NEWS BRIEFS

• Cancer Center Recognized
• Investiture Ceremony
• Research Excellence
• Nursing Diversity
• Special Assistant Named
• Backpack Facts
• Seizure Study

Cancer Center Recognized

The MCG Cancer Center has been named a member of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, an organization of the 90 leading cancer research centers in the United States.

Members include National Cancer Institute-designated centers and academic-based cancer research programs supported by NCI.

“We are being recognized because this institution is committed to move very rapidly on a path of establishing infrastructure, recruiting new talent and developing core facilities that will allow bench-to-clinic cancer research in all areas, stating with prevention, screening and care,” said Dr. Kapil Bhalla, director of the center and Cecil F. Whitaker Jr., M.D. Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cancer.

The Cancer Research Center, which opened in 2006 as a hub for basic science studies, was a major factor in the section, Dr. Bhalla said. The center’s research programs are expanding in cancer prevention and control, developmental therapeutics, immunology/immunotherapy, molecular oncology, epigenetics, chaperone biology and molecular signaling.

Other assets include an MCG Medical Center facility for early-phase clinical trials, multidisciplinary research, a Tissue and Serum Repository and a Tumor Molecular Profiling Facility and NCI Minority-Based Community Clinical Oncology Program designation.

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Investiture Ceremony

Drs. Cargill Alleyne Jr., Norman Chutkan and Ana Murphy were honored as the School of Medicine’s newest department chairs during the school’s inaugural Chair Investiture Ceremony Nov. 13.

“Chairing a department is both a distinguished honor and an immense responsibility,” said School of Medicine Dean D. Douglas Miller. “This annual ceremony is one way to recognize the exceptional commitment these faculty members have made to the School of Medicine and the entire university.”

Dr. Alleyne, chair of neurosurgery, specializes in the open and endovascular treatment of vascular conditions such as aneurysms, carotid disease and stroke. Dr. Chutkan, chair of orthopedics, specializes in spinal deformities, spine trauma and complex spinal reconstruction. Dr. Murphy, chair of obstetrics and gynecology, is a reproductive endocrinologist specializing in infertility.

Also during the ceremony, Dr. Ruth Marie Fincher, vice dean for academic affairs, received the Alumni Outstanding Educator Award from her alma mater, Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

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Research Excellence

The MCG Research Institute honored six scientists for their professional contributions at its annual awards banquet Nov. 2.

Awardees were selected by an interdisciplinary panel of NIH-funded researchers at MCG. The recipients and their awards are:

• Dr. William B. Strong, Emeritus Leon Henri Charbonnier Professor of Pediatrics and Section Chief Emeritus of Pediatric Cardiology, and Dr. Paul G. McDonough, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Physiology and Endocrinology and Pediatrics: Lifetime Achievement Awards for fundamental research leading to insights into disease prevention, progression or therapy.


• Dr. Sylvia B. Smith, professor, Departments of Cellular Biology and Anatomy and Ophthalmology, and associate dean for student affairs for the MCG School of Medicine: Mahesh Distinguished Research Award for significant, sustained contributions to research, sustained external funding support as an National Institutes of Health principal investigator and outstanding mentoring/leadership.


• Dr. Jeannette Andrews, chair and associate professor of biobehavioral nursing, School of Nursing; Dr. Kalu Ogbureke, assistant professor of oral biology and maxillofacial pathology, School of Dentistry; and
  Dr. Haidong Zhu, assistant professor of pediatrics, Georgia Prevention Institute: Emerging Scientist Awards recognizing early, significant contributions to science.

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Nursing Diversity

A three-year, $659,000 U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration grant will fund a School of Nursing program to step up recruitment of under-represented baccalaureate students.

“There is a great need to decrease health disparities and ensure that our health care community reflects the population it serves,” said Dr. Deborah A. Smith, a nursing instructor and principal investigator on the grant. “To serve a diverse population, we have to attract, retain and support a diverse student body.”

The program will offer peer tutoring, enrichment activities and a scholarship program to not only attract more under-represented students, but to help ensure their success once they enroll, according to Dr. Shirley Quarles, assistant dean for community partnerships in the School of Nursing and a co-investigator on the grant.

