[ Headlines ] in and the Intermountain West

New Administrators Oversee Quality Improvement, Planning uality improvement and strategic plan- ning will receive extra attention with Q two new positions added to the admin- istrative team for the Office of the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences. Pleasing to the Eye The nursing team at Hospital’s Eccles Critical Erik D. Barton, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., has Care Pavilion helped design the new fifth floor, which opened last July to rave reviews from been named assistant vice president for health patients and staff alike. The pavilion expansion, which includes 26 additional private patient Erik D. Barton, M.D., M.S., M.B.A. systems quality improvement. He focuses on rooms and modular nursing stations, is the first phase of University Hospital’s $130 million patient safety and quality monitoring and project that includes a four-story addition to the helipad parking terrace and a new five-story improvement for University Health Care, and Patient Care Pavilion, scheduled for completion in summer 2009. The University Hospital reports to Richard J. Sperry, M.D., Ph.D., associ- Foundation is raising $20 million in community support to build the new pavilion. ate vice president for health sciences academic and clinical affairs. Barton continues to serve as Five More Faculty Named They join chairholders: D. associate professor and chief of the Division of Benning Chairholders Ware Branch, M.D., obstetrics Emergency Surgery in the School of Medicine. and gynecology; J. Michael Dean, Marilynne Paine, M.P.H., has been Five School of Medicine fac- M.D., M.B.A., pediatrics; Jerry appointed assistant vice president for health ulty members have been named Kaplan, Ph.D., pathology; Gerald sciences strategic initiatives. Her primary to prestigious H.A. and Edna G. Krueger, M.D., dermatol- responsibility will be facilitating planning for Marilynne Paine, M.P.H. Benning Presidential Endowed ogy; Edwin A. “Steve” Stevens, a new ambulatory care center. Paine joined Chairs in the past year, bringing M.D., radiology; and Wesley I. University Health Care last February. Previously she was assistant the total number of appointees Sundquist, Ph.D., biochemistry vice president for medical affairs and chief of staff for the University to 11. (see pg. 26). of Michigan Health System, where she led strategic initiatives, Twelve Benning chairs were including planning and construction of an ambulatory care facility, established in August 2005 with New Additions to Medical and the redesign of the curriculum. a $22.5 million bequest from School Dean’s Office the late Arthur E. Benning, former president and chairman Two members of the School of the board of Amalgamated of Medicine faculty recently were Sugar. The chairs are named in named to the administrative staff PEAK Academy Joins Well U to Promote Staff Fitness memory of his parents. Once the of the Dean’s Office. romoting healthy lifestyles isn’t only academic at the College of final chairholder is selected, the Edward P. Junkins Jr., M.D., Health. PEAK Academy, a clinic within the Department of Exercise faculty will form the core of the M.P.H., associate professor of and Sport Science, has teamed up with the University Benefits H.A. and Edna Benning Medical pediatric emergency medicine, is P the new assis- Office in the new Well U Program. Society, which will sponsor an A voluntary and confidential program, Well U encourages staff annual event focusing on lead- tant dean for and faculty to take responsibility for their health—and receive a ing-edge medicine. diversity and discount on their health insurance premiums by doing so. Individuals The newest appointees are: community undergo an assessment, which includes a family health history, lifestyle Cheryl M. Coffin, M.D., pro- outreach. He questionnaire, and biometric screenings: blood pressure, cholesterol, fessor and chief, Division of replaced fasting glucose, resting heart rate, weight circumference measurement. Pediatric Pathology, School of Ronald M. PEAK (Performance Enhancement through Applied Knowledge) Medicine, and medical director Harris, M.D., performed 1,500 biometric screenings for staff last summer and con- of Pathology Services and chair M.B.A., who continues tinues to offer the service to new employees at four campus locations: of the pathology department Edward P. Junkins Jr., M.D., M.P.H. Human Resources, Student Services, University of Utah Hospital, and at Primary Children’s Medical as assistant the PEAK Academy office. Center; Lynn B. Jorde, Ph.D., vice president Based upon their HealthQuotient, or assessment score, employees professor of human genetics; for health receive lifestyle coaching from WebMD, an online health information Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D., associate sciences diver- service. Tips range from online courses to suggested activities, goal professor of internal medicine sity. Junkins trackers, and medical self-care. and associate director of the joined the Campus-based resources play an integral role in Well U. PEAK M.D.