UW School of Medicine Online News 5-16-08

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University of Washington School of Medicine

Online News

Vol. 12, No. 20
May 16, 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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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 launches 2008 strategic planning process

* UW Medicine alumni Gerald Nepom, Ann Kao, Ben Danielson, and John Vassall II to be honored at All-School Celebration in June

* UW shoulder surgeon Frederick Matsen presents current concepts of rotator cuff tear and treatment in the New England Journal of Medicine

* Regenerative medicine researcher Randall Moon to discuss Wnt signaling in May 22 Science in Medicine Lecture


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UW MEDICINE LAUNCHES 2008 STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the launch of the 2008 UW Medicine strategic planning process earlier this week. Ramsey appointed an oversight committee to direct the strategic planning process, which will be completed in March 2009. Johnese Spisso, clinical operations officer for UW Medicine and UW vice president for medical affairs, will chair the oversight committee, which includes faculty and executive leaders from throughout UW Medicine.

Oversight committee members are: Bill Bremner, the Robert G. Petersdorf professor and chair of medicine; Norm Beauchamp, professor and chair of radiology; Bill Catterall, professor and chair of pharmacology; Bruce Ferguson, chief financial officer for UW Medicine and UW vice president for medical affairs; Meg Kerrigan, executive director of UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics; Lori Mitchell, chief financial officer of Harborview Medical Center; Carlos Pellegrini, the Henry N. Harkins professor and chair of surgery; Larry Robinson, vice dean for clinical affairs and professor of rehabilitation medicine; Mika Sinanan, president of UW Physicians and professor of surgery; and Stephen P. Zieniewicz, executive director of UW Medical Center.

The oversight committee will gather input from internal and external groups, communicate regularly with key stakeholders across UW Medicine, and make recommendations. By mid-June, a consultant will be selected to provide staff support for the process.

Developing a strategic plan and vision is a critical initiative for UW Medicine, Ramsey said. UW Medicine’s mission is to improve health through three major academic activities: professional service, teaching, and research. The planning process will help focus and revise UW Medicine’s vision, identify strategies, and consider operational and financial requirements to implement and sustain key strategies. As work progresses, the oversight committee will solicit feedback from UW Medicine community members.

Those who have questions about the strategic planning process can contact Johnese Spisso at jmspisso@u.washington.edu


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UW MEDICINE TO HONOR ALUMNI AT ALL-SCHOOL CELEBRATION

The UW Medicine Alumni Association will honor four alumni with annual awards, which will be presented during a reception June 7 at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. The event is part of the UW Medicine All-School Celebration.

Gerald Nepom, director of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award. The award recognizes a graduate whose professional achievements and cumulative contributions have brought personal distinction, enhanced the profession, improved the welfare of the general public, and brought honor to the UW medical school.

Nepom, an affiliate professor of immunology, completed both his medical degree and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the UW in the late 1970s. He has been an affiliate faculty member at the UW since 1982, and director of Seattle's Benaroya Research Institute, previously known as the Virginia Mason Research Center, since 1985. Nepom is a leader in molecular immunology, autoimmunity, and immunotherapy. His research helped lead to the discovery of the major gene associated with type 1 juvenile diabetes, an autoimmune disorder.

Ann Kao, pediatric clinician-educator at Massachusetts General Hospital and pediatric coordinator with the Cambodian Health Committee, will receive the Humanitarian Award, which acknowledges alumni who embody the ideals of the School of Medicine and whose careers reflect a commitment to serve others through the practice of medicine.

Kao is working in Cambodia to strengthen medical programs for children with HIV/AIDS. She graduated with honors from the UW School of Medicine in 2000, and completed her residency at Harvard's combined internal medicine and pediatrics program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital, Boston. While serving as a Thomas S. Durant Fellow for Refugee Medicine through Massachusetts General, she was the medical director of the Nyabiheke Refugee Camp in Rwanda. Kao was also recognized for her work on medical missions in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Romania, and her work at a clinic for the underserved in Boston.

Ben Danielson, medical director of Odessa Brown Children's Clinic in Seattle, will receive the Early Achievement Alumni Award. The award honors alumni who graduated from medical school within the past 20 years, and have excelled in a medical career, or made significant contributions or remarkable achievements in clinical care, medical science, humanitarianism, or administrative activities.

Danielson received his medical degree at the UW in 1992, and completed his residency at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. He is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics, and works with medical and physician-assistant students and medical residents at Odessa Brown, a community health center that serves a culturally diverse, predominately low-income population. Danielson serves as a preceptor in the UW School of Medicine's Rural and Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP) and the Minority Mentoring Program. He has been recognized for his community advocacy, especially on issues facing low-income and minority youth populations.

