VitalVol. 39, No. 2 Signs Summer 2017 Off the Beaten Path Alumni chart their own courses in non-traditional medicine. 10A long way home Several odd jobs led one department chair to emergency medicine. Four decades 12of mentoring Gideon Adegbile, M.D., FAAFP, is longest-serving volunteer faculty member. From the Dean Physicians are presented with many options in choosing a career path, and finding the right fit can be challenging. There are so many ways in which we can practice medicine and impact the lives of patients and the health of our communities. Like those in other professions, we also must balance conflicting goals, such as where to live and work/life balance. But there is something to be said for passion. For me, our faculty and our staff, it lies in the work we do each day at the Boonshoft School of Medicine. In this edition of Vital Signs, we catch up with many of our own who have followed their passions. For one alumnus, that means practicing radiology from home. Another is living a sports medicine dream as a team doctor for Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. With the same drive, a few of our faculty members have sought to find the right fit by reinventing their careers. Read along as we explore the journey of our longest-serving volunteer faculty member who has mentored medical students for more than 40 years. We also profile a department chair who worked in a seminary, at a bank, and as an EMT before finally finding his place in emergency medicine. And though these stories are unique, I see the same passion in our students. It is such a joy to nurture their curiosities and watch them grow into caring and competent physicians. I hope you feel the same inspiration I do as you read about them. Our mission at the Boonshoft School of Medicine wouldn’t be possible without the Wright State family, our alumni, and friends. Thank you all for your passionate support and continued encouragement as we work together to train the next generation of doctors. Margaret Dunn, M.D., M.B.A., FACS Dean 2 Vital Signs Summer 2017 What’s Inside Vital Signs Vol. 39, No. 2 16 33 35 40 Summer 2017 Director of Marketing Better cancer Swinging for Retired Giving and Communications treatments the fences WNBA player Thanks Emily Stamas graduates One alumnus faces Montgomery Senior Writer and Editor Unlocking the Daniel Kelly workings of a key the rare dilemma Alison Bales, M.D., County Medical of deciding what to ’17, becomes a Society Alliance Art Director protein may do with a World physician following has supported Emily Stamas yield new anti- Series ring. a professional medical students Contributing Writers cancer drugs. basketball career. for decades. Daniel Kelly Heather Maurer Photography Eric Drewes William Jones Snapshots Future Docs Erin Pence Cheryl B. Schrader named Medical student interns on Chris Snyder president of Wright State University 4 ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ 23 How to contact us: Wright State, AFRL partner NBC News recognizes medical Editor, Vital Signs on DARPA project 4 student during Black History Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Medical school researchers report Month 23 3640 Col. Glenn Hwy. on drug overdose deaths 5 Dual-degree student studies Dayton, Ohio 45435 Caroline Cao awarded prestigious neurosurgery in Uganda 24 Tel: 937.245.7634 Fulbright Scholar fellowship 5 International volunteer trip Fax: 937.245.7949 possible through scholarship 24 [email protected] Medical student receives Excellence medicine.wright.edu in Public Health Award 6 Student champions women’s health in Jordan 25 Callahan speaks at Ohio Statehouse 6 To submit Class Notes: Medical student volunteers [email protected] Issues in Depth at Syrian refugee camp in Greece 25 Tel: 937.245.7634 Off the Beaten Path 7 Vital Signs is published each year Milestones for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends Faculty in Focus 2017 Match Day 26 of Wright State University Boonshoft A Long Way Home, School of Medicine. James Brown, M.D. 10 2017 Graduation 28 © 2017 Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Mentoring a Generation of 2017 Convocation 30 Medical Students Gideon Adegbile, M.D. 12 In Good Company 32 Swinging for the fences 33 Research Spotlight Retired WNBA player graduates 35 Medical student researches Out of left field 36 View Vital Signs online at treatments for rare human disease 15 medicine.wright.edu/vitalsigns Alumna serves as team doctor for Workings of protein hold keys to the Los Angeles Dodgers 38 new cancer treatments 16 Research may improve obesity Giving Thanks 40 and type 2 diabetes treatments 17 In Memoriam 41 1,000 Words 18 Alumni Notes 42 On the Move 20 Dream Fulfilled 43 In Residence Psychiatry resident uses telepsychiatry to reach patients 22 medicine.wright.edu 3 Snapshots Cheryl B. Schrader named president of Wright State University Cheryl B. Schrader, Ph.D., was named the next president of Wright State University and is the first woman to lead the school