Research

Students and obesity: Suzanne Johnson, Ph.D., chair and professor in the department of medical humanities and social sciences, has received a $2.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. With the cooperation of Leon County Schools, she and her research team will monitor children at 12 elementary schools that have a high percentage of ethnic-minority students. The primary aim is to study the impact of BMI (body mass index) screenings. BMI, calculated from weight and height measurements, is a reliable indicator of whether children are overweight. Each school offers three wellness programs: a free after-school exercise program for children; expanded health assessments; and a wellness Web site that promotes healthy eating and activity. Researchers will track the children to document how much their health changes and how much their parents take advantage of the wellness programs. Read press release
 
Stimulus spending: Mohamed Kabbaj, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences, was one of the first U.S. scientists to benefit directly from the federal economic-stimulus bill. He got $400,000 for a two-year study tackling a core question related to depression: What are the molecular mechanisms implicated in chronic stress-induced depression? The grant came from the National Institutes of Health, using new funds provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Kabbaj’s research could lead to more precise and effective treatments for people suffering from depression. Read the press release. Also, listen to the FSU Headlines Radio interview.
 
TMH partnership: Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare have signed an agreement to work as research partners on projects with potential to directly affect health care in the Big Bend and across Florida. The agreement will allow Tallahassee Memorial’s more than 500 affiliated physicians, many of whom already serve as College of Medicine clinical faculty, to conduct laboratory research and clinical trials with university researchers from the medical school as well as other colleges and departments. This agreement is a model that could be extended to other community hospitals where FSU medical students learn. That would provide a foundation for the clinical research program with the potential to involve more than 1,500 physicians and their 2 million patients. “Such a network would give the FSU College of Medicine perhaps the most dynamic and all-encompassing medical research program in the state,” said Myra Hurt, senior associate dean for research and graduate programs. Read the press release

Appointments

Myra Hurt, Ph.D., senior associate dean for research and graduate programs, has been reappointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to a four-year term on the state’s Biomedical Research Advisory Council. She’ll have a role in determining how millions in annual research grant money from the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program and the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program is allocated among university and independent scientists in the state. Increased competition for available federal research grants makes state funding especially significant to Florida’s future, she said. “This money," she said, "is especially important to young faculty scientists in the state of Florida who are the future for research."

Alma Littles, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs, has been appointed to Florida’s Correctional Medical Authority. The authority was created in 1986 to give independent advice to the governor, Legislature and Department of Corrections on the conduct of health care and management of costs consistent with quality care. It’s required to employ health-care providers and other medical personnel to conduct comprehensive evaluations of the health-care system at each correctional system.

Publications

Ken Brummel-Smith, M.D., chair and professor in the department of geriatrics, has published a new textbook, “Reichel’s Care of the Elderly.” Edited by Christine Arenson, Jan Busby-Whitehead, James O’Brien, Mary Palmer, William Reichel and Dr. Brummel-Smith, this 638-page textbook is a standard in geriatrics, enjoying its 6th edition. It contains 60 chapters. Five are written by current FSU College of Medicine faculty: Lisa Granville, M.D., and Karen Myers, ARNP (sexuality), Jacqueline Lloyd, M.D. (nutrition), Alice Pomidor, M.D. (driving), Jeffrey Spike, M.D. (decision-making capacity) and Dr. Brummel-Smith (rehabilitation).

Ken Brummel-Smith, M.D. and Mariana Dangiolo, M.D., assistant professor of geriatrics, have an article in the February issue of Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, titled “Assistive Technologies in the Home.” That issue of Clinics is dedicated to the topic of home care.
 

“Anatomy Class: Introduction to the First Patient,” an exercise developed by Lisa Granville, M.D., associate chair in the department of geriatrics, was posted in March in the Product Spotlight section of the Portal of Geriatric Online Education. Excerpt from the final paragraph: “This innovative approach to the basic science curriculum is a simple, refreshing, and exciting opportunity for medical students to begin honing their observation skills. This also acts as a dry run at assessing their first geriatric patient without the added element of social interaction. We hope that this provides yet another method of approaching anatomy in the classroom, as it expands clinical experience with older adults and provides an added dimension to the dissection of a cadaver.”

