News
UTGSM Research Seminar Features Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes May 21
Irfan Asif, MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and the Sports Medicine Fellowship Director, will discuss "Current Controversies in the Screening for Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes" at the next UTGSM Research Seminar May 21 at noon in Morrison's Conference Center on The University of Tennessee Medical Center campus. Medical professionals in sports medicine, family practice, and others who are interested in the topic are invited to attend.
May 16, 2013
The University of Tennessee Medical Center Earns TNCPE Achievement Award
The University of Tennessee Medical Center is one of nine businesses and organizations in the state of Tennessee to earn the Achievement Award from the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence(TNCPE). TNCPE is Tennessee's only statewide quality program patterned on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, the national standard for recognizing organizational excellence.
Representatives from the medical center accepted the award at the 20th Anniversary Excellence in Tennessee awards banquet in Nashville.
"I want to thank UT Medical Center for its commitment to improvement and excellence," Gov. Bill Haslam said in presenting the award. "For twenty years, TNCPE has been helping organizations become more efficient and effective, and UT Medical Center, in partnership with TNCPE, is doing its part to help build a stronger, better Tennessee."
To serve through healing, education and discovery, the medical center holds a unique prominence as the region's only academic medical center in partnership with the UT Graduate School of Medicine; Magnet® recognized hospital; Level I trauma center; and major referral center for East Tennessee. Through an annual evaluation and assessment process, TNCPE recognizes high-performance organizations that exhibit continuous improvement and best practice processes. They represent outstanding achievement in the following industry sectors: health care, manufacturing, service, education, government and nonprofit.
May 14, 2013
Research Seminar Focuses on Cytogenetics and Leukemia May 14
The next University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine Research Seminar will feature Carmen Lozzio, MD, Professor of Medical Genetics and Director of the Cytogenetic Laboratory, discussing, "The
Role of Cytogenetics in the Treatment of Leukemias by the Children's Oncology Group." The meeting will be held at noon on May 14 in Morrison's Conference Center at The University of Tennessee Medical Center. Attendance is open to medical professionals interested in the topic.
May 8, 2013
Dustin and Beth Osborne Initiate Scholarship for Interventional Radiology Professionals
To support research at The University of Tennessee Medical Center, Dustin Osborne, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology, and his wife, Beth, Interventional Radiology Supervisor, have initiated a scholarship program to be awarded to a nurse or technologist in the Interventional Radiology group that will cover expenses to a relevant national conference.
The Osbornes believe that travel to national conferences is critical to enabling advancement within a field and allows medical professionals to grow by experiencing the methods practiced and research performed by other clinical teams across the nation.
Dr. Osborne said that although a wide range of conferences exist for technologists and nurses, these professionals are often not able to participate because of limited funds and other restrictions. He noted that the research goals of the UT Graduate School of Medicine cannot be accomplished without strong ties to its partner, University Health System, Inc. In order to facilitate travel to conferences, the Osbornes started the research travel fund, an annual award that will reimburse up to $3,000 of travel expenses including airfare, hotel and conference registration fees.
Awards will be determined based on the applicant's acceptance of conference abstracts. Should multiple abstracts be accepted, winning submissions will be determined by a local judging panel that will assess the quality and relevance of each abstract submitted.
"We hope that interest in this program will grow and eventually be expanded to more individuals and to other groups within the hospital," Dr. Osborne said. "It is also our hope that through this program we expand research efforts to new groups and work to further solidify relationships that may result in future breakthroughs and improvements in the quality of patient care at The University of Tennessee Medical Center."
May 2, 2013
Preston Medical Library Faculty Continue Consumer Health Education in Africa
Nearly one year since conducting global outreach in South Africa, Preston Medical Library faculty returned to Africa to conduct another series of consumer health information workshops. Adding Botswana to their trip, Martha Earl, MSLS, AHIP, Associate Professor, and Cynthia Vaughn, MLIS, Associate Professor, covered topics such as how to find reliable health information as well as a "train the trainer" workshop.
Their first day of classes was held in Gabarone, Botswana, at the University of Botswana, which includes a new medical school. Here Earl and Vaughn taught abbreviated classes about consumer health resources.
