The American Association of University Professors – American Federation of Teachers Academic Staff Steering Committee at Wayne State University will coordinate a book donation campaign to benefit Pro-Literacy Detroit.

The committee will place a bin for the collection of “gently-used” books from faculty and students in the Scott Hall cafeteria. Additional collection bins will be placed throughout the entire Wayne State University campus. The drive begins Jan. 7 and ends Jan. 31.

“Our donations will help Pro-Literacy Detroit maintain its goals of working toward every resident of Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck having the opportunity to be an informed citizen and a supportive and involved parent,” said Ms. Simone Brennan, director of Standardized Patient Program, Conjoint Teaching Services.

Pro-Literacy Detroit is also seeking reading tutors. For more information, visit www.proliteracydetroit.org.

Dr. Bruce Deschere, past president of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Alumni Board, is treating members of the U.S. armed forces and civilians in Afghanistan.

Dr. Deschere, who joined the U.S. Navy last year “for the fun, adventure and a chance to serve,” is stationed in Afghanistan for one year in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The lieutenant commander serves as a physician mentor at the new military hospital near Herat, in the western region of the country.

In late September, the hospital at which Deschere serves provided a Civil Medical Affair Program that brought almost 3,000 villagers to the base for health care and humanitarian aid.

The Armed Forces Network conducted some interviews at the base hospital, and one featuring Dr. Deschere was posted to the Internet. You can view the video at the following link: http://www.dvidshub.net/vjump.php?vid=29455.

Dr. Deschere also maintains a blog at mountainsailor.blogspot.com.

The Department of Family Medicine named Dr. Deschere an associate professor on the volunteer faculty.

Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid hosted a discussion on viable and sustainable health care reform based on a new book written by the School of Medicine’s Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr. and four co-authors

“Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform,” which President Reid called “a powerful little book that shows what can be done to confront this critical issue,” details the 10-year path of the Voices of Detroit Initiative. That project, launched in 1998 with a $5 million grant from the Kellog Foundation, sought to ease the strain on emergency rooms used by the uninsured as primary care facilities by providing access to true primary care.

“I’m so proud of the City of Detroit for what we have done as a community for the people of Detroit,” said Dr. Smitherman, who also serves as assistant dean of Community and Urban Health for the School of Medicine. “In the book, we are really only cataloging what we have done. This is 10 years of our lives. We started with a $5 million grant. That money is now gone, but we’re still here. That is a testament to the City of Detroit.”

Joining Dr. Smitherman in writing “Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform” were James D. Chesney, Ph.D; Cynthia Taueg, B.S.N., M.P.H., D.H.A.; Jennifer Mach, M.D., M.P.H.; and Lucille Smith, M.Ed.

“The School of Medicine is absolutely committed to this issue,” said Dr. Robert M. Mentzer Jr., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the president for medical affairs. Dr. Mentzer introduced Dr. Smitherman at the Dec. 14 book presentation. “This is the most critical issue facing the city and country today. It’s in the conscience of every American. This book shows us a wonderful model.”

Originally tasked with addressing the primary care needs of 27,500 patients, the initiative far surpassed that goal by assisting 33,093 uninsured Detroit residents. That number represents slightly more than 13.8 percent of the uninsured residents of the city. A majority of those cared for under the initiative were African-American (92.4 percent). Fifty-seven percent of enrollees were women and 69 percent were single. Sixty-four percent represented households with incomes of less than $1,000 per month.

The program continues today.

“Collaboration was key,” Dr. Smitherman noted. “If we got the enrollees out of emergency rooms and into a primary care setting, they stayed.”

The program established 11 new primary care access sites in addition to providing primary care for the uninsured and easing the strain on emergency rooms.

Co-author Dr. James Chesney, a member of the Policy Initiatives Consulting Group, based in Ann Arbor, noted the timing of the discussion of the Voices of Detroit Initiative and the release of the book coinciding with the ongoing presidential debates.

“Like politics, health care is local,” Dr. Chesney said. “The presidential candidates must be made to understand the role of local input. This will not be solved at the national level. We have the model; we know it will work. The leap has been taken.”

To that end, the authors developed policy recommendations that include supporting community initiatives for the uninsured, universal coverage and care, funding primary care linked to the continuum of care, funding specialty care linked to the continuum of care and organizing charity care.

For library services during the holiday closure, please e-mail askmed@wayne.edu or call 313-577-1094. The computer lab in Scott Hall will remain open during the university closure. The library service office in 2367 Scott Hall will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 24th and Wednesday, December 26th through Friday, December 28th.

Beth Golden, R.N., has joined the Wayne State University School of Medicine as director of Clinical Trials.

Ms. Golden, who joined the School of Medicine in August, comes to Wayne State University from the Karmanos Cancer Institute, where she served as director of Clinical Trials for 4 ½ years.

While at the institute, she provided oversight for patient and regulatory data management for a majority of cancer clinical trials. Her work at the institute led to her appointment by the National Cancer Institute to one of two nursing committee positions on the Central Institutional Review Board.

Ms. Golden graduated from the Salvation Army School of Nursing in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 1971. She received her bachelor’s degree in Nursing in 1983. While now residing in Bloomfield Hills, the Canadian native hails from a small farming community outside of Windsor, where her family has owned the same farm for the past 150 years.

“I came to the School of Medicine because I was asked to provide leadership in creating a new clinical trials office,” Ms. Golden said. “I hope to have the Clinical trials Office become an integral part in assisting the faculty of Wayne State University in the conduct of research clinical trials.”

The Clinical Trials Office provides data management and oversight functions for coordinating, facilitating and reporting on the clinical trials of the institutions that define the university. Quality control functions include education and training services for data managers, data auditing, and oversight of data safety and monitoring to comply with federal requirements.

Medicine may move several steps closer to successful treatment of deadly pancreatic cancer with a National Institutes of Health grant awarded to a Wayne State University School of Medicine researcher.

Professor Ramzi M. Mohammad, Ph.D., professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology & Oncology, at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and a researcher with the Karmanos Cancer Institute, has been awarded a $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new treatment for pancreatic cancer.

The prestigious RO1 grant, which funds research for five years, will be used, said Dr. Mohammed, to introduce “a new and novel concept to treat this deadly disease.”

Often considered the most deadly form of cancer, pancreatic cancer is a malignant tumor within the pancreatic gland. Each year, more than 33,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Only four percent of patients diagnosed with the affliction are expected to survive. Depending on the extent of the tumor at the time of diagnosis, the prognosis is generally regarded as poor. Few victims are still alive five years after diagnosis, and complete remission remains extremely rare.

Pancreatic cancer can be called a silent disease because many times the symptoms go unnoticed until the cancer is in the advanced stage. If there are early indications and symptoms, they are often mistakenly attributed to another condition.

In earlier research, Dr. Mohammad developed a method that allows the growth of human pancreatic tumor cells within the body of a mouse. He has demonstrated that human tumor cells can be injected into a mouse’s pancreas, and the tumor can than be successfully treated. Essentially, Dr. Mohammad is treating human tumors in a non-human host, and finding success in treatment of those human pancreatic tumors. The unique model preserves the human cell structure within the body of the mouse.

With this latest grant, Dr. Mohammad aims to improve the efficacy of standard chemotherapy, which could lead to improved treatment of tumors in humans.