Dennis G. Drescher, Ph.D. was recently awarded a five-year research grant for $1,615,000 by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health for the investigation of the biochemistry of inner-ear neurotransmission, work expected to one day lead to pharmacological or prosthetic treatment of hearing loss and impairment.

This NIH R01, now in its 28th year and scheduled to be funded through year 32, was previously designated a seven-year Senator Jacob K. Javits and Claude Pepper Award, the first at Wayne State University.

Dr. Drescher is professor and director of Molecular Research in the Department of Otolaryngology, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Dr. Drescher, the principal investigator, along with Marian Drescher, Ph.D., who serves as co-principal investigator, and research associate Neeliyath Ramakrishnan, Ph.D., study the molecular biology, biochemistry and neurochem­istry of the hair-cell receptoneural transmission.

The objective of Dr. Drescher’s newly-funded grant is to identify the ear’s sensory-cell and efferent nerve transmitters at the periphery, the receptors mediating their actions and the basic biochemical events occurring in hair-cell synaptic transmission as modulated by these transmitters. Research outcomes from this grant offer the possibility of biochemical and pharmacologic manipulation of afferent signaling in auditory deficits such as deafness, tinnitus and dizziness.

“The work we are doing will allow the development of medications that specifically target inner-ear disorders, such as deafness, tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and vertigo (dizziness), at their sites of origin in the cell,” Dr. Drescher said. “These hearing and balance problems can be especially debilitating in old age. The word ‘specific’ is the key; we want to minimize side effects. Further, since we are all exposed to noise -- which eventually causes permanent hearing loss -- we could benefit from medications that mimic or amplify the natural neurotransmitters that protect the ear’s sensory cells.”

Dr. Drescher’s investigation targets the hair-cell synaptic complex, including the calcium channel, and the inner-ear protein, otoferlin, which when mutated causes a form of genetic deafness called DFNB9. Patients with the disorder produce otoacoustic emissions, indicating that a portion of their ear functions, but the signal is not transmitted to the central nervous system.

Another subject addressed involves native neuroprotective mechanisms for type I afferent dendrites beneath inner hair cells via the neurotransmitter dopamine, important in countering excitotoxicity and noise-induced deafness.

“New techniques of gene-replacement therapy will be used more and more for replacing defective inner-ear proteins and restoring hearing in patients -- especially children -- who have inherited deafness,” he said. “I expect these kinds of applications to occur increasingly in the next 10 years.”

Dr. Drescher is the author and co-author of more than 90 scientific papers, reviews, chapters and GenBank submissions, more than 160 published abstracts, and has trained more than  50 postdoctoral fellows-residents and numerous medical students. He is credited with the first purification of an inner-ear enzyme, cochlear carbonic anhydrase. He is a member of the editorial board of Hearing Research, has served on numerous federal grant review committees and participates as a reviewer for many scientific journals. His laboratory’s work on otoferlin and the hair-cell synaptic complex has recently been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers recently discovered that the chemical glutamate plays a major role in children with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

David Rosenberg, M.D., the Miriam L. Hamburger Endowed Chair of Child Psychiatry and professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, collaborated with researchers at the University of Michigan, Children’s Hospital of Michigan and University of Toronto/ Hospital for Sick Kids. This international team discovered that the chemical glutamate plays a key role in children with OCD.

OCD is a debilitating neuropsychiatric condition that affects approximately 1 percent to 3 percent of the population worldwide. As many as 80 percent of all OCD cases begin in childhood and adolescence. In Dr. Rosenberg’s study, children with OCD had abnormal glutamate levels in key brain regions that were reversible with effective treatment.

“Since our initial findings at Wayne State University, basic neuroscience, genetic, brain imaging and novel treatment development studies all converged to show that glutamate has a key role in OCD,” Dr. Rosenberg said. “If we think of serotonin as analogous to light that lets us see in the dark, glutamate is the brain's light switch or brain modulator which helps turn serotonin and other chemicals off and on.”

Wayne State’s researchers, along with Gregory Hanna, M.D., of the University of Michigan and researchers at the University of Toronto/Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto, Ontario, have a longstanding collaboration and recently published the first OCD study combining brain imaging and genetics studies in the same children with OCD in the March 2009 issue of the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior.  All brain images and blood samples were collected at Wayne State with blood samples genetically analyzed in Drs. James Kennedy and Paul Arnold’s laboratory at the University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Kids.

The studies found significant associations between glutamate receptor and transporter genes and abnormal brain volumes in brain regions implicated in OCD such as the thalamus (“grand central station” in the brain), caudate nucleus (the brain's “secretary”), anterior cingulate cortex (the brain's arousal center) and orbital prefrontal cortex (the brain's “executive decision maker”).

This work showing glutamate abnormalities in OCD has significant treatment implications. Based in part on initial findings at the School of Medicine showing glutamate abnormalities in OCD, new treatment approaches using glutamate modulator drugs such as riluzole, which is used for treating Lou Gehring’s disease, and others have been used in adults and children with OCD. Initial studies have shown great promise, and studies using riluzole are being conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health in children with OCD. The trial is ongoing and results are unavailable.

“This study at NIMH demonstrates how work first done at Wayne State University not only has scientific implications but has key translational relevance in bringing work from the bench to the bedside with potential clinical ramifications,” Dr. Rosenberg said. Wayne State University, the University of Michigan and the University of Toronto/Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto have recently submitted a Collaborative R01 grant to NIMH that is being considered for funding. Wayne State University is the lead site and coordinating center on this application.

A second paper was recently published online and will be available in the May issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging by the same team of researchers. This paper continues the team’s study of pediatric OCD patients and is the first published report examining the relationship between genetic variation and a neurochemical phenotype in OCD. This study found that there is a significant association between variation in a key glutamate receptor gene and glutamate levels in the brain’s arousal center, the anterior cingulate cortex. No association was found between genetic markers and brain imaging measures in brain regions not implicated in the pathology of OCD.

Along with Dr. Rosenberg, collaborators on the projects include Frank P. MacMaster, Ph.D., Yousha Mirza, M.D., Phillip Easter, research assistant, and Michelle Rose, research assistant, of Wayne State University and The Children’s Hospital of Michigan; Gregory Hanna, M.D., University of Michigan; Paul Daniel Arnold, M.D., Hospital of Sick Kids and the University of Toronto; and Margaret A. Richter, M.D.,Tricia Sicard, research assistant, Eliza Burroughs, research assistant, and James Kennedy, M.D.,University of Toronto.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine chapter of the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association is conducting a bone marrow registry drive.

Part of a national effort by the association, School of Medicine students are promoting visits to the Web site of the National Marrow Donor Program. On the site, visitors can fill out some basic information and the organization will send a registry kit. The kit contains items and instructions to perform a simple cheek swab, which can then be sent back to the program for inclusion in the registry.

