PICTURESOF HEALTH

SUMMER 2002

A pub l icat ion fo r f r iends o f t he Un iver s i ty o f Minnesot a

Special Focuson Aging

Pages SF1-4

PersonalizedDrugs?Page 7

PromotingFood Safety

Page 10

ResearchersDorothy

Hatsukami, Jesse Mason, and

Stephen Hechtfight the effects

of tobacco addiction

through TTURC.Page 8.

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PICTURESOF HEALTH

After the Medical School

graduation May 10, some 200

faculty, family, and friends gathered

to honor outgoing dean Alfred

Michael. He reflected on

improvements made during his

more than five years as dean,

noting: “Any accomplishments that

were obtained here were obviously

done by the faculty.”

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Pictures of Health is published four times a year for friends of the AcademicHealth Center. Suggestions and letters are welcome. Please send to Pictures ofHealth, Academic Health Center, MailCode 735, A-395 Mayo Building, 420Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN55455, or to aac@umn.edu.Tel: 612-624-5100

For more information about the Academic Health Center and its sevenschools and colleges, refer to the Web site at www.ahc.umn.edu.

EditorAllison Campbell

PhotographyRichard Anderson (unless noted);Robert Ball, Joel Hoekstra, MichelleMero Riedel, Tim Rummelhoff

Graphic Designk. sheahan graphic design

Publications ManagerMark Engebretson

Director of CommunicationsMary Koppel

Associate Vice President Terry Bock

Senior Vice President forHealth SciencesFrank B. Cerra

School of DentistryPeter Polverini, Dean

Medical SchoolDeborah Powell, Dean

School of Medicine, Duluth Richard Ziegler, Dean

School of NursingSandra Edwardson, Dean

College of PharmacyMarilyn Speedie, Dean

School of Public HealthMark Becker, Dean

College of Veterinary MedicineJeffrey Klausner, Dean

PICTURESOF HEALTH

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

PAMPERED CATTLE WERE STARS DURING A FIELD TRIP ARRANGED FOR THE

FIRST PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE ON FOOD SAFETY. PAGE 10.

FUNERAL DIRECTORS INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF THEIR PROFESSION BY

MENTORING MORTUARY SCIENCE STUDENTS. PAGE 5.

KUO-TUNG HSU STUDIES GERIATRIC DENTISTRY TO PROVIDE BETTER

CARE TO ELDERS LIKE MARGARET WESTBY. PAGE SF 1.

SPECIAL FOCUS: GRAY MATTERS SF 1-4Academic Health Center researchers work to help seniors live in the best possible health and, when problemsarise, with the best care available.

GETTING PERSONAL 7Pharmacogenomics builds on understanding ofindividuals’ genes to improve drug treatments and avoidadverse reactions.

TOBACCO ROAD 8Reducing death and disease caused by tobacco use is thegoal of a diverse group of researchers at TransdisciplinaryTobacco Use Reseach Center.

CLEAN PLATE 10Food safety was promoted by a new Public Health Institutebased on partnerships among private companies,government agencies, and AHC schools and colleges.

THE NEXT GENERATION 11Encouraging women and people of color to enterbioinformatics, a little known but increasingly importantfield, calls for teaching their teachers.

4A quick look at news from the Academic Health Center.

SNAPSHOTS+

Back Page: Close to Home

NOVEL ARRANGEMENTS 5From the start of their two-year program, MortuaryScience students learn from the professionals.

DOWN ON THE FARM 6Students gain from a unique partnership between privatedairies and the College of Veterinary Medcine.

