The Wayne State University School of Medicine Alumni Association will honor four distinguished alumni and two faculty members at the annual Medical Alumni Reunion Day on May 12.

At the annual event, members of graduating classes from across the country meet, catch up with classmates and learn about the progress of the school from Dean Valerie M. Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

The awards will be presented by Dean Parisi and Gino Salciccioli, M.D., (Class of 1961), president of the School of Medicine Alumni Association.

The Lawrence M. Weiner Award, which honors the outstanding contributions of non-alumni to the School of Medicine through the exceptional performance of their teaching, research or administrative duties, will be presented to Ananda Prasad, Ph.D., and David Kessel, Ph.D.

Dr. Prasad has been at Wayne State University since 1963, serving as director of the Division of Hematology for 21 years, and now as director of the Division of Research. He has been a professor of Internal Medicine at Wayne State since 1968. He was appointed a distinguished professor of medicine in 2000.

Dr. Prasad is renowned for his work related to the mineral zinc, as well as contributing significantly to the field of hematology and sickle cell disease. His pioneering studies in Iran in the early 1960s established the need for zinc to promote human health. For his work, Dr. Prasad has been honored by the American College of Physicians, received a Medal of Honor from the mayor of Lyon, France, and an honorary doctorate from the city’s Claude Bernard University. He was elected a corresponding member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and has received the American College of Physicians’ highest award for outstanding work in medical science. Dr. Prasad was inducted into the Heritage Hall of Fame of the International Institute Foundation Detroit in 2003 and into the Asian Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 2010, Dr. Prasad received the Mahidol Award from the king of Thailand in recognition of his work with zinc, and was the guest of honor at a Russian science symposium the same year. A similar symposium will take place in San Diego this April, where Dr. Prasad’s contributions to science will be honored by the American Physiological Society.

Dr. Kessel, professor of Pharmacology, has a special interest in drug development, most recently in the use of photodynamic therapy for the removal of tumors. He has served as president of the International Photodynamic Association and is a historian for the American Society of Photobiology.

He is past president of the WSU Academy of Scholars and a member of the Academic Senate’s Policy Committee. He received the School of Medicine’s Research Excellence Award in 1998, the Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award from Wayne State University in 2000 and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008.

Dr. Kessel received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Michigan before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 1962. He worked at the Children’s Cancer Research Foundation at Harvard and as an associate professor of Pharmacology at the University of Rochester before joining WSU as a professor of Pharmacology and Oncology in 1974.

Kevin Sprague, M.D.; Carolyn Sprague, M.D.; and Scott Dulchavsky, M.D., Ph.D., will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, presented annually to alumni members who have made outstanding contributions to humanitarian and health causes, as well as for service to the School of Medicine.

Drs. Carolyn and Kevin Sprague have a 36-year history with the School of Medicine. Kevin, (Class of 1980), completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery in 1985 and Carolyn (Class of 1984), completed her master’s degree in Physiology at WSU in 1979 and her residency in Anesthesiology in 1987.

Carolyn is an anesthesiologist at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital. Kevin is an orthopaedic surgeon at Oakwood Southshore Medical Center in Trenton and Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital. Kevin chairs the Henry Ford Wyandotte Medical Staff Philanthropic Council.

The Spragues have served on the Medical Alumni Board of Governors at various times, including individual stints as president. The duo have worked diligently with the executive committee to secure funds for the development of the Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons, and now work with fellow alumni to contribute to the Alumni Education Fund, which provides assistance in relieving medical student debt.

Dr. Dulchavsky (Class of 1983) is professor of Surgery, Molecular Biology and Genetics at the School of Medicine. He serves as the Roy D. McClure Chair of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Dr. Dulchavsky completed a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics at WSU, where he investigated the use of gene therapy to improve wound-healing related to certain diseases. He has served as research mentor to more than 20 post-doctoral fellows and is a principal investigator for NASA and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, Texas.

His research involves teaching ultrasound techniques to the astronaut and cosmonaut crews of the International Space Station to use for medical emergencies and during spaceflight. This work has been modified for use on the Earth, where his team supports the on-site care of professional sports teams and U.S. Olympians. He also was instrumental in establishing a program at the School of Medicine in which first-year students engage in practical, hands-on experience with pioneering ultrasound equipment.

Dr. Dulchavsky has been elected to numerous professional organizations and national positions, including the Society of University Surgeons, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Central Surgical Society, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Society of Clinical Surgery and the American Surgical Association. He maintains an active role in local and national medical associations, including the American College of Surgeons, where he served on the Committee on Trauma and is vice chair for technology and research. He is on the White House medical team, which provides regional care for the U.S. president when needed.

The Recent Alumni Award will be presented to Sarkis Kouyoumjian, M.D. (Class of 1998). The award is given to alumni who have received a medical degree from the School of Medicine in the last 15 years and who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement, community contributions or service to the school.

