News Briefs

Sheffield renewed as Howard Hughes investigator | Joel Gordon earns award for Teaching Exellence | Fajardo honored by Association of University Radiologists | Helms wins Fulbright to study vaccine policy in Australia | Medicine, pharmacy team shares grant for prostate cancer vaccine | $1 million grant helps fund high-resolution microscope | Cancer estimated to claim 6,300 Iowans in 2008 | Cancer focus of 'Grand Rounds' staged at Shambaugh | Chapleau elected president of American Autonomic Society | Dickson named interim COO of UI Hospitals and Clinics | Hunninghake named lecturer, appointed to CTSA group | Pediatrics professor helps UI lead dental research funding | Regents approve renovations additions to UI Hospitals and Clinics | Pain, fatigue linked and influenced by gender | Obesity conference encourages research collaborations | $2.1 million grant continues child health research program | Distinguished Achievement Award to Scott-Conner | Emereitus pharmacy dean Cohen named interim VP for research | Knosp nbamed associate dean for information thechnology | Hardin Library unveils new Simulation Center | PA program rated best in country again | Link between diabetes drugs, low blood pressure | Seattle Univeersity dean named UI executive VP, provost

Sheffield renewed as Howard Hughes investigator

Val Sheffield, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and Martin and Ruth Carver Chair in Genetics, has been renewed through August 2013 as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was first appointed as an associate investigator in 1997, and then promoted to full investigator in 2003.

Sheffield, who also holds an appointment in ophthalmology and visual sciences, recently has contributed to genetic findings on scoliosis, autism and glaucoma. His research also involves congenital heart defects and hereditary eye diseases, including macular dystrophies and retinitis pigmentosa. He has advanced understanding of the rare genetic disorder Bardet-Biedl syndrome, which can cause obesity, diabetes and hypertension. In addition, Sheffield has been involved in the Human Genome Project and the Rat Genome Project.

Joel Gordon earns award for Teaching Excellence

Joel Gordon, MD, Sahai Family Professor of Medical Education and professor of internal medicine, is one of four UI faculty members awarded the 2008 President and Provost Award For Teaching Excellence, a University-wide recognition for faculty who have demonstrated a sustained, high level of teaching excellence.

Gordon has taught in the UI Carver College of Medicine since 1985. He received the Collegiate Teaching Award in 1993 and 1996. He directs the College’s Lois Boulware learning community and chairs the College’s Continuing Education Committee. He also leads the College’s Clinical Experiences Committee, which oversees third– and fourth–year curricula, and has been instrumental in developing a computer-based tool to assess clinical reasoning, as well as other assessment techniques designed to measure students’ understanding of key concepts and skills.

Fajardo honored by Association of University Radiologists

Laurie Fajardo, MD, professor and head of radiology, received the Gold Medal Award from the Association of University Radiologists (AUR).

The award is presented in recognition of unusually distinguished service or contributions to AUR, academic radiology or the field of radiology in general. About 60 individuals have received the award since its establishment in 1978; Fajardo is only the fifth female recipient. The only other UI recipient was Edmund A. Franken Jr., MD, professor emeritus of radiology, who was honored in 2001.

Helms wins Fulbright to study vaccine policy in Australia

Charles Helms, MD, PhD, professor of internal medicine, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct vaccine policy research in Australia.

Helms, an infectious diseases specialist and medical director of the Office of Clinical Quality, Safety and Performance Improvement at UI Hospitals and Clinics, will travel to New South Wales in 2009 to study a plan, implemented in 2006, to screen and vaccinate all health care workers for preventable diseases. The goal is to radically reduce the transmission of such diseases among health care workers and to patients.

In the United States, Iowa and most other states do not require mandatory programs of health care worker vaccinations.

"Vaccination rates among health care workers in the U.S. have traditionally been lower than those of the general public. One of my goals is to learn from the Australian initiative to determine if similar efforts might be useful in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world," Helms said.

The University of Sydney is hosting Helms on his Fulbright-supported venture.

Medicine, pharmacy team shares grant for prostate cancer vaccine

David Lubaroff, PhD, professor of urology/microbiology in the UI Carver College of Medicine, and Aliasger Salem, PhD, an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmaceutics, have received a two-year, $337,500 exploratory grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop an enhanced vaccine to treat and prevent prostate cancer.

