What’s on my mind this month are health disparities and the great need for health equality across the Nation.
In recent years, we have seen that chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease have significantly impacted population and world health. These diseases are progressive and degenerative, and they ravage the economies of countries, including our own. Indeed, 86 percent of all U.S. health care spending in 2010 went to treating people with one or more chronic diseases. The travesty is that many of these conditions are controllable, preventable, and reversible.
However, for many people, the incidence and severity of chronic diseases is compounded by other factors, including geography, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and race. For example, African Americans, both men and women, have disproportionately higher rates of hypertension compared with Caucasians and Hispanics. Therefore, individuals at risk for greater morbidity and mortality due to chronic diseases would benefit from focused health programs to address their conditions in a meaningful and culturally sensitive manner.
We have actively engaged in efforts on multiple fronts to address health disparities and improve population health, especially in our immediate neighborhood of West Baltimore. The work of the late Elijah Saunders, MD, Professor of Medicine and Head of the Section of Hypertension in the School’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, who initiated the “Hair, Heart and Health” Program, is a shining example. By training local barbershop owners to screen customers for high blood pressure and encourage men to seek medical care, he raised awareness of cardiovascular disease among African American men in our community. This important work influenced the launch of a clinical trial to study the efficacy of barbershop-based interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease, as well as a nation-wide movement called the “Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program (BBHOP),” which includes blood pressure and diabetes screening.
Another excellent example of how we are making an impact on population health is the Challenge! clinical trial led by Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor in Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics. This trial was an overweight/obesity prevention program aimed at increasing healthy eating and exercise regimens in Baltimore City adolescents. By pairing teens with a college-aged “personal trainer,” young students set goals for their health over the course of a year, and were able to reduce their body fat, decrease their unhealthy snacking habits, and increase their physical activity engagement. This program was such a success that Dr. Black’s team launched a second trial, Challenge! in Middle Schools, to encourage eighth-grade girls to eat healthy and exercise.
Featured in this issue of the newsletter is our new SOM Program in Health Disparities and Population Health, whose mission is, among other things, to reduce health disparities and chronic diseases and improve the health of citizens of our local, regional and national communities. We are deeply committed to reducing chronic diseases.
As the historical providers of health care to the citizens of West Baltimore, the School of Medicine and our healthcare partner, the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), are also deeply committed to improving the well-being of all patients, especially those who are most vulnerable. Currently, we provide advanced primary care, interdisciplinary specialty care, community mental health and addiction treatment services, and emergency medical care. We have truly made a positive impact. However, we never simply “rest on our laurels.” We have developed a vision to create a fully integrated medical neighborhood, led by Anthony Lehman, MD, MSPH, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs; William Tucker, MBA, CPA, Associate Dean for Practice Plan Affairs, and Chief Corporate Officer for UM Faculty Physicians, Inc.; and David Stewart, MD, Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine. Our goals are to reduce potentially avoidable hospitalizations, improve outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, promote prevention and screening programs, reduce health disparities, and increase patient satisfaction.
The fully integrated medical neighborhood will ultimately bring together the clinical providers who practice in West Baltimore, pre-existing social services, new care coordination services and population health experts to facilitate care coordination and management. By expanding and enhancing our existing services, we expect that this effort will ensure delivery of the best possible health care to those patients who have traditionally experienced poor health as a result of disparities and inequalities. Just imagine if we could provide rigorous preventive care for every adolescent patient with asthma living in the inner city, where the prevalence and severity of that disease is very high. This could reduce the number of severe asthma attacks she or he had each month, thereby decreasing the extremely costly need to treat this patient in the emergency room.
Making a significant impact on patients’ overall health is a challenging task, but one which the School of Medicine has taken up as part of our ongoing mission of teaching, discovery and healing. Community outreach and service is one of the four pillars of our great institution, and I am extraordinarily pleased and proud to highlight our efforts to reduce health disparities and improve the health and well-being of all.
In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am
Sincerely yours,
E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine
We welcome our new faculty!
Cara Felter, PT, DPT, MPH, joined the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science as an Assistant Professor on April 4. Dr. Felter came to the department from the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury Her academic teaching experience in physical therapy, background in clinical neurorehabilitation, and specialty certification in neurology is expected to make her a great addition to the department, according to department Chair Mark Rogers, PhD, PT.
