| Alumni Newsletter | April / May 2007 |
The New Pulse
Rochester Rx Renamed Rochester Pulse
Many thanks to all of you who shared your suggestions to rename the SMD alumni newsletter. Your interest and support are very important to us and we look forward to your ongoing input on the evolution of your newsletter. We would like to extend a special thank you to our “Name Your Alumni Newsletter” contest winner, Joseph Bliss (MS ‘94, PhD ‘98, MD ‘98).
Dean’s Newsletter – April 2007
The “Flu Grant”
Last week, NIH announced that it would fund six Centers nationally to study the flu. Under the leadership of Drs. John Treanor (M ’79) and David Topham, and with the expertise of a large number of faculty co-investigators, Rochester will be one of these Centers. Over the next seven years, we will receive $26 million (!) to conduct studies that will improve our understanding of the biology of the virus and of our immune response to influenza viruses and vaccines. Read more.
Dean’s Newsletter – May 2007
Our New Interns and Residents, 2007
This newsletter follows up on the March 29th piece on the Match. In that installment, a cross-section of our graduating medical students told their stories of how they came to medicine and SMD, and how they chose their specialties and residency programs. In this newsletter, we look at the "receiving end" of GME from the standpoint of graduating medical students—here and elsewhere—who have chosen to do their residencies at the University of Rochester. Read more.
SMD Alumni Weekend 2007
September 27-29, 2007
Watch your mail the first week of June for your Alumni Weekend registration packet. This year’s milestone reunions are for years ending in 2’s and 7’s – ALL ALUMNI regardless of year of graduation, are invited to participate in the festivities. Read more.
SMD Alumni News & Information
Alumni Wine Tasting
On February 11, School of Medicine and Dentistry Alumni and there guests enjoyed an afternoon of wine tasting and conversation with the Dean of the Medical School, Dr. David Guzick, at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, New York. Those in attendance at this sold out event enjoyed reconnecting with classmates and hearing from Dr. Guzick on the four missions of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. The feedback was so positive that we hope to host another alumni activity here in the near future.
Alumni Association Awards
The Awards committee of the School of Medicine and Dentistry Alumni Council met on March 26, 2007 to consider nominations for our three Alumni Association Awards. The recipients are as follows: 2007 Alumni Service Award: Robert Caldwell (MD ‘61, R ‘69), 2007 Gold Medal Award: Chin-To Fong, MD (Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Dentistry, and Oncology and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Genetics), 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award (designated last year): C. McCollister Evarts, (MD ‘57, R ‘64), and 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award: Robert. L. Brent, (BA ‘48, MD ‘53, PhD ‘55, HNR ‘88). These awards, with the exception of the 2008 Distinguished Alumnus Award, will be presented at the Alumni Association Luncheon and Awards ceremony during reunion weekend 2007. Read more.
PhD Alumni Dinner
On Tuesday, April 17, 2007 the School of Medicine and Dentistry celebrated a first. The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry PhD Alumni from the Upstate New York Region (Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse), with several of the faculty and graduate students and their spouses enjoyed dinner at Artisan Works with a medical center update from Bradford C. Berk (MD ‘81, PhD ‘81), Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a presentation, “Brain Inflammation in Alzheimer's Disease: Friend or Foe?” by speaker, M. Kerry O’Banion, MD, PhD. Associate Professor of Neurobiology & Anatomy Co-Director, MD/PhD Program University of Rochester Medical Center. Over 80 guests attended. View pictures.
Alumni Council Executive Committee Meeting
On April 18, 2007 the School of Medicine and Dentistry Alumni Council Executive Committee held its annual retreat in Rochester to coincide with the PhD alumni dinner. The Executive Committee members in attendance were: Robert Scala (PhD ‘58), President of the Alumni Council and chair of the committee; Robert Brent (MD ‘53, PhD ‘55); Kathleen Gensheimer (MD ‘77, MPH); Lawrence Nazarian (MD ‘64, R ’66), Vice President of the Alumni Council, and Robert Sutherland (PhD ’66). The meeting was held in the new Alumni Center on East River Road.