OUTREACH

EDUCATION

REEARCHSEARCH

4

Deborah Powell, candidate for dean of the Medical School, was confirmed by the Regents at theirJuly meeting. Executive dean of the School of Medicine and vicechancellor for Clinical Affairs for theUniversity of Kansas Medical Center,Powell was recommended by asearch team and Frank Cerra, seniorvice president for health sciences,from among an outstandingcandidate pool. “Dr. Powell has theexperience, vision, leadership, andmaturity of judgment critical for thismedical school to reach its next level,”said Cerra. “She is a highly respected and nationally known physician, scientist, and academician.” A native of Lynn, Mass., she graduated fromRadcliffe College and Tufts University School of Medicine andcompleted residency training at Georgetown University MedicalCenter and the National Institutes of Health. Before coming toKansas, she served at University of Kentucky Medical Center and the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

The formal launch of the expansion of the College of Pharmacy’sPharmD program to the Duluth campus took place this July.Starting in September 2003, Duluth will add 50 pharmacy studentsa year until it reaches an enrollment of 200—an expansion fundedby the AHC Education Endowment, paid for through the tobaccosettlement. “The shortage of pharmacists in Minnesota is critical,”said Frank B. Cerra, senior vice president for health sciences. “Fortheir part in addressing this shortage, I applaud the collaborativeefforts of faculty and leaders in the college and at UMD.” Theshortage is especially severe outside the Twin Cities metropolitanarea; students in the Duluth program will be introduced to practicein small town and rural Minnesota.

Medical student Norma Walks talks withCleopatra Laicer, at right,at a minority studentrecruitment fair April 6.The fair attractedstudents interested inhealth sciences fromaround the state duringthe Central RegionNational Association of Medical MinorityEducators conference

“A Deeper Look at Health Disparities: Awareness, Advocacy andAction,” hosted by the Medical School Office of Minority Affairsand Diversity. Sessions covered research, biomedical genomicsand bioethics, public health issues and community initiatives.

Carolyn Garcia contributed herexpertise and time at Ground Zeroin New York City following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. A teachingspecialist in the School of Nursing,Garcia received the American RedCross “Emergency ServicesVolunteer of the Year Award” for2002 from the Greater MinneapolisChapter this spring.

In 1902, the then-Department of Ophthalmology/Otolaryngologybecame the first surgical department at the Medical School toseparate from general surgery. It joined four other schoolsnationwide with specialized instruction in eye, ear, nose, andthroat. Since then, the field has advanced with improvements inmedical technology, such as cochlearimplants, the use of interdisciplinaryteams composed of neurosurgeons,dentists and others to provide the bestpossible care, and the translation ofbasic science and research resultsinto daily practice, says GeorgeAdams, head of the Otolaryngologydepartment, which marked its first 100 years with a celebration this June.“Our faculty is highly diverse,” saysAdams, “and we are fortunate to haveall aspects of the field ofotolaryngology represented.”

Apostolos Georgopoulus, neuroscientist, was elected a fellow ofthe American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Academy wasfounded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock,

and other scholar-patriots “tocultivate every art and sciencewhich may tend to advance theinterest, honor, dignity, andhappiness of a free, independent,and virtuous people.” In his work,Georgopoulos investigates theneural basis of cognition and thecontrol of movement. “He tries tounderstand how millions of braincells work together to not onlycontrol body movements but alsohow the brain plans movements—including the order,” says TimothyEbner, head of the Medical

School’s neuroscience department. Among those joiningGeorgopoulos in the Academy’s class of 2002 are Sen. EdwardKennedy, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and Academy Award-winnerAnjelica Huston.

Researchers at the Stem CellInstitute have demonstrated forthe first time that stem cells takenfrom bone marrow in mice andrats can form the tissue of mostorgans of the body. The research,led by Catherine Verfaillie, waspublished in Nature. By isolating a rare type of bone marrow cellcalled a multipotent adultprogenitor cell (MAPC), theydiscovered these cells were ableto mimic tissue from a variety oforgans, similar to what would beexpected from embryonic stemcells. The researchers injectedstem cells from adult mice into

the embryos of other mice. When born, the introduced stem cells contributed to many organs throughout the body includingintestines, lungs, and liver. Verfaillie believes that adult stem cellsmay hold therapeutic promise, but cautions that a large number ofstudies is still required to fully characterize the potential of MAPC.