“There is a definite underrepresentation of minority populations in the Bone Marrow Registery,” said Carllin Man, a first-year medical student with the chapter. “The chapter is also considering a partnership with other organizations to conduct a bone marrow drive.”

Normally the swab kit costs $52, but by entering the code APAMSA509 through May 4, registrants will see the fee waived, Man said. After May 4, the fee will be assessed.

“It’s a great opportunity for those who want to help others who require a life-saving bone marrow transplant to be added to the registry,” Man added.

The chapter also plans to send emails promoting the registry to all School of Medicine students.

To register, visit www.marrow.org.

Two members of the Wayne State University School of Medicine have been invited to speak at the second International Symposium, hosted by the Jordan University of Science & Technology in Amman, Jordan.

Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the president for Medical Affairs, and Salik A. Jahania, M.D., a cardiothoracic surgeon and associate professor of the Department of Surgery, will present at the symposium, titled “Myocardial Protection From Bench to Clinical Application,” May 2-5.

The meeting, which will feature cardiac physicians from around the world, will focus on recent advances in myocardial protection, heart failure and myocardial hypertrophy, said Dr. Said Y. Khatib, chairman of the symposium. The conference will provide a platform for scientists, physicians and academics to learn and discuss the latest research findings on myocardial protection, he said.

The symposium is organized by the Department of Physiology at the Jordan University of Science & Technology. Dr. Khatib is chairman of the department.

Dean Mentzer, a renowned heart and transplant surgeon, will speak on “Protecting the Heart During Cardiac Surgery” and is scheduled as the guest speaker. Dr. Jahania will present “Autophagy and Preconditioning in the Heart” and “The Impact of Antiplatlet Therapy on Outcome in Cardiac Surgery.”

“This will be an important opportunity to further spread the word about the fantastic work and research being conducted at our School of Medicine,” Dean Mentzer said. “The School of Medicine is held in high regard around the world, and to be invited to speak at this symposium is a strong recognition of the reputation of Wayne State University.”

Dean Mentzer and Dr. Jahania are co-principal investigators for the HeartNet, a nickel-titanium alloy mesh that snugs around the heart to assist pumping action in patients with enlarged hearts and congestive heart failure. The doctors implanted the device in a 49-year-old Hamtramck man April 1, 2008, in the first such procedure in Michigan. The HeartNet was implanted in a second patient, who also is recovering well, March 31, 2009.

The School of Medicine was selected as one of 34 North American sites to conduct the clinical study.

Implanting HeartNet requires a small incision in the chest rather than traditional open heart surgery. The mesh sleeve is fed into the chest cavity with a device containing a number of retractable fingers. Once the mesh is placed around the heart, the fingers are retracted and the implantation tool removed. HeartNet does not have to be sutured to the heart.

The less-invasive procedure provides faster recovery and shorter hospital stays.

Researchers for the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute presented data at the American Association for Cancer Research’s 100th Annual Meeting in Denver that could potentially provide a brighter future for children who suffer from a more deadly form of acute leukemia.

Yubin Ge, Ph.D., and Chengzhi Xie, Ph.D., presented a poster at the conference revealing that a combination of FDA-approved drugs works synergistically to help children with acute myeloid leukemia.

Dr. Ge is an assistant professor with the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics and Karmanos. Dr. Xie is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Developmental Therapeutics Program at Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine. He also is a lecturer with the College of Life Science at Jilin University in Changchun, China.

AML, which originates in bone marrow, accounts for one-fourth of acute leukemia in children and is responsible for more than half of the leukemia deaths in this population. Approximately 600 children are diagnosed with AML each year, said Dr. Ge, and there is no effective drug treatment for those children should they relapse.

“Right now, we are at a bottleneck,” Dr. Ge said. “We really want to find a better treatment for those relapsed cases.”

Dr. Ge and fellow researchers considered drugs that are already FDA-approved to help fight AML. Resistance among patients to FDA-approved cytarabine is a major cause of treatment failure in AML. Scientists considered clofarabine, approved by the FDA in 2004, and paired it with valproic acid, typically used to treat epilepsy. They found the two drugs worked together to dramatically stimulate cell death.

“We considered an old drug for a new use,” Dr. Ge said. “It looks like the increased drug activity or synergy is not due to the transport or delivery of clofarabine, but to enhanced cell death. We were so pleased with the results.”

AML afflicts mostly adults – about 10,000 new cases each year – and strikes older children. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia usually affects children between the ages of 2 and 5 and is generally easier to treat. Treatment advancements for AML, however, have been less successful.

Dr. Ge said researchers discovered the synergy between valproic acid and clofarabine only a few months ago, though departmental research has spanned some 15 years in the field of treating childhood leukemia. The current research represents a unique partnership between Dr. Ge, his Karmanos colleagues, and Jeffrey W. Taub, M.D., a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and associate professor with the School of Medicine.

Dr. Ge expects the findings will move into the clinical phase in the next few years. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., is now conducting its own clinical drug trial studying the combined effects of valproic acid and cytarabine to treat newly diagnosed AML patients 21 and younger.

“This is truly translational research,” Dr. Ge said. “We really want to translate what we do in the laboratory to the clinic and hopefully save more lives.”

A Wayne State University School of Medicine professor who served as editor-in-chief of a new online pediatric care resource and co-edited a recently released textbook on pediatric care has been honored with the Wayne State University Board of Governors Faculty Recognition Award.

Deepak M. Kamat M.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.P., professor of Pediatrics and vice chair of Education for the Department of Pediatrics for the School of Medicine, and director of the Institute of Medical Education Department of Pediatrics, was one of five faculty members selected for the award from among Wayne State University’s approximately 3,000 full- and part-time faculty members.

“I truly feel honored that I was one of the five faculty from the entire university who were selected for this award,” he said.

He was nominated for the honor by Mary Lu Angelilli, M.D., associate professor of Pediatrics for the School of Medicine and chief of staff at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and Srinivasan Suresh, M.D., M.B.A., assistant professor of Pediatrics & Emergency Medicine for the School of Medicine, and associate director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

Dr. Kamat received a framed citation, a plaque and $2,500.

The board recognized Dr. Kamat for his role as editor-in-chief of Pediatric Care Online and as a key editor of “American Academy of Pediatrics Textbook for Pediatric Care,” the first edition of pediatric textbook published by the academy.

“Dr. Kamat’s knowledge of pediatrics and his extraordinary teaching and communication abilities have been recognized by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the premier organization of pediatricians in the United States,” the board recognition reads. “The academy invited Dr. Kamat to serve as editor-in-chief of Pediatric Care Online, an online resource that delivers reliable information quickly to child health care providers … anywhere in the world. This is a revolutionary next-generation point-of-practice resource.

