chairman, Dr. Richard Compans. "Because of his enthusiasm
for research and his dedication as a mentor, he attracted numerous students
and postdoctoral fellows to his laboratory." He also worked collaboratively
with faculty in other areas of research at Emory.
Dr. Stojiljkovic
received his medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Zagreb,
Croatia. He came to Emory in 1995. For more information on the Stojiljkovic
Lecture Memorial Fund, please call Charles Sparkman,
the department's administrator, at 712-2346.
*From On Doctoring: Stories, Poems, Essays by Drs. John Stone
and Richard Reynolds, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001 (3rd Edition).
The long-awaited Emory Faculty
Building at Grady Memorial Hospital opened for occupancy this month.
"The building is a wonderful addition to Emory's presence at Grady and
has been much needed for a long time," says Dr. Joel Felner,
Associate Dean for Clinical Education. "It provides faculty
with offices and classrooms in close proximity to where their primary
work responsibilities are and includes areas for small- and large-group
teaching."
Funded
by the Emory Medical Care Foundation and the SOM, the $15 million, 68,000-square-foot
building is located on the corner of Armstrong Street and Jesse Hill
Jr. Drive. It has a total of four floors, with the first floor dedicated
to education. This floor has five large classrooms, a resident/medical
student gathering area and lounge with 250 lockers, and Dr. Felner's
administrative office. It also has dedicated standardized patient exam
rooms that soon will be equipped with audiovisual equipment for faculty
to observe students conducting physical examinations. The three upper
floors house 160 offices for faculty and staff and 81 work stations
for administrative personnel. The building will allow our faculty to
vacate more than 10,000 square feet of hospital space so that Grady
can use it for its own needs.
Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the
Association of American Medical Colleges' medical honor society, has
selected Dr. Joel Felner, Associate Dean for Clinical
Education, as one of four national recipients of the Robert J. Glaser
AOA Award for 2003. The award recognizes him as an outstanding medical
educator who provides students with a strong foundation and an outstanding
educational experience.z
"I was
thrilled to receive this award for it is the culmination of my love
for teaching," says Dr. Felner, who has been honored for this vocation
on many occasions. "I am blessed with what I believe is the best job
in the medical school. I am able to interact with students as early
as their sophomore year, write each of their Dean's letters in their
senior year as well as work with superb housestaff and cardiology fellows
when I wear my clinical hat."
Dr. Felner
is well known among students as a cardiologist, a mentor in the second-year
Problem-Based Learning course, and director of the basic science course,
Pathophysiology. He developed a very popular senior elective course,
starring "Harvey," a mannequin that is used for studying advanced cardiac
physical diagnosis. His research interests include using transesophageal
echocardiography in patients with chest trauma and developing computer-based
teaching techniques.
It's not every day
that you get your name in lights, but Drs. Nanette Wenger,
Professor of Medicine, and Flavia Mercado, Assistant
Professor of Pediatrics, have come close. They are featured in a National
Library of Medicine (NLM) exhibit on "Changing the Face of Medicine"
at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. The exhibit honors the lives and achievements
of outstanding American women physicians. Dr. Wenger was among the first
physicians to focus on coronary heart disease and women, and Dr. Mercado
teaches the value of cultural competency to all of her students and
is deeply concerned with the problems that arise from English-only health
care providers delivering acute medical care to non-English-speaking
patients. The interactive exhibit opened last month and will continue
through April 5, 2005. Look for these faculty on the exhibit's website,
www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/.
While we have featured several
faculty for their outstanding achievements in the profiles above, there
are many other SOM high achievers worth mentioning:
- Dr. Willis Hurst, Professor of Medicine Emeritus,
has received a unique honor and a fitting tribute to his esteemed
service as an educator and mentor. Internal Medicine has renamed its
residency training program as the Willis J. Hurst Internal Medicine
Residency Training Program.
- Dr. Nadine Kaslow (Psychiatry) has been awarded
the 2004 Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training Award
from the American Psychological Association. She'll receive her award
at the association's annual convention next summer.
- Dr. Larry McIntire (Biomedical Engineering) recently
was awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society Distinguished Service
Award for 2003.
- Dr. Joseph Ouslander (Medicine) was named the
2003 Continence Care Champion by the Board of Directors of the National
Association for Continence of the American Geriatrics Society.
- Dr. Lisa Tenover (Medicine) recently received
the 2003 American Society of Andrology's Distinguished Service Award
from the Society of Andrology.
Thomas J. Lawley, MD
|
|
|