Until now, studies have either focused on nonviral delivery systems such as plasmid DNA-polycation nanoparticles or viral approaches such as the use of adenoviruses encoding prostate specific antigen (PSA). The UI researchers will test the idea that combining viral and nonviral delivery of prostate cancer-specific antigens will generate the strongest anti-tumor immune responses to date.

Lubaroff and Salem are members of Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UI.

$1 million grant helps fund high-resolution microscope

A $1 million grant from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine will help secure a high-resolution microscope that will advance scientific and biomedical research at the UI.

The field emission transmission electron microscope, costing $1.4 million, can magnify 6 million times, making it particularly useful in nanoscience, nanomedicine and structural biology research. The high-resolution microscope can help researchers characterize the structure of disease-related proteins, examine viruses as potential gene vectors and study the relationship of cell organelles in normal and diseased tissues.

The new microscope will become operational in 2009 and joins two lower-resolution transmission electron microscopes housed in the UI Central Microscopy Research Facility.

"The Carver Trust’s investment ensures that an interdisciplinary group of UI faculty, staff and students will have access to state-of-the-art instrumentation that will position them at the forefront of scientific discovery and ultimately lead to new innovations for the public good," said Vicki Grassian, PhD, director of the UI’s Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute, professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, professor of chemical and biochemical engineering in the College of Engineering and associate director of clinical and translational science at the UI.

The Carver Trust is the largest private philanthropic foundation in Iowa, with a tradition of assisting innovative areas of investigation that hold promise for enhancing scientific knowledge and improving human health.

Cancer estimated to claim 6,300 Iowans in 2008

An estimated 6,300 Iowans will die from cancer this year and 16,000 new cancers will be diagnosed, according to the "Cancer in Iowa: 2008" report from the State Health Registry of Iowa, based in the UI College of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is the focus of the report, is expected to rank sixth among the most-common cancers in Iowa. Researchers with Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UI are studying ways to improve lymphoma treatments through funding from the National Cancer Institute’s Specialized Program for Research Excellence, one of only three lymphoma SPORE grant programs in the country. Experts at Mayo Clinic are collaborating.

"The SPORE research is leading to new approaches to using current antibodies and to the design of stronger antibodies that we hope will be better than those currently available," said George Weiner, MD, director of the UI SPORE and head of the Cancer Center.

The three most common types of estimated cancer deaths for Iowa women will be lung (24 percent), breast (14 percent) and colorectum (11 percent). For men, leading cancer deaths will be lung (30 percent), prostate (11 percent) and colorectum (9 percent).

In 2008, the most common cases of newly diagnosed cancer in women will be breast (28 percent), lung (13 percent) and colorectum (12 percent). The most common types of new cancer cases in men will be prostate (25 percent), lung (14 percent) and colorectum (11 percent).

The complete report can be found in the publications section of the State Health Registry of Iowa Web site.

Cancer focus of ‘Grand Rounds’ staged at Shambaugh

Two UI Carver College of Medicine faculty members turned stories of cancer patients into a play that premiered in April at Shambaugh Auditorium.

"Grand Rounds: Experiencing Cancer" was written by Loreen Herwaldt, MD, professor of internal medicine, Marcy Rosenbaum, PhD, associate professor of family medicine, and Austin Bunn, a graduate of the UI Writers’ Workshop. The cast included local actors.

The play is based on interviews with more than 60 cancer patients. "You learn how they get the news they have cancer, what cancer treatment can do to one’s life and family, what it means to face the issues of death and dying, and what we as physicians can, or cannot, do about it," Herwaldt said.

The idea for the play came as Herwaldt was editing her book, Patient Listening, published this spring by the UI Press. She collaborated with Rosenbaum, who, as part of her research on patient-physician communication, has conducted many interviews with patients who have cancer.

Chapleau elected president of American Autonomic Society

Mark Chapleau, PhD, professor of internal medicine, was elected to a three-year term as president of the American Autonomic Society (AAS).

Chapleau is the first basic scientist to serve as president of the society since its formal establishment in 1992. The majority of members are clinicians and researchers who study humans.

Chapleau’s interest is in neural mechanisms of cardiovascular regulation in health and disease, including hypertension, heart failure and aging. The work involves studies of basic mechanisms of blood pressure regulation in mouse models, using both in vivo and in vitro approaches.

