Milestones
Ms. Bill named to clinical faculty
Lynn Bill, director of Patient Care Services for Georgia Correctional HealthCare, has been appointed a clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing, Department of Health Environments and Systems. Ms. Bill, a certified correctional healthcare professional, was also recently appointed to the board of directors of the American Health Services Association, one of two national professional organizations for correctional health care.
Ms. Bill has been an employee of GCHC, the MCG division with an
interagency agreement with the Georgia Department of Corrections to provide
health care to Georgia inmates, since the division’s inception in 1997. She
has been a nurse for 30 years with more than 20 years of experience in
correctional health care.
Dr.
Buccafusco co-edits text
Dr. Jerry J. Buccafusco, founding director of the MCG Alzheimer’s Research Center, is co-editor of a new textbook, “Animal Models of Cognitive Impairment” (CRC Press, 2006).
The book, a volume in the “Frontiers in Neuroscience Series,” examines animal models for drug discovery and synopsizes cognition-related research in areas including Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, stroke and autism.
Dr. Buccafusco’s co-editor is Dr. Edward D. Levin, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Buccafusco also directs MCG’s Animal Behavior Center and Analytical Toxicology Lab and the Neuropharmacology Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta.
He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation and the Institute for the Study of Aging. He is the founding chair of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics’ Division of Systems and Integrated Pharmacology and is associate editor of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. He chaired a National Institutes of Health Drug Development Study Section in March 2006.
Dr. Buccafusco was recently appointed a neuropharmacology and psychopharmacology member of the Faculty of 1000 Biology, which provides rapid, post-publication reviews of top studies in biology.
Dr. Buccafusco also edited “Methods of Behavior Analysis in Neuroscience” (CRC Press, 2001) and “Cognitive Enhancing Drugs” (Birkhäuser, Basel, 2004).
His research focuses on novel therapeutic treatments for Alzheimer’s and
related disorders.
Dr.
Chernecky named AAN fellow
Dr. Cynthia Chernecky, professor of physiological and technological nursing, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
She will be inducted at the 2006 American Academy of Nursing Annual Meeting and Conference in November.
Dr. Chernecky is a member of the Scientific Review Committee for the Georgia Center of Oncology Research and Education, a collaborative effort between doctors, researchers, educators and those affected by cancer. She is a board member of the East Georgia Cancer Network, Inc., an editorial board member of the Association of Vascular Access Journal and a reviewer for the international Journal of Quality of Life Research.
She is a member of the American Nurses Association, International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care, Oncology Nursing Society and the Association of Vascular Access.
In 2005, Dr. Chernecky was named Oncology Nurse
Educator of the Year by the Oncology Nursing Society and was a finalist for
the society’s Nurse Research Paper of the Year. She has been the editor of
25 nursing books and is a member of a multi-state lung cancer research
consortium.
Dr.
Head re-elected to AMA Council
Dr. C. Alvin Head, chair of the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, has been re-elected to the American Medical Association’s Council on Science and Public Health.
Dr. Head will serve a second four-year term on the 12-member council that reports on medical, public health and scientific issues affecting the practice of medicine, the public health system, the quality of patient care and the translation of research into treatment.
Dr. Head is a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Orphan Drug Review Panel and the International Society of Medical Gases. He chairs the American Society of Anesthesiology’s Committee on Respiratory Care and is a member of the society’s Committee on Research, which reviews grant proposals for the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.
He specializes in treating cardiac and pulmonary disease. His research interests include nitric oxide in the treatment of sickle cell disease, for which he has two patents.
“Dr. Head’s superb academic achievements,
such as his ability to translate bench research into clinical applications,
his love for teaching medical students and residents, his active anesthesia
practice and his long commitment to organized medicine, make him an
outstanding choice for re-election,” wrote Dr. Orin F. Guidry, president of
the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and Dr. John B. Neeld Jr., chair
of the Anesthesiology Section Council, in nominating Dr. Head.
Two named to Office of Decision Support
Two new employees have joined the Office of Decision Support, an
institutional information center used for planning, policy formulation and
decision-making.
Stan DeHoff, university project portfolio manager, will oversee university-level projects optimizing coordination, integration and results of institutional initiatives. He previously worked at NCR Corporation in West Columbia, S.C., as global manager of Customer Care Center Quality, Metrics & Reporting.
Chris Weldon, coordinator of enrollment research, will conduct enrollment research, manage databases and provide data to support enrollment management and institutional decision-making. Mr. Weldon came to MCG from Presbyterian College in Clinton, S.C., where he coordinated institutional research. He previously worked as enrollment manager at Morris Brown College in Atlanta.
Dr. Miyake receives summer research fellowship
Dr. Katsuya Miyake, an MCG cell biologist, is one of eight scientists to receive a summer research fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory, an internationally renowned biomedical and environmental research center on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
The fellowship is designed to encourage junior and senior investigators at the Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent level by underwriting research and housing costs.
The laboratory is known for its collaborative environment, fresh marine specimens and cutting-edge equipment. Each summer, some of the world’s top cell biologists, physiologists, parasitologists, microbiologists, neurobiologists, developmental biologists and ecologists convene at the lab.
Dr. Miyake studies sea urchin eggs and mammalian cells to see how the cell membrane repairs itself after damage. His research may have implications for disorders such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an inherited disorder characterized by a malfunctioning protein that maintains the integrity of muscle cells.
The laboratory, an international, independent, nonprofit institution, was founded in 1888 and is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere. For more information, visit www.mbl.edu.
Obituaries
The MCG community extends condolences to the family and friends of:
Grace Delaney, 89, a retired pediatrics nurse, who died June 19. She
worked at MCG from 1963 to 1976.
Francine T. Woodard, 60, a retired administrative secretary in the
Department of Continuing Education, who died June 23. She worked at MCG from
1994 to 2000.
Lillie Sharpton-Hilliary, 45, wife of Mark Hilliary, in Materials
Management, who died June 21.