Detlef Wencker, MD, was appointed as Associate Professor and Chief of Advanced Heart Failure in the Department of Medicine in November 2015. Dr. Wencker received his medical degree from the University of Münster, Germany and Doctorate (ScDr) in Cell Biology & Endocrinology from the Max-Planck-Institute in Münster, Germany in 1991. He did his internship at Goethe University Medical Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University Medical College in New York from 1993–1995. He was selected to an ABIM-Scientific Pathway for specialty training in basic science (Molecular Cardiology and Cell Biology) and combined Internal Medicine/Cardiovascular Disease at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York. He then completed a Heart Failure & Transplant Fellowship at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center. He joined the faculty at Yale University in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine in 2002 before moving to the University of Connecticut in 2007 as Director of the Center for Advanced HF and Transplant, where he grew the program to national recognition. Prior to his appointment at the University of Maryland, he served as Director, Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Program, University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Wencker has been a prior recipient of numerous awards and NIH grants, including a prestigious K23, and has more than 25 papers to his credit. He is nationally known for his expertise in advanced heart failure.
Kudos to our colleagues who are experts in their fields and give their all to represent the School of Medicine!
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor in Pediatrics, conducted the workshop “Using Integrated Child Development Interventions to Promote the Health and Development of Infants and Toddlers” at the Zero to Three conference at the National Training Institute in Seattle, WA, on December 3, 2015.
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, served as Chair of a Symposium at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting on “Advanced Molecular Imaging of Synapses in Health and Disease.” The meeting was held in October 2015 in Chicago, IL. He also presented “Nanoscale Functional Organization and Transcellular Alignment of Single Synapses” at the same meeting.
Vasken Dilsizian, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, presented “Novel Techniques to Image Molecular Angiotensin Converting Enzyme and Angiotensin Receptors,” and was the moderator on “Emerging and Established Roles of Imaging in Heart Failure” at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Mid-Winter & American College of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting, held in Orlando, FL, January 29–31.
Toni Pollin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, presented “When a Complex Disease Isn’t So Complex: Identifying, Genomically Diagnosing and Treating Patients with Monogenic Diabetes” at Duke University School of Medicine’s Genomic and Precision Medicine Weekly Forum on November 12. She also participated in an Academy of Science Institute of Medicine Roundtable on “Translating Genomic-Based Research for Health” at the National in November, and was an expert panel member discussing strategies to advance genomic medicine and presenting “Identifying Diabetes Subtypes: A Model for Genomic Medicine” at the same conference.
Sharon Hoover Stephan, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, provided a five-day workshop and consultation to the Ministries of Health and Education in Bahrain as an Advisory to the World Health Organization (WHO). She conducted lectures on mental health screening and assessment, intervention, and mental health consultation to primary care and school mental health providers, and offered guidance to national leaders on building school mental health infrastructure. Dr. Hoover Stephan also co-chaired the 48th Banff International Conference on Behavioural Science in Banff, Alberta, Canada, March 20–23, where she provided the keynote presentation “Integrating Multi-tiered Mental Health Supports Into Education to Promote Student Success: Implications for School Mental Health Implementation in Canada.”
Leah Perrotta, BS and Sarah Kilby, MPH, current and former Masters of Public Health students in the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, gave presentations at the Active Living Research Annual Meeting in Clearwater Beach, FL, on February 1–3. Ms. Perrotta (MPH Class of 2016) presented “Examining Workplace Policies and Program Promoting Physical Activity: Baseline Data from the Healthiest Maryland Businesses Program.” Ms. Kilby (MPH Class of 2015) presented “Physical Activity Practices in Maryland Childcare Centers: Associations with Written Physical Activity Policies and Participation in a State-Based Continuous Quality Improvement Program,” which detailed her capstone project.
University of Maryland School of Medicine students in the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) participated in the national GHHS “Tell Me More” campaign on February 18. The Tell Me More campaign is a nationwide effort to promote humanism and compassion in medicine by asking patients questions about themselves and then writing this information on a poster to be placed in the patient’s room, so all other care providers can learn more personal, humanizing information about their patients. Fourth-year student Matt Smith (pictured) helped lead this effort, which was received warmly by patients and students alike.
Congratulations to the following who have received honors!
Haiwen Chen, AB, a MD/PhD Candidate in the lab of Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received the “Best Talk” prize for her presentation “Distinct Organization of Evoked and Spontaneous Vesicle Fusion Sites” at the Excitatory Synapses & Brain Function Gordon Research Seminar.
Andrea Berry, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, Institute for Global Health, was presented in January with the 2016 University of Maryland School of Medicine Clinician-Investigator Award from the Passano Foundation. The award is given to promote the research career development of young faculty clinician-investigators.