Dickson named interim COO of UI Hospitals and Clinics

Eric Dickson, MD, associate professor and head of emergency medicine, has been appointed interim chief operating officer of UI Hospitals and Clinics through the end of the calendar year.

Since joining the UI in 2003, Dickson initiated an emergency medicine research program and started Iowa’s only Emergency Medicine Residency Training Program. He also launched several clinical programs within UI Hospitals and Clinics’ Emergency Treatment Center, which opened a new facility in April.

"I am very excited to have Dr. Dickson join my leadership team and apply, to the entire hospital, the skills and experience he gained in his own department, successfully integrating academic medicine and hospital operations," said Gordon Williams, interim CEO of UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Hunninghake named lecturer, appointed to CTSA group

Gary Hunninghake, MD, Sterba Professor of Internal Medicine, has been invited by the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) to give the Murray Kornfeld Memorial Founders Lecture.

Hunninghake will be honored in October at the 74th International Scientific Assembly of the ACCP in Philadelphia.

The lecture was established in 1974 in memory of Kornfeld, founder of the Federation of American Sanatoria, the precursor organization to the ACCP. The award is traditionally conferred to a pioneer in pulmonary and critical care medicine who is developing innovative approaches and therapies expected to guide medicine for decades to come.

Hunninghake, director of the UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, also has been appointed to the operations group of the Consortium Oversight Committee of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA). The UI is one of 24 institutions to receive a CTSA from the National Institutes of Health. Hunninghake is one of six principal investigators serving on the operations group, which recommends strategic directions and sets priorities for the CTSA consortium.

Pediatrics professor helps UI lead dental research funding

More than $5.6 million in grants secured during fiscal year 2007 by Jeff Murray, MD, professor of pediatrics and the Roy J. Carver Chair in Perinatal Health, helped put the UI in the top spot in funding from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) of the National Institutes of Health. Murray also holds appointments in the colleges of dentistry, public health and liberal arts and sciences.

Total NIDCR funding surpassed $12 million at the UI, enabling research collaborations across the campus. Murray’s projects include a craniofacial anomalies research center and studies focusing on the genetics and epidemiology of cleft lip and palate.

Regents approve renovations, additions to UI Hospitals and Clinics

UI Hospitals and Clinics will renovate existing facilities and build a children’s hospital and a critical care tower in the next 10 years, according to a plan approved in March by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010.

The new 600,000-square-foot children’s hospital would feature operating rooms specifically designed for children and private patient rooms that also can accommodate parents. Along with a new tower for critical-care patients, estimated to add 800,000 square feet, the two new facilities would help UI Hospitals and Clinics serve more complex patient needs and increase inpatient capacity, which routinely runs well above the target of 75 percent.

The new construction would require the demolition of the Center for Disabilities and Development building and a parking ramp.

Renovation of current facilities would include converting all inpatient rooms to private rooms. However, almost all inpatient units are housed in the Carver, Colloton and Pappajohn pavilions, which have designs that limit the flexibility to create single-occupancy rooms, driving the need for the new towers.

The construction and renovation plan is estimated to cost $700 million to $850 million. The project will be financed through hospital revenues and philanthropy. Regents approval of the plan allows UI officials to next identify architectural and construction management, and also consider how to deal with current capacity issues. To increase the number of inpatient beds, some areas currently being used for non-patient care activities, including hospital and administrative offices, will be renovated for inpatient care.

Pain, fatigue linked and influenced by gender

Chronic pain and fatigue often occur together—as many as 75 percent of people with chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain report having fatigue; and as many as 94 percent of people with chronic fatigue syndromes report muscle pain. Women make up the majority of patients with these conditions.

Probing the link between pain and fatigue, and the influence of gender, UI researchers led by Kathleen Sluka, PhD, professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, found that ASIC3—an acid-activated ion channel involved in musculoskeletal pain—works in conjunction with testosterone to protect against muscle fatigue.

Using an exercise protocol to induce muscle fatigue, the team found that differences in fatigue between males and females depend on both the presence of testosterone and activation of ASIC3 channels.

Specifically, male mice with ASIC3 were less fatigued by the exercise than female mice. However, male mice without the ASIC3 protein showed levels of fatigue that were similar to the female mice and were greater than for the normal males.

In addition, when female mice with ASIC3 were given testosterone, their muscles became as resistant to fatigue as the normal male mice. In contrast, the muscle strength of female mice without the protein was not boosted by testosterone.

