AHC News Capsules 05/16/07

May 16, 2007

NEWS CAPSULES is a biweekly newsletter for faculty, staff, and students of the Academic Health Center. Please send submissions to Jacob Portnoy at port0179@umn.edu.

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   -- Legislative Update
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I've been thinking lately about the elements that make for successful change as we experience both national and local environments that are all about change. One core element involves healthy and helpful connections that provide support for a future of change. For example, see the Update story that speaks of the upcoming AHC-FCC forum on mentoring. This fall event will provide a valuable opportunity for our faculty to learn from each other how best to support the development of their junior colleagues. I look forward to continuing the conversation begun this past year amongst our talented faculty who are seeking to shape the future.

Another example of helpful connections that will fuel a successful future will be rolling out through the Enterprise Financial System project. Essentially, this project is designed to provide 21st century tools to support financial management and to guide strategic decisions. The public that supports this University clearly seeks the accountability and responsiveness this new financial system promises. There will be more news as this project rolls forward, and ongoing information is available at www.finsys.umn.edu.

– Frank B. Cerra, M.D.
Sr. Vice President for Health Sciences

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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE —

As of midnight tonight, state lawmakers have indicated they will have sent all new spending bills to Governor Pawlenty for his signature, including new higher education and new health and human services funding bills. In the last two weeks, the governor vetoed several of the legislature's first proposed funding packages, including these two. State lawmakers have said they attempted to address the governor's concerns in these second funding packages, but it is unclear whether the governor will sign these bills. If state lawmakers send these bills to the governor by midnight tonight, he will have until midnight Saturday to act. It remains unclear if the Biomedical Sciences Research Facilities Authority has a future this session. As is often said at the Capitol, nothing is complete until the last minute of the last hour of session; midnight on Monday, May 21. Watch for a special edition of News Capsules after the session ends.

HEADLINES —

Interim dean appointed for College of Veterinary Medicine
Trevor Ames has been appointed interim Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, effective June 18. Ames replaces Jefferey Klausner who is moving to New York to assume leadership of the Animal Medical Center. Ames, a CVM faculty member since 1981, is a professor and department chair of Veterinary Population Medicine.

Minnesota Pancreas and Liver Center formed
In a broad-based community collaboration, the Medical School's Department of Surgery this week announced the creation of a multidisciplinary team developed in partnership with the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, University of Minnesota Physicians, Hennepin County Medical Center, and Hennepin Faculty Associates. The Minnesota Pancreas and Liver Center, home for the Minnesota Pancreas Cancer Program, will provide patients access to the latest in diagnostic techniques, innovative surgical and medical care, invasive gastroenterology, clinical trials, and national registration with the Pancreatic Cancer Care Registry.

Steam outage this weekend
The Minneapolis heating plant will be down for maintenance from 9 p.m., Saturday, May 19 through 6 a.m., Sunday, May 20. Heat, hot water, side radiation and steam for steam-generated equipment will not be available during this period.

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Lee Pyles (Medical School) was appointed to the Minnesota Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board by Governor Tim Pawlenty. The board makes recommendations for improving access, delivery, and effectiveness of the state's EMS system and establishes procedures for handling complaints against EMS providers. Pyles is an assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology.

Deborah Swackhamer (SPH) was appointed to serve as the higher education representative to the Clean Water Council by Governor Pawlenty. The Clean Water Council was established by the Minnesota Legislature last session to advise on the administration and implementation of the Clean Water Legacy Act. Swackhamer is a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences.

Ray Christensen (Medical School ? Duluth) has been chosen to receive the 2007 Minnesota Rural Health Hero award from the Minnesota Department of Health. Christensen is assistant dean for Rural Health and associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the Medical School, Duluth Campus. In addition, he continues to practice at the family health clinic he co-founded in 1972. The award will be presented at the Minnesota Rural Health Conference in Duluth on June 19.

Henry Balfour (Medical School) received the Clinical Virology Award for 2007. This award acknowledges an individual whose contributions to clinical virology have had a major impact on the epidemiology, treatment, or understanding of viral diseases. Balfour is professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and Pediatrics. He currently serves as medical director at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview Clinical Virology Laboratory.

