Fall Forward
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David Stephens |
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As we enter into fall with renewed vigor—and, finally, cooler temperatures—I would like to thank everyone for making my transition to interim dean fluid, informative, and inspiring.
I was, of course, already aware of the excellence of our faculty, and have enjoyed hearing even more about the projects you are working on, the accomplishments your teams have been part of, and how much Emory School of Medicine means to each of you. We plan to continue to invest in our people, our priorities, and our infrastructure, both strategically and wisely, to fulfill our tripartite mission of teaching, patient care, and research.
The SOM received $348 million in external research funding in fiscal year 2016. Research funding is increasingly dependent on the development of collaborative projects that include multiple schools and departments within Emory and with external partners—one of our greatest strengths in the SOM and the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
We have had no shortage of leadership transitions these past few weeks and months in our country, university, and school. I know you will continue your excellent work, bringing forth ideas, innovations, therapies, and technologies that will save and improve lives, and you should do so with full confidence that you are supported and appreciated.
I'd especially like to thank Chris Larsen for his years of service as dean of Emory School of Medicine. We all know what Chris has done on behalf of all our missions, and what he will continue to contribute as a colleague, researcher, and surgeon. He has been very helpful to me personally during this transition period, and will remain a valued adviser.
I would also like to thank Ira Horowitz, executive associate dean of faculty affairs and professional development, who has been named interim director of the Emory Clinic and interim physician group president for Emory Healthcare, and would like to express my gratitude to the administrative staff of the SOM, led by Heather Hamby.
It is up to each of us to foster enthusiasm, engagement, and open communication among our entire community—faculty, staff, students, residents and fellows, and our partners at the VAMC, Grady, and Children's.
My door is open and I listen well. We must now crystalize our resources, of which you are the most important, to move the SOM forward.
The Long View
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Robert Gaynes uses his cell phone to illuminate an antique otoscope. |
The medical students milled around the room, listening to one another's lungs with a long wooden stethoscope and peering into each other's ears with a brass otoscope.
"Physicians used to use candles for light with the early otoscope, but you can use the flashlight on your cell phones," said Robert Gaynes, who brought in the vintage instruments as an experiential part of his popular lunchtime seminar on the history of medicine.
"Nearly every aspect of what you learn about the physical exam today was the product of 19th century medicine," he told the students.
Admittedly, the tools of the trade have evolved a bit since then.
Gaynes, a professor of medicine and an attending infectious disease physician at the VAMC, became interested in the history of medicine through preparations for his 2011 book, Germ Theory: Medical Pioneers in Infectious Diseases.
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A core group of SOM students meet twice a month over lunch to learn about important historic events and discoveries in medicine. |
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Since August, Gaynes and colleague Mary Horton have been offering historic enlightenment to any student interested in sitting in over lunch (on this day, pizza) through a series of seminars, "Doctors Who Changed Medicine."
The bimonthly seminar, which falls outside the medical school curriculum and is voluntary, is sponsored by the Department of Medicine Academy of Medical Educators. "We've got a core of about 25 students, M1s and M2s, who come regularly," Gaynes says. "It seems to have caught hold."
This afternoon's lesson centers on René Laennec and the invention of the stethoscope in 1816. "The first wooden stethoscopes were made in two parts so they could be broken apart and stored in a physician's top hat," Gaynes tells the students.
Horton, assistant dean for student affairs and professional development for the Laney Graduate School, helps Gaynes with the seminar, lecturing on topics such as Benjamin Rush and the birth of American psychiatry. She also hosts a Medical Humanities Dinner Club that meets once a month, primarily for Foundations level medical students interested in the humanities. (The next dinner club is Jan. 10 from 6:30 to 8:30, Calloway Center, room 423S.)
Other lunchtime seminar topics include the history of anesthesia, the birth of cellular pathology, and the beginnings of psychoanalysis.
"I'd say 99% of physicians have absolutely no idea of the history of their own profession," Gaynes says. "That's the hole I'm trying to fill. We hope students will take away not only why things are the way they are today, but also how change occurs in medicine. Every one of them will have to deal with paradigm shifts during their careers—as well as resistance to new ideas and ways of doing things."
The next "Doctors Who Changed Medicine" seminar will be Dec. 12, noon to 1, P190, and the topic is Semmelweis, Pasteur, Koch, and the Germ Theory of Disease.
$5.4M for Parkinson's Research
Emory will receive more than $1 million each year for the next five years from the NIH, renewing the agency's support for Emory's Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research. The center's ongoing mission is to develop better Parkinson's treatments that have fewer side effects, train researchers and clinicians, and educate the public about this disease.
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Thomas Wichmann |
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"This funding will allow us to look at some of the least understood brain circuit abnormalities in Parkinson's disease," says Thomas Wichmann, center director. "This knowledge will help us optimize existing deep brain stimulation therapies and develop new neuromodulation strategies for patients."
At Your Service
Just a reminder that the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute's Clinical Research Network (CRN) is available to support SOM investigators conducting clinical and translational studies that advance the understanding, prevention, and treatment of human disease.
The CRN offers dedicated space and high quality research nursing, lab, bionutrition, and exercise physiology services at a reasonable cost.
Units are located at Emory University Hospital, Grady Hospital, EUH Midtown, Morehouse School of Medicine, University of Georgia, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
For more information, see actsi.org/discovery, or contact Jane Clark, New Protocol Submissions, 404-727-3845, CRN@emory.edu, or Debora Clem, Administrative Director, 404-712-1993, dclem@emory.edu.
Emory at VA website
The Emory at VA website (www.med.emory/vamc) is now available as a resource for Emory-VAMC joint faculty. It contains information you need to know while navigating the VA and Emory, benefits and responsibilities as a faculty member, and Emory and VA resources related to hiring and benefits, research, education, and quality and safety, and more.
Contact Erin Glen, erin.glen@emory.edu, if you have content suggestions or corrections.
TEDxPeachtree star
"How can a refugee go from being a dishwasher to a doctor?" asked former Syrian refugee and Emory cardiology fellow Heval Mohamed Kelli, as he began his TEDxPeachtree talk on Sept. 30 at the Rialto Center for the Arts.
His story of hope—and of acts of kindness from unexpected places—is now available to watch at emry.link/TEDxkelli. |