Lisa Granville also co-wrote a chapter on urinary incontinence in "Practical Gynecology: A Guide for the Primary Care Physician," 2nd edition.  

Jeffrey Spike, Ph.D., associate professor of medical humanities and social sciences, had a commentary on the presentation of professionalism and ethical issues in the TV series “Scrubs” in the American Journal of Bioethics, which was quoted and discussed in the AMA News and on the AMA radio show.
 
Jeffrey Spike also had a fourth entry to MedEdPORTAL accepted, on physicians’ attitudes toward complementary and alternative medicine (in the case of Abraham Starchild Cherrix, a teenager with Hodgkin’s Disease who refused chemotherapy).
 
Joseph Gabriel, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, published the article “A Thing Patented Is a Thing Divulged: Francis E. Stewart, George S. Davis, and the Legitimization of Patent Rights in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, 1879-1911” in the April 2009 edition of the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 135-172.
 
Gareth Dutton, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, along with College of Medicine students Bridgette Provost and Brandon Allen and colleagues from the TMH Diabetes Center, co-wrote two manuscripts based on his investigation of physical activity promotion among patients with diabetes. One paper, “Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Physical Activity Among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes,” will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Behavioral Medicine. The other, “A tailored print-based physical activity intervention for patients with type 2 diabetes,” was published in a recent issue of Preventive Medicine.
 
Gareth Dutton also:

• Co-wrote with colleagues from the FSU College of Human Sciences “The Freshman Weight Gain Phenomenon Revisited,” which was published in a recent issue of Nutrition Reviews.
• Co-wrote with colleagues “Weight Maintenance Following a Physician-Delivered Intervention for Obese, Low-Income Minority Women,” which was published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity.

Barbara S. Shearer, MSLS, director of the Charlotte Edwards Maguire Medical Library, Carolyn Klatt, MLIS, head of technical services, and Suzanne P. Nagy, MSLS, head of Web services, co-wrote an article that appeared in the April issue of the Journal of the Medical Library Association. It was titled “Development of a new academic digital library: a study of usage data of a core medical electronic journal collection.”
 
Mohamed Kabbaj, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences, was co-author along with several colleagues on a paper titled "Genome Wide Promoter Analysis of Histone Modifications Induced by Cocaine" (2009). It is scheduled for publication in Neuron soon.

Programs

Lea Parsley, M.D., pediatric clerkship director, finished filming an hour-long talk show in late April for the Florida Education Channel. Called “Healthy Students: The Key to Optimal Learning,” it focuses on childhood disorders that impact a student's learning and participation in schools. “Educators are constantly pressured to optimize academic achievement of students,” she said, “yet many of their students routinely deal with a variety of health-related issues that may significantly hinder the learning process and physical education.” The episode addresses symptoms and indicators of potential or existing medical or health problems commonly encountered in a school setting, such as autism, asthma, diabetes and eating disorders. “We recruited a large panel of patients and parents that were patients of our participating clerkship faculty for the FSU College of Medicine,” Parsley said. “The series will be utilized by the Tuesday Teacher Training Series for faculty development and educational credits for schoolteachers, coaches, etc.” The Panhandle Area Educational Consortium was responsible for organizing and producing the series in conjunction with Parsley. This "Healthy Students" episode was scheduled to premiere April 28 and then air multiple times. A schedule of broadcast times is available. You also may watch it as a Web-streamed video from the coalition's FEC Web site.

Presentations

Dennis Baker, Ph.D., associate dean for faculty development, presented a workshop titled “The Use of Concept Mapping / Pattern Matching for Planning and Evaluation in Medical Education” in April at the annual conference of the Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA) in New Orleans. He presented it in collaboration with two colleague medical educators from the West Virginia University School of Medicine and the West Virginia University College of Education.
 