Offerings also will include a summer camp for selected pre-nursing students. “We’ll help them [improve] study habits and time-management skills and advise them on the health sciences courses they should be taking now,” said Dr. Quarles. The program will target local students for its first camp next summer, then collaborate with Area Health Education Centers to expand statewide.

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Special Assistant Named

Annie Hunt Burriss, an economic developer and higher-education administrator, has been named special assistant to President Daniel W. Rahn.

“Annie will help MCG meet its statewide health sciences mission of teaching, research and service in ways that are both mission-centered and market-smart,” said Dr. Rahn, who is also senior vice chancellor for health and medical programs for the University System of Georgia. “Her work will enable us to better collaborate with our strategic partners statewide in academia, business and government.”

Ms. Burriss will initially focus on School of Medicine expansion, aligning MCG research with Georgia’s economy and improving and expanding University System of Georgia medical and health education programs.

Ms. Burriss served as senior advisor to Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue from 2002-03 and executive director of the governor’s Commission for a New Georgia from 2004-05. She has also served as assistant vice chancellor for development and economic services and associate vice chancellor for economic development for the University System of Georgia. She worked in economic development for Georgia Power and the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce. In 1989, she founded a biomedical partnership, now known as Georgia Bio, to effectively link business, academia and government.

Most recently, she served as associate provost for evening degree programs and deputy to the president for community affairs for Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.

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Backpack Facts

The pain in his back was gone in seconds after Javan Torrence’s backpack straps were adjusted.

“Before, my back was hurting so bad,” said Javan, a fourth-grader at Augusta’s Tobacco Road Elementary School. “It felt like a rock! But now, I feel a lot better.”

MCG occupational therapy students were on a mission to prevent pain and injury at the elementary school Sept. 18 as part of National School Backpack Awareness Day. The event, sponsored by the American Occupational Therapy Association, educates children, parents and faculty about potential health risks of heavy and improperly worn backpacks.

“We want to make sure the kids are wearing their backpacks correctly to prevent injuries,” said Meredith LeGrand, a second-year occupational therapy student.

“If they’re hurting their backs at 9 and 10 years old, imagine how they’ll feel when they’re older. We want to teach them while they’re young because in reality, they’re going to be carrying a backpack for another 10 years at least.”

MCG students performed skits showing the incorrect way to pack and carry a backpack and conducted a weigh-in to see which students exceeded the recommended load in their book bags. The American Occupational Therapy Association recommends backpacks weigh no more than 15 percent of a child’s weight.

MCG students stressed wearing both shoulder straps and demonstrated how to adjust them so the pack fits snugly to the child’s back.

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Seizure Study

MCG is among 28 U.S. centers participating in a study to determine if a neurostimulator can help patients whose seizures are not well-controlled by drugs.

“The device constantly monitors electrical activity of the brain, gets accustomed to what is normal for that patient and, when it detects activity that is abnormal, within a few milliseconds, sends out a small electrical stimulus to stop it,” said Dr. Yong Park, MCG pediatric epileptologist and a principal investigator.

At MCG Medical Center, the RNS™ System, developed by California-based medical device manufacturer NeuroPace, will be used in about 10 adults. About 240 patients are expected to enroll nationwide. Eligible participants must have at least three seizures per month and no more than two seizure foci in the brain.
Participants have a device implanted in the skull, with electrodes placed near the seizure focus. After a computer measures electrical activity picked up by the neurostimulator, the device is programmed to recognize seizure activity. During the first month after implant, the RNS™ is set for detection only while doctors design parameters that allow it to reliably detect the onset of seizure activity, said Dr. Patty Ray, study coordinator. After one month, half of the patients are set for detection and responsive stimulation, the other half continuing with detection only. After four months, all devices are set for detection and responsive stimulation throughout the remainder of the two-year study. After the study, patients will be eligible for a study to continue to use the device until it receives FDA approval, Dr. Ray says.

For more information about the NeuroPace study, call Dr. Ray at 706-721-6260 or visit www.seizurestudy.com.

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