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Caduceus
Newsletter: Fall 2009.07, Week of
October 5 Dr.
Stan Eisen, Director Home
page: Caduceus Newsletter Archives: |
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Table of Contents: 1. Events this
week. |
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1. Events this
week. |
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Tuesday,
October 6, 2009:
Neuroscience Seminar Series at UTHSC, starting at 12 noon -- Andres Barria,
Ph.D., Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Trafficking and Regulation of
NMDA-Receptors, Host - Dr.
Steven Tavalin ·
Thursday,
October 8, 2009 – University of Memphis Department of Biology, 4:00 p.m. Ellington Hall
Auditorium,Dr. Maria Davis (host, Dr. Goodwin), University of Alabama,
Huntsville, “Plant Defense Mechanisms Against
Fungal Pathogens: Polygalacturonase Inhibitor Proteins (PGIPs)”. |
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2. AAMC
STAT, News from the Association of American Medical Colleges, September
21, 2009 edition. |
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News from the Association of American Medical Colleges
September 21, 2009
AAMC
lauds Schwartz as a “champion” of academic medicine On Sept. 16, AAMC
Chair Elliot Sussman, M.D., and the AAMC Board of Directors presented Rep.
Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pa.) with a special award in recognition of her
advocacy on behalf of medical schools, teaching hospitals, and their
missions. Schwartz introduced the Healthcare Innovation Zones Program Act,
which if passed into law would allow academic medical centers to test and
implement new models of clinical care delivery. She has also advocated for provisions
in health reform legislation that support physician training. Information:
Go to www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2009/090710.htm
Baucus
releases detailed reform proposal On Sept. 16, Senate
Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) released the details of a draft
health care reform proposal. The legislative plan includes several provisions
related to graduate medical education (GME), including addressing regulatory
barriers to placing residents in non-hospital settings for a portion of their
training, and preserving and distributing GME training slots when teaching
hospitals close. All the GME provisions are estimated to cost $1 billion over
10 years. Baucus’s proposal would avert (for one year) a 21 percent reduction
in physician payments. It would also establish a five-year, 10 percent
bonus payment for certain evaluation and management services provided by
primary care practitioners. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to take
up the $856 billion proposal on Sept. 22. Information:
Go to http://baucus.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=317894&&
(news release and full text of proposal) Report:
academic medical centers reach “tipping point” Academic medical
centers are susceptible to myriad pressures that endanger their long-term
viability, according to a new report released by the Deloitte Center for
Health Solutions. “Academic Medical Centers: The Tipping Point” posits that
pressures facing academic medicine’s mission areas are being compounded by
cost containment efforts, health care reform, and the recession. The report
also discusses the opportunities, strategies, and innovations that some
academic medical centers have pursued. Information:
Go to www.deloitte.com/us/AMCtippingpoint
(full report) Medicare
new partner in medical home demonstrations U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last week
that, for the first time, Medicare will join Medicaid and private insurers in
a medical home demonstration project. The project is based on a model in
which physicians coordinate care with other medical professionals and receive
financial incentives for achieving quality standards. The projects will
also test a system that would align payment and performance standards for
primary care physicians. States will be able to apply through the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services later this fall. The project
is expected to begin next year. Information: Go to www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/09/20090916a.html RWJF:
majority of physicians support public option A majority of U.S.
physicians support having a public option in health care reform proposals,
according to a report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A
recent survey indicated that 62.9 percent of physicians nationwide supported
having both a public and private option for people under age 65. Of the 2,130
physicians surveyed, only 27.3 percent supported subsidies for low-income
individuals for private insurance in lieu of a public option. Even
fewer, 9.6 percent, supported a single-payer coverage program. Information: Go to www.rwjf.org/healthreform/quality/product.jsp?id=48408 AAHRRP
accredits six new organizations The Association for
the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) announced
last week the full accreditation of six additional organizations, including
three children’s hospitals. Four are AAMC-member medical schools and
teaching hospitals, including the University at Buffalo State University of
New York School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta; Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine; and the
Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The AAMC is a
founding member of AAHRPP. Information: Go to www.aahrpp.org/www.aspx?PageID=315 Obama
names medal of science recipients On Sept. 17,
President Obama named nine researchers as recipients of the National Medal of
Science, the highest federal honor bestowed on scientists. National
Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and Michael
Posner, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Oregon and adjunct
professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, were among this year’s
recipients. Information:
Go to www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Honors-Nations-Top-Scientists-and-Innovators/
On
the Move Duane Alexander,
M.D., will step down as director of the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development (NICHD) on Sept. 30. Susan Shurin, M.D.,
currently the deputy director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, will serve as NICHD acting director beginning Oct. 1. Academic
Medicine
online Empathy declines during medical training. Previous articles in Academic Medicine have called attention to this phenomenon. In this month’s issue, one study pinpoints that decline in the third year of medical school, a time when many students are first exposed to prolonged experiences in the clinical setting. Several articles and two commentaries examine the vital issues of measuring and teaching empathy. This and other important topics are covered in the September issue of the journal. www.academicmedicine.org |
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3.