Robert Gallo, MD, the Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine and Director, Institute of Human Virology, received the 2015 Leonardo da Vinci Award from the now 40-year-old Italian Heritage and Culture Committee-NY, Inc. Dr. Gallo received the Award for his career in science. The Award is named in honor of Leonardo da Vinci, a legendary Italian Renaissance polymath who was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, and more, and who has been described as the archetype of the Renaissance, a man of unquestionable curiosity. The event took place on January 12 at the Consulate General of Italy in New York City, in cooperation with the Office of the Consul General, under the auspices of Minister Natalia Quintavalle. Dr. Gallo was also named a 2016 Influential Marylander by The Daily Record. Chosen by the paper’s editors, this award is bestowed upon Maryland’s top leaders in recognition of their leadership and significant contributions to their fields. The winners were honored at a ceremony at the Grand Lodge in Cockeysville, MD, on March 17.
Ada Offurum, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, was named the 2015 Hospitalist of the Year by the Baltimore Chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine.
Jacques Ravel, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Associate Director, Institute for Genome Sciences, has been named a 2015–2017 Blaise Pascal International Research Chair, one of the most prestigious European science awards. The Blaise Pascal Chairs were established in 1996 to honor foreign scientists in all disciplines. The award is named for the eminent 17th-century French genius, Blaise Pascal, who was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and physicist. Previous laureates include Gerard Debreu (1983 Nobel Prize in Economics), Ahmed Zewail (1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), Georges Smoot (2006 Nobel Prize in Physics), Elizabeth Blackburn (2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), and Michael Levitt (2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry).
Quincy Samus, PhD, MS, received the inaugural Graduate Programs in Life Sciences (GPILS) Alumni Award. She is an alumnus of the Doctoral Program in Gerontology. Dr. Samus is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She is also Director of the Translational Aging Services Core (TASC) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
Sharon Hoover Stephan, PhD, and Nancy Lever, PhD, both Associate Professors in the Department of Psychiatry and Co-Directors of the National Center for School Mental Health, received the Paula Hamburger Award from the Mental Health Association of Maryland. The award is given annually to recognize “champions for children” and honored Drs. Hoover Stephan and Lever for their contributions to advancing training, research practice, and policy for children’s mental health in Maryland and beyond.
On January 8, at the 5th Annual Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Retreat, Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, and Richard Eckert, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, presented A-Lien Lu-Chang, PhD, Professor, with a framed copy of the groundbreaking publication on DNA Mismatch Repair that led to Paul Modrich recently being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in this area. Dr. Lu-Chang was a post-doc with Dr. Modrich at the time and attended the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm when he received his award.
We applaud our colleagues on their recent appointments!
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was appointed as one of three Editors for the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. His three-year term will run from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2018.
Judy LaKind, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, has been elected President of the International Society of Exposure Science.
Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Professor of Medicine and Founding Director, Institute for Global Health, was elected to the American Clinical and Climatological Association at its annual meeting, held in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, from October 15–18, 2015.
Lynn Schriml, PhD, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health, Institute for Genome Sciences, was invited to join the Editorial Board of Oxford Journals’ Database: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation.
Congratulations to our very productive faculty on their recent grants and contracts!
Lauren Cohee, MD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pediatrics, received a Burroughs Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship in Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine for $65,000 over the period 11/1/15-10/31/16.
Niel Constantine, PhD, Professor of Pathology, Institute of Human Virology, received a grant for $375,000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Family Health International 360 (FHI360) for “The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Quality Assurance Program for Rapid Diagnostics (HIV and Syphilis) and Other Laboratory Products (Point of Care Products).” Dr. Constantine also received $131,000 from the USAID Program in Supply Chain Management for “Proposal to Establish and Implement Procedures to Assure Suitability for Intended Use of Laboratory Supplies and HIV/AIDS, TB, Syphilis, Hepatitis and Pregnancy Rapid Test Kits,” and $75,000 from a USAID-funded agency (PFSCM) for “Testing Activities.”
Steven Fisher, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine, and Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Professor of Medicine & Founding Director, Institute for Global Health, received a four-year, $1.8 million, R01 from the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for “Variant Surface Antigents in Cerebral Malaria Pathogenesis.”
Jack Guralnik, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, received a two-year, $34,673 award from the University of Pittsburgh for “Ultra-High-Field Neuroimaging in the Elderly After a Two-Year Exercise Intervention.”
Anthony Harris, MD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, received a one year, $34,407 award from Duke University to serve as Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) Mentoring Committee Chair.