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UPDATES —

Mentoring

• Building a more proactive approach to faculty career management
  The AHC has a new mentoring policy designed to nurture and retain faculty; particularly junior faculty. While many programs, divisions, and departments within AHC schools have highly developed, highly effective mentoring activities, others do not. The goal of the new policy is to ensure that all junior faculty have the opportunity to benefit from quality mentoring. The AHC is among the first academic health centers to address the need for a faculty career development program. To read the new policy, go to http://www.ahc.umn.edu/img/assets/7617/AHC%20Mentoring%20Policy%2004.25.07.pdf

• Learn mentoring strategies that work
  The next AHC Faculty Consultative Committee forum will focus on mentoring a new generation of faculty members. Hear success stories from highly effective mentoring activities. Get ideas for a mentoring plan that fits your discipline and culture. The event is November 2, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m., at the McNamara Alumni Center. Save the date now. Look for a personal invitation in campus mail.

  Collaboration

• Working with researchers in India? Would you like to?
  The AHC is conducting a survey of relationships with India to determine the current level of collaboration and desire for more collaboration in the future. All AHC faculty are encouraged to take the survey. Go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=930503795678.

• Minnesota Futures grant program announced
  The Office of the Vice President for Research has announced a new grant program designed to identify research questions significant to multiple disciplines. Modeled after the "Keck Futures Initiative," the Minnesota Futures grant program will encourage University of Minnesota researchers to create new collaborative connections through symposia and act upon those ideas through interdisciplinary research awards.
  Awards up to $250,000 will be granted. The deadline to apply is August 1, 2007. For more information go to http://www.research.umn.edu/opportunities/intramural/MNFutures.html.

• Applications due for National Academies Keck Futures Human Healthspan Conference
  The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative is accepting applications to participate in "The Future of Human Healthspan: Demography, Evolution, Medicine, and Bioengineering" conference, November 14-16, in Irvine, California. Each year the Futures Initiative hosts a conference to bring together researchers from academia, industry, and government laboratories to ask questions about -- and to discover interdisciplinary connections between -- important areas of cutting-edge research. Approximately 100 researchers in the United States will be invited to attend the conference, representing disciplines in science, engineering, medicine, and social science. Applications must be submitted by June 7. The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative will pay all travel expenses, including lodging and meals, for invited attendees. For more information, go to http://www.keckfutures.org/healthspan.

Get news from the Medical School and the Minnesota Medical Foundation in your Inbox
Now you can sign up to receive the latest Medical Bulletin headlines - with links to all the current stories via e-mail. It's simple to subscribe at www.mmf.umn.edu/mb/subscribe. You can always view the entire Medical Bulletin, as well as past issues, online at www.mmf.umn.edu/bulletin.

PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS —

"Reclaiming Public Health Nurses' Role in Social Justice" is the topic for the next Public Health Nursing Night. Participate in a dialogue on social justice and reconnect with public health nursing alumni, colleagues and friends. The event is May 24, 5-7 p.m., in the Gross Family Board Room at the McNamara Alumni Center . Speakers include Joanne Disch, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, director of the Katharine J. Densford International Center for Nursing Leadership and Katherine R. & C. Walton Lillehei Chair in Nursing Leadership, School of Nursing; Linda Olson Keller, M.S., APRN-BCM, Senior Research Scientist, School of Nursing.

"Innovations in Practice: Nurse-run Clinics and New Initiatives in Patient Care" is the topic for the next Nursing School roundtable reception. Scheduled to speak is Jean Wyman, Ph.D., APRN-BC, GNP, FAAN, Professor and Cora Meidl Siehl, endowed chair in Nursing Research, School of Nursing and Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, Medical School. The event is May 23 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at 4536 Majestic Oaks Place in Eagan.

LECTURES —

A different approach to GRN modeling is the topic for the next Lillehei Heart Institute lecture. Venkatesh V. Kareenhalli, Ph.D. will present "Quantification of Genetic Regulatory Networks through Steady State Modeling: application to specific networks of Saccharomyces cerevisiae," May 30, 3 p.m., in the LHI Education Center, Room 114 DVCCRC. Kareenhalli is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Associate Faculty in the School of Biosciences and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, India. For more information go to http://www.med.umn.edu/lhi/news_events/calendar.html.

