Newsmakers
Dr. Akinwuntan appointed to transportation committee
Dr.
Abiodun Akinwuntan, an assistant professor in the School of Allied Health
Sciences Department of Physical Therapy, has been appointed to the
Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Simulation and Measurement of
Vehicle and Operator Performance.
The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Research Council, a private nonprofit institution that provides expertise in science and technology to the government, public and scientific and engineering communities. The council is jointly administered by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.
Dr. Akinwuntan researches high-fidelity driving simulation for neurologically impaired patients.
Dr. Akinwuntan joined MCG in 2005. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physiotherapy at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and his master’s and doctoral degrees in neuromotor rehabilitation at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Physical Therapy, the Medical Rehabilitation Therapists Board of Nigeria and the Health Professions Council of the United Kingdom.
Dr. Bergeron to serve as consultant
Dr.
Michael F. Bergeron, assistant professor of physical therapy, will serve a
three-year term as a consultant to the executive committee of the American
Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness.
The council works with pediatric health care providers to encourage optimal and safe physical activity for children.
Dr. Bergeron, an exercise physiologist who studies the effects of exercise in the heat, will advise the council on its outreach programs including education, policy statements and reports, collaborative partnerships, advocacy work and implementation projects.
A faculty member since 1998, he is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and chairs its Strategic Health Initiative Youth Sports and Health Committee. He is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and the Journal of Athletic Training.
Dr. Buckley named to NIH board
Dr.
Peter F. Buckley, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior,
has been selected to serve on a National Institute of Mental Health Data and
Safety Monitoring Board.
The institute’s boards help ensure safeguards for research participants and help monitor clinical trials to determine whether they need to be modified or terminated.
Dr. Buckley, who researches the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia, will serve a three-year term reviewing novel treatments for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.
He is the inaugural chair of the National Institutes of Health’s Interventions Committee for Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, Personality Disorders and Disorders of Late Life. He previously served on a subcommittee of the National Institute of Mental Health Data Safety and Monitoring Board and Loan Repayment Program Special Review Panel.
He is president of the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry and a member of the National Foundation for Mental Health Board of Directors and the International Congress on Schizophrenia Advisory Board. He is on the Scientific Council of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders.
Dr. Buckley is the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association’s Psychiatrist of the Year. He received the 2004 Administrative Psychiatric Award from the American Psychiatric Association for his work on state university collaborations.
Dr. Buckley is an examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is editor of the Journal of Dual Diagnosis, an editorial board member of eight journals, including Psychiatric Times and Academic Psychiatry, and annual co-editor of the “Mosby Yearbook of Psychiatry.” He is a referee for more than 40 journals.
He came to MCG in 2000 from Case Western Reserve University, where he was vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry and medical director for the state psychiatric services in Cleveland. He earned a medical degree from Ireland’s University College Dublin School of Medicine. He completed internships at St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin and a psychiatry residency and research fellowship at St. John of God Psychiatric Services in Dublin.
Mr. Echols appointed to committee
Kenneth
Echols, manager of the Family Medicine Center and Pain Management, has been
appointed to the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives Civics
Committee for a one-year term.
He joined MCG in 1988 as practice manager of the Eye Clinic.
Mr. Echols is a member of the CSRA Medical Managers, the Medical Group Management Association and the American College for Healthcare Executives. He served 12 years as a member of the Richmond County Board of Education, two as president, and 10 years with the Richmond County Board of Health. He is a graduate of Leadership Augusta.
Mr. Echols earned a bachelor’s degree in Health Care Management at Southern Illinois University and a master’s degree in Health Service Administration at Armstrong Atlantic State University.
Dr. Fincher elected to executive board
Dr.
Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, vice dean for academic affairs in the School of
Medicine, has been elected to a two-year term as an at-large member of the
National Board of Medical Examiners Executive Board, which develops the
three-step United States Medical Licensing Examination, an evaluation system
for applicants seeking medical licensure in the United States. The board
also provides testing, educational, consultative and research services to
medical specialty boards, societies and health care organizations worldwide.
Its 10-member Executive Board considers policy questions and acts for the entire NBME membership between annual meetings.
Dr. Fincher has worked continuously with NBME since 1987, currently serving as a member of the Hubbard Award and Composite Committees as well as the Patient Note Task Force and Key Validation Committee of the Step 2 Clinical Skills Examination. She was elected a member of the NBME board in 2005.