Dr. Kouyoumjian, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, is the clerkship director for the department. He was the keynote speaker for the Baccalaureate Class of 2011 and received the Staff Award in 2010, given by students for excellence in clinical teaching.

He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2001 and a teaching fellowship at the American College of Emergency Physicians in 2007. He has served as a clinical instructor in Emergency Medicine since 2001, teaching physical diagnosis and advanced cardio life support, and giving didactic lectures. He was named the Medical Student Teacher of Year in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011, and was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2010. Dr. Kouyoumjian is an American Board of Emergency Medicine Oral Board examiner and has been a guest speaker at the Council of Residency Directors.

View more information about Medical Alumni Reunion Day.

Donating a kidney for transplant patients increases the risk of high blood pressure in African-American donors, according to a study conducted by Wayne State University School of Medicine physicians.

The findings, presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 44th annual Kidney Week meeting in Philadelphia in November, showed that African-American kidney donors recorded a 2.4 times increased risk of developing hypertension within seven years of the donation surgery.

Study leader Mona Doshi, M.D., assistant professor of Internal Medicine and medical director of Renal Transplant Services, Harper Transplant Program, said the study compared African-American living kidney donors with healthy African-American counterparts identified from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults cohort. Those healthy individuals were medically suitable for live kidney donation but were non-donors.

“We were able to match 103 donors to 235 non-donors with respect to age, gender, systolic blood pressure and duration of follow-up time,” she said. Even accounting for the predilection for hypertension in African-Americans, “the differences in incidence of hypertension between the two groups suggest that donation increases the risk.”

Donating a kidney is not known to lead to high blood pressure in Caucasians, she said.

The study examined 138 African-Americans who donated a kidney and 216 considered suitable candidates for donation. None of the 138 donors had high blood pressure before the surgery, Dr. Doshi said.

The study defined hypertension as an average blood pressure greater than 140/90 and the use of anti-hypertensive medications. At the mean follow-up period of seven years after the kidney donor surgery, 50 donors -- or 42 percent – exhibited high blood pressure. Compounding the problem, the study found that of those 50 donors with hypertension, 26 (52 percent) were not receiving treatment. In the remaining 24 subjects who were on medication, they hypertension of 10 (42 percent) was not adequately controlled.

Dr. Doshi said she fears the findings may exacerbate the scarcity of African-American kidney donors. Historical data illustrate that African-Americans do not register as living kidney donors as readily as members of other ethnicities and races. While one-third of patients on the organ waiting list are African-Americans, only 15 percent of live kidney donors are African-Americans.

“This should not frighten potential donors because they may not develop hypertension after a donation, and even if they do, they can successfully lead full lives by adopting a healthier lifestyle, seeing their primary care physicians regularly and monitoring and getting treatment for high blood pressure,” she said. “We already battle a number of perceptions about organ donation and transplants in the African-American community. We really need the African-American community to assist us in helping African-American patients.”

David Rosenberg, M.D., the interim Chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, is the lead author and editor of “Pharmacotherapy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders, 3rd Edition.”

The book serves as an important tool for health professionals involved in the care of children and adolescents with major psychiatric disorders.

“This is the third edition of the first-ever book published in pediatric psychopharmacology and fulfills an urgent need for an updated text on pediatric psychopharmacology, taking a unique approach in the context of economic and political issues,” said Dr. Rosenberg, the Miriam L. Hamburger Endowed Chair of Child Psychiatry for WSU and Chief of Child Psychiatry and Psychology at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “Now there is 'competition' in the form of other textbooks. In fact, I have contributed chapters to the other textbooks. This is actually a really good thing and underscores how pediatric psychopharmacology is coming of age.”

Dr. Rosenberg said that the book, originally published in 1994, is considered a physician’s reference, but has practical applications for psychologists, nurses, nurse practioners, social workers, residents and medical students.

Published by Wiley-Blackwell, “Pharmacotherapy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Disorders, 3rd Edition” will be available in February. The latest edition incorporates current developments regarding selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, their indications and their safety issues, including possible associated suicidal behavior. The book also addresses cardiovascular side effects of new stimulant medications available and provides comparisons to other FDA-approved medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Thirty-four Wayne State University School of Medicine medical students reported their basic and clinical research accomplishments at the 2012 Medical Student Research Symposium.

Many of the students had been awarded 2011 Medical Student Summer Research Fellowships, which were awarded competitively and coordinated by Noreen Rossi, M.D., F.A.C.P., professor of Internal Medicine (Division of Nephrology), and Dennis Goebel, Ph.D., associate professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology. These fellowships, which are jointly funded by the Medical School Alumni and by a faculty research advisor, provide medical students summer research opportunities guided by School of Medicine basic and clinical science faculty.