Miriam Laufer, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Institute for Global Health, was awarded a five-year, $830,712 Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (K24) for “Mentoring and Patient-Oriented Research in Malaria.”
Monica McArthur, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, was awarded a four-year, $419,843 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for “Role of Pathogen-Specific T Cells in Protection From Vibrio cholera Infections in Humans.”
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received a five-year, $1,936,790 competing renewal award from NHLBI for her continued research into “Daily Regulation of Ionic Currents.”
Mark Mishra, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was awarded $25,000 from the Keep Punching Foundation for “Patient Preferences for Reducing Adverse Events Following Brain Irradiation.”
Vincent Njar, PhD, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, and Head of the Medicinal Chemistry Section, Center for Biomolecular Therapeutics (CBT), was awarded a one-year, $185,051 sponsored research grant, effective December 15, 2015, from Tokai Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Boston, MA, for “Mechanistic Studies and Effects of VN/124-1 (Galeterone) and New Lead Analogs in Pancreatic Cancer.”
Marcella Pasetti, PhD, was awarded a two-year R21 worth $231,000 from NIAID for “Role of Maternal and Infant Vaccine-Induced IgG in Proteins.”
Charlene C. Quinn, RN, PhD, FAAN, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, received a two-year, $22,835 award from Johns Hopkins University for “A Diabetes Networking Tool (DNT) to Enhance Self-Management Through Social Networks.”
Sanjay Rajagopalan, MBBS, FACC, FAHA, the Melvin Sharoky, MD Professor in Medicine, and Matthew Weir, MD, Professor, both from the Department of Medicine, received a five-year, $3.25 million R01 from NHLBI for “Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonism Clinical Evaluation in Atherosclerosis (MIRACULOUS).”
Sharon Hoover Stephan, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, received a one-year, $187,230 contract from the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to support the State’s “Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics Planning Grant.”
O. Colin Stine, PhD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, received a two-year, $446,675 award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research “Enteric Pathogens, and Relationship to Pathogenesis of Gut Inflammation in the GEMS Cases and Controls.”
Simeon Taylor, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine, was awarded a three-year, $599,916 Innovative Clinical or Translational Science Award from the American Diabetes Association for “Pharmacogenomics of GLP1 Receptor Agonists: Pilot Study Investigating Non-Synonymous Variants in Two Candidate Genes (GIPR and GCGR).”
Hervé Tettelin, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, received a three-year, $107,669 award from the National Institute of Allery and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for “Persistent Haemophilus influenzae in COPD—Virulence, Vaccines and Antibiotic Resistance.” The project began in November 2015 and is a subcontract with the University of Buffalo.
Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was awarded $3,500 from Imagilin Technology, LLC for “A Pilot Study to Evaluate for Changes in Rectal Volume and Inflammatory Markers in Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Pediococcus-based Probiotics and Radiation Therapy.”
Hats off to those who have been published!
Matthew Adams, BS, Research Specialist; Sudhaunshu Joshi, MS, Research Specialist; Gillian Mbambo, BS, Research Assistant; Shay Roemmich, BS, Research Project Coordinator; Amy Mu, MS, Research Specialist; Biraj Shrestha, BS, Research Assistant; Kathy Strauss, BA, Research Specialist; Nicole Eddington Johnson, MS, MPH, Senior Scientific Administrator; Fang Huang, PHD, Research Associate; Myaing Nyunt, MD, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine; and Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Professor of Medicine and Founding Director, all from the Institute for Global Health, were among the co-authors on “An Ultrasensitive Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay to Detect Asymptomatic Low-Density Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax Infections in Small Volume Blood Samples,” in Malaria Journal, 2015 Dec 23;14(1):520.
Clement Adebamowo, BM, ChB, ScD, Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health, Institute of Human Virology, was among the co-authors on “The Burden of Hypertension in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Four-Country Cross Sectional Study” in BMC Public Health, 2015 Dec 5;15(1):1211; and on “Evaluation of Genome Wide Association Study Associated Type 2 Diabetes Susceptibility Loci in Sub Saharan Africans” in Frontiers in Genetics, 2015 Nov 24;6:335.