The results reported in the Feb. 28 issue of the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology suggest that muscle pain and fatigue may share a common pathway that is disrupted in chronic muscle pain conditions and may help explain why more women than men are diagnosed with chronic pain and fatigue condition.

Obesity conference encourages research collaborations

The UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (ICTS) and the Institute for Biomedical Imaging hosted a conference on obesity involving people from across the campus in discussions that could spark ideas for grant proposals.

More than 80 individuals, mainly UI faculty, participated in the April conference, which focused on six topics in obesity: nutrition, behavior and exercise, community/health disparity, epidemiology, pediatrics and imaging/biology. Following an overview presentation by topic facilitators, participants met in breakout sessions to discuss issues where collaborative research could yield new knowledge.

"This conference is the beginning of what I am convinced will be some dynamic and exciting research collaborations," said Gary Hunninghake, MD, director of the ICTS.

Already resulting from the conference will be a Wiki site where leaders from the conference post potential new research interactions and projects, and a list of patient cohorts so researchers involved in clinical and translational science will be aware of populations currently participating in research.

The UI belongs to a consortium of 24 institutions so far that each have received a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health, whose Roadmap for Medical Research encourages researchers to provide new treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients. The consortium will eventually include about 60 institutions.

$2.1 million grant continues child health research program

A five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health, will support junior faculty in pediatrics who conduct research on prematurity, inheritable disorders including hemophilia and cystic fibrosis, and adult-onset diseases with likely fetal origins.

The grant, titled "Molecular and Cellular Research to Advance Child Health," renews support that has been in place since 1990 and resulted in the training of 26 UI clinician-scientists in pediatrics. These trainees, or "scholars," work with mentors across departments and colleges, learning the skills needed to ultimately secure their own grant funding. The grant program emphasizes developmental biology, applied genetics and genomics, animal models of human disease and translational research. Training funded by the grant will involve the new UI Institute for Clinical and Translational Science.

Of the 26 UI scholars who have gone through the program to date, 19 remain at the UI and seven are researchers at other institutions. The UI has received a total of $7.4 million since Child Health Research funding became available in 1990.

Distinguished Achievement Award to Scott-Conner

Carol Scott-Conner, MD, PhD, professor of surgery, received a Distinguished Achievement Award at the UI’s annual Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women.

Scott-Conner was chair of surgery for 10 years beginning in 1995, at which time she was one of only two women in the United States to hold such a position. As chair, she was instrumental in reorganizing the finances and the internal administration of the department. Her work helped earn UI Hospitals and Clinics recognition as a Level-I Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons in 1997, the first Iowa hospital designated as such and one of only two with that status today. Scott-Conner also expanded the faculty to include more women, and UI residency classes have had more women than the national average.

Scott-Conner, who focuses on breast cancer research in her clinical work, is a member of the Breast Cancer Care Program at UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Also honored at the celebration of women’s achievements was Gina Clark, M3, who received the Margaret P. Benson Memorial Scholarship for her commitment to women’s issues, diversity and social activism.

Emeritus pharmacy dean Cohen named interim VP for research

Jordan Cohen, PhD, emeritus dean and professor in the UI College of Pharmacy, is serving as interim vice president for research during a nationwide search to replace Meredith Hay, PhD, who was named provost and executive vice president of the University of Arizona in February.

Cohen came to the UI as dean of the College of Pharmacy in 1999 and served in that capacity until his retirement last September. During his time as dean, Cohen worked closely with leaders at the Iowa Department of Economic Development, industry, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa as a part of the initiative spurred by the Battelle Report to capitalize on university expertise for the benefit of the state. He also co-chaired a task force that reviewed the UI’s ability to conduct clinical trials and helped position the UI to successfully compete for an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award last year.

Knosp named associate dean for information technology

Boyd Knosp, MS, has been appointed to the new position of associate dean for information technology in the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Since 2001 Knosp has served as manager of research services for UI Information Technology Services, which included leading the E-Research project that created a strategic plan for research IT.

Prior to that he directed the Image Analysis Facility, which served researchers and others on the UI health campus.

Hardin Library unveils new Simulation Center

The UI Carver College of Medicine’s new Simulation Center features an array of equipment for teaching resuscitation, physical exam and procedural skills, all in one location—the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences’ former Information Commons.

