MEDICINE A Magazine for Alumni and Friends Volume 37 • Number 1 • Summer 2011 of the School of Medicine MOMENTS of Truth Putting Preparedness to the Test Dean’s View A Magazine for Alumni and Friends of the School of Medicine Meet the Future Volume 37 • Number 1 • Summer 2011 of Medicine SCHOOL AND STUDENT LEADERSHIP Senior Vice President and Dean Ray L. Watts, M.D. Senior Class President Anand Iyer i want to introduce you to ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Tarannum Jaleel, one of our many President Gerhard A.W. Boehm, M.D. ’71 ambitious and motivated students. President-Elect Norman F. McGowin III, M.D. ’80 A huntsville native, Tara came to Secretary/Treasurer Alan R. Dimick, M.D. ’58 us having already won a Fulbright Immediate Past President Theodis Buggs Jr., M.D. ’80 scholarship to study at the District Representatives Leslie Katrina Skinner, M.D. ’06—1st District European institute for Women’s James H. Alford, M.D. ’63—2nd District R. Bob Mullins Jr., M.D. ’68—3rd District Lucian Newman III, M.D. ’88—4th District health in ireland. now she has Kinney Copeland, M.D. ’82—5th District Darlene Traffanstedt, M.D. ’01—6th District finished year three with help from Rufus C. Partlow Jr., M.D. ’62—7th District At Large the W. Earle Drennen Endowed J. Noble Anderson Jr., M.D. ’89 Jim Argires, M.D. ’62 Scholarship, the Jane Knight Phillip Dean, M.D. ’09 Pink Lowe Folmar Jr., M.D. ’72 lowe Endowed Scholarship, and Norman McSwain Jr., M.D. ’63 Leon McVay III, M.D. ’83 the W. hudson Turner Endowed Ex-Officio J. Max Austin Jr., M.D. ’67 Scholarship. her dermatology Interim Director Meredith M. Burns Administrative Associate research has been published Brenda Joseph and presented at international Contact Information Senior vice president and dean Ray Watts (205) 934-4463 • [email protected] conferences. last year, Tara was an DEVELOPMENT STAFF with Tarannum Jaleel Vice President for Development, Alumni, alternate for the howard hughes and External Relations Shirley Salloway Kahn, Ph.D. medical institute-national institutes of health Research Scholars Program, and this Associate Vice President Rebecca J. Gordon spring she volunteered in a hospital and free clinic in hyderabad, india. School of Medicine Virginia Gilbert Loftin Thomas I. Brannan Tara tells me these experiences have helped her see medicine as a puzzle with many Comprehensive Cancer Center Sherri S. Van Pelt pieces. i am especially delighted to know that she plans an academic research career Jeannie Horton Comprehensive Diabetes Initiative combining basic sciences with complex disease models. And i was equally delighted Erica L. Hollins Department of Medicine to hear her describe the first baby she helped deliver during her ob-gyn rotation this Virginia Gilbert Loftin Department of Neurology/Neurosciences spring. it reminded me of my ob-gyn rotation many years ago and the awe i felt at Thomas I. Brannan Katherine G. Tully helping a new life enter the world. Department of Ophthalmology/Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital Lindsay M. Knox Students like Tara remind us of the importance of our role as medical school Palliative Care/Rehabilitation Medicine/Anesthesiology Kristen Farmer Hall faculty. We must set a good example for our students as clinicians who are skilled Department of Psychiatry M. Eve Rhea and compassionate, scientists who are intellectually curious and undaunted by the Department of Surgery Christopher N. Thomason challenge of finding novel treatments for diseases from which our patients suffer, Friends and Family Program Ivy B. Watson educators who see teaching as both art and science, and men and women of integrity Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center/Scholarships who demonstrate the value of contributing to our communities and our profession. Evelyn S. Jones Prospect Research Sabrina M. Latham I invite you to get to know our students at events such as our Scholarship Dinner Planned Giving Elizabeth Ponder (page 28) and to join me in supporting them as they find their place in medicine. Contact Information (205) 934-4469 • [email protected] • [email protected] UAB MEDICINE STAFF Best regards, Executive Editor Matt Windsor Managing Editor Charles Buchanan Editorial Advisory Board C. Bruce Alexander, M.D.; Noble Anderson Jr., M.D.; Pam Bounelis, Ph.D.; Meredith M. Burns; H. Hughes Evans, M.D.; Wayne H. Finley, M.D.; Forest Huls; Amie B. Jackson, M.D.; Laura B. Kezar, M.D.; Robert Kimberly, M.D.; Kathleen G. Nelson, M.D.; Arielle Pentes; Loring W. Rue III, M.D.; Ralph C. Samlowski, M.D.; Sharon A. Spencer, M.D.; Carlton J. Young, M.D.; Leslie Zganjar Executive Art Director Ron Gamble Get monthly updates from Dean Watts at www.uab.edu/deanwatts. Art Director Laura Hannah Production Manager Traci Bratton Contributing Editor Emily Delzell Writers Lisa C. Bailey; Melissa Behringer, M.D.; Cory Bordonaro; Glenny Connect with UAB Medicine Brock; Charles Buchanan; Clinton Colmenares; Emily Delzell; Cary Estes; Susannah