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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 22
June 1, 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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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: Five years after its inception, the School of Medicine Colleges program is undergoing faculty transition
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This week’s news:
* UW School of Medicine All-School Celebration this weekend
* Rare type of kidney cancer promotes its own growth by affecting a protein-degradation system
* Vitamin supplements do not protect against lung cancer
* UW researchers well-represented at international gene therapy conference in Seattle
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MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN:
Dear Colleagues,
Five years ago, the UW School of Medicine Colleges program began as a product of a comprehensive curriculum review. The program was intended to provide a stronger foundation of basic clinical skills for our medical students, as well as a sustained, personal mentoring experience for each student in the context of a large medical school.
Like the WWAMI program at its inception, there was a great deal of uncertainty about how well the Colleges program would work or whether it would work at all. Thirty founding College faculty members worked tirelessly to develop and implement an innovative educational program. While there were elements of educational programs with similarities in other locations nationally, none combined the sustained mentoring, concentrated second-year bedside teaching, and development of benchmarks for basic clinical skills that the Director of the Colleges, Erika Goldstein, orchestrated along with College Heads Hugh Foy, Raye Maestas, Terry Mengert, Sherilyn Smith, and the other 25 College faculty.
The Colleges program has been an unprecedented success. Other medical schools throughout the nation, including The Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, San Diego, are emulating the program. Most important, our students are receiving superb training and mentoring from their College faculty. I would like to thank each of the 30 individual faculty members who have made this possible. They have worked extremely hard -- harder, I suspect, than any one of them would have imagined -- and have left a lasting contribution.
At this five-year point, several Colleges faculty members are stepping down to assume other commitments, and new faculty have been hired to take their places and to accommodate the expanding size of our student body. Stepping down are Terry Mengert, Kathleen Ellsbury, Terry Maresca, and Paul Sutton. I would like to thank each of these individuals for the strong legacy they leave the School’s educational program.
Rick Arnold, a College faculty member, will take Terry Mengert’s place as one of the five College heads. New College faculty were recently selected from more than 50 highly qualified applicants. The new College faculty members are: Ted Carter (Department of Pediatrics), Lisa Erlanger (Department of Family Medicine), Kay Johnson (Department of Medicine), Misbah Keen (Department of Family Medicine), Joe Merrill (Department of Medicine), and Genevieve Pagaliliauan (Department of Medicine).
I would like to welcome these individuals to their new roles and wish them well. I know that the Colleges program will benefit from their involvement, just as it will miss the superb individuals leaving the program.
Sincerely,
Paul G. Ramsey, M.D.
CEO, UW Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and
Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of Washington
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UW SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ALL-SCHOOL CELEBRATION THIS WEEKEND
The UW School of Medicine is holding its All-School Celebration this weekend, with events planned for students, faculty, and alumni, including the medical school Hooding and Clinical Transition ceremonies.
Second-year medical students will take part on Friday in the Clinical Transition Ceremony, which honors students as they transition from classroom education to clinical or laboratory training. The ceremony is for students and their family and friends only, and tickets are required for entry.
The UW Medicine Alumni Office will also host alumni gatherings for several medical school classes on Friday. The School of Medicine Hooding Ceremony for graduating medical students is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, at the Bank of America Arena at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion, on the UW main campus.
Immediately following the Hooding Ceremony, the School of Medicine is hosting the All-School Family Barbecue, for all students, faculty, alumni, and their friends and family members. The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, along the Montlake Cut behind the Fisheries Center, near UW Medical Center.
Alumni are also participating in tours, seminars, and the annual UW Medicine banquet on Saturday.
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KIDNEY CANCER PROMOTES OWN GROWTH BY AFFECTING PROTEIN-DEGRADATION SYSTEM
A Wilms tumor, a rare type of kidney cancer affecting children, promotes its own growth by taking over a genetic program used by normal cells during human development. That finding is the result of a UW-led study published May 18 in the journal Science. Randall Moon, UW professor of pharmacology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, led the research, which also involved Ben Major, a postdoctoral fellow in Moon's lab.
Scientists now understand that a misguided version of a cell signaling pathway called Wnt is involved in a variety of cancers and other diseases. Wnt normally works with an intracellular protein called Beta-catenin to trigger changes within cells. In the absence of Wnt, Beta-catenin is degraded by a destruction complex.
In the new study, researchers found that efficient function of the Beta-catenin destruction complex depends on a protein called WTX that is often mutated in kidney cancer cells. They then investigated the activity of that protein in the test tube and in living organisms, and confirmed that WTX changes the effects of Wnt signaling.
This is the latest of several Wnt-related compounds that have been implicated in many cancers, retinal diseases, osteoporosis, and likely some neurodegenerative diseases.
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VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS DO NOT DECREASE LUNG CANCER RISK
Taking vitamin supplements does not decrease a person's risk of developing lung cancer, according to a study of more than 77,000 adults. The results of the study were presented May 21 at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference.
Chris Slatore, fellow in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Department of Medicine, led the research. The thousands of adults in the study, between 50 and 76 years old, filled out an extensive questionnaire on intake of vitamins, such as multivitamins, vitamin C or E, or folate, over the previous 10 years. That data was then cross-referenced to a government cancer registry and adjusted for risk factors like smoking, age, sex, and cancer history. The researchers found no change in lung cancer risk from the intake of vitamin supplements.
The study is part of a larger project examining how vitamin supplements may affect risk for various types of cancer, including prostate and breast cancer. People spend billions of dollars on vitamin supplements, Slatore said, and many believe the supplements may prevent cancer and other disease.
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UW WELL REPRESENTED AT GENE THERAPY CONFERENCE
Twelve UW researchers are among the speakers at the 10th annual meeting this week of the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT), held in Seattle. The society is a non-profit medical and professional organization that represents researchers and scientists devoted to the discovery of gene therapies.
George Stamatoyannopoulos, UW professor of medicine, established ASGT in 1996 with some of the country's leading researchers in gene therapy. Members of the society exchange information and provide education about gene therapy among professionals and the public, and promote clinical translations of gene therapy for a variety of diseases.
UW medical faculty listed among the conference speakers are: Jeff Chamberlain, David Dichek, Louis Garrison Jr., David Emery, Philip Greenberg, Andre Lieber, Carol Miao, Charles Murry, Suzie Pun, Alexander Rudensky, Stamatoyannopoulos, and Christopher Wilson. From the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center were Hans-Peter Kiem and Rainer Storb. Several other UW researchers prepared poster presentations. UW researcher David W. Russell serves on the board of directors for ASGT.
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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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