“The Board of Governors is pleased to recognize Dr. Kamat for his critical role in the creation of this essential resource that promises to improve the health of children around the world.”

The awards were established in 1974 to recognize faculty who have distinguished themselves through a particular accomplishment during the previous academic year.

Thomas McInerny, M.D., editor-in-chief of the book, asked Dr. Kamat to co-edit the textbook because of his reputation and service on a number of editorial boards. Dr. Kamat serves on the editorial boards of five journals.

Dr. Kamat also is editing the "Textbook of Pediatric Global Health" for the American Academy of Pediatrics. He called the book a comprehensive and practice-focused, with step-by-step and evidence-based approaches to clinical situations.

Three of the five Wayne State University students selected to present their research to state legislators as part of Michigan Graduate Week attend the School of Medicine.

Daniel Barkmeier, Anna Valina-Toth and Amanda Lawson-Gedman traveled to Lansing on April 23 to represent WSU among the 60 graduate students from 15 colleges and universities who displayed their research for lawmakers at the Capitol Building. The displays were part of Michigan Graduate Education Week, April 20-24, proclaimed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The week is designed to highlight the importance of graduate education and its impact on employment opportunities in the state.

“The importance of such an event cannot be stressed enough at a time when the state is cutting appropriations to the research-intensive universities,” said Ambika Mathur, Ph.D., assistant dean of Combined Degree Programs and Postdoctoral Affairs for the School of Medicine. “The presentations by our students served to demonstrate to the legislators the excellence in research training that is provided to students at Wayne, and in particular by the faculty and training programs in the School of Medicine. This was underscored by the two M.D./Ph.D. students presenting at this event, both of whom have been awarded prestigious individual fellowships. This type of recognition of our student success is important to raise the awareness of the excellence of graduate training in the School of Medicine and Wayne StateUniversity as a whole amongst the legislative body of our state. This served as a great opportunity for the students to interact with our elected officials and to serve as ambassadors of the university and the medical school.”

Dr. Mathur, also a professor of the Department of Pediatrics, said WSU’s Graduate School sent e-mails to all graduate program officers across all schools and colleges soliciting applications from graduate students. An internal committee reviewed all submitted scientific abstracts from the students and conducted interviews with them before selecting the five best to send to Lansing.

Valina-Toth holds a much-coveted F31 fellowship awarded by the National Institutes of Health. Barkmeier is the recipient of an award from the Epilepsy Foundation.

Barkmeier, who has completed two years of medical school and is in his third year of graduate school, said his research was well received. “Several visitors told me stories of people close to them who had epilepsy and expressed their gratitude and optimism for my project.”

His research involves attempting to gain a better understanding of epilepsy and development of a possible cure. “After studying human brain tissue removed during epilepsy surgery, we have identified the key molecular pathways involved in epilepsy,” he said. “My project is to create an animal model that accurately mirrors these pathways and then to use this model to test new, targeted therapeutics.

“I am honored to be given the chance to show our community the wonderful research that takes place at Wayne State,” Barkmeier said.

Scientists from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute recently presented data at the American Association for Cancer Research’s 100th annual meeting in Denver that represents significant research advancements in the treatment of the most aggressive forms of invasive breast cancer.

The researchers discovered that when an Food and Drug Administration-approved cancer treatment typically used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma was administered before a novel experimental antitumor agent -- which works best in breast cancers expressing the estrogen receptor (ER) -- estrogen receptors were reinstated in receptor-negative breast cancer cells so that treatment was also effective in fighting the difficult to treat ER-negative disease.

The research was supervised by Angelika Burger, Ph.D., director of the Translational Research Laboratory at the Karmanos Cancer Institute and professor of the Department of Pharmacology at the School of Medcine. Karri Stark, a doctoral candidate with the School of Medicine, presented the findings.

Researchers have paired vorinostat, known by its pharmaceutical name Zolinza®, with Aminoflavone Prodrug (also known as AFP464) and found that AFP464 and vorinostat work together to inhibit the growth of triple-negative breast cancer cells. “Triple-negative” refers to breast cancer cells that have no estrogen, progesterone or HER2 receptors needed for currently available, targeted anticancer therapies to work effectively.

AFP464 is now in Phase I clinical trials at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and other cancer research centers in Paris and Brussels in Europe.

Dr. Burger said the findings offer particular hope to those women battling triple-negative breast cancer.

“We could now find a way to treat every kind of invasive, metastatic breast cancer, the ER-positive and ER-negative types with AFP464,” she said. “The synergism is very impressive. We always knew vorinostat can reprogram the expression of cancer cells.”

AFP464 has been in Phase I clinical trial for the last year and a half, in which doses were given to patients with solid tumors. Dr. Burger said the next step is to take the anti-cancer agent to the second phase, where researchers administer to triple-negative breast cancer patients the drug alone or in combination with vorinostat. She expects that to occur in the next year and said that Karmanos could host one of those second-phase trials.

“We are currently conducting animal experiments with the single agents and the drug combination,” Dr. Burger said. “Triple-negative breast cancers might respond against that drug (AFP464).”

Triple-negative breast cancer afflicts mostly young women under the age of 40 and is more prevalent in the African-American community. About 182,460 women in the United States were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2008 and about 40,480 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society. Dr. Burger said that about 14 percent to 18 percent of breast cancer cases are triple-negative.

She expects that this research could translate to real-world applications in the next five years.

“These are targeted agents that are being tested,” Dr. Burger said. “Having a drug available to treat triple-negative breast cancer would be a major step in fighting this disease.”

David Kessel, Ph.D., president of the Wayne State University Academy of Scholars, has announced the election of two new members to the prestigious academy.

Charles Schiffer, M.D., and Yaddanapudi Ravindranath, M.B.B.S., are the latest faculty members to receive the highest recognition the university can bestow. They will be formally inducted during the academy’s annual banquet in October.

“Dr. Schiffer has been one of this country’s leading hematologist/oncologists, with national and international prominence as an expert on malignant diseases of the blood and blood-forming organs,” said Dr. Kessel, a professor of Pharmacology with the School of Medicine. “Dr Ravindranath is also a nationally and internationally recognized physician scientist in the area of childhood cancer and blood diseases.”

Dr. Schiffer, an expert in the treatment of leukemia, is a professor of Internal Medicine and Oncology for the School of Medicine, in the Division of Hematology, and with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.

“I was most pleasantly surprised to learn about my inclusion in the academy since I was unaware that I had been nominated and was being considered,” Dr. Schiffer said from Amman, Jordan, recently. “I am very honored by this recognition and am proud to join this prestigious group of accomplished teachers and researchers.”

