Hanging near the diploma was a class photo – the missing photo.

Dr. Johns, said Dr. Sunstrum, was from Michigan and took his medical degree from the School of Medicine’s forerunner, the Detroit Medical College. After graduation, Dr. Johns worked two years as a railroad physician in British Columbia. He moved in 1912 to Viscount, Saskatchewan (population 350), and remained in practice there until the 1960s. He was named Citizen of the Year for the province of Saskatchewan in 1971, four years before his death.

How did a Michigan doctor end up so far from home? Dr. Sunstrum explained that in those days, small provincial and frontier towns often pooled their resources to “hire” a doctor to settle in their regions, providing a modest living and often a home.

Dr. Sunstrum convinced the curator of the museum to remove the class photo from its original frame and shoot a high-quality digital copy. He then had a printer produce a large-scale reproduction from the file. The curator also sent a photo of the school faculty taken at that same year. In addition, the curator put Dr. Sunstrum in touch with Dr. Johns’ son, a farmer in the Viscount area, and his grandson, who also lives there. He spent about 90 minutes with them, learning more about Dr. Johns’ life.

In May, Dr. Sunstrum was invited to join the Detroit Medical Academy, a group of physicians who meet monthly to discuss medicine and for camaraderie. New members are asked to give a presentation, and when Dr. Sunstrum arrived to give his talk, he asked whether Interim Dean Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., would remain for the full meeting. Later that evening, Dr. Sunstrum stood up to present “Westward Ho: William Percy Jones, M.D., Wayne University Class of 1907” to the group.

“I just knew it when he began speaking,” Dean Parisi said. “I leaned over and told Dr. (Robert) Sokol, ‘He has the missing class photo from 1907,’ and he had it with him and presented it to us! It was very exciting.

“I knew we were missing the Class of 1907 because I always enjoy looking at the class photos in our hallways,” she added. “It’s just so wonderful to finally have this treasure come back home where it belongs.”

Every year, more than 10,000 Americans are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia or lymphoma, and their best or only hope of a cure is a transplant from an unrelated donor or cord blood unit. Most people in need of a transplant -- about 70 percent -- do not have a matching donor within their family. They depend on the Be The Match Registry -- the world’s largest and most diverse registry of potential volunteer adult marrow donors and donated cord blood -- to find a matched unrelated donor. While many patients do find a life-saving match, more donors are needed, especially those from racially and ethnically diverse communities, to be able to help all patients.

The Karmanos Cancer Center has been on the forefront of cancer research and care, creating its Bone Marrow Treatment Program in 1980. Karmanos also operates the J.P. McCarthy Cord Stem Cell Bank, one of the highest inventories of minority cord blood units listed within the Be The Match Registry. More than 260 bone marrow and cord blood transplants took place at Karmanos last year alone, and yet thousands of other critically ill people of all ages wait and hope for a bone marrow or cord blood match to save their life.

The Karmanos drive will take place at in the first-floor Wertz Classroom, located at 4100 John R (between E. Warren and Mack Avenue. Parking will be validated for participants parking at the Karmanos Cancer Center valet parking area only.

To be a member of the Be The Match Registry, participants will go through a health history form and take a swab of cheek cells. Each person’s information is coded for confidentiality. The NMDP will contact volunteer participants if they are a potential match for a searching patient and coordinate further testing and information sessions.

Eligible participants need to be between the ages of 18 and 60, in general good health and willing to donate to any patient in need.

For more information, call (313) 494-2809 or visit BeTheMatch.org  to join online.

Bengt Arnetz, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, and director of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, received $680,000 from the National Institute of Mental Health for his study, “Imagery-Based Trauma-Resiliency Training for Urban Police.”

He called this research the first “scientific evaluation of a primary prevention program for trauma-related mental health and behavioral effects in high-risk professionals” in the United States. Only post-incident programs – those initiated after an incident and after trauma-related disorders have developed in police officers and other first-responders -- have been scientifically assessed.

“First-responders such as police, firefighters and soldiers play a vital role to protect our nation and our civil society. They are potentially exposed to numerous critical incidents, for example, threat to their life, terror attacks, death and suffering,” Dr. Arnetz said. “These events are well-researched and are established risk factors for mental and somatic health consequences, including post traumatic stress disorders, depression and anxiety. However, during recent years there has been an increased interest as to possible effects from sustained/chronic low-level stress among first-responders and health and performance effects. This kind of stress, on the face not looking that dramatic, might exert a significant toll on first-responders.”

With this grant, Dr. Arnetz hopes to replicate a study he conducted among police officers in Sweden. In that study, he found that organizational factors, productivity performance assessment systems, organizational change, lateral expansion of job duties – including jobs for which first-responders were not trained -- were stressful.

“Police officers thought administrative work took an increasing amount of time, as did a more formal reporting system,” Dr. Arnetz said. “But, there were also significant tensions in the work-family intersection. For example, undercover police and customs officers might see drug sales going on as they visit a restaurant with their spouse. When they brought this up with their spouse, the spouse said the undercover person was ‘hallucinating’ since they were not trained to see these things.”

Other significant low-level stressors, Dr. Arnetz noted, included the demand and expectation to constantly be prepared and trained for the “Big Event,” for example a major terrorist attack or other catastrophe. While such events are rare, changing mental and physical gears -- for example, responding to an alarm involving a report of an armed suspect – creates substantial stress.

The initial findings, published this year in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, demonstrated that practicing lifelike scenarios coupled with incorporating mental relaxation cues resulted in “substantial" stress reduction in Swedish police officers, and decreased the risk of suffering cardiovascular events, mostly from increased risk from blood clots during exposure to challenging stress.

The pre-event training resulted in significantly less negative moods, a lesser rise in heart rate during a simulated emergencies and a larger increase in antithrombin (a chemical in the bloodstream that decreases the propensity for blood clots caused by stress).

Dr. Arnetz said the Swedish study’s results suggest that imagery and skills training have the potential to reduce negative trauma exposure in police officers and other first-responders. Such training, coming before emergencies, could prove more beneficial than post-incident debriefing and counseling. It could also result in fewer lost work days and less human suffering, and may be more acceptable to officers than seeking psychological assistance.

“In a controlled intervention, we found that mental training, getting ready for various critical events by using a combination of technical skills training and stress management resulted in decreased stress (lower heart rate response) and decreased clotting reaction of the blood as compared to police officers trained as usual,” Dr. Arnetz said.

The Detroit Police Department, Dr. Arnetz said, played an active role in the preparatory phase of the project planning, including a letter of support for the project and representation on a steering committee.

Sgt. DeShaune Sims, of the Detroit Police Department’s Risk Management Bureau and Planning Department, said as many as 100 officers will be involved in the stress desensitization research. The department is in the process of developing the scenarios to be used in the project.