The symposium was organized by Drs. Rossi and Goebel.  Poster presentations Thursday and Friday, and Friday’s oral presentations, generated considerable scientific discussion on topics important to current medical science. The scope of topics is reflected by the titles of the presentations by the 12 medical students who received awards from the Medical School Alumni, the sponsor of the symposium.

Awards, determined by a panel of faculty judges, were in both the Basic and the Clinical Science categories for oral and for poster presentations, with awards for first, second and third place in each of four groupings, as well as the Dr. Hershel & Lois Sandberg Endowed Travel Award.

The award winners include:
Karam Asmaro, “Ethanol Administration Reduces Brain Injury by Preserving and Regulating Oxidative Metabolism,” Yuchuan Ding, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Neurosurgery.

Paul Fu, “A Synergistic Effect of Normal Baric Oxygen (NBO) and Ethanol Therapies in Stroke,” Dr. Ding, research advisor.

Kimberley Grady, “The Impact of Arousal State and Obstructive Sleep Apnea on the Magnitude of Ventilator Long-Term Facilitation,” Jason Mateika, Ph.D., professor of Physiology, research advisor.

Daniel Groves, “Differential Blood Pressure Response Between Mild and Severe Two-kidney One-clip Hypertension with Cryo-treatment of the Renal Nerve,” Dr. Rossi, research advisor.

Melissa Kawa, “Use of Bone Substitute for Ballistic Injury Modeling,” Cynthia Bir, professor of Biomedical Engineering, research advisor.

Michael Kaufman, “Novel Treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury,” Christian Kreipke, Ph.D., assistant professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, research advisor. Dr. Herschel & Lois Sandberg Endowed Travel Award winner.

Shalini Makawita, “Validation of Candidate Pancreatic Cancer Serum Biomarkers Identifies SYCN and RED1B to Significantly Improve Performance of CA19.9 alone,” Eleftherios Diamandis, M.D., Ph.D., University of Toronto, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, research advisor.

Jacob Rube, “A Patient Family Centered Care Program Improves Family Satisfaction in the ICU,” Steven Tennenberg, M.D., associate professor of Surgery and Anesthesiology, research advisor.

David Tiesma, “Evaluating the Clinical Efficacy of Clazosentan, a Novel Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury,” Dr. Kreipke, research advisor. Dr. Herschel & Lois Sandberg Endowed Travel Award winner.

Sunali Wadehra, “The Disconnection Syndrome in Schizophrenia: Dynamic Causal Modeling of fMRI Data Reveals Disordered Cortico-hippocampal-striatal Interactions,” Vaibhav Diwadkar Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, research advisor.

Victoria Yee, “Enterobacter Species Infections: Epidemiology, Management and Outcomes,” Keith Kaye, M.D., M.P.H., professor of Infectious Diseases, research advisor.

Thomas Zervos, “In the Peruvian Amazon, Malaria Infection Severity is Associated with Host and Parasite Variables and Growth In Vitro,” OraLee Branch, Ph.D., New York University School of Medicine, research advisor.

A Wayne State University School of Medicine physician and researcher will convene a vitally needed training workshop on childhood epilepsy in Sub-Saharan Africa next month.

Harry Chugani, M.D., the Rosalie and Bruce Rosen professor of Neurology and chief of Pediatric Neurology for the School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Michigan, has organized “Epilepsy in Children in Developing Countries.” The training will take place Feb. 1-4 in Entebbe, Uganda.

The attendees will mainly consist of physicians from Sub-Saharan countries, with a few from North African regions. Their airfare and accommodations are provided pro bono. The speakers who will present at the workshop – “true volunteers,” Dr. Chugani called them – are paying their own way and for their own accommodations.

“We will teach them about basic diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in children,” said Dr. Chugani, who also serves as director of the Positron Emission Tomography Center for the School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Michigan. He will give opening and concluding remarks, as well as a lecture on the role of neuroimaging in epilepsy.

The main hurdle many of the developing African countries face in epilepsy treatment is the scarce availability of medications, especially anticonvulsants, Dr. Chugani said. The World Health Organization estimates that as many as 10 million people in Africa have epilepsy. Seventy percent of those patients could lead normal lives, if they received proper treatment. The WHO reports that the anti-epileptic drug phenobarbitone to control seizures in a substantial epileptic patient population could cost as little as $5 per year, per patient. Yet, 80 percent of Africans suffering with epilepsy receive no treatment at all.

Folkloric beliefs, continuing stigma surrounding epilepsy – some cultures believe it to be contagious -- and reliance upon traditional healers also are problematic in securing proper treatment. In his 2005 report, “Epilepsy-associated Stigma in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Social Landscape of a Disease,” Baskind Birbeck noted that a door-to-door study conducted in Zambia found that fewer than 4 percent of those with epilepsy had sought modern medical care. All of them, however, had seen a traditional healer for their condition.

