Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Brody School of Medicine Part II. Program Data Template, Short Narratives Part II. A. Productivity Teaching  Our faculty teach foundation courses to medical students, nursing students, dental students and students in the Physician Assistant and Doctorate in Physical Therapy programs  Our faculty mentor and teach students who receive the PhD in Anatomy & Cell Biology and who go on to either faculty positions or other careers  The department developed another program to train the next generation of anatomy teaching faculty to fill the national need for true researcher/anatomist educators: The Gross Anatomy Postdoctoral fellowship program (aka the Fill the GAP Program.] The Fill the GAP Fellowship program is focused on the training of fellows in the anatomical sciences, especially gross human anatomy, in parallel with state-of-the-art biomedical research. Postdoctoral Fellows in our program are trained to be a teacher and a researcher by dual-mentoring.  The Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award has been awarded to two members of our departmental faculty Research  Of our 9.5 T&TT faculty: six have active research programs, and 5 of those 6 faculty members are NIH funded (= 83.3%) [Five of the 9.5 T&TT faculty are NIH funded = 52.6%]  Of our 9.5 T&TT faculty: two have full teaching/service responsibilities without an active research lab; one is 0.5 FTE and the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs (typical nationally for Anatomy Professors); one was hired in August 2010.  Three NIH R03 grants and four NIH R01 grants were awarded to the department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the years between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011.  Research Expenditures of $188.55/NASF were calculated in the last reporting period for the ACB Department. The University of North Carolina threshold value for “acceptable” utilization of research space is $100/NASF. Service to ECU  Of our faculty, three are members of the BSOM Admissions Committee.  Of our faculty, three were elected to serve on the BSOM Tenure and Promotion Committee between 2008-2011  The Chair of M1 Curriculum Committee is our Vice Chair of Anatomy & Cell Biology who also serves on the BSOM Planning Committee for Curriculum Renewal and as an elected committee member for the search for the BSOM Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs  The Chair of the ECU Radiation Safety Committee is an Associate Professor of ACB  The scientific Director of the Wooten Lab for Alzheimer’s Disease Research is an Associate Professor of ACB who also served on the UNC Tomorrow Initiative Implementation Team  Our faculty serve on the BSOM Expansion Planning Team, BSOM Research Committee, Student Affairs Committee search and curriculum committees for the ECU School of Dental Medicine, search committees and faculty committees for Radiation Oncology, Leo Jenkins Cancer Center, Oncology Department, Biochemistry Department, LCME Subcommittees. Part II. B. Centrality 1.1. Showcase the global competitiveness of our students and our institution by meeting the challenges of an increasingly global, culturally diverse, and rapidly changing society. Our international PhD students and postdoctoral scholars provide first hand global awareness for our American students. Also, we continue to develop partnerships with international universities in Japan and China and our students become proficient in IT. Our students attend international conferences that highlight global career opportunities and read/publish in international journals. 1.2. Prepare students to define and achieve successful civic, professional, and personal lives. Critical reading and discussion of the scientific literature from a variety of disciplines and communication in small groups, seminar and in scientific writing are core elements for our students. Students are encouraged to participate in student and professional organizations. 1.3. Advance the frontiers of knowledge through investment in basic, applied, and pedagogical research and scholarship. Our efforts to create an environment that is highly conducive to research include increasing the number and time graduate students spend in the lab, providing opportunities for undergraduate students to do research in the summer or part- time in the academic year; providing opportunities for graduate students to attend international scientific conferences held in the US and publish in international journals. 1.4. and 1.5 Cultivate a vibrant campus that ensures student access and success in undergraduate and graduate education and prepare quality teachers. Our efforts include providing stipend support as well as funding for reagents/equipment for state-of-the-art research techniques for our graduate students. Excellent graduate students help to retain an outstanding faculty. Our placement of graduates is excellent as the need remains high for anatomy educators for students in the health care professions. All our students are STEM. 2. ECU will distinguish itself by the ability to train and prepare leaders. Our efforts include encouraging students to participate in community service, student leadership organizations, national meetings and recognizing these efforts by awards, publication in newsletters. Our senior students are empowered to facilitate the transition of new students, and our medical students serve in underserved population clinics. Our students are recruited from North Carolina with interests to stay and develop eastern NC – as a researcher and/or teacher. Our faculty participates in the INSPRE Program (INclusion, Support, Professional development, Retention, Enrichment) to retain outstanding faculties of color and women faculty. 3. Health, Health Care and Medical Innovation. Our department has sought and obtained extramural funding for biomedical research. The approach includes interactions with the NCBC for possible biotech spin-offs, interactions with clinicians for a translational approach from our basic science strengths. Our faculty participates in innovative education for future health care providers as well as for graduate education of future scientists/faculty. 4. Economic Prosperity in the East. We have faculty whose research has led to patients, and potential for job creation, working in part with clinicians (clinical trials), investment from private companies and with the NCBC. This entrepreneurship could be enhanced by efforts from the OTT. We are developing continuing education programs for health care professions in the community (practicing PTs). We help to sponsor visiting speakers to present these career opportunities and engage students in research and education directed toward those goals. 