Caduceus Newsletter Fall 2008.13, Week of Nov. 17

http://www.cbu.edu/

Caduceus Newsletter: Fall 2008.13, Week of November 17.

Dr. Stan Eisen, Director
Preprofessional Health Programs
Christian Brothers University
650 East Parkway South
Memphis, TN 38104

Home page:
http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/

Caduceus Newsletter Archives:
http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Caduceus.html

Table of Contents:
1. ACS/BBB/PHP (American Chemical Society, Beta Beta Beta/Preprofessional Health Programs) Activities.
2. Chess Prodigy 2008: A fund-raiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
3. Submit a 2-minute video to AspiringDocs.org telling them why you are an aspiring to win 1 of 10 $1,000 toward medical school application costs.(!)
4. The United States National Institutes of Health is sponsoring a Biomedical Scholars doctoral training program with colleagues in Oxford and Cambridge.
5. Seminar sponsored by Rhodes College Department of Biology, November 17, 2008.
6. Received this week.
7. Summer Student Fellowship offered at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT. (Thanks to Barbara Huntington, PHP Director at SDSU, for sending me this.)
8. The Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program of Weill Cornell Medical College, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Rockefeller University (New York) will be sponsoring its 10-week Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program this summer.
9. ==== AAMC STAT ====, News from the Association of American Medical Colleges,

November 10, 2008 issue.

10. Ya know, Christmas isn’t that far away. Here’s this week’s suggestion for a Christmas gift for the person who has everything. (I did get carried away with the $110,000 motorcycle last week, didn’t I?)

1. ACS/BBB/PHP (American Chemical Society, Beta Beta Beta/Preprofessional Health Programs) Activities.

· Friday, November 21 – MAA: Chess Prodigy 2008, Friday, November 21, 2 p.m., in the Cooper-Wilson Student Lounge, 2^nd Floor. Entry subject to a donation of $3 (Non-Members) or $1 (Members), with 50% of all proceeds going to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (See next article);

· December 6, all day – BBB: St. Jude Marathon (Contact Antony)

2. Chess Prodigy 2008: A fund-raiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

3. Submit a 2-minute video to AspiringDocs.org telling them why you are an aspiring to win 1 of 10 $1,000 toward medical school application costs.(!)

Getting into medical school is challenging enough without having to sweat the costs.

Submit a 2-minute video telling us why you are an aspiring doc and you could be one of 10 winners to receive $1,000 toward medical school application costs.*

Just think—your video camera could be the first tool in your doctor’s bag.

Give it a shot:

Record a video, no longer than 2 minutes, telling us why you are an aspiring doctor.
Upload your video to YouTube at www.youtube.com/aamcvideo and send us the URL, along with our required entry form by December 1, 2008.
Find out more at www.AspiringDocs.org

This contest is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges, which created AspiringDocs.org, a Web site and outreach effort to increase diversity in medicine and to encourage more African American, Native American, and Latino students to become doctors. All undergraduate students at U.S. universities, colleges, or community colleges are eligible to enter.

*Each winner will receive a $1,000 credit redeemable for AAMC products and services that may be applied toward: registration fees for the MCAT® exam (Medical College Admission Test), application fees for AMCAS® (American Medical College Application Service), or the purchase of publications such as “The Official Guide to the MCAT Exam” or the “Medical School Admissions Requirements” handbook.

4. The United States National Institutes of Health is sponsoring a Biomedical Scholars doctoral training program with colleagues in Oxford and Cambridge.

X-COS-MailScanner-From: nyung@niaid.nih.gov

Dear Faculty member/advisor:

We would like to bring to your attention to the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Biomedical Scholars Program. This is a relatively new graduate program characterized by a unique approach to doctoral training. Since 2001, NIH scientists, along with their colleagues in Oxford and Cambridge, have created a partnership PhD training program that enables students to access the phenomenal biomedical research resources of these world class institutions. Every student admitted to the program is fully funded for the length of training.