Such pre-event training, said Sims, a 12-year police veteran, is not offered to rookie officers at police academies. “That’s one thing we hope, that depending on the outcome we can incorporate it into our academy training,” she said.

The three-year study, which begins this month, will utilize experienced officers within the department as trainers. Dr. Arnetz and his colleagues will train them in the imagery training process.

“We will use very experienced officers,” he explained. “Their knowledge about critical incidents experienced during the years, as well as proper police strategy to address these challenges, will be incorporated into the training sessions with junior police officers.” None of the senior trainers will have line command relationships with the trainees.

“In this first phase of the study, we will check out the feasibility of the proposed imagery training program in a rough, inner-city environment,” Dr. Arnetz said. “We will adapt the scenarios to the realities of Detroit. We will focus on self reports, objective supervisor-assessed performance (based on administrative data that exists for all police officers, in order not to have to tell the supervisor to rate our trainees specifically.) Once this feasibility study is done, we will be able to optimize the cost benefit of future controlled interventions.”

Co-investigators with Dr. Arnetz include James Blessman, M.D., Ph.D., and Todd Lucas, Ph.D., of the WSU Department of Family Medicine’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Health; Mark Lumley, Ph.D., professor of the WSU Department of Psychology; and Nnamdi Pole, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Psychology at Smith College.

“Your integrity and knowledge in the area of viral pathogens in the central nervous system will greatly promote scientific achievement and excellence in the manuscripts published in the journal,” Editor in Chief Kamel Khalili, Ph.D., wrote in the notification of Dr. Tselis’s appointment to the board.

The five-year appointment is in recognition of Dr. Tselis’s national and international reputation in the field, which he called “very small, but very exciting.”

He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the Neurological Sciences and the World Federation of Neurology Newsletter.

Dr. Tselis’s interests include infectious and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, including the neurological complications of HIV, as well as viral encephalitis and multiple sclerosis. He has been listed in Best Doctors in America, and is vice chief of Neurology at Detroit Receiving Hospital. In 2009 he was appointed a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

The weekend of Sept. 4-7, members of the SNMA will join with people from all over the country for the march, retracing the steps of the 1965 civil rights protestors over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

“We are not doing enough to reduce health care disparities,” said Nicole Jones, assistant regional director for the SNMA and a fourth-year student at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. “We need to make a statement about a broken system that doesn’t treat everyone equally.”

Jones, 29, who wants to practice family medicine for an underserved segment of the population in an urban setting, noted that SNMA officials claim current data indicates that more than 45 million Americans are uninsured and 24 percent of the American population is underinsured. Many don’t have access to primary health care.

The aim of the march, said Jones – originally from Virginia and president of the Class of 2010 – is to call greater attention to the health care reform efforts of President Barack Obama, and to ensure that the less fortunate are not shunted to the side in the debate over that reform.

SNMA chapters across the country are participating in a number of ways. Some are sending members to take part in the march, pledging funding or raising funds to support the marchers.

To help support the March for Health Equity, visit www.snma-advocacy.com/MHE.html.

The National Eye Institute grant comes under the auspices of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the national economic stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, continues to pose a significant health problem with increasing prevalence and high morbidity related to pathological complications associated with high myopia. Dr. Tkatchenko’s long-term goal is to characterize the genetic network that regulates the size of the eye during postnatal development. His objective is to develop a mouse model of myopia for further study of the condition.

Significant progress in the mouse genome project and established technology for controlled manipulation of the genome makes the mouse an attractive species in which to characterize these genes and study their role in postnatal eye plasticity, he said.

Myopia has been studied for the last 32 years using animal models. These studies were conducted using monkeys, tree shrews, chickens and several other mammalian species, and the myopia was induced with diffusers or negative spectacle lenses. Using a monkey model of myopia, Dr. Tkatchenko found evidence for genetic regulation of myopia and identified several previously unknown candidate genes localized to chromosomal areas linked to human myopia. Further characterization of these genes in a monkey model, however, is limited because controlled manipulation of the monkey genome is not possible, he explained.

The only species in which researchers can perform a serious molecular genetics study is the mouse, but mice are not obvious candidates for a study on refractive eye development because they are nocturnal and have low visual acuity.

Although several recent studies -- including results from Dr. Tkatchenko’s lab -- suggest experimental myopia can be induced in mice, a detailed analysis of normal refractive eye development and response of the mouse eye to distortion of visual input is necessary to establish the feasibility of using mice for myopia research.

He will analyze normal refractive development of the mouse eye and the effect of diffusers on refractive development under different lighting conditions. This will optimize experimental conditions for induction of myopia in mice. He will also analyze the effect of diffusers on refractive eye development in various mouse strains to provide information about the role genetic background plays in myopia development.

“We expect that we will be able to optimize experimental conditions for induction of myopia in mice and find mouse strains that are most susceptible to development of experimental myopia,” Dr. Tkatchenko said.

Development of a mouse model of myopia will open new avenues for research, he said, leading to more advance molecular genetics studies. “Such molecular genetics studies are expected to provide new critical information about signaling cascades that are involved in refractive eye development and development of myopia. This will lead to development of pharmacological means to control and prevent myopia in humans.”

Dr. Ayers, a 1989 graduate of the School of Medicine, was the blue ribbon winner of the Parents’ Pick Awards 2009 program conducted by ParentsConnect, the online parenting Web site of television broadcaster Nickelodeon.

“I had no idea that I was even nominated,” said Dr. Ayers, section chief and program director of Med-Peds for the Department of Internal Medicine. “I was notified by a nurse from Children’s Hospital of Michigan and thought that she was pulling my leg.”

To vote, parents had to visit the ParentsConnect website between May 5 and July 15. Parents could vote for their favorite “family-friendly” businesses in categories such as ice cream shop, pizza shop, museum, shoe store and book store. Votes were tallied for individual cities, and Dr. Ayers collected the most votes in the category of pediatrician for the Detroit region.

“The nursing, clerical and records staff are happy that our hard work and dedication are paying off,” Dr. Ayers said. “The notification is a reward in itself in that my patients and their parents took the time out to nominate me. I am honored and humbled at being recognized with such an honor. I am surrounded by outstanding and dedicated colleagues who are outstanding physicians. I realize each day that I am blessed with a gift and attempt to use it each and every day to deliver excellent care, potent advice and mentor the pediatric patients that I serve. As my patients and parents know, I tell it like it is with no side-stepping or sugar-coating, for there may not be any tomorrows.”

Featuring the motto, “We’re not perfect, we’re parents,” ParentsConnect is an Internet portal that offers an array of information on raising children and activities for families. The site was developed by the company that produces programming for Noggin, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon and Nick@Nite.

