Last week, after many weeks of broad community discussion, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees voted to expand the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine to the campus our School of Medicine shares with the Detroit Medical Center. The depth of the support expressed for Wayne State University and its School of Medicine was very heartening, and I want to thank everyone who made the effort to stay informed and to speak out on behalf of our colleagues and students. We had hoped that the MSU Board would delay its decision pending the outcome of a comprehensive review that is being undertaken by the panel formed by Detroit Renaissance and the Detroit Regional Chamber and led by former U.S. Congressman and State Senator Joe Schwarz, M.D.

We remain concerned that the decision to add MSU osteopathic students to a system that is already strained for teaching capacity may force us to find alternative training facilities for our students. As we have stated in all of our communications about this issue, we are fully committed to providing the best possible education to our medical students and we will do what is necessary to maintain the quality of that education.

Wayne State University will continue to work closely with the newly commissioned panel as it undertakes a thorough examination of health care delivery and medical education in our region. We will keep you apprised of pertinent developments and look forward to your continued support.

Sincerely,
Irvin D. Reid
President

 

 

Medical Center Emergency Services, the faculty practice group in the School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, recently contributed $350,000 to the Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons.

“This generous gift represents the first major contribution to this project by a faculty practice group at the School of Medicine,” said Dean Robert Mentzer, M.D. “As the Mazurek Medical Education Commons draws closer to becoming a reality, it’s encouraging to see such remarkable support come from within.”

The donation will name a state-of-the-art human patient simulation laboratory in the 14,000-square-foot Clinical Skills Center located in the new building. Named in honor of the Department of Emergency Medicine and MCES, the room will feature the latest in patient simulator technology. These innovative devices are designed to provide hands-on training to students prior to treating live patients. They range from infant to adult and have the ability to speak, breathe, bleed and even react to medication. Human patient simulators are a key component of future medical curriculums and will play a central role in education at the School of Medicine.

“On a yearly basis, MCES provides supplemental financial support to its academic mission,” said Padraic Sweeny, M.D., MCES president and WSU clinical associate professor. “The opportunity to make a significant contribution to the educational mission of the School of Medicine was welcomed by the MCES Board. In doing so, it furthers the commitment of MCES to take a leadership role at this institution by supporting the Department of Emergency Medicine.”

New programs and teaching devices like human patient simulators will establish the MMEC as the heart of medical education at the School of Medicine.

“As a department of the School of Medicine fully committed to teaching medical students and residents, we believe the Mazurek Medical Education Commons will markedly enhance their educational experiences,” said Suzanne White, MD., chair of the WSU Department of Emergency Medicine.

 

In the wake of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees' vote to expand the MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine to the campus shared by the Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University, WSU reaffirmed its commitment to the students at its School of Medicine.

“We hope that a careful analysis of the full impact of this undertaking will go forward,” said Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid. “Our region needs a coherent plan to insure that the high quality of medical education and clinical care we provide is not compromised as we seek to maximize efficiencies and eliminate redundancies.”

He continued: “Wayne State University will continue to work closely with the panel formed by Detroit Renaissance and the Detroit Regional Chamber and led by former U. S. Congressman and State Senator Joe Schwarz, M.D. as the panel undertakes a thorough examination of health care delivery and medical education in our region.”

Dr. Reid underscored his concern that the decision to add MSU osteopathic students to a system that is already strained for teaching capacity may force Wayne State to find alternative training facilities for its M.D. students.

“We remain committed to providing the best possible education to our medical students and will do what is necessary to maintain the quality of that education,” he said. “Wayne State Medical School faculty currently provides care to more than 80 percent of Detroit's uninsured and underinsured population. We hope that the likely relocation of faculty and students will not result in a loss in care for the city.”

“The Wayne State School of Medicine is committed to maintaining the outstanding clinical training that it has provided to its medical students for 139 years, while continuing to serve the people of Detroit, southeast Michigan and, indeed, the entire state,” said Robert Mentzer, dean of the Wayne State School of Medicine. “We will do whatever is necessary to honor our mission as a world-class medical school.”