When compared with traditional U.S. PhD programs, the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge partnership is designed to significantly reduce the time it takes to earn the doctoral degree. Our partnership students generally earn their degrees in four years, and graduates are easily obtaining excellent post-doc positions, faculty appointments, and positions with biotech companies, to name a few of the opportunities awaiting these highly qualified individuals.

As we work to recruit the Class of 2009, we will be searching for highly self-directed students with significant research experience who are ready to focus on a particular dimension of biomedical research in their chosen fields of study. Each year, we receive applications from the nation’s top science students. Additionally, the NIH has cultivated agreements with the Rhodes Trust and the Marshall Commission, enabling these talented scholars to extend their master’s degree programs into a PhD with a U.S. lab component. The program also enrolls Goldwater, Churchill and Gates scholarship recipients and is compatible with the NIH MD/PhD Intramural Partnership Program. This program offers training, activities and funding for MD/PhD students who conduct their PhD research in the intramural research program of the NIH in preparation for a career as a physician-investigator in basic or translational science. Check the MD/PhD website ( http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/MD_PhD_ProgDesc.asp ) for additional details.

Students admitted to the program choose a research project from a pre-existing list of collaborations (see our web site for the list) or are free to design their own project, often bridging different disciplines. They write a detailed research proposal during their first summer in the program and begin their thesis research immediately. We require that Scholars spend two years at the NIH and two years in the UK, working in the labs of their chosen mentors. They earn the doctoral degree from whichever UK institution they select for their doctoral work.

The application deadline for 2009 is December 15th, so please forward the attached letter and enclosed flyers to interested students. We would also greatly appreciate it if you would post the flyers at appropriate locations on campus.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. More information can be found at the program website ( http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov )

All the best,

Bridget Lampert, M.S. Ed
Managing Director
NIH/Oxford/Cambridge Scholars Program
NIH MD/PhD Intramural Partnership Program
(301) 496-6083
oxcam@mail.nih.gov

Disclaimer: The information in this e-mail and any of its attachments is confidential and may contain sensitive information. It should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage devices. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shall not accept liability for any statements made that are sender's own and not expressly made on behalf of the NIAID by one of its representatives.

Here’s the letter addressed to students:

Dear Student,

I am writing to tell you about a groundbreaking biomedical research doctoral program—the National Institutes of Health-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. This innovative program grew from the realization that the next generation of research scientists will increasingly need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches as they strive to produce high impact research outcomes whether basic or clinical.

This is an accelerated program, and students typically receive a doctoral degree in approximately four years. There is no standard curriculum or required coursework. Rather, each student pursues an individualized course of study in which thesis work is initiated at the beginning of the first year. The thesis project is carried out as a collaboration between two labs, with half the research undertaken at NIH and half at one of the UK universities and each student being mentored by a senior scientist at each location. The program takes advantage of the superb resources and training environments at Oxford, Cambridge, and the NIH, the world’s largest biomedical research facility, the main campus of which is located in Bethesda, Maryland where a diverse community of scientists conduct their research in over 1000 laboratories.

NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars have achieved at the highest levels of biomedical research, publishing first-author papers in journals such as Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Graduates have gone on to do post-doctoral training in top academic institutions and industry labs, and a few have gone directly to faculty positions.

All students are fully funded by the NIH for the duration of their doctoral work at both research sites and receive a stipend, health insurance, and travel assistance. NIH also offers an MD/PhD option which can be combined with this program to allow funded MD training to be obtained from a participating American medical school. A flyer describing this program can be found at the conclusion of this message.

The application deadline of December 15, 2008 is fast approaching. The free application is available online through the program website at http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov. There you will find additional program details, FAQs (http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/faq.asp), student biographies, descriptions of some of the exciting research projects underway, and more. We would also like to invite you to participate in a teleconference call to learn more about our programs. Please email us at oxcam@mail.nih.gov or mdphd@mail.nih.gov if you would like more information or would like to participate in a conference call.

