Antonio Terracciano

• “Neurogenesis and Neuronal Migration in the Forebrain of the TorsinA Knockout Mouse Embryo,” co-authored by Assistant Scholar Scientist Deirdre McCarthy, Ph.D., and Rodgers Chair Professor Pradeep Bhide, Ph.D., e-published by PubMed.
• “Examining the nature of the comorbidity between pediatric attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder,” co-authored by Bhide and Research Professor Jinmin Zhu, Ph.D., e-published by Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.
• “The E3 ubiquitin ligase protein associated with Myc (Pam) regulates mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling in vivo through N- and C-terminal domains,” co-authored by Bhide, e-published by The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
• “Regulation of BDNF Expression by Cocaine,” co-authored by McCarthy, postdoctoral fellow Amber Brown and Bhide, published in the December issue of YJBM.

 The Blaber Lab has had five publications accepted recently:

• “Experimental Support for the Foldability-Function Tradeoff Hypothesis: Segregation of the Folding Nucleus and Functional Regions in FGF-1,” co-authored by molecular biophysics graduate student Liam Longo, former lab associate Jihun Lee and Professor Michael Blaber, Ph.D., currently in press for Protein Science.
• “Pharmacokinetic properties of the 2nd-generation fibroblast growth factor-1 mutants for therapeutic application,” co-authored by graduate student Xue Xi, first-year medical student Joseph Babcock, lab manager Sachiko Blaber, M. Blaber and others, currently in press for PLOS ONE.
• “Activation Profiles of Human Kallikrein-related Peptidases by Matrix Metalloproteinases,” co-authored by former lab associate Hyesook Yoon, S. Blaber, M. Blaber and others, currently in press for Biological Chemistry.
• “Pseudo-peptides derived from isomannide as new class inhibitors for human kallikrein 7,” co-authored by S. Blaber and M. Blaber, currently in press for the Journal of Molecular Biology.
• “Structure and Function of d1-Tetrahydrocannabinolic Acid (THCA) Synthase, the Enzyme Controlling the Psychoactivity of Cannabis sativa,” co-authored by S. Blaber and others, currently in press as a cover article for the Journal of Molecular Biology.

The Gunjan Lab had “Histone dosage regulates DNA damage sensitivity in a checkpoint-independent manner by the homologous recombination pathway” published in Nucleic Acids Research. Co-authors were former graduate student Dun Liang, graduate student Sarah Burkhart, postdoc Rakesh Kumar Singh, lab technician Marie-Helene Kabbaj and Assistant Professor Akash Gunjan, Ph.D.

The VanLandingham Lab group attended Neurotrauma 2012 in Nashville to present its work. Assistant in Medicine Jacob VanLandingham, Ph.D., submitted the abstract “Neurosteroids Improve Functional Outcomes Following Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.” And graduate student Helen Phipps submitted the abstract “Kallikrein-related Peptidase 6 as a Promising Biomarker of Traumatic Brain Injury" in Poster Session C of the conference.

Former graduate student Azariyas Challa and postdoc Milica Vukmirovic (pictured here) from the lab of Associate Professor Branko Stefanovic, Ph.D., along with Associate Professor John Blackmon, M.D., collaborated on “Withaferin-A Reduces Type I Collagen Expression In Vitro and Inhibits Development of Myocardial Fibrosis In Vivo.” It was published by PLoS ONE.

Assistant in Medicine Ling-Rong Kao, Ph.D., from the Megraw Lab, was honored in September for “Excellent Poster Presentation” at the Southeast Stem Cell Consortium workshop at Florida State.

Associate Professor Tim Megraw, Ph.D., was co-author of “Assembling and Persistence of Primary Cilia in Dividing Drosophila Spermatocytes.” The paper was published in Developmental Cell.

Assistant Professor Jose Pinto, Ph.D., was co-author of “A Mutation in TNNC1-encoded Cardiac Troponin C, TNNC1-A31S, Predisposes to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Ventricular Fibrillation,” published by the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 287, No 38. Also, Pinto was co-author of “Collagen XIV is important for growth and structural integrity of the myocardium,” published by the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.