Alumni Panel Discussion
On April 23, sixty SMD students and three alumni couples participated in a panel entitled, “The Balancing Act: Work-Relationship Balance –An Issue for all Physicians.” Alumni participants included David Carrier (MD ‘90, RES ‘95) and Lauri Carrier (MD ‘91, RES ‘94) parents of 4 children; Eugene Storozynsky (BS ‘90, MS ‘96, PhD ‘98, MD ‘00, FS) and Carla Peracchia (MD ‘96, RES ‘01, FS) parents of 4 children; and Joshua and Elizabeth Scarlett (RES ‘06, FS, FR) parents of 1 child. SMD alumni participants shared their views with medical students on common issues faced by medical professionals. This was the first time topics such as balancing family and professional life, and part-time residency and/or taking time off in medical school/residency to begin a family have been discussed with medical students.
For more information on Alumni/Student Panels, please contact Paula in Student Services at paula_smith@urmc.rochester.edu .
Alumni Council Meeting
On Thursday, May 17, 2007 the School of Medicine and Dentistry Alumni Council held its bi-annual meeting. The Council is comprised of nineteen alumni members who serve four year terms. Members represent all regions of the United States. Robert Scala, Ph.D. (D ‘58) serves as Council President. Dr. Scala is a retired career toxicologist and resides with his wife, Jan (SON ‘55) in Tuscon, AZ.
Miner Library Artwork Available
Do you may have fond memories of time spent in the University of Rochester’s historical Miner Library? Reminisce at home with a framed Miner Library picture. To request a Miner Library rendering, please email Kelly at knuccitelli@admin.rochester.edu. Pictures are available on a first come, first serve basis and can either be picked up at the Alumni Center or shipped to your home (postage fee required). [framed image dimensions: 16.5” x 18.5”]
Summer Programs at the University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is pleased to offer a variety of learning opportunities to alumni and their children or grandchildren during the spring and summer months. “Rochester Scholars” programs provide commuter learning experiences for middle school and high school students. “Summer at the Eastman” offers a wide variety programs that target unique musical interests. The Department of Athletics offers a variety of sports camps directed by University of Rochester coaches throughout the summer months. This is just a sampling of the many learning opportunities the University offers to alumni and your families. A variety of academic departments offer regular lectures, the Memorial Art Gallery has dozens of creative activities, and the Office of Alumni Relations designs a variety of programs just for alumni. Look for more information on the UR home page in the months ahead.
SMD Alumni News & Information
UR School of Medicine and Dentistry Among Nation’s Best Schools:
U.S. News & World Report
The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry moved up two slots to 34th best research medical school and up eight slots to 13th best primary care medical school in U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 listing of top graduate schools in the country. In addition, U.S. News & World Report ranked four of the University's medical specialty training programs among the nation’s top programs. Read more.
Television Show Developed by Medical Students Premieres
The premiere of Strong Stories, a new television show developed by School of Medicine and Dentistry students and supervised by faculty, was held on Tuesday, May 1, 2007. Anthony Petraglia, a fourth-year medical student, started Strong Stories with the help and professional television production assistance of WXXI, the Public Broadcasting Service station in Rochester. It showcases stories of real patients at Strong Memorial Hospital and aims to educate the community about important health issues. The initial show was on traumatic brain injury and could lead to future installments as a television series. Strong Stories is presented by the University of Rochester Medical Center, School of Medicine and Dentistry's Department of Community and Preventive Medicine, the School’s Center for Advocacy, Community Health, Education and Diversity (CACHED) and WXXI.
News From the Medical Center
$26 Million NIH Contract To Establish New Flu/Bird Flu Center of Excellence
A research team at the Medical Center has been awarded $26 million to establish a research center with the goal of making seasonal influenza and future influenza pandemics less deadly. The seven-year contract, announced today by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, will create the New York Influenza Center of Excellence (NYICE), a collaboration of the University of Rochester, Cornell University, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and community partners. NYICE will be one of six centers nationally that together will receive approximately $138 million in new flu research funding over seven years. Read more.
Research Agreement to Advance New Imaging Technology
The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Tomographic Image Enhancement Systems (T.I.E.S.), LLC, a Rochester-based start-up company, have entered into a research partnership to evaluate a new technology that could ultimately represent a major advance in medical imaging. T.I.E.S. has patented a new image processing technology called “Image Surgery” that allows scientists and radiologists to selectively focus on a specific organ or region of the body and, as a result, create clearer and more precise side by side images. Read more.