Dr. Ravindranath, a professor of the Department of Pediatrics, is the Georgie Ginopolis Chair for Pediatric Cancer and Hematology at the School of Medicine and co-director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology of Children's Hospital of Michigan and Karmanos Cancer Institute.

"It is a high honor to be recognized in this manner by the academy for the work I have done with love and pleasure for the betterment of the children I take care of,” Dr. Ravindranath said. “It is with great humility and respect I accept this privilege, and thank my patients for believing in me and the community and colleagues who have supported me all these years.”

Founded in 1979, the Academy of Scholars recognizes outstanding scholarship and creative achievement among faculty members at Wayne State University. Election to the lifetime membership is the highest recognition that may be bestowed upon faculty by their colleagues.

Prospective members are nominated by academy members, department chairs or deans. Once a nomination is received, outside letters of recommendation are solicited by the academy. To be elected, a candidate must receive 75 percent of the votes cast by members of the academy. The academy currently consists of 64 members.

One of the nation’s preeminent experts on cardiovascular medicine will give a presentation at the Wayne State University School of Medicine next month.

Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the president for Medical Affairs, announced that Peter Libby, M.D., will speak on “Vascular Biology of Acute Ischemic Syndromes” as the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture.

Dr. Libby, chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will present his lecture May 19 at 4 pm. in Scott Hall.

"Dr. Libby is an eminent cardiovascular clinician-scientist who has achieved international recognition for his seminal contributions to our understanding of atherosclerosis and inflammation,” said Karin Przyklenk, Ph.D., professor of the Departments of Physiology and Emergency Medicine, and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute. The institute, along with the School of Medicine, is co-presenting Dr. Libby’s lecture. “We are honored that Dr. Libby has accepted our invitation to deliver the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture and share his insights with our faculty."

A member of the Association of American Physicians and the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Dr. Libby has served as chairman of several research committees and as a member of the executive committees of the councils on atherosclerosis, circulation and basic science for the American Heart Association. He has been a frequent consultant to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, including serving five years on its Board of Scientific Councilors. He received a MERIT Award from the NHLBI. His clinical expertise includes the areas of general and preventive cardiology, and his current research focus is on the role of inflammation in vascular diseases.

The School of Medicine has designated one Continuing Medical Education credit for the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture.

Dr. Libby’s lecture will take place in Room 3125 in Scott Hall. Seating is limited; please RSVP to rstecko@med.wayne.edu.

The following day, May 20, Dr. Libby will give the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education’s 32nd Annual Lecture in Medicine and Surgery. He will speak on cardiovascular disease and inflammation at Meadow Brook Hall. Details will be announced at a later date.

Bruce Berkowitz, Ph.D., professor of the Departments of Anatomy/Cell Biology and Ophthalmology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been named a 2009 Silver Fellow by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.

The prestigious award is presented by the world’s largest vision research organization to colleagues who have contributed high-impact research in the field of vision science and eye care. This honor expects that Fellows will continue to serve as role models and mentors for individuals pursuing careers in vision and ophthalmology research and to further ARVO’s vision.

Dr. Berkowitz’s research is aimed at preventing vision loss and blindness due to diabetic retinopathy by using prognostic functional magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers that detect the effectiveness of a treatment earlier in the course of disease than is currently possible.

“In addition to my research contributions, I was on the editorial board for Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, the journal that ARVO publishes for its members.” Dr. Berkowitz said. “I am grateful to the association to be recognized.”

He will be inducted at the organization's 2009 annual meeting in May.

The Wayne State University Library System is offering a lecture on research and scholarly publishing issues April 23.

The lecture will cover topics such as the rights of an author, who may profit from your publications, who has access to your work, whether you hold a copyright to your work and what is considered fair use.

Lee Van Orsdel, dean of Grand Valley State University Libraries, will address these issues from 11 a.m. to noon in the Kresge Library Auditorium. The event is open to faculty and graduate students involved in research and publishing. Van Orsdel will focus on issues related to alternative methods of publishing, the rising price of journal subscriptions, protecting and retaining author’s rights, open access to research information and how these issues impact the process by which academics conduct and distribute their research.

For more information, contact Anne Hudson, Wayne State librarian, at al7470@wayne.edu or 577-1168.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority will co-sponsor a national forum for health authorities, health coalitions and other health professionals dedicated to the health care safety net serving the uninsured and underinsured.

“Weaving a Seamless Fabric of Services for the Uninsured,” set for May 14-15 at the School of Medicine, will include topics such as Health Care Disparities, Chronic Disease Management, National Health Policy Update, Hospital-Safety Net Relations and Behavioral Health.

“Our sponsorship of this conference is reflective of the School of Medicine’s tradition of commitment to the health needs of urban Detroit,” said Robert Frank, M.D., executive vice dean of the School of Medicine. “This will be a valuable learning environment for administrative and medical leaders of safety net organizations.”

Two School of Medicine faculty members will address the conference. John M. Flack, M.D., M.P.H., Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, is a widely recognized specialist in clinical hypertension and serves as principal investigator of the Center for Urban and African American Health at WayneState University. The center is one of eight established in the United States by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study population health and health disparities. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr., M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P, is assistant dean of Community and Urban Health and assistant professor of the Department of Medicine. He has been recommended by a Detroit congressman to President Barack Obama’s administration for consideration as the next U.S. surgeon general. Dr. Smitherman is co-author of “Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform,” a book detailing 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 for the under- and uninsured of the Detroit region.

The conference, Dr. Frank said, will provide a unique collegial environment for sharing best practices, discussing clinical and administrative issues, and gaining insight into the implications of dynamic changes in national health policy as they pertain to the health care safety net.

“Health care safety net organizations throughout the country are feeling the pressure of meeting the needs of the increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured. While we anticipate improvements as a result of the federal stimulus payments and improvements in our health policy, the challenge safety net organizations will still face unprecedented pressure,” said Chris Allen, chief executive officer of the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority. “We designed this conference to provide a way for safety net providers to learn from each other and to develop collegial relationships that will allow us to better advocate on behalf of our needs.”

The conference has been planned and implemented in accordance with the essential areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for continuing Education through the joint sponsorship of the School of Medicine and the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority. The school is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians attending the conference.

Registration for the two-day conference, including a dinner presentation and other meals, is $400. To register, visit www.med.wayne.edu/cme  or call (313) 577-1180.

A highly anticipated day arrives April 21, as the first departments and offices of the Wayne State University School of Medicine begin moving into the newly constructed Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons.

Ron Spalding, chief administrative officer of Academic and Student Programs for the School of Medicine, announced that a number of departments will move into their newly completed offices. Those offices, furbished with new furniture and already bearing the names of their occupants outside their doors, will house student services personnel, the first to make the transition.

