Momentum - Noteworthy

HOT OFF THE PRESSES

Three Emory health sciences professors have new books out. DONALD STEIN, professor of emergency medicine and neurology at the School of Medicine, is the editor of Buying In or Selling Out? The Commercialization of the American Research University (2004, Rutgers University Press). The volume features commentary from university presidents and other leaders in higher education on the many connections between business and scholarship when intellectual property and learning are treated as marketable commodities.
CHARLES NEMEROFF chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the School of Medicine, is the co-author of the book, The Peace of Mind Prescription: An Authoritative Guide to Finding the Most Effective Treatment for Anxiety and Depression (2004, Houghton Mifflin), with colleague Dennis S. Chaney, chief of the Mood and Anxiety Disorder Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. The book is a guide for patients and families, explaining in easy-to-understand language the biologic basis for anxiety and mood disorders and detailing the different treatments and medications that are available.
And HOWARD FRUMKIN, chair of environmental and occupational health, Rollins School of Public Health, is a co-author of the guide, Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning and Building for Healthy Communities (2004, Island Press). The book advocates building communities that are more compact—with homes, work places, and stores near each other—and that offer alternatives to the automobile for getting from place to place.


	Emory alumnus and renowned ophthalmologist ARNALL PATZ has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush. Patz is credited with saving the sight of countless premature infants by proving, early in his career, that high levels of oxygen commonly used to aid their underdeveloped lungs actually caused a condition called retrolental fibroplasia, an overproliferation of blood vessels that damage the retina. Yerkes primatologist FRANS DE WAAL has been elected a foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors that can be accorded U.S. scientists and engineers. De Waal’s current research includes studies of food-sharing, social reciprocity, and conflict resolution in nonhuman primates as well as the origins of justice and morality in society.


	The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has honored WALKTER ORENSTEIN, director of Emory’s program for vaccine policy and development, with the Charles C. Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, for his 26 years’ service in the CDC’s immunization program. The Shepard award recognizes scientific achievement and honors the memory of Charles C. Shepard, an internationally recognized microbiologist. In his distinguished career, Orenstein has led successful efforts to combat and reduce once-common childhood diseases, including rubella, varicella, meningitis, and more.


	The Department of Emergency Medicine has been featured in the June issue of the publication Academic Physician and Scientist as an example of “an emergency department for the 21st century.” The article praises the department for its unique collaborative relationships with the Rollins School of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. ANTHONY STRINGER, director of neuropsychology in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, has been board certified in neuropsychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, an achievement attained by only 500 other psychologists in the United States—seven in the state of Georgia. Neuropsychology is a subspecialty area that focuses on the relationship between brain dysfunction and its effects on cognitive skills and behavior. In rehabilitation medicine, neuropsychology is used to help patients experiencing memory loss resulting from a variety of physical impairments such as stroke, epilepsy, surgery, and traumatic brain injury. Stringer is also the first African American to achieve this certification. The Mount Sinai (New York) School of Medicine Alumni Association has awarded the Jacobi Medallion to JEFFREY KOPLAN, Emory’s vice president for academic health affairs. The medallion is given to Mount Sinai alumni for distinguished achievement in medicine.


	Physiology professor DOUGLAS EATON is president-elect of the American Physiological Society (APS), a national organization of scientists with more than 10,500 members. The APS is a member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, a coalition of 18 independent societies that plays an active role in lobbying for the interests of biomedical scientists. MARY GULLATTE was named the Georgia Nursing Association’s 2004 Nurse of the Year, one of the state’s top nursing honors. She has been an employee of Emory University Hospital for 26 years and is currently the director of nursing for patient oncology and transplant services for Emory Hospitals and the Winship Cancer Institute. She has served as a volunteer in many organizations such as American Red Cross and Georgia Special Olympics.


	The current presidents of three of the four major national nursing leadership organizations call Georgia home. Emory nursing professor JOYCE MURRAY is president of the National League for Nursing; Jean Bartels, chair of the School of Nursing at Georgia Southern University, is president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing; and Marilyn Bowcutt, vice president of patient services for Augusta’s University Hospital, is president-elect of the American Organization of Nurse Executives.


	RUTH BERKELMAN, director of the Rollins School of Public Health’s Center for Public Health Preparedness, has been appointed chair of the Public and Scientific Affairs Board of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). The ASM is the largest single life science professional organization in the world, with 42,000 members worldwide. Its members work in education, research, industry, and government on issues such as the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, laboratory and diagnostic medicine, the environment, and food and water safety.

Emory Flight, a critical care air transport program serving the state of Georgia, celebrated its third anniversary in 2004 by adding a much-needed fourth helicopter to its fleet. Emory Flight provides 24-hour, seven-day-a-week emergency medical response to critically ill and injured patients who need rapid transport to the nearest appropriate medical center. Each Emory Flight helicopter is staffed with a pilot, a specially trained flight nurse, and a flight paramedic who combine clinical expertise, medical technology, and average air cruising speeds of 140 miles per hour to offer patients their best chance of survival.
The service is a cooperative effort of Emory Healthcare and transport provider Rocky Mountain Helicopters, now a part of Air Methods Corporation’s LifeNet Division, the nation’s largest community-based provider of air medical services. Emory Flight receives its medical oversight from physicians in Emory’s Department of Emergency Medicine.
Emory Flight is also one of two programs in the state accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, which ensures compliance with national service standards. By participating in this voluntary accreditation process, Emory Flight has demonstrated its commitment to quality and safety, a benchmark recognized by peers, medical professionals, and the general public alike.


