 Surgical
Oncology Chief Targets Melanoma
Within two weeks of his arrival, the new chief of the Medical College
of Georgia Section of Surgical Oncology had a plan on paper to reduce
the state’s high melanoma death rates.
Taking cues from programs he helped implement in the “Sunshine State”
he just left behind, Dr. David Scott Lind wants to put the brakes on his
new state’s escalating melanoma mortality rates: Georgia has the
sixth-highest rate in the nation.
“This grant is the whole gamut: primary prevention, early detection,
making sure that our treatment is where it should be and that we have
what is considered better than the national average in participation of
clinical trials for melanoma,” said Dr. Lind, Cecil F. Whittaker
Professor and chief.
He arrived April 15 from the University of Florida College of
Medicine where he’d been on faculty since 1992. With a deadline looming
for grant applications to the Georgia Cancer Coalition, he quickly
pulled together the people and concepts for a grant. He plans to
collaborate with Dr. Carol Reed Ash, a University of Florida oncology
nurse and co-developer of GatorSHADE‚ for fourth-graders in Indian River
County, Fla. GatorSHADE‚ teaches children about the sun’s health hazards
and ways to protect themselves, including wearing a hat in the shape of
the famous Gator mascot. Dr. Lind wants to customize the approach for
this region.
“Eighty percent of all ultraviolet radiation exposure is before the
age of 18, so you really want to look at the young kids,” said Dr. Lind.
His other melanoma target is white men over age 50. Up to half of
newly diagnosed melanomas are in males over age 50, which translates to
about 400-700 Georgia men annually, said Dr. Lind. He conducted research
at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers showing that the male-heavy veteran
population tends to have deeper, more advanced melanomas. Dr. Lind hopes
the study will move forward so he can learn more about why these
typically visible cancers are not found early when cure rates are high
so that an educational program can be developed for this target audience
as well.
“Melanoma writes its message in ink in the skin,” Dr. Lind said,
noting mole characteristics including asymmetry, irregular borders and
multiple colors. Long before that, a sun burn indicates the brief,
intense sun exposure that is a major risk factor.
Breast cancer is another focus for the new chief whose studies have
included breast conservation techniques. “We have made significant
changes in the surgical management of breast cancer,” he said. Dr. Lind
wants MCG to join a National Cancer Institute-sponsored study of
partial-breast radiation following lumpectomy vs. the standard
full-breast radiation. Another new treatment under study is ablative
therapy that uses extreme temperatures or the focused radiation of the
Gamma Knife to destroy breast tumors.
“[MCG offers] an opportunity to be section chief in a place where the
leadership has a vision for what they want the place to be,” he said.
Dr. Lind also is an education innovator, working to improve
patient-physician communication via simulation technology. “Poor
communication on the part of physicians leads to poor patient outcomes,
medical malpractice and other problems,” he said. “Many of the national
licensure and certification agencies are trying to determine critical
communication skills and how we can ensure [competence] in those
skills.”
His collaborators include Dr. Peggy Jo Wagner, director of MCG’s
Clinical Skills Center, and Nicole Bernard, the center’s coordinator.
Dr. Benjamin Lok, assistant professor of computer science at the
University of Florida, is the computer expert behind the interactive
teaching program and will help set it up at MCG.
Dr. Lind earned his medical degree from Eastern Virginia Medical
School and completed a surgery residency at the University of Texas at
San Antonio and a surgical oncology fellowship at the Medical College of
Virginia.
[Top]
Institute of Neuroscience Stresses
Synergy
 The
MCG Institute of Neuroscience has been established to augment studies of
the brain, spinal cord and nerves and to educate future neuroscientists.
“We have more than 80 neuroscientists generating more than $15
million in research funding annually and we need an organization to
coordinate and expand these efforts,” said Dr. Robert K. Yu, director of
the new institute and MCG’s Institute of Molecular Medicine and
Genetics.
Expanding programs include a neuroscience program for graduate
students in biomedical science scheduled to begin this fall, said Dr.
