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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 30
Aug. 3, 2007
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This week’s news:
* Search process launched for Harborview Medical Center executive director position
* Judith Wasserheit named ambassador for global health research society
* Peter Eby receives radiology research scholarship from American Roentgen Ray Society
* Frederick Appelbaum receives Statesman Award from American Society of Clinical Oncology
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SEARCH COMMITTEE FORMED FOR HARBORVIEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
UW Medicine and the Harborview Medical Center Board of Trustees have launched the search process for a new executive director for Harborview. Dr. Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and Dean of the UW School of Medicine, and Kimberly McNally, president of the Harborview Board of Trustees, have formally appointed 12 people to the search committee. Bruce Ferguson, chief financial officer of UW Medicine and vice president for medical affairs for the University of Washington, will chair the committee.
Consistent with the UW-King County management contract for Harborview, the search committee will have equal membership from the Harborview Board and UW staff -- six people from the board and six staff members.
The Harborview Board members serving on the committee are: Kimberly McNally, William Fallon, Jane Guiltinan, David Hadley, Kristin Houser, and Clayton Lewis. Scott Wallace and John Sothern will serve as board member alternates on the committee.
In addition to Ferguson, the UW employees serving on the committee are: Meg Kerrigan, associate administrator of ambulatory and allied care services at HMC; Chris Martin, administrative director of emergency services at HMC; Ronald Maier, UW professor of surgery and chief of surgery at HMC; Virginia Broudy, UW professor of medicine and chief of medicine at HMC; and Ruth Mahan, vice dean for administration and finance in the UW School of Medicine. Marjorie Wadden, manager of administrative policies and governing board relations at HMC, will staff the committee.
The committee with hold its first meeting on Sept. 6. Its first duty will be to select a search consultant to assist in the process.
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WASSERHEIT NAMED AMBASSADOR IN GLOBAL HEALTH SOCIETY
Judith N. Wasserheit, professor of global health and medicine and vice chair of the Department of Global Health in the UW Schools of Medicine and Public Health & Community Medicine, has been named an ambassador in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research.
Wasserheit is one of 51 of the nation's foremost global health experts who have joined forces to increase awareness about the critical need for greater American public and private investment in research to improve global health. That investment could help eliminate health disparities between industrialized and developing countries, and within the United States, Wasserheit said, and prevent the emergence and spread of dangerous diseases like avian flu, SARS, and tuberculosis.
Wasserheit is also an affiliate investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She was formerly the director of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, the largest global clinical trials platform linking 28 sites on four continents in evaluating preventive HIV vaccines. Prior to that, she led the STD Prevention Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for almost a decade after establishing and serving as the first chief of the STD Research Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. She has had extensive experience in STD research, policy development and program implementation, both in the United States and in developing countries.
Wasserheit will work to raise the visibility of global health research through the news media and in meetings with policy-makers, opinion leaders and the public. One of her central messages will be to stress the importance of effective collaboration among the nation's government, industry, academic, patient advocacy and philanthropic research sectors.
The society, named for a former Florida congressman and renowned champion for research to improve health, was established in 2006 by Research!America with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In its first two years, the society's advisory council -- which includes three Nobel Laureates -- selected 51 of the nation's leading scientist advocates to serve as ambassadors.
Research!America is the nation's largest not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make health-related research a higher national priority. For more information, visit: http://www.researchamerica.org
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PETER EBY RECEIVES RADIOLOGY RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP
Peter Eby, UW assistant professor of radiology, has been named the 2007 ARRS/Philips Medical Systems Scholar. The ARRS is the American Roentgen Ray Society, and is the oldest radiology society in the United States. This scholarship supports work of a researcher's choice to attain career goals and prepare for leadership positions in academic radiology.
Eby specializes in breast imaging and image-guided therapy for breast cancer. He plans to use the scholarship to complete a graduate program in bioengineering and combine his bioengineering and radiology backgrounds in developing a research proposal on image-guided tumor ablation.
After earning his medical degree from Vanderbilt, Eby came to the UW to complete his residency in diagnostic radiology. He joined the UW faculty in 2005. Eby may be reached at preby@u.washington.edu
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FREDERICK APPELBAUM HONORED BY CLINICAL ONCOLOGY SOCIETY
Frederick Appelbaum, UW professor of medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology, has received the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) Statesman Award. The award was created to honor the society's founders, presidents, and board members. Appelbaum, a former board member, is the first recipient of the Statesman Award.
Appelbaum is executive director and president of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, head of the Division of Medical Oncology at the UW, and director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Clinical Research Division.
The ASCO represents all disciplines and subspecialties in oncology, and its annual meeting attracts nearly 30,000 attendees.
Appelbaum may be reached at fappelba@fhcrc.org
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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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