“This vote is a wonderful testament to how highly the parents of children in the region regard Dr. Ayers,” said Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine. “His commitment to the health of children, health care access for all children, and the caring way in which he interacts with children and their families make him a natural to win this honor.”

The absence of health insurance is a major impediment to receiving preventive health care as well as other health care needs extending beyond prevention. According to a study conducted at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the Karmanos Cancer Institute and Henry Ford Health System, the success of targeted programs in addressing some of these preventive needs may nevertheless leave other health care needs unaddressed. Little is known about the magnitude of the additional costs that might be incurred by participating health systems. This study aimed to begin to comprehend this growing problem.

To better understand the potential financial impact health systems endure, Robert Burack, M.D., professor of the Department of Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Elston Lafata, M.D., of the Center for Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health System, have published an analysis in the recent issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, focused on the cost of health care services provided to women enrolled in a community-based breast and cervical screening program.

The Wayne County Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program provides breast and cervical cancer screening, follow-up and treatment services for uninsured and underinsured low-income women ages 40 to 64. Developed and funded through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program and the Michigan Department of Community Health, the program is designed to provide only breast and cervical services, and thus other types of care are not reimbursed through the program. All clinical services are delivered by participating health care organizations that determine which, if any, additional services to provide to program enrollees.

The study found that nearly 50 percent of the total cost of care provided to those enrolled in this program was uncompensated, with about 15 percent compensated by the Breast and Cervical Program and the remainder from other sources. Reimbursement averaged about $138 per woman per year, however, the total cost incurred by the health system in delivering care to these women averaged more than $1,000 per year, of which $523 per woman was uncompensated. Dr. Burack pointed out that based on these figures, the health system lost on average almost $4 for every dollar reimbursed by the NBCCCP.

The NBCCDEP has benefited tens of thousands of women each year. As successful as the program has been in accomplishing its breast and cervical cancer control objectives, it was not designed to meet other health care needs of enrollees. Those health care providers who choose to participate are then faced with the challenge of determining whether and how to address these needs.

“This program’s success in providing access to health care for underserved women highlights the economic challenges of uncompensated care already faced by health care providers serving disadvantaged communities,” Dr. Burack said. “Until the larger issue of no or inadequate health insurance is addressed, the unmet health care needs of the uninsured will grow, while the capacity of already challenged safety net providers to meet this need will decline.”

Andre Konski, M.D., M.B.A., M.A., professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, took part in the study and co-wrote the article with a group of researchers led by Gwen Sprehn, Ph.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Neurology.

Dr. Konski, chief of Radiation Therapy at the Barbara A. Karmanos Cancer Center, said the study’s results suggest that the stress associated with marital separation may compromise an individual’s immune system and lead to a greater susceptibility to cancer.

Research has shown that personal relationships play a significant role in physical health, Dr. Konski said. Many studies focusing on cancer prognosis have found that patients who are married live longer than those who are single.

“This study should help us understand the role of how important social support is for the cancer patient and how it impacts outcome of cancer therapy,” Dr. Konski said.

To look for trends in cancer survival among patients who are separated, divorced, widowed and never married, the researchers analyzed data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database, a population-based cancer registry in the United States. The researchers assessed the five- and 10-year survival rates of 3.79 million patients diagnosed with cancer between 1973 and 2004. They found that married patients had the highest five-year and 10-year survival rates, at 63.3 percent and 57.5 percent respectively. Separation carried the poorest survival rates, at 45.4 percent and 36.8 percent respectively. The five-year and 10-year survival rates of widowed patients were the next lowest, at 47.2 percent and 40.9 percent respectively; for divorced patients, the respective survival rates were 52.4 percent and 45.6 percent; and for never married patients, they were 57.3 percent and 51.7 percent.

The researchers, Dr. Konski said, believe the stress of separation may compromise the immune system and thus create greater vulnerability to cancer. “The reason is unclear, but I have written a couple of papers showing that unpartnered male patients do worse in head an dneck cancer and metastatic prostate cancer,” he said. “The reason is unclear, and could be related to reduced support while going through treatment.”

While additional research is needed, the researchers said, certain interventions might help. Those include psychological interventions to reduce stress that may impact the immune system.

“Patients who are going through separation at the time of diagnosis may be a particularly vulnerable population for whom intervention could be prioritized,” Dr. Sprehn said. “Identification of relationship-related stress at time of diagnosis could lead to early interventions that might favorably impact survival. Ideally, future research will study marital status in more detail over time and also address individual differences in genetic profile and biomarkers related to stress, immune and cancer pathways in order to determine mechanisms which might underlie this possible critical period for cancer pathogenesis.”

Donal S. O'Leary, Ph.D., professor and director of Cardiovascular Research in the Department of Physiology for the School of Medicine, received the two-year, $916,200 grant that will fund years 13 and 14 of his continuing project, “Blood Pressure Control During Exercise in Heart Failure.” The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute grant comes under the auspices of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the national economic stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama.

This most recent grant is Dr. O’Leary’s fourth under the ARRA (two RO1 research grants, two supplements for summer college students) and is in addition to his third RO1 grant totaling more than $1.5 million in funding from the NIH for this year alone.

Heart failure remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States, affecting more than 5 million Americans, and more than 550,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. A hallmark feature of heart failure, Dr. O’Leary noted, is decreased exercise tolerance.

“Even normally, whole body dynamic exercise is one of the greatest stresses to the cardiovascular system,” Dr. O’Leary said. “In patients with heart failure, relatively mild exercise may cause responses normally only seen during severe exercise. The heartbeat races and blood flow to inactive areas shuts down. With the compromised performance of the heart, even blood flow to the muscles -- including the heart itself -- is limited. What causes these markedly abnormal responses to exercise in heart failure is unknown. This research is focused on the potential role of reflexes arising from the muscles as well as reflexes regulating blood pressure in mediating the extreme responses to dynamic exercise seen in subjects with heart failure.”

Dynamic exercise in heart failure patients often brings on profound increases in sympathetic nerve activity that can elicit vasoconstriction of the coronary circulation as well as the active skeletal muscle, he explained. The focus of his proposal is to determine the roles of the muscle metaboreflex and arterial baroreflex in this altered control of integrative cardiovascular function during exercise in heart failure and the functional consequences of the heighted sympathetic tone on ventricular function and skeletal muscle blood flow.

“That heart failure often causes extreme responses to exercise is well known; however, how these responses occur remains unclear,” Dr. O’Leary said. “We feel our work will shed significant light on the mechanisms responsible for these responses, which is the first step in identifying treatment regimens.”

The long-term goal of the research is to further elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the heightened activation of the sympathetic nervous system during exercise in heart failure and the consequences of these responses in the integrative control of cardiovascular function.

