State of the Institution:  A Year of New Beginnings, Challenges

In my first 12 months as dean of the Graduate School of Medicine, I have witnessed a year of new beginnings and encountered several challenges.  Over this year, we re-emphasized education as the foundation of all we do.  It is built upon our excellence in patient care. It is the medium through which we express our dedication for passing along our skills as physicians, and it is the catalyst for resources, such as time and money.

The year of new beginnings yielded successes:

• We started streamlining Graduate School processes and raising the quality of our educational programs like never before in our history.  Leading that charge are our chairs, program directors and our new Dean’s Council, a group of people, including our two new assistant deans, who are dedicated to making the Graduate School of Medicine succeed.
• New initiatives were given to a re-organized Graduate Medical/Dental Education Committee to advance the educational cause, and we established a committee to create an Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars, now in its preliminary stage.
• We opened communication and a forward-thinking relationship with University Health System to improve recruiting, strengthen the contribution of education to the overall healthcare effort and better what we do very well: clinical care. 
• Several departments have made excellent strides in improving their research capacity at both the resident and faculty levels.
• In working with UT Health Science Center in Memphis, we will have housing available to students rotating here for their clerkships beginning in August.
• We have two new fellowships with Cardiology beginning last June and Pulmonology approved for this July and should soon have approval for Geriatrics.
• Philanthropy has been quite successful in allowing us to grow our enterprise.

The year also unearthed challenges that provide opportunities to further help us meet our mission to provide state-of-the-art education for students, residents, fellows and regional healthcare professionals.  Some of our challenges include these:

• Our student and residency programs, though good, have room for improvements.  New committees concentrating on Resident Recruitment, Curriculum Design, Innovative Programs and Philanthropy are designing and implementing their unique strategies.
• Our dependence on federal and state revenue sources limits our ability to implement new initiatives; academic space for faculty offices, teaching and conferences is in the same quandary as clinical space—wanting.  Fundraising activities are continuing to grow, and new strategies to improve philanthropic efforts are well under way.
• There are funding gaps in research.  New collaborations with industry and our involvement with Cherokee Farm can result in new research funding in the future.

Thank you for your continuing efforts to improve the Graduate School of Medicine.  You are appreciated for the many things you have accomplished over the last year. 

In the next issues of Scope, you can read more about the successes and challenges of our institution. And, you will learn how you can continue to help move the Graduate School of Medicine from good to great. 

IRB Earns High Marks in Audit
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) received a positive report from its routine FDA audit in March 2008.  During the audit, IRB activities for the past two years as well as two device protocols and one drug protocol were reviewed for compliance with federal regulations. 

The FDA inspector found the activities and protocols to have no deficiencies.  The IRB ensures the Graduate School of Medicine’s research studies comply with federal regulations in the ethical and safe treatment of human subjects.  It assists investigators in the protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects and helps them plan and conduct their studies in a manner that is consistent with standards established by the federal regulations.

Need Recruiting Fair Supplies?

The Office of Communications and Outreach has imprinted table covers for your use at recruiting fairs and other exhibits.  We also can provide brochures and other materials.  To check out any of the exhibit supplies, please contact GSMNews@utmck.edu.

Radiology Residents Among Best on Exam

Residents in the Dept. of Radiology received high scores on the annual In-Training Exam administered by the American College of Radiology in February and March 2008, placing them among the best in the nation. The exam allows for a comparison of progress with other residents nationwide.

Each post-graduate year class received the following composite percentile ratings: PGY-2 residents ranked in the 91st percentile; PGY-3 residents ranked in the 78th percentile; PGY-4 residents ranked in the 89th percentile; and PGY-5 residents ranked in the 95th percentile.

The exceptional scores are a result of the radiology residents’ and faculty members’ commitment to education.

A total of 20 Graduate School of Medicine residents participated, five in each post-graduate year, with 3,646 residents participating nationwide.

Eulitz Returns as International Visiting Scientist

Manfred Eulitz, MD, has returned for a three-month stay as an International Visiting Scientist in the Human Immunology and Cancer Program’s Protein Chemistry Laboratory, led by Alan Solomon, MD, Professor, Dept. of Medicine and Director of Human Immunology and Cancer.  Dr. Eulitz has visited the lab at least every other year since 1989 and is currently involved in research on the primary structural features of amyloid-associated proteins.  Dr. Eulitz was instrumental in establishing the Protein Chemistry Laboratory during his one-year stay in 1989.

The International Visiting Scientist program brings scientists from all over the world including Russia, Germany, France, Israel, Canada, Romania, England, Norway, Sweden, China and Japan to collaborate on research in his laboratory.  The scientists work on different projects while here, and their length of stay varies from three months to one year. 

Research is Cover Story

The Graduate School of Medicine is making headlines again, and this time, it’s the cover story.  The cover story of the May/June issue of Molecular Medicine magazine describes research findings identified by Daniel Kestler, PhD, Assistant Professor, here in the Human Immunology and Cancer Program’s Molecular Laboratory, led by Alan Solomon, MD.  The scientists identified a structurally unique protein in dental and other epithelial cancers, termed ODAM (odontogentic ameloblast associated protein), a finding of potential diagnostic and therapeutic impact.

 
The findings suggest some type of immune reaction against the tumor and that ODAM may be an important target for cancer therapy.  Dr. Kestler and fellow scientists contend that ODAM will prove important in the initiation and growth of epithelial cancers and the anti-ODAM immune response may have prognostic significance.

Molecular Medicine is published by The Feinstein Institute for Molecular Medicine. For the complete article and for more information on the study, visit www.molmed.org.