Neil Blumberg, M.D. |
Transfusion Expert Urges Wider Use of Filtered Blood
Filtering white cells from donor blood before a transfusion is much safer for patients and long overdue as a national standard for all surgical procedures, according to University of Rochester researchers who present their analysis in the April journal, Transfusion. Neil Blumberg, M.D., a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Transfusion Medicine/Blood Bank, at the University of Rochester is the lead author of the study. Read more.
Physician to Lead National Residency Organization
Donald Bordley, associate chair of medicine and director of the Categorical Internal Medicine Residency program at the School of Medicine and Dentistry, has been chosen to lead an international organization dedicated to improving and supporting the graduate education of doctors in internal medicine. Read more.
Cardiologists Answer Questions on Heart Disease
On Tuesday, April 3, a Rochester public broadcasting station, WXXI-TV, hosted a live call-in show on heart health. The 60-minute program, "Heart Health: A Second Opinion Special," explored heart health and heart disease. Immediately following the episode, several cardiologists from the Strong Heart and Vascular Center answered questions from viewers live on the air, discussed new studies relating to heart health, medications, stents, and surgery and provided a list of helpful website and phone numbers. Read more.
URMC Scientists Discover New Bladder Cancer Findings
"Rochester Researchers show that the active androgen receptor (AR) increases the development of carcinogen induced bladder cancer, possibly explaining the gender difference (males are 3 times as common as females) in occurrence of this disease." In an article in the April 4 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center and colleagues show that the androgen receptor, which is central to the action of testosterone and other hormones that are much more plentiful in men than women, appears to play a key role in the disease. Read more.
Class Notes
Submit Class Notes to Rochester Medicine Magazine
The University of Rochester wants to hear from you! Share new and exciting things happening in your life with fellow alumni. To submit a class note for publication in the Rochester Medicine magazine, email RochesterMedicineMagazine@urmc.rochester.edu.
Online Community
Join the Online Community
Visit http://www.alumniconnections.com/URMC/ to connect to the online community. If you are not sure of your unique alumni ID, please contact us at alumni@admin.rochester.edu .
Membership is exclusive to alumni and free. Search for friends and make new connections with the University of Rochester Medical Center Alumni Network. The Online Community offers an online directory of all URMC School of Medicine & Dentistry and School of Nursingalumni where you can search by geographic location or specialty. Network with classmates, quickly update your information, and much more with the Alumni Online Community.
Do you know that you could have the same email address forever? With the use of the permanent email-forwarding feature available through the Online Community, you can have the same email address no matter what Internet Service Provider you use! To sign up for your free @alumni.urmc.rochester.edu address, register for the Online Community today! Register.
News & Information About Other Divisions of URMC
What’s Happening at URMC
Learn more about the latest from the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center, Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, Highland Hospital, Strong Memorial Hospital, School of Nursing, and Visiting Nurse Service. Learn more.
Contacts at the URMC Alumni Office
Glen Smiley, Associate Vice President of Medical Center Development
Mary Ann Kiely, Acting Director of Development and Medical Alumni Relations
Leslie Chambers, Assistant Director of Medical Alumni Relations and Alumni Council Liaison
Kelly Nuccitelli, Assistant Director of Medical Alumni Relations and Class Agent Liaison
Paula Smith, Director of Student Services
Check out our calendar of events – we may be coming to your area!
June 8, 2007
10 Year Club Dinner
NYC
June 8, 2007
50 Year Club Lunch Lecture
Rochester
June 9, 2007
Rochester International Jazz Festival
Rochester
June 10, 2007
Vascular Alumni Reception
Baltimore
September 27 – 29, 2007
SMD Alumni Weekend
Rochester
October 9, 2007
Surgery Alumni Reception
New Orleans
November 3, 2007
UREI Crystal Ball
Rochester
To remove yourself from future mailings of Rochester Pulse, please email alumni@admin.rochester.edu. Thank you.
Rochester Pulse is a publication of the Office of Alumni Relations for the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
www.urmc.rochester.edu
300 East River Road, PO Box 278996, Rochester, NY 14627-8996
Phone: 800-333-4428 | Fax: 585-461-2081 | Email: alumni@admin.rochester.edu