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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 12, No. 34
August 22, 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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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 Medical Center seeking candidates for medical director position
* Younger soldiers and those from National Guard and reserves at higher risk for alcohol problems following combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan
* Department of Medicine faculty members Teresa Brentnall and Roy Colven appointed to endowed positions
* Cancer patients nearly twice as likely as general population to commit suicide, according to study led by UW resident Stephanie Misono
* Group Health physician and UW clinical faculty member John Dunn to lead project promoting painless nasal spray flu vaccine for children
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UW MEDICAL CENTER SEEKING MEDICAL DIRECTOR CANDIDATES
UW Medical Center is seeking candidates for the position of medical director. This is a key leadership position for UWMC and for UW Medicine. The medical director is responsible for overseeing the provision and quality of medical care and the facilitation of teaching and clinical research within the medical center. The medical director also holds an appointment as an associate dean in the UW School of Medicine.
Individuals interested in seeking this position should send their curriculum vitae to the head of the search committee, Norman Beauchamp, professor and chairman of the Department of Radiology. Beauchamp can be reached at nbeauch@u.washington.edu
The position description is available online at:
http://tinyurl.com/6e4un9
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YOUNGER SOLDIERS AND THOSE FROM RESERVES AND NATIONAL GUARD AT HIGHER RISK OF POST-WAR ALCOHOL ABUSE
Younger members of the military and those who are members of the National Guard or reserves returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk of starting binge drinking, heavy regular drinking, and other problems with alcohol, according to a study appearing in the Aug. 13 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study was led by Isabel Jacobson of the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, and was co-authored by Edward Boyko, UW professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and physician at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. Past research has shown that military personnel returning from past conflicts have had high rates of alcohol misuse, and researchers believe that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with serving in war can increase the risk of alcohol abuse. However, little research has been done on alcohol abuse among those returning from the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For this project, the researchers examined data from tens of thousands of questionnaires completed by military personnel, including about 11,000 who were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. They found that serving in a deployment and being exposed to combat increased the risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, new-onset binge drinking, and other alcohol-related problems, compared with military personnel who were not deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Among reservists and National Guard soldiers, heavy weekly drinking and alcohol-related problems showed the strongest association, with those soldiers having a 63 percent higher risk of either behavior than non-deployed soldiers. Among active-duty soldiers deployed and exposed to combat, the risk of new-onset binge drinking was 31 percent higher than non-deployed soldiers.
Women soldiers were at higher risk of new-onset heavy weekly drinking, but were less likely to report binge drinking or alcohol-related problems. Younger soldiers were at higher risk of binge drinking and alcohol-related problems, and soldiers with PTSD were at increased odds of alcohol-related problems.
The researchers argue that interventions for returning soldiers should focus on at-risk groups, such as younger soldiers, reserve/National Guard personnel, and those with mental-health disorders.
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BRENTNALL, COLVEN APPOINTED TO ENDOWED POSITIONS IN DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE
Two faculty members in the Department of Medicine have recently been appointed as holders of new endowed positions. Teresa Brentnall, professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, has been appointed the first holder of the Charles and Mary Ann Walters Endowed Chair. Roy Colven, associate professor of medicine and head of the Section of Dermatology at Harborview Medical Center, has been appointed the first holder of the John E. Olerud Endowed Professorship for Dermatology Training.
The Charles and Mary Ann Walters Endowed Chair was established in 2006 by an anonymous donor to support distinguished faculty studying pancreatic and associated digestive cancers. Brentnall, also adjunct professor of pathology, investigates early detection, prevention, and management of pancreatic and colon cancer. She led a team that discovered a link between a particular genetic mutation and familial pancreatic cancer, and developed a screening protocol for the disease using endoscopic ultrasound. She is a graduate of the UW School of Medicine and completed a medicine residency at UCLA and a gastroenterology fellowship at the UW.
The Olerud Endowed Professorship was recently established with a $500,000 contribution by Division Head John E. Olerud and Lynda Olerud. The professorship is intended to support distinguished faculty in dermatology and to strengthen dermatology training. Colven, director of the Dermatology Residency Program, is a graduate of the UW School of Medicine and completed residencies in medicine at UW and dermatology at Duke. He specializes in HIV-related skin disorders, and provides global consultation via telemedicine, notably the Teledermatology Network that he established in South Africa.
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CANCER PATIENTS AT HIGHER RISK OF SUICIDE THAN GENERAL POPULATION
People with cancer are nearly twice as likely as the general population to commit suicide, though their overall risk is fairly low, according to a UW study published online this month by the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study was led by Stephanie Misono, a resident in the UW Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.
The study looked at data between 1973 and 2002 from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, and health statistics data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers found that the suicide rate for cancer patients was 31.4 per 100,000 people per year, compared with 16.7 per 100,000 among the general population.
Higher rates of suicide were associated with patients being men, or white, or being older at their time of diagnosis. Patients with lung, stomach, oral/pharyngeal, and larynx cancers had the highest risk among those with cancer.
The study included researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the UW School of Medicine and the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Services in the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine. It also included researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Minnesota.
The UW-led study was one of three tackling cancer and suicide that were published online by the journal this month. An accompanying editorial urged the oncology community to give more attention to the issue of suicide and suicidal thoughts among cancer patients, and expand its focus to include all cancer patients, rather than just those who are terminally ill.
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PROGRAM LED BY GROUP HEALTH AND UW DOCTOR WILL PROMOTE PAINLESS FLU VACCINE
A pilot program led by a Group Health physician and UW clinical faculty member will promote the use of a new painless nasal flu vaccine for children. John Dunn, a clinical instructor of family medicine at the UW and a physician at Group Health, will lead the program.
Though flu vaccines are often suggested for children, only about 30 percent of kids in the United States get the vaccines each year. Researchers think that parents choose not to vaccinate their children against the flu because they do not view the infection as a serious risk, or prefer not to subject their children to another painful injection after a series of other vaccinations. Public health experts believe that a new painless flu vaccine administered nasally could help boost the rates of flu vaccination in children.
In this project, the nasal vaccine will be promoted in some Group Health medical centers, and medical staff will encourage parents to have their children receive the vaccine. The program was funded with a $75,000 grant from the Partnership for Innovation, a collaboration between Group Health clinical programs, the organization's Center for Health Studies, and the Group Health Foundation.
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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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