WHSC News Releases for October |
| October 31, 2003 |
Emory University Public Health Epidemiologist Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr.
is Elected to Institute of Medicine Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr., MD, visiting professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, has been elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the IOM is one of the highest honors possible in medicine and health, with only 1,382 members nationwide. This year’s group of 65 new members was chosen through a highly selective process that recognizes those who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health. Dr. Oakley’s election brings Emory’s total membership in the IOM to 13. FULL STORY |
| October 30, 2003 |
Emory CFAR Hosts Top Scientists at National Symposium on Global HIV/AIDS
Epidemic: Science, People & Policy The Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) will host a day-long science symposium on November 13 focused on the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, featuring leading scientists from throughout the world. The VIIth National Science Symposium of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) CFARs will take place on the Emory University campus in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building at 1440 Clifton Road. It is free and open to the public and a complimentary lunch will be provided. Advance reservations for lunch are required (email: cfar@sph.emory.edu). FULL STORY |
| October 28, 2003 |
Collaborative Prostate Cancer Project Earns $7.6 Million Federal Grant Teamwork pays. A collaborative group of cancer researchers has won a $7.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the pathways and mechanism for prostate cancer metastasis to bone. Titled "Prostate Cancer Bone Metastasis: Biology and Targeting," the collaboration consists of three separate but interrelated projects. FULL STORY |
| October 28, 2003 |
Emory Centers Awarded Funds To Study Management Of Falls In Long-Term
Care Facilities As many as 75% of nursing home residents fall annually, twice the rate of seniors living in the community. And now, a federal agency is supporting a study by Emory University on how best to manage and minimize the problem. FULL STORY |
| October 24, 2003 |
Emory Patient and Swim Team Dive in to Support the Emory Ataxia Center
and Its Research Emory ataxia patient James Curtis, along with the Emory Swim and Dive Team, will suit-up to kick-off the second fundraising event this year for the Emory Ataxia Center. Seventy-five Emory swimmers and divers, along with other swimmers from the Emory community, will each swim 100 laps at the Woodruff Physical Education Center Pool at Emory University this Saturday, Oct. 25, starting at 10 a.m. During the fall semester, the participants have been raising money to support the event, called "Swimming for Ataxia." FULL STORY |
| October 23, 2003 |
Dermatology at Emory Now Includes Aesthetic Center People are living longer and healthier, but sometimes the skin has a timetable that may not exactly jibe with a person's internal youthfulness. Environment, genetics, aging, and numerous skin conditions can result in visible damage to the natural beauty of the skin. FULL STORY |
| October 23, 2003 |
Two Physicians at Emory University School of Medicine Are Honored In
New Exhibit at National Library of Medicine A new National Institutes of Health (NIH) exhibit at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, highlights two physicians from Emory University School of Medicine. Nanette K. Wenger, MD, professor of medicine, and Flavia E. Mercado, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, are featured in the NIH exhibit "Changing the Face of Medicine," which honors the lives and achievements of outstanding American women physicians. FULL STORY |
| October 22, 2003 |
Emory University Scientists Join With Novavax, Inc. In NIH-Funded HIV
Vaccine Design and Development Team The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $19 million, five-year grant for HIV vaccine development grant to Novavax, Inc., along with partners at Emory University School of Medicine and the Emory Vaccine Center, Tulane University, and the University of Pittsburgh. The award is part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Vaccine Design and Development Teams program. The Emory team of researchers includes Richard W. Compans, PhD, professor and chair of microbiology and immunology and faculty members Sang-Moo Kang, PhD, Andrei N. Vzorov, PhD, and Chinglai Yang, PhD. FULL STORY |
| October 22, 2003 |
Common Genetic Damages In Non-Dividing Cells Lead to the Creation of
Mutant Proteins Two types of DNA damage that frequently befall most cells on an everyday basis can lead to the creation of damaged proteins that may contribute to neurodegeneration, aging and cancer, according to research by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine, published in the October 23 issue of the journal Molecular Cell. FULL STORY |
| October 22, 2003 |
Emory University Continues Rapid Growth In Research Funding In 2003 Emory University continued its rapid trajectory of research growth in the 2003 fiscal year, receiving a total of $319.1 million in sponsored research funding. This represents an increase of $38 million, or 14 percent, over research funding in FY02. During the past five years sponsored research funding at Emory has grown by more than 93 percent, making it one of the fastest growing research universities in the nation. Federal funding was responsible for more than 75 percent of the FY03 total, with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) making up 61 percent of the total. FULL STORY |
| October 22, 2003 |
Emory University Chosen by the National Institutes of Health to Establish
a Network to Study Scope and Causes of Stillbirths in United States
In Georgia, there are nearly 100 fetal deaths reported for every 10,000 deliveries each year. Still, the rates may be underestimated in Georgia and nationwide because not all stillbirths are reported to the states’ vital records system. Emory University has been granted a federal award of $777,692 in core funding to establish a network to study the scope and causes of stillbirths in the United States. It is one of five sites chosen by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). FULL STORY |
| October 21, 2003 |
Emory Eye Center Suggests Passing Up Those Halloween Eyes: Over-The-Counter