-Ph.D. program; Susan E. U medical Academy offers classes, such as swimming, weight training, yoga, Mango, Ph.D., associate pro- school faculty Pilates, and running training, to help faculty and staff stay active. fessor of oncological sciences, in 1997. Enhancing the health of University employees has long been a goal of associate investigator at the Donald E. Huntsman Cancer Institute, and Kohan, M.D., the PEAK Academy, according to Traci Thompson, M.S., director and Donald E. Kohan, M.D. instructor in exercise and sport science. Established in 1979, PEAK also adjunct associate professor in professor provides practical training education in health and fitness services for the Department of Pediatrics; and chief of the Division of students, in addition to professional services to the community. and Carl S. Thummel, Ph.D., Nephrology and Hypertension professor of human genetics. in the Department of Internal Medicine, was appointed

2 Health Sciences Report Fall 2007 Pharmacy Professor Teams Up to Teach Drug Policy Class assistant dean for graduate completing a two-year fellowship A University Professorship is entitling a College of Pharmacy medical education (GME) and in child psychiatry. He received faculty member to explore new intellectual ground with undergradu- chair of the GME Committee. He both his undergraduate and medi- ate students: inconsistencies in drug theory, policy, and practice. replaced Larry G. Reimer, M.D., cal degrees from the University Arthur Lipman, Pharm.D., professor of pharmacotherapy, is part who continues as assistant dean of Kansas. of an interdisciplinary team of three 2007-08 University Professors for curriculum in the School of teaching “Drug Theory, Policy, and Practice: An Interdisciplinary Medicine. Kohan has been a U Departures Cap Analysis,” which investigates inconsistencies within and between faculty member since 1990. Nearly 60 Years’ Service disciplines, and their different approaches to drug issues. He is joined to Health Sciences by , Ph.D., distinguished professor of philosophy, McMahon Named Chair Whether measured in real College of Humanities, and Erik Luna, J.D., professor, S.J. Quinney of Psychiatry Department estate or virtual reality, University College of Law. The three collaborated on a book, Drugs and Justice: William M. McMahon, M.D., health sciences grew in part to Seeking a Consistent, Coherent, and Comprehensive View, published nationally recognized for his the efforts of two administrators in September by Oxford University Press. research on autism and Tourette’s stepping down after some 30 years The new course will include a historical examination of drug syndrome, each of service: Bernard I. Grosser, policy development; an analysis of mechanisms for controlling was appointed M.D., and Wayne J. Peay, M.L.S. drugs; and an exploration of theoretical, policy, and practical dilem- chair of the Grosser, professor and chair mas that underlie the uneven conceptual basis of current thinking Department of of the Department of Psychiatry about drugs, as well as the possibility of a new approach. The team Psychiatry in in the School of Medicine, stepped of University Professors is organizing a university-wide colloquium the School of down last June and major drug policy conference set March 13-14, 2008, at the U. Medicine last after serving Keynote speaker will be former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, summer. 29 years as and Welfare Joseph Califano, who established the National Center on He replaces chair: a U of U Addiction and Substance Abuse at . Bernard I. William M. McMahon, M.D. record. Under Grosser, M.D., who stepped down his leadership, as chair after serving 29 years. the depart- McMahon, professor of psy- ment grew Utah—honored by the National master’s degree in library science chiatry and adjunct professor of from 15 to 60 Alliance for the Mentally Ill with from Columbia University. Peay pediatrics, was one of two Utah faculty mem- Bernard I. Grosser, M.D. the 1997 Exemplary Psychiatrist returned to the U in 1977, moving investigators involved in the bers and from 12 to 35 residents. Award in recognition of his up the ranks to director in 1984. Autism Genome Project, a world- Research grants and contracts dedication to improving the lives Joan Stoddart, deputy director wide consortium of researchers increased from one in 1978 to 28 of those with brain disorders. of Eccles library, has been named that identified a gene that may this year. William M. McMahon, M.D., interim director, while a search predispose individuals to autism Grosser, who continues as has been named as the new chair is underway. (see pg. 6). He also was co-prin- a full-time faculty member, is (see this page). cipal investigator on a study credited with conceiving the Peay, a driving force in imple- Nelson Heads Public Affairs published last spring by the U.S. idea for what is now University menting technology in higher Christopher Nelson was named Centers for Disease Control and Neuropsychiatric Institute. education and libraries, is retir- director of the health sciences Prevention that found Utah has Located in Research Park, the ing as director of the Spencer S. Office of Public Affairs last July. the third-highest rate of autism in hospital provides care for both Eccles Health Sciences Library The former associate director, 14 states studied. in- and outpatients. Grosser in October after a 30-year career. Nelson is McMahon joined the U was one of 75 psychiatrists In 2000, he became a Fellow in responsible for psychiatry faculty in 1982 after nationally—and the only one in the Medical Library Association; coordinating recently, he was named a Fellow in media rela- the American College of Medical tions, internal Informatics (see pg. 9). communica- Caring Connections Expands Services Peay was instrumental in tions, and a Utah winning a contract from Changes have been underway recently at variety of pub- the National University Health Care’s Caring Connections: lications for Network of Christopher Nelson Kathie Supiano, M.S., L.C.S.W., was named the health sci- Libraries of director, and grief support groups are being ences and University Health Care. Medicine in offered in Utah Valley. Nelson received degrees in 2001. He also Supiano, bereavement coordinator for communication and political helped oversee University Hospitals & Clinics and a member of science from the U, and joined the construction the Palliative Care Team, replaced Beth Vaughan health sciences public affairs staff Kathie Supiano, M.S., L.C.S.W. and adminis- Cole, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., who retired from the U in 1996 as a media relations spe- tration of the College of Nursing last May. Cole had coordinated Caring Connections: cialist and editor of the internal Spencer F. and Wayne J. Peay, M.L.S. A Hope and Comfort in Grief Program since its inception 10 years ago. newsletter, Pulse. He also served Cleone P. Eccles Health Sciences Supiano, who joined University Health Care about two years ago as manager of public relations Education Building, which opened and is assistant professor at the College of Nursing, is expanding and marketing at the University’s in August 2005. Caring Connections’ services. Weekly grief support groups are being John A. . In 1970, Peay began his held in Orem at the University’s Parkway Health Center. Prior to working at the U, library career as a bindery clerk. The program’s educational component also is growing. Specially Nelson completed internships at He helped move the library into trained graduate students from nursing, social work, and genetic the White House in Washington, its current building, dedicated in counseling will work alongside licensed facilitators in leading grief D.C., KSL Television in Salt Lake 1971. After serving as serials support groups. The number of first-year medical students completing City, and the U of U President’s librarian at Washington Univer- rotations in bereavement and palliative care also will be increased. Office. sity in St. Louis, he earned a

Health Sciences Report Fall 2007 3 [ Headlines ] in the Nation Nursing College Tapped for VA Partnership The University of Utah College undergraduate nurses and work- of Nursing is one of four schools ing at the bedside, while taking in the nation selected to partici- master’s-level classes (see pg. 12). One U Serving Many Communities pate in a new partnership: the VA The other nursing schools wo national organizations have Nursing Academy. participating in the VA Nursing recognized University of Utah Funded by a grant with an Academy are: University of Hospitals & Clinics as an asset to the communities it serves. estimated total value of $3.68 mil- Florida in Gainesville; San Diego T lion from the U.S. Department of State University; and Fairfield U.S. News & World Report ranked University Health Care among the country’s top providers in its 18th annual survey of America’s Veterans Affairs (VA), the Utah University in Connecticut. Best Hospitals released last July. Gynecologic and cancer care were academy will fund 10 new nursing rated 18th and 32nd, respectively. Huntsman Cancer Hospital, part faculty positions at the George E. U Begins Cord Blood of University Hospitals & Clinics, was recognized in the cancer-care Wahlen VA Medical Center in Salt Collection Program Lake City in partnership with the ranking. Umbilical cord blood, a rich U. With the additional faculty, the In a separate list of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals released in source of adult stem cells that can College of Nursing will increase