Amber Beitelshees, PharmD, MPH, Assistant Professor; Joshua Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor; Laura Yerges-Armstrong, PhD, Assistant Professor; and Richard Horenstein, MD, Associate Professor, all from the Department of Medicine; and Alan Shuldiner, MD, the John L. Whitehurst Endowed Professor in the Department of Medicine and Director, Program in Personalized and Genomic Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Oxylipid Profile of Low-dose Aspirin Exposure: A Pharmacometabolomics Study” in Journal of the American Heart Association, 2015;Oct 26;4(10). Drs. Horenstein, Lewis, Yerges-Armstrong and Shuldiner were also among the co-authors on “Development of a Physiology-Directed Population Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Model for Characterizing the Impact of Genetic and Demographic Factors on Clopidogrel Response in Healthy Adults” in European Journal of Pharmaceutical Science, 2016 Jan 20;82. And Dr. Beitelshees was among the co-authors on “Pharmacogenomic Genome-Wide Meta-Analysis of Blood Pressure Response to Beta-Blockers in Hypertensive African Americans” in Hypertension, 2016 Jan 4 [Epub ahead of print].
Brian Berman, MD, Professor of Family & Community Medicine, and Director, Center for Integrative Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Herbal Medicine for Low Back Pain—A Cochrane Review” in Spine, 2016 Jan;41(2):116-33.
Lori Bernstein, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, and Istvan Merchenthaler, MD, PhD, Professor, both from the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, were first and last authors, respectively, on “Activin Decoy Receptor ActRIIB:Fc Lowers FSH and Therapeutically Restores Oocyte Yield, Orevents Oocyte Chromosome Misalignments and Spindle Aberrations, and Increases Fertility in Midlife Female SAMP8 Mice” in Endocrinology, 2015 Dec 29 [Epub ahead of print].
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor in Pediatrics, was among the co-authors on “Trends in Household and Child Food Insecurity Among Families with Young Children From 2007 to 2013” in Journal of Applied Research on Children, 2015;6(2):Article 3. Dr. Black and Nicholas Tilton, BS, Graduate Student, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health; Pamela Cureton, RD, and Susan Feigelman, MD, Professor, both from the Department of Pediatrics, were among the co-authors on “Recovery in Young Children with Weight Faltering: Child and Household Risk Factors” in Journal of Pediatrics, 2016 Mar;170:301-6.
Laura Bozzi, Student; Braxton Mitchell, PhD, Professor; Joshua Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor; Kathleen Ryan, Bioinformatics Analyst; Jeffrey O’Connell, PhD, Associate Professor; Richard Horenstein, MD, Assistant Professor; and Alan Shuldiner, MD, the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine, all from the Department of Medicine, as well as the Program for Personalized and Genomic Medicine, which Dr. Shuldiner directs, were among the co-authors on “The Pharmacogenomics of Anti-Platelet Intervention (PAPI) Study: Variation in Platelet Response to Clopidogrel and Aspirin” in Current Vascular Pharmacology, 2016 Jan;14(1):116-24.
Clayton Brown, PhD, Associate Professor, and Jay Magaziner, PhD, MS Hyg, Professor and Chair, both from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, were among the co-authors on “The Effects of an Online Theory-Based Bone Health Program for Older Adults” in Journal of Applied Gerontology, 2015 Dec 16 [Epub ahead of print].
Arpit Chabra, MD, Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology, was first author on “Prognostic Significance of PET Assessment of Metabolic Response to Therapy in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma” in British Journal of Cancer, 2015 Dec 22;113(12):1658-65.
Rong Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Edward Herskovits, MD, Professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Advanced Connectivity Analysis (ACA): a Large Scale Functional Connectivity Data Mining Environment” in Neuroinformatics, 2015 Dec 10 [Epub ahead of print].
Shifeng Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor; Byong Yong Yi, PhD, Professor; Huijun Xu, PhD, Assistant Professor; Karl Prado, PhD, Professor; and Warren D’Souza, PhD, MBA, Professor, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the co-authors on “Optimizing the MLC Model Parameters For IMRT in the RayStation Treatment Planning System” in Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, 2015 Sep 8;16(5):5548. Dr. D’Souza was also among the co-authors on “Colloidal Properties of Nanoerythrosomes Derived From Bovine Red Blood Cells” in Langmuir, 2016 Jan 12;32(1):171-9.
Marcus Chibucos, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and Vincent Bruno, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology, both also from the Institute for Genome Sciences, were among the co-authors on “Implementation of a Pan-Genomic Approach to Investigate Holobiont-Infecting Microbe Interaction: A Case Report of a Leukemic Patient with Invasive Mucormycosis” in PLoS One, 2015 Nov 10;10(11):e0139851.
Christopher deFilippi, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Serial Measurement of N-terminal Pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide and Cardiac Troponin T for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)” in American Heart Journal, 2015 Dec;170(6):1170-83. He and Robert Christenson, PhD, Professor, Department of Pathology, were among the co-authors on “Serial Sampling of Copeptin Levels Improves Diagnosis and Risk Stratification in Patients Presenting with Chest Pain: Results From the CHOPIN Trial” in Emergency Medicine Journal, 2016 Jan;33(1):23-9.
