News Capsules 07/06/05

July 6, 2005

NEWS

As part of the bill that kept state parks open, the Legislature approved $15 million for the U-Mayo partnership, which will fund collaborative research projects. Formally called the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics, the partnership will issue a Request for Applications by the end of July. Criteria require joint projects that advance the understanding of a disease or disease process and that neither the Mayo Clinic nor the University of Minnesota could perform on its own. Questions? Contact Mark Paller at mailto:palle001@umn.edu.

Medical School researchers have identified for the first time a group of genes that impact the development and function of blood stem cells, a discovery that brings researchers a step closer to harnessing the power of stem cells for disease treatments. “If we can find a way to coax blood stem cells to self-renew and thus expand in the laboratory, doctors will have more options in treating diseases such as blood disorders, leukemias, and lymphomas,” said Catherine Verfaillie, director of the University’s Stem Cell Institute. The research was published in the July issue of the Journal of Public Library of Science Biology. For more, go to http://www.ahc.umn.edu/news/releases/stemcell070505.

The Minneapolis VA Medical Center is a candidate to receive the Robert W. Carey Quality Award, which is given to an organization within the Department of Veterans Affairs that demonstrates outstanding commitment to excellence in quality management. The Minneapolis VA is one of four VA medical centers under consideration. The award will be announced this fall.

PEOPLE

Rada Dagher, School of Public Health doctoral student, received the 2005 Student Poster Award for “A Longitudinal Analysis of Postpartum Depression among Employed Women” at AcademyHealth’s annual research meeting in June.

Mary Jo Kreitzer has been selected for fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing. Kreitzer, a professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Center for Spirituality and Healing, will be formally inducted in November at the academy’s annual scientific session in Phoenix. The academy’s mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy members are 1,700 nursing leaders in education, management, practice, and research.

Russell V. Luepker, School of Public Health, epidemiology, was the keynote speaker at the Sixth International Conference on Preventive Cardiology, held in Iguaçu Falls, Brazil on May 21. His presentation was “Youth and Adolescents: A Growing Constituency for CVD Prevention.”

Michael Osterholm, School of Public Health, has been appointed to the new National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) of the National Institutes of Health.  Osterholm, director of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, will begin serving a three-year term this month. For more, go to http://www.ahc.umn.edu/news/releases/osterholm063005.

Paul Quie, Medical School, received the Department of Pediatrics Gold-Headed Cane Award in honor of his distinguished lifetime service to children. This award is recognized by local physicians as a top honor for pediatricians. “It is an honor to be recognized by people you work with,” Quie said. “They know the good and the bad.  I feel very fortunate to receive this award.” Quie is a Regents Professor of Pediatrics, division of infectious diseases. He has been on the Medical School faculty since 1958 and is the co-director of the International Medical Education and Research program.

The Medical School Duluth campus honored several long-time employees June 24 at its annual awards breakfast, held at the New Scenic Café. The following employees were honored:

 --For 30 years of service: Jack Aldrich, animal services; Gary Davis, behavioral Sciences; Omelan Lukasewycz, anatomy, microbiology & pathology; Ed Stauffer, physiology & pharmacology; and Jan Pierce, family medicine.
--For 25 years of service: Gail Boatman, animal services; Peggy Mohrman, physiology & pharmacology; and Mary Sneve, biochemistry & molecular biology.
--For 10 years of service: Margaret Herbert, behavioral sciences, and Anna Wirta, Center of American Indian & Minority Health.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Enjoy golf and camaraderie with colleagues Aug. 8 while supporting medical education and research at the 15th annual Minnesota Medical Foundation Golf Classic. Tee off is set for 1 p.m. at the Midland Hills Country Club and registration begins at 11 a.m. The entry fee is $250 per person, which includes the tournament, lunch, cart, banquet, and prizes. The event has raised $600,000 for the Medical School and its students over the last 15 years. Register online at https://www2.mmf.umn.edu/gifts/mmfgolf/golfgifts.cfm or by contacting Sue Clark at 612-626-0619 or mailto:s.clark@mmf.umn.edu.

“Skills for Effective Health Education: Teaching About Sexuality and HIV” will take place Aug. 1-4 at the 2005 Summer Institute in Adolescent Health at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. The program is designed to meet Minnesota Board of Nursing continuing education requirements. For more information, go to http://www.nursing.umn.edu/CANL/Continuing_Ed/Cont%20Ed.html.

The Bio-Medical Library is offering the following classes this month in the AHC Learning Commons, 535 Diehl Hall:
--RefWorks, July 7, 10 to 11:30 a.m. RefWorks is a Web-based bibliographic management service which allows students, faculty, and staff to create personal databases of references.
--images.MD, July 14, noon to 1 p.m. Images.MD is a database of images, photographs, charts, and more.
--PowerPoint: The Basics, July 14, 9 to 10 a.m.
For more information, visit http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/lc.html or call 612-626-3260.

Presentations from the June 23 Minnesota e-Health Summit are now available online. To download PDF documents, go to http://www.health.state.mn.us/e-health/summit/index.html. Breeze PowerPoint presentations are available at http://www.hinfgrad.umn.edu/ehealth. The summit, sponsored by Minnesota Department of Health, was intended to accelerate the use of health information technology to improve health care quality, increase patient safety, reduce health care costs, and enable individuals and communities to make the best possible health decisions.

The National Maternal Nutrition Intensive Course will be held July 11-13 at the Hubert Humphrey Center. The course will include topics such as nutrition management and pregnancy outcomes of women following bariatric surgery; poverty, food insecurity, and nutrition issues of women and children; fetal origins hypothesis; and controversies regarding weight gain in pregnancy. A full list of conference sessions is at http://www.sph.umn.edu/publichealthplanet/events/mnic.html. Students and faculty from the University of Minnesota may attend at no charge.  To register, or for more information, call 626-4515 or write to mailto:sche0526@umn.edu.

CLINICAL RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

For information on other clinical research opportunities, go to http://www.ahc.umn.edu/news/campusnews/trials.