Access to “The Mazurek,” as Spalding said the new structure should be commonly called, will be restricted to the walkway located behind the lecture halls on the second floor of Scott Hall.

“Construction has taken just under two years, and it has gone very smoothly,” said Spalding, who praised the construction company and project manager. “There have been no real delays or problems. We’re right on track, right where we wanted to be.”

A grand opening celebration is scheduled for the first week in June.

While these first departments will begin to move into their new locations, all areas of the new building are not open to the public, students or faculty. Restricted areas will be cordoned off with yellow construction site tape. Work in restricted areas continues, so while curiosity is only natural, Spalding said safety concerns require not crossing the boundaries of those identified areas.

The scheduled move dates, office closings and reopening for business in their new locations are detailed below:

Records and Registration will move April 21. The office is expected to be closed April 17-22, with reopening planned for April 23.

Academic & Student Programs will move April 27. The office will offer limited services April 24-27, and plans to reopen with limited services April 28.

The Co-Curricular Office will move April 27. The office will be closed April 28-29, with a planned reopening April 30.

Financial Aid moves into its new office April 28. The office will be closed April 24-28, and will reopen April 29.

Student Affairs moves April 29, and will be closed April 27-29. The office will reopen April 30.

Medical Education Support Group offices move into the new building May 4, and will be closed beginning at noon May 1 through May 5. The office will reopen May 6.

The Office of Diversity moves May 5 and will be closed May 4-6, reopening May 7.

The Admissions Office is set to move May 6. It will be closed beginning at noon May 4 through May 7, reopening May 8.

The Testing Office will move May 7, and is expected to be closed only for that day.

The Clinical Skills Center is scheduled to move May 21, and will be closed May 21-26, with a targeted reopening of May 27.

In addition, officials at the Shiffman Library have announced several date and hour changes related to the library’s move into the new structure.

On April 20, the library begins moving into the building. The library’s opening to the public is set for May 26.

New library hours, beginning May 25 through June 7, will be 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Reference services will be available by telephone at (313) 577-1094 or by email at askmed@wayne.edu during the move.

As other areas of the building are completed and readied for occupancy, Spalding said, additional announcements of scheduled moves will be made.

Students of the Wayne State University School of Medicine are laying the groundwork to open a new free community clinic to serve the people of Detroit.

The clinic, second-year medical student Dorothy Gotlib said, is tentatively expected to open in August.

“We have a lot of work to get done before then, but we feel confident we can open then,” said Gotlib, 26, of Ann Arbor, who is spearheading the clinic with co-executive director Robert McWhirter, also a second-year student with the School of Medicine.

Sixty School of Medicine students are involved in opening and volunteering to staff the clinic, Gotlib said. The students are seeking faculty members to assist in staffing the clinic and to volunteer their services so that patients can be referred to them by clinic staff for follow-up treatment.

The students plan to enter into an agreement with the Mercy Primary Care Center free clinic located at 5555 Connor Ave. The student-run clinic will be open one evening a month, after the normal operating hours of the Mercy staff.

“We entered into the partnership because we believed there was no point in starting from scratch and securing or remodeling our own building,” Gotlib explained.

Margaret Meyers, M.D., medical director of the Mercy Primary Care Center Clinic, said an agreement for the student clinic is being negotiated.

“Anything we can do to expand services we fully support,” said Dr. Meyers, a 1990 graduate of the School of Medicine. “For students this is good because they can see the importance of such services and hopefully carry that forward in their careers.”

Dr. Meyers said that the combined efforts of all the free clinics, federally qualified health care centers and health department services within the city can meet the needs of only 50,000 uninsured patients in Detroit. That capacity, she said, falls far short of the estimated 250,000 uninsured residents in the city. The student-run clinic, Meyers said, will help by seeing and treating more patients.

“For every one person we serve, we have four who go unseen and untreated,” said Dr. Meyers, whose clinic provides primary care and prescriptions, along with some specialty treatments via referrals through affiliations with health care organizations such as St. Joseph’s, Henry Ford and WSU/Detroit Medical Center.

At this point, the clinic will be open one evening a month, but the students plan to expand the number of days per month as the project progresses. A long-term goal is to have clinic work part of the school curriculum, although Gotlib admitted that is a ways off.

Gotlib said the students have chosen to name the effort the Wayne State University School of Medicine Robert Frank, M.D., Clinic, after the school’s executive vice dean.

“He’s been greatly involved in community project such as this in the past and we wanted some way to honor him,” she said.

“When I came to WSU School of Medicine as a student in 1968, I assumed responsibility for a student-run free clinic in the Jeffries Housing Project,” Dr. Frank said. “I learned a lot about Detroit and its people from that experience. The creation of the new student clinic by WSU students is a continuation of efforts made by altruistic students who see an unmet need in medicine and want to do something about it. I'm honored to see my name associated with such an endeavor.”

Jessica Slim, another second-year medical student, has already secured a $500 grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges Organization of Student Representatives to help promote the new clinic. The grant will be used to purchase food for a dinner at a homeless shelter to spread the word about the new hours and services.

In addition to seeking physicians to assist them, the students are accepting donations of cash and supplies. “Everyone has their talents that we can use,” Gotlib said.

For more information, contact Gotlib at dgotlib@med.wayne.edu.

You can get your bike ready for spring with a free tune-up, get in a little exercise and do the environment a favor April 20 with the first Bike Day at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

From noon to 1 p.m. outside the entrance of Scott Hall, technicians will tune up bicycles belonging to students, faculty members, employees and members of the Detroit Medical Center staff at no charge. The mechanics will write prescriptions for bikes needing more intensive care than they can provide on site.

The event is designed to promote riding bicycles to campus and work as an alternative to driving vehicles.

“I wanted to create this event in order to promote a more sustainable community,” said Alexis Drutchas, a first-year student at the School of Medicine who spearheaded the event as part of her Co-Curricular project. “We are going into careers to work for the health of individuals and our community, so biking not only promotes health, it promotes the health of the environment as well, which is really a win-win situation.”

Bike Day is sponsored by the Community and Environmental Health Committee of the American Medical Student Association and the Hub, a local non-profit bicycle shop on Cass Avenue in Detroit.

Drutchas, 24, who serves as co-chairwoman of the committee, said she rides during warm weather.

“There are a few students at school who ride all year, which is inspiring, but I'm probably too much of a wimp,” she said. “So when it is warm I try to ride as much as possible. I started riding as a hobby and progressed as I realized the environmental implications.”

Drutchas, who hopes to go into primary care and one day secure a master’s degree in public health, noted that during fine weather the bike racks in front of Scott Hall fill up fast and riders are pressed for space to securely lock their bikes. The Hub, during Monday’s event, will bring a prototype rack for use that day. Drutchas said the committee is considering purchasing the rack for use on the campus.