Frontiers Magazine Shows Benefits of Academic Medical Center

What is an academic medical center, and what benefits does it bring to its community? The Spring 2008 issue of Frontiersmagazine will provide readers with a closer look into the infrastructure and benefits of the academic medical center where patients, physicians, faculty, resident physicians, students and researchers create a team that improves lives through

• clinical innovation
• early application of new treatments
• new discoveries
• dynamic faculty leadership 

Each of the four Frontiers in 2008 will focus on an aspect of our mission of education, patient care, research and public service and how these objectives are accomplished through our academic medical center environment.   Look for the Spring 2008 issue on newsstands now and online at http://gsm.utmck.edu/about/frontiers.cfm. 

Frontiers is a quarterly publication for alumni and friends, produced by UT Medical Center and UT Graduate School of Medicine. 

Want to Receive Frontiers in the Mail?

To join the Frontiers magazine mail list, visit http://gsm.utmck.edu/about/frontiers.cfm to complete the online form.

Coming Soon to Frontiers…

The UT Graduate School of Medicine Research endeavors will be featured in the next Frontiers.  We have great stories to tell!  Look for the Research edition in early summer.

Nomination Period Extended to Recognize our Outstanding Faculty

Recognize outstanding faculty who exemplify the Graduate School of Medicine spirit and excellence in research and teaching with nominations for the Dean’s Faculty Awards. Faculty may submit nominations in writing to the Dean’s Office, Attention: Alison Lockett, Box 94.  Please submit your nomination as soon as possible.  For more information, visit http://gsm.utmck.edu/about/awards.htm.

Graduate School Co-Sponsors CEM Research Symposium

The second annual Comparative and Experimental Medicine Research Day Symposium will be June 17 in the Plant Biotechnology Building on UT campus.  The all-day event will include presentations by several Graduate School residents and keynote speaker Robert G. Webster, PhD, Dept. of Infectious Diseases, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with a presentation on “H5N1 Influenza: Has the risk been overblown?”

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Graduate School of Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station and UTK Office of Research.  For more information, go to http://www.vet.utk.edu/research/symposium/.

Patterson Lecture to Focus on Relationship of Chronic Pain and Victimization

Physicians often are faced with patients who complain of chronic pain but cannot pinpoint the source.  Sometimes, the source is past violence.  The 2008 Patterson Endowed Lecture, June 13, Wood Auditorium, will present information to help physicians determine the relationship between victimization and chronic illnesses and high healthcare utilization.  F. David Schneider, MD, Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Family and Community Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, will present this topical lecture, presented by the UT Graduate School of Medicine and Dept. of Family Medicine and directed by Edwin Rogers, PhD, Dept. of Family Medicine.  Physicians in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine, as well as mental health professionals, physician assistants and others will benefit from this CME event, which offers AMA PRA Category 1 credits, AAPA credits and CEUs.  Register today at www.tennessee.edu/cme/Patterson2008.

March Diabetes Conference Examined Type 2 Diabetes

The March 8 annual Diabetes Regional Conference focused on a topic changing the face of childhood:  Type 2 diabetes.  Physicians in Endocrinology, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and other healthcare professionals attended this CME event to learn more about the disease that will affect as many as 200-300 million people worldwide by 2025, including an alarming number of children, according to the World Health Organization.  Guest presenter, Philip Zeitler, MD, University of Colorado, and regional experts led the study of Type 2 diabetes in youth and adults and examined the challenges in diagnosis and management of the disease.

Continuing Education Records Audit Successful

The Graduate School of Medicine recently impressed UT’s new statewide continuing medical education (CME) director with its compliance of revised national CME mandates.

Robert C. Fore, EdD, FACME, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Designated Institutional Official for UT, Chattanooga, and volunteer national surveyor for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), audited the UT Graduate School of Medicine’s compliance with revised continuing education standards. Through a random sampling of 2004-2008 continuing education course files, Dr. Fore assessed faculty disclosure, treatment of commercial support, conference needs assessment and appropriateness of learning objectives.

UT Health Science Center College of Medicine and its satellite campuses in Knoxville and Chattanooga provide American Medical Association credit for physician learning.  The institution’s re-accreditation survey process will begin in June 2008 and will take nearly a year to complete.

CME Calendar

Mark your calendars for these upcoming CME events, sponsored by the UT Graduate School of Medicine:

May 29-31, 2008: Emerging Issues in Embryo Donation and Adoption, Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington, Va.:  Conference jointly-sponsored with the American Society of Reproductive Medicine

June 13, 2008: The 2008 Patterson Lecture: Victimization and Your Patient's Health, UT Conference Center

September (Date TBD):  11th Annual Fall Psychiatric Symposium

October 3-4, 2008:  Heart, Lung, Vascular Conference, UT Conference Center

November 8, 2008:  Dr. R. Ben Alley Endowed Lecture, Morrison’s Conference Center

Faculty Appointments:

• James Boyd, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology
• Paul Crawford, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Daniel Drinnen, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Donald Lakatosh, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Jeffrey A Nix, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Peter Petruzzi, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology
• David J. Riden, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Tom C. Thompson, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery
• Amit C. Vora, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

• Pennie Cable, Department of Oral Surgery
• Kandi Hodges, Office of Communications and Outreach
• Penny Rickett, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Angela Whisnant, Human Immunology and Cancer Program
• Subhash Yadav, PhD, Department of Medicine
  

Do you or your department have news to share locally, nationally or internationally? Contact the Office of Communications and Outreach, 305-9190 or GSMNews@utmck.edu.

Scope is produced by
the Office of Communications and Outreach

Editorial Staff
Kandi Hodges, Connie Littleton,
Alison Lockett, Amanda F. Johnson,
and James J. Neutens, PhD, Dean
©2008 The University of Tennessee
Graduate School of Medicine
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