The next three days were spent in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they trained librarians how to teach families in their own community to find reliable health information. Vaughn said, "It is exciting to see their energy and passion about consumer health information."
Both trips were sponsored by the U.S. Embassy and theLibrary and Information Association of South Africa. The 2012 trip was initiated by Steven Kerchoff, Information Resource Officer in the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. Kerchoff approached Vaughn and Earl following an invited speaker session at the 2011 American Library Association Annual Conference, "Consumer Health Information: Library Partnerships that Serve the Community." Earl and Vaughn will present a poster regarding their efforts in South Africa at the Medical Library Association Conference in May 2013.
To learn more about their trip, read Vaughn's blog describing the culture, food and landscape encountered on their journeys.
April 29, 2013
Preclinical Scientists Contribute to Groundbreaking Radiation Therapy Research
In a new study, researchers have demonstrated the ability to harness powerful radioactive particles and direct them toward small cancer tumors while doing negligible damage to healthy organs and tissues. The collaborative study among the University of Missouri, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the UT Graduate School of Medicine, was recently published in Plos One, an international, peer-reviewed journal.
Radiation treatment with radioisotopes targeted with antibodies has traditionally employed the use of radiation particles known as beta particles. Scientists, including Jonathan Wall, PhD, Director,Preclinical and Diagnostic Molecular Imaging Laboratory, and Stephen Kennel, PhD, Radio-Biochemist, PDMIL, have been studying how to use more powerful alpha particles instead, which act locally (within a few cell diameters), but have 7,000 times the killing potential of beta particles. The challenge has been confining the alpha particles to the cancerous cells in the body to preserve healthy organs and tissue.
Dr. Kennel and Saed Mirzadeh, PhD, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have been working with alpha emitting radioisotopes since the early 1990s. Original work was done with Bi-213, which emits only one alpha particle and has a short half-life of 45 minutes. To increase the potency of targeted alpha therapy, the researchers have been working with actinium, which emits four alpha particles per atom and has a much longer half-life of 10 days. However, when the actinium atom decays, it can come loose from its target and cause damage in normal tissue in other parts of the body. That's when Mark McLaughlin, PhD Candidate, and J. David Robertson, PhD, Professor, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Missouri, designed a gold-plated nanoparticle to serve as a holding cell for the alpha particles that keeps them at the cancer site. This device has been called a nonogenerator and is very lethal to tumor cells. The team has shown that targeting of the nanogenerator actinium can be followed by molecular imaging and that in a preclinical model system, it can provide effective therapy for lung metastasis of breast cancer. The goal now is to find a good way to translate this finding into a clinically useful product.
The research team includes:
Rose Boll, PhD, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Stephen Kennel, PhD, UT Graduate School of Medicine
Mark McLaughlin, University of Missouri, Columbia
Saed Mirzadeh, PhD, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
J. David Robertson, PhD, University of Missouri, Columbia
Adam Rondinone, PhD, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Jonathan Wall, PhD, UT Graduate School of Medicine
Jonathan Woodward, PhD, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
April 25, 2013
Faculty Participate in Leadership Development Program
UT Graduate School of Medicine faculty are participating in a new ongoing leadership development program, designed by senior leadership at The University of Tennessee Medical Center, to advance skills in the areas of business leadership, finance, strategic development and process improvement as they relate to healthcare. Members of the first class include
Mark D. Anderson, MD, Assistant Professor, Medicine
Amy Barger-Stevens, MD, Program Director and Associate Professor, Family Medicine
Kirk Bass, MD, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Robert Craft, MD, Vice Chairman, Professor and Residency Program Director, Anesthesiology
Raymond Dieter, MD, Associate Professor, Surgery
Lisa Duncan, MD, Chair, Residency Program Director, Associate Professor, Pathology
Russell Huntsinger, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine
Larry Kilgore, MD, Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Russ Langdon, MD, Associate Professor, Anesthesiology
Melissa Phillips, MD, Assistant Professor, Surgery
Ramanujan Samavedy, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine
James Shamiyeh, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine
Wesley White, MD, Assistant Professor, Urology
April 22, 2013
Dean's Retreat Focuses on Moving Forward
James Neutens, PhD, Dean of the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, hosted a Dean's Retreat on in March at the UT Conference Center, inviting leaders from the UT Graduate School of Medicine as well as The University of Tennessee Medical Center. Guest speaker R. Kevin Grigsby, DSW, Association of American Medical Colleges Senior Director, Leadership and Talent Development, facilitated the event with activities designed to help attendees consider the best attributes of the entire organization as well as team members' commitment to them.