The Hub of Detroit is a non-profit, full-service retail bike shop. Funds raised by The Hub support its free youth and adult education program, Back Alley Bikes. The organization accepts donations of bikes, parts and accessories. For more information, visit http://thehubofdetroit.org/ or call (313) 879-5073.

Do you know an outstanding cancer survivor who exemplifies caring compassion and devotion; someone who goes above and beyond to help other cancer survivors on their journey? The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is accepting nominations for the Patricia Milner Sachs Heart of a Survivor Award.

Nominations are due May 8. The award winner and nominees will be recognized at the Karmanos Cancer Institute’s Survivorship Celebration honoring cancer survivors June 18 in Southfield.

The award is named in honor of Patricia Milner Sachs, a former Karmanos employee who continued to help cancer survivors as she fought her own 11-year battle with melanoma, which ended in June 2006. Through her dedication to the Karmanos Cancer Institute and its Department of Community Education, Sachs developed several community programs, including Survivorship University, a program to help survivors and their caregivers navigate the complexities of cancer survivorship; N’Siah, a support group designed to help cancer patients on their journey using spirituality as a foundation and support; and SHIELD, a sun safety and skin cancer awareness program for children and adults. Most of all, Sachs is remembered for her courage and fighting spirit, as well as her passion for helping others in their fight against cancer.

Nominations are open to all cancer survivors, even those who have been nominated in the past. Judging will be based on nominees who demonstrate compassion, commitment and dedication to helping other cancer survivors through education and awareness-building, a commitment to cancer advocacy and by showing courage in their own battle with cancer while helping other cancer survivors thrive.

Nomination forms are available at www.karmanos.org or by calling Shaa-Ista Wilcox at (313) 576-9282. Nominations should be typed or printed and are due back to the Karmanos Cancer Institute by May 8. Nominations can be emailed to simmonss@karmanos.org of faxed to (313) 576-9285.

The Gold Humanism Honor Society of the Wayne State University School of Medicine brings the film “Darius Goes West” to the campus April 15.

The film profiles a teenager with Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy who sets off across America with friends to have his wheelchair “pimped” on MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” The goal of the film is to educate the public about Duchenne’s Dystrophy and to sell at least 1 million copies of the DVD. For every DVD sold, $17 is donated to Duchenne’s Dystrophy research.

The film will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Jaffar Auditoruim in Scott Hall, followed by a discussion. Food will be served, and a one-hour co-curricular credit is available.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine Alumni Association will present the 2009 Medical Alumni Reunion & Clinic Day on May 9.

The reunion portion of the event, themed “Back to the Future,” presents a special opportunity for alumni, resident alumni, graduate alumni and friends to get together and reminisce with classmates and old friends.

The Clinic Day portion of the event is comprised of Continuing Medical Education activities that provide an opportunity to receive medical education credits for those attending the event.

The association will also honor three physicians this year. Michael P. Diamond., M.D., will receive the Lawrence M. Wiener Award, and Allan Collins, M.D., Class of 1975, and Leonard Shlain, M.D., Class of 1961, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award.

The CME portion of the event will take place in Scott Hall and the School of Medicine. The reunion and dinner will take place at the Detroit Mariott Troy. For more information and to register, visit http://mard.med.wayne.edu/2009/.

The Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Office of Student Affairs will present its annual Midwest Residency Recruitment Fair on May 5.

The fair will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Scott Hall Cafeteria.

Students can explore options and speak with representatives from a number of residency programs offered in southern Michigan and Ohio.Participating hospital residency programs to date include St. Joseph Mercy – Ann Arbor, Toledo Hospital Family Residency, Providence Hospital & Medical Center, Michigan State University/Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Crittenton Hospital Family Medicine, Oakwood Healthcare System, Henry Ford Hospital, Grand Rapids Medical Education & Research Center, William Beaumont Hospital, McLaren Regional Medical Center, St. John Hospital & Medical Center and the WSU/DMC Hospital & Medical Center.

Students interested in assisting the hospital representatives with unloading their equipment should send an email to studentorgmailbox@med.wayne.edu.

A grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation will fund a new safety enhancement program to address medical errors by resident physicians treating ambulatory pediatric patients.

Srinivasan Suresh, M.D., M.B.A., assistant professor of Pediatrics & Emergency Medicine for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, and associate director of the Pediatric Residency Program, has secured a $92,442 grant for his one-year project, which begins July 1. Dr. Suresh is also an attending physician in Emergency Medicine at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Children's Hospital of Michigan recorded more than 164,000 ambulatory visits in 2007. Dr. Suresh said more Michigan pediatricians are trained at Children’s Hospital of Michigan than at any other facility. At any given time, about 100 physicians are being trained as pediatricians at CHM.

Substantial patient safety risks exist in ambulatory care, he said.

“Resident physicians generally lack training in the area of ambulatory patient safety, and physicians, in general, have not been involved in the analysis of errors by residents or the redesign of systems to prevent future errors,” Dr. Suresh said. “As a pediatric emergency physician for the last eight years, and as an associate program director for the last five years, I have observed that the pediatric residents are exposed to various aspects of patient safety issues in the ambulatory setting through patient contact during their clinical rotations and didactic sessions. However, there is no data on an individual resident's needs and deficits, and a structured approach to target medical errors by pediatric residents is lacking.”

While many organizations recognize the need to train physicians in a new paradigm of patient safety, Dr. Suresh said, surprisingly there is “very little evidence of structured patient safety programs for pediatric trainees.”

Such programs are vital, he explained, because at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, residents in training provided the initial physician contact for the majority of the 164,373 ambulatory visits in 2007.

“I feel that a dedicated curriculum in ambulatory patient safety should be a key initiative in the training of future Michigan pediatricians, and is very likely to enhance the care of children statewide,” Dr. Suresh said.

The project, a joint effort by the divisions of Pediatric Education and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, will involve the development and implementation of a comprehensive “patient safety enhancement module” expected to positively impact patient care provided by resident physicians. The goal is to develop a knowledge base, skills and attitudes that promote reduction of medical errors and learning from errors in healthcare to improve patient safety.

“Resident physicians need to know how to reduce the occurrence of errors and also what to do when they make errors, when they witness an error or when they are told that someone else has made an error,” Dr. Suresh explained. The curriculum will use a variety of teaching methods, including experiential learning, lectures, case investigations, team projects, role playing and video analysis.

The project will develop a baseline assessment of the practice parameters of resident
physicians from a patient safety point of view. Standardized variables of patient safety and education intervention metrics will be monitored during the one-year study period. Specific areas of assessment/intervention include mechanisms for error disclosure with the aid of simulated patients, analysis of medication errors and information managemen

A Wayne State University School of Medicine faculty member and his wife have been recognized with a prestigious national honor for their commitment to the Jewish community and the Detroit area community.