Eugene A. Trowers, M.D., MPH, FACP, professor of clinical sciences and clerkship director in internal medicine, was invited to submit a proposal or poster for April’s 2009 SGSA Annual Conference. He presented his poster at the Southern Regional GSA/MAS/OSR Spring Meeting in Dallas. Panel members included Sebastian Alston, M.D., associate dean for curriculum and director of the Office of Medical Education; Dennis Baker, Ph.D.; and Thesla Anderson, M.S., director of college and pre-college outreach. The presentation title was “Responding to LCME IS-16: A strategy for enhancing student diversity in a new college of medicine at FSU.”
 
Joseph Gabriel, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, presented a paper titled “Consuming Subjects: Interpretive Flexibility, Historicity, and Biopower in Addiction Research” at the “Addiction and the Brain” Conference at Emory University in February. The conference brought together leading scholars in the history of addiction and neuroscientists to discuss interdisciplinary approaches to addiction.
 
Gareth Dutton, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, will present findings from his study on the expectations and attitudes of primary-care physicians and overweight patients for weight-loss counseling during primary-care visits at the upcoming Society of Behavioral Medicine conference in Montreal. The titles of these presentations are “Patients’ Preferences for Obesity-Related Terminology Used by Their Physician” and “Weight Loss Goals of Patients in a Health Maintenance Organization.”
 
Mary Gerend, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, gave a talk titled “Acceptance of the HPV Vaccine” in April at the Florida Department of Health for the 2009 STD Awareness Month Wednesday Wisdom Series.
 
Also in April, Mary Gerend presented a paper titled “I’m a guy: Do I really need a “cervical cancer vaccine?” at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, in Montréal.

Lisa Granville, M.D., associate chair in the department of geriatrics, made (or soon will make) the following CME presentations:

• FSU College of Medicine Faculty Development CME Conference, “What students are learning in years 1 & 2,” Feb. 17 (Tallahassee regional campus).
• FSU College of Medicine Faculty Development CME Conference, “Progress in Geriatrics,” March 4 (Psychiatry Clerkship faculty, Pensacola).
• METI conference presentation, “Blended Learning: Use of SPs with Simulation,” with Dr. Steve Quintero and Deb Danforth, director of the Clinical Learning Center, Tampa.
• SGEA conference presentation, “Don’t Kill Granny,” April 2, New Orleans.
• ACP annual meeting presentation, “Update in Urology,” April 22, Philadelphia.
• AGS annual meeting presentation, “Prostate Disease Clinical Update,” May, Chicago.
• AANP annual meeting, “Incorporating SPs into a Nurse Practitioner Curriculum,” with Deb Danforth, June 19, Nashville.

Honors

Joseph Gabriel, Ph.D., assistant professor of medical humanities and social sciences, received the Jack D. Pressman-Burroughs Wellcome Award from the American Association for the History of Medicine. He was honored for his scholarly project “Gods and Monsters: Drug Addiction and the Origins of Modern America.” Myra Hurt, Ph.D., senior associate dean for research and graduate programs, said, “Joe Gabriel brings a wonderful perspective to our young College of Medicine’s students and faculty.” Read the press release. Listen to  the FSU Headlines Radio interview.
 
At least eight College of Medicine faculty members have been included in the 2009 edition of the Guide to America’s Top Family Doctors: Drs. Maggie Blackburn, director of rural health; Hope Chema, assistant professor in family medicine and rural health, Sarasota campus; Suzanne Harrison, assistant professor and clerkship director in family medicine, Tallahassee campus; Doug Meuser, clerkship director in family medicine, Orlando campus; Jose Rodriguez, associate professor in family medicine and rural health; Curt Stine, associate chair and education director in family medicine; Daniel Van Durme, professor and chair in family medicine and rural health; and Alma Littles, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs. The guide is published by Consumers’ Research Council of America. Selections are based on a system that awards points for education, years in practice and affiliations with professional associations. Consumers’ Research web site.
 
