3Partners forDiscovery

4YoungInvestigators

5NewRecruits

6ResearchNotes

8Anything isPossible

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

Dean’s Discovery InitiativeSchool of Medicine Development OfficeVCU’s Medical College of Virginia CampusP.O. Box 980022 Richmond, VA 23298-0022

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE PAIDPERMIT NO. 869RICHMOND VA

V i r g i n i a C o m m o n w e a l t h U n i v e r s i t y

R E P O R T

D E A N ’ S

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6ResearchNotes

Shaping Scienceand Medicine

The influence of many medical school faculty membersextends beyond the boundaries of the MCV Campus,particularly through their appointments to nationalresearch organizations and through the textbooks theyauthor and edit. { }

SPR I NG 20 1 1 VOLUME 1 0 , NUMBER 1

Kellie J. Archer, Ph.D.associate professor of biostatisticsRadiological Devices Panel of the FDAMedical Devices Advisory Committee

Harry D. Bear, M.D., Ph.D.professor and the Dr. Walter Lawrence Jr. Chairin Surgical OncologyNational Surgical Adjuvant Breast and BowelProgram Foundation

James P. Bennett, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.professor of neurology and the Bemiss ChairScientific Advisory Board, the AmericanParkinson Disease Association

David X. Cifu, M.D.department chair and the Herman Jacob Flax, M.D.,Professor in Physical Medicine and RehabilitationNational director, U.S. Department ofVeterans Affairs' PMR Program

PonJola Coney, M.D.professor of obstetrics and gynecologyNational Advisory Council, National Instituteof Child Health and Human Development

William Dewey, Ph.D.professor and chair of pharmacology and toxicologyNational Council, National Instituteon Drug AbusePresident, Friends of NIDA

Danielle Dick, Ph.D.associate professor of psychiatry, psychology, andhuman and molecular geneticsCommittee Member, National Academy ofSciences Institute of Medicine’s “Committee onTwin Studies”

Michael Edmond, M.D., M.P.H., M.P.A.professor of internal medicineAdvisory Committee, CDC's NationalHealthcare Safety Network

Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D.professor and chair of human and molecular geneticsand the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair inCancer ResearchScientific Advisory Committee, GoldhirshFoundation for Brain Tumor ResearchScientific Advisory Board, InternationalInstitute of Anticancer Research, Athens,Greece

Andrea Ferreira-Gonzalez, Ph.D.professor of pathologySecretary of Health and Human Services’Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health andSociety

Chris Gennings, Ph.D.professor of biostatisticsChronic Hazard Advisory Panel (CHAP),the Consumer Product Safety Commission

Steven Grant, M.D.professor and Shirley Carter Olsson and Sture GordonOlsson Chair in Oncology ResearchChair, the NCI's Division of CancerTreatment and Diagnosis Pharmacodynamicand Therapeutic Functional Working GroupCo-chair, Signal Transduction Task Force ofthe NCI's Cancer Treatment and EvaluationProgram's Investigational Drug ScreeningCommittee

Michael Hagan, M.D., Ph.D.professor of radiation oncologyNational Director of Radiation OncologyServices, Veterans Administration

Anne-Marie Irani, M.D.professor of pediatrics and medicine and chair of theDivision of Pediatric Allergy, ImmunologyBoard of Directors, American Board of Allergyand ImmunologyBoard of Directors, American Board ofMedical SpecialtiesBoard of Directors, the American Academy ofAllergy, Asthma and Immunology

Gundars Katlaps, M.D.assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgeryChair, Transplant Surgery Advisory Board ofthe Department of Veterans Affairs’ NationalSurgery Office

Susan Kornstein, M.D.professor of psychiatry• Advisory Committee on Research on Women’sHealth for the NIH’s Office of Research onWomen's Health

Alex Krist, M.D.associate professor of family medicine• Gastrointestinal Drugs Advisory Committee,Food and Drug Administration

Anton Kuzel, M.D.professor and the Harris-Mayo Chair in Family MedicineBoard of Directors, North American PrimaryCare Research Group

Walter Lawrence, Jr., M.D.professor emeritus of surgeryDeath Review committee for the ProstateLung Colorectal and Ovarian Screening Trialof the National Cancer Institute’s Division ofCancer Prevention

James Levenson, M.D.professor of psychiatry, medicine and surgery;vice chair of psychiatry; chairman of the Division ofConsultation-Liaison PsychiatryMember, DSM-V Somatic SymptomDisorders Work Group

John E. Nestler, M.D.chair of internal medicine and the Dr. WilliamBranch Porter Professor of MedicineSteering Committee, Specialized CooperativeCenter Program in Reproduction andInfertility Research

Anand Pandurangi, M.D.professor and vice chair of psychiatryMember, Virginia State Board of BehaviorHealth and Developmental ServicesChair, Mental Health Section, Indo-US andGlobal Health Care Summit, 2007-2011

John T. Povlishock, Ph.D.professor and chair of anatomy and neurobiologyNational Advisory Neurological Disorders andStroke Council

Susan Roseff, M.D.professor of pathologySecretary of HHS Advisory Committee onBlood Safety and Availability

Bruce Rubin, M.D.chair of pediatrics and the Jessie Ball duPont ProfessorBoard of Trustees, American Respiratory CareFoundationAdvisory Committee on Blood Safety andAvailability, Secretary of Health and HumanServicesBoard of Medical Advisors, AmericanAssociation for Respiratory Care

Lawrence B. Schwartz, M.D.professor of internal medicine and the Charles W. andEvelyn F. Thomas Chair in Rheumatology, Allergyand ImmunologyBoard of Directors, Clinical ImmunologySocietyBoard of Directors, Co-Chair of Research,Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Joel J. Silverman, M.D.professor and chair of psychiatryChairperson, American Psychiatry AssociationWorkgroup on Psychiatric Evaluation ofAdultsAPA Work Group on Initial EvaluationGuidelines

Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D.professor of obstetrics and gynecology, dean ofthe School of MedicineBoard of Scientific Counselors, NationalInstitute of Child Health and HumanDevelopmentExternal Clinical Advisory Council, NationalInstitute of Environmental Health SciencesChair of the Board of Directors, BurroughsWellcome FundCo-Chair, Indo-U.S. Working Group onReproductive Health

Richard Wenzel, M.D.professor of internal medicine• National Research Advisory Council,Department of Veterans Affairs

Steve Woolf, M.D., M.P.H.professor of family medicineAdvisory Panel on Research, Association ofAmerican Medical CollegesCenter for the Study of the Presidency andCongress’ Commission on U.S. FederalLeadership in Health and Medicine

R E P O R T

D E A N ’ S

The medical school’s faculty has long been known for its mentoring andexcellent teaching. This reputation has, in fact, been a drawing point formedical students and Ph.D. candidates. In the past three years, 52 facultymembers have found a broader audience for disseminating knowledgethrough their textbooks, some of which have become widely adopted atother medical schools.

Their service to national research organizations is also a point of pride

for the dean of the medical school, Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D.“These appointments are an acknowledgement by the medical and scientificcommunities of the contributions these individuals make to their respectiveareas of research and clinical expertise,” he says. “Our faculty membersadvise government agencies and major professional organizations. Theirservice in these advisory roles benefits the Commonwealth of Virginia,the nation and the world.”

(continued from cover)

discoveryTEXTBOOKS

Pasquale J. Accardo, M.D., and Barbara Y. Whitman, Ph.D.(Eds.), with Jennifer A. Accardo, M.D., Joann N. Bodurtha,M.D., M.P.H., Anne Farrell, Ph.D., Toni Goelz, P.T., JillMorrow-Gorton, M.D., Gale B. Rice, Ph.D., Ginger Smith, M.Ed.Dictionary of Developmental DisabilitiesTerminology, 3rd Edition; Paul H. BrookesPublishing; 2011.

Bruce K. Shapiro, M.D., Pasquale J. Accardo, M.D. (Eds.)Neurogenetic Syndromes: Behavioral Issues andtheir Treatment; Paul H. Brookes Publishing;2010.

Pasquale J. Accardo, M.D. (Ed.)Capute & Accardo’s NeurodevelopmentalDisabilities in Infancy and Childhood, 3rdedition; Paul H. Brookes Publishing, 2008.

Robert A. Adler, M.D. (Ed.)Osteoporosis; Pathophysiology and ClinicalManagement, 2nd edition; Springer; 2010.

Michael Molls, M.D., Peter Vaupel, Dr.Med., Carsten Nieder,M.D., Mitchell S. Anscher, M.D. (Eds.)The Impact of Tumor Biology on CancerTreatment and Multidisciplinary Strategies;Springer; 2009.

David E. Wazer, Douglas W. Arthur, M.D.,Frank A. Vicini (Eds.)Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation:Techniques and Clinical Implementation, 2ndedition; Springer; 2009.

Stephen J. Bickston, M.D., AGAF, Richard S.Bloomfeld (Eds.)Handbook of Inflammatory Bowel Disease;Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009.

Nooshin K. Brinster, M.D., Vincent Liu, MD, A. HafeezDiwan, MD, Phillip H. McKee, MDDermatopathology; W.B. Saunders Company;2011.

David Chelmow, M.D. (Ed.)eMedicine: Obstetrics and Gynecology.

David Cifu, M.D., Cory BlakeOvercoming Post-Deployment Syndrome:A Six-Step Mission to Health; DemosPublishing; 2011.

David Cifu, M.D., Deborah Caruso, M.D.Traumatic Brain Injury; Demos Publishing;2010.

Joan Serra Hoffman, Lyndee Knox, Robert Cohen, Ph.D. (Eds.)Beyond Suppression: Global Perspectives onYouth Violence; Praeger; 2010.

Linda S. Costanzo, Ph.D.Physiology: Cases and Problems 3rd edition;Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008.

Linda S. Costanzo, Ph.D.Physiology 5th edition; Lippincott Williams &Wilkins, 2010.

Michael J. DePalma, M.D. (Ed.)iSpine: Evidence-Based Interventional SpineCare; Demos Medical Publishing; 2011.

Lawrence M. Scheier, Ph.D., William Dewey, Ph.D. (Eds.)The Complete Writing Guide to NIHBehavioral Science Grants; Oxford UniversityPress; 2007.

Kenneth A. Ellenbogen, M.D., Mark A. Wood, M.D. (Eds.)Cardiac Pacing & ICDs, 5th edition;Wiley; 2008.

Kenneth Ellenbogen, M.D., Angelo Auricchio, M.D., Ph.D. (Eds.)Pacing to Support the Failing Heart;Wiley; 2008.

Kenneth Ellenbogen, M.D., Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, G. NealKay, MD, Chu Pak LauClinical Cardiac Pacing, Defibrillation, andResynchronization Therapy, 4th edition;Saunders; 2011.

Adekunle M. Adesina, Tarik Tihan, Christine E. Fuller M.D.,Tina Young Poussaint (Eds.)Atlas of Pediatric Brain Tumors; Springer;2010.

David A. Gewirtz, Ph.D.; Shawn E. Holt, Ph.D., StevenGrant, M.D.Apoptosis, Senescence, and Cancer, 2nd edition;Humana Press, 2007.

John D. Grizzard, M.D., Robert Judd, Ph.D., RaymondKim, M.D.Cardiovascular MRI in Practice, 2nd printing;Springer; 2008.

Philip L. Glick, Marc A. Levitt, Michael G. Caty, Jeffrey H.Haynes, M.D., FACS, FAAPComplications in Pediatric Surgery; InformaHealthcare; 2008.