Pinto will serve on the American Heart Association committee for the 2012 fall cycle. He will participate as a member of the Cardiac Biology Basic Science 4 committee. 

Cynthia Vied, Ph.D., from the Nowakowski Lab, has just had a paper published. The paper, "Regulation of Stem Cells by Intersecting Gradients of Long-Range Niche Signals," was co-authored by three Columbia University researchers and has been published in Developmental Cell.


CLINICAL SCIENCES
Professor Gerry Maitland, M.D., was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Medical Society for 2012-2013.

OB-GYN Education Director Arthur Clements, M.D., was recently appointed chair of Florida ACOG (American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists), District 12, Section 1. Clerkship faculty member Andrea Friall, M.D., was appointed vice chair.


FAMILY MEDICINE AND RURAL HEALTH
Associate Professor Joedrecka Brown, M.D., and Assistant Professor Lisa Johnson, M.D. (pictured here), are seeing patients in the Quincy office of TMH Physician Partners.

Associate Professor Suzanne Harrison, M.D., wrote an article on intimate partner violence for the July 18 eBYTES, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians’ electronic publication. She also co-authored “Second-Generation Anti-Psychotics in the Primary Care Setting” with Lauren Engelmann (M.D., ’11) for the Oct. 10 eBYTES.
 
Assistant Professor Stephen Quintero, M.D., and Associate Professor José E. Rodríguez, M.D., each wrote a chapter on back pain for “Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice.” Quintero wrote “The Disability Evaluation and Low Back Pain,” with Eron Manusov, M.D., former College of Medicine faculty member and guest editor of the publication. Rodríguez wrote “Working with Pain Clinics and Other Consultants Concerning Low Back Pain.”
 
Adjunct Assistant Professor Christie Sain (M.D., ’05) was featured in a Member Spotlight in the FP News section of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians website. She was interviewed as a recent graduate of the Florida Medical Association Leadership Academy.

Daniel Van Durme, M.D., department chair and director of the college’s Center on Global Health, attended the Annual Family Medicine Global Health Workshop on Sept. 6-8 in Minneapolis with two medical students. He presented two workshops dealing with leading groups of students and others on international service-learning trips: “STAYING out of trouble” and “GETTING out of trouble.” Alejandro Chavarriaga (Class of 2016) presented research that he and Van Durme worked on dealing with nutritional deficiencies (or “stunting”) in rural Nicaragua. Laura Irastorza (Class of 2015, pictured here) presented “The impact of short-term service-learning trips on health-related quality of life in rural Nicaragua,” which she also had researched with Van Durme.


GERIATRICS
Professor Alice Pomidor, M.D., was interviewed for a Reuters Health news service article about a study – reported in the New England Journal of Medicine – looking at what happened when Canadian doctors recommended that patients stop driving for medical reasons.


HEALTH AFFAIRS
Associate Dean for Health Affairs Les Beitsch, M.D., J.D., was author or co-author of more than a dozen manuscripts accepted this year, including:

• “The Quantitative Story Behind the QI Storyboards (and other MLC Data): A Synthesis of 162 QI Projects Conducted by 234 Health Departments,” with Assistant Professor Henry Carretta, M.D., MPH, and three other co-authors, Journal of Public Health Management Practice (Accepted).
• “From Practice to Policy: The Intersection of Government and Law (What’s in a Name?),” American Journal of Public Health, 102(3):1242.
• “For the Public’s Health: Investing in a Healthier Future,” Committee on Public Health Strategies to Improve Health, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.
• “Public Health Department Accreditation: Setting the Research Agenda,” with five co-authors, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 42(3):263-271.

Center on Patient Safety Director Dennis Tsilimingras, M.D., has been invited to serve as an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewer for the AHRQ National Research Service Award Institutional Research Grants (T32), scheduled for mid-November in Washington, D.C.

Tsilimingras also presented a poster – “Identifying Adverse Events After Discharge from a Community Hospital” – in September at the AHRQ Annual Conference in Maryland. The poster described the study he’s conducting with support from a $2 million AHRQ grant. He also made a presentation about that grant in October at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in California.


GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION   
The Florida State University College of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency Program at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare received accreditation and has been up and running since August. Among the program’s 15 residents is Kenneth Winnard (M.D., ’12), a College of Medicine alumnus (pictured here).

Joseph Peterson, M.D., was elected to the Sacred Heart Hospital-Pensacola OB/GYN vice chair position for 2013 and 2014. He joined the staff in 2008 after he completed his residency with the Florida State University College of Medicine and serves as a full-time faculty member.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, DAYTONA BEACH REGIONAL CAMPUS
Thomas Corbyons, M.D., and Michael Donohoe, M.D., of Corbyons & Donohoe Surgical Associates in DeLand, received the Daytona Beach campus’s Outstanding Community Faculty Educator Award. David Williams, M.D., of Florida Health Care Plans, received the Guardian of the Mission Award.

Bruce Bigman, M.D., was selected as one of the “Top Doctors” in Orlando Magazine.  

Michael Fabian, M.D., was named program director for the General Surgery Residency Program at Halifax Health. The program currently has four students, three of whom are College of Medicine alumni: Brittany O’Dwyer, Brad Stephan and Jonathan Dean (all M.D., ’11).

Amber Isley, M.D, is the upcoming president of the Florida Academy of Family Physicians for 2013. Her department routinely accepts fourth-year College of Medicine students for the advanced family medicine clerkship. She’s a faculty member in the Department of Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
 
Celeste M. Philip, M.D., MPH, was elected chair of cultural health on the American Heart Association’s Greater Southeast Affiliate Board of Directors. Philip is assistant director for public health in the Volusia County Health Department. 

Max Solano, M.D., has been accepted into the Kellogg College at Oxford University (England) for the Master Program in Evidence-Based Health Care. He’ll learn from leading teachers and practitioners from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. Solano is part of the St. Vincent Family Medicine Center at Jacksonville.

Cecille Tapia-Santiago, M.D., is the first physician in Volusia and Flagler counties to be certified by the American Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery. She is an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical director for the Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center BirthCare Center.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, FORT PIERCE REGIONAL CAMPUS
Ian Boykin, M.D., received the Fort Pierce campus’s Outstanding Community Faculty Educator Award. Lynn Scheel, M.D., of St. Lucie Pediatric Health Center, received the Guardian of the Mission Award.

Howard Voss, M.D. (pictured here), received the Laureate Award from the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians in September. He was recognized for providing distinguished service to his community and upholding the ACP’s high ideals and professional standards, especially through his community contributions as volunteer medical director at VIM Clinic for the past 11 years.

Adam Ball, M.D., is serving his second term as chair of the Department of Surgery at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center.

Geriatrics Clerkship Director Michael Gilels, M.D., from Martin Health System-Stuart, was a finalist in the Quality of Care Lifetime Achievement category of the Health Care Champions Awards for the Treasure Coast.

Frank Conidi, D.O., has been elected vice chair of the American Academy of Neurology’s Sports Neurology Section. He also served on a Sports Concussion subcommittee of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. In that role, he developed an education program for parents, players and coaches and concussion guidelines pertaining to return to play. 

Conidi was also published in the February 2012 edition of Headache, the journal of the American Headache Society. The article was titled “Sports-Related Concussion: The Role of the Headache Specialist.” He was interviewed on ESPN and Treasure Coast channels WFLX and WPTV regarding the current lawsuit by former NFL players relating to sports concussion.

Dennis Saver, M.D., from Primary Care of the Treasure Coast and Indian River Medical Center, received a Health Care Champions Award in the Physician Excellence category.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, ORLANDO REGIONAL CAMPUS
Carlos Dumois, M.D., with the Florida Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program, received the Orlando campus’s annual Outstanding Community Faculty Educator Award. Spouses Edward Magee, M.D., and Kristy Magee, M.D. (pictured here), who are both with Lake Mary Physicians, together received the campus’s annual Mission Award.

Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education Joan Y. Meek, M.D., pediatrics clerkship director for the Orlando campus, had an invited review article, “Pediatric Lifestyle Medicine,” published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 

Meek also presented “Breastfeeding State of the Art 2012: Public Health Implications” in August for the Preventive Medicine/Public Health Residency Program at the Palm Beach County Health Department in West Palm Beach. That same month, she presented “The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative – The Pediatrician’s Role” for University Medical Center (Las Vegas) and the Nevada Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, PENSACOLA REGIONAL CAMPUS
Brett Parra, M.D., with Woodlands Medical Specialists, and Kip Turnage, M.D., with Gulf Coast Orthopedic Specialists, have been named the Pensacola campus’s Outstanding Community Faculty Educators for this year. Wendy Osban, D.O., with Sacred Heart Medical Group Family Practice, received the Guardian of the Mission Community Faculty Award.

Christopher Burton, M.D., is a recent graduate of the Florida Medical Association’s Physician Leadership Academy, designed to groom doctors from Generations X and Y to become leaders within the medical profession. Next Burton will serve on the Council on Medical Services and Health Care Delivery Innovation, which provides recommendations and guidance to the FMA Board of Governors related to the economic aspects of delivering medical care. 

Surgery Clerkship Director Jeff Chicola, M.D., is interim chairman of surgery at Nemours Children’s Clinic.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, SARASOTA REGIONAL CAMPUS
Arnoldo Perez-Singh, M.D., of Intercoastal Medical Group/Internal Medicine, was named the Outstanding Community Faculty Educator for the Sarasota campus. Family physician Randy Powell, M.D., received the Mission Model Award. 

Surgery Clerkship Director Ed Bradley, M.D., wrote “Atlanta redux: Revisiting the severity stratification system for acute pancreatitis” for Annals of Surgery (in press). (See the DEPARTMENTS WORKING TOGETHER section above for news about the paper Bradley co-wrote with Alma Littles and Lynn Romrell.)

Bradley also presented “The Surgery Clerkship: A Contemporary Model” in Las Vegas at a February symposium on student education for the Academic Surgical Congress.

Adam Bright, M.D., spearheaded the effort to build a $250,000 Sarasota County playground for disabled, able-bodied, young and old as a project to fight obesity and improve fitness.

In June, Bright presented a paper to the Florida Orthopedic Society, “A comparison of the accuracy of the coronal, axial, and sagittal views for determining tears of the anterior cruciate ligament on MRI in a community practice.” Among his co-authors was Alex Kennon (M.D., ’12). It has been submitted for publication.

Bright has finished his year as president of the Florida Orthopedic Society. Also, in July he served as oral examiner for the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.
 
Raju Nalluri, M.D., was among the Best Doctors/Plastic Surgeon named in U.S. News & World Report for 2011-2012. He also was featured in Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. as one of the Top Doctors 2012/Plastic Surgeon.

Russell Samson, M.D., was invited to give the keynote address – “Medical Ethics and Professionalism in the Management of Venous Disorders” – at the International Vein Congress in Miami. He was also an invited speaker at the Society for Vascular Surgery annual meeting in Washington, D.C., giving four presentations related to arterial and venous disorders. Other invited presentations were at the Houston Aortic Summit,  the annual meeting of the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery in Las Vegas and the Southern Association for Vascular Surgery in Naples, Fla.

Samson also has an invited manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal, “Can Pharmacologic Agents Slow Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Growth?,” Seminars in Vascular Surgery, March 2012.

Joe Scarano, M.D., presented “JournalQuest VIII - An Interactive Review of Current Medical News” at All Children's Hospital grand rounds in January and at Spring Hill for an ACH outreach grand rounds in July. He presented “Infant and Child Health: Myths and Misperceptions” at the annual educators’ conference sponsored in April by the Early Learning Center of Manatee. 

John Sylvester, M.D., was co-author of “First Report on Seed Migration to the Lung with the Use of a Thinner I-125 Radioactive Seed Within 20 Gauge Needles for Permanent Seed Prostate Brachytherapy,” International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, October edition.


CLERKSHIP FACULTY, TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL CAMPUS
Alex Ho (M.D., ’05), an ER physician at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, and Eileen Venable, psychiatry clerkship director and practicing psychiatrist, were honored in August as outstanding faculty members. Ho received the Mission Model Award, and Venable received the Outstanding Community Educator Award. This is believed to be the first time the College of Medicine has presented a faculty award to one of its alumni.