Wayne State University Board of Governors Chair Eugene Driker confirmed today the resignation of Irvin D. Reid, the ninth President of Wayne State University. Reid will soon celebrate his 10th anniversary as President of the university, and his resignation will be effective at a date to be named in 2008.

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CTSA initiative announces RFA, seminar

In accordance with the strategic initiatives of the National Institutes of Health and Wayne State University Clinical and Translational Sciences initiative, applications are being solicited for seed funds to support multidisciplinary investigations in clinical and translational sciences. Translational research facilitates the integration of research and healthcare by transferring scientific discoveries from laboratory, clinical or population studies into clinical practice. The overall goal is to improve health and patient care by reducing disease incidence, morbidity or mortality. The funding announcement and details for submission are available at www.ctsa.wayne.edu/pilot.php. Deadline for submission of proposals is Nov. 15. Further information regarding the WSU CTSA initiative is available by visiting www.ctsa.wayne.edu or by e-mail at ctsa_rfa@lists.wayne.edu.

In other news, the next seminar sponsored by the Clinical Translational Science Award initiative will be at 3 p.m., Friday, Oct. 5, in Room 2268, Scott Hall. Co-sponsored by the Office of Graduate Programs and Henry Ford Health System, the seminar will focus on current research in vascular disease. S. Helena Kuivaniemi, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery and in the Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics, will discuss “Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Deep, Deadly and Genetic.” Nour-Eddine Rhaleb, Ph.D., a senior staff scientist in Henry Ford Health Systems’ Hypertension and Vascular Research Division, will moderate.

Oct. 5 conference to explore dangers posed by bird flu pandemic

“The Coming Pandemic: A Conference for Business and Health Professionals,” hosted by Wayne State University in Scott Hall on Friday, Oct. 5, will assemble a world-class group of thought leaders and experts who will provide cutting-edge information and practical guidance for what many epidemiologists say is an inevitable bird flu pandemic. Timing of the conference coincides with the traditional beginning of the winter flu season; common strains of influenza – which are cousins to bird flu -- account for the deaths of nearly 40,000 Americans each year. Estimates of human mortality during an avian influenza pandemic vary widely, but many predict it will reach into the millions.

The danger of a pandemic developing from the H5N1 avian influenza virus, or “bird flu,” has loomed for some time, according to global public health experts. Since 2003, the number of human H5N1 cases has been increasing in Asia, Europe and Africa, and more than half the people infected have died. No sustained human-to-human transmission has occurred so far, but most health professionals anticipate H5N1 may develop and spread in this way.

“As a major university with thousands of students, faculty and staff, we are obligated to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic reaching our campus,” said Wayne State University President Dr. Irvin D. Reid. “Our first concern is for the well-being and safety of everyone at the university, and we have planned
accordingly. This conference assembles nationally-recognized experts from across the country. We hope to assist people in a variety of influential professions to understand what a pandemic might mean to them and the communities they serve, and to give them basic tools for planning to meet the threat.”

Dr. Lauren Barton, chief of staff for Medical Operations at Chrysler Corp.; Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group; Dr. David Siegel, senior medical director of Health Services Operations and Programs at General Motors Corp.; Lorine M. Spencer, public affairs specialist and community outreach liaison for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and other experts will explore the characteristics of pandemic influenza. They will examine its medical and social implications and possible ways to minimize its effect on business, the economy and everyday life.

A Wayne State University panel of experts will round out the conference discussing medical containment and effective communication in the heat of crisis. The panel includes Allen Batteau, associate professor of anthropology; Matthew Seeger, department chair of communication; Mark Upfal, M.D., associate professor of emergency medicine; and Suzanne White, M.D., the Dayanandun Professor and Chair of Emergency Medicine. For more information on the Wayne State faculty experts, go to www.pandemic.wayne.edu.

The conference will be 8 a.m. to noon, Friday, Oct. 5, in Scott Hall. Anyone interested in this important subject, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, students, public health practitioners and members of the business community are encouraged to attend. The registration fee is $40 per person; free to Wayne State University students and residents. To register online, visit www.pandemic.wayne.edu.

Joe Schwarz to speak at Pathfinders in Medicine Oct. 6

Former Congressman Joe Schwarz, M.D., a member of the Michigan Panel on Medical Education and Research, will be the keynote speaker at the School of Medicine’s annual Pathfinders in Medicine gala Saturday, Oct. 6. The annual event celebrates advances in health care while raising funds to ensure a new generation of doctors can follow their dreams. The cocktail reception starts at 6 p.m., with dinner and the program to follow. To RSVP or for more information, please visit http://www.med.wayne.edu/alumni/pathfinders/pdf/pathfinders-rsvp.pdf or call (313) 577-3465.