This study relates to a currently NIH-funded project in which Dr. O’Leary is investigating why in some cases strenuous exercise can prove harmful for some people with high blood pressure.

“Our success in obtaining these awards stems from the outstanding team in the lab, my co-Investigators, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and skilled research assistants who work long hours with great dedication to perform these studies.” Dr. O’Leary said.

Co-investigators on these projects include Javier A. Sala Mercado, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Physiology and the Cardiovascular Research Institute; Tadeusz J. Scislo, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Physiology; and Noreen F. Rossi, M.D., of the Department of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Swearingen graduated from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Ill., in 2005 and completed her dermatology residency at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2009. She specializes in general dermatology and skin cancer treatments.

She joined the department Aug. 17, and is open for new patient referrals at the Dearborn and Sterling Heights locations.

She can be contacted at (313) 271-0430 in Dearborn, (586) 939-6400 in Sterling Heights, or by e-mail at jswearin@med.wayne.edu.

Carethers said he will work to raise the profile of U-M’s medical school and faculty. “I want to build ways to enhance collaborative research as well as making sure the clinical program is top-notch,” he said.

Carethers has earned many honors and awards, including fellowships with the American Gastroenterological Association, the American College of Physicians and the American College of Gastroenterology. He was elected in 2008 to the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Growing up, Ted spent most of his time in South America and Jamaica, serving as a missionary with his parents. Like his parents, Ted would first pursue a career in ministry by serving as a minister of religion in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands for several years. He completed his undergraduate studies at Northern Caribbean University (formerly West Indies College) in Jamaica, where he received a bachelor's degree in theology.

He came to Michigan in 1990, and earned two master's degrees from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, one in regligion and another in counseling psychology. After experiencing firsthand the needs of local people as a counselor, Ted decided to return to school and become a psychiatrist.

“My strong desire to improve the well-being of others was instilled in me at an early age by my multicultural parents, who worked as missionaries in South America and Jamaica,” he said. “In addition, these experiences fostered my ability to navigate cultural differences and interact with sensitivity with people from various backgrounds.”

Ted, 47, had helped many people while serving as counselor, but he felt there was more he could do. “Although my training prior to medical school provided me with the tools to address the psychological and social factors involved in psychopathology, I lacked the training and expertise necessary to address biological contributions. For this reason I returned to school to pursue a medical degree.”

Originally from Battle Creek, Mich., Ted chose Wayne State University because of its exceptional training and facilities, affordability, patient diversity, commitment to the local community and the opportunity to be close to his family.

Like her Father, Kara Hunter also possessed an affinity for helping others. However, unlike her father, Kara grew up locally in Michigan. The first-year medical student completed her undergraduate work at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala.

Kara, 22, chose to attend WSU for its excellent educational program, extensive valuable clinical experience and the opportunity to be back in Michigan.

“I am also a little biased toward Michigan schools,” she said. “I grew up in Michigan and I have many fond memories of those years.”

While her father pursues a degree in psychiatry, Kara wants to practice internal medicine in Michigan. “It is important to be able to provide the population of Michigan with an adequate amount of primary care physicians so that the health needs may be more adequately met,” she said.

Although Ted is nearing the end of his time as a medical student and Kara is just beginning hers, they are using this unique opportunity to grow closer.

“The shared experiences provide opportunities to communicate at an even greater level than before,” Ted said. “We already have a great relationship, but there is something special about having shared experiences facilitated by attending the same school at the same time. Being able to talk about our joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and dreams for the future within a familiar context I think is significant.”

Ted provides Kara with an extra resource of educational materials and a source of encouragement.

“Going to school with him will be good because he will motivate me not only to focus and concentrate on my studies, he will also be there whenever I need someone to talk to about any issue that I may be going through,” she explained.

Upon graduating, Ted plans to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist. In addition to his work as a psychiatrist, he would like to advocate for mental health parity and reduce some of the stigma associated with mental illnesses. He also plans to volunteer abroad and at local clinics to help uninsured families.

Kara plans to be an internist in Michigan. She would also like to work with Doctors Without Borders and provide help for people regardless of their location or economic status.

“I can’t imagine that in the greatest country in the world that people don’t have access to the health care they need,” she told an audience that included deans from a number of WSU colleges.

A member of the Senate Subcommittee on Health Care, Stabenow said that while health care premiums have increased 200 percent in the last eight years and insurance company profits have climbed 428 percent, fewer Americans continue to be covered by a health care plan. Daily, she said, 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance. Each day 5,000 homes are foreclosed upon because of a family medical crisis, and 62 percent of personal bankruptcies are the result of a medical issue not covered or only partially covered by health insurance, she said.

“I am after lower costs and access to coverage, whether you have a job or not,” said Stabenow, who said health care reform that stresses and incentivizes prevention and access to primary care will demonstrate tremendous savings over the long run. Noting that medical school students, facing a weighty college debt load upon graduation, often enter a more lucrative medical specialty, Stabenow said she favors language that encourages doctors to practice primary care. “We intend to incentivize payments for primary care,” she said.

As for allegations that the reform proposal contained provisions for so-called “death panels” for the elderly, Stabenow said those claims are a result of exaggerated interpretations of initial provisions to reimburse physicians for discussions about living wills. “We are not going to kill grandmas,” she said. “My mother is 83 years old and I have no intention to do that.”

Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine, said the setting for Stabenow’s address was fitting. “We just had a new class of students begin their medical education last week, and we tell those students that they must be committed to advocacy in our society,” she said. “Wayne State University really represents a large slice of the health care professionals across the state. We are a very important set of stakeholders in the health care debate.”

“It's always an honor for anyone from the United States to be invited to speak before a distinguished group ‘across the pond,’” Dr. Frank said. “I'm especially honored because this is apparently the second of these named lectures before the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the first of which was given by a very distinguished colleague and good friend, Alfred Sommer, M.D., the former dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.”

The lecture is scheduled for May 27, 2010. The annual lecture, said Heidi Booth-Adams, head of the college’s Scientific Department, was established via a donation from Optic UK, which represents the ophthalmic industry in the United Kingdom. The aim of the lecture, she said, is to “bring eminent overseas speakers to the college congress to enhance the program.”

While he has not yet determined the topic of his lecture, Dr. Frank said he may speak on the “mystery of macular edema.”

The research of Dr. Frank, who is the Robert S. Jampel professor of Ophthalmology for the School of Medicine, includes animal models of retinal and choroidal vessel disease, retinal and choroidal new blood vessel formation, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. The Yale University School of Medicine graduate specializes in diseases of the retina.

Michael Fronczak will offer the classes in the Faculty and Staff Meditative Epicenter, located in Room 2202 of Scott Hall. The room formerly reserved for students is now available for quiet relaxation, introspection and meditation.