The new center follows the recommendation last summer by a UI task force studying simulation in medical education, which advised a "hub-and-spoke" system of simulation centers at the UI. Hardin, as the central hub serving learning needs across the medical curriculum, anchors existing simulation facilities in the departments of anesthesiology, emergency medicine and surgery, as well as the Nursing Clinical Education Center.

Simulators that had been dispersed among various departmental locations were brought together in the Hardin space, which has designated areas available for groups and individuals to practice in, including a separate room for Harvey, the cardiopulmonary patient that can simulate numerous heart ailments. His sophisticated—and costly—electronic and mechanical components mean students receive training and use him under supervision.

Other equipment is less technical, including kits for practicing surgical knots, catheterization models, IV infusion arms, male and female pelvic trainers and retinal eye exam simulators.

PA program rated best in country again

The Physician Assistant Program in the UI Carver College of Medicine is rated No. 1 for the second consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report in the 2009 edition of its guidebook, America’s Best Graduate Schools.

The PA program is tops among both public and private institutions. Other College specialties and programs that ranked in the top 15 among public institutions are: physical therapy (3), rural medicine (3), primary care (7), research (14) and family medicine (15). Physical therapy and rural medicine are newly ranked; the others have been listed previously.

Following are all ranked College specialties and programs. The first number is the ranking as compared to other public universities. The second number compares the UI colleges and programs to both public and private universities.

Physician Assistant, master’s/ doctorate (1) (1)

Physical Therapy, master’s/ doctorate (3) (5)

Medicine Specialty-Rural Medicine (3) (3)

Carver College of Medicine- Primary Care (7) (7)

Carver College of Medicine-Research (14) (31)

Medical Specialty-Family Medicine (15) (18)

Link between diabetes drugs, low blood pressure

UI researchers have identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that regulates blood pressure and vascular function and may help explain why certain drugs for type 2 diabetes also appear to lower blood pressure.

The pathway involves peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma), a protein that appears to link metabolic disorders with cardiovascular disease. The researchers, led by Curt Sigmund, PhD, professor of internal medicine and molecular physiology and biophysics, and Carmen Halabi, a student in the UI Medical Scientist Training Program, found that knocking out PPAR gamma in vascular smooth muscle produces high blood pressure and very severe vascular dysfunction in mice, which resembles the vascular disorders often seen in patients with advanced type 2 diabetes.

Thiazolidinedione (TDZ) drugs, which have been used for many years to treat type 2 diabetes, activate PPAR gamma. In addition to controlling blood sugar, these drugs also appear to lower blood pressure.

The UI study, published in the March 5 issue of Cell Metabolism, suggests these two beneficial effects of TZDs are produced through two separate PPAR gamma pathways.

Despite their usefulness, TZDs do have several serious side effects, including weight gain and water retention. A recent study also suggested that one TZD (rosiglitazone, which is sold as Avandia) might increase the incidence of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks in diabetes patients. Avandia now carries an FDA warning.

"These side effects really highlight the need to figure out ways to dissociate beneficial effects from dangerous side effects," Sigmund said. "By understanding the mechanisms that lead to those effects, we may be able to enhance benefits and minimize dangers."

Seattle University dean named UI executive VP, provost

The UI’s new executive vice president and provost is Wallace D. Loh, PhD, dean of the college of arts and sciences and professor of public service and of psychology at Seattle University. He begins his UI duties Aug. 1.

Before joining Seattle University in 1999, Loh was director of policy for Washington Gov. Gary Locke. He also was vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of law at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1995-97. From 1990-95, he was dean of the University of Washington Law School. His other faculty appointments include positions at Cornell University; University of Texas, Austin; Vanderbilt University; Emory University; and Beijing University (China). He worked in law firms in New York and San Francisco.

Loh’s main areas of teaching and scholarship are law and social science. He is the author of the casebook Social Research in the Judicial Process.

Born in China and raised in Peru, Loh immigrated to the United States as a teenager, relocating to Iowa. He received a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College, a master’s degree from Cornell University and was a research assistant at the Universiteit te Leuven (Louvain, Belgium). His PhD in psychology is from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his JD is from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Loh succeeds Michael J. Hogan, PhD, who left the UI to become president of the University of Connecticut in September 2007. Lola Lopes, PhD, former associate provost and longtime UI faculty member, has been serving as interim executive vice president and provost.