Fromm Research/WSU Surgical Alumni Day to be Oct. 17

The second annual David Fromm Research and WSU Surgical Alumni Day will be 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 17, in McGregor Conference Center. The Symposium will include research presentations given by faculty members of the WSU Department of Surgery or their resident/fellow designees. The purpose of the annual event honors David Fromm, M.D., former chairman of surgery, and his passion for and contributions made to surgical research. It also showcases the cutting-edge basic, translational, and clinical research currently done in the department; demonstrates that research remains an important priority for the department; encourages medical students and surgical residents to pursue a career in academic surgery; and recognizes the achievements of those who previously trained in the Department of Surgery.

If you are interested in attending, please R.S.V.P. to Leslie Sykes at lsykes@dmc.org or 313-745-7319 no later than Friday, Oct. 5. There is no charge for attending the Symposium. Free parking will be available from Parking Structure 1, on the northwest corner of Palmer and Cass.

The Richard J. Mazurek, M.D. Medical Education Commons Groundbreaking Ceremony, held on September 17, 2007, marked a monumental historic occasion for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. What initially originated as a vision to optimize on-campus educational experience for students and clinicians, has transformed into a reality. The Mazurek Medical Education Commons will elevate the learning and teaching opportunities for students and practicing physicians and serve as a model for the nation’s medical colleges.

The 53,000 square foot, two-story linear building will provide a new public face and image for the medical school. It will consolidate resources for undergraduate and graduate students and for physicians continuing their education in medicine. As of now, nearly $25 million had been raised in support of this project from private donors. In order to meet the challenge issued from The Kresge Foundation, The School of Medicine must raise $30 million toward the project goal. “The Kresge Foundation saw the potential at Wayne State University,” says the Dean of the School of Medicine, Robert M. Menzter, Jr., M.D. “Its $3 million challenge grant and guidance helped position of the School of Medicine to pursue a capital campaign of this magnitude.”

The development of the Medical Education Commons, named in honor of 1961 School of Medicine graduate, Richard James Mazurek, M.D., was made possible from the generous donations of Mazurek’s partner and business associate, Nick Labedz. The California real estate developer has donated a total of $25 million dollars to the School of Medicine, making him the single largest donor in the University’s 139-year existence. With $10.2 million of his donation funding the Commons facility, Labedz says that hard work and dedicated fundraising are the foundation of what have made this opportunity possible. “Seeing is believing,” says Labedz. “You can just tell there is a spirit in this city, I feel comfortable here. This (Medical Education Commons) will last years after we are gone, and no doubt affect thousands of patients here in Detroit.”

There were several influential speakers present to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony. Robert R. Frank, M.D., executive vice dean of the School of Medicine, Eugene Driker, chair of the board of governors, President Irvin D. Reid, Wayne State University, Robert M. Menzter, Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine, Tyler Southwell, president of the student senate, School of Medicine, and Nick J. Labedz, lead donor to the Richard J. Mazurek, M.D. Medical Education Commons.

Dr. Sorin Draghici, associate professor in the WSU Department of Computer Science, recently published an article in Genome Research demonstrating a new method of analyzing pathways of gene expression. The article was called “A Systems Biology Approach for Pathway Level Analysis.”

Currently ranked in the top 1.6 percent of the 6,164 technical scientific journals tracked by the Institute for Scientific Research, Genome Research has an impact factor above 10, a high proxy indicating its importance to its field. With publications such as this, Draghici, already having amassed almost $16 million in various grants as principal and co-principal investigator, and having a best-selling book in the field of bioinformatics, is finding a great deal of support for this breakthrough innovation.

“Any peer-reviewed journal filters their content through a panel of experts highly qualified in that particular scientific area,” said Draghici, who’s also the scientific director of the Bioinformatics Core at Karmanos Cancer Institute. “Prestigious journals with a very high impact factor such as Genome Research, have a very stringent editorial review process. The editors select only the papers that, in their opinion, can really have a significant impact in that research field. So, I’m obviously excited and honored for our work to be published in this journal.”

Draghici’s paper, a collaboration with world-renowned researchers from the National Institutes of Health’s Perinatology Research Branch lead by Dr. Roberto Romero, describes his new analysis method and compares its results with the classical analysis approaches currently used. This novel analysis method can identify the significantly impacted gene regulatory pathways in a given condition, such as lung cancer. Where classical methods fall short, as demonstrated in Draghici’s paper, is neglecting to take into consideration the roles the genes play in each pathway.