A. Bobby Chhabra, M.D., Jonathan E. Isaacs, M.D.Arthritis & Arthroplasty: the Hand, Wrist andElbow; Elsevier; 2009.

Kent B. Crossley, Kimberly K. Jefferson, Ph.D., Gordon L.Archer, M.D., Vance G. Fowler Jr.Staphylococci in Human Disease, 2nd edition;Wiley-Blackwell; 2009.

Kenneth Kendler, M.D., Josef ParnasPhilosophical Issues in Psychiatry: Explanation,Phenomenology, and Nosology; The JohnsHopkins University Press; 2008.

Robin M. Murray, Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., Peter McGuffin,Simon Wessely, David J. Castle (Eds.)Essential Psychiatry 4th Edition; CambridgeUniversity Press; 2008.

Jonathan Flint, Ralph J. Greenspan, Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D.How Genes Influence Behavior; OxfordUniversity Press, 2010.

Susan Kornstein, M.D., A. H. ClaytonPsychiatric Clinics of North America: Women’sMental Health; Elsevier; June 2010.

Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, M.D., John DeLuca, Bruce Caplan (Eds.)Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology;Springer; 2011.

Anton J. Kuzel, M.D., John D. EngelRestoring Primary Care; ReframingRelationships and Redesigning Practice;Radcliffe Publishing; 2011.

Daniel Laskin, D.D.S., Omar A. Abubaker, D.M.D., Ph.D.(Eds.)Decision Making in Oral and MaxillofacialSurgery; Quintessence Publishing; 2007.

Stephen J. Ferrando, M.D. (Author, Ed.), James L.Levenson, M.D., James A. Owen, M.D. (Eds.)Clinical Manual of Psychopharmacology in theMedically Ill; American Psychiatric Publishing,Inc.; 2010.

James L. Levenson, M.D. (Ed.)Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine, 2ndedition; American Psychiatric Publishing,Inc.; 2010.

James Levenson, M.D., D.F. Gitlin, Cathy Crone, M.D. (Eds.)Psychiatric Clinics of North America:Psychosomatic Medicine; Elsevier; 2007.

Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis, M.D., Ph.D., E.; John E.Nestler, M.D., Dimitrios Panidis, M.D., Ph.D., RenatoPasquali, M.D. (Eds.)Insulin Resistance and Polycystic OvarianSyndrome; Pathogenesis, Evaluation andTreatment; Springer; 2007.

Janet P. Niemeier, Ph.D., ABPP, Robert KarolOvercoming Grief and Loss after Brain Injury;Oxford University Press; 2010.

Janet P. Niemeier, Ph.D., ABPP, Robert KarolTherapists’ Guide to Overcoming Grief and Lossafter Brain Injury; Oxford University Press; 2010.

J. V. (Ian) Nixon, M.D., Gerard P. Aurigemma, Ann F.Bolger, Michael H. Crawford, Gerald F. Fletcher, Gary S.Francis, Thomas C. Gerber, Welton M. Gersony, Peter Ott,Linda A. Pape, Nanette K. Wenger (Eds.)The AHA Clinical Cardiac Consult, 3rdedition; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2010.

Alice S. Pakurar, Ph.D., John W. Bigbee, Ph.D.Digital Histology: An Interactive CD Atlas withReview Text, 2nd edition; Wiley, John & Sons,Inc.; 2009.

John M. Pellock, M.D., Blaise F.D. Bourgeois, M.D., and W.Edwin Dodson, M.D. (Eds.)Pediatric Epilepsy-Diagnosis and Therapy, 3rdedition; Demos Medical Publishing; 2007.

Robert K. Schneider, M.D., FACP, James L. Levenson,M.D. (Eds.)Psychiatry Essentials for Primary Care;American College of Physicians; 2007.

Joseph L. Izzo, M.D., Domenic Sica, M.D., Henry R. Black,M.D. (Eds.)Hypertension Primer, The Essentials of HighBlood Pressure, 4th edition; Lippincott Williams& Wilkins; 2007.

Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D., Robert L. Barbieri, M.D.Yen and Jaffe’s Reproductive Endocrinology:Physiology, Pathophysiology, and ClinicalManagement, 6th edition; Saunders; 2009.

Norbert Voelkel, M.D., Sharon RoundsThe Pulmonary Endothelium, Function inHealth and Disease; Wiley; 2009.

Norbert Voelkel, M.D., William Macnee, M.B.Ch.B., M.D.Chronic Obstructive Lung Diseases 2; BCDecker, Inc.; 2008.

Colleen A. Thoma, Ph.D., Paul Wehman, Ph.D., with invitedcontributorsGetting the Most Out of IEPs: An Educator’sGuide to the Student-Directed Approach;Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co.; 2010.

Paul Wehman, Ph.D., Marcia Datlow Smith, Ph.D., CarolSchall, Ph.D.Autism & the Transition to Adulthood: SuccessBeyond the Classroom; Paul H. Brookes Pub.Co.; 2009.

Paul Wehman, Ph.D.Essentials of Transition Planning; Paul H.Brookes Pub. Co.; 2011.

Richard P. Wenzel, M.D., M.Sc., Gonzalo Bearman, M.D.,M.P.H., Timothy F. Brewer, M.D., M.P.H., Jean-Paul Butzler,M.D., Ph.D. (Eds.)Guide to Infection Control in the Hospital, 4thEdition; International Society for InfectiousDiseases; 2008.

Shoei K. Stephen Huang, M.D., Mark A. Wood, M.D.Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias, 2ndedition; Elsevier; 2010.

Lei Xi, M.D., Tatiana V. Serebrovskaya (Eds.)Intermittent Hypoxia: From MolecularMechanisms to Clinical Applications; NovaScience Pub, Inc.; 2010.

