Dean Robert R. Frank will deliver the annual State of the School address Monday, Feb. 28. Although the talk will cover the School's wellbeing as a whole, it include a special focus on initiatives to advance research as well as the continued theme "A Year to Make a Difference." The State of the School address will be at 4 p.m. in Scott Hall's Blue Auditorium.

Wayne State University School of Medicine Interim Dean Robert Frank was saddened to announce the death of Dr. James Hazlett, assistant dean for basic science education, on Tuesday, Feb. 22.

An associate professor of anatomy and cell biology, Dr. Hazlett jointed the WSU faculty in 1980, and had been instrumental in the design and implementation of the medical school curriculum. He served as course director for medical neuroscience and gross anatomy -- two critically important comprehensive areas that are required of all medical students -- and taught dissection, anatomy, neuropharmacology and neuroanatomy. In addition, Dr. Hazlett was a member of the School of Medicine Admissions Committee for the past 14 years.

He was named assistant dean in 2001 after serving for years on the Curriculum Committee and taking a critical role in development of the current Years I and II curriculum.

“Dr. Hazlett provided outstanding learning experiences to Wayne State University medical students, graduate students, fellow scientists and physicians during more than 30 years of service,” Dr. Frank said. “He earned the utmost respect and admiration of all those who were fortunate to be taught by him or work with him through the years. He will be sorely missed.”

A much beloved teacher, Dr. Hazlett had been recognized with dozens of teaching awards and was chosen Teacher of the Year on numerous occasions. He was selected by the medical students as the Grand Marshall for the commencement exercises in 2004. The Medical Alumni Association presented him with the Lawrence Weiner Award, honoring a non-alumnus, in 1997.

Dr. Hazlett's research interests included comparative neuroanatomy of somatic sensory systems and basal ganglia, for which he had received funding from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Hazlett provided national and state leadership to the Society for Neurosciences and was an ad hoc member of the National Grant Review Board for the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Daniel Michael, a former medical and graduate student, recalled that Dr. Hazlett was an outstanding mentor and teacher. “Jim is always able to get more from his students than they believe possible,” Dr. Michael was quoted in a School of Medicine publication. “He demands in-depth knowledge and rigorous scientific method while demonstrating a genuine compassion for students as human beings.”

After earning a master's degree in anatomy from the Medical College of Georgia, Dr. Hazlett completed a doctorate in anatomy at Ohio State University in 1971. He joined the Department of Anatomy as an assistant professor and served for seven years. He then took a faculty appointment at Loyola University of Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine and returned to WSU in 1980.

Dr. Hazlett's is survived by his wife, Dr. Linda Hazlett, chair of anatomy and cell biology, their son, and a grandson.

Visitation will be tomorrow, Feb. 24, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a prayer service at 7 p.m., in Verheyden Funeral Home, 16300 Mack Ave., Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. A funeral will be at 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 25, at St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic Church, which is next to Verheyden Funeral Home. For more information, please call (313) 881-8500.

 

A Wayne State University School of Medicine study published in the Feb. 23, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that hormone replacement therapies once touted for beneficial effects on urinary incontinence may actually increase the incidence of incontinence in postmenopausal women.

Menopausal hormone therapy consisting of oral estrogen plus progestin or estrogen alone has long been used to treat postmenopausal women and, until recently, was credited with many benefits well beyond the indications for symptomatic relief of hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness, according to background information in the article. One of the purported benefits of menopausal hormone therapy was to improve the symptoms of urinary incontinence; thus, it has often been prescribed to treat incontinence.

"We have to educate patients and physicians about the effects of the medication so we can treat patients better," said Susan L. Hendrix, D.O., WSU professor of obstetrics & gynecology, in an interview with HealthDay earlier this week.

Dr. Hendrix along with her colleagues conducted a study to determine the effects of estrogen and progestin or estrogen alone on the one-year incidence and severity of symptoms of three types of incontinence in healthy postmenopausal women: stress incontinence, which occurs when involuntary pressure is put on the bladder by coughing, laughing, sneezing, lifting or straining; urge incontinence, which is generally attributable to involuntary contracts of the bladder muscle; and mixed urinary incontinence, which involves involuntary leakage associated with urgency and also with exertion, effort, sneezing or coughing.

The researchers analyzed data from the Women's Health Initiative, a multicenter double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial of menopausal hormone therapy in 27,347 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years enrolled between 1993 and 1998. Existence of any urinary incontinence symptoms was known for 23,296 participants at baseline and one year.

Women were randomized to receive estrogen alone, estrogen plus progestin or placebo. The WHI trials were designed to evaluate the effects of menopausal hormone therapy using estrogen and progestin or estrogen alone in preventing coronary heart disease and hip fractures in postmenopausal women. Both trials ended prematurely because more harm than benefit was observed.

However, the researchers found that menopausal hormone therapy increased the incidence of all types of urinary incontinence at one year among women who were continent at baseline.