Fronczak, 30, of St. Clair Shores, recently joined the school as a research assistant in the labs of Christian Kreipke, Ph.D., assistant professor of research, and Jose Rafols, Ph.D., professor, in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.

The non-denominational sessions will be open to faculty, staff and students free of charge. Sessions in insight meditation, concentration development and loving-kindness meditation will run from 45 to 60 minutes.

“I have led classes intermittently for a few years now,” Fronczak said. “They have been in religious and non-religious settings. Outside of a Buddhist temple, the non-religious settings have included post-partum groups, private sessions, yoga studios and retreats.”

Meditation has been benefited him in a number of ways, said Fronczak, who has led sessions for the last four years, most recently at St. Joan of Arc Church in St. Clair Shores. He began practicing meditation 12 years ago at age 18, and has led classes in Sri Lanka and Australia.

“I actually began because I thought it would make me smarter,” he said. “I stayed with it because of the insights I found it helped me to discover.

“I have learned much about the nature of my mind,” he added. “Each person’s journey is different.”

While he said he has never led meditation classes in a university setting, Fronczak explained that “when I saw the room was opened in the newsletter, the thought just occurred to me, and I think it could be of great benefit for this population.”

The sessions will be held from noon to 1 p.m. the first and third Friday of each month beginning in September. The popularity of the initial classes will determine whether additional sessions need to be conducted.

For more information on the classes, and to RSVP for an initial headcount, contact Fronczak at mfroncza@med.wayne.edu.

The predoctoral fellowship is a doctoral training grant intended specifically for M.D./Ph.D. combined degree students. It will fund three years of her dissertation research and the third and fourth years of medical school.

Astapova’s research centers on the molecular biology of diabetes. Her project is designed to uncover key insulin resistance genes through studying a unique and rare monogenetic form of diabetes, she explained.

Astapova, who is in her first graduate year of training under Todd Leff, Ph.D., associate professor of the Department of Pathology, is originally from Moscow. She moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., at the age of 14, and now lives in Detroit. The 25-year-old completed her undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Michigan.

Astapova said she always wanted to be a physician, but after working part-time in a reproductive endocrinology lab while in college, she “just fell in love with research.

“I considered going to graduate school for awhile, then happened to see a presentation about combined M.D./Ph.D. programs, and decided to go for it.”

Astapova selected the School of Medicine’s M.D./Ph.D. program because she knew a few medical students here who spoke about the quality of the education and training provided by the faculty.

“I heard a lot of good things about the medical school and success stories about its graduates,” she said. Attending WSU also helped her remain close to her mother, her only family member in the country.

With this most recent award, students in the M.D./Ph.D. program have received nine extramural fellowships.

Organized by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and the Postdoctoral Association, the competition will feature three awards of $1,000 each for travel to approved conferences. Keynote lecturers include Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine, and J.P. Jin, M.D., chairman of the Department of Physiology.

The competition is open to all School of Medicine postdoctoral students in their first six years of training. The deadline for abstract submissions is Aug. 17. All accepted absracts will be published in the symposium handbook.

For additional information, call (313) 577-1455 or visit postdocs@med.wayne.edu.

The event is open to all Wayne State University students studying a science discipline.

The deadline for abstract submission is Sept. 4. Prizes will be awarded for the top oral and poster presentations. Space is limited for oral presentations.

For more information and to register on-line, visit http://wsugsrd.info/.

Victor’s fellowship topic is “Cathepsin B and Its Binding Partners in the Aggressiveness of Inflammatory Breast Cancer.” Her dissertation is mentored by Bonnie Sloane, Ph.D., distinguished professor and chairwoman of the School of Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology.

Victor, a native of Chesterfield Township, Mich., and graduate of L’Anse Creuse High School North, earned a cum laude bachelor’s degree in biology from Wayne State University. She was awarded a 2004-2005 Wayne State University Graduate School Graduate Research Assistantship that enabled her to accomplish a majority of her course work and the preliminary research required to qualify for this fellowship.

The fellowship will support Victor’s dissertation research on the most lethal form of breast cancer, Inflammatory Breast Cancer. IBC is highly malignant and its incidence is increasing in younger women, particularly in the Middle Eastern and African-American populations in the United States. She pointed out that at present there are no effective therapies for IBC and drug targets and pathways to reduce its aggressiveness need to be identified. Her research is examining the role of proteases, cathepsin B in particular, in promoting formation of the emboli characteristic of IBC.

Victor said the fellowship’s training plan “will create a foundation for my development as an independent investigator and breast cancer researcher. She emphasized that as a graduate student in Dr. Sloane’s laboratory, “I am obtaining an invaluable perspective on the commitment and skills necessary to perform independent research. This pre-doctoral traineeship further benefits my scientific research and sets the course for my future as an independent investigator.”

Victor’s dissertation mentor, Dr. Sloane, a worldwide leader in proteases and cancer research, said, “Bernadette’s success in obtaining federal funding to support her predoctoral research should translate into success in obtaining federal funding as she moves on in her research career. In this project she is working collaboratively with others at Wayne State and other institutions (University of Windsor, New York University and Cairo University), experience that will be beneficial in the increasingly collaborative world of global science.”

Hector Gonzalez, Ph.D., will use the $1.2 million three-year grant to fund the Epidemiology of Late-Life Depression and Ethnicity Research Study, or ELLDERS, to provide updated estimates on the distribution of major depression and the functional status of affected older adults in the U.S. The results, Dr. Gonzalez predicts, will offer insights about the opportunities for late-life depression prevention in an aging and increasingly diverse population – and one that is growing rapidly.

“Depression is a leading cause of disability in the United States and will continue to ascend in importance as the population continues to grow older over the coming decades,” said Dr. Gonzalez, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences. He has a joint appointment with the Institute of Gerontology. “For older adults, national prevalence estimates of ‘true’ depressive disorders meeting established diagnostic criteria date back to pioneer psychiatric epidemiologic work in the 1980s.”

Demographically, Dr. Gonzalez pointed out, much has changed over the past 20 years in public health. Middle-aged baby boomers are entering retirement age, and Latinos, “largely ignored until the turn of the millennium,” are now the largest ethnic minority in the country. New technologies have advanced the understanding and treatment of depression over the last 20 to 30 years, yet most Americans suffering depression continue to go untreated or undertreated, especially disadvantaged ethnic and racial minorities, he said.

Medicine needs updated national estimates of depressive disorders in older adults to shape current and projected evidence-based allocations of appropriate mental health resources for an aging population.

While ELLDERS will study the nation’s whole population because of the dated psychiatric epidemiological information, ethnic and racial minority groups will also be targeted because they were largely ignored 30 years ago, leaving even less information currently available.

