December 2, 2004
Health Sciences News Briefs
Dr. Patricia Wahl, dean of the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, has been named chair-elect of the Association of Schools of Public Health, the national organization of all accredited public health schools. After a two-year term as chair-elect, she will become chair of the organization in 2006. For more on ASPH, see the Web site at http://www.asph.org
Dr. Edwin Rubel, Virginia Merrill Bloedel professor of hearing science, has won the Award of Merit from the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO). The annual Award of Merit, the organization’s highest honor, is given to a person who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to the field of otolaryngology and hearing sciences. Rubel is professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, and of physiology and biophysics, and founder of the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center. His research focuses on understanding the cellular processes involved in the development of information processing in the auditory system and the effects of experience on brain development. Rubel also pioneered a new area of research in the study of hair cells, the inner ear cells with protein-filled protrusions that receive and convey sound signals. He led a group of researchers who discovered hair cells can regenerate in some animals. The research helped shift the focus of much hearing loss research to hair cell regeneration. He will receive the award at the ARO annual meeting in February.
Dr. Nelson Fausto, professor and chair of pathology, has been elected president of the American Society for Investigative Pathology. The society focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease. It publishes the American Journal of Pathology and the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Fausto is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, and was editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Pathology for 10 years. He joined the UW in 1994, after chairing the Department of Pathology at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Earlier this year, he received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Liver Foundation for his work in liver regeneration, liver cancer, and hepatic stem cells.
A $100,000 gift to UW Medicine from Safeway Inc. Seattle Division will fund research into ovarian and prostate cancer. Funds for the gift were raised from Safeway customer donations, lottery ticket sales proceeds and a matching grant from the First Data Western Union Foundation and Safeway Foundation. The portion of the gift for ovarian cancer research was raised primarily from Safeway customers at store checkouts in Safeway’s Seattle Division, which includes stores in Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. The $50,000 will help fund Disis’ work on an ovarian cancer vaccine. The other half of the gift consists of $25,000 from the Safeway Foundation and $25,000 from the First Data Western Union Foundation. That portion will fund prostate cancer research.
Consumer-driven health plans may be the next wave of financing health care, but what do we know about their potential impact on the health-care system? This year’s Washington Health Legislative Conference, “Issues and Inspirations Close to Home,” presented by the UW Department of Health Services, will examine this issue. Anne Gauthier of AcademyHealth, Washington, D.C., will be the morning speaker at the conference in the SeaTac Hilton Conference Center, on Dec. 14. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The afternoon speaker, former Colorado governor and author Richard Lamm, will address corporate and personal financial hardships that can result from ever-increasing medical expenses and the ethical implications of what he sees as the inevitable advent of health-care rationing. There will also be workshop sessions. Registration is $165, with discounts for certain groups. For more information, call 206-543-3670. To register online, using a credit or debit card, go to http://www.hpap.washington.edu.
Alex O’Neill has been hired as the new executive director of development and continuing dental education for the School of Dentistry. She has15 years of fundraising and non-profit leadership experience. She spent the last seven years raising money for cancer research at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, first as director of guilds and special events, and most recently as director of major gifts. Her previous positions include director of development and community relations for Medina Children’s Services and Merrywood School. Prior to returning to her native Northwest, she was also district director for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Phoenix. O’Neill will lead the campaign to raise $22.1 million for the School of Dentistry during Campaign UW: Creating Futures.
Two School of Nursing faculty members have been elected as fellows in the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing of the American Heart Association. The new fellows are Cynthia Dougherty, research associate professor, and Jill Jesurum, research assistant professor. Both are in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems. Dougherty’s research focuses on nursing care following sudden cardiac arrest and heart surgery. Jesurum studies the impact of heart defect repairs.