A memorial service for Dr. Nicholas Mizeres will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 31, in Room 2268, Scott Hall. Dr. Mizeres, a long-time member of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, retired from the School of Medicine in 1990 as emeritus professor. For more on Dr. Mizeres' legacy, please visit http://www.med.wayne.edu/news_media/prognosis/archives/2007/05-09-07/index.asp.

Contributions may be made to WSU School of Medicine in memory of Dr. Mizeres for the Summer Prosection Program.

 

Speak out about MSU expansion

I am sure that many of you have read news accounts of an upcoming decision regarding a satellite campus of the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. The decision by MSU officials to help us address the healthcare needs of southeast Michigan is one that we have applauded. Indeed, we have every reason to expect that a panel that was convened several weeks ago would, if given the time to meet and discuss the situation in our region, provide us all with a coherent plan for addressing the predicted physician and health care professional shortages and the ongoing needs for healthcare and medical education.

What has us concerned is the pending decision regarding the location of the MSU program expansion into our region. The medical school campus that we share with the DMC is one of two options being considered and, in the most recent idea being discussed by MSU and the DMC, MSU would train 50 students in its first year, and eventually 200 students, at the DMC. The other location that has been discussed is a site in Macomb county, and the most recent signs are that MSU might elect to house its programs at both locations, or to somehow split the program between these two locations. This has been represented as a “win-win” situation for the DMC and Macomb.

We think this is not a win-win situation, because the Wayne State University School of Medicine and citizens of southeast Michigan will lose in this scenario. We believe that MSU officials should be encouraged to seek a solution for medical education, for the citizens of southeast Michigan, and for both of our fine research universities.

The members of our Board of Governors, the Dean and senior administration of the Medical School, and my staff and I have all made every effort to clarify our position regarding this upcoming decision. We have reached out to MSU, to local and state government officials, to prominent members of the medical community, to our many supporters in the private sector, and to the local media. We have endeavored to clarify the consequences of any MSU presence on the WSU/DMC campus. The risks are substantial, and we think everyone is southeast Michigan should be aware of them. Further destabilization of the Wayne State University Medical School relationship with the DMC, and a diminished WSU Medical School presence in the city of Detroit are just two of the costs of a decision to place the MSU program on the WSU/DMC campus. We seek to preserve and extend the economic impact of Wayne State University, to work with our regional partners to provide the best healthcare possible for the citizens of our region, and do what is best for the education of the physicians that will serve Michigan now, and for many years to come. The impact of the proposal on these aspirations has not been given due consideration, and has been trivialized and swept aside as irrelevant.

As we have voiced our concerns and offered our views regarding the next steps, we have also had to address a number of questionable statements that have been circulating in the media and around our community about our university and the School of Medicine and its graduates. To set the record straight, we have shared the facts with individuals we have reached out to, and we feel it is important for you to know the facts as well. Our friends and colleagues in the School of Medicine have constructed a website that contains a compilation of these facts, along with a summary of the news coverage regarding this important decision. Recently, both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press called on the MSU trustees to await the forthcoming recommendations from a panel of community business leaders and healthcare professionals.

As further news develops, you can find updates on this website. There you will also see some of the actions that have been taken by those who want their voice to be heard, and there is an opportunity for you to lend your voice to this decision. You can access this website by clicking on the link provided here, or by copying this address into the address bar of your web browser.
http://www.med.wayne.edu/beheard/

Sincerely,

Irvin D. Reid
President
Wayne State University

 

WSU to host national nanoscience conference Oct. 14-17

Wayne State University will host Emerging Nanoscience Applications in Technology and Biomedicine, a national conference, Oct. 14 through Oct. 17. This event will feature a keynote address by Helmuth Mohwald from the Max Planck Institute, "From Interfaces to nanoparticle/Polyelectrolyte Hybrid Capsules and Back." Plenary sessions in four thematic areas will be led by internationally recognized experts in nanotechnology including:

• Super Molecular Assemblies - Dennis Discher from the University of Pennsylvania
• Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials - Mark Saltzman from Yale University
• Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering - Lonnie Shea from Northwestern University
• Translational Nanomedicine - Chiming Wei from Johns Hopkins University

Registration will be open soon, and all Wayne State University full-time faculty and students will receive significant discounts to attend this conference. In addition, organizers are inviting members of the WSU community to an abstract for an oral or poster presentation for one of these four plenary sessions. Abstracts will be limited to 250 words and will be due June 18. For more information, please email research@wayne.edu.