“While those early studies were pioneering, they lacked the large samples needed to understand depression in ethnically diverse populations. We expect to revise our current understanding of the epidemiology of depression and what will appear in textbooks,” Dr. Gonzalez explained. “Considering depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, we believe our work has very important public health implications for the nation and for large and growing segments of the population.

“In addition, minority health has never been ignored by major stockholders, namely ethnic minorities. It’s a glaring part of the reality of daily living. It’s just taken a long time for others to realize the health of the nation depends on all of us,” he added.

The research will compare the epidemiology of depression between ethnic groups.

“Treatments are only good if you can get them to the right people. Thus far, we are seeing very low rates of treatments for ethnic minorities, lower than what has been previously reported,” Dr. Gonzalez said. “While that may be largely explained by differences in access to health care access, we are seeing some interesting differences in which types of treatment different ethnic groups are willing to stick with. Given that there are many different and effective depression treatments available, knowing who prefers what type of treatment can be helpful in reducing the stark inequalities in care we are seeing.”

John J. Graff, Ph.D., director of the Epidemiology Research Core at Karmanos and chief of cancer surveillance research with Detroit’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Registry, said these three components have prompted declining cancer mortality rates.

The American Association for Cancer Research released a study today that shows the number of people who have died from cancer has decreased steadily in the last three decades. All age groups have experienced declines, while the youngest age group has experienced the sharpest decline. Eric Kort, M.D., completed the study while a research scientist at the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids, Mich.

“The cases of cancer that are prevented most successfully are the smoking-related cancers,” Dr. Graff said. “The areas where we have made our greatest outcomes in treatment are in breast cancer and childhood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma.”

Dr. Graff noted that the combination of earlier detection, prevention and better treatments have decreased death rates most significantly in men with prostate, lung and colorectal cancers. For women, those three steps have most sharply decreased the rates of cancer deaths due to colorectal and breast cancer, while female lung cancer mortality rates have leveled off.

Dr. Graff anticipates seeing more decreases in deaths from smoking-related cancers with the newly-established Food and Drug Administration Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the FDA regulatory control of tobacco products production, sales and marketing.

“Lung cancer isn’t the only smoking-related cancer,” he said. “We’ll see great prevention measures taken with this program.”

He acknowledges that cancer will surpass heart disease as a cause of death in 2010, as presented by the World Health Organization, but that is because the rates of death due to heart disease have dropped so sharply in comparison to the drop in cancer mortality rates. The WHO statistic can be misleading, he said, considering that it studies proportional mortality, which is calculated in groups of 100 people.

Dr. Kort’s new study examined the rates of cancer death by age and found that for people born since 1925, every age group has experienced a decline in cancer mortality. The youngest age groups have experienced an almost 26 percent decline per decade, while the oldest group experienced an almost 7 percent decline per decade.

“Fewer people are dying of cardiovascular disease, but we’re also seeing fewer people dying of cancer,” Dr. Graff said. “We haven’t won the battle on cancer, but we are certainly giving it the good fight.”

Dr. Graff said that Karmanos Cancer Institute plays a key role in the continued decrease in cancer mortality rates, across all age ranges.

“We’re a comprehensive cancer center and we contribute to that in our work in clinical trials and advancing the use of new therapeutics in cancer care,” he said. “We’re keeping people alive longer. We’re decreasing mortality rates and we’re increasing quality of life during the survivorship period.”

The award, in its first year, recognizes physicians who have dedicated their medical careers to enhancing health care delivery and eliminating disparities.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be considered for such a prestigious national award, let alone receive it, especially given the other deserving nominees,” Dr. Smitherman said. “I wish to thank those involved with the Kanter Prize for their leadership in establishing this award.”

Dr. Smitherman, who also serves as president and chief executive officer of Health Centers Detroit Foundation Inc., was nominated by the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan. He will receive $25,000 for his work in improving access to care and addressing disparities among the underserved in Detroit.

"Dr. Smitherman has given his time, toil, sweat and tears to improve health care for Detroit's most vulnerable population," said MSMS President Richard E. Smith, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. "This city, this state and this country owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he has done and continues to do. Congress should look at how he has developed a system to improve access and quality while controlling costs."

"While the rest of the nation is debating health care reform, Dr. Smitherman has worked with a missionary zeal for more than two decades to overcome disparities in health care for the underserved," said WCMS President George H. Shade Jr., M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist at the Detroit Medical Center and associate professor of the Gynecology Division in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine. "We are all proud of him and work that he does. He is a selfless man who sacrifices for others."

James O’Connell, M.D., of Boston was awarded the top prize of $100,000 for his work to enhance health care delivery for hundreds of low-income and homeless people in Boston. Often referred to as a “street doctor,” the president of Health Care for the Homeless in Boston brings health care to the homeless where they reside -- on the street. He established integrated relationships with Boston area hospitals so patients typically arrive with medical charts and have received enhanced outpatient strategies prior to hospitalization. Dr. O’Connell designed and implemented a medical records system for the care of homeless patients and has written books on care of the homeless.

In addition to Dr. Smitherman, the other runners-up include:

Jeffrey Henderson, M.D., president and CEO of Black Hills Center for American Indian Health in Rapid City, South Dakota. He is committed to addressing health disparities seen in Native Americans, focusing on their broader health problems through research, service, education and culturally sensitive health delivery. His center collected evidence of effective practices that may lead to changes in the guidelines for managing type II diabetes.

Neil Calman, M.D., president and CEO of the Institute for Family Health in New York, founded Bronx Health REACH, which works with community and faith-based organizations, health care providers and public health officials to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes in diabetes in the southwest Bronx.

Sister Anne Brooks, D.O., the founder and director of the Tutwiler Medical Clinic in Tutwiler, Miss., started medical training at age 43. She provides multi-disciplinary care to some of the nation’s most impoverished and medically underserved, offering not just primary health attention but education and resource assessment. She has been known to accept payment from patients in bushels of squash.

The prize, named for Joseph H. Kanter, a pioneering health care reform advocate for a personal electronic medical database, is sponsored by the Health Legacy Partnership, a public private partnership with the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The Aug. 8 ceremony saw about 300 new students receive the short white coat that marks them as medical students during the time they attend the school.  Students, family members and friends jammed the three lecture halls in Scott Hall to celebrate the event.

Interim Dean Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., told the incoming students that “today is about commitment. Commitment to medicine, but also commitment to the community and the people of the community we serve.”

Dean Parisi advised the students to work and study hard, but not to place themselves last. “We need you healthy. Take care of yourselves,” she said.

“We have a delightful group of students,” Robert Frank, M.D., executive vice dean, told the students and their families. “We are very comfortable that we made wonderful selections for this class.”

Alysse Cohen, 22, originally of Waterford, is considering specializing in surgery after medical school. She chose the School of Medicine after a relative who is a physician praised the education he received at WSU.

“I’ve pretty much always had my mind made up to go to Wayne,” said Cohen, while posing for photos with her parents, Lonny and Suzanne Cohen, after the ceremony. She majored in molecular cellular developmental biology at the University of Michigan.

“We’re very proud of her,” said Mr. Cohen. “She worked very hard at the University of Michigan; studied hard and joined so many groups. We’re really proud of her.”

Dr. Wei was recognized for the development of an HER2 DNA cancer vaccine that has shown to be effective on drug-resistant tumors in mice. The vaccine, she said, completely eliminated HER2-positive tumors – including cancers resistant to current anti-HER2 therapy – in mice, without any toxicity.

The study suggests the vaccine could treat women with HER2-positive, treatment-resistant cancer or help prevent cancer recurrence. Dr. Wei's team of researchers also said it might potentially be used in cancer-free women to prevent initial development of these tumors.

Dr. Wei said she was "humbled" by her selection. "With this award, I feel an enormous amount of responsibility because of the expectations that come with it," she said.

Dr. Wei, together with a team of researchers, has been working on a series of cancer-fighting vaccines since 1996 to help prevent HER2-positive breast cancer.

“Dr. Wei’s work is an example of the type of cutting-edge research conducted at the School of Medicine, the type of research that will make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide,” said Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the school. “Medical research is one of our core missions, and Dr. Wei is certainly a leader in that area who deserves this recognition.”

Approximately 20 percent to 30 percent of breast cancers make too much of the protein HER2, which is made at low levels by normal breast cells. Tumors that overexpress HER2 (called HER2-positive) tend to grow faster and are more likely to return than tumors that don’t overexpress the protein.

Dr. Wei said this vaccine was tested in the laboratory on tumor cells that no longer responded to other therapies for HER2-positive breast cancer. The results in mice showed that the vaccine prevented cancer growth and was not toxic.

Dr. Wei and her colleagues also used an agent that temporarily suppressed the activity of regulatory T cells, which normally keeps the immune system from over-reacting. In the absence of regulatory T cells, the immune system responded much more strongly to the vaccine. When the researchers implanted HER2-positive breast tumors in the mice, the cancer was eradicated.

Dr. Wei’s lab is the first to develop HER2 DNA vaccines. The first vaccine was developed in 1999. In collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, a pilot clinical trial with the HER2 DNA vaccine has been conducted in patients with Stage IV breast cancer and has demonstrated safety. Further testing is being considered.

The ACGME is a private, non-profit organization that accredits approximately 8,500 residency programs in 127 specialties and subspecialties that educate 108,000 residents. Its mission is to improve the quality of health care in the United States by assessing and advancing the quality of resident physicians’ education.

“In this position I will be overseeing accreditation of all ophthalmology residency programs in the United States involving standards and guidelines.” Dr. Juzych said. “Being nominated and elected for this position is not only a personal achievement, but also recognition of Kresge’s excellence and outstanding residency program.”

ACGME is responsible for the accreditation of post-M.D. medical training programs within the United States.

The market will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 27 and Sept. 17 in front of Scott Hall, in the mall between Detroit Receiving Hospital and Scott Hall. Fifteen-minute metered customer parking will be available in the driveway off Canfield, between Scott Hall and the Lande Building.

As with the Wayne State Wednesday Market on Cass Avenue, the medical campus market days will feature farmers from Detroit and the surrounding metropolitan region. Farmers will offer an array of fresh, locally grown produce. With this market, Midtown-area employees and residents will have yet another option to purchase healthy and farm-fresh foods, and local farmers will have another opportunity to market their produce.

Detroit growers who will sell at the market include the D-Town Farm run by the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Vandalia Gardens and the Grown in Detroit Cooperative coordinated by the Garden Resource Program Collaborative.

The market will accept cash and the Michigan Bridge Card. The Bridge Card is a debit card on which federal food stamp dollars are deposited so that participating low-income households can purchase food. The food stamp program -- now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- is offered at the market in partnership with Detroit’s Eastern Market Corp.

The WSU Medical Campus Farmers Market is made possible with the help of several campus partners, including the WSU Division of Business Operations, the School of Medicine and the Department of Public Safety.

The Wayne State Medical Campus Farmers Market is a project of Sustainable Food Systems education and Engagement in Detroit & Wayne State University. SEED Wayne projects include the Warrior Demonstration Garden and the St. Andrew’s Allotment Garden on campus, in which students and staff grow herbs and vegetables; the Wayne State Wednesday Farmers Market in which area market gardeners and farmers sell fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and prepared foods; Cafeteria Composting, in which kitchen wastes at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center and campus cafeterias are composted; a 4,000-square-foot passive solar greenhouse at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen for year-round production of vegetables for the soup kitchen; and Healthy Corner Stores, in which corner stores in the near-eastside neighborhood around Capuchin Soup Kitchen increase access to fresh produce in the community.

The $12,000 grant is awarded by the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

“The grant will provide funds to help our newly established program become accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Educational Programs,” said Dr. Burmeister, who also serves as chief of Physics for the Karmanos Cancer Center. “Beginning in 2014, only graduates from accredited medical physics residency programs will be allowed to become certified in therapeutic radiological physics through the American Board of Radiology. This has significant consequences for clinical practice.”

The requirement that all medical physicists complete a clinical residency should have a “tremendous positive impact” for patients, he said. “The profession is also currently helping to facilitate state licensure in many states. At present, medical physicists play a very significant role in the care of patients in radiation oncology, but there are no requirements in place in most states for either licensure or board certification. This is not in the best interest of patients, and we are attempting to help improve the practice of radiation oncology with these new requirements.”

To compete for the grant, facilities must have initiated a residency training program in radiation oncology physics consistent with guidelines developed by the AAPM. The grant is to promote development of such training programs and provide assistance to help get them accredited.

Dr. Burmeister pointed out that Wayne State University had the first accredited medical physics graduate program in North America and has been among the leaders in medical physics education and training for several decades. “The accreditation of our clinical residency program will further solidify our prestigious reputation in the field,” he said.

Andre Konski, M.D., M.B.A., M.A., F.A.C.R., professor and chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology for the School of Medicine and chief of Radiation Therapy for the Karmanos Cancer Center, called the news of Dr. Burmeister’s award “outstanding.”

“This award speaks to the high caliber of Dr. Burmeister’s dedication and the university’s program,” Dr. Konski said. “We continue to lead the way in research and treatment of cancer, and in the education of the specialists providing that care.”

Vijay Mittal, M.D., clinical associate professor of Surgery at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and chairman of the Southeast Michigan Center for Medical Education Surgery Committee, was awarded the sixth annual Excellence in Medical Education Award by the SEMCME Board of Directors.

The presentation was made by the SEMCME Board of Directors at its annual meeting, held Aug. 4 at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The award, in the form of a Pewabic tile, is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the SEMCME consortium and its medical education endeavors.

"It is a great honor to receive this award from SEMCME," Dr. Mittal said. "I am very proud to be a part of this exceptional medical education consortium and its quality programs. I would like to extend a special thank you to my colleagues on the SEMCME Surgery Committee who have been instrumental to the success of our collaborative surgical education activities."

Dr. Mittal was recognized for his tireless efforts to promote excellence in surgical education and research. His contributions have included the coordination of inter-hospital surgical education activities among the SEMCME community teaching hospitals and the Wayne State University School of Medicine, as well as the sponsorship of many resident research projects.

Dr. Mittal is the program director of Surgery at Providence Hospital and past president of the International College of Surgeons -- U.S. section.

The inaugural award recognizes physicians who have dedicated their medical careers to enhancing health care delivery. Organizers said the prize stands as national recognition for “landmark work, their tireless efforts and creativity in developing new systems to eliminate disparities and to optimize health care for more people in the United States.”

Dr. Smitherman, who also serves as president and chief executive officer of Health Centers Detroit Foundation Inc., was nominated by the Michigan State Medical Society and the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan.

The MSMS and the WCMSSM nominated Dr. Smitherman for running three community-based health centers in urban Detroit, working with culturally diverse communities to improve urban-based primary care delivery systems and his dedication to organizing, expanding and improving access to cost-effective, high-quality health care for the uninsured, as well as volunteering his time without pay to see that patients get the care they need, regardless of income.

"We are extremely proud that our colleague, Dr. Herb Smitherman, is among the finalists for the Kanter Prize,” said George Shade Jr., M.D., associate professor of the Gynecology Division in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine and president of the WCMSSM. “His work in addressing disparities in health care and improving access should be recognized nationally."

The prize, named for Joseph H. Kanter, a pioneering health care reform advocate for a personal electronic medical database, is sponsored by the Health Legacy Partnership, a public private partnership with the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 

“It was indeed fortunate for all of us that the special souls nominated for the Kanter Prize chose the path of healing,” said Dr. Sheldon Kottle, M.D, prize developer and CEO of Health Legacy Partnership. “These physicians should be highlighted for devoting their best years to minimizing suffering where it should not exist, and allowing all of society to benefit from their devotion.”

In addition to Dr. Smitherman, the finalists include Steven Stokes, M.D., Alabama; Richard Neubauer, M.D., Alaska; Steven Kamajian, D.O., California; James O’Connell, M.D., Massachusetts; Sister Anne Brooks, D.O., Mississippi; David Paulus, M.D., Nebraska; Neil Calman, M.D., New York; Jeffrey Henderson, M.D., South Dakota; and S. Ward Casscells, M.D., U.S. military.

“Dr. Smitherman is certainly worthy of consideration,” said Valerie Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., interim dean of the School of Medicine. “He has done so much to ease the health care disparities and to battle the obstacle of access to primary care in the Detroit region. He is a marvel as a physician who cares about his community, and an outstanding example of what we can do to confront our challenges.”

The winning Kanter Prize laureate will receive a $100,000 prize. Four runners-up will receive $25,000 each. The finalists were selected from nominations from state medical associations. The society that nominated the winner will receive $10,000.

The winners will be announced Aug. 11 in Washington, D.C.

Nominees must be practicing physicians who developed innovative programs that enhanced health care delivery by helping to diminish health care disparity while demonstrating implementation and duplication potential on a national level.

Dr. Smitherman has spent the past 22 years working with diverse communities in Detroit to develop urban-based primary care delivery systems that integrate the health and social goals and concerns of the community. He has been successful in establishing and working with best-practice models that have community participation and collaboration as the key element in creating sustainable primary care programs. Those efforts led to the publication of a book, “Taking Care of the Uninsured: A Path to Reform,” which 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.

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. 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.

"Dr. Smitherman has committed his medical career to improving access to health care for the most vulnerable people in Detroit," said MSMS President Richard E. Smith, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist at Henry Ford Hospital. "The rest of the nation should look at what he has been able to accomplish. He deserves this honor and recognition."

“The Kanter Prize honors and highlights practicing physicians who have selflessly and creatively helped to minimize disparities in health care delivery,” said Joseph H. Kanter.  “It encourages other medical professionals to build upon these revolutionary ideas to create a system of high-quality care accessibility for all Americans.” 

Kanter has long supported efforts to improve public health. He established the Joseph H. Kanter Foundation in 1964, which has funded health care research, educational institutes and charitable endeavors. In 1998 Kanter helped establish the Health Legacy Partnership, a private-public partnership between the Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation and the AHRQ to develop a national database of medical outcomes research treatment information.

The interview, conducted by WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter, originally aired on the Aug. 6 “Detroit Today” program. During the interview, Dean Parisi spoke about the future of medical research, her relationship with Detroit Medical Center leadership, the future of the school and health care reform policy.

You can hear the interview at the following link. The portion containing the interview with Dean Parisi appears at just about the half-way point of the full program. http://www.wdetfm.org/audio/detroittoday/752/DT_8-6.MP3

As an example potential molecular target of tea, tumor proteasomal activity is inhibited potently and relatively specifically by EGCG and its synthetic analogs, Dr. Dou explained. Methylation on green tea polyphenols under physiological conditions decreased their proteasome-inhibitory activity, contributing to decreased cancer-preventive effects of tea consumption. Because EGCG is unstable under physiological conditions, its prodrug has been developed to improve its stability. Dr. Dou and his collaborator, Professor Bill Chan at McGill University, developed a peracetate-protected or prodrug form of EGCG, a patented product that can increase the bio availability, stability and proteasome-inhibitory and anti-cancer activities of EGCG in human breast, prostate and colon cancer cells and xenografts in mice, suggesting its potential use for cancer prevention and treatment.

Dr. Dou’s research seeks to  discover molecular targets of chemopreventive agents and natural products in pre-clinical studies, followed by validation in targeted cancer prevention/intervention clinical trials. His laboratory is one of the first to report that proteasome (the largest protease in a human cell) inhibitors rapidly induce tumor cell death, selectively activate the cell death program in oncogene-transformed, but not normal or untransformed cells, and are able to trigger cell death in human cancer cells resistant to various anti-cancer drugs. His laboratory has established, for the first time, a computational molecular model that shows how tea polyphenols bind and target the tumor proteasome. Future targeted prevention trials have been planned to examine whether these natural compounds selectively inhibit proteasome activity in human cancer cells and whether such inhibitory activities correlate with clinical effects seen in serum and tissue samples.