Jeffrey Spike Ph.D., associate professor of medical humanities and social sciences, has been nominated to be a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) Standing Committee on Clinical Ethics Consultation Affairs (CECA) and its subcommittee on credentialing/accreditation.
 
Alice Pomidor, M.D., associate professor of geriatrics, received the Leading the Way award in March from the Alzheimer’s Project for exceptional service to the aging and dementia communities of Tallahassee.

Karen Myers, ARNP, is not just an assistant professor of family medicine and rural health but officially a Guardian of the Flame. This honor is presented annually to someone in each FSU college by the students and alumni of Burning Spear, a group dedicated to supporting outstanding members of the Florida State community and strengthening campus traditions. Among the comments made at the presentation: "Karen Myers selflessly serves the students of Florida State University. She puts first- and second-year medical students on the path to a successful career in the industry. Ms. Myers also represents Florida State University as she serves as a Nurse Practitioner at the Jefferson County Health Department and at Neighborhood Health Services. Karen Myers represents everything we base our servant leadership around." (She's pictured here with nursing student Sophia Khawly.)

More faculty news

Alma Littles, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education and academic affairs:

• Co-moderated FAFP’s 102nd CME weekend.
• “Graduated” April 26 from the AAMC’s Group on Resident Affairs Graduate Medical Education Leadership Development Course.

Sebastian Alston, M.D., associate dean for medical education, attended a Harvard Macy Institute program, "A Systems Approach to Assessment in Health Science Education," March 7-13 at White Oak Plantation in Yulee. The program addressed the many facets of assessment in medical education. This included large-group lectures/discussions, daily discussions of assessment articles, a group project and help with individual projects or issues. The overall emphasis was the systems approach, and assessment issues from all levels of medical education were covered. The conference was attended by 33 participants from 10 countries. The course directors were Elizabeth Armstrong from Harvard, Lou Pangaro from USUHS and Connie Bowe of UC-Davis. Alston's individual project concerns refining our competencies at FSU, developing a process to map our course objectives and assessments to these competencies, and transitioning to a continuous quality-improvement model. White Oak, by the way, is a 7,400-acre plantation on the St. Marys River, 30 miles north of Jacksonville. Endangered African animals including rhinos and giraffes have been relocated there. The plantation contains a conference center with lodging, a private golf course and many other meeting and recreational opportunities.

Jeffrey Spike Ph.D., associate professor of medical humanities and social sciences:

• Presented Grand Rounds on ethics in Pediatrics and Ethics in OB/GYN at the FSU-sponsored residency programs at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
• Taught bioethics for seniors in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the Claude Pepper Center at FSU.
• Spearheaded the development of a new voluntary Community Activity for the first-year medical students with the help of Lisa Granville, M.D., in Geriatrics and financial support from the Reynolds Grant. It enables the students to make a short video documentary of an elder in the community in order to refine their listening and interviewing skills, learn some of the history relevant to that age cohort (i.e., some American history from the ’40s and ’50s) and appreciate the diversity in older populations.
• Invited a Grand Rounds speaker from the AMA to talk about the recent apology issues by the AMA for its complicity with racist policies starting with the Flexner Report and continuing right up until the civil-rights legislation of the 1960s.

Gareth Dutton, Ph.D., recently collaborated with the Department of Health Promotion at Capital Health Plan to develop and deliver a group-based weight-loss program to CHP patients. This 16-week program, modeled after the evidence-based and NIH-funded Diabetes Prevention Program, is designed to promote weight loss, increase physical activity and reduce patients’ risk for developing diabetes.

Wayne Munson is the College of Medicine’s new assistant dean for development. His mission is to assist Dean Fogarty in raising private, corporate and foundation financial resources in support of the college and its students. Munson served with the U.S. Army more than 21 years; spent five years as a major gift officer and marketing director for the Association of Graduates at West Point; and spent another five years as head of alumni relations and development at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Contact Wayne