August, U.S. News & World Report ranked Primary Children’s Medical be used in place of bone marrow undergraduate enrollment by 80 Center (PCMC) 18th. The U of U Department of Pediatrics faculty for transplants and other thera- students over the next five years. serves as the medical staff for the hospital, owned by Intermountain pies, will be easier to access in “The Salt Lake VA Nursing Healthcare. Edward B. Clark, M.D., U professor and chair of pediatrics, Utah with the launch last May of Academy distinction will take our is PCMC medical director. the University’s Umbilical Cord partnership to the next level of In its annual State of the Hospital Industry report, Cleverly & Blood Program. collaboration as we address the Associates recognized University Hospital as one of the nation’s Top As part of the Utah Center nursing faculty shortage together 100 Hospitals. It scored better-than-average in financial strength and for Cell Therapy, the program and enrich the educational expe- performance, cost structure, and hospital charge structure. will collect and test cord blood riences of our students,” said A hospital provides value to its community when it is financially via- units for future transplants. Maureen R. Keefe, R.N., Ph.D., ble, reinvests back into its facility, maintains a low-cost structure, and Donations are being accepted dean of the U College of Nursing. has reasonable charges, according to Cleverly & Associates, a company from women delivering at Some 42,000 qualified appli- that provides benchmarking and consultative services to hospitals. University of Utah Hospital; cants were turned away from the The U.S. News & World Report ranking marks the 14th year the eventually, the program will be country’s nursing schools last U has been included in the nation’s top 50 hospitals—not an easy expanded to include other area year due to a shortage of faculty, feat considering that only 173 out of 5,462 hospitals evaluated met hospitals. clinical sites, classroom space, the qualifying standards: membership in the Council of Teaching “Bone marrow transplants and clinical mentors, according Hospitals; affiliation with a medical school; and the availability of have been a standard of treat- to the American Association of advanced services and specialties. ment for many years,” said Colleges of Nursing. To help ease To be ranked in the top 50 specialties, a hospital had to either Linda L. Kelley, Ph.D., center the shortages of both nursing have treated a minimum number of Medicare or Medicaid patients director and associate profes- faculty and students, the U already who had specific conditions or underwent specified procedures, or sor of internal medicine in has established several unique col- have been named among the best by physicians in the latest three the medical school’s Division laborations. annual surveys. of Hematology/BMT. “The The College of Nursing has advantages of cord blood over partnered with Intermountain bone marrow are that it is more Healthcare for the past three years readily available, it’s tissue that in the neonatal nurse practitioner would normally be discarded program. Intermountain nurses MRI to Track Changes in Brains of Autistic Patients as hospital waste, and it can serve as volunteer clinical faculty be banked and made available o understand how the brain changes in autistic patients as they and mentor students during when a patient needs it.” age, Janet E. Lainhart, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and clinical residencies. Seventeen Some 7,000 cord blood T pediatrics in the U School of Medicine, received a big boost last graduates of the two-year graduate transplants are performed summer: $2.5 million from the National Institute of Mental Health. program have been supported by worldwide each year to treat The five-year grant will enable her to continue a longitudinal Intermountain scholarships and leukemia, metabolic storage study of 100 children and adults with autism, and 72 control subjects, are practicing at Intermountain’s disease, and aplastic anemia. in which she uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify Primary Children’s Medical The University’s program is physical changes in the brains of the autistic group and correlate those Center and Utah Valley Regional part of the National Umbilical with clinical measurements as the disorder progresses. All scanning Medical Center. Cord Blood Network, established uses the 3T MRI at the University’s Center for Advanced Medical The U College of Nursing also through a bill sponsored by Technology. has collaborated with the VA, Utah Sen. . The Stem Data collected by Lainhart, a member of the U of U Brain Institute, Intermountain, and University Cell Therapeutic and Research will contribute to the National Database on Autism Research and may Health Care in the Clinical Faculty Act of 2005 allocated some lead to improved treatment and prevention strategies. Recent studies Associate Model Program, $90 million to set up the network have found that autism is 20 times more prevalent nationwide than funded by a grant from the U.S. and provide ongoing funding 20 years ago and that Utah has one of the highest rates of the disorder Department of Labor. The pro- until 150,000 cord blood units (see pg. 6). Co-investigators are from the U, Univer- gram enables nurses to divide are banked. sity, University of Wisconsin, and . their time between teaching

