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UW School of Medicine Online News 3-30-07
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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 13
March 30, 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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN: UW School of Medicine tops U.S. News & World Report primary-care rankings for 14th straight year
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This week’s news:
* MRI scans of women with cancer in one breast can improve detection of cancer in opposite breast, researchers find
* George Saari, Bozeman physician and WWAMI associate director, dies unexpectedly at 63
* Jonathan Wanagat receives Leadership in Aging Fellowship from Brookdale Foundation
* Save the Date: Symposium on July 28 to honor King Holmes
* UW's MEDEX Northwest physician assistant training program recognized by Winds of Change magazine for support of indigenous students and care for underserved communities
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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN
Dear Colleagues:
I am very pleased to announce that for the 14th straight year, the U.S. News & World Report professional and graduate school rankings, released today, ranked the UW School of Medicine as the top medical school in the nation for training primary-care physicians. The school’s educational and training programs in family medicine and rural health ranked first in the nation for the 16th consecutive year.
The UW was ranked in the top 10 in all eight specialties included in the rankings. In addition to family medicine and rural health, these programs are AIDS (4), internal medicine (6), geriatrics (7), pediatrics (8), women’s health (10), and drug/alcohol abuse training (10). In the research school ratings overall, the UW ranked sixth, moving ahead of Stanford, which was last year tied with the UW at seventh. The MEDEX physician assistant program within the School of Medicine was ranked seventh in the nation.
The UW School of Medicine ranked #1 in the nation among public institutions for NIH research grants, and was second to Harvard for NIH funding. U.S. News calculations report that the UW medical school faculty received $573.2 million in NIH research grants in 2006, and the school widened its lead over the University of Pennsylvania ($485.7 million) and Johns Hopkins ($471.6 million) in NIH research funding; these two top private schools are rated third and fourth respectively in NIH research funding among all medical schools.
These are all remarkable achievements. I believe that the combination of strengths identified by these rankings strongly suggest that the UW School of Medicine is the leading public medical school in the nation.
We have a large group of people to thank for this distinction. The UW School of Medicine faculty, staff, trainees, and students are exceptional. Your consistent high level of performance and commitment speak to your dedication to our mission.
An achievement like this also provides our academic community with an important opportunity to reflect on our future. Rankings like these are important because they serve as a marker of what we have accomplished in the name of the public good. As a leading school, we have a responsibility to continue to improve. Multiple opportunities exist for innovation, efficiency, and improvement in all of our teaching, research, and clinical programs. The members of our community have the talent, drive, dedication, and service ethic to continue to accomplish great things and to improve even further.
I would like to thank the many individuals who are responsible for the high rankings by U.S. News & World Report and also thank you for your commitment to our mission of improving health for all people.
Paul G. Ramsey, M.D.
CEO, UW Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and
Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of Washington
Editor's note: For more information or to view some of the U.S.News & World Report rankings, visit the magazine's Web site at http://www.usnews.com/
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MRI SCANS USEFUL IN DETECTING OPPOSITE-BREAST CANCERS
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of women who were diagnosed with cancer in one breast detected over 90 percent of cancers in the other breast that were missed by mammography and clinical breast exam at initial diagnosis, according to a new study led by a researcher at the UW and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Given the established rates of mammography and clinical breast exams for detecting cancer in the opposite, or contralateral, breast, adding an MRI scan to the diagnostic evaluation effectively doubled the number of cancers immediately found in these women.
Constance Lehman, professor of radiology and director of breast imaging at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, served as principal investigator on the American College of Radiology Imaging Network study. The findings appear in the March 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The work was supported by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
About 10 percent of women diagnosed with cancer in one breast will develop the disease in the opposite breast. This trial was aimed at finding whether MRI scans could improve upon clinical breast exams and mammography in detecting cancer in the contralateral breast at the time of initial breast diagnosis.
Researchers recruited about a thousand women from 25 institutions who had a recent diagnosis of cancer in one breast. All of the women enrolled had a negative mammogram and negative clinical breast exam of the opposite breast within 90 days prior to the MRI. After receiving an MRI, 33 contralateral breast cancers were diagnosed in the study. Thirty of these tumors, or 91 percent, were diagnosed as a result of MRI. The other three cancers were detected due to subsequent mastectomies. Researchers found that the added benefit of MRI was consistent, regardless of a woman’s cancer type, age, or breast density. Dense breasts have more glandular and connective tissue as well as less fat tissue.