Dr. Grigsby noted that while there is a lot of integration at the medical center, there is a need for much more in order to survive the current times in health care and medical education. In order to achieve further integration, Dr. Grigsby discussed the advantage of not looking at an organization as a hierarchy and instead managing from the middle. He also discussed the importance of collaboration. He said that effective communication, cooperative attitudes and integrated teams are the hallmarks of successful collaboration.
Dr. Grigsby characterized under-integrated systems as having inconsistency among parts, competition for resources, non-cooperation and duplication of effort. He recommended the best way to make decisions for an organization is through consensus where teams cooperate together, everyone is heard, and one mutual agreement is reached.
Dean Neutens said, "I believe Dr. Grigsby helped leadership to see the big picture as we move forward. To do this will require a modification in our current model or health care system—one that brings a win for everyone at the table as well as fosters growth in our mission of education, discovery and healing. In a way, this retreat was a 'kick off' for the future."
April 18, 2013
Radiology Resident Dr. Samuel Porter Scores Best in Nation
Samuel Porter, MD, Fourth-Year Radiology Resident at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, scored in the 100th percentile on the nationwide American College of Radiology Diagnostic Radiology In-Training Exam. The DXIT exam provides residents with information that is useful in evaluating their progress and provides program directors with data that is helpful in analyzing and evaluating the residency program.
Test scores are compared with all other residents nationally and internationally who took the test. As 100th percentile, Dr. Porter scored better than 100 percent of all residents taking the exam.
April 15, 2013
CEPD Uses Focus Groups to Educate, Learn
The office of Continuing Education and Professional Development (CEPD) at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine employed focus groups to learn and teach about managing diabetes. A professionally diverse group of more than 20 physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians and others took part in the first-ever focus group sessions during the Ninth Annual Diabetes Regional Conference, March 16.
Led by Patrick Barlow, Office of Medical Education, Research and Development, and Tiffany Smith, PhD Candidate, the groups discussed potential barriers to treatment for the diabetic patient in the inter-professional healthcare setting.
Evaluations from participants were overwhelmingly positive for helping them identify, articulate and learn to manage barriers to treating patients with diabetes. Many stated that they gained from "being able to talk with multiple disciplines" and "[interacting] with other providers and discussing challenges." They said that the changes they will make as a result of participating in the focus group include "refocus priorities in individualized education" and "…[be] more attuned to consulting help from other professions."
CEPD is an accredited provider of continuing medical and dental education, which earned Accreditation with Commendation from the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education in 2009 for a six-year period.
"This higher standard of professionalism and delivery of educational activities requires that our office meet additional criteria," says Laura Maples, Director, CEPD. "The focus groups help us demonstrate an effort to impact patient outcomes and physician change."
Qualitative results of the focus groups will be used in a proposal to present the activity at the January 2014 meeting of the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions.
April 9, 2013
Dentistry Receives Donation from Delta Dental to Support Specialized Dentistry
A $100,000 donation by Delta Dental of Tennessee to General Dentistry will allow for advanced dental care for children and those with special needs in the East Tennessee region. The donation, presented by Delta Dental of Tennessee President and CEO Phil Wenk, DDS, on February 1, will allow General Dentistry to create an additional operating room for cases that require treatment beyond what can be done at a typical dental practice office.
"This donation will help us expand the services we provide to those in need in our community," said O. Lee Wilson, DMD, Associate Professor, Chairman and Residency Program Director of General Dentistry. "As the need for these procedures continues to grow, it is important for us to become more efficient and have the most advanced equipment available to serve our patients."
Dr. Wilson said in the years since completing his dental residency at the UT Graduate School of Medicine, the number of cases requiring a dental operating room has risen from about 30 to more than 150 per year. An additional dental operatory, according to Dr. Wilson, will allow for more cases to be scheduled within the busy operating suites. Also, training general dentists in the residency program in the use of the operating suite will help to add additional providers to care for their population of patients.