5. The Arts, Culture and Quality of Life: Cells are beautiful and our faculty have contributed to cover art for professional journals. Part II. C. Quality The quality of the members of the graduating classes from the Brody School of Medicine can be measured by their successful match for excellent Residency Programs. The quality of our basic science programs for medical students can be measured by comparing the pass rates on the USMLE Step I exam (at or above national average) with the MCAT scores of the entering class (below national average). Quality of our Faculty is represented in service in peer review: Faculty serve as invited reviewers for the NIH including, NIAMS, Board of Scientific Counselors; AREA, R15 Special Emphasis Panels; four NIH Challenge Grant Special Emphasis Panels, NIAMS SBSR Study Sections; NCI OBT Study Section; NICHD, CMIR Study Section, as well as grant review for foundations: Alzheimer's Disease Association, The Prostate Cancer Charity; Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program; Italian Ministry of Health; Diabetes Association; Health Research Board of Ireland; Austrian Academy of Science; United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Wellcome Trust (UK). Faculty members are active in the review of manuscripts for journals and serve on the editorial boards of these journals: Journal of Biological Chemistry, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, Connective Tissue Research, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Neural Regeneration Research, and World Journal of Medical Genetics. Faculty members were invited speakers at UNC-Chapel Hill; Experimental Biology, New Orleans; International Conference on Hyaluronan, Kyoto, Japan; and International Cancer Conference, Beijing, China. Faculty and students presented research at these meetings: American Society for Cell Biology, Society for Neuroscience, Health Professions Educational Research Symposium, Keystone Symposia on Cilia, Signaling and Human Disease, Orthopaedic Research Society, American Association for Cancer Research, Triangle Consortium on Reproductive Biology, North Carolina Arthritis/Cartilage Research Group Annually our 9.5 T&TT faculty publish 12 peer-reviewed papers and 2 review books for medical students on average. Our Ph.D. Program was reviewed in May 2011 by an external review panel; these observations and recommendations were made: All ACB faculties actively participate in the education of the graduate students and each student receives extensive individual attention. There is a demanding journal club and seminar series. The graduate students rotate through different research labs before choosing their mentor and they must pass a rigorous qualifying exam. “The department fosters initiative in its students.” The ACB Department was originally designed to be a quantitatively low but qualitatively high program with a targeted enrollment of two new graduate students per year with two students completing the program each year. To reach this goal, the department must balance the "teaching culture" [stressed at ECU] and "research culture". To enhance the research culture in the department, a sense of urgency in all faculty and all students needs to be increased. Maintaining this balance is an issue faced by all similar departments of anatomy, and the ultimate solution will require continued debate. “The fostered collegial spirit evident in discussions with both faculty and students speaks well for Dr. Knudson's leadership and will serve as a source of strength as the department grapples with the solutions to the problems it faces.” The "Fill the GAP Fellowship program (Gross Anatomy Postdoctoral), is an example of her far-sighted approach for solving significant problems faced by today’s ACB departments.” Part II.D. Opportunity (SWOT) Analysis: 1. Opportunities to retain productive faculty would focus on; development of partnerships from recommendations of the faculty to the administration.

1.1. In the BSOM, the financial circumstances have led to more emphasis on clinical care and clinical revenues. This separates the academic interests (teaching and research) of physicians from those of the faculty in the basic science departments. Teaching requires time for discussion and planning a wise integrated curriculum. There are definitely opportunities that are in development (and in practice) to enhance the integration within the BSOM curriculum. This requires time for developing/enhancing partnerships rather than consolidation of programs.

1.2. Opportunities to enhance research productivity would focus on theme-based minisymposia for strengthening current research themes and possible new areas. Another area for focus is to strengthen the interactions between faculty to promote the review of grant applications (specific aims and other sections) as well as manuscripts for clarity and other improvements prior to submission. This type of collaborative activity needs to be rewarded, but it also requires trust between faculty that can only be improved with time in order to evolve into a supportive and an intellectual challenging and rewarding environment. 2. The May 2011 Review of the department by an external review panel made these observations and we responded with recommendations for the future: 2.1. Space: “ACB does an excellent job in sharing facilities within and without the department, eliminating duplication and saving money and space. Even what appear to be small closets have been converted into superb shared microscope rooms. During the tour of the department the panel was impressed with the savvy resourcefulness exhibited by the Chair and her faculty in making the research space work, which reflects years of experience in the research trenches.” Nevertheless, this is not possible for new investigators or as research groups expand beyond the capacity of the physical space. 2.2. Postdoctoral Scholars: ECU has established a Postdoctoral Scholars program, that facilitates the appointment process for postdoctoral fellows and provides a Handbook for Policies (including evaluation, benefits, research services). The ECU postdocs have organized a Postdoc Association and sponsor seminars on a variety of career opportunities. We propose that as technical positions are vacated, postdocs replace some of these personnel. These postdocs will re-enforce and strengthen the research environment of the department. 2.3. Fill the GAP: Health care professionals require training in the anatomical sciences, particularly gross anatomy, embryology, histology, and neuroanatomy. Our gross anatomy course offers cadaver dissection, prosections, and radiology all of which are foundational in modern day health care training. Surveys by the American Association of Anatomists have concluded that a majority of US medical school departments anticipate experiencing great difficulty in recruiting anatomy educators over the next five years. There is also a great need for anatomy educators for other health care professionals. Therefore, the department has two programs making a contribution to fill the national need for true researcher/anatomist educators and this critical dearth in North Carolina. One is the PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology. The second is the Fill the GAP [Gross Anatomy Postdoctoral] Fellowship program. The Fill the GAP program is focused on the training of fellows in the anatomical sciences, especially gross human anatomy, in parallel with state-of-the-art biomedical research. Postdoctoral Fellows in our program will be trained to be a teacher and a researcher by dual-mentoring. Our first Fill the GAP Fellow, combining training in gross anatomy instruction with molecular/cell biology research, was recently hired as an assistant professor in our department.