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5

EDUCATION

Spending nights in a mortuaryisn’t every student’s dream,but for Richard Purcell itwas the perfect arrangement.In exchange for answeringthe after-hours phone andkeeping watch on the place,he paid no rent and got ahands-on education. Nowthe owner of two TwinCities funeral homes, Purcellsays the experience gave himan up-close glimpse of hisfuture profession: “It was an outstanding opportunityto see what takes place in a funeral home and to testmy emotional comfort levelwith the work that goes onin that environment.”

Hands-on educationremains a vital part of mortuary science—thoughanswering services and burglar alarms have largelyeliminated live-in positionsat funeral homes. AndPurcell, an ’82 graduate ofMortuary Science, an AlliedHealth program in the MedicalSchool, is one of several practi-tioners helping ensure that students entering the professionexperience embalming, arranging,restoration, and other aspects offuneral service. Last fall, hementored three students as partof the Mortuary Science depart-ment’s new community-basededucation initiative.

“They were eager to learn,”Purcell says of the students.“They’d ask: How do you keeptrack of what you have to do?Why do you use this type ofembalming fluid?”

Mortuary science profes-sionals have always valued prag-matic experience. Until last fall,

however, students in the U’sMortuary Science departmentweren’t required to spend time inthe field untilnear the endof the two-year program.Now, studentsare plungedinto the professionfrom day one, saysdepartmentdirectorMichaelLuBrant.They must spend five hours a week at a licensed funeralhome, crematorium, cemetery,or affiliated institution, such asa hospice, hospital, morgue, or

medical examiner’s office. Thepair of credits earned throughtwo semesters of clinical rotation

at four differentsites are arequirement forgraduation.

Rotationsprovide studentswith experiencesthat complementand augmentclassroom learning. PaulSinner, a third-semester senior,says he gleaned

tips on flower arranging, wakepreparation, cosmetics, anddressing bodies from staff atMinneapolis’s Washburn-McReavy Funeral Chapels.

“They showed us the littleins and outs, more efficientmanners of doing things,”he says.

Mortuary science students have traditionallycome from families alreadyinvolved in funeral service,LuBrant says. But in recentyears, an increasing numberof students entering the program have no back-ground in the business, androtations play an importantpart in helping them discernwhether it is a good fit fortheir career goals: “It gaveme an idea of how a funeralhome works,” says LoanHoang of her first behind-the-scenes experience infuneral service. “We partici-pated in services, helpedwith arrangements, and evenparticipated in embalminghuman remains.”

Funeral directors whohave hosted the 22 studentscurrently involved in clinicalrotations are investing in thefuture of their profession,says Kelly Guncheon,executive director of theMinnesota Funeral DirectorsAssociation. “They’re inter-ested in having the best andthe brightest in the profes-sion,” Guncheon says,

adding that funeral homes couldface a worker shortage if thenumber of qualified professionalsdwindles just as Baby Boomersbegin to enter the final phases of life.

For Purcell and others,Mortuary Science’s movetoward community-based education will have ripples acrossMinnesota—and the nation.“Without a doubt, these studentsare going to be the future leadersin funeral service,” Purcell says.“If we can train them, educatethem, give them exposure to situations in life that they’regoing to encounter, then they’llbe better ready to lead.”

■ Joel Hoekstra

In

Mortuary

Science,

community-based

education augments

lessons from the

classroom.

“We participated inservices, helped

with arrangements,and even participated

in embalming human remains.”

–Loan Huang

FROM RIGHT: WORKING WITH A PRO,WILLIAM MCREAVY, ARE LOAN HOANG,MARVIN OLNES, MORTUARY SCIENCE

PROGRAM DIRECTOR MICHAEL LUBRANT,AND JEFFREY R. HARTQUIST.

