Researcher who discovered AZT retires on last day of grant

Jerome P. Horwitz, Ph.D., WSU professor of internal medicine, retires Friday after spending more than a half-century developing drugs to battle cancer and AIDS. Throughout his career -- up until the last day even -- Dr. Horwitz's work was funded through several sources, including the National Cancer Institute.

Although the focus of Dr. Horwitz's career has been the development of anti-cancer drugs, he is perhaps best known for developing AZT and two other AIDS drugs. When Dr. Horwitz discovered AZT in the early 1960s, the drugs were a failure in inhibiting the spread of cancer cells. Having no purpose at the time, AZT was shelved, without patents, until 20 years later when the Burroughs Wellcome Co. began testing chemicals that might be effective against retroviruses. It was the first effective drug in the fight against AIDS.

Dr. Horwitz received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Detroit. He completed his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Michigan before training at Northwestern University and U-M. In 1956, he joined the Detroit Institute of Cancer Research as a research associate and was named the director of the division of chemistry in 1965. Two years later, he joined the WSU faculty. He served as scientific director of the Michigan Cancer Foundation from 1970 to 1973, when he was named chairman of the MCF Department of Chemistry. He served as chair until being named member emeritus in 1991.

Dr. Horwitz has been honored with numerous awards, including the School of Medicine's Distinguished Service Award and the University of Michigan's Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1986, he was listed as one of the "25 Most Intriguing People" by People magazine, and in 2000, The Detroit News named him Michiganian of the Year.

 

Padraic Sweeny, M.D., also named interim chair of emergency medicine

Dean Robert Frank recently announced that Murali Guthikonda, M.D., has been appointed chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Department of Neurological Surgery, pending formal approval by the WSU Board of Governors.

Dr. Guthikonda has served as interim chair of the department since 2001.

“I have full confidence that Dr. Guthikonda is the right person to lead the school's neurosurgeons,” Dean Frank said. “He will continue a long tradition in the department to develop advanced technologies while providing an outstanding learning experience for our students and compassionate care to some of our sickest patients.”

Dr. Guthikonda is a specialist in skull-base and cerebro-vascular surgery. He is experienced in treatment of complex tumors at the base of the skull using special techniques. His special training allows him to treat difficult aneurysms and vascular malformations of the brain using advanced neurosurgical and microsurgical techniques.

In 1993, Dr. Guthikonda joined the WSU School of Medicine as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor eight years later. After obtaining his medical degree from Guntur Medical College, in Guntur, India, Dr. Guthikonda completed a general surgery residency at St. Elizabeth Hospital, in Youngstown, Ohio, and a neurosurgery residency at the University of Vermont 's Medical Center Hospital of Vermont. He spent time in training at Institute of Neurology in Queen Square, London, UK as well in Zurich, Switzerland.

Dr. Guthikonda completed his fellowship in skull-base and vascular surgery at the University of Cincinnati . He has also been trained endoscope-assisted neurosurgery for cranial-base surgery and gamma knife radiosurgery.

Dr. Guthikonda is the author of numerous articles and a frequent lecturer throughout the United States and India on topics related to skull base surgery. He has been an invited guest speaker at various skull base society meetings in other countries. He is the neurosurgery residency program director at Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University .

In addition, Dr. Frank announced that Padraic J. Sweeny, M.D., has been selected to serve as interim chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Sweeny served as vice chief of the department under the leadership of Dr. Brooks Bock, who left the chairmanship to serve as president of Harper University and Hutzel Women's hospitals.

A graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Sweeny joined Detroit Receiving Hospital's emergency medicine staff after completing his residency there in 1982. Three years later, he joined the WSU School of Medicine faculty; he now holds the rank of associate professor.

 

Six people have been identified as leading candidates for the 14th permanent WSU School of Medicine dean, according to Dr. Gary Abrams, chair of the search committee. Each of the candidates will complete a single-day on-site screening interview, a process that will wrap up by the end of August.

"Because the committee's foremost charge is to deliver a slate of outstanding candidates with impeccable credentials and personal integrity, it is impossible to predict our timeline for completion," Dr. Abrams wrote in a letter to the School of Medicine community last week. "However, it is my hope as search committee chair to conclude the committee's charge by the end of this year."

The search began six months ago with Provost Nancy Barrett's appointment of the search committee. In December, the national executive search firm Witt/Kieffer was hired to recruit senior leaders of academic health centers. The search firm started the year with a series of on-site meetings with a broad range of medical school, main campus and Detroit Medical Center constituents to identify key characteristics sought for in a dean.

Witt/Kieffer made more than 1,200 contacts with potential candidates and received 34 applications. After a comprehensive evaluation of each applicant's credentials, the field was narrowed to 17. Ann Zenzer, a Witt/Kieffer principal, conducted personal interviews with each of these individuals and presented a thorough report to the search committee, which selected six people to invite to campus.

After initial on-site interviews are completed, certain candidates will be invited back to campus for comprehensive interviews with all key constituencies. The search committee then will deliver a short list of three candidates to Provost Barrett.

For more on the dean search, please visit www.med.wayne.edu/admin/deansearch/index.asp.

 

After identifying employee needs in the workplace and enacting a year-long intervention to improve specified management practices, workers were measurably healthier and organizational productivity increased, according to a Wayne State University School of Medicine study of 383 Swedish Internal Revenue Service professionals.

Previous research has shown that positive working environments improve employee satisfaction and performance as well as employee health and well-being. This is the first study to combine all these elements and measure the links among work stress/management styles and employee health, biologic stress markers, organizational productivity and absenteeism.

“Ours is the first prospective study combining the psychosocial, health and productivity perspectives. We provide evidence clarifying that some of the factors affecting employee health and well-being also affect organizational outcomes such as productivity and profits,” said senior author, Bengt Arnetz, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., professor of occupational and environmental medicine in the WSU Department of Family Medicine. “The benefits of a positive work climate are twofold. Lower stress levels at work offer both healthier employees and a more efficient organization.”

The study published in the July 2005 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (vol. 47, no. 7) is titled “The Impact of a Prospective Survey-Based Workplace Intervention Program on Employee Health, Biologic Stress Markers, and Organizational Productivity.”

A cohort of white-collar employees from Stockholm were divided into workgroups and asked to assess 11 work factors such as exhaustion, tempo, work climate, efficiency and leadership. Based on personal assessments, focused management activities were enacted to improve the work situation. Following a one-year intervention, the same employees expectedly reported improved job satisfaction, but more interestingly, they also reported the following psychophysiological outcomes. Study subjects:

• Improved sleep quality and self-rated health.
• Decreased cholesterol by 4 percent, thereby lowering cardiovascular disease risk.
• Decreased triglycerides by 16 percent, again decreasing risk for heart disease.
• Increased testosterone, an important restorative hormone that facilitates lower levels of stress and good sleep quality.
• Increased cortisol, thereby avoiding low-levels of cortisol that are characteristic of chronic fatigue, burnout and exhaustion.
• Had lower absenteeism and improved productivity.

Dr. Arnetz believes other studies typically try to reduce workplace stress by using a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, they may universally apply principles to empower employees. This study, on the other hand, studied the management characteristics of various workgroups and gave each of them tailored interventions to address their own satisfaction levels. Each group came back with positive outcomes.

“Overall, the study results suggest that to handle constant demand for improved productivity without causing unhealthy stress, worker burnout and absenteeism, management should consider psychosocial interventions along with more traditional management interventions. By applying a psychophysiological perspective, we suggest that health might be one additional strategic resource in the process of creating more flexible and productive organizations,” Dr. Arnetz said.

Dr. Arnetz completed this study with co-author Ingrid Andersen, Ph.D., from Uppsala University in Sweden , where he previously served as professor and founder/director of the Center for Environmental Illness and Stress at the Uppsala Academic Hospital. Dr. Arnetz is a board-certified occupational and environmental health practitioner in America and Sweden . He joined Wayne State University earlier this year and his research interests include workplace stress, organizational health, management and shifting medical costs.