UW School of Medicine Online News 2-1-08

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University of Washington School of Medicine

Online News

Vol. 12, No. 5
Feb. 1, 2008
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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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 Medicine faces challenges as an academic, health care, and research organization, but is up to those challenges, CEO Paul Ramsey says in annual address

* Accelerated head growth can predict autism before behavioral symptoms start, UW study finds

* Richard Goss appointed acting medical director of Harborview Medical Center, replacing Scott Barnhart; Cindy Hecker appointed acting chief operating officer of Harborview

* UW Leadership, Community and Values Initiative (LCVI) surveying campus community on work environment

* Diabetes and nutrition research centers receive competitive renewal on grant funding, keeping UW in elite group


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RAMSEY DISCUSSES SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES FOR UW MEDICINE

Dr. Paul Ramsey had strong praise for the faculty, staff, students, and trainees of UW Medicine in his annual address on Thursday, Jan. 31. Ramsey, who is CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine, observed that the UW Medicine community includes more than 22,000 individuals who are working on the mission of improving health.

Ramsey reviewed a sample of outstanding teaching, research, and professional service activities throughout 2007 and emphasized UW Medicine’s vital role as a leading academic medical center.

UW Medicine is financially healthy, Ramsey said, with a total revenue in fiscal year 2007 of $2.2 billion. Faculty were especially successful with grant proposals in 2007, leading to a 7.1 percent increase in NIH awards compared to the previous year, despite the flat NIH budget.

Health care and academic medicine face many challenges, Ramsey said. Some have questioned the 'three-legged stool' role of academic medical centers, but Ramsey presented an enthusiastic endorsement of the leadership role of academic medical centers and the importance of integrated teaching, research, and clinical activities. While there is much work to do, the UW Medicine community is up to the challenge, he said.

UW Medicine is growing, Ramsey said. Some faculty and staff will move soon to new space at South Lake Union, global health programs are blossoming, and the WWAMI medical student program is expanding regionally to a new site in Spokane. Expansion in numbers and geography must be a careful process that is accompanied by a focus on quality. He suggested that UW Medicine should be a leader in patient-centered care and learner-centered education.

Ramsey announced that a year-long UW Medicine community planning process will begin in March 2008.


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ACCELERATED HEAD GROWTH CAN PREDICT ONSET OF AUTISM, STUDY FINDS

Children with autism have normal-size heads at birth but develop accelerated head growth between six and nine months of age, a period that precedes the onset of many behaviors that enable physicians to diagnose the developmental disorder, according to new research from the UW Autism Center.

The study also indicates that this aberrant growth is present in children who have the early-onset form of autism, as well as those later diagnosed with the regression type of the disorder, according to the study's leader, Sara Webb, a UW research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. The work appears in the Journal of Child Neurology.

The accelerated rate of head circumference growth occurs before the onset at about age 1 of behavioral symptoms, which can include a child's failure to respond to his name, a preoccupation with certain objects, not pointing to things, a lack of interest in other people, and the absence of babbling. Head growth by itself is not an indicator of autism, the researchers point out, but it can serve as a red flag for seeking evaluation.

The data used in this study were based on three measurements made during the first three years of life. To do this, the researchers obtained the medical records of 28 boys who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 3 and 4 at the UW Autism Center and eight boys with developmental delay. All of the boys were participating in a larger longitudinal study.

Webb said in most cases parents would have a difficult time detecting abnormal growth because there is a range of normal head sizes. Approximately 20 percent of children with autism have abnormally large head sizes, or what is called macrocephaly.

The researchers hope this information could be used by pediatricians to screen children and refer them earlier for evaluation and intervention before other symptoms develop. The UW researchers plan to further explore the implications of abnormal head size as part of a larger autism prevention study of 200 infants at high risk for the disorder that has just started. These youngsters have older siblings already diagnosed with autism and have a one in five chance of developing the disorder, which has a strong genetic component. The typical risk for autism is now believed to be one in 150.


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GOSS AND HECKER APPOINTED TO ACTING LEADERSHIP POSITIONS AT HARBORVIEW

Richard Goss, associate medical director for quality improvement, has been appointed acting medical director for Harborview Medical Center, effective March 1. Goss replaces Scott Barnhart, who is stepping down to pursue other opportunities as a member of the medical staff at Harborview and UW Medicine.

Cindy Hecker, chief nursing officer, has been appointed acting chief operating officer, effective Feb. 1, to guide the move into new facilities at Harborview. The position has been vacant over the past six months, and with the upcoming move into the new HMC Inpatient Expansion Building the timing is right to appoint an acting COO, said Johnese Spisso, UW vice president for medical affairs and clinical operations officer for UW Medicine. Hecker is best suited for these responsibilities given her vast experience at Harborview and her work on our previous move into the new buildings in 1998, Spisso added.

Hecker’s current position will be filled by Becky Pierce, assistant administrator for patient care services, who becomes acting chief nursing officer, effective Feb. 1.


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LEADERSHIP, COMMUNITY AND VALUES INITIATIVE SURVEYING FACULTY AND STAFF ON UW WORK ENVIRONMENT

The Leadership, Community and Values Initiative (LCVI) is sponsoring the UW Climate Survey, aimed at engaging faculty and staff across UW campuses in improving work life at the university. The LCVI program, started in 2005 by UW President Mark Emmert, has an overarching goal of identifying what makes the UW a great place to work and how to make it better.

The survey is available online, through Feb. 8, at the following Web site:
http://www.washington.edu/president/lcvi/survey.html

Survey responses are anonymous, and will help guide the LCVI program in formulating goals for improving work life at the UW. People at all UW campuses, including UW Medicine facilities such as UW Medical Center and Harborview, are encouraged to participate. Paper surveys are also available on request by calling 206-543-1957.


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DIABETES AND NUTRITION RESEARCH CENTERS RECEIVE FUNDING

Two major research units within the UW Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, have received competitive renewals of their funding from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In a time of increasing competition for federal support, both the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU) and the Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center (DERC) have been funded for the next five years.

Both centers provide scientific and administrative support for investigators across many disciplines, as well as direct pilot grants and enrichment programs. The CNRU and DERC cooperate with one another as well as with other centers at UW. Only two other universities hold grants for both of these prestigious programs.

One of eight such programs nationwide, the UW CNRU is the longest-lived, having been established 23 years ago. Alan Chait, the Edwin L. Bierman Professor of Medicine and head of the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, is director of the CNRU. The center includes research cores that focus on animal studies, human studies, biochemical analysis, and biostatistics. It serves 75-80 affiliated investigators from most divisions in the Department of Medicine, other departments, and other schools of the university.

The UW Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center was created in 1974, and serves about 100 affiliated investigators from many departments within and outside of the School of Medicine. Fostering interdisciplinary study is an important goal of the DERC, according to Jerry Palmer, professor of medicine and director of the center. The DERC cooperates closely with the CNRU, sponsoring joint scientific activities, as well as with the new UW Institute of Translational Health Sciences.

In addition to an administrative core, the DERC has cores in six other areas: cellular and molecular imaging, clinical research, islet cell and functional analysis, mass spectrometry, molecular genetics, and cellular biology. The DERC enrichment program provides seminars and symposia, a visiting scientist program, and a joint research retreat with the CNRU. It also provides grants to support pilot and feasibility studies for junior faculty and those entering the field of diabetes research.


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

Online News is copyright 2008. All rights, including electronic
redistribution, are reserved.

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