Vasken Dilsizian, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was a co-author on an Editor’s Page entitled “Implementing Multimodality Imaging in the Future” in Journal of the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Imaging, 2016 Feb; 9(2):91-8.
David Dreizin, MD, Assistant Professor, and Kathirkama Shanmuganathan, MBBS, Professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Indirect Signs of Blunt Duodenal Injury on Computed Tomography: Is Non-operative Management Safe?” in Injury, 2016 Jan;47(1):53-8. Dr. Dreizin was also a co-author on “Imaging Pregnant and Lactating Patients” in Radiographics, 2015 Oct;35(6):1751-65.
John Eley, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Charged Particle Therapy With Mini-Segmented Beams” in Frontiers in Oncology, 2015 Dec 1;5:269.
Samer El-Kamary, MB, ChB, MPH, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, was among the co-authors on “Assessing the Awareness of Egyptian Medical Students about Responsible Conduct of Research and Research Ethics: Impact of an Educational Campaign” in Accountability in Research, 2016;23(4):199-218.
Anne Estes, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Julie Dunning Hotopp, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, authored “Modeling the Dynamic Digestive System Microbiome” in Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, 2015 Dec 1;16(2):271-3.
Reha Erzurumlu, PhD, Professor, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, and Yu Chen, PhD, Associate Professor, Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), were co-senior authors on “In Vivo Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging of Subcortical Function” in Nature-Scientific Reports, 2015, November 27, 5:17325. Their studies were funded by a UMB-UMCP seed grant.
Dheeraj Gandhi, MBBS, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors on “High-Resolution Intracranial Vessel Wall Imaging: Imaging Beyond the Lumen” in Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 2016 Jan 8 [Epub ahead of print], and “Vessel Wall Imaging for Intracranial Vascular Disease Evaluation” published in Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery, 2016 Jan 14 [Epub ahead of print].
Anuj Gupta, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Reasons and Implications of Agreements and Disagreements Between Coronary Flow Reserve, Fractional Flow Reserve, and Myocardial Perfusion Imaging” in Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, 2015 Dec 29 [Epub ahead of print].
Erin Hager, PhD, Assistant Professor; Nick Tilton, BS, Doctoral Student; Yan Wang, DrPH, Assistant Professor; Raquel Arbaiza, MS, Research Assistant; and Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor in Pediatrics, all from the Department of Pediatrics, co-authored “The Home Environment and Toddler Physical Activity: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study” in Pediatric Obesity, 2015 Dec 23 [Epub ahead of print]. Dr. Hager also co-authored an editorial on “Successes of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act” in JAMA Pediatrics, 2016;170(1):e154268, which led to quotes from Dr. Hager being mentioned in at least 77 online media outlets, including CNN and Time.
Jean Jeudy, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Predictive Equations for Lung Volumes from Computed Tomography for Size Matching in Pulmonary Transplantation” in Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, 2016 Apr;151(4):1163-1169.
Young Kwok, MD, Associate Professor; Minesh Mehta, MB, ChB, Professor; and William Regine, MD, the Isadore and Fannie Schneider Foxman Chairman and Professor of Radiation Oncology, all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, and J. Marc Simard, MD, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, were among the co-authors on “What Predicts Early Volumetric Edema Increase Following Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Brain Metastases?” in Journal of Neuro-Oncology, 2016 Apr;127(2):303-11.
Matthew Laurens, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Institute for Global Health, authored “The Immunologic Complexity of Growing Up with Malaria—Is Scientific Understanding Coming of Age?” in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2015 Dec 16;23(2):80-3.
Laurence Magder, PhD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, was last author on “Lupus Anticoagulant, Disease Activity and Low Complement in the First Trimester are Predictive of Pregnancy Loss” in Lupus Science & Medicine, 2015 Dec 9;2(1):e000095.
Michael Miller, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine, and James Gammie, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, were among the co-authors on “Two-Year Outcomes of Surgical Treatment of Severe Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation” in The New England Journal of Medicine, 2016 Jan 28;374(4):344-53.
Fred Moeslein, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Hepatic Imaging Response to Radioembolization with Yttrium-90-labeled Resin Microspheres for Tumor Progression During Systemic Chemotherapy in Patients with Colorectal Liver Metastases” in Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology, 2015 Dec;6(6):594-604. He was also among the co-authors on “Dramatic Response of a Large, 10 Cm Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Monotherapy with Yttrium-90 Based Selective Internal Radiation Therapy” in Cureus, 2015 Dec 22;7(12):e425.