in its 50-year history. She started as president on July 1, becoming the university’s seventh president. Schrader comes to Wright State from Missouri University of Science and Technology, where she served as chancellor. Prior to that, she served as associate vice president for strategic research initiatives at Boise State University and dean of the College of Engineering at Boise State. She also held numerous administrative positions at The University of Texas at San Antonio, including associate dean for graduate studies and research for the College of Engineering and the College of Sciences, university graduate recruitment coordinator and associate director of the Center for Advanced Propulsion Studies. In addition, she interned at the McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company in Huntington Beach, California. In 2005, Schrader won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the White House. Wright State, AFRL partner on DARPA project Wright State University, in Researchers in the new The principal investigator collaboration with the Air project, called Learning for the project is Timothy Force Research Laboratory through Electrical Broderick, chief science (AFRL), Vanderbilt University, Augmentation of Plasticity, officer at the Wright State and Ibis Biosciences, or LEAP, believe vagal nerve Research Institute and received an award of up to stimulation can be used in associate dean for research $9.1 million from the healthy subjects to stimulate affairs at the Boonshoft Defense Advanced Research a change in neurons that School of Medicine. Projects Agency (DARPA) to increases the ability to learn. “Epigenetics helps explain improve learning using a how vagal nerve stimulation handheld, low-power LEAP will improve changes the ‘read out’ of electrical stimulator applied understanding of genes in the brain. The DNA to the neck. This technique, fundamental molecular sequence does not change known as vagal nerve mechanisms of nerve but with stimulation neurons stimulation, is FDA-approved stimulation and learning by become more receptive to for the treatment of diseases studying the way genes are training,” Broderick said. such as cluster headaches, expressed, a field known epilepsy, and depression. as epigenetics. 4 Vital Signs Summer 2017 Medical school researchers report on drug overdose deaths The Center for Interventions, Treatment, and Addictions Research (CITAR) at the Boonshoft School of Medicine has released an updated report on deaths from drug overdoses in Montgomery County, Ohio. In it, scientists report that the number of unintentional drug overdose deaths increased 34.7 percent from 259 in 2015 to 349 in 2016. More than 90 percent of the deaths involved at least one opioid. The percentage of heroin mentions in overdose deaths went down from 45 percent in 2015 to 21 percent in 2016, the lowest percentage of heroin mentions since the Poisoning Death Review (PDR) was initiated in 2010. At that time, heroin was mentioned in 31 percent From the 2010-2017 Montgomery County Poisoning Death Review, this map shows the rate of drug overdose of the cases. deaths based on residence address per 1,000 inhabitants in 2016. In 2016, there was an escalating impact of illicit fentanyl on overdose deaths Caroline Cao awarded prestigious Fulbright Scholar fellowship in Montgomery County. There was a 134 percent faculty and students in the increase, with 250 mentions Department of Biomedical of illicit fentanyl in 2016 Engineering on special compared to 107 in 2015. projects, including the Because of the surge, development of a new dozens of medical students program in human factors have learned how to medical device engineering.” administer Naloxone to Cao received the Fulbright treat opiod overdoses. U.S. Scholar Program grant The PDR report was from the U.S. Department of compiled by a group of State and the J. William researchers led by Robert Fulbright Foreign Carlson, Ph.D., professor Scholarship Board. She is in the Department of one of more than 1,200 Population and Public Health U.S. citizens who taught, Sciences and director of conducted research, and CITAR, in collaboration with provided expertise abroad the Montgomery County Wright State University Cao spent spring semester for the 2016-2017 academic Coroner’s Office and Public professor and medical working with the International year through the Fulbright Health — Dayton and researcher Caroline Cao, University of Vietnam U.S. Scholar Program. Montgomery County. who has done pioneering National Universities in Recipients of Fulbright work in minimally invasive Ho Chi Minh City. awards are selected on the surgery, has been awarded a basis of academic and prestigious Fulbright Scholar “I plan to give some public lectures to introduce the professional achievement as fellowship to share her skills well as record of service and and knowledge with college subject of human factors engineering and talk about demonstrated leadership in students and faculty their respective fields.