Please take a look at the following flyers, and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. We hope to hear from you soon!

http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/documents/OXCAM2008FlyerFINALwdeadline.pdf

http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/documents/MSTPflyer2008withdeadline.pdf

All the best,

Bridget Lampert, M.S. Ed
Managing Director
NIH/Oxford/Cambridge Scholars Program

NIH MD/PhD Intramural Partnership Program

(301) 496-6083

Disclaimer: The information in this e-mail and any of its attachments is confidential and may contain sensitive information. It should not be used by anyone who is not the original intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error please inform the sender and delete it from your mailbox or any other storage devices. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shall not accept liability for any statements made that are sender's own and not expressly made on behalf of the NIAID by one of its representatives.

5. Seminar sponsored by Rhodes College Department of Biology, November 17, 2008.

Rhodes College

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

SEMINAR SERIES

Monday, November 17, 2008

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY 2008

DR. SARA GREMILLION

FACULTY FELLOW

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

RHODES COLLEGE

TIME: 4:15

LOCATION: FRAZIER-JELKE B

REFRESHMENTS SERVED AT 4:00

IN THE BIOLOGY LIBRARY

CELLULAR TRAFFIC JAM:

MUTATIONS IN TWO COG HOMOLOGUES IN

POLARIZED VESICLE TRAFFICKING IN

ASPERGILLUS NIDULANS

HOST: DR. TERRY HILL

6. Received this week.

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (Bethesda, MD)

· 2008 Report. (On shelf in PHP room, AH 114)

7. Summer Student Fellowship offered at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT. (Thanks to Barbara Huntington, PHP Director at SDSU, for sending me this.)

Sponsor: Hartford Hospital
Program Number: 73728
Title: Summer Student Fellowship Program
E-mail: Rportal@harthosp.org

Program URL: http://www.harthosp.org/research/studentfellowship.htm
SYNOPSIS:
The program is designed exclusively for premedical students
completing either their junior or senior year in college. It offers
the student an introduction to research methodology, patient
treatment, and ethical issues in medicine as well as exposure to a
broad spectrum of health care providers within a large community
teaching hospital.
Deadline(s): 02/13/2009

Link to full program description: http://www.infoed.org/new_spin/spin_prog.asp?73728

8. The Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program of Weill Cornell Medical College, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Rockefeller University (New York) will be sponsoring its 10-week Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program this summer.

Dear Pre-Health Advisors,
I am pleased to once again bring to your attention an excellent summer program for students who wish to pursue the combined MD-PhD degree.

Gateways to the Laboratory Summer Program in New York City

Ideal for students who wish to pursue the combined MD-PhD degree (this program is run by the Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program).
10 weeks of independent research at either Weill Cornell Medical College, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center or The Rockefeller University (all in NYC).
Present & participate in weekly journal clubs
Scrub into surgeries at New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Give an oral, written and poster presentation of your research in front of your family (who are flown in for the event), friends and colleagues.
Receive on going mentorship by your "Big Sib" (a current MD-PhD student), as well as weekly meetings with the Program's leadership.
Receive a stipend of $4,300 (minus the cost of housing).

For further information (including eligibility) and an on-line application, please visit our website:
http://www.med.cornell.edu/mdphd/summerprogram/

Please note, our application deadline is February 2, 2009.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Ruth Gotian, M.S.
Administrative Director

Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering
Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program
1300 York Avenue, Suite C-103
New York, NY 10065-4805

phone: 212-746-6023 or toll free: 1-888-U2-MD-PHD
fax: 212-746-8678
www.med.cornell.edu/mdphd

9. ==== AAMC STAT ====, News from the Association of American Medical Colleges, November 10, 2008 issue.

== AAMC launches AspiringDocs.org video contest

== "Joining Forces" prepares doctors for returning military veterans

== Federal patent court issues decision in Bilski case

== CMS releases 2009 Medicare physician fee schedule

== Former AAMC president receives leadership award

== In memoriam: AMA's Dr. Ronald M. Davis

== Applicants sought for NIH Pioneer and New Innovator awards

== On the move

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AAMC launches AspiringDocs.org video contest

The AAMC has launched an online video contest to give college students a

chance to turn their dreams of a career in medicine into assistance with the

costs of preparing for and applying to medical school. The AspiringDocs.org

Video Contest asks college students to submit a short video explaining why

they want to become a doctor--an "Aspiring Doc." Ten winners will each

receive $1,000 toward their MCAT and medical school application fees. The

video contest is a new feature of the AAMC's AspiringDocs.org campaign, a Web

site and outreach effort to increase diversity in medicine. Entries are due

Dec. 1.