She is a member of the Executive Board of the Alliance for Clinical Education, a U.S. representative to the Institute for International Medical Education and a member of the board of directors of the national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha.
Dr. Fincher was recently named a member of the six-person Oversight Committee of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. She is a member of the AAMC’s National Group of Educational Affairs’ Consensus Conference on Educational Scholarship Steering Committee and Research in Medical Education and Undergraduate Medical Education Sections. She is a member of the AAMC’s MCAT Program Advisory Committee, MedEdPORTAL Advisory Committee and the Education Subcommittee of the Group on Business Affairs Data and Benchmarking Committee.
The annual service award from the Clerkship Directors in Internal Medicine, the association for internal medicine educators in North America, is named in her honor. Dr. Fincher served on the steering committee that developed CDIM, was the first elected president of the organization and has directed its Annual Pre-Course for New Clerkship Directors for 16 years. She received the group’s first service award in 1998 and the Educational Program Award in 2002.
Dr. Fincher joined MCG in 1984 and was named the inaugural vice dean for academic affairs in the School of Medicine 10 years later. She is a 1976 graduate of Emory University School of Medicine and completed residency training at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals.
Mr. Johnson wins Telly Award
Videographer
Tim Johnson in the Department of Visual and Instructional Design has won a
bronze Telly Award for a video he filmed and directed about a grant
introducing allied health students to career opportunities in rural areas,
If Given the Opportunity: The Rural Health Project. The video was
co-produced by Dr. W. Kent Guion, associate dean for academic affairs in the
School of Allied Health Sciences.
Telly Awards recognize regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the video and film productions, and are considered among the most prestigious in the industry.
This is Mr. Johnson’s fourth national award since coming to MCG in 2004.
He won top honors in the 2005 Telly Awards for the video, To Teach, Discover and Care, which he produced for the School of Allied Health Sciences. He won the Health and Science Communications Association’s Silver Award and the Admissions Advertising Award for his video, A Closer Look: MCG Admissions, and the 2005 award for Best Short feature and 2006 award for Best Local Feature in Augusta’s Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival.
Mr. Johnson earned a communications degree from Augusta College (now Augusta State University) in 1985. He has worked for production houses in California, Augusta and Aiken, S.C., and spent 10 years in cable television as a video producer and freelancer.
Dr. Stachura named associate editor
Dr.
Max E. Stachura, director of the Center for Telehealth and Georgia Research
Alliance Eminent Scholar in Telemedicine, has been named an associate editor
of the new open-access International Journal of Telemedicine and
Application.
Dr. Stachura is member of the editorial board of Telemedicine Journal and e-Health and immediate past president of the Alliance for Public Technology.
He is a clinical advisor for Network of Advisors in New York, which works with academicians who serve as short-term consultants, and a member of the advisory board of Health-e-Station, LLC in Atlanta, a company that provides walk-in telehealth clinics. He recently completed a six-year term on the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Blood Research’s Intelegen Genetics Clinical and Educational TeleOutreach Project. Dr. Stachura is MCG’s leader for the Siberian State Medical University-MCG Agreement in Telehealth.
Dr. Stachura came to MCG in 1981 as chief of the Section of Endocrinology. He has directed the Center for Telehealth for nine years.
MCGHI named to top 100 list
MCG Medical Center is the only hospital in Georgia named to the Community Value Index Top 100 hospitals list for 2007. The annual listing identifies the top hospitals nationally in terms of value to the community, defined as financial strength, reinvestment, cost of care and pricing.
“Being named to this prestigious list lets us know that we are succeeding in adding value to this community because we are financially viable, because we make the appropriate investments in our organization, because we maintain a low-cost structure and because we have reasonable charges,” said Don Snell, MCGHI president and CEO.
MCGHI has made the list three of the past four years. This year’s findings were published in Cleverley + Associates’ State of the Hospital Industry-2007 edition. Ohio-based Cleverley + Associates is a leading health care financial consulting firm that specializes in operational benchmarking and performance enhancement strategies.
Obituaries
The MCG community extends condolences to the family and friends of:
Bradford Wills, 74, a retired orthopedic technician in the Department of Ambulatory Care Services, who died April 6. He served MCG from 1957-96.
Gladys M. Bynes, 65, a retired service technician in the Department of Environmental Services, who passed away April 7. She worked at MCG from 1978-96.
Jeffery Blalock, 43, an IT specialist in the School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, who died April 15. Mr. Blalock had worked at MCG since 2003.