Pranshu Mohindra, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Simulation Study of High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy For Early Glottic Cancer” in Brachytherapy, 2016 Jan-Feb;15(1):94-101.
Andrew Neuwald, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Institute for Genome Sciences, was among the co-authors on “Identification and Classification of Small Molecule Kinases: Insights Into Substrate Recognition and Specificity” in BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2016 Jan 6;16(1):7.
Myaing Nyunt, MD, MPH, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Professor of Medicine, both from the Institute for Global Health, which Dr. Plowe directs, co-authored the op-ed “Pursuing Disease Diplomacy in Myanmar” in the Los Angeles Times on December 14, 2015.
Amed Ouattara, PhD, PharmD, Research Associate (first author), Department of Medicine and Institute for Global Health, and Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, FASTMH, Professor of Medicine and Founding Director, Institute for Global Health, were among the co-authors on “Designing Malaria Vaccines to Circumvent Antigen Variability” in Vaccine, 2015 Dec 22;33(52):7506-12.
Toni Pollin, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, and Alan Shuldiner, MD, the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine and Director of the Program for Personalized and Genomic Medicine, were among the co-authors on “The IGNITE Network: A Model for Genomic Medicine Implementation and Research” in BMC Med Genomics, 2016 Jan 5;9(1).
Jianfei Qi, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Lingling Fan, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, were among the co-authors on two research articles: “The Steroidogenic Enzyme AKR1C3 Regulates Stability of the Ubiquitin Ligase Siah2 in Prostate Cancer Cells” in Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2015 Aug 21; 290(34):20865-79, and “Regulation of c-Myc Expression by the Histone Demethylase JMJD1A is Essential for Prostate Cancer Cell Growth and Survival” in Oncogene, 2015 Aug 17 [Epub ahead of print]. Dr. Qi also co-authored the review article “Dysregulation of Ubiquitin Ligases in Cancer” in Drug Resistance Update, 2015 Nov; 23:1-11.
Sanjay Rajagopalan, MBBS, FACC, FAHA, the Melvin Sharoky Endowed Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Extreme Air Pollution Conditions Adversely Affect Blood Pressure and Insulin Resistance: The Air Pollution and Cardiometabolic Disease Study” in Hypertension, 2016 Jan;67(1):77-85.
Gautam Ramani, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Shared Genetic Predisposition in Peripartum and Dilated Cardiomyopathies” in The New England Journal of Medicine, 2016 Jan 6 [Epub ahead of print].
Jacques Ravel, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Associate Director, Institute for Genome Sciences, and Vonetta Edwards, PhD, a Post Doc in the Ravel Lab, were among the co-authors on “Lactobacillus crispatus Inhibits Growth of Gardnerella vaginalis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae on a Porcine Vaginal Mucosa Model” in BMC Microbiology, 2015 Dec 9;15(1):276.
William Regine, MD, the Isadore and Fannie Schneider Foxman Chairman and Professor of Radiation Oncology, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 Beta Predicts Survival in Resected Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas” in Clinical Cancer Research, 2015 Dec 15;21(24):5612-8.
Tatiana Sanses, MD (first author), Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences, and Jack Guralnik, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, were among the co-authors on “Functional Status in Older Women Diagnosed with Pelvic Organ Prolapse” in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2015 Dec 15 [Epub ahead of print].
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Erratum To: Type 2 Immunity-Dependent Reduction of Segmented Filamentous Bacteria in Mice Infected With the Helminthic Parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis” in Microbiome, 2015 Dec 21;3:77.
Taehoon Shin, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Being BOLD in Critical Limb Ischemia” in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2016 Feb 2;67(4):432-434.
Mukta Srivastava, MD (lead author), Assistant Professor, and Vincent See Jr., MD, Assistant Professor, both from the Department of Medicine, co-authored “The Lariat for Left Atrial Appendage Closure: Rehash of Known Literature or a True Analysis?” in JAMA Internal Medicine, 2015 Nov;175(11):1868-9.
Irina Timofte, MD, Assistant Professor, June Kim, MD, Assistant Professor, Robert Reed, MD, Associate Professor, Edward Britt, MD, Professor, and Aldo Iacono, MD, Professor, all from the Department of Medicine; Michael Terrin, MDCM, MPH, Professor, and Erik Barr, BA, Data Analyst, both from the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health; and Pablo Sanchez, MD, Doctoral Research Fellow, Keshava Rajagopal, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Bartley Griffith, MD, Professor, Si Pham, MD, Professor, and Richard Pierson III, MD, Professor, all from the Department of Surgery, were co-authors on “Belatacept for Renal Rescue in Lung Transplant Patients” in Transplant International, 2015 Dec 17 [Epub ahead of print].