Information: Go to http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2008/081110.htm

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"Joining Forces" prepares doctors for returning military veterans

The AAMC has joined with the HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education,

the American Hospital Association, and more than a dozen other organizations

to launch an initiative to generate awareness among medical professionals

about the challenges--medical, social, and emotional--that veterans and their

families face as they return home from military service. The "Joining Forces"

program, a four-part series of online educational resources, gives

non-military clinicians the tools they need to provide proper care and

treatment to returning troops.

Information: Go to http://www.joiningforcesonline.org

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Federal patent court issues decision in Bilski case

On Oct. 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office's rejection of a patent on a "business method"

that claimed nothing more than a series of defined mental or cognitive acts.

The Court supported the rejection on grounds that the subject matter of the

claimed "invention" was not eligible for patenting (Section 101 of the patent

code states, "Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process,

machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful

improvement thereof, may obtain a patent..."). In its ruling on the appeal

brought by plaintiffs Bilski and Warsaw, the Court emphasized the role of

"physical transformation"--that a process must result in the physical

transformation of an article to be eligible to patent. In March, the AAMC

joined with Eli Lilly in an amicus brief to the Court citing the implications

of this case for medicine and research. Consistent with the AAMC's argument,

the Court's ruling would continue to permit patents on medical diagnostic

test kits, for example, but would not permit patents that claim methods for

interpreting or correlating (by cognitive acts) the measurements determined

by a diagnostic test.

Notably, in 2006 the U.S. Supreme Court in Labcorp v. Metabolite declined on

technical grounds to review a diagnostic test patent that effectively claimed

such a correlation, but a minority on the high Court sharply criticized that

decision and argued the necessity of clarifying the criteria for eligible

subject matter in assessing the patentability of diagnostic tests. The AAMC

hopes that the Appeals Court decision in the Bilski case will provide this

clarification.

Information: Stephen Heinig, AAMC Biomedical and Health Sciences Research,

202.828.0488 or sheinig@aamc.org

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

CMS releases 2009 Medicare physician fee schedule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted online the

final rule for the 2009 physician fee schedule. As required by law, the final

rule increases the Medicare reimbursement to physicians by 1.1 percent for

2009; however, due to a change in the methodology used to compute this

increase, physicians may receive less than the 1.1 percent update. The rule

also extends the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, as required by the

recently enacted "Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of

2008," which increased the incentive that eligible professionals can receive

for satisfactorily reporting data from 1.5 to 2.0 percent of their covered

professional charges in 2009 and 2010. Finally, the rule provides for a

90-day additional comment period to seek input on a proposed targeted

exception to the physician self-referral law that would permit certain types

of incentive payments or shared savings programs. CMS concluded that

additional information is needed in order to finalize an exception that will

allow the full array of beneficial, non-abusive incentive payment and shared

savings programs, such as pay-for-performance and other quality-focused

programs.

Information: Go to

http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/washhigh/2008/110708/start.htm#2

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Former AAMC president receives leadership award

AAMC President Emeritus Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., has been awarded the

University of Iowa College of Public Health's 2008 Richard and Barbara Hansen

Leadership Award and Distinguished Lectureship. The award honors individuals

who have made contributions to the health field and have demonstrated

leadership, integrity, ethical standards, and a commitment to improving

healthcare on a national and international level. Dr. Cohen is recognized,

too, for his work to promote greater racial and ethnic diversity in medicine,

uphold professional and scientific values, and transform the nation's health

care system.