Gretchen Caughman, interim dean of the MCG School of Graduate Studies.
The new Institute of Neuroscience will serve as administrative base for
the new degree program and Dr. Deborah L. Lewis, MCG neuroscientist,
will be program director.
Also, the National Institutes of Health is funding a $1 million,
five-year training grant to support three MCG postdoctoral fellows and
one graduate student in neuroscience, said Dr. Yu.
“There is a great interest in neuroscience by MCG students already,”
said Dr. Darrell W. Brann, neuroscientist and associate director of the
institute.
Dr. Brann, a 1990 graduate of the MCG School of Graduate Studies, is
course director for two neurosciences courses taught for the first time
this year. He has established a $1,000 annual scholarship to an MCG
neuroscience student. “The scholarship is a wonderful way for me to
support my alma mater and my profession,” said Dr. Brann.
Dr. David Hess, chair of the MCG Department of Neurology, is the
institute’s co-director for clinical affairs. He and Dr. Mark Lee, chair
of the MCG Department of Neurosurgery, are co-medical directors of MCG
Health System’s Neuroscience Center, established in 2001 primarily to
augment clinical services.
“The Neuroscience Center and the new institute are a natural team,”
said the center’s administrative director, Bill Hamilton. “The
Neuroscience Center will play a major part in the institute, acting as
its clinical arm, and providing a natural bridge that will allow for
translational research.”
“This institute has been coming for a long time as we have gained
more and more neuroscientists, including eminent scholars who are
neuroscientists,” said Dr. Brann.
MCG has three Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholars who are
experts in varying aspects of neuroscience: Dr. Yu, Eminent Scholar in
Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology; Dr. Kristen Harris, Eminent Scholar
in Synapses and Cell Signaling; and Dr. Lin Mei, Eminent Scholar in
Neuroscience.
Immediate plans for the institute include pursuing federal support
for new core laboratory facilities in animal behavior and umbilical cord
blood stem cells as well as a second federal training grant in
neurodegeneration and neural repair.
[Top]
Moorman Scholarship Memorializes Beloved
Classmate
 When
Dr. James Warren (Jim) Moorman graduated from the Medical College of
Georgia School of Medicine in 1964, he was on top of the world. A native
of Lakeland, Ga., he had cheated death five years earlier when he
survived a plane crash as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.
Upon his discharge as a captain, he wasted no time in fulfilling his
lifelong dream of becoming a physician.
He relished his years at MCG, not only because of the stimulating
educational experience but because he and his young bride, Mary Carrell,
forged strong and lasting bonds with his classmates. The couple
considered those years among the best of their lives. Their joy was
multiplied when their beautiful daughter, Susan Carrell, was born
several months after Jim earned his medical degree.
But Jim intuited that his great fortune was short-lived. Late one
night during medical school, he confided a premonition to his wife: He
sensed he would never practice medicine.
It was during his internship at Middle Georgia Hospital in Macon that
Jim was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. He was given the option
of going home to die or traveling to the National Institutes of Health
in Bethesda, Md., for experimental treatment. He chose the latter,
reasoning that if his treatment didn’t help him, perhaps it could help
others.
His treatment was difficult, often grueling, but he never complained,
said his wife, who was always by his side. After months of treatment,
including the then-radical suggestion of a bone marrow transplant, Jim’s
body surrendered to the enormity of the disease. Jim was 30 years old
when he lost his battle with cancer Sept. 26, 1965.
 His
classmates gathered at MCG in April 2004 for their 40th reunion and
established a scholarship endowment in Jim’s name. The goal is to raise
$100,000 for the Class of 1964 Jim Moorman Memorial Scholarship by 2007
-- a perpetual testament to a wonderful friend that will make medical
school more affordable to deserving students, according to Dr. Peter
Payne, president of the School of Medicine Alumni Association.
His family and friends agree that no gesture could have pleased Jim
more. Jim’s own career was cut tragically short, but he always
considered health care the highest professional calling, according to
his widow. Jim’s grandfather, Ivy Moorman, was an MCG School of Medicine
alumnus. Several cousins and a nephew are also graduates of the MCG
Schools of Medicine and Dentistry.