John Vassall II, vice president of medical affairs for Swedish Medical Center, will receive the Alumni Service Award, which honors dedication and determined efforts on behalf of the UW School of Medicine and the UW Medicine Alumni Association that have benefited the community.

Vassall received his medical degree at the UW in 1978 and completed his residency and internship in internal medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University Affiliated Hospitals in Atlanta. He was chief of staff at Swedish from 2005 to 2007, and has been on staff there since 1983. Vassall is also a clinical associate professor of medicine, and is a past president of the UW Medicine Alumni Association. He is an American Medical Association delegate from the Washington State Medical Association, and is a speaker of the House of Delegates and member of the board for the Washington State Medical Association. Vassall received the 2006 Internist of the Year award from the Washington Chapter of the American College of Physicians, in recognition of his outstanding clinical skills and leadership.

To learn more about the UW Medicine All-School Celebration, contact Annie Pontrelli, director for UW Medicine alumni relations, at pontrell@u.washington.edu or 206-543-3569. Information is also available on the UW Medicine Alumni Association Web site at:
http://depts.washington.edu/medalum/AllSchoolCelebration/index.php


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UW SHOULDER SURGEON PRESENTS CURRENT CONCEPTS OF ROTATOR-CUFF TEAR AND TREATMENT

Rotator-cuff tears are the most common cause of shoulder pain and disability, accounting for more than 4.5 million visits to physicians each year in the United States. In this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, Frederick Matsen, professor and chair of orthopaedics and sports medicine, authors an invited Current Concepts Review of this important condition. He differentiates the acute, traumatic tear from the chronic rotator-cuff defect that comes on gradually over time with minimal injury. The acute rotator-cuff tear causes an abrupt onset of shoulder weakness and requires prompt diagnosis and surgical repair. While the rotator cuff cannot be seen on ordinary X-rays, a tear in the cuff tendons can be visualized using ultrasound or MRI.

Chronic cuff defects usually arise from age-related tendon degeneration. They may not be noticed by the patient, Matsen points out in his review. In fact, 30 percent of asymptomatic people older than age 60 have rotator-cuff defects, and 65 percent of asymptomatic people over age 70 have the defects. When they are symptomatic, chronic cuff tears provide an opportunity for a trial of non-operative management using exercises to restore comfort and function before considering a surgical approach. Surgery can help resolve problems of catching and stiffness. If good-quality cuff tissue remains, the tendon can be secured back to the bone from which it was torn.

Matsen's article is available to UW faculty, students, and staff through the UW Libraries at:
http://healthlinks.washington.edu/hsl/

More information about the UW Medicine approach to rotator cuff defects can be found at http://www.orthop.washington.edu/rotatorcuff


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RANDALL MOON TO SPEAK IN SCIENCE IN MEDICINE LECTURE MAY 22

Randall Moon, director and the William and Marilyn Conner Professor for the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, will give the next Science in Medicine Lecture from noon to 1 p.m., Thursday, May 22, in Hogness Auditorium in the UW Health Sciences Center.

In 1989, Moon, UW professor of pharmacology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, discovered that an oncogene, now called Wnt-1, triggers a signal transduction cascade that controls diverse aspects of early development.

His lecture, Wnt Signaling in Regeneration and Regenerative Medicine, will emphasize recent research in the laboratory that reveals how Wnt signaling holds promise as a therapy for regenerative medicine. Moon's research leverages insights into how the Wnt family of proteins act as ligands to stimulate receptor-mediated signal transduction cascades, to better understand how these pathways are linked to diseases including cancer, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer's, and to work on therapies for these and other diseases.

Moon received his Ph.D. in zoology at the UW in 1982. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology from 1982 to 1985. In 1985 Moon joined the UW faculty as an assistant professor of pharmacology, becoming a professor in 1997. He received a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health for 1990 to 1994. In 1994 he became an associate investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, becoming an investigator in 1997. Moon is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Science in Medicine Lecture, presented by the UW School of Medicine, will be simulcast at the following locations: Harborview Medical Center Research & Training Building, room 121; VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle Division - Bldg. 1, Room 518, American Lake Division - Bldg. 2, Room 343, VA HSR&D Met Park, conference room E14; Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, conference room G3102; WSU Riverpoint Campus Phase 1 Auditorium, SCLC 122.

This lecture is open to all faculty, staff and students. No registration is required. For more information contact Vee White at veewhite@u.washington.edu.


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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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