Faculty Authors and Editors of Medical Texts of the Past Three Years

Faculty Holding Senior Advisory Positions with National Research Organizations

*The lists on this page represent a sample of our faculty’s contributions to science, clinical care andeducation. For an online list, please go to http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/community.

ADVISORS

PARTNERS FOR DISCOVERY

by: Jill Adams

People who sustain traumatic brain injury experience dramatic changesin their lives, as do their families. Jeffrey Kreutzer, Ph.D., who directsthe medical school’s program in rehabilitation psychology andneuropsychology, knows how important it is to take time with patientsand their families to address changes in physical abilities, psychologicaldemeanor and daily living issues.

“Medicine has done a great job at keeping these people alive,” Kreutzersays of people with brain injuries, whether from car accidents or gunshot wounds, neurodegenerative diseases or growing tumors. “Butoften, they are unable to work and they experience psychologicaldisorders. A big part of what I do is to help them identify ways to getback to work and to lead emotionally healthy lives — lives worthliving.”

Now thanks to an endowed professorship in the medical school,Kreutzer has more time to help more people affected by brain injury.

In 2009, Kreutzer was named to the Rosa Schwarz Cifu Professor inCancer Rehabilitation in the Department of Physical Medicine andRehabilitation. The endowed professorship guarantees Kreutzer thetime to pursue work that goes beyond his patient care and teachingduties. In the past two years, he has used that allocation of time tofocus on scholarly work and to share the programs he’s developed onthe MCV Campus with the wider world.

Kreutzer has just completed putting together the largest reference bookever compiled in the neuropsychology field. The Encyclopedia ofClinical Neuropsychology is a four-volume, 2,700-plus page tome thathe hopes will become the go-to text in the field.

In addition, he is spending time traveling and talking to others aboutsome of the programs he’s developed in his nearly 30 years at VCU.The most recent is a family intervention program that helps families ofbrain-injured patients learn about brain injury and practicecommunication and problem-solving skills so that they can function ina healthy way. “Family members of brain-injured patients can feel quitelonely, even though they’re together,” Kreutzer says. “Our programhelps them understand their feelings and stimulates ways to talk aboutthem.”

Kreutzer travels around the continent conducting trainings of the BrainInjury Family Intervention for health care professionals, as well as forpatients and their families. The program combines education withcounseling to address emotional, behavioral and cognitive changes thatoccur with brain injury.

Earlier programs developed by Kreutzer and his VCU colleague PaulWehman, Ph.D., include an employment program, which has sincebecome the standard of care to help patients return to the workforce,

and a program to address depression, a too-common and debilitatingoutcome of brain injury.

Kreutzer has received prestigious recognition from other organizationsfor his work in rehabilitation of brain-injured patients. Last fall theNational Academy of Neuropsychology honored him with theirDistinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology Award.

No one is happier to see Kreutzer benefitting from the endowedprofessorship than his department chair, David Cifu, M.D., who holdsthe Herman J. Flax, M.D. Professorship of PM&R. Together with hiswife, brothers and father, Cifu set up the endowment to memorializehis mother, Rosa Schwarz Cifu, who was a cancer nurse for 30 yearsand received medical care at the VCU Medical Center. The motivationbehind the endowment was to support a faculty member inrehabilitation, much the way his mother supported the recovery of somany patients.

In fact, the PM&R department got its start in 1949, with the supportof a gift from Bernard Baruch in honor of his father and Civil Warsurgeon Simon Baruch, M.D., making it one of the oldest departmentsin the country. “Patients with disability and pain can be helped toreturn to activity and productivity with compassionate medicalservices, therapeutic exercise, medications, education and training,health and life coaching, and psychologic support and care,” Cifu says.Psychologists like Kreutzer are a critical component of theinterdisciplinary field of rehabilitation medicine.

“Jeff Kreutzer is an internationally-recognized leader in research,teaching and clinical care," Cifu says. "I felt it was appropriate toprovide dedicated funding so he could carve out time to teach peopleabout his work.”

[ ]Jeffrey Kreutzer, PhD, ABPP, FACRM

The Rosa Schwarz Cifu Professor in CancerRehabilitation in the Department of PhysicalMedicine and Rehabilitation

Director, Virginia Commonwealth Traumatic BrainInjury Model System of Care

2010 recipient of the Distinguished LifetimeContribution to Neuropsychology Award from theNational Academy of Neuropsychology

Charles Chalfant, Ph.D., an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, has built a high-profileresearch program around two recently identified players in inflammation.

In recognition of his work, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has awarded Chalfant with theAventi Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research. The award honors outstanding research contributions by younginvestigators with no more than 15 years of experience.

Inflammation is a complex process that includes a whole host of biochemical and cell signaling processes, which interact incomplex ways to coordinate the body’s response to injury. Chalfant’s work focuses on a lipid called ceramide-1-phosphate andthe enzyme responsible for its synthesis, ceramide kinase.

“The lipid itself and the enzyme were described in 1989,” Chalfant says, but only recently — and based in large part on hiswork — have their functions been revealed.

Chalfant has systematically shown how key these molecules are in the inflammatory response. They stimulate a massivebuildup of local hormones known as eicosanoids, which serve a wide range of functions including pain, fever, tissue growth,blood clotting and immune regulation.

Chalfant’s research could lead eventually to novel treatments for inflammation. There’s certainly a need for alternatives toaspirin and ibuprofen, as the most recent ones, the COX-2 inhibitors, have been hampered by serious side effects. Chronicinflammation is also implicated in such diseases as arthritis, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and asthma.

Fadi N. Salloum, Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine and physiology and biophysics, also studies theconsequences of heart attack – specifically, the damage that can occur when the heart is reperfused with oxygenated blood.Reperfusion injury occurs, Salloum says, because the reintroduction of oxygen following ischemia causes a surge in free radicals,which can cause cells in the heart to die. “And what we know about heart muscle cells is that they poorly rejuvenate,” he says.