The risk was highest for stress incontinence (1.87-fold increased risk with estrogen plus progestin; estrogen alone, 2.15-fold increased risk), followed by mixed incontinence (1.49-fold increased risk with estrogen plus progestin; estrogen alone, 1.79-fold increased risk). Combination therapy had no significant effect on developing urge incontinence, but estrogen alone increased the risk by 1.32 fold.

Among women who reported having urinary incontinence at baseline, both frequency and amount of incontinence worsened in both trials. Women receiving menopausal hormone therapy were more likely to report that urinary incontinence limited their daily activities and bothered or disturbed them at one year.

 

Nearly 40 legislators and legislative aids from the state of Michigan will gather this week for Project Medical Education, a program developed to showcase the value of medical education to Michigan 's health-care system.

The program, a partnership of the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education, will be Thursday, Feb. 24, and Friday, Feb. 25, at the School of Medicine as well as several area SEMCME hospitals, which train WSU residents.

Project Medical Education is designed to provide policymakers with an accurate background that will empower them to make sound decisions about Graduate Medical Education; these decisions, in turn, affect Michigan 's medical schools, affiliated teaching hospitals and the people they serve. As part of the two-day event, legislators participate in on-site learning experiences that illustrate the critical value of supporting the educational environment within the health-care system.

Project Medical Education will kick off with dinner and medical education presentations at WSU School of Medicine's Elliman Clinical Research Building on Thursday. On Friday, legislators will visit participating SEMCME hospitals to experience a day in the life of a medical resident. Legislators will get a first-hand look at things like a medical resident's clinical “morning report,” clinic patient schedule and rounds. Legislators will have a chance to personally interact privately with medical students and residents, to ask them questions and to hear about their concerns.

Project Medical Education will be comprised of, but not limited to, several central themes:

•  In-state physician training and retention: Two-thirds of the physicians that receive their medical education from the WSU School of Medicine remain in-state to practice, most in SEMCME medical facilities;

•  Resident provision of medical care: Medical residents play a crucial role in the delivery of medical care, especially for under-insured and uninsured patients. In addition, Project Medical Education will educate legislators on the other key roles that residents play, such as in teaching, research and community service; and

•  Funding issues for graduate medical education: How is medical residency education (and undergraduate medical education) funded? What is the debt load expected upon completion of residency? What are the personal challenges for medical students and residents?

SEMCME hospitals participating in Project Medical Education include Henry Ford Hospital , North Oakland Medical Center , Oakwood Hospital , Providence Hospital , St. John Hospital , St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital , William Beaumont Hospital , and eight hospitals in the Detroit Medical Center.

 

WSU physicians at the Kresge Eye Institute are now offering a new procedure that may help those who have been partially blinded by strokes. The institute is only one of seven centers nationwide offering the therapy and the only one in the Midwest.

The treatment, vision-replacement therapy (VRT), seeks to re-train healthy brain neurons to perform the function of those damaged by stroke. As many as 105,000 Americans lose part or all of their vision to strokes annually.

Several newspapers, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported on VRT earlier this month after a study showing positive outcomes resulting from the procedure was presented at the International Stroke Conference, in New Orleans. Researchers at the University of Magdeburg, Germany, noted that one-third of VRT patients in a small study had modest but noticeable improvement after treatment and another third had strong improvement. In a few cases, a blind spot disappeared entirely.

The technology, which was developed by Florida-based NovaVision, involves a six-month regimen. Patients focus their eyes on various computer-generated graphics to help stimulate peripheral vision around the blind spot. As therapy progresses, the idea is to prod healthy neurons into taking over the function of those damaged during a stroke.

For more information on this procedure, please contact (313) 577-8900 or info@kresgeeye.org.

 

WSU physicians John Flack, M.D. and Diane Levine, M.D. along with WSU Adjunct Associate Dean Joseph Brocato have been recognized with the 2004 Pillar Award of Excellence for Reducing Health Disparities. The awards, which were sponsored by Michigan's Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (MPRO) and the Michigan Department of Community Health, were presented by U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Michigan Surgeon General Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D. at a recent ceremony.

Dr. Brocato, who is also executive director of the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education, received the honor for his efforts in developing a training program for on health disparities and health literacy for both graduate medical education program directors and incoming chief residents.

Dr. Flack, WSU associate chair of internal medicine and director of the WSU Center for Urban and African-American Health, and Dr. Levine, WSU associate professor of internal medicine, were honored for working on a collaboration to reduce health disparities among Wayne County's African-American senior citizens with diabetes. An MPRO report has confirmed that the treatment gap for diabetes between African-American seniors and white seniors has narrowed.

Other Pillar Award recipients included: Olivia G.M. Washington, Ph.D., WSU associate professor of nursing; Feleta Wilson, Ph.D., R.N., WSU associate professor of nursing; and Karen Love, chief operating officer of the Michigan Chronicle and the Michigan Front Page.

The WSU Department of Physiology will celebrate the life and works of Dr. Lowell McCoy on Friday, Feb. 18. Please join the McCoy family, the Department of Physiology, the WSU School of Medicine and the community at a gathering to reflect and share stories of how Dr. McCoy touched the lives of those around him.

The service will be at 1:30 p.m., in Room 2268, Scott Hall.