Mark Vesely, MD (lead author), Assistant Professor, along with Michael Benitez, MD, Professor, and Shawn Robinson, MD, Assistant Professor, all from the Department of Medicine, and Murtaza Dawood, MD, Assistant Professor, and James Gammie, MD, Professor, both from the Department of Surgery, were among the co-authors on “Surgical and Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair for Severe Chronic Mitral Regurgitation: A Review of Clinical Indications and Patient Assessment” in Journal of the American Heart Association, 2015 Dec 11;4(12).
Charles White, MD, Professor; Aletta Frazier, MD, Clinical Associate Professor; and Seth Kligerman, MD, Assistant Professor, all from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Pulmonary Valve Anatomy and Abnormalities: A Pictorial Essay of Radiography, Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)” in Journal of Thoracic Imaging, 2016 Jan;31(1):W4-W12. Dr. White and Jeffrey Galvin, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Primary Pulmonary Lymphoid Lesions: Radiologic and Pathologic Findings” in Radiographics, 2016 Jan-Feb;36(1):53-70. Dr. Frazier was the author of “Radiologic-Pathologic Features to Discern Nonepithelial versus Epithelial Pancreatic Tumors” in Radiographics, 2016 Jan-Feb;36(1):122.
Emerson Wickwire, PhD, ABPP, CBSM, FAASM, Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine; Fadia Shaya, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy and Department of Epidemiology & Public Health; and Steven Scharf, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Health Economics of Insomnia Treatments: Is There a Return on Investment?” in Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2015 Nov 28;30:72-82. Dr. Wickwire was also the author of “How to Talk to Insomnia Patients—Faster, More Effectively, and with Less Frustration” in Sleep Review, 2015 Dec 14 [Epub ahead of print]. Dr. Wickwire and Sarah Tom, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, School of Pharmacy and the Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, were among the co-authors on “Nonbenzodiazepine Sedative Hypnotics and Risk of Fall-Related Injury” in Sleep, 2016 Jan 15 [Epub ahead of print].
L. Susan Wieland, PhD, Assistant Professor of Family & Community Medicine, and Field Coordinator of the Cochrane CAM Field, Center for Integrative Medicine, was lead author on “Summarizing the Best Evidence on CAM Interventions for Integrative Medicine: A New Cochrane Summary of Findings Initiative for EuJIM” in European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 2015 Oct;7(5):439-441.
Jiachen Zhuo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Accelerated 4D Quantitative Single Point EPR Imaging Using Model-Based Reconstruction” in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2015 Apr;73(4):1692-701.
We remember lost faculty and friends
Gerry Cole, PhD, retired Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology in our Department, died on December 31, 2015, at the age of 84. Dr. Cole first came to the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) in 1959, where he worked on the isolation and identification of arthropod-borne viruses indigenous to Malaysia, Pakistan and Iran. He entered graduate school at UMB in what was then the Department of Microbiology, receiving his PhD in 1966. In 1988, Dr. Cole and George Lewis, PhD, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Director of Vaccine Research, Institute of Human Virology, received one of the first program project grants funded by the NIH to establish a “Comprehensive AIDS Research Center,” which ran until 1993. While at Johns Hopkins and the UMSOM, he trained five PhD students and nine postdoctoral fellows, including Alan Schmaljohn, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Dr. Cole retired from his full-time faculty position in 1998 but maintained an office on campus (filled with weird and interesting items from his travels and career) and also continued to serve on the UMB Institutional Biosafey Committee for many years after his retirement. “Gerry Cole was one of the most colorful and memorable faculty members, as well as one of the best scientists in the history of our department,” said James Kaper, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
William Howard, MD, a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery, died on January 10, moments after he stepped out of his truck while driving in Anne Arundel County. Family members said he suffered a heart attack or stroke. He was 81. In addition to his teaching at the School of Medicine, he was also the longtime medical director and a co-founder of MedStar Union Memorial’s Sports Medicine Clinic. Dr. Howard was also an alumnus of the School of Medicine (Class of 1963).
Ruth Latimer, MPT, former Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science (PTRS), died on December 15, 2015. She was 92. Ms. Latimer earned her Master’s Degree in Physical Therapy from PTRS and also served on the faculty before being named chair in 1962, a position she held until 1971.