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Dean’s E-Newsletter
May 2007
It is Commencement time again at the College and I want to personally congratulate all of our medical and graduate students who are completing their degrees this month. This is the culmination of several years of hard work, and we are proud to have you become alums of this great institution. For those of you completing medical school, you are now officially “Aggie Docs”!
Here are a few other items I’d like to pass on:
- The college held a Research Strategic Planning Retreat at Miramont April 20-21. We anticipate substantial legislative investment in the college this biennium, and with that, opportunities for faculty and programmatic investment. We focused on identifying cross cutting and interdisciplinary research themes that could help bridge departments, link our campuses together, and find partnerships with HSC components and TAMU. Basic and Clinical department heads, dean’s staff and representatives of the faculty advisor committee, facilities committee and research committee participated. It was a very productive, and resulted in five targeted areas.
- Regenerative/Restorative Medicine
- Genomics/Proteomics
- Therapeutics and commercialization
- Systems Biology
- Immunology
- We are in the process of having planning retreats for the P-20 Clinical and Translational Research Planning Grant from NIRR. This planning grant is more focused on translational and interdisciplinary infrastructure required for the components of the HSC to work together. Several of you have been invited to participate in these retreats. We have four retreats with a specific theme for each. Last week we held the research retreat (our collegiate retreat met prior to this event). Additional planning retreats are scheduled for May 2, 17 and 30. They will focus on educational programs and infrastructure needs, with the final date serving as a summary meeting.
- The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System has recently made two new appointments. Dr. Everett Jones has been appointed the Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health. Dr. Jones will move to Temple this summer from North Carolina. Dr. Paul Hicks, professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Waco VA, has been appointed the Associate Chief of Staff for Research.
- The HSC will be unveiling a new look for their website on May 21. The college website will also change at this time to have the same format as the HSC website. We hope this site will be easy for you to navigate. We will solicit your feedback once the site is up.
- I hope to see you all at the Senior Banquet on Friday, May 18 and at Commencement on Saturday, May 19 as we celebrate the successes of our students!
Herrejon Wins Employee of the Quarter Award
The winner of the 2007 first quarter Employee of the Quarter Award is Pedro Herrejon, Assistant Facilities Coordinator.
Below are just a few comments from the faculty and staff who nominated Pedro:
“Pedro always comes right up to help with basically whatever is needed. He always has a great attitude no matter how bad the situation looks. He is very deserving of this award because he is always there to help and goes above and beyond his job description.”
For more information about the Employee of the Quarter Award or to fill out the nomination form, visit:
http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/communications/employee.htm
Faculty Research Colloquium Slated for May 16
The College of Medicine Faculty Advisory Committee is sponsoring a Faculty Research Colloquium to be held quarterly, alternating between the College Station and Temple campuses. The colloquium will be held in College Station and simulcast to R109 Education Center in Temple Wednesday, May 16 at 5 p.m.
The College of Medicine researcher Dr. Vernon Tesh will be the featured speaker and will be presenting “Shiga toxins: You want E. coli with that burger?” A reception will follow the colloquium in College Station and Temple.
Please RSVP via email to mawolff@medicine.tamhsc.edu before Friday, May 11th and provide the location you will be attending.
2007 Residency Match Day
The wait was over for the Class of 2007 at the residency Match Day, held Thursday, March 15 in Temple. Just two months before graduation, members of the Class of 2007 learned where they are headed next to continue their medical education.
The 2007 Match Day saw 43 percent of the class select residencies in primary care, with 32 of the 76 students staying in-state. The most students, 15, will complete residencies in internal medicine, followed by nine in pediatrics and six each in anesthesiology, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry. Seventeen fourth-year students, or 22 percent of the class, were matched with residencies at Scott & White and will remain in Temple. College of Medicine graduates will move all over the country, with students accepting positions in 23 states, the District of Columbia and Canada.