Salloum is investigating a cell-signaling pathway thought to protect the heart through its generation of hydrogen sulfide, amolecule that plays an important role in biological processes. He can activate the pathway using drugs commonly prescribed forerectile dysfunction. In animal models of ischemia and reperfusion injury, the drug Cialis has produced excellentcardioprotective results. He is planning on testing the drug on cells obtained from heart failure patients following transplant.

Salloum credits the VCU community for nurturing his work to this point. “The research environment is excellent, especiallyunder the mentorship of Dr. Rakesh C. Kukreja, Virginia’s Scientist of the year in 2010,” Salloum says. At the Pauley HeartCenter, clinicians, physician scientists and scientists all work together. “Ideas that start in the lab, when they show promise, havea good chance of being tested clinically.”

Abbate agrees, saying he’s had lots of support in the form of internal funds and protected research time, as well as resources,community and expertise through the VCU Center for Clinical and Translational Research.

discoveryR E P O R T

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Young Investigators Meet junior faculty memberswhose work is attractingrecognition in their fields

by : J ILL ADAMS

Two medical school faculty members who are working to translate

basic research into clinical medicine have received prestigious grant

awards from the American Heart Association. The National Scientist

Development Grant Program provides four years of support, about

$300,000 total, to highly promising young scientists to help them

build strong research programs and independent careers.

Antonio Abbate, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, is interested in preventing the development of heartfailure after heart attacks. Heart attacks cause injury to cardiac tissue and the body responds with an influx of immune cells andsignaling molecules, which set the stage for healing. However, this inflammatory response also can create a second wave ofinjury.

Abbate is investigating whether blunting the immune response might prevent the secondary damage of heart attacks, whichresults in a too-large, poorly pumping heart. He uses a drug that blocks the powerful immune mediator interleukin-1 and hasfound positive results in cell and animals studies. That was enough to test the drug – called anakinra and currently approved forrheumatoid arthritis – in a small clinical study.

“The study was limited to 10 patients, but was very interesting,” Abbate says. Patients who received the drug had less cardiacenlargement at three months. Abbate plans to use the AHA grant to enroll more patients in his study.

by : JEN USCHER

The chance to be part of a large research university and amedical center that provides care for an underservedpopulation is part of what drew Sabik to join the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research last September.

Sabik investigates issues related to healthcare spending, the effects of a lack of insurance coverage andunderserved populations. Because of those interests a home base at the VCU Medical Center, the largest safetynet provider in the state, is a good fit. Her work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journalsincluding Health Affairs and the American Journal of Public Health.

Currently, she is working on a research project with Cathy J. Bradley, Ph.D., founding chair of the Departmentof Healthcare Policy and Research, looking at the effects of Medicaid caseload on safety net hospitals in Virginia.

Sabik is also excited to be assisting in the development of new graduate programs in her department,including a Ph.D. in healthcare policy and research. “I look forward to teaching in the program and helping toshape it,” she says.

Lindsay Sabik, Ph.D.

Taylor arrived last September to join a growing sleep disorders program in the neurology department to studydisorders that are associated with Parkinson’s Disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Taylor is particularly interested in REM sleep behavior disorder, a sleep abnormality in which patients physicallyact out their dreams andmay endanger themselves and their bed partners. People who have been diagnosed withthe disorder are at greater risk for developing Parkinson’s or other neurodegenerative disorders.

At themedical school’s new center for the research and treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and othermovementdisorders, Taylor will be participating in clinical studies and in the evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders.“We’ll be working to further characterize sleep disturbances in Parkinson’s Disease and other related conditionsand to develop new therapies – including medications, procedures and other interventions — to improve patients’overall sleep quality,” he says.

Samuel A. Taylor, Jr., M.D.

Taking the post as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was a good fit for Chelmow because ofhis broad interests. “I am a generalist in both my clinical practice andmy research interests,” he says. “VCU'sdepartment is built around a large academic generalist group who provide great care andmedical student andresident education.”

The department also has strong clinical sections in all of the OB/GYN subspecialties. As a generalist, he feelshe can work with each of the specialty sections to further grow their clinical services and expand their academ-ic and research activities. Another goal is collaboration with other departments, for example creating aContinence and Pelvic Floor Center in collaboration with the Division of Urology. “This would give us the oppor-tunity to conduct research together and offer even better multidisciplinary care,” he says.

His research focuses on cesarean delivery techniques, particularly wound closure and the prevention ofwound complications. Studies he conducted on using prophylactic antibiotics during cesarean delivery and onincision closure have contributed to widespread changes in practice. He is also the editor-in-chief of theeMedicine OB/GYN online textbook and has authored more than 65 peer-reviewed papers and review articles.

Oh joined the neurology department last summer after training for six years at the NIH as a clinical and researchfellow. A graduate of VCU’s School of Medicine, he says he is pleased to be back on the MCV Campus. “The environ-ment in our department is very supportive for physician-scientists,” he says.

Oh examines inflammatory responses involved in multiple sclerosis and participates in clinical studies of ther-apies that modulate these responses. He recently received a K12 Career Development Award from the NIH to pur-sue a new research direction. “I’ll be investigating neurodegenerative mechanisms that may pertain to thesecondary progressive phase of MS,” he says.

In addition, Oh is developing a new center for comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis care on the MCV Campus thatwill give patients multidisciplinary care as well as the opportunity to enroll in trials of new therapies. He will sub-mit the center for approval and affiliation with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society within the year.

Unsong Oh, M.D.

David Chelmow, M.D.

Patent SpotlightThe School of Medicine was responsible for 80 inventiondisclosures last year, more than half of VCU’s total inventiondisclosures and more than any other school or college at theuniversity. Such creativity is fueled in part by research grantsfrom external organizations — last year, the School of Medicineattracted its highest-ever level of funding from the NationalInstitutes of Health. In addition, the medical school accounts for51 percent of the university’s sponsored research awards.