4 Health Sciences Report Fall 2007 Health Sciences Drive U of U Economic Engine When it comes to venturesome, health sciences lead the campus. Eight of 17 start-up companies launched by the University of Utah within the last year are the result of technologies developed by faculty in the School of Medicine and College of Pharmacy. “The University’s innovative faculty is turning good ideas into good businesses,” noted Jack Brittain, U senior vice president for technology venture development. “New jobs and tax revenues created from the companies continue to add to Utah’s economic strength.” Companies from the health sciences are: • Rescue Medical Systems, Inc.—developing a novel CPR training device for the mass market, which was featured on NASA’s online journal (Dwayne Westenskow, Ph.D., Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine). • Thermimage—focusing on a unique imaging system and algo- rithms to detect pediatric kidney infection (Brent Snow, M.D., Division of Pediatric Urology, School of Medicine).

• Osteoseek, Inc.—developing bone-targeting polymeric drug Inaugural Class They’re already working in hospitals and private genetic testing and delivery systems and manufacturing methods to produce polymers and counseling companies across the country—Los Angeles to Milwaukee, Dallas to Boise—after related copolymers to deliver the drugs (Doug Wang, Ph.D., Department receiving the first master’s of science degrees in genetic counseling from the University of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy). of Utah School of Medicine last May. Twelve more students are enrolled this fall in the two-year interdisciplinary program, the only one offered in Utah. The graduates are, left • ImageTeck—expanding on its technology, marketed by NuSkin, to right: back row—Zoe Lewis, Kit Clark, and Heather Hussey; front row—Jennifer Saam, to detect carotenoid levels in the eye by using a unique 3D imaging Michelle Kempf, and Candice Meldrum. algorithm and new laser technology (Paul Bernstein, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, John A. Moran Eye Center, School of Medicine). • UGEN—developing a unique breast cancer diagnostic that uses • LV Partners—using the Utah Population Database to develop gene expression analysis to stratify breast cancer patients for risk of a personalized medicine fund around the identification of unique recurrence and matches molecular tumor subtypes with appropriate biomarkers for selected diseases (John Hoidal, M.D., Department of drug regimens (Phil Bernard, Ph.D., Department of Pathology, School Internal Medicine, and Mark Leppert, Ph.D., Department of Human of Medicine). Genetics, School of Medicine). • Navigen—using molecular genetic techniques to identify genes • ContraDyn, Inc.—commercializing a minimally invasive technol- that predispose patients to retinal diseases and developing diagnostics ogy for image-guided cancer treatment using contrast-enhanced MRI and drug therapies to prevent the diseases (Kang Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., with photodynamic therapy (Zheng-Rong Lu, Ph.D., Department of Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Dean Li, M.D., Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry). Ph.D., Department of Internal Medicine).

Genes for the Blue-Jean Crowd To meet the spiraling interest in genetics, the University’s Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) will use a new $750,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to reach out to younger students. The GSLC is redesigning basic genetics sections of the Learn.Genetics Web site with new 3-D animations, interactive experiments, and in-class learning experi- ments for students in grades five to 10. The project, “Genetics for Your Life,” also will provide resources and professional development materials for educa- tors. Anyone who wants to learn more about genetics may use the site—http://learn.genetics.utah.edu— noted Louisa A. Stark, Ph.D., GSLC director. The HHMI grant, one of 31 awarded nationally, is part of a $22.5 million initiative to help research Keep Your Eye on the Cell universities connect with local schools to stimulate The University’s Genetic Science Learn- interest in studying science. ing Center is redesigning its popular Web site—LearnGenetics.utah.edu—to entice and educate younger students.

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