Felts; Rosalind Fournier; Caperton Gillett; Troy Goodman; Tyler Greer; Tara Hulen; Tim L. Pennycuff; Bob Shepard; Dale Short; Shannon Thomason; Leslie Zganjar Photography Facebook.com/uabmedicinemag Hadar Goren Photography, Michael Griffin, Steve Wood Multimedia Twitter.com/uabmedicinemag Laura Hannah, Grant Martin Contact Information (205) 975-6577 • [email protected] Contents Summer 2011 Cover Story [Departments] News Digest 2 Field Notes 19 Moments Fighting food insecurity from the ground up Physicians’ Forum 20 Building a medical home of Truth Trailblazer 21 Cora Lewis puts preventive medicine to the test. { Putting Preparedness to the Test } Student Rounds 22 Three students learn to balance family life with medical school. Experience helps shape UAB’s response to emergencies. Student Profile 24 Swaroop Bommareddi offers a glimpse of life Defense Intelligence 8 inside the HHMI-NIH. Current research could save lives in a Tuscaloosa Report 26 future pandemic or chemical disaster. Thaddeus Ulzen becomes interim dean. Siren Call 10 Huntsville Report 27 Residents get a firsthand look at the Obstetrics life support course unites physicians. world of first responders. From the Development Public Protector 11 Office 28 An alumnus readies Alabama’s largest Scholarship Dinner • Lee Endowed Chair • county for response. Breaux Gift for Surgery • BCRFA Gift for Breast Cancer • Norma Livingston Foundation Gift • 4 Songs for Sight • Anderson Endowed Chair Alumni News 32 Alumni Weekend 2011 • Annual Alumni Awards • [Features] New MAA President • Dean’s Receptions From the Archives 36 Research Focus 12 Vision Quest 17 A physician documents life during a distant war. A way to outsmart nonsense mutations, pain An ophthalmologist offers a rare look at Medical Record relief from space, and other breakthroughs living cells inside the eye. (Inside Back Cover) Skit Night entertains for a worthy cause. Physician in Chief 14 Senior Class 18 Edward Partridge directs the American Medical students get living-room lessons Cancer Society’s lifesaving efforts. from community elders. Building on Match Day 25 WEB EXCLUSIVE: Medicine.uab.edu/magazine Breakthroughs 15 A look back at a lucky day for the class Anath Shalev combines science and outreach of 2011 Alumni Profile: in her approach to diabetes. Frank Waldo, M.D. A boy from Oklahoma Living Legacies 16 becomes a pioneer Could the mystery of metastasis involve and pediatrician in cancer cells killed by chemotherapy? Alabama. News Digest Ophthalmology: National Rankings: U.S. News & World UAB’s Callahan Eye Foundation Report gave high marks to several School hospital draws patients from around the world, and now it has drawn the atten- of Medicine programs in its latest edition of tion of the American Society of Ocular “America’s Best Graduate Schools”: Trauma, which has designated the hos- pital as the nation’s first—and for now, AIDS #6 • Primary care #10 • Geriatrics #12 • only—level i ocular trauma center. Rural medicine #15 • Internal medicine #20 • “The eye trauma surgeons at the Eye Research #30 Foundation hospital have developed unprecedented expertise through the volume of patients treated,” says Doug The Best Doctors database also includes 323 Witherspoon, m.D. (resident ’81), UAB physicians in its newest list, and UAB director of the Ocular Trauma Center Hospital has won the National Research at the Eye Foundation hospital. “new Corporation Consumer Choice Award for the techniques and specialized tools have 12th consecutive year. It is the only Birmingham been created. Surgeons here have dem- hospital among more than 300 nationwide to onstrated that cases deemed hopeless by receive the honor. others may be at least partially repair- able.” Each year nearly 2,200 patients are treated for eye trauma at the Eye Foundation hospital. “in many cases of eye trauma, our surgeons have been able to prevent total blindness and help patients regain some useful vision that will allow them to continue to live their lives as normally as possible,” adds hospital CEO Brian Spraberry. Designated ocular trauma hospitals offer emergency services with physicians and nurses on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the ability to perform emergency surgery within one hour of admission. The facility must provide all the necessary resources and services to treat all types of eye trauma around the clock, and other medical specialties, such as internal medicine and infectious diseases, must be accessible within an hour. nurses must meet ophthalmic and eye-trauma-specific education requirements periodically, and hospitals must par- ticipate in research and education activities and serve as a community resource. Preventive Care: UAB is bringing wellness programs to the heart of downtown Birmingham, Radiology: As the Department of opening a storefront that will offer free and easy Radiology’s new leader and holder of the access to preventive care for people living and work- Witten-Stanley Endowed Chair, Cheri L.