Naturally, inventive people stand behind the numbers and one of those is KevinWard, M.D.,professor and director of research in the Department of Emergency Medicine anddirector of VCURES, the VCU Reanimation Engineering Science Center. Over the lastdecade, Ward has led all faculty by making 65 invention disclosures, applying for 121patents and licensing 13 inventions to outside companies. Two of his inventions are inthe FDA approval process and should be on the market this year.

Moreover, these inventions are lifesavers that will affect the wellbeing of patients acrossthe country and around the world, including U.S. military personnel in combat. Someprovide non-invasive — and safer —means of measuring the body’s vital functionsincluding intra-cranial pressure, heart venous blood pressure and the level of oxygenreaching internal organs. Often the inventions carry the names of multiple facultymembers, as Ward is known for reaching across disciplines to stimulate collaboration. Onone invention, Ward coordinated the ingenuity of VCU faculty in chemical engineering,anesthesiology, chemistry, emergency medicine and biochemistry. Another drew on thetalents of a cardiologist, an anesthesiologist, a physiologist, a trauma surgeon andothers. Ward truly believes inventing is best played as a team sport.

For these achievements, Ward was presented last fall with VCU’s Billy Martin InnovationAward, the ultimate accolade for inventiveness at the research university.

$8-MILLION NIH EXTENSION

Gregory A. Buck, Ph.D., professor of microbiology &immunology and director of the VCU Center for the Study ofBiological Complexity

VCU has won an $8-million NIH extension for itswork on how microorganisms found in the vaginainfluence health and disease in women. The work, begunin 2009 under Buck, will be funded for an additional

three years and is part of a larger nationwide study of how the humanmicrobiome (microbes found in and on the body) affects health and disease.

“We are uncovering associations that were previously unknown andunexpected but may have important implications for women’s health,” Bucksaid. Fifteen studies competed for extensions; VCU’s program was one ofeight to win funding. Recent developments in the interrelationship betweenthe genetic makeup of microbes and the genetic makeup of their hosts willenhance the project’s goal of improving women’s health.

The research is supported by an $8-million grant from NIH.

HELP FOR PREECLAMPSIA

Scott Walsh, Ph.D., professor of obstetrics & gynecologyand physiology & biophysics

In as many as 10 percent of pregnancies, women can sufferfrom preeclampsia, a condition commonly associated withhigh blood pressure, swelling and loss of protein in the urine.At times misdiagnosed, the condition is a leading causeworldwide of sickness and death in mothers and babies.

Walsh and his team have announced two important findings that mightexplain some of the disorder’s symptoms. They connected an increased levelof an enzyme called MMP-1 in the blood vessels of pregnant womensuffering from preeclampsia with the swelling and protein loss in urine thatare typically associated with the condition. Additionally, an interactionbetween MMP-1 and a receptor called PAR-1 – which is also elevated inwomen with preeclampsia – results in constricted blood vessels. "Here was atotally new and novel explanation for the high blood pressure that womenhave in preeclampsia," Walsh said.

Read more in the January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.

ETHICS OF DONOR RECRUITMENT

Laura Siminoff, Ph.D., professor and chair of social andbehavioral health, and the Theresa A. Thomas MemorialFoundation Chair in Cancer Prevention and Control at theVCU Massey Cancer Center

Siminoff will lead a two-year study on the ethical, legaland social issues of organ donor recruitment andconsent. She and her team will coordinate with the

National Disease Research Interchange in Philadelphia, which is engaged in anational study to understand how genetic variation may control gene activityand its relationship to disease.

The national project will establish a tissue bank with three biospecimensources sites, each with its own tissue recruitment. Siminoff, a nationallyrecognized expert on health communication and decision making in organand tissue donation, has been charged with evaluating the consent processtoward developing one that maximizes the biobank's diversity and is sensitiveto the cultural and ethical requirements of biobank donors.

The research is supported by a $283,000-grant from the NIH.

MAPPING THE DEAF BRAIN

Alex Meredith, Ph.D., professor of anatomy & neurobiology

Deaf individuals have supranormal peripheral visionand visual motion-detection. To find where this occursin the brain, congenitally deaf cats were evaluatedattempting to perform these visual tasks while selectedparts of their brain were deactivated. Researchers foundthat when the auditory cortex was deactivated, the deaf

cats lost their supranormal abilities. Thus, the auditory parts of the deaf brainhad been reorganized to perform specific visual functions – a phenomenonthat is termed cross-modal plasticity.

Meredith was part of an international research team that included the Centrefor Brain and Mind at the University of Western Ontario in Canada and theMedical University in Hannover, Germany. They hope their findings lead toa new generation of cochlear implants that take advantage of cross-modalplasticity in human brains.

Read more in the October 10 issue of Nature Neuroscience. The researchwas supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

PROMISING TOOL FORFIGHTING KIDNEY CANCER

Paul Dent, Ph.D., professor of neuro-surgery and the Universal Corporationdistinguished professor in cancer cellsignaling at the VCU Massey CancerCenter, and Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph.,Ph.D., professor and chair of human &molecular genetics, director of the VCU

Institute of Molecular Medicine and the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chairin Cancer Research at the VCU Massey Cancer Center

A novel virus-based gene therapy kills metastatic kidney cancer cells bycombining the use of FDA-approved Sorafenib (Nexavar) and a gene-alteredadenovirus. The adenovirus is normally one that infects the upper respiratorysystem but which is genetically altered to cause kidney cancer cells – andnormal cells protecting the kidneys – to produce a cancer-killing protein.

In mice, the protein not only stopped the growth of cancer cells at the kidneybut once it had entered the blood stream also stopped the growth of a distanttumor not infected with the altered adenovirus, a process called toxic'bystander' effect. “Adenoviral gene therapies are still very new, but theyrepresent a potentially powerful tool in the fight against cancer,” says Fisher.He and Dent will be working next on moving the research from thelaboratory to clinical trials and investigating whether the therapy may beuseful in other cancers.

Read more in the December 2010 issue of Cancer Biology and Therapy.

discoveryR E P O R T

D E A N ’ S

RESEARCH NOTES

DENT FISHER

THWARTING BIRTH DEFECTS

Michael A. McVoy, Ph.D., and Stuart P. Adler, M.D., bothprofessors of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology

Infection by the cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leadingcause of congenital mental retardation and non-genetichearing loss in the United States.

McVoy and Adler will work in conjunction with SanDiego-based Vical, Inc., to prepare and evaluate CMV

vaccines for human use. Previous studies by McVoy and Adler have identifiedCMV antigens that could be used for a vaccine to prevent CMV infection. Asafe and highly effective CMV vaccine would be used for nearly all women ofchild bearing age, and its use would be even more widespread than thevaccine introduced in 2006 for preventing infection by the humanpapillomavirus (HPV), a primary cause of cervical cancer.

Research is supported by a grant of almost $4 million from NIH’s NationalInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

EVALUATING DELIVERY OF HEALTHCARE TO THE UNINSURED

Wally R. Smith, M.D., professor of medicine, vice chair forresearch for the Division of General Internal Medicine, andscientific director of the VCU Center on Health Disparities

Virginia Coordinated Care could prove to be anationally replicable model of effective delivery ofprimary care and hospital services to eligible low-

income patients likely to be newly insured by recent health care reform.Organized in 2000, VCC is a joint effort of the VCU Health System andprimary care physicians in the community. VCC was founded to bothimprove the health of the uninsured and eliminate unnecessary emergencydepartment use by providing geographically close and more timely access toprimary care for those in zip codes surrounding the VCU Health System.

As part of a broader national evaluation, a study to evaluate VCC willcompare VCC’s health delivery to the traditional safety net system. “Webelieve our work will provide policy makers and other health systems acrossthe country with evidence and templates for better care for the uninsured andnewly insured poor.” Smith said.

The research is supported by a $1.2-million grant from U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

PSYCHIATRY PAPER HIGHLIGHTED FORRAPIDLY INCREASING CITATIONS

John M. "Jack" Hettema, M.D., Ph.D., associate professorof psychiatry and member of the Virginia Institute forPsychiatric and Behavioral Genetics

In the world of scientific journals, citing anotherresearcher’s study is a visible illustration of how scientistsbuild on each others' work, according to Thomson

Reuters ScienceWatch Essential Science Indicators. As it tracks these citings,Thomson Reuters pays particular attention to what it calls Fast MovingFronts, those articles whose rates of citations are increasing most rapidly.Earlier this year, Thomson Reuters reported that a 2006 paper by Hettemawas at the top of the group of publications in the Psychiatry/Psychology fieldthat saw a rapid increase in citations from June to August 2010.

Hettema’s study examined genetic factors relating to the relationship betweenneurotic personality traits and clinical depression and anxiety disorders. Hisconclusion, based on the studies of 9,000 sets of twins, was that geneticfactors of depression and anxiety substantially overlap risk factors for neuroticpersonality traits. Hettema said that the study could aid in the identificationof genes that contribute to psychiatric disorders. “I was quite fortunate tohave landed at Virginia Commonwealth University for my medical training,”he told ScienceWatch, “as that exposed me to their world-renown psychiatricgenetics research program.”

Read more from the paper, “A population-based twin study of therelationship between neuroticism and internalizing disorders,” in theMay 2006 issue of American Journal of Psychiatry.

WHY PATIENTS AVOID CANCERSCREENINGS

Resa M. Jones, M.P.H., Ph.D., assistant professor ofepidemiology and community health and Massey CancerCenter member researcher

A recent study suggested a reason why patients avoidcancer screenings: too many options. Presented withmore than one method of screening for colorectal

cancer, patients cited greater confusion over which one to undergo andsettled the matter by choosing none of them, the study found. At least fourkinds of colorectal cancer screening tests – of varying preparations, potentialdiscomforts and costs – have been recommended, and some expert panels arerecommending more options.

Jones found that patients presented with more than one option were 1.6times more likely to be confused compared to those presented with just oneoption, and nearly twice as likely to not follow screening recommendations.Jones will next examine various factors that might be contributing to theconfusion over and ultimate rejection of colorectal cancer screening. It isimportant to develop an effective education strategy because, while colorectalcancer is the second leading cause of cancer death, it is far more likely to becurable when detected early.

Read more in the November 2010 issue of Cancer Epidemiology,Biomarkers & Prevention.

GOING HOME WITH ANARTIFICIAL HEART

Vigneshwar Kasirajan, M.D., professor and chair of cardio-thoracic surgery and director of the Pauley Heart Centerheart transplantation program

Receiving an artificial heart used to mean being tied to a418-pound console, but not any more. The School ofMedicine has been chosen the lead institution for a 30-

center national clinical trial of a 13-pound Freedom® driver that fits in abackpack and allows a patient to recuperate and rehabilitate at home whileawaiting a donor heart.

The VCU Medical Center is leading the FDA-approved InvestigationalDevice Exemption clinical study of the first U.S. portable driver, whichpowers SynCardia’s Total Artificial Heart. Kasirajan is principal investigatorfor the clinical trial that is designed to demonstrate whether the Freedomdriver is suitable for stable artificial heart patients to safely use at home or in astep-down medical facility. Without a portable device, patients can waitmonths or even a year in a hospital for a suitable donor heart for transplant.