	The Georgia Hospital Association named Emory Hospitals’ ALICE VAUTIER the 2004 Workforce Leadership Award Winner. The annual award recognizes an individual, hospital, or other institution that has made outstanding contributions to addressing Georgia health care personnel needs. In recognizing Vautier, the association lauded her development of innovative programs designed to combat the nursing shortage and attract and retain talented nurses—theseinclude a nurse residency program for new or inexperienced nurses, an RN re-entry program, a preceptor and mentoring program, scholarship programs, and a nurse extern program for nursing students. Emory Eye Center retina specialist DANIEL MARTIN was the winner of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award in the Visual Sciences through the Macula Society. The award is presented annually to an individual younger than 45 whose work gives high promise of a notable advance in the clinical treatment of eye disorders. Martin pioneered the use of ganciclovir implants and valganciclovir for treatment of cytomegalovirus-related retinitis and led the clinical trials that resulted in FDA approval of both drugs.


	Emory medical student ARUN MOHAN has been named the first medical student member of the American Medical Association Foundation’s board of directors. Mohan, who is pursuing a dual MD/MBA degree, was appointed for a term that ends in June 2005.


	NANETTE WENGER, professor of medicine at the School of Medicine and chief of cardiology at Grady Memorial Hospital, recently received the Gold Heart Award of the American Heart Association. The Gold Heart Award is given to select individuals who have “rendered the most distinguished service in advancing the goals of the association and its programs.”


	The School of Nursing awarded an honorary BSN degree to EDITH HONEYCUTT at its 2004 spring commencement ceremony. Honeycutt, an icon at the nursing school and Emory University Hospital, cared for four generations of the Woodruff family and was originally awarded a nursing degree in 1939. SHANTHI SITARAMAN, assistant professor of digestive diseases in medicine, was awarded the Gastroenterology Research Group Young Investigator Award for the year 2004. The award, given by the American Gastroenterology Association, recognizes the specific achievements of young scientists whose research is focused on the area of digestive and/or liver diseases. Award applicants must be independent investigators who have held a faculty appointment for less than seven years. The American Society of Transplantation awarded CHRISTIAN LARSEN, director of the Emory Transplant Center, the 2004 Roche Basic Science Award. The award is given for career achievement in basic science research at the professor level. ROBERTA KAPLOW, clinical professor of nursing, adult and elder health, has been named a director of the board of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). Kaplow has also served the last two years on the AACN Certification Corporation Board.


	MICHAEL JOHNS, CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory’s executive vice president for health affairs, is the recipient of the 2005 Biomedical Industry Growth Award given by the Georgia Biomedical Partnership. The award recognizes significant contributions to the growth of the life sciences industry in Georgia. In recognizing Johns, the Partnership Awards Committee noted: “As a result of his vision and dedication, Emory University has become one of the state’s largest employers of life sciences workers, an internationally recognized center for life sciences research, and a model for building partnerships between public and private universities, benefiting the State of Georgia well beyond the boundaries of the Emory campus.” PATRICIA HUDGINS, professor of radiology, is the first woman to be elected president of the American Society of Neuroradiology, a 3,000-member professional organization based in Oak Brook, Illinois. Hudgins is also the immediate past president of the American Society of Head and Neck Radiology.


	KENNETH WALKER, a professor of medicine and neurology, has been named an honorary citizen of Georgia—not his native state, but the distant country of nearly 5 million located in the shadow of the Caucasus Mountains. Walker, who has made numerous trips to Georgia since 1992 as co-director of the Atlanta-Tbilisi Healthcare Partnership, received the rare honor from Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in a ceremony held in Tbilisi in December. Many students and faculty have been involved for more than a decade in the broad-based exchange program, which is designed to improve access to modern health care in the former Soviet republic.

Physical therapist CARMELLA GONNELLA died March 1, 2004, after a long battle with cancer. Dr. Gonnella was a leader in rehabilitation and research. One of her most important research projects, early in her career, was serving as an investigator in the gamma globulin field trials in the early 1950s, seeking an effective vaccine against polio. She also served as president of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.

PAUL SEAVEY, professor emeritus of medicine, died Friday, Nov. 12, 2004, at Emory University Hospital (EUH). Seavey, a medical school faculty member from 1967 until his retirement in 1997, was a former fellow in cardiology and served as chief of internal medicine at The Emory Clinic for 10 years. Known as a “doctor’s doctor,” he treated many prominent members of the Emory community (including the last three university presidents) and was instrumental in the development and construction of the Rollins Pavilion at EUH.

XIAHONG WANG, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, died Saturday, July 24, 2004, in a car accident while visiting his parents in China. Dr. Wang was a promising researcher studying the interface between immunology and psychiatry with a particular focus on treating anxiety, depression, and mood disorders in patients with cancer and other medical illnesses. Wang practiced at Emory University Hospital, Emory Crawford Long Hospital, Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital, and Grady Memorial Hospital.