The study indicates that if an MRI screening of the opposite breast is negative, women diagnosed with cancer in only one breast can more confidently choose against having a double mastectomy. The findings also suggest that many women with opposite-breast cancers will be able to have those treated at initial diagnosis, rather than having to wait for years afterwards for another cancer diagnosis, the researchers said.
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GEORGE SAARI, WWAMI EDUCATOR AND PHYSICIAN, DIES UNEXPECTEDLY
George Saari, a physician in Bozeman, Mont., and associate director of the WWAMI medical education program at Montana State University, died unexpectedly last Saturday. He suffered a heart attack while skiing in Yellowstone National Park. Saari was 63.
Saari was born and raised in Hibbing, Minn., and received his medical degree from Columbia University. He completed his internal medicine residency at the UW and later conducted research in immunology and rheumatology at the national hospital of Norway in Oslo. In the early 1970s, he also worked in the Indian Health Service on Native American reservations in Washington and New Mexico.
The WWAMI program allows students in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho to complete some medical-school courses and clinical rotations in their home states, in combination with work at the main UW campus in Seattle. Saari joined the WWAMI program in 1985 as a preceptor, and he later became chairman of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine course for first-year students in Montana. Saari was known as a skilled physician and exceptional mentor to medical students. He received the UW medical school's WWAMI Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003.
Saari is survived by his wife, Anne Trygstad; son, Per Saari; and daughter, Kristina. His oldest son, Hans Saari, died in 2001. Donations in George Saari's name may be made to the Hans Saari Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 10478, Bozeman, MT, 59719. A family memorial service will be held in June.
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WANAGAT HONORED BY BROOKDALE FOUNDATION
Jonathan Wanagat, senior fellow and acting instructor in the Department of Medicine's Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, has received a Leadership in Aging Fellowship from the Brookdale Foundation.
The two-year fellowship recognizes leadership potential as well as professional achievement and provides up to $125,000 per year to support research. This year, there were 72 applicants for the five awards granted. The Brookdale Foundation is aimed at enhancing the quality of life of older adults, and supports research and care in gerontology and geriatrics.
Wanagat investigates the basic biology of aging and age-related disease. He attends in the SeniorCare clinic at Harborview Medical Center and serves on the Seattle-King County Advisory Council on Aging and Disability Services. He works in the lab of Peter Rabinovitch, professor of pathology. Wanagat is studying the age-related loss of muscle mass in mice, using a transgenic mouse model with enhanced longevity.
He may be reached at jwanagat@u.washington.edu
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SAVE THE DATE: BIRTHDAY SYMPOSIUM ON JULY 28 TO HONOR KING HOLMES
The UW Center for AIDS and STD is presenting a symposium to honor King Holmes, director of the center and chair of the new Department of Global Health, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The invited participants in the symposium include Holmes' colleagues and former trainees. The symposium will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 28, in the UW Health Sciences Building, Hogness Auditorium. Seating is limited. Please register by Friday, July 20, at https://catalysttools.washington.edu/survey/pilarski/34105
Holmes is also chief of the Division of Allergy and Infectious Disease at Harborview and head of the UW International Training and Education Center on HIV. For more information about the new global health department, which was established last year, visit its Web site at:
http://depts.washington.edu/deptgh/
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MEDEX NORTHWEST PROGRAM FEATURED IN WINDS OF CHANGE MAGAZINE
The UW MEDEX Northwest physician assistant training program has been featured in Winds of Change magazine as one of three physician assistant programs in the nation with strong cultural sensitivity. The magazine is published by the American Indian Science & Engineering Society.
The UW program is recognized for its special interest in recruiting and supporting indigenous students and providing health care to underserved populations. The PA training programs at the University of North Dakota and the Arizona School of Health Sciences/A.T. Still University were also recognized by the magazine in the cover story, Becoming a Physician Assistant.
The MEDEX Northwest program is one of the longest-running PA programs in the country, and trains nearly 100 students in each incoming class. It includes clinical training sites in Seattle, Spokane, and Yakima, and clinical preceptorships throughout the WWAMI region.
For more information about Winds of Change magazine, visit http://www.wocmag.org/
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Online News is published by Health Sciences/UW Medicine News and
Community Relations.
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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