The Wayne State University Board of Governors will meet in Scott Hall on Nov. 30. Its standing committee meetings, which cover academic affairs, student affairs and budget and finance, will be at 9 a.m. A meeting of the full board will be at 2 p.m. Both meetings, which are open to the public, will be in Green Auditorium.

Piero P. Foa, MD, Ph.D, lauded as one of the WSU's most influential teachers and a trailblazer in diabetes research, died on Friday, Nov. 11. Dr. Foa was 94-years-old.

A professor emeritus of the Department of Physiology, Dr. Foa's long and distinguished association with the School of Medicine began in 1962, when he came to Detroit as chairman of the Department of Research at Sinai Hospital and professor of physiology at WSU. He served as acting chair of physiology in 1980-81.

In the span of his career, Dr. Foa celebrated many scientific accomplishments and accolades, including his presentation of evidence to establish that glucagons is a pancreatic hormone and the documentation of the mechanism of drugs used for the oral treatment of diabetes. Dr. Foa's primary research focused on glucagons and insulin secretion and their role in the utilization of nutrients and the regulation of blood sugar levels.

“An advocate and practitioner of quality of opportunity, Dr. Foa has been the mentor of new generations of medical scientists, based solely on promise, talents and achievements. I have been proud to have been among them,” Dr. Dunbar has said.

Dr. Foa is the recipient of the School of Medicine Lamp Award bestowed by the medical students on their most influential teachers. He has been recognized internationally with numerous professional awards of merit, and was the recipient of the WSU Medical Alumni Association Weiner Award for distinguished achievement and the School of Medicine 1983 Distinguished Service Award. In 1999, the School of Medicine established the Piero P. Foa, M.D., Ph.D. Endowed Lectureship in the Department of Physiology.

Born in Torino , Italy , Dr. Foa received both a medical degree and doctorate in chemistry from the University of Milano , Italy , where he served internships in medicine and surgery. He went to the University of Michigan as a research fellow in surgery and medicine, and then served on the faculty of the Chicago Medical School before coming to WSU.

Dr. Foa is survived by his wife of 54 years, Naomi, along with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He lived in West Bloomfield .

Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. , Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Ira Kaufman Chapel, 18325 West Nine Mile Rd. , Southfield , 248-569-0020. Memorials to the Piero P. Foa Endowed Lectureship Fund will be accepted by the School of Medicine Office of Development, 577-1495 .

 

Jeanne Lusher, M.D., WSU distinguished professor of pediatrics, recently won a 2005 "Ability is Ageless" Award from Operation Able. Operation Able is an organization that seeks to meet the employment needs of mature individuals; promote lifelong learning among individuals, businesses and government; and assist the employer community in developing a competent workforce.

Dr. Lusher is a legend in the study and treatment of bleeding disorders. In a career that has spanned more than 30 years, the distinguished professor of pediatric hematology-oncology and Marion I. Barnhart, Ph.D., Endowed Chair in Thrombosis Hemostasis Research at Wayne State University has conducted groundbreaking research, pioneered new treatments and received countless honors and awards.

More important to Dr. Lusher than any honors or awards, however, are the relationships she has established with those she has helped battle these complex diseases. When the National Hemophilia Foundation honored Dr. Lusher in 2001, it was Dr. Lusher's interactions with her patients that friend and former student Dr. Roshni Kulkarni remembered most about their first encounter.

“She was the embodiment of what every physician should be,” Dr. Kulkarni said. “I saw firsthand the wonderful rapport and relationships she developed with her patients. She was a wealth of knowledge, and she truly cared about everyone.”

In the research arena, Dr. Lusher has been at the forefront since 1966, when she was among the first to describe the antibody nature of factor VIII inhibitors (in most people with hemophilia, the disorder results from an inability to produce either factor VIII or factor IX clotting agents). Dr. Lusher's leading-edge research continued into the 1970s, when she was the first to fully describe the circulation of the spleen; the 1980s, when she organized and led a multi-center study of factor VIII concentrate potency; and through the 1990s to today as she continues to work on potentially groundbreaking gene therapies. To date, Dr. Lusher has authored nine books, 56 book chapters and 156 total original publications.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Dr. Lusher came to Wayne State in 1964. She has been honored by the university countless times for teaching and research excellence, receiving the WSU Faculty Merit Award every year since 1975 and, in 1997, becoming only the 10th WSU faculty member to earn the title distinguished professor. She has also served as president of the WSU Academy of Scholars.