Herring Appointed to BOR for Hospice Brazos Valley
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Herring, associate professor of Humanities in Medicine, was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of Hospice Brazos Valley.
Hospice Brazos Valley is a non-profit, community-supported agency committed to caring for individuals touched by life-limiting illness, grief and loss. The organization gives care to all people without regard to race, age, faith, diagnosis or ability to pay for services, and serves residents in 17 counties.
Boyer Receives AAMP Coolidge Award
Dr. Arthur L. Boyer, professor and director of Radiation Physics in the Department of Radiology, was recently notified that he was selected by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine as the recipient of its highest award, the William D. Coolidge Award. The Coolidge Award denotes distinguished contributions to Medical Physics.
Dr. Boyer will be recognized for his accomplishments at the Awards Ceremony and Reception slated for July 23 during the upcoming AAPM Meeting in Minneapolis.
12th Annual GSO Symposium a Success
Dr. Van Wilson, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies
The College of Medicine Graduate Student Organization held their 12th Annual Student Research Symposium on Tuesday, April 10. It was an outstanding event with excellent presentations by many of our graduate students and medical students. I compliment all of the participants for their hard work on their research projects and for the knowledge and enthusiasm that was displayed at the talks and posters.
I'd also like to thank the GSO President, Eric Bridenbaugh, and all the GSO Executive Committee for their organizational prowess. The meeting this year was one of our finest and a testament to all of their efforts. Lastly, special congratulations to the award winners listed below. I know the judges had an incredibly difficult time with their decisions as the overall quality of all the posters and talks was first-rate.
Poster: Junior Category
1st Place Adebayo Akintola SBTM/Parrish
2nd Place FuCheng Liang MCMD/Musser
3rd Place Lucas Wymore MSIII/Scott &White/Reeve
Poster: Senior Category
1st Place Danielle Lewis NExT/Shorabji
2nd Place Clint Allen MSIV/NIH
3rd Place Jong-Hyun Son NExT/ Winzer-Serhan
Oral Category
1st Place Judith Wahlman MCMD/Johnson
2nd Place Candice Jongsma MCMD/Johnson
3rd Place Patrick Dougherty SBTM/Muthuchamy
Class of 2010 Hosts Annual Cadaver Ball
The Class of 2010 hosted the annual Cadaver Ball for the second-year students on Friday, April 13 at Pebble Creek Country Club. The following awards were given by the Class of 2009:
Dr. Van Wilson – Best Lecturer
John Nettum – Class Friend
Hematology – Best Block
Microbiology and Molecular Pathogenesis – Best Department
The following awards were given by the Class of 2010:
Faculty Awards:
Dr. Wei-Jung Chen - Best Actor in a Supporting Laboratory Role
Bill Kirk - Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Dr. Gary McCord - Best Director
Dr. John Gelderd - Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Joan Quarles - Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. Tom Peterson - Best Ensemble Cast
Dr. Gary McCord - Best Ensemble Cast
Dr. John Gelderd - Best Ensemble Cast
Dr. Wei-Jung Chen - Best Ensemble Cast
Dr. Farida Sohrabji - Best Ensemble Cast
Student Awards:
Ravi Kumar - Dr. McDreamy
Dara Wang - Dr. Elliot Reid
Matt Vasquez - Dr. J.D.
Vipin Kuriachan - Patch Adams
Rori Morrow - Dr. Quinn
Sohum Desai - Doogie Houser
Matt Recko - Dr. House
John Reneau - Fraiser
Mike McNeal - Hawkeye
Student Assistants Place at Student Research Week
Three undergraduate students in the Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics Department placed in the oral presentation category during Student Research Week, held March 26-30 at Texas A&M University. Dana Pappalardo (Dr. Chen's lab) placed second, while Shannon Stohlgren and Heather Woodin (Dr. Sohrabji's lab) both placed third.
DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
Jocylen Glassberg, PGY-2, won the Pritchard Prize for First Place Paper at the Texas Association of Ob/Gyn (TAOG) meeting, April 12-14 in Houston, TX.
The 48th Annual Bunkley Day and 20th Annual Resident Research Day was held on Friday, April 20 at Scott & White. Jason Bradford, PGY-2 won Best Presentation and Jocylen Glassberg, PGY-2 won Best Paper.
OFFICE OF RESEARCH
NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival
The National Institutes of Health is actively recruiting candidates to participate in the upcoming National Graduate
Student Research Festival, to be held October 11th - 12th, 2007 in Bethesda, Maryland.
To be eligible, students must be enrolled in a PhD program in the U.S. and on schedule to complete their PhD degree by October, 2007. We will select up to 250 students to spend two days discussing their research through poster sessions, meeting other students from around the U.S., learning about the research being done at NIH, and exploring postdoctoral training opportunities on the NIH campuses. Expenses will be paid by NIH.
The deadline for application is June 1 and the online application can be found at: http://www.training.nih.gov. Questions? Contact Dr. Sharon L. Milgram at milgrams@od.nih.gov.
Funding Opportunities
Advancing Theory in Biology (ATB)
Proposal Deadline: July 3, 2007 (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time)
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07556
Synopsis of Program: The Biological Sciences Directorate invites submission of proposals that advance our conceptual and theoretical understanding of the dynamics of living systems. Proposals may vary in size (up to $250,000 per year) and duration (up to three years), in the number of investigators involved, and in the nature of collaborations.
Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 20 to 25
Anticipated Funding Amount: $3,500,000 in FY 2007 and up to $5,000,000 in FY 2008 and 2009, pending fund availability.
For further information, contact: Saran Twombly, Program Director at (703) 292-8133 or BioTheory@nsf.gov; Paul Farel, Program Director at (703) 292-8417; or Kamal Shukla, Program Director at (703) 292-7131
NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)
Letter of Intent Deadline: May 16, 2007 (required)
Proposal Deadline: July 2, 2007 (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time)
URL: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07535
Synopsis of Program: This program provides funding to graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century. Through interactions with teachers and students in K-12 schools and with other graduate fellows and faculty from STEM disciplines, graduate students can improve communication, teaching, collaboration, and team building skills while enriching STEM learning and instruction in K-12 schools.
Anticipated Type of Award: Continuing Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 25
Anticipated Funding Amount: $16,000,000 approximately in FY 2008 (pending availability of funds).
For further information, contact: Sonia Ortega, Program Director at (703) 292-8697, fax: (703) 292-9048 or sortega@nsf.gov; or Umesh Thakkar, Program Director at (703) 292-8697, fax: (703) 292-9048, email: uthakkar@nsf.gov.
NCI SBIR Program Announces Three New Funding Opportunities
Are you interested in learning how your small business can tap into the resources of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)? To help advance small business innovation and commercialization in the fight against cancer, the NCI Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program has released three new grant topics. Receipt dates for proposals are August 5 and December 5, 2007.
The three grant topics are:
For a complete listing of all funding opportunities from the NCI SBIR & STTR Program, please visit: http://sbir.cancer.gov/funding/find_funding.asp.
FACULTY
Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics
Dr. George Chiou delivered a presentation entitled, "Pharmacological treatment of AMD" to Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company on April 24, 2007 in New York, NY.
Dr. Bill Griffith attended the Third Annual Neuroscience Symposium at the University of Texas, Brownsville April 11-13 and presented an invited talk entitled “Can mutant mice serve as model systems to study calcium signaling during aging?”
Dr. Farida Sohrabji presented “Growth factor regulation by estrogen in the aging and injured forebrain: BDNF as a case study” at the 2nd World Congress on Gender Specific Medicine and Aging: The Endocrine Impact, March 9 in Rome, Italy. She also presented “Effects of estrogen replacement on neuron-immune responses in an animal model of reproductive senescence” for the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Houston on April 4.