"Delta Dental of Tennessee is proud to be able to help fund this new children's oral health operatory so that the local dental community will be able to provide much needed care to their patients in a more timely way," said Phil Wenk, DDS, President and CEO, Delta Dental of Tennessee.
Dr. Wenk and Dr. Wilson expect the cases involving those with special needs and children who require a dental operatory in East Tennessee and throughout the state of Tennessee to continue to increase in the coming years.
Delta Dental of Tennessee, with its affiliates in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio collectively are among the largest dental plan administrators in the nation. In 2011, the enterprise paid out $2.5 billion for dental treatment for nearly 10.4 million enrollees. Offices are located in Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee; Sherwood and Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Okemos and Farmington Hills, Michigan; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina; and Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio.
April 8, 2013
UTCOM Students Celebrate Match Day at Neyland Stadium
Match Day was held Friday, March 15, and Missy Maples, Student Affairs Coordinator, hosted a Match Day celebration at Neyland Stadium on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus for University of Tennessee College of Medicine students who wanted to open their Match results among friends and family in the Knoxville area.
At 1 p.m., eight students ran to the 50-yard line, found their envelopes, which were placed in the shape of a "T", and tore them open. Among the students who participated in Knoxville, four of them matched to a UT Graduate School of Medicine program. In July, UTGSM will welcome its new residents, all of whom matched through the NRMP Match. This is the first time in more than 20 years that all residency positions in Knoxville filled through the Match. Look in the next issue of The Scope to see who will begin a UTGSM residency program in July and to see more photos from Match Day.
Knoxville Match Day students matching to UT Graduate School of Medicine programs are
Jennifer Winbigler: Internal Medicine
Rupert Stanborough: Transitional Year followed by Radiology
John Prenshaw: Transitional Year
Taylor Wright: Family Medicine
Participating students who matched outside of Knoxville are
Andy Harris: Orthopedics, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University
Derrick Green: Pathology, West Virginia University School of Medicine
Scott Arendt: Family Medicine, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare SC
Sweeti Bhakta: Pediatrics, UT Health Science Center
April 4, 2013
Faculty Recognized during UT Faculty Appreciation Week
UT held Faculty Appreciation Week from February 25 through March 1, with activities to celebrate the university's faculty and their teaching, research and outreach efforts. Faculty Appreciation Week debuted in 2010 as a way to offer special recognition to faculty whose teaching, research and outreach activities have helped make UT the great university that it is today.
Follow UTGSM on Facebook throughout the month of April to read the comments submitted about the following faculty:
Daniel Bustamante, MD, Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology
Joe Rainey, DDS, Instructor, Dentistry
O. Lee Wilson, DMD, Chairman, Associate Professor, Program Director, Dentistry
Irfan Asif, MD, Assistant Professor and Sports Medicine Fellowship Director, Family Medicine
Kenneth Bielak, MD, Associate Professor, Family Medicine
Julie Jeter, MD, Assistant Professor, Family Medicine
Maricarmen Malagon-Rogers, MD, Family Medicine
William Metheny, PhD, Assistant Dean, Graduate Medical and Dental Education
Crystal Gue, MD, Associate Professor, Medicine
Daphne Norwood, MD, Assistant Professor and Associate Residency Program Director of Medicine and Transitional Year Residency Program Director
James Shamiyeh, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Medicine
Mark Rasnake, MD, Assistant Professor and Residency Program Director, Medicine
Craig Towers, MD, Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Kristopher Kimball, MD, Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Nikki Zite, MD, Associate Professor and Residency Program Director, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pleas Copas, MD, Associate Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Alan Grindstaff, MD, Assistant Professor, Pathology
Peter Petruzzi, MD, Assistant Professor, Radiology
James McLoughlin, MD, Associate Professor, Surgery
John Bell, MD, Professor, Surgery
Michael Freeman, MD, Professor and Vascular Surgery Fellowship Director, Surgery
Scott Stevens, MD, Professor, Surgery
Deidra Mountain, MD, Associate Professor, Surgery
April 3, 2013
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