Cosmetic Contact Lenses Pose Unseen Dangers As the Halloween weekend comes closer, more and more teens and young adults may be in danger of losing sight or contracting infections related to the use of popular over-the-counter contact lenses. These lenses - sold at hairdressers, flea markets and even gas stations - are decorative and especially popular around the Halloween holiday. Some give wearers the appearance of cat eyes, for example, or have holiday-specific themes on them. But whatever their design, lenses purchased from these sources are dangerous -and illegal in the United States. FULL STORY |
| October 17, 2003 |
Emory Cardiologist Successfully Performs World’s Fifth Non-Surgical
Repair Of Faulty Heart Valve Richard Kraus has known for a couple of years that one of his heart valves needed repaired. When he began to feel winded from walking up the small hill in front of his home in Stone Mountain, his doctor told him his heart’s mitral valve was leaking and he would continue to feel weakened until the problem was fixed. FULL STORY |
| October 17, 2003 |
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Honors Emory University Pediatrician Daniel
B. Caplan At Annual Sixty-Five Roses Ball The Georgia Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will honor Daniel B. Caplan, MD, professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and director of the Emory Cystic Fibrosis Center, at its 2003 Sixty-Five Roses Ball. The 18th annual ball, which benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, will take place Saturday, November 1, 2003 at the Swissotel in Buckhead, beginning at 6:30 pm. FULL STORY |
| October 13, 2003 |
Researchers Discover Genes That Distinguish Human Brain from Nonhuman
Primate Brains A research team from the Salk Institute, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), has identified genes in the cerebral cortex that differ in levels of activity between humans and nonhuman primates, including chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys. These findings, which appear in the online journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may provide essential clues to the unusual cognitive abilities of humans. They also may help researchers understand why humans have a longer lifespan than other primate species and yet are so vulnerable to age-related, neurodegenerative diseases. FULL STORY |
| October 10, 2003 |
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Selects Emory HIV/AIDS Research Team
for Innovation Award The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has chosen a team of scientists from Emory University School of Medicine as one of ten recipients of the 2003 Doris Duke Innovation in Clinical Research Awards. The awards will provide approximately $200,000 to investigators or teams to develop "Point-of-Care" diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring tools to care for AIDS patients in resource-poor areas of the world. The Emory investigators will collaborate with Ethiopian AIDS researchers to develop effective tests to monitor patients with HIV and AIDS by reconfiguring and simplifying commonly used tests to accommodate the circumstances and finances of resource-poor countries. FULL STORY |
| October 7, 2003 |
Emory Cardiologist Performs Minimally Invasive Bypass Surgery: Groundbreaking
Advance in Surgical Treatment Of Heart Disease Now Available at Emory
Performing coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) without opening up the chest cavity might sound like a description of a cardiology procedure of the future - but at Emory, this groundbreaking advance in the surgical treatment of heart disease is now a reality. FULL STORY |
| October 3, 2003 |
Emory University's Jeffrey Koplan Joins Hong Kong SARS Expert Committee
in Report to Government Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for academic health affairs at Emory University, is one of 11 international public health experts who reported this week to the Hong Kong government on lessons learned from that country’s SARS outbreak. The SARS Expert Committee was commissioned last May to review the management and control of the epidemic and to identify lessons to be learned to better prepare Hong Kong for any future outbreaks. FULL STORY |
| October 1, 2003 |
Vaccine Has Significant Effect on Disease in Both HIV- and non-HIV-Infected
Children In a clinical trial conducted in nearly 40,000 young children in Soweto, South Africa, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine aimed at nine strains of disease reduced the incidence of pneumonia in fully vaccinated children by 25 percent. In addition, the vaccine reduced the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (pneumococcal bacteria in the bloodstream) by more than 83 percent in non-HIV-infected children and by more than 65 percent in HIV-infected children. The vaccine also significantly reduced the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease caused by antibiotic-resistant strains by between 56 and 67 percent, depending on the type of resistance. FULL STORY |
| October 1, 2003 |
Emory Healthcare Names Dr. Bornstein as First Chief Quality Officer Emory Healthcare has named William A. Bornstein, MD, PhD as its first Chief Quality Officer, with responsibility for quality improvement and patient safety initiatives throughout the enterprise. Emory Healthcare is the clinical arm of Emory University's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, consisting of the Emory Hospitals, Wesley Woods Center, The Emory Clinic, the Emory Children's Center, and joint ventures including EHCA, LLC and Emory-Adventist Hospital. FULL STORY |
| October 1, 2003 |
Emory Emergency Medicine Physician Brings Awareness to Domestic Violence
With Host of Activities During Domestic Violence Awareness Month The facts are startling: According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, there were more than 47,000 cases of domestic violence reported in the state of Georgia in 2001. Of those cases, 20 percent involved children, and an additional 42 percent of the incidents were committed in the presence of children. Sixty-six of those reported cases resulted in fatal injuries. FULL STORY |
| October 1, 2003 |
NIH Selects Emory University School of Medicine Scientist for Hall of
Honor The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has selected Stephen T. Warren, PhD, chair and William P. Timmie professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, for its Hall of Honor, commemorating the Institute’s 40th anniversary. This new award recognizes scientists supported by the NICHD for their exceptional contributions to advancing knowledge and improving maternal and child health. FULL STORY |
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