Michael Cher, M.D., chair of the Department of Urology for the School of Medicine, and his wife, Lisa Yufit, Ph.D., have been selected to receive the Shin Award from the Jewish Theological Seminary.

"The Jewish Theological Seminary is committed to enhancing religious and intellectual life. We affirm our faith's commitment to ‘Tikun Olam,’ making the world a better place,” said Tom Wexelberg Clouser, director of the JTS Great Lakes Regional Office. “Dr. Michael Cher and Dr. Lisa Yufit embody the values of Judaism and the Jewish people both professionally and personally. Dr. Cher's commitment as a physician reflects our faith's belief that healing is a religious duty that should be considered as fulfilling the commandment of saving a life as it is written ‘he who saves a life, saves the world.' They have contributed to making the Jewish community and the community at large a better one.”

The JTS presents the award annually to members of the Jewish community for their commitment to Judaism and Jewish law through service to community, their synagogue and the Jewish Theological Seminar. The seminary, while located in New York, is actively involved in Jewish synagogues and communities throughout North America. The Jewish university maintains five schools, including three professional schools: rabbinic, cantorial and Jewish education; a graduate school that offers doctoral degrees in numerous Judaic studies; and an undergraduate school offering bachelor’s degrees to students who are dual enrollees with either Columbia University or Barnard College. Graduates serve the entire Jewish community as rabbis, cantors, educators, and academics and communal leaders, Wexelberg Clouser explained.

“Lisa and I are very honored to be receiving this award,” Dr. Cher said. “The Jewish community here in metropolitan Detroit is very vibrant, with a large number of individuals committed to making our community better. We feel very grateful to be recognized with this award and look forward to our continued involvement in Jewish education and community.”

In addition to serving as chairman of the school’s Department of Urology, Dr. Cher is chief of Urology at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. He specializes in the surgical care of patients with urologic malignancies, cancer research and teaching.

Dr. Cher and the couple’s two sons, Benjamin and Jonathan, are often called upon to lead prayers and chant the Torah or Haftorah at Congregation Beth Shalom. As a trustee of the congregation’s Men’s Club, Dr. Cher has planned and led numerous events, including men’s health seminars.

Dr. Yufit is a clinical psychologist working at the Psychological Institutes of Michigan in Franklin. Specializing in counseling children and adolescents, she serves on the Program Planning Committee of the Michigan Psychological Association. She is a graduate of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School for Jewish Education in Detroit. She has served as a trustee for Congregation Beth Shalom and as a board member of Gan Shalom, the shul’s preschool.

The couple takes part in volunteer activities in and around the Detroit Jewish community. According to JTS, they have hosted community educational events in their Huntington Woods home. Dr. Yufit is a past member of the Education Committee at Hillel Day School and serves as a board member of the YPAC Swim Team at the South Oakland YMCA. Dr. Cher volunteers with Project Chesed, a Detroit area medical organization providing care to Jews without medical insurance. Their sons are honor students at Hillel Day School, where they have taken on leadership roles in academic, religious and extracurricular activities. The family, Wexelberg Clouser said, consider Congregation Beth Shalom synagogue their second home.

“Dr. Cher and his wife are very deserving of the Shin Award,” said Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., dean of the School of Medicine and senior advisor to the president for Medical Affairs. “Dr. Cher’s commitment to the community, as well to the school and his patients, exemplifies the spirit of volunteering and giving back that our faculty and our students embrace.”

The presentation of the award will take place May 5 at Congregation B'nai Moshe is West Bloomfield. The presentation will be preceded by a dinner. Those interested in attending can contact the JTS Great Lakes office at (248) 258-0055.

In addition, the couple will be honored at their congregation, Beth Shalom, on May 2.

Officials at the Shiffman Library have announced several date and hour changes related to the library’s move into the new Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons. The changes begin later this month.

On April 13, the Shiffman Library will close its Rackham location to the public.

On April 20, the library begins its move to the new Richard J. Mazurek, M.D., Medical Education Commons.

Opening to the public in the Mazurek Education Commons is set for May 26.

New library hours, beginning May 25 through June 7, will be 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Reference services will be available by telephone at (313) 577-1094 or by email at askmed@wayne.edu throughout the move.

Paul Finlayson, Ph.D., assistant professor of Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, was named interim scientific director of the Ligon Research Center of Vision at Kresge Eye Institute.

Dr. Finlayson’s role will be to guide and work directly with researchers in the Ligon Center, including Nicolas Cottaris, Ph.D., and Sylvia Elfar, Ph.D., (Ophthalmology), and further collaborations with Yong Xu, Ph.D., (Electrical Engineering), R.M. Kannan, Ph.D., (Chemical Engineering) and former Ligon scientific director Raymond Iezzi, M.D., now at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“We will be continuing the effort to develop prosthetics to restore sight in visually impaired individuals,” Dr. Finlayson said. “I will be supervising the fabrication, development and testing of new devices for electrical and neurotransmitter stimulation of the retina.”

In collaboration with members of the center, Dr. Finlayson will strive to add new grant funding, and will also work with the director of development at Kresge Eye Institute to solicit additional funding for the Ligon Center.

The Ligon Research Center of Vision is a multidisciplinary center and one of only a few centers in the world that is exploring the possibility of artificial vision for the blind. The center is dedicated to restoring vision in patients who are losing their sight or have become blind from retinal degenerations.

Alex Tselis, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, has been appointed a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

“I am very pleased to think that I have made recognizable contributions to the neurological community,” said Dr. Tselis, who also serves as vice chief of Neurology for Detroit Receiving Hospital.

Fellowship in the academy reflects meritorious membership in the organization. Eligibility includes service to the academy through research and teaching, reflected by the scholarly publication of research papers, books and book chapters.

Dr. Tselis has also been nominated for counselor of the academy’s Neuro-Infectious Diseases Section. His candidacy will be voted on this month at the annual meeting in Seattle. The position includes membership in the section’s executive committee and participation in conference calls.

Board certified in neurology, Dr. Tselis’s research interests include multiple sclerosis and related diseases, including Transverse Myelitis and Neuromyelitis Optica, neurologic complications of sarcoidosis and lupus, viral infections of the brain and the neurologic complications of the HIV/AIDS. His research has been funded by the AIDS Consortium, and he has been named one of the “Best Doctors in America.”

Join fellow students, alumni and faculty for the fifth annual James C. Hazlett Jr. Memorial Golf Outing on May 2 at the Twin Lakes Golf and Swim Club in Oakland Township.

The event is designed to help build and strengthen relationships between School of Medicine students, faculty and alumni. Proceeds from the outing help support the James C. Hazlett Jr. Medical Student Scholarship fund, graduation expenses for senior classmen and philanthropic student organizations.