In consequence, the classical methods can produce both false-positives, pathways that are reported as being relevant when in reality they are not, as well as false-negatives, relevant pathways that are not identified. These methods rely too heavily on the number of differentially regulated genes that fall on each pathway rather than taking into consideration where each gene is positioned and what each gene does. Draghici’s method pays close attention to these aspects and can potentially identify regulatory pathways that can open the way to new therapeutic interventions in a large variety of conditions ranging from cancer, to pre-term labor and obesity.
Draghici’s research in this area has produced a set of tools (Onto-Tools), which has been made available as a service to the community for the past five years. These tools were the first of their kind, and more than 5,000 valid registered users from over 50 countries currently use them. The Onto-Tools are available free of charge at http://vortex.cs.wayne.edu. There are currently 10 tools available, including Pathway-Express, the most recent tool described in Draghici’s recently recognized paper.

Robin A. Hanks, Ph.D., will use three new National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research grants totaling $2.4 million to develop a more reliable measuring standard of fatigue among people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to improve the lives and health of such patients.

“These grants are important not only to further the science regarding outcomes after traumatic brain injury, but also because all of the research projects focus on improving recovery after brain injury, whether it be improved neural recovery, better diagnostic prediction of outcome with neuroimaging or better understanding and diagnosis of fatigue, but also the factors that help persons with brain injury be resilient and strong in their recovery and return to the community,” said Dr. Hanks, chief of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology for the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan and associate professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

The first grant, for $181,077, will develop a new measure of subjective fatigue among TBI patients. Fatigue is one of the most commonly reported symptoms by such patients, and may be a source for other issues attributed to TBI. However, current standards -- there are as many as 30 -- complicate the development of fatigue estimates, the documentation of the history of development of post-injury fatigue, and the design and evaluation of treatment, Dr. Hanks explained.

“This gap in knowledge is the lack of evidence supporting a specific fatigue scale, of the over 30 that have been used for clinical and/or research purposes, which is psychometrically sound, efficient and useful in individuals with TBI to assess treatment interventions and the natural history of fatigue following TBI,” she said.

Dr. Hanks’ research is designed to address this gap. She will evaluate the consistency of a variety of factors to identify a sound measure of fatigue. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center has partnered with the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan to develop a new fatigue scale, which will lead to improved studies and treatment plans for those with TBI.

A second grant of $593,000 will be used to investigate the relationships among strengths of character, structurally-imaged estimates of white matter damage in frontal brain regions, psychological resiliency and outcomes including satisfaction with life and community integration among TBI patients.

Eighty participants will undergo magnetic resonance imaging, and cognitive and psychosocial evaluation at six months to two years post-injury. Dr. Hanks expects to find that white matter damage in the ventromedial area of the brain “will show inverse associations” with self-reported resiliency. She anticipates that self-reported strengths of character (bravery, kindness, humor and spirituality) will show stronger positive associations with life satisfaction and community integration than other self-reported strengths of character, and that these relations will also hold true for resiliency among people with TBI.

Three temporary sites have opened to serve patrons of the Shiffman Medical Library, which closed in August to be renovated as part of the construction of the new Richard J. Mazurek M.D. Education Commons.
Temporary sites include:

1. Shiffman Library at Scott Hall, Room 2367;
2. Shiffman Library at Applebaum Learning Resources Center,
   Applebaum College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences,
   259 Mack Avenue, Room 330 (lower level); and
3. Shiffman Library at Rackham Building, 60 Farnsworth, between Woodward and Warren avenues, Room 044 (lower level).

Patrons may contact the Ask-a-Librarian
(please link to: http://www2.lib.wayne.edu/help/index.php?lib=shiffmanservice) before visiting temporary service sites to find out whether publications and other information services are available electronically or via telephone. For more information about each of the temporary sites and what’s offered, please visit: http://www.lib.wayne.edu/help/hours_med.php#shiffclosing.

The 2007 Pathfinders in Medicine Gala provides scholarship funding that makes the dream of attending medical school a reality for talented, dedicated young people. The scholarship funds supported through the Pathfinders Gala enable the WSU School of Medicine to inspire the next generation of doctors in this community and across the country. This event celebrates tomorrow’s health care advances by supporting aspiring physicians today.

Please join us in this remarkable endeavor.

The International Banquet and Conference Center inside the Atheneum Suite Hotel 1000 Brush Street Detroit, Michigan

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Cocktail Reception 6:00 p.m.
Program and Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Complimentary Valet Parking
Black Tie

$ 200 per person

Please visit http://www.med.wayne.edu/alumni/pathfinders/ for more information.

David Nerenz, Ph.D., director of the Center for Health Services Research and Outcomes Research at Henry Ford Health System’s Neuroscience Institute, will speak Tuesday, Sept. 18 on “Translating Research into Practice: How Do We Speed Up the Process of Moving Clinical Trial Results into Routine Medical Care?” The talk is part of the School of Medicine’s efforts to pursue a National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award. For more information on the talk, which will be at 8 a.m., in Harper University Hospital’s Kresge Auditorium, please visit

http://www.ctsa.wayne.edu/pdfs/nerenz_david_9_18_07__1.pdf.