John Flack, M.D., M.P.H., professor and chair of the WSU Department of Internal Medicine, recently was honored with the F. Dewey Dodrill Award for Excellence at the American Heart Association's 20th annual Metropolitan Detroit Heart Ball. The ball is an annual black-tie gala benefiting the AHA in its mission to raise awareness and funds in the fight against heart disease and stroke.

I am most proud of my ability to advocate for minimizing, if not eliminating, the use of race in the selection of antihypertensive and heart failure therapies for individual patients of any race. Utilization of race, per se, as a major criterion upon which to select drugs has not led to higher quality of care for any patient in any setting, Dr. Flack said. I am equally proud of our ongoing NIH-funded work at Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center focused on developing and validating metrics to measure quality of cardiovascular care in clinical settings and also our work in providing mechanistic and fundamental insights into cardiovascular diseases that disproportionately affect African-American and other minority populations.

William O'Neill, M.D., a 1977 alumnus of the School of Medicine and former president of the Medical Alumni Association, also was honored with a Seymour Gordon Award for Distinguished Achievement.

Dear Colleagues,

Michigan State University is establishing a southeast Michigan satellite of its College of Osteopathic Medicine. Institutions bidding to host the DO school include Macomb Community College and the Detroit Medical Center. The DMC proposal would headquarter the DO school satellite at the old Hutzel Hospital, on the campus it shares with Wayne State University. Ultimately, the decision will come to a vote by the eight elected members of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees on May 16-17, following a tour of competing sites scheduled for May 1.

As awareness of this issue has increased, many of you have voiced concerns about the potential impact of the DMC proposal on our medical education programs, and many of you have asked what you can do to advocate for the school and its students. To this end, we have provided a link to the DMC proposal to Michigan State University, as well as its companion branding proposal.

http://www.med.wayne.edu/pdfs/DMC_proposal_to_MSU_DO_school.pdf

http://www.med.wayne.edu/pdfs/DMC_proposal_for_MSU_branding.pdf

With our two peer Michigan medical schools, the Wayne State University School of Medicine authored the report to Governor Jennifer Granholm on Michigan physician work force requirements. We support MSU's strategy to alleviate the projected shortage of physicians in Michigan. However, we firmly believe that an osteopathy school satellite on this campus will jeopardize the academic programs of the School of Medicine and compromise our contributions to the City of Detroit.

If, following your review of the DMC proposal, you wish to make your opinion known to those voting on this issue, please contact each member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine is distinguished by its faculty and graduates, who carry on the school's longstanding tradition and commitment to our tripartite mission of education, research, and clinical care. We have achieved the depth and breadth of our programs over 139 years of learning, discovery, and service---in the City of Detroit, southeast Michigan, and beyond.

Sincerely yours,

Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., MD;
Dean, School of Medicine
Senior Advisor to the President for Medical Affairs;

Robert R. Frank, MD
Executive Vice Dean

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Trustee Joel I. Ferguson, Chairman
1223 Turner, Suite 300
Lansing MI 48906
(517) 371-2515 - Office
lucyjif@aol.com

Trustee Melanie Foster, Vice Chairperson
2561 Meadow Woods Drive
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 204-8052
mfoster@msu.edu

Trustee Dorothy V. Gonzales
P.O. Box 242
East Lansing MI 48823-0242
(313) 224-0810
gonzales@msu.edu

Trustee Colleen M. McNamara
Michigan Cable Telecommunications Association
412 W. Ionia
Lansing MI 48933
(517) 482-2622 - Office
MCTACMM@aol.com

Trustee Donald W. Nugent
1225 Fo rrester Road
Frankfort MI 49635
(231) 352-7181 - Office
donugent@gracelandfruit.com

Trustee Faylene Owe
6180 Heathfield
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 339-1400
fayleneo@msn.com

Trustee George Perles
6153 W. Longview Drive
East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 525-3794
perles@msu.edu

Trustee G. Scott Romney
Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn LLP
2290 First National Building
660 Woodward Avenue
Detroit MI 48226
(313) 465-7522 - Office
gsr@honigman.com

The Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine are hosting the 2007 NAACCR Annual Scientific Conference. This year's conference theme, "Cancer Knows No Borders", highlights the international scope of NAACCR and its members as well as the integration of the numerous specialties and disciplines that are involved in cancer registration, treatment and research.

The focus of the presentations will be on knowledge gained from this multidisciplinary approach to research, surveillance and outcome evaluations. Areas of presentation include Interoperability of Cancer Registration Standards, Quality of Care and Cartographies of Cancer. The wide range of cancer registry data use will be showcased in oral and poster sessions on these and many other topics including Registry Operations, Quality Assurance, Collaborative Staging, Screening, Cancer Control, and Spatial Epidemiology. There will also be pre- and post-conference workshops on cancer registration and uses/analyses of cancer registry data.

To view the Preliminary Program and access registration forms for the 2007 NAACCR Conference, please visit the NAACCR website http://www.naaccr.org/ and follow the NAACCR Annual Conference link. For further information, contact Dr. John Graff, the NAACCR 2007 program chair, at jgraff@med.wayne.edu.

Whether by terrorist intention, accidental introduction, or natural evolution, our society is at risk from biological agents. Assessing the risk, anticipating the dangers, and developing new ways to respond are topics of an upcoming conference at Wayne State University on New Risks and New Defenses: The Technology of Bioterrorism. The conference, to be held Saturday, April 14, 2007, is being organized by the Michigan branch of the American Society for Microbiology.