Registration for students and residents is $70; for alumni, faculty and others, registration is $100, and includes 18 holes in a scramble foursome, a cart, golf balls and tees, and a buffet dinner. Golf club rentals will be available. Non-golfers can join the fun and food for only $20. The field will be limited to 120 golfers. Send registration and payment to David So, MSIV, 5033 Longview Drive, Troy, MI 48098.

Registration deadline is April 24. To register on line, visit http://www.golfdigestplanner.com/11468-HazlettMemorialGolfOuting/

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute announced April 3 that Terrance Albrecht, Ph.D., has been named interim associate center director for Population Sciences and interim program leader for Population Studies and Prevention. She takes over the two positions from Ann Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H., who was named interim president and chief executive officer last month.

Dr. Albrecht is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Albrecht joined Karmanos in 2003 and most recently led the Communication and Behavioral Oncology program. She also served as co-leader of the Population Studies and Prevention program. During her time at Karmanos, she has conducted in-depth analyses of the way oncologists communicate with patients to make the work of researchers and scientists even more effective.

In her new role as interim associate center director of Population Sciences and interim program leader for Population Studies and Prevention, Dr. Albrecht will oversee research in cancer etiology and prognosis; population-based studies of cancer etiology; studies designed to prevent and control cancer development and progression within populations to reduce health disparities; and will continue her research in communication and behavioral oncology.

“I’ve had a lifelong fascination with observing the complex ways in which people interact and a cancer center is a natural laboratory to study humans in extraordinary circumstances,” she said. “This is a place where people have to make life and death decisions every day.”

Dr. Schwartz said that Dr. Albrecht is particularly suited for the interim roles she will assume.

“Dr. Albrecht’s research in patient-doctor communications is an essential element in understanding how best to communicate with Karmanos patients, making Karmanos more patient- and family-centered,” she said. “She’ll continue to play a critical role in advancing this aspect of cancer care.”

Dr. Albrecht holds a doctorate degree, a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in communication, and a master’s degree in Labor/Industrial Relations from Michigan State University.

As a senior audio-visual technician for the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s Biomedical Communications Division, Jim Peters’ daily role is almost always behind the scenes of events at the school.

This week, however, Peters’ volunteer spirit had him front and center.

The American Red Cross recognized Peters for his commitment to donating blood, an effort that has seen him provide 11 gallons in donations since he was 20.

As he lay on the gurney in the Scott Hall cafeteria waiting for the needle to donate again, Peters was surprised by Red Cross regional representative Beth Frahm, who presented him with a framed certificate of appreciation for reaching the 11-gallon mark as donors, co-workers and onlookers applauded.

Peters said his mother convinced him to begin donating when he was 20. His father was ill at the time and required blood, so he and his mother began donating together.

“When my Dad was sick, sometimes I would feel helpless as a young adult, but being able to donate a pint of blood offered some kind of satisfaction that I was able to do something for him,” Peters said. “Plus, I understand that if I was ever in need, there would always be some for me too.”

Peters said early Red Cross recommendations cautioned against donating more than five times in a row. But, “then, after awhile, when donations were down, I think the situation was re-evaluated and I was giving more often. With this donation, I've given 88 pints over 30-plus years, which is about two or three times a year. I've actually been giving on a more regular basis over the last five or six years. When the Red Cross comes to Scott Hall, it's definitely more convenient for everybody.”

Working at the School of Medicine, Peters said, lends awareness that there is always a need for some sort of volunteering in the medical field, “and what better way than through the Red Cross blood donor program?”

What would Peters tell those who have never donated blood because they may be squeamish or reluctant for other reasons? “It’s just a quick needle prick and maybe an hour of your time, most of which is spent lying down and relaxing away from the job while enjoying the company of other donors and a pleasant Red Cross staff,” he explained in a nothing-to-it attitude. “Let's not forget the nourishment to revitalize you afterwards -- cookies and juice, or maybe crackers and water.”

Peters said he will continue donating as long as he is able.

“I read somewhere that it's a healthy habit for men especially to donate because of the possibility of too much iron in our system,” he said. “Besides, I'm blessed with good health, and until that changes, I'm heading to donate again every 56 days!”

Christopher Green, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.F.S., assistant dean for China/Asia-Pacific for the Wayne State University School of Medicine, has been appointed a professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The academy, Dr. Green said, is the equivalent of the United States National Institutes of Health. The appointment as professor to the academy required a nomination and election. Dr. Green was sponsored for the honor by the academy’s Institute of Biophysics, the location of the clinical Brain and Imaging MRI Center of Excellence in Beijing. The center is the country’s key lab for brain and cognitive neurosciences.

“The appointment means I have a ready open door when I try to have conversations in hospitals and medical establishments,” Dr. Green explained. “I deal with hospitals and academic institutions, and they treat me very well. The Wayne State University School of Medicine is very well known here. I have a very easy sell when arranging partnerships with the school.”

The relationships that Dr. Green establishes in China assist researchers in the United States and at the School of Medicine by broadening relationships. Chinese researchers may be working on similar studies as their counterparts at the School of Medicine. Opening dialogs and sharing findings broadens the pool of research subjects as well as the wealth of discoveries.

While in China, Dr. Green conducts research at the nation’s largest neurological hospital, Tian Tan Hospital, which is entirely devoted to studies and treatment of the brain and neurology.

Prior to his current assignment, Dr. Green served as the executive director of the Emergent Technology Research Division in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, and Diagnostic Radiology, where he is an adjunct professor and Fellow in Clinical Neuroimaging.

James E. Puklin, M.D., professor of Ophthalmology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and a retina expert at Kresge Eye Institute, knows his way around medical research. His more than 260 presentations, dozens of grants, 58 published scientific articles and six book chapters have put him in good stead to become a reviewer himself.

Dr. Puklin recently received two prestigious appointments that put him in a position to review research by many types of scientists and medical researchers. At Wayne State University, he has been named chairman of the Human Investigation Committee, reporting directly to the university president. The committee’s six Institutional Review Boards review, approve and supervise 2,500 protocols for local studies and national clinical trials in the biomedical and social sciences.

“IRBs were established by the federal government to protect the safety of human subjects who participate in all types of research,” Dr. Puklin said. “We work to ensure patients are not coerced into participating; that risk levels are reasonable; and that patients are treated with dignity, respect and openness.”

Before being named chair, Dr. Puklin served on the IRB since 2000.

In 2008, he was reappointed to the Medicare Evidence Development Coverage Advisory Committee of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As the only ophthalmologist among 100 experts on the national committee, Dr. Puklin advises CMS on which medical procedures provide effective and appropriate patient outcomes and should receive Medicare reimbursement. He had previously served on MedCAC from 2005 to 2007.