medicine WINTER 2007 A home where the future lies A new building and a new curriculum emerge to become a national model for training physicians Many thanks to alumni and friends for their generous support of the Medicine School of Medicine Building ThanksThanks 6 16 20 ThanksThanks contents Executive Editor Dean’s MESSAGE 2 Thanks Karon Schindler IN BRIEF 3 Thanks Editor Pam Auchmutey The Charles and Peggy Evans Estate Thomas J. Lawley, MD, Dean Art Director A HOME WHERE THE FUTURE LIES 6 Peta Westmaas A new building and a new curriculum merge as a national model for training Emory physicians. John E. Skandalakis, MD, PhD, FACS, 1962G Margaret W. and Herbert L. DuPont, MD, 1965M Photographers By Sylvia Wrobel Jack Kearse The Emory Department of Radiation Oncology Class of 1945 Jon Rou Thanks Production Manager THE PROMISE OF PROGESTERONE 16 The Rich Foundation The Hackerman Foundation Editorial Assistant Emergency medicine physicians find a safe and inexpensive Billy R. Jones Carol Pinto treatment for traumatic brain injury. Anne E.H. Gaston, MD, 1955M, 1960MR By Robin Tricoles and In honor of Associate Vice President David Roberts, MD Health Sciences Communications J. Harper Gaston, 1952C, 1955M, 1961MR Jeffrey Molter SAGA IN THE MAKING 20 John S. Inman Jr., MD, 1942C, 1945M, 1952MR Please send address changes, Emory’s alliance with a genetic powerhouse in Iceland shakes out UPS and letters to the editor to: In honor of Willa B. Inman the causes of restless legs syndrome and other diseases. David Roberts, MD John S. Inman III, MD, 1979C, 1983M, 1987MR Editor, Emory Medicine By Valerie Gregg Emory University School of Medicine Rebecca and Sidney H. Yarbrough III, MD John A. Rush Jr., MD, 1953C, 1957M, 1958MR 1440 Clifton Road, NE, Suite 105 WHY TEENS MAKE BAD DECISIONS 24 In honor of Atlanta, GA 30322 Psychiatrist Gregory Berns examines James Dean Delamar, MD, 1902M Rose-Helen and Goodwin M. Breinin, MD, 1940G, 1943M Phone: 404-712-9265 the brain’s reward system to find out. Sidney H. Yarbrough Jr., DDS, 1931D E-mail: [email protected] E-mail for class notes: By Martha Nolan McKenzie Sidney H. Yarbrough III, MD, 1959C, 1963M Jimmy Gilbert Harris, MD, 1971MR, 1974MR, 1976MR [email protected] Rebecca K. Yarbrough GIFTS AND SUPPORT 26 Robert K. Yarbrough, MD, 2000M Read the magazine online at www.whsc.emory.edu/mzine_ emory_medicine.cfm CLASS NOTES 30 For information about ways to support the School of Medicine Building, contact Phil Hills, Emory Medicine is published by the School of Medicine, a component of the Woodruff vice president for development, [email protected], or , senior associate vice Health Sciences Center of Emory University. Articles may be reprinted in full or in part if Maggi McKay source is acknowledged. Persons not on the mailing list can order a one-year subscription president for development, [email protected], 404-727-5711. by sending a check for $20 (made out to Emory University) to the editor. ©Fall 2007. Emory psychiatrist Gregory Berns 2 EMORY MEDICINE CONTENTS Dean’s Message In Brief New leadership in the health sciences BOOKSHELF Wow! We finally did it! Nearly 100 years after Atlanta Medical College red Sanfilippo, MD, PhD, took the helm of the Physicians Mark Silverman became part of Emory, the School of Medicine has a permanent home for students, health sciences at Emory on October 1 as execu- and Bruce Fye collaborated faculty, and alumni. I love everything about our new building. It is a beautiful and tive vice president for health affairs, CEO of the on J. Willis Hurst: His Life and FWoodruff Health Sciences Center, and chairman of Emory inviting place where the past and the future reside together in traditional and wi-fi Teachings. In addition to the life Healthcare. He succeeds Michael Johns, who became uni- story of the famed Emory cardi- style. It is a visible sign—locally and nationally—that we have never been more versity chancellor this fall. ologist and teacher, they include committed to medical education nor more determined Sanfilippo comes to Emory from Ohio State University, selected essays by and about The curriculum to be a model for training the very best physicians. where he was senior vice president and executive dean for health sciences and CEO of the medical center. He Hurst and a one-hour interview emphasizes active The building is an architectural gem. A new central also served as dean of the College of Medicine and on DVD. (Foundation for learning to cre- wing connects the anatomy and physiology buildings, Public Health from 2000 to 2006. A specialist in Advances in Medicine ate physicians who which first opened in 1917. Almost four times the size transplant immunology, he began his medi- and Science, 2007) cal career in 1979 at Duke, where he taught embrace healing and of the historic buildings, the enlarged complex allows us pathology, immunology, and experimental to grow our student body and make our newly minted discovery in new and surgery. In 1993, he joined Johns Hopkins curriculum come to life. Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD different ways to University School of Medicine, serving as Baxley Several years in the making, the curriculum empha- Professor of Pathology, pathologist-in-chief of Johns address the complex sizes active learning to create physicians who embrace Hopkins Hospital, and chair of pathology in the medical school. Last year, Sanfilippo was a keynote speaker at Emory’s predictive health symposium. He issues surrounding healing and discovery in new and different ways to helped launch a similar program at Ohio State. In Chasing Life, Sanjay Gupta, patients, families, address the complex issues surrounding patients, “Fred Sanfilippo will be a driving force as he continues the momentum of the health Emory neurosurgeon and CNN and communities. families, and communities. Instead of focusing on large sciences at Emory,” says Johns. “In coming to Emory and the Woodruff Health Sciences medical correspondent, Center, he is joining the academic center with the greatest potential in the nation.” classroom lectures, the new curriculum places greater offers stories, research, emphasis on small-group learning and interaction between students and their faculty and advice on how mentors who grow and learn together during all four years of medical school. Students to halt the aging learn the fundamentals of science within clinical settings and are immersed in clini- What about Grady? process. (Warner cal experiences from the very beginning. They also benefit from experiential learning Wellness, through high-tech simulation labs, realistic patient exam rooms, a dissection facility What will happen to 2007) equipped with computers for instant access to information and imaging, and much Grady Hospital? That question weighs heavily more. on the minds of Emory and Given the rigors of medical education, we hope our students will feel at home in the Morehouse medical faculty, new building, which is open to them 24/7. As they study late into the night, they just students, residents, alumni, and might hear the voices of students past who once serenaded the entering class from the a host of Atlanta community leaders, patients, and citizens steps of the physiology building. The time has come to raise our voices again, as we concerned about Grady’s future. Down Town, a novel by Ferrol celebrate and define the future of medicine. The hospital is expected to Sams, 45M, begins after the lose $55 million in 2007, a short- Civil War. The book’s characters fall that could force Grady to Sincerely, provide a new perspective on close its doors before the end of the year. As of early November, the events that have shaped the the Grady Health System owed a cumulative total of more than $60 million to Emory and nation since 1865, Morehouse for physician services. laced with Sams’ Thomas J. Lawley, MD Leaders from Emory, Morehouse, and the Atlanta community are working hard to characteristic keep that from happening. Supporters have stressed Grady’s importance as a Level I humor. (Mercer Dean trauma center, a health care provider for low-income patients, and a teaching hospital. University “We want to help find the way for Grady to survive and flourish,” says Emory medical dean Thomas Lawley. Press, Efforts to put Grady on firm financial footing are unfolding daily. For news coverage and 2007) updates from Emory, visit www.whsc.emory.edu. 4 EMORY MEDICINE WINTER 2007 5 CONTENTS In Brief Top dollars in scientific discovery SUPERSIZED NUMBER CRUNCHING Researchers working on new Surveillance. The contract Emory has supersized its computing ability, techniques may some day provide more detailed vaccines and therapies for was one of six awarded last making it one of the world’s 500 most pow- views of breast tissue than previously available. influenza and AIDS, innova- year by the National Institute erful computing sites. Its high-performance As Karellas notes, clinicians need accurate knowl- tive strategies for treating of Allergy and Infectious computer cluster allows edge of how much radiation the breasts and other type 1 diabetes, molecular Diseases (NIAID). researchers to conduct sim- areas of the body receive during imaging procedures. triggers of head and neck The National Cancer This information helps determine the appropriate cancer, genetic variations Institute awarded a $12.5 ulations deemed too costly in schizophrenia, and bet- million Specialized Program or impractical using conven- imaging procedure for each patient. With proper ter ways to diagnose and of Research Excellence tional laboratory methods. management of radiation dosage through accurate treat Alzheimer’s disease are grant in head and neck For Andrew Karellas dosimetric information and good communication among the Emory scientists cancer to Emory’s Winship of the Winship Cancer between medical physicists and physicians, the radia- who last year earned a record Cancer Institute.