William L. Carroll will present "Genomics and Risk Based Therapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia" at the 16th Annual Mark E. Nesbit Lectureship in Pediatric Oncology. Caroll is a professor of pediatrics at NYU Medical Center. The event is May 18, noon-1 p.m., in room 450 of the Cancer Center Research Building.

Hear from the co-inventor of the Sonicare Toothbrush
School of Dentistry alumnus David Engel, ('67) will deliver the commencement address to 2007 dental and dental hygiene graduates on May 18, at 2 p.m. at Northrop Auditorium. Engel's address is titled "Getting from Giving."

OPPORTUNITIES —

Connect with the med-tech industry for advances in neuromodulation.
LifeScience Alley has joined with the University's Office of Clinical Research to launch an educational partnership. The first in this Breakthrough Series is "Neuromodulation: Advancing Our Med-Tech Edge." The day-and-a-half conference is June 4-5 at the University's Continuing Education and Conference Center in St. Paul. For more information or to register go to http://www.medicalalley.org/programs/calendar/detail.cgi?070604.

Call for women's health abstracts
The Powell Center invites abstracts on any topic regarding women's health or gender-specific research across the lifespan for the Fourth Annual Women's Health Research Conference. Abstracts must be turned in by May 21, to be considered for an award. All other abstracts are due by August 6. For more information or to submit your abstract online, go to http://www.womenshealth.umn.edu/wmhlth/profed/upcoming2/research07.html.

Advanced Pediatric Dermatology Symposium
This biennial conference, hosted by both the departments of Dermatology and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Medical School, offers an outstanding faculty invited to share their expertise and present updates on a variety of topics. Speakers include Alfred T. Lane from Stanford University Medical School and Beth A. Drolet from the Medical College of Wisconsin. The event is May 18, 8 a.m. - noon at the Radisson University Hotel in Minneapolis. For more information go to http://www.cme.umn.edu/img/assets/24315/Dermatology_Web_brochure_07.pdf.

Register early for Maya Angelou lecture
Maya Angelou will headline the 2007 Summit of Sages to be held October 14-16, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. This year's theme is social justice. Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and other best-sellers, will stress the value of ethnic, economic and religious diversity. For more information or to register early (recommended) go to http://www.nursing.umn.edu/Densford/Participate/SummitSages/home.html.

Still time to register for the 2007 Summer Public Health Institute
The institute, offered through the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, provides professionals with an opportunity to immerse themselves in a field of study for a single day or for up to three weeks. It's a chance to expand professional knowledge, learn best practices and network with other professionals. Participants can also earn credits for a certificate or degree program or for continuing education. Courses run from May 21 to June 8. For more information or to register, go to http://www.cpheo.sph.umn.edu/institute.

Volunteer your expertise
The Powell Center for Women's Health is co-sponsoring a National Women's Health Week event on May 17, 3-7 p.m., at Sabathani Community Center at 310 E. 38th St., Minneapolis. The goal of the event is to provide reliable health information and free health screenings to underserved women and girls. If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please contact wmhealth@umn.edu.

FACILITIES NEWS —

TCF Bank Stadium construction update
Driving
Road work has been completed at the corner of Sixth St. and Oak St. and the intersection is now open in both directions. Driving lanes on University Avenue, Washington Avenue, and on Huron Boulevard south of University Avenue will continue to be affected for the next several days. Roads remain open but some lanes or portions of lanes are closed.

Parking
The Hawkeye Lot on the northwest corner of the Huron Blvd Parking Complex closed on May 15. This parking area will be modified to conform with the new stadium site layout and will reopen August 1. The remaining parking areas in the Huron Avenue complex will remain open until July 2007.

Summer on campus - what's open? What's not?
Bio-Medical Library
The Bio-Medical Library has begun summer hours, including new hours for the Reference Desk. The library also now offers reference help via instant messenger. The new 24/7 study hours will continue during the summer. For more information go to http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/fetch_hours.phtml?LibID=5&term=.

Eating on campus
The lines are a lot shorter, but your dining choices are more limited until the fall. For a list of summer hours for campus food vendors, go to http://www1.umn.edu/dining/cdining.html.

AHC News Capsules is a biweekly newsletter for faculty, staff, and students of the Academic Health Center.  Please send submissions to Jacob Portnoy at port0179@umn.edu.