The VCU Medical Center is the most active total artificial heart center in the U.S.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE LIVES

John M. Quillin, Ph.D., assistant professor of human &molecular genetics

Most terminally ill cancer patients eligible for testingthat might have revealed a genetic susceptibility tocancer never received such testing. The genetic testingmight have benefited relatives interested in learningif their own genetic structure showed susceptibilities

to the same cancers.

Five to ten percent of cancers have a hereditary component and relativeswarned in time have a better chance of remaining healthy. Though one fifthof a group of 43 dying patients studied by Quillin and his team qualified forgenetic testing, none had such tests performed. Quillin also reported thatpatients had only a limited knowledge of genetic testing and that none of thepatients had been counseled about it despite its potential benefit to theirrelatives. Genetic testing is most warranted for persons who develop canceryounger than age 50, have multiple cancers or who have relatives who hadsuffered from similar cancers.

Read more in the October 2011 issue of the Journal of Genetic Counseling.

ADLER

DEAN’S DISCOVERY REPORT | Volume 10, Number 1

The Dean’s Discovery Report is published twice a year by Virginia Commonwealth University’sSchool of Medicine on the Medical College of Virginia Campus. Reader comments and suggestionsare welcome; please call (800) 332-8813 or (804) 828-4800, e-mail MedAlum@vcu.edu or write toP.O. Box 980022, Richmond, VA 23298-0022.

The Dean’s Discovery Initiative provides an opportunity for donors to transform the researchenvironment in the School of Medicine. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends can supportthe school's research endeavor in ways that traditional funding sources do not.

Dean: Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D.Produced by the School of Medicine’s Alumni and Development Office: Associate Dean forDevelopment, Tom Holland; Editor, Erin Lucero.ContributingWriters: Jill Adams, Brooke C. Stoddard, Jen Uscher and AnnaWoodPhotographers: Allen Jones, Tom Kojcsich, Mark Mitchell Photography, Stygar Group andVCU Creative ServicesGraphic Design: Zeigler|Dacus

© Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011.

Serving the Medical College of VirginiaCampus of Virginia CommonwealthUniversity since 1949 and proud to be apartner with the School of Medicine.

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(804) 828-9734www.mcvfoundation.org

Fourth-year medical student Esther Johnston already has 10 years experienceworking abroad. Now she’s on another journey. In January, Johnston traveled to

Nairobi, Kenya for a four-month stint developing a pandemic influenza surveillanceprogram.

Last May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Johnston aHubert Global Health Fellowship. Each year since 1999, the fellowship has provideda limited number of students with the opportunity to gain public health knowledge ina global setting. Through these experiences, students establish relationships with, andreceive training from, recognized experts from CDC and other national andinternational health agencies.

While in Kenya, Johnston will collect specimens from throughout the country.Her work will include data collection and analysis, monitoring and evaluation ofthe project.

Prior to 1994, Africa’s surveillance system for assessing the impact of influenza was unreliable and inaccurate. Toaddress the issue, the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created anInternational Emerging Infections Program office in Nairobi. “Getting the right medicines and the right expertise topatients who need it requires an understanding of where and what the problem is,” explained Johnston. “If we don’tperform surveillance in enough different locales then we could miss the emergence of a new and possibly moredangerous virus.”

With 10 surveillance sites, Johnston’s team will work to understand the pattern of Kenya’s seasonal influenza so thatappropriate prevention strategies can be designed.

Studies have shown that different populations respond to vaccines in different ways, and so Johnston also will studyvaccine use in Kenya during her stay. Because most vaccines for influenza are tested and approved outside Africa, thatpopulation could possibly be receiving ineffectual vaccines.

As an undergraduate at UC San Diego, Johnston was drawn to global health. Each summer during college, shetraveled to Ensenada, Mexico to work with a free primary care clinic. Those first trips sparked her awareness of thevast health disparities among peoples and were the beginning of many expeditions abroad.

“Over the last 10 years I’ve traveled from Mexico to Charlottesville to Richmond, Guatemala, Ecuador, andNicaragua, I’ve realized that every time I cross borders my eyes open a little more to the incredible diversity of thehuman experience,” said Johnston.

That realization prompted Johnston to take a year off from medical school to obtain her Master’s in PublicHealth at Johns Hopkins University. During that time, she concentrated her work in humanitarian assistance andrefugee issues as well as infectious disease. In fact, Johnston’s capstone project involved one of the refugee campsshe may be working with in Kenya. She expects that in her trip, “I’ll be relying heavily on that education inmonitoring and evaluation, epidemiology and biostatistics.”

Isaac Wood, M.D., senior associate dean for medical education and student affairs, says that “Esther is truly aremarkable medical student who epitomizes all the qualities we seek in our graduates. Her commitment tointernational humanitarian causes sets the bar for all students. Esther truly upholds the dignity of human beings andtheir rights to have access to and receive medical care.”

VCU’s School of Medicine has had a track record of students accepted into the CDC-Hubert Global HealthFellowship. Most recently, the Class of 2010’s Benita Panigrahi traveled to Gaborone, Botswana with the CDC in2009-2010. She worked for an ongoing project on the implementation of quality assurance of rapid HIV testing.The Class of 2009’s Claire Rezba received the fellowship as well.

by ANNA WOODFourth-yearM.D. Student’s

Global HealthInterest TakesHer to Kenya

FOURTH-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT ESTHERJOHNSTON HAS TRAVELED TO NAIROBI FOR AFOUR-MONTH STINT DEVELOPING A PANDEMIC

INFLUENZA SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM. SERVICEAND PUBLIC HEALTH HAVE BEEN IMPORTANT TO

JOHNSTON THROUGHOUT HER ADULT LIFE. BECAUSEOF THAT FOCUS, SHE IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE

HARRY AND ZACKIA SHAIA SCHOLARSHIP, A FOUR-YEAR SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED TO INCOMING MED-

ICAL STUDENTS WITH A DEMONSTRATEDCOMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY.