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October 2006

 
 
  SOM remains in the top 20 for NIH funding
New construction in tip-top shape
Update your funding playbook
 
National leadership
The latest word from U.S. News   
  New endowed chair
SOM student wins AMA scholarship
New horizons in radiology
Six-year scholarship to Allied Health student

           
         

SOM remains in top 20 for NIH funding

The SOM is again the 19th best NIH-funded institution out of 123 U.S. medical schools. Our researchers attracted more than $190 million in NIH grant support in 2005, which is nearly a 7% increase over the year before, when the SOM also ranked 19th. This is a significant attainment in a year in which the NIH research budget decreased by nearly 3%. It is also an increase of nearly 3 1⁄2 fold over the past decade.
     There is more good news: 13 SOM departments ranked in the nation’s top 20 for NIH support, including the Wallace Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, which is now No. 1. This is a remarkable achievement, given that the joint SOM-Georgia Tech department was established in 1997. It attracted $8.6 million in NIH support for 2005, more than double the amount of NIH funding received for 2004.
     Strong support from the NIH is essential to continuing the groundbreaking research that has led to significant increases in life expectancy over the past few decades and is vital to ongoing advances in medical science. The SOM’s high standing in the nation is testament to the excellent work taking place in our laboratories and the dedication of our faculty and their excellent teams of graduate students. Thank you for helping bring us where we are today.

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New construction in tip-top shape

The loud strains of construction were silenced briefly this summer during the topping-out ceremony for the new medical education building. More than a year’s worth of construction was celebrated with T-shirts and barbeque for workers and guests alike. As Dr. Michael Johns, Woodruff Health Sciences Center CEO, remarked, "This is a great day that we have worked for in the entire history of the medical school—a day for making a dream a reality."
     We share that sentiment and a deep appreciation for those making our dream come true—SLAM Collaborative, the project architect; Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, the general contractor; and the 300 workers who are preparing our future home for occupancy in May 2007. Much credit also goes to Robert Hascall, Vice President for Campus Services, and Charlie Andrews, Associate Vice President for Health Sciences/Space Planning, in shepherding a project that will change how we educate doctors and practice medicine for the next century. As I said during the topping-out ceremony, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

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Update your funding playbook

We are in a new day competing for research dollars now that the era of NIH budget growth has ended. The SOM and its departments need to step forward to support researchers whose NIH application scores were very high but did not quite make the grade to continue funding. Bridge funding is crucial to our success as a top-notch research facility.
     "Today, 90% of grant applications in each review cycle are not funded because the NIH budget is so tight," says Dr. David Stephens, Executive Associate Dean for Research for the SOM. "While the NIH’s total budget for appropriations in FY06 is $28.6 billion, the agency had to make a 1% across-the-board cut on all discretionary spending. This translates into a $286 million reduction in NIH spending in FY06." The NIH has reduced noncompeting commitments for every research project grant by 2.35% this year and decreased funding for extramural construction and National Research Service Awards by 1% this year.
     In this environment, researchers must remain competitive by addressing any areas in their applications that received criticism and resubmitting their applications. They also should look for diverse funding sources, such as foundations, the Veterans Administration, or the Department of Defense.
     To help make these steps possible, we established a bridge funding program, which includes a match of funds from the SOM and the researcher’s department. The SOM and the University’s most recent strategic plans allocate bridge funding to assist established investigators who need to renew NIH support of research projects that have temporarily lost funding but have received evaluations indicative of success in the next round of competitive review. For more information about bridge funding eligibility criteria, click here or call Trish Haugaard, Assistant Dean of Research, at 404-727-3774.

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National leadership

Dr. Arthur Kellermann, Professor and Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, is one of seven academic and community-based health experts selected as Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Health Policy Fellows for 2006-2007. Administered by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences, the program broadens mid-career health professionals’ understanding of the health policy process, thus expanding their leadership ability for improving policy and management.
"This will be an invaluable learning experience for me," reports Dr. Kellermann. "I hope my ‘hands-on’ experience as an emergency physician can help our nation’s leaders as they work to improve the state of health care, specifically in better serving the uninsured, easing the growing burden on our emergency care system, and strengthening our nation’s capacity to respond to disasters and acts of terrorism."
     He is spending the year in Washington, D.C., nine months of it working in a congressional office or with the executive branch. He will receive additional RWJ fellowship support for up to two years after he returns to Emory.
     Dr. Kellermann practices emergency medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital. He was elected to the IOM in 1999 and co-chaired the IOM’s Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance for three years. He recently served on the IOM’s Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the U.S. Health Systems and was a co-author of the committee’s recent three-report series.
     Dr. Katherine Heilpern, Vice Chair for Academic Affairs for Emergency Medicine and Assistant Dean for Medical Education and Student Affairs at the SOM, is serving as Interim Chair while Dr. Kellermann is in Washington. Dr. Debra Houry, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, was recently named director of the Emory Center for Injury Control, a position recently held by Dr. Kellermann. The SOM and the Rollins School of Public Health jointly sponsor the center.

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The latest word from U.S. News

Emory University Hospital is again ranked among the nation’s best hospitals in U.S. News & World Report. Eight Emory specialties made the top 50 rankings, and four made the top 20, including Heart and Heart Surgery (15), Psychiatry (15), Ophthalmology (16) and Neurology and Neurosurgery (18)—the best showing in the state.
     The magazine also ranked the SOM as one of Georgia’s leading schools in its graduate schools issue. The joint Department of Biomedical Engineering with Georgia Tech ranked 3rd in the nation, while the SOM ranked 26th among research-oriented medical schools and 41st among primary care-oriented schools.

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New endowed chair

Dr. Clinton Kilts, Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, is the first holder of the Dr. Paul Janssen Chair of Neuropsychopharmacology. He will advance the department’s leadership position in the study of
neuropharmacological mechanisms of drug actions, especially in the treatment of drug addiction, schizophrenia, and other mental illnesses. The chair is named for the late founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica.


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SOM student wins AMA scholarship

Olivier Deigni, a first-year SOM student, recently was named a 2006 Minority Scholar by the American Medical Association. He is only one of 10 students to receive the $10,000 scholarship. Deigni, of Côte d’Ivoire, completed an internship this past summer in Tanzania, where he worked on early infant diagnosis and treatment of HIV, as well as counseling youths on reproductive health.

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New horizons in radiology

Dr. Sanjay Saini recently resigned as Chair and William Patterson Timmie Professor of Radiology, positions he has held since 2004. He returned to Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he served for 23 years before coming to Emory. Dr. Saini leaves the department in excellent financial and academic health. The department established a new emergency radiology service this year and, with SOM support, endowed three professorships and modernized its imaging technology. The new upgrades are under way, with 10 new CT, MRI, and PET scanners going to The Emory Clinic, Emory University Hospital, and Emory Crawford Long Hospital. During this process, the facility at Emory Hospital will undergo a long overdue $2.5 million facelift.
     The SOM has appointed Dr. Carolyn Meltzer, William Patterson Timmie Professor of Radiology, Neurology, and Psychiatry, as Interim Chair of Radiology. Dr. Meltzer came to Emory in 2005 to serve as the department’s Chief Academic Officer and SOM Associate Dean for Research. During her short tenure, the department’s NIH submissions have risen by 50%. Dr. Meltzer is leading the development of a multidisciplinary research imaging center at Emory that will house one of the world’s first combined MRI/PET scanners.
     Prior to Emory, Dr. Meltzer served as Vice Chair for Radiology Research and Chief of Neuroradiology at the University of Pittsburgh, where she led a clinical evaluation of the world’s first combined PET/CT scanner and was Founding Director of the Clinical PET Center. Her current NIH-funded research program focuses on imaging neuroreceptor function in aging, dementia, and other late-life neuropsychiatric disorders.

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Six-year scholarship to Allied Health student

Shirley K. Hamilton, a first-year Allied Health student at SOM, received a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship. The $50,000 annual scholarship will help cover her education costs for up to six years as she studies developmental physical therapy.

Thomas J. Lawley, MD
Dean, Emory School of Medicine
   
     
 

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