“Our family is so proud that the members of Jim’s class have honored
him by starting a scholarship in his name,” says his widow, Mary Carrell
Moorman Morrison, now remarried and the proud grandmother of five. “It
has been a real comfort to me to stay in touch with so many of the class
of ’64. You cannot know how this has kept me close to Jim’s memories. I
am very grateful for that gift.”
For more information about the scholarship or to make a donation,
contact R.H. (Bob) Hill Jr., MCG director of development, at
706-721-7517 or rhill@mcg.edu.
[Top]
Sports Facility Named in Honor of Alumnus
The University of North Florida has honored a 1974 Medical College of
Georgia School of Medicine graduate and longtime sports enthusiast with
its dedication of the Arthur "Buster" Browning, M.D. Athletic Training
and Education Center.
Dr. Browning is a Jacksonville, Fla., family medicine physician and
executive board president of UNF's athletics booster group, the
Osprey Club. His wife, Debbie, is a 1972 graduate of the MCG School of
Allied Health Sciences Department of Dental Hygiene.
"I want to thank you for this most humbling occasion," Dr. Browning said
at the April 6 dedication of the 3,000-square-foot facility, which
houses the university's athletic training operation and clinical
training site for its College of Health athletic certification program.
"If you measure success by friends, I am the wealthiest man in
Jacksonville."
Community members donated more that $200,000 in Dr. Browning's honor to
erect the facility, and the state of Florida matched the funds.
"The greatest part about it is to be honored in such a way that my
children [were there] when it was dedicated and it will be there
forever," Dr. Browning said. "It's a great honor when you are
appreciated for what you've done, and it's very humbling to know all of
these people who donated money to the facility are friends of mine. It
makes me think that maybe I have made an impact in people's lives."
Dr. Browning is an avid golfer who sings in his church choir. He is the
permanent physician for the Professional Golf Association's Players'
Championship, President's Cup and Tour Championship, acting as a
consultant for other PGA tour events. He is president of Jacksonville's
Rotary Club and a past chairman of the board for The First Tee of
Jacksonville.
[Top]
 Dr.
Howard Rasmussen, founding director of the Institute of Molecular
Medicine and Genetics at MCG, died April 22 in North Carolina.
“Dr. Rasmussen made a tremendous contribution to science and to the
scientific mission of the Medical College of Georgia, helping us focus
our efforts and build the critical mass of researchers and facilities
needed to move forward,” said MCG President Daniel W. Rahn.
He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry
and physics from Gettysburg College in 1948. He graduated magna cum
laude in 1952 from Harvard Medical University.
Dr. Rasmussen completed postgraduate medical training in internal
medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a research fellowship at
University College in London. During his training, he was among the
first to isolate parathyroid hormone. He earned a doctorate in
biochemistry and physiology from Rockefeller University in 1959.
Before joining MCG in 1993, his positions included Benjamin Rush
Professor and chair of biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania
and professor of medicine and cell biology at Yale University, where he
also served as chief of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Section.
Dr. Rasmussen was a pioneer in understanding the importance of
calcium as a signaling molecule. His research involving aldosterone and
insulin secretion and vascular smooth muscle contraction resulted in
hundreds of scientific publications, extensive federal funding, multiple
honors and several editorial positions on scientific journals.
As founding director of the MCG Institute of Molecular Medicine and
Genetics, Dr. Rasmussen recruited over 20 new faculty members,
established several core facilities and increased National Institutes of
Health funding from $7 million to more than $15 million. He retired from
MCG in 2000 after presiding over a Biological Communications Symposium
held at MCG in his honor. A portrait of Dr. Rasmussen, dedicated at the
10th Anniversary IMMAG Symposium and Retreat, hangs in the
Interdisciplinary Research Building.
He and his late wife, Jane Spence, are survived by four children,
Gail, Paul, Jane and Craig.
[Top]
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