Epilepsy, left untreated, can lead to other injuries. One report investigated in South Africa found that epileptic seizures occurring near open cooking fires were a leading cause of burns. That study found that 50 percent of adults admitted with burns to one regional hospital also had epilepsy. The scars left by burns can lead to further stigma, discrimination and isolation for those with epilepsy.

In 2000, the WHO, the International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy convened a meeting in Senegal to confront epilepsy conditions in Africa. The meeting attracted health and social sciences professionals from all over Africa, and resulted in the African Declaration on Epilepsy. That document proclaimed epilepsy a health care priority for the continent and “required” every government to develop a national plan to provide for access to trained medical personnel, modern diagnostic equipment, proper medication and education for the general public to combat discrimination against those with the condition.

Dr. Chugani, the president of the International Child Neurology Association, made the workshop his presidential project. He is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health grant that is helping to fund the project. He also raised additional money to support the workshop.

Three prominent business and community leaders have joined the Wayne State University Physician Group Board of Directors as community representatives.

The new members are Dorothy “Dottie” Deremo, R.N., president and chief executive officer of Hospice of Michigan; Lizabeth Ardisana, principal owner of ASG Renaissance; and Scott Thornton, managing partner of the TMV Group. They each will serve one-year terms.

A resident of Farmington Hills, Deremo leads the largest statewide nonprofit, end-of-life care provider in the nation, serving 1,000 patients a day across 60 counties in Michigan. Before joining Hospice of Michigan, she served as vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Henry Ford Health System. She has held several executive positions at the Detroit Medical Center and has been an assistant professor at Wayne State University and Michigan State University during her 41-year health care career. She received a diploma from Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing in 1969, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Wayne State University and a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan.

Deremo serves as an appointee of Gov. Rick Snyder on the Michigan Pain and Symptom Advisory Council, vice chair of the Board of Oakwood Healthcare System, secretary of the Board of the National Hospice Work Group, and as a member of several other boards, including the Detroit Economic Club, Greater Detroit Area Health Council and the University Cultural Center Association. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau National Nurses Honor Society, a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives and a member of the Michigan Chapter of the International Women’s Forum.

She has served two terms as a Michigan Certificate of Need Commission commissioner as an appointee of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, and was appointed by former Gov. John Engler to the Michigan End-of-Life Care Commission and the Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority. She chaired the Wayne State University College of Nursing Board of Visitors and was a commissioner of the Pew Health Professions Commission’s Taskforce on Health Care Workforce Regulation and contributing member of the Foundation for American Health Care Leadership Blue Print for Health Care Policy Reform workgroup.

Ardisana is principal owner of ASG Renaissance, a technical and communication services firm with 225 employees and offices in Dearborn and Farmington Hills, Mich.; Orange County, Calif.; Charleston, South Carolina, and Cambridge, Ontario Canada. She also manages the Company’s Performance Management business unit, which provides clients with environmental program management and minority supply chain development services.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas, and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and business administration from the University of Michigan and the University of Detroit, respectively.

Ardisana serves on the Board of Directors for the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Citizens Bank, the Kettering University Board of Trustees, the Oakwood Hospital Board of Directors, and Focus: HOPE.

She has received the Supplier of the Year Award from Forbes and On-Wheels Publishing, the Member of the Year and Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was the first minority service supplier to receive Ford Motor Co.’s Q1 Award. Crain’s Detroit Business named her firm one of the top 10 “Best places to work” in southeast Michigan.

Thornton, a celebrated marketing, advertising and communications executive with diverse experience in private and public companies, lives in Bloomfield Hills. The Western Michigan University graduate led four of the top ad agencies, where he directed the positioning and implementation efforts for some of the world’s most successful and profitable brands.

He launched the TMV Group in 2004. The firm manages brands and products for global, regional and local companies in health care, automotive, finance, soft drinks, outdoor and other industries.

The three join former Detroit Receiving Hospital President Edward St. Clair Thomas and former U.S. Rep. John “Joe” Schwarz, M.D., who were reappointed to three-year terms.

The Wayne State University Physician Group is one of southeast Michigan’s largest non-profit multi-specialty physician practice groups, with more than 2,000 physicians providing primary and specialty medical services in close to 1 million patient visits annually. WSUPG has more than 100 locations, and affiliations with the Detroit Medical Center, Oakwood Healthcare System, Karmanos Cancer Center, Crittenton Hospital Medical Center, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland and St. John Providence Health System. As faculty members of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, WSUPG’s physicians and staff are on the forefront of technology and bringing the latest in medical advancements to the bedside. In addition to its substantial clinical practice, WSUPG is training the Michigan physicians of tomorrow by providing instructors for more than 1,200 medical students and 900 residents each year.