This scientific gathering will feature Joan Rose, an expert on biological monitoring and risk assessment; Luther Lindler, an investigator of the bubonic plague organism and renowned author of a book on counterbioterrorism, and Philip Cunningham, a developer of novel antibiotics that target vital parts of bacterial protein synthesis

In our complex society, the speed and breadth with which agents can spread in the water and food supply are highlighted by numerous incidents in the past year. Spinach from California and water in Walkerton, Ontario, which caused several deaths before they were detected, are but two examples of the risk we face at the water tap or in the kitchen.

Similarly, the terrorist attacks of 2001 highlighted how terrorists can exploit the distribution and transportation systems of modern society towards nefarious ends. Anthrax, a relatively non-contagious disease, was spread by the post-office. An infectious contagious disease can easily be spread by infected people traveling from one country to another, as shown by the SARS near-epidemic of a few years back.

Rose, the co-director of The Center Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment at Michigan State University, will focus on monitoring and assessment of dangers to the Michigan water supply. She currently holds the Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research at Michigan State University. An international expert in water microbiology, water quality and public health safety, she is the only woman to win the Clarke Water Prize for outstanding contributions to water science.

Bubonic plague is only one topic that Lindler will discuss in his talk about threat agents that terrorists might use against organized societies. As dangerous as known organisms, such as anthrax and plague, may be, new dangers could be incubating in the biotechnology broths of bioterrorists. Lindler will also describe some of the tools and potential goals that bioterrorists may reach for in the biotechnology lab in his talk on Emerging Threats.

Whether emerging naturally or by terrorist intent, society needs new defenses against new diseases. Cunningham looks at the soft-underbellyof bacteria - the absolutely critical genes that bacteria use for synthesizing proteins. Although antibiotics often target vital cell processes, including protein synthesis, their specific targets can sometimes be mutated to avoid the antibiotic action. By focusing on sites in the protein synthetic machinery that simply cannot be changed without killing the cell, Cunnigham is developing a whole new generation of antibiotics that, according to theory at least, no terrorist or natural mutation should be able to defeat.

In addition to the featured speakers, the conference will also include presentations by Michigan scientists, displays by science technology companies, and awards to students recognizing their research. The conference web site is http://mi-asm.org/spring07meeting/index.htm.
For further information, contact Jeffrey Ram, 313 577-1558.

Join the Office of the Dean for another installment of the Interdisciplinary and Translational Seminar Series on Wednesday, April 18. Karin Przyklenk, Ph.D., professor of emergency medicine and anesthesiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, will present on New Paradigms in Cardioprotection: Preconditioning, Postconditioning ... and Beyond. The program will be at 4 p.m., in Room 3125, Scott Hall.

Domenico Gatti, M.D., Ph.D., WSU associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, published a paper in the journal Biochemistry on the structure and mechanism of an enzyme involved in synthesis of the lipopolysaccharide of gram negative bacteria, which are the causative agent of many infectious diseases in the United State and elsewhere.

Dr. Gatti's paper was chosen as an Editor's Choice by Science, the top scientific journal in the United States. The editors of Science wrote of the paper, "This enzymatic step is a critical one ... a potential drug target." Dr. Gatti's study illustrates the link between structural biology and clinical and translational science.

Future Docs visit Scott Hall

Children ages 6 to 12 got a chance to see the world of medicine up close at the annual WSU School of Medicine Future Docs program. Area children had an opportunity to participate in a number of hands-on activities, meet Dean Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., and find out more about what it's like to have a career in science and medicine

Dr. Valerie M. Parisi has been appointed vice dean for hospital relations and clinical affairs for the Wayne State University School ofMedicine and senior advisor to the chairman/CEO for University Physician Group. Dr. Parisi is a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, specializing in maternal-fetal medicine.

Dr. Parisi was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and at age 16 entered the first seven-year medical degree class at Brown University, receiving her M.D. in 1975. Her broad academic background is enhanced by an M.P.H. in maternal and child health from the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler School of Business, where she was inducted into the National Business Honor Society, Beta Gamma Sigma. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Women’s and Infants’ Hospital of Rhode Island and fellowship training in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Center for Health Sciences.

Her academic career began with 10 years as the director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston, where she was also the director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program. She previously served as the Robert A. Ross Professor and Chair of the University of North Carolina Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1997 to 2004 and as chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the State University of New York-Stony Brook from 1994 to 1997.

Dr. Parisi’s research interests have been in the control of fetal placental circulation and mechanisms of perinatal asphyxia. A previously funded National Institutes of Health investigator, she is the author or co-author of more than 60 scientific articles and book chapters. She serves on editorial boards including the Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation . She was also elected president of the Society for Perinatal Obstetricians (now Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine) in 1995 after serving six years on the Board of Directors. She now serves on the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, which accredits medical schools, and the finance committee of the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Dr. Parisi previously served as dean of medicine, chief academic officer and vice president for academic program administration and the Thomas N. and Gleaves James Distinguished Chair, advisor to the president, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

The Office of the Dean will host the latest installment in its Interdisciplinary and Translational Seminar Series this Friday, April 6, at 9 a.m., in Room 3125, Scott Hall. Cardiovascular disease will be the focus of discussion, and David A. Ford, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, will present. His topic will be “Plasmalogens: Targets of Phospholipases and Oxidants in Ischemic Myocardium and Vascular Tissue.”

More About Dr. Ford:
http://biochemweb.slu.edu/faculty/ford.html