 

Nicholas J. Mizeres – A Tribute

1924 – 2007

Nicholas J. Mizeres was born in Pittsburgh, PA in 1924. After serving in the US Armed Forces 1943-1946, he attended and graduated from Kent State University with a B.S. (Cum Laude) in Zoology and Chemistry. Subsequently, he earned a masters degree with honors from Michigan State University, and a Ph.D. (Anatomy) from the University of Michigan for his work on the anatomy of the autonomic system. In 1954, he was appointed Instructor in Anatomy at Wayne State University School of Medicine, attaining the rank of Professor in 1966. In 1990, he retired as Emeritus Professor. He maintained a life time interest in the autonomic nervous system, and his paper on the “Cardiac Plexus in Man” has remained a classic in anatomy.

Throughout his long career, he served the Department of Anatomy and the Medical School with loyalty and the deepest commitment to the teaching of Gross Anatomy. He is remembered by his former students and colleagues as one of the most caring, informed and dedicated teachers. He twice received the Teacher of the Year Award, as well as the Lawrence M. Weiner Award in 1987.

During his tenure at Wayne Medical School, he served on the Promotions Committee, the Admissions Committee, and the Graduate Committee for Anatomy. Importantly, he chaired the Basic Science Subcommittee in the planning of the facilities for Scott Hall. He served the Anatomy Committee of the State of Michigan, as member, secretary, vice-chairman and chairman, and played a key role in the development of the Body Bequest Program.

He co-authored the “Methods of Dissection” for Gross Anatomy with Dr. E. Gardner and Dr. A. Jackson and continued to update this important teaching guide. In 1981, his book “Human Anatomy: A Synoptic Approach”, was published and used by many classes over the years. Through his innovative approach to teaching, our students continue to benefit from the Clinical Correlation Conferences he instituted, and from the Cross-Sections of the Human Body that he prepared. Dr. Mizeres was also the major force in the development of the Post Graduate Surgical Anatomy Program that continues to attract residents from across the state. A particular favorite was the Summer Prosection Program that he fostered.

He was an avid fisherman and gardener, and he enjoyed playing volleyball with students. Dr. Mizeres is survived by his daughter Stacy (John) Lundberg, grandson Nicholas, niece Deena, and two brothers. His wife Ardie died in 2002 after 50 years of marriage.

Contributions can be made to Wayne State University School of Medicine in memory of Dr. Nicholas Mizeres and the funds will be used for the Summer Prosection Program.

Memorial Service:
11:00 am, May 31, 2007
2268 Scott Hall

Please view the pdf for more information.

 

Buddhadeb Dawn, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the University of Louisville’s Division of Cardiology, will present at the Dean’s Special Interdisciplinary and Translational Series at 9 a.m., Friday, in Room 3125, Scott Hall. The topic for discussion will be “Cardiac Repair with Bone Marrow Cells.”

Just as libraries are organized in a manner to facilitate accessing the vast amounts of information contained in their volumes when needed, so too are mammalian genomes. The means by which this vast array of genetic information is ordered, accessed and “read” within the cell’s nucleus is a multi-layered puzzle that continues to drive scientific investigation.

Stephen Krawetz, Charlotte B. Failing Professor of Fetal Therapy and Diagnosis, recently published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that describes how our genes are selected for experession.

Published online May 1, the paper asked, How are genes selected for expression in a cell? One of the key switches in determining a cells’ destiny has been identified utilizing the protamine genes as the model system, Krawetz said. These genes are found in every cell, yet are only expressed in the male germline.

The first step in the process involves the physical relaxation of the region of DNA surrounding the gene, the domain, which proceeds much like unwinding a telephone cord. Curiously, a series of interactions between topoisomerases, enzymes responsible for relaxing chromatin, and the nuclear matrix attachment regions adjacent to the domain appear as the initial interactions that kick-start the selective process that sets the tone for the ex pression of a cell’s genetic repertoire.

To read the full paper, “Decondensing the protamine domain for transcription,” please visit http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0700076104v1. Dr. Krawetz is a member of the WSU Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology as well as the Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics.