New Academy of Scholars established

Dean Robert R. Frank announced Wednesday that he is creating a WSU School of Medicine Academy of Scholars; the first members of the group are past winners of the Lamp and Staff awards, honors bestowed annually by students at Lampoon.

"I want everyone to know how important these people are to us," Dean Frank said in recognizing the Lamp and Staff awardees, who were present. "I think students really do know who their best teachers are."

A list of the inaugural members of the Academy of Scholars follows below.

The event at which Dean Frank announced the new academy was a Conversation with the Dean, a new forum for the School of Medicine community to meet and discuss issues that are salient to the institution. The first program focused on education; subsequent events, which will be held every six weeks, will focus on research, clinical care and the School's community mission.

"Your input is very important to me," Dean Frank said. "This is an open forum and exchange of ideas."

The bulk of the discussion, which lasted an hour-and-a-half, focused on increasing enrollment at the School of Medicine from 270 students to 300 students. Dean Frank has appointed a committee to study the proposition of adding up to 30 new students, a plan offered by the University to aid in providing revenue to the School of Medicine. Under the plan, the School would directly receive all tuition revenues generated by each student accepted over the traditional cap of 270.

Dean Frank said that the plan dovetailed well with a recent report showing that by 2015, there will be a doctor shortage in the United States by as many as 100,000 to 150,000 physicians. He said there will be a national trend to admit more students for training, perhaps leading to the construction of additional medical schools.

He acknowledged, however, that expanded facilities would be required as well as additional resources, particularly in terms of faculty commitment.

Dean Frank also noted that the administration will have to think creatively to ensure that students entering into the School's large community have a way of feeling a personalized connection with their experience.

Other topics of discussion also included:

• The School is exploring a possible consolidation of its population-health sciences research groups into a single, clinical department. The administration is looking folding the departments of Family Medicine and Community Medicine along with the Center of Health Effectiveness Research into a single unit.
• The Faculty Senate will vote on a proposed amendment to include five clinician-educators on the body's executive committee. These members would be permitted to vote on all issues except those involving tenure. Further information on this development, along with a ballot to faculty members, will be distributed to faculty.

 

Charter Members of the
WSU School of Medicine Academy of Scholars

Ray K. Brown, M.D., Ph.D.	Paul Churchill, Ph.D.
Piero Foa, M.D., Ph.D.	H. Goshgarian, Ph.D.
Roberta Pourcho, Ph.D.	Sam Brooks, Ph.D.
Dinyar Bhathena, M.D.	James Hazlett, Ph.D.
Kenneth C. Palmer, Ph.D.	Stephen J. Gunther, M.D.
Paula Grammas, Ph.D.	Lawrence Weiner, Ph.D.
William Kupsky, M.D.	Daniel W. Visscher, M.D.
Thomas M. McCullough, M.D.	Donald Wheeler, M.D.
Stephen E. DiCarlo, Ph.D.	Diane Levine, M.D.
Carl B. Lauter, M.D.	Anna M. Ledgerwood, M.D.
Ronald E. Trunsky, M.D.	Z. Steiger, M.D.
B. White, M.D.	V. Vaitkevicius, M.D.
James Collins, M.D.	Robert R. Frank, M.D.
Ernest L. Yoder, M.D.	Bernard Mandelbaum, M.D.
Henry J. Vandenberg, M.D.	Yvan Silva, M.D.
Scott Dulchavsky, M.D.	Mark Edelstein, M.D.
Carl Christensen, M.D., Ph.D.	Liborio Tranchida, M.D.
Lavoisier Cardozo, M.D.	Lawrence Schwartz, M.D.
James Tyburski, M.D.

The 2004 Faculty and Staff Campaign has been extremely successful and has raised more than $3.5 million. Every gift is vital to the campaign’s continued success and our goal is to have a high level of participation.

Pledge cards are available through your department chair’s office or by calling Lori Herman in Development & Alumni Affairs at 577-1474. Please remember that this is a five-year campaign, so your contributions are welcome at any time.

We hope that you will join your colleagues in this important endeavor by considering a gift to the campaign. Your gift may be designated to the program of your choices, including the new education commons, scholarships or a research fund within your department.

The following people have made generous contributions to the campaign:

Antonia Abbey Judith Anderson Dale Antila Bahu Nabil Brenda Batts William Berk Juliann Binienda Kertia Black Sean Blackwell Brooks Bock Patrick Bridge Joseph Brocata Samuel Brooks Suzanne Casinelli Michael Cher Pamela Claps Zirka Clark Richard Cohen Barbara Cotter Wayne Cox John Crissman Karen Crist Jeremy Dady Donna Dauphinais Alice Dea Michael Dereniewski Bruce Deschere Chirpriya Dhabuwala Amy Di Cresce Mitchell Dombrowski Amie Dozier Susan Eggly Robert Gagnier Richard Gallagher Matthew Garin Julie Gleason-Comstock David Grignon Rebecca Guzman Marguerite Hamilton Iltefat Hamzavi Linda Ellington Kathleen Fitzgerald Robert R. Frank Scott Freeman Melanie Hannah-Johnson Ken Hashimoto Ali Hassan Christopher Heberer Mike Herbert Lori Herman Jiani Hu Hikmet Jamil Karen Janas Conroy Jointer Ja Esta Jones Kerin Jones Theodore Jones David Kessel Jeffrey King Larry Klain Sarkis Kouyoumjian Gary Krause Stephen Krawetz Helena Kuivaniemi Todd Leff Cynthia Lepak-Hitch David Lepper Diane Levine Philip Lewalski Richard Lewis James Lightbody Todd Lininger

Jeanne Lusher Sheryl MacGillis Leslie Mahlmeister Robert Malinowski John Malone, Jr. H. Michael Marsh R. Michael Massanari Roy McCauley Desiree Merriweather Susan Miller Kirk Mills Jill Moore Vickie Muhammad Mary Myrand David Neumann Regina Noack Thomas Owoc Kenneth Palmer Patricia Paquin Binesh Patel James Peters David Pieper Charles Pokriefka Sharon Popp Isaac Powell Sheila Preyer Lynette Rae Jerrie Refuerzo Setti Rengachary James Rillema Lori Robitaille Thomas Roe Frederick Rosin Linda Roth Fazlul Sarkar Maryjean Schenk Lawrence Schwartz Richard Severson Yimihn Shen Cynthia Sikina Elsa Silverman James Skupski Wilbur Smith Jack Sobel Robert Sokol Yoram Sorokin Ronald Spalding Mark Speece Anna Spiroff Frank Stasa Susan Stine Deborah Strahan Dawn Street Claire Stroker Marappa Subramanian Julie Sullivan Robert Swanborg Padraic Sweeny Ross Tabbey Manuel Tancer Gerard Tromp Janice Valicevic Robert Welch Suzanne White Georgia Wilder Adrienne Williams David Womble Jinping Xu Yang Xuan Russell Yamazaki

Today is the deadline to contribute to the 2004 Faculty and Staff Campaign. Thus far, faculty and staff have donated more than $3.3 million, including gifts, pledges and planned gifts. The School's goal is to have full participation of its faculty and staff, so please consider making a gift to the campaign. Every gift, large and modest, is vital.

This year's campaign will be used primarily to raise funds for a $25 million Education Commons, which will be built as an addition to Shiffman Medical Library and attached to Scott Hall via a skywalk. The project will feature state-of-the-art facilities, including rooms for simulating patient examinations and surgery; laboratory space; a technology-assisted learning and conferencing auditorium; a bookstore; and 24-hour study areas.

WSU School of Medicine employees may also choose to designate their contributions for a particular program or area of interest.

Campaign pledge forms will be distributed by your department's campaign coordinator or contact Lori Herman in the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at (313) 577-1474.

 

New M.D.-Ph.D. Program director appointed

Ken Palmer, Ph.D., assistant dean for graduate programs, recently announced the appointment of Dr. Ambika Mathur, WSU professor of pediatrics, as director of the School of Medicine's formal M.D.-Ph.D. joint degree program.

Dr. Mathur will provide administrative leadership to insure our medical scientist program continues to grow, remain innovative in its training and attractive to top scientific talent seeking such a unique education.

Dr. Mathur received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology with Dr. Richard Lynch at the University of Iowa. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Minnesota with Dr. Brian Van Ness, she was subsequently appointed assistant professor and then tenured associate professor of tumor immunology at the University of Minnesota, where she developed a strong interest in research training. She mentored post-doctoral fellows, doctoral students, master's students and undergraduate students, as well as medical fellows, medical residents, medical students and dental students.

Dr. Mathur was associated with developing and implementing a number of National Institutes of Health-funded training grants, including the NIH-funded Clinical Scientist Training Program, T32 training grants, summer research training grants and training grants to support minority high-school students.

She served on the University of Minnesota’s Medical School admissions committee as well as on the Education Policy Committee of the School of Dentistry and was responsible for overseeing curriculum development. After serving as professor at West Virginia University, for the past year Dr. Mathur has been on the faculty of The Carman & Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University and the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, where she is currently associate director of the Institute of Medical Education, Scientific Faculty Development.

Dr. Mathur and her husband, Dr. Deepak Kamat, professor and vice chair for education in the Department of Pediatrics, have twins, who are 13 years old. Dr. Mathur is also a published author of a series of books for children, and her passion is promoting literacy among children.

Dr. Mathur will be aided by the program's associate director, Dr. Stan Terlecky, associate professor of pharmacology. Dr. Terlecky has been intimately involved in the original M.D.-Ph.D. concept at the School of Medicine and was the principal author of the program proposal approved by the University's provost and president.

Dr. Terlecky brings to the program his enthusiasm, a strong record of funded research and successful student mentorship. Drs. Mathur and Terlecky share a common vision to elevate WSU's M.D.-Ph.D. program to national prominence and enable the University to recruit the very best candidates.

Brooks F. Bock, M.D., chair of the WSU Department of Emergency Medicine, has been named president of Harper University and Hutzel Women's hospitals, effective Jan. 1. He will continue to serve as department chair and specialist-in-chief of emergency medicine until a new national search process is concluded; the search is anticipated to last until about June 30.

In addition, Dr. Bock will remain a faculty member in the WSU Department of Emergency Medicine and will practice clinically in the emergency departments at Detroit Receiving and Huron Valley-Sinai hospitals.

"Our department is in great shape," Dr. Bock said. "Our teaching is superb; the research efforts lead the way for academic departments of emergency medicine nationally; our clinical services are second to none; and the folks who make up our resident cadre, faculty and staff are outstanding. Each of you make me proud to say that I'm part of Emergency Medicine at the DMC and WSU."

As promised in his first address to the School of Medicine, Dean Robert R. Frank will host a conversation with faculty, students and staff at 5 p.m. next Wednesday, Dec. 15. The discussion will be in Blue Auditorium, in Scott Hall.

Dean Frank will discuss in more detail his plans for the upcoming "Year to Make a Difference." He intends to make a third presentation in the new year to unroll his final plan, following input from the School of Medicine community.

Dean Robert R. Frank has appointed Maryjean Schenk , M.D., M.P.H.,  as interim associate dean for academic and student programs. In this role, Dr. Schenk will be devoting  her effort s to providing overall leadership to the School's undergraduate medical education enterprise, with a focus of leading the 2006 LCME accreditation process. During this time, Dr. Schenk  also will continue to serve as chair of the  Department of Family Medicine.

" I have full confidence that Dr. Schenk will do a fine job in this position -- one that is of the utmost importance to me -- while I continue to serve as interim dean," Dean Frank wrote in his announcement.

Dr. Schenk joined Wayne State University in 1991 and became chair of the Department of Family Medicine in 2001. She has been a leader in curriculum development here at the School of Medicine.

After joining the faculty, Dr. Schenk began work on designing and implementing a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded medical student curriculum on occupational and environmental health that has since been integrated into all four years of the medical school curriculum. As director of clinical curriculum development, she was responsible for the reorganization of the School's public health and preventive medicine course and implementation of the community clinic clerkship. She also served as director of the highly competitive Undergraduate Medical Education for the 21st Century academic award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Health Professions and  played an integral role in the institutional self-study for the medical school's highly successful 1998 LCME accreditation.

As an alumna of the School of Medicine, Dr. Schenk holds master's degrees in health planning and administration and industrial health from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on cancer epidemiology.

"I know you will join me in welcoming Dr. Schenk to this interim post and in providing cooperation and assistance as she leads the intensive reaccredidation effort," Dean Frank wrote.

As promised in his first address to the School of Medicine, Dean Robert R. Frank will host a conversation with faculty, students and staff at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 15. The discussion will be in Blue Auditorium, in Scott Hall.

Dean Frank will discuss in more detail his plans for the upcoming "Year to Make a Difference." He intends to make a third presentation in the new year to unroll his final plan, following input from the School of Medicine community.

Prognosis is introducing a new section to focus on activities that members of the School of Medicine community are undertaking to help make life better for the people around them.

The section, which takes its cue from Dean Robert R. Frank's "Year to Make a Difference" program, will focus on community-oriented news, opportunities to make charitable contributions and other activities and accomplishments of the people who help to make their surroundings -- and in turn the School of Medicine -- a better place to be.

If you have suggestions for this or any other School of Medicine publication, please email your ideas to prognosis@med.wayne.edu.