Office of Educational Development
Dr. Timothy Stallard, Dr. Eugene Terry, Dr. Sandra Oliver and Dr. Jose Pliego presented “Does Advanced Cardiac Life Support Prepare Residents to Participate in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation?” at the Southeastern SAEM Annual Meeting in Wilmington, NC, held March 23-24. Dr. Stallard also presented “The Effect of Participation in Resuscitations on Residents Knowledge of ACLS Principles-Preliminary Report.”
Systems Biology and Translational Medicine
Dr. Vincent VanBuren presented “Computational systems biology” at the Texas Bioscience Institute in Temple in April.
RESEARCH
Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics
Dr. George Chiou received funding from MacuClear for a grant entitled "R&D of anti-AMD drugs" in the amount of $492,000 for two years.
Systems Biology and Translational Medicine
Dr. Gerry Meininger, Dr. Jerome Trzeciakowski, Gerard Cote and Kenith Meissner received a $561,198 National Institutes of Health grant entitled “Atomic Force-FRET Microscopy Using Quantum Dots for Cell Mechanobiology” for the period 04/01/07-03/31/10.
Dr. David Zawieja, Anatoliy Gashev and H. Glenn Bohlen received a $1,591,375 National Institutes of Health grant renewal entitled “Influences of lymph flow on the lymphatic pump” for the period 04/01/07-03/31/12.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics
LaSarge, CL, Montgomery, KS, Tucker, C, Slaton, S, Griffith, WH, Setlow, B, and Bizon, JL. Deficits across multiple cognitive domains in a subset of aged Fischer 344 rats. Neurobiology of Aging, 28:928-936 (2007).
Zou, YH, Jiang, W, and Chiou, GCY: Effect of tetramethylpyrazine on rat experimental choroidal neovascularization in vivo and endothelial cell cultures in vitro. Current Eye Research 32: 71 -75 (2007).
Systems Biology and Translational Medicine
Nagaoka, T, Hein, TW, Yoshida, A and Kuo, L. Simvastatin elicits dilation of isolated porcine retinal arterioles: Role of nitric oxide and mevalonate-rho kinase pathways. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 48:825-832 (2007).
Quick, CM, Venugopal, AM, Gashev, AA, Zawieja, DC and Stewart, RH. Intrinsic pump-conduit behavior of lymphangions. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology Apr;292(4):R1510-8. Epub 2006 Nov 22 (2007).
Sampson, HW, Dearman, AC, Akintola, AD, Zimmer, WE and Parrish, A. Immunohistochemical localization of cadherin and catenin adhesion molecules in the murine growth plate. Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry (in press).
Thengchaisri, N, Shipley, R, Ren, Y, Parker, J and Kuo, L. Exercise training restores coronary arteriolar dilation to NOS activation distal to coronary artery occlusion: Role of hydrogen peroxide. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology 27:791-798 (2007).
Zhang, RZ, Gashev, AA, Zawieja, DC and Davis, MJ. Length-tension relationships of small arteries, veins, and lymphatics from the rat mesenteric microcirculation. American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology Apr;292(4):H1943-52. Epub 2006 Dec 15 (2007).
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DATES TO REMEMBER
May 3: Magnolia Tea, 2 p.m.; Reveille Inn
May 16: Faculty Research Colloquium, 5 p.m.; Lecture Hall 1 – simulcast to Room 109 MEB (Temple)
May 18: Senior Banquet, 6 p.m.; Reed Arena
May 19: Class of 2007 Commencement, 2 p.m.; Rudder Auditorium
Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., M.P.H.
Dean, College of Medicine
The Texas A&M Health Science Center
147 Joe H. Reynolds Medical Building
College Station, TX 77843-1114
Phone: 979/845-3431
Fax: 979/847-8663
Email: colenda@medicine.tamhsc.edu
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