Information: Go to

http://www.public-health.uiowa.edu/media/releases/rd.asp?rlsId=552

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In memoriam: AMA's Dr. Ronald M. Davis

Ronald M. Davis, M.D., immediate past president of the American Medical

Association (AMA), died last week of pancreatic cancer. He was 52. Dr. Davis,

a preventive medicine physician, served as president of the AMA from June

2007 to June 2008. He led the AMA's focus on preventive medicine and had been

a longtime public health and anti-tobacco advocate. He also led the

association this year in its apology to African-American physicians.

Information: Go to http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/20255.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Applicants sought for NIH Pioneer and New Innovator awards

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are seeking applicants for the 2009

NIH Director's Pioneer Awards and New Innovator Awards. Both programs support

exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative, potentially

high-impact approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral

research. Pioneer Awards provide up to $2.5 million in direct costs over five

years and are open to scientists at any career stage. New Innovator Awards

provide up to $1.5 million in direct costs over five years and are for early

career investigators who have not received an NIH regular research (R01) or

similar NIH grant. The agency expects to fund up to ten Pioneer Awards and up

to 24 New Innovator Awards in Sept. 2009. The Pioneer Award competition

begins with a proposal submission period from Nov. 17 to Dec. 17, 2008. The

New Innovator Award competition begins with a proposal submission period from

Dec. 15, 2008 to Jan. 15, 2009.

Information: Go to http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer and

http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/newinnovator

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On the move

Mark L. Tykocinski, M.D., has been appointed dean of Jefferson Medical

College and senior vice president of Thomas Jefferson University, effective

Dec. 1. He will also serve as president of Jefferson University Physicians.

Dr. Tykocinski is currently a professor and chair of the department of

pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a

represents the Association of Pathology Chairs to the AAMC Council of

Academic Societies.

Barbara S. Schneidman, M.D., M.P.H., has been named interim president and

chief executive officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB),

effective Jan. 1, 2009. She is currently vice president of medical education

at the American Medical Association. Dr. Schneidman served as president of

the FSMB from 1991-1992.

Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., will step down as president of the University of

Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in September 2009, following the

appointment of a successor. He has served as the university's president for

eight years.

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Academic Medicine Online

Since 1963, funding appropriated by Congress under Title VII has financed the

expansion and improvement of primary care and dentistry training across the

United States, but many lament that its true impact is difficult to measure.

The November issue of Academic Medicine highlights programs and innovations

funded by Title VII Section 747, illustrating first-hand the deep impact this

funding has had on primary care and dentistry training. Commentators weigh in

about measuring the outcomes of Title VII funding and a new feature, "AM Last

Page," summarizes Title VII. The November issue also marks the return of

"Letters to the Editor," available in print and online.

www.academicmedicine.org

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From The DNA Store:
http://www.thednastore.com/?OVRAW=DNA%20earrings&OVKEY=dna%20earring&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=39720219511&OVKWID=299109058011

*New* DNA Earrings

We now offer some of the sharpest DNA earrings at the best price you could ever find!

These are built for every day use. They can serve as formal earrings or just casual use.

Trust us, when you purchase one set, you will order another. Keep an extra set as a gift for someone special. These are really special.

Buy 1 for $12.75, and 2 for a mere $21.65!!

50th Anniversary Poster -- $29.95

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix, The DNA Store has acquired superb limited edition prints of the classic portrait of James Watson and Francis Crick with their DNA model. The picture was taken in their room at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, on 21st May 1953, soon after the discovery. These exclusive art-quality posters are ideal for display in the office, boardroom, or corporate or institutional foyer. The posters have supporting information about DNA and the double helix discovery.

Fifty years of the DNA Double Helix - an historical account of how the structure of DNA was deduced by Watson and Crick

How I came to take their photograph - the story as told by the photographer Antony Barrington Brown

These are high quality posters, not the normal thin paper so often seen! This is a 19 x 28 inch piece of art. Here is a picture of the actual poster, but please ignore the glare and poor color quality!

If you are interested in a signed original picture by the artist.

Dr. Stan Eisen, Director
Preprofessional Health Programs
Biology Department
Christian Brothers University
650 East Parkway South
Memphis, TN 38104
E-mail: seisen@cbu.edu
http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/
Caduceus Newsletter Archives: http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Caduceus.html