UW School of Medicine Online News 11-2-07

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University of Washington School of Medicine

Online News

Vol. 11, No. 43
Nov. 2, 2007
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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW
Medicine Web site, visit:
http://www.uwmedicine.org/Global/NewsAndEvents/somnews/index.htm

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This week’s news:

* UW and state agencies join up to forecast and respond to human health effects of climate change in Washington state

* Leonard Hudson to receive 2008 Mission of Caring Award from Harborview Medical Center

* Carlos Pellegrini elected president of the Society of Surgical Chairs

* Medical student Allison Porter named UW Homecoming Queen

* Genetic counselor Robin Bennett to speak Wednesday, Nov. 7 as part of UW Medicine lecture series at the Seattle Public Library

* Regional biomedical organizations plan free symposium, Frontiers in Life Sciences Research, at Seattle's Town Hall, Thursday, Nov. 8; several UW faculty members to speak at event


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UW, STATE AGENCIES EXAMINING EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON HUMAN HEALTH

Climate changes have jeopardized human health in the past, and are bound to do so again. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s, for example, led to many illnesses and deaths from breathing difficulties and malnutrition, and prompted westward migrations of people vying for scarce food, shelter, and work.

Future severe climate changes will likewise have major public health ramifications. Following a request from Gov. Christine Gregoire, health researchers from the Washington State Department of Health and the UW are analyzing the likely effects of climate change on the state over the next century. Their group is called the Climate Change and Human Health Impacts Team, and goes by the acronym CHIT.

Their assessments will be based on scenarios developed by the UW Climate Impacts Group, an interdisciplinary research effort to discern the effects on the Pacific Northwest of natural climate shifts as well as global warming. The findings on potential health effects will be presented to the governor and the state legislature. The researchers will recommend how to manage and mitigate, and perhaps prevent, anticipated public health problems.

This study is part of a broader project funded by the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and directed by Edward L. Miles, the Bloedel professor of marine studies and public affairs at the UW. The project, which has been funded for two years, is called "A Comprehensive Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change on the State of Washington." Alongside public health, project teams will examine other areas vital to the life and livelihood of the state. These include agriculture, coasts, estuaries, and harbors; energy and hydroelectric power; forests, hydrology and water resources; salmon and ecosystems, and civil engineering infrastructures.

Problems related to climate change in any of those areas could affect human health, according to Roger Rosenblatt, professor of family medicine and head of CHIT. He gave as an example the higher incidence of wildfires expected from global warming. Many people are at risk for developing lung and heart problems from smoke and poor air quality caused by the fires, he said.

Rosenblatt mentioned that there are many studies about the consequences of climate change on natural resources, but few researchers have looked at the issues from the public health point of view. Bringing together earth scientists and medical scientists is essential for this to happen. Rosenblatt hopes that the team can help us learn what might happen to individual and community health if climate change continues on its present course, as well as how society might reduce that threat by taking action on climate change.


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LEONARD HUDSON TO RECEIVE 2008 MISSION OF CARING AWARD FROM HARBORVIEW

Leonard Hudson, UW professor of medicine and former head of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, has been chosen to receive the 2008 Mission of Caring Award from Harborview Medical Center, to be presented March 1 at the Salute Harborview Gala. The award recognizes a person or group whose leadership in the community embodies the spirit of Harborview's mission.

Hudson, who led the division from 1985 to 2003, is a graduate of the UW School of Medicine and was chief resident at Harborview. He joined the UW faculty in 1973. In 1999 he was named the first holder of the Endowed Chair in Pulmonary Disease Research. At Harborview he has served as medical director of the Medical ICU, the Pulmonary Function Laboratory, and the Respiratory Therapy Department, and he was associate chief of medicine for 15 years. He developed the pulmonary fellowship training program at UW and mentored many trainees.