 

Family and friends of T. Ben Kasle gathered last month in the Lande Building to recognize Mr. Kasle's legacy. Mr. Kasle, owner of Kasle Steel Corp. and a restaurant entrepreneur, donated more than $6 million to the School of Medicine in the late 1970s, which at the time was the largest gift in WSU history. His generosity was the foundation for the School's cancer research at the time and allowed that work to progress for more than two decades.

Dr. Jane Thomas, former assistant dean for student affairs at the WSU School of Medicine, was awarded the Association of American Medical Colleges' Group on Student Affairs Exemplary Service Award. She is the third person to receive the honor, which "recognizes a current or former GSA representative who has demonstrated exemplary service to GSA."

A psychologist by training, Dr. Thomas served in school, regional and national capacities that are almost too numerous to recount.

The form submitted in support of Dr. Thomas's nomination stated "Dr. Thomas is a tireless fighter for all medical students. She has an incredible work ethic. She developed one of the best-organized student affairs offices in the country and was responsible for a myriad of student support services for the largest single medical school campus in the country. She has held most, if not all, of the key positions in the AAMC Group on Student Affairs at the regional and national levels. It is my honor to nominate an individual so deserving of this award."

In the early 1980s, she held various leadership positions in the Central region GSA and GSA-Minority Affairs Section as well as in the Central Region AAMC Women in Medicine Group. On the national level, she was national chair of the GSA-MAS from 1991 to 1993 and a member of the GSA National Committee on Admissions from 1989 to 1994. She was appointed chair of the GSA National Committee on Student Affairs in 1994, a position she held through 1997.

She was a member of the Electronic Residency Application Service Advisory Committee for several years and assisted in the planning and implementation of what is now the Careers in Medicine program through her participation on the Medical Career Planning Initiative from 1997 to 2001. She has served on numerous Liaison Committee on Medical Education site visit teams to AAMC-member medical schools.

 

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to report that the Search Committee for Dean, Wayne State University School of Medicine, has completed its evaluation process. Four candidates have moved forward for final consideration by President Irvin Reid and Provost Nancy Barrett and are identified below. As committee chair, I owe a debt of gratitude to members of the committee, who worked tirelessly to deliver a recommendation to Provost Barrett.

• Michael A. Geheb, M.D.
  Professor of Medicine
  Director for Institutional Advancement and Chief Quality Officer
  Oregon Health & Science University
  
• Vipul N. Mankad, M.D.
  Professor of Pediatrics, University of Kentucky
  Senior Medical Advisor, Child Health Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  
• Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., M.D.
  Frank C. Spencer Professor and Chairman of Surgery
  University of Kentucky College of Medicine
  
• D. Douglas Miller, M.D.
  Professor and Chairman of Internal Medicine
  Saint Louis University School of Medicine

My role as search committee chair is finished and it is anticipated that the final selection process will be completed in the near future. Provost Nancy Barrett will be in contact with the School of Medicine faculty and staff when news becomes available.

Sincerely,

Gary W. Abrams, M.D.
Professor and Chair
David Barsky, MD Chair in Ophthalmology
Department of Ophthalmology

The Wayne State University School of Medicine is pleased to announce that the Department of Emergency Medicine has established its third endowment, the Brooks F. Bock, M.D., Endowed Professorship. Robert J. Zalenski, M.D., professor of emergency medicine, will be the first person to hold it.

Named for Dr. Bock, the first chair of the department who also is a major donor, the endowment will support the department's clinical research activities.

"Dr. Bock has been a prominent and influential leader in organized academic emergency medicine not only within Wayne State University , but also at the state and national levels,” said Padraic J. Sweeny, M.D., interim chair of emergency medicine. “It is very appropriate that his accomplishments be honored by naming this endowment after him.”

Dr. Zalenski is well known for his work in the area of diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic intervention of acute chest pain of possible ischemic origin. His work in this area has had significance to change medical practice.

He has now evolved his focus from therapeutic intervention alone to include the appropriate use of the resuscitation therapies. In this regard, he has been instrumental in the development of the Center to Advance Palliative Care which is an interdisciplinary initiative to provide choices to our chronically ill and dying patients.

His personal passion for transforming end-of-life and palliative care has fueled a unique synergy among members of the interdisciplinary team and has stimulated all to look beyond common constraints of time and money to see what is possible in improving quality of life for the seriously ill.

“Dr. Zalenski is certainly well chosen to hold the Brooks F. Bock, M.D. Endowed Professorship,” Dr. Sweeny said.

Previously the department established the Munuswamy Dayanandan, M.D., Endowed Chair and the Edward S. Thomas, M.D., Endowed Professorship to support the chairman and the department's basic science research, respectively.