The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic
Medicine offers a student advising resource: Osteopathic
Medical Student Profiles – In their Own Words: A Snapshot of the Osteopathic Medical
Student. |
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Please
click on this link to view this wonderful resource: http://www.aacom.org/InfoFor/applicants/profiles/Pages/default.aspx We hope these profiles will encourage and inspire students from all walks of life to pursue their career goals of joining our community of physicians! Best wishes, Gina M. Moses, M.Ed., Associate Director of
Application Services |
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The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry
and CE Webinar are offering a synchronous (live) online DAT / MCAT
Preparatory Course. This course is unique in that it is faculty
developed and faculty taught specifically to sharpen test-taking skills
and review the subject areas tested on the MCAT and DAT. The
4-Saturday, live online courses begin in mid-October. Learn more
at www.cewebinar.com . |
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5. The Pasteur Institute in Paris, France is
sponsoring a summer research
experience for Undergraduate Students. |
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The Pasteur Institute in
Paris, France is sponsoring a summer research experience for Undergraduate
Students. The applicant must be a matriculated (not yet graduated)
undergraduate student with a strong academic record. Prior research
experience and some knowledge of French is a plus. Applications are due this
fall for Summer 2010. Here is the link to the program (in English): |
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6. AAMC
STAT: News from the Association of
American Medical Colleges – September 28, 2009 edition. |
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7.
Excreted Tamiflu Found in Rivers: From the October 1, 2009 edition of
Science in the News, a daily science digest from Sigma Xi. |
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Excreted
Tamiflu Found in Rivers
from Science News The premier flu-fighting drug is contaminating rivers downstream of sewage-treatment facilities, researchers in Japan confirm. The source: urinary excretion by people taking oseltamivir phosphate, best known as Tamiflu. Concerns are now building that birds, which are natural influenza carriers, are being exposed to waterborne residues of Tamiflu's active form and might develop and spread drug-resistant strains of seasonal and avian flu. For their new study, Gopal Ghosh and his colleagues at Kyoto University sampled water discharged from three local sewage treatment plants and water at several points along two rivers into which the treated waterm flowed. Sampling started early in December 2008, as flu season got underway. The researchers sampled again at the height of the seasonal flu's onslaught in early February and again as infection rates waned. |
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8.
National Physician Assistant (PA) Week will
be celebrated during the week of October 6-12, 2009. |
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PA
Week 2009
Celebrated every year October
6-12, National PA Week is intended to support, celebrate, highlight, and
recognize the significant impact PAs have made and continue to make in health
care. It is an opportunity to promote public awareness of the physician
assistant profession and to salute the outstanding growth of the PA workforce. As health care reform takes shape
in the coming months, it’s only natural that PA Week 2009 has an advocacy
focus. PAs stand ready to deliver care as part of a medical team.
Increased awareness about the profession will allow policymakers to cultivate
legislation that is inclusive of PAs and recognizes their vital role in
effective health care delivery. For more information, go to http://www.aapa.org/upcoming-events/pa-week . |
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9. Halloween
Benefit Concert and Faculty/Staff Costume Contest, Friday, October 30,
starting at 12:00 p.m. in the Alfonso Dining Hall. |
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HALLOWEEN BENEFIT CONCERT: After a six-year hiatus, Death Warmed Over will return to campus for a concert benefiting LeBonheur Children's Medical Center on Friday, October 30, starting 12:00 p.m. in Alfonso Dining Hall (See article #6 in the November 12, 2003 edition of the Caduceus newsletter). As part of that concert, there will also be a Faculty/Staff Costume Contest, judged by the attending students. (We have a decibel meter to determine enthusiasm level.) Winner will receive a $10 gift certificate from Dinstuhl's Chocolates at Laurelwood. |
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10. Marginalia: MedEvac…IN ANTARCTICA!!! |
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From Dr. Kenneth Iserson, a physician who is on the Caduceus Newsletter listserv: Stan
I thought I should let you know that I'm receiving your messages "loud and clear" here in Antarctica, where I'm working until February 2010. I've enclosed some photos from our recent emergency MedEvac for your interest. You are free to distribute them, if you want.
Best wishes and keep up the good work! Ken
Kenneth V. Iserson, M.D., MBA Lead Physician, McMurdo Station Antarctica
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Dr. Stan Eisen,
650
E-mail: seisen@cbu.edu
http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/
Caduceus Newsletter Archives: http://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Caduceus.html