For more than 30 years, Hudson has investigated acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute lung injury, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and other problems of pulmonary medicine. He has been president of the American Thoracic Society, the American Lung Association of Washington, and the Washington Thoracic Society, among numerous other positions of leadership locally and nationally.

Hudson may be reached at lhudson@u.washington.edu

For details about the Salute Harborview Gala, call 206-543-8595.


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PELLEGRINI ELECTED PRESIDENT OF SOCIETY OF SURGICAL CHAIRS

Carlos Pellegrini, the Henry N. Harkins professor and chair of surgery at the UW, has been elected president of the Society of Surgical Chairs.

The society brings together all the chairs of academic surgery departments in the United States. It meets annually to discuss management and leadership related to running a Department of Surgery.

Pellegrini has led the UW Department of Surgery since 1993. He previously served on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco. He has served in leadership positions with many surgical and medical societies during his career, including the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Digestive Disease Council, the American Surgical Association, and the American College of Surgeons.

He may be reached at pellegri@u.washington.edu


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MEDICAL STUDENT ALLISON PORTER NAMED UW HOMECOMING QUEEN

Allison Porter, a third-year medical student in the UW School of Medicine, was named the UW's Homecoming Queen during the homecoming festivities last weekend. She was the only graduate or professional student who was a member of the homecoming court this year.

Porter will receive a $1,000 scholarship from the UW Alumni Association as part of the recognition. She has previously been crowned Miss Seattle and Miss Washington. Porter previously attended Harvard, where she earned her bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics. After graduating, she worked as a medical volunteer in India and has worked in immunogenetics at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.


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GENETIC COUNSELOR ROBIN BENNETT SPEAKING AT SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY

UW Medicine genetic counselor Robin Bennett will speak about genetic counseling and family health next week as part of the Medical Lecture Series at the Seattle Central Library. Bennett will speak on Your Family Health Portrait -- Genetic Counseling and Testing, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 7 in the Microsoft Auditorium of the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle.

Bennett, a national expert on genetic counseling and associate director of UW Medical Center's Medical Genetics Clinic, is the author of The Practical Guide to the Genetic Family History.

The UW School of Medicine and the Seattle Public Library have teamed up for the second straight year on the Medical Lecture Series, which focuses on a variety of health issues of interest to the general public. The second series includes lectures on seasonal affective disorder, insomnia and autism. The lectures are scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month at the Central Library, Microsoft Auditorium, Level 1. The lecture series runs through March, with no program in January.

All programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. Parking in the Central Library garage will be available for a $5 special event rate. Doors will open 30 minutes before each program begins.

For information about the library, including a list of the remaining lectures, visit:
http://www.spl.org


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FREE LIFE SCIENCES SYMPOSIUM AT TOWN HALL NOV. 8

Two regional biomedical organizations are holding a free, half-day symposium on life sciences research next Thursday, Nov. 8, at Seattle's Town Hall. The event is open to all, and is intended to build stronger connections within the local biomedical research community and to improve public understanding of life sciences research in Seattle.

The symposium, Frontiers in Life Sciences Research, will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle. It will feature panels on research frontiers in three areas: children's health, early detection, and global health. The panels were organized by the Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), and the Washington Global Health Alliance.

UW panelists include Andrew Scharenberg, Catherine Karr, and Beth Ebel, all faculty in the Department of Pediatrics; Stephen Gloyd, associate chair of the Department of Global Health; and Corey Casper, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a researcher at the FHCRC.

The event was organized by the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA) and the Northwest Association of Biomedical Research (NWABR), and is part of the second annual Life Sciences Research Week in Washington state. The symposium is being supported by the Benaroya Research Institute.

To learn more about the symposium and the panels, visit:
http://www.nwabr.org/

To register, visit:
http://washbio.org/cde.cfm?event=187383


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Justin Reedy, editor:
206-685-0382, jreedy@u.washington.edu

Online News is copyright 2007. All rights, including electronic
redistribution, are reserved.

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