NovelArrangements

It’s 7 a.m., and Sarah Ruhland isabout to start her day. If it’s typical, she’llprobably assist with a surgery for displacedabomasum (a twist in one of the cow’s fourstomachs), help deliver calves, examine sev-eral dozen recently calved cows, treat someudders, trim some hooves, and take on anynumber of the wide array of tasks a dairyveterinarian might encounter in the course of a year.

A fourth-year veterinary student,Ruhland has just begun a two-week rotationat the Transition Management Facility (TMF),a one-of-a-kind combined facility combiningteaching, research, and a commercial dairythat opened in January in Baldwin, Wis.

The facility, which houses some 400cows in the critical weeks before and aftercalving—the “transition” between beingpregnant and moving to the milking herd—was constructed as part of a cooperativeagreement between the College of VeterinaryMedicine and Baldwin and Emerald dairiesof northwestern Wisconsin. The collegeoversees care of the cows and provides veterinary services. The dairies bring in thecows, pay operating expenses, and areresponsible for day-to-day management.

The TMF is the result of a huge effortover the past year, led by faculty memberSteven Stewart with the help of colleagues in the college’s Dairy Group, notably PaulRapnicke and Sandra Godden. It represents“a new model for taking care of cows and anew model for teaching and research,” saysJohn Fetrow, another member of the dairy group.

The private dairies, which together milksome 2,500 cows, benefit from having a ded-icated facility to provide specialized care forpregnant and newly calved animals. Theyalso benefit from the college’s research-basedmanagement advice and veterinary care. Thecollege, for its part, gains easy access—it’sless than an hour drive—to a large, consis-tently managed herd of cows. That meansbeing able to expose students to the spec-trum of issues they’re likely to face in prac-tice and to carry out scientific studies in acontrolled setting.

“It’s unique in the world,” Fetrow says.“It’s going to absolutely revolutionize howwe teach dairy clinical medicine and carryout research.”

JohnVrieze, CEOof Baldwinand Emeralddairies, isequallypleased.

“Theylook to us asa source of alarge numberof animals toteach students.We look at them as a source of information.It’s working great,” he says.

In the life of a cow, the last month ofpregnancy and the first two weeks after calv-ing are the most vulnerable times of a dairy

cow’s life. That means students who do arotation at the TMF have an opportunity toexperience in a relatively condensed time andspace the spectrum of issues they’re likely toface in practice. Although the TMF is defi-nitely on the big side—some 50 to 60 calvesare born each week—lessons learned here willprepare students to work with any size dairy.

In addition to providing hands-on experience to students like Ruhland, theTMF, which offers dorm, laboratory, andclassroom space, will host continuing educa-tion programs for practicing veterinarians.Research underway at the facility includesstudies of simple techniques to help preventinfections of the udder around calving, newapproaches to feeding to avoid illness, and

ways to optimize treatmentfor common diseases.

Jeffrey Klausner, dean of the College of VeterinaryMedicine, says that in addi-tion to meeting more imme-diate goals, the facility willhelp Minnesota cement itsposition as a national leaderin dairy veterinary medicine.

“The idea is if we buildstrong programs, people will

come,” Klausner says. “Something like thiswill allow us to attract students from all overMinnesota, from all over the country, andthen have them stay in Minnesota.”

■ Mary Hoff

6

EDUCATION

The facilityrepresents “a new

model for taking careof cows and a new

model for teachingand research.”

–John Fetrow

HERDSMAN

JIM LEWIS, INCAP, LEADS A

TOUR OF THE

TRANSITION

MANAGEMENT

FACILITY, AN

EDUCATION

PROJECT BY

THE COLLEGE

OF VETERINARY

MEDICINE.

Michelle Mero RiedelDown

Hands-on learning about dairy medicinetakes place at a new dairy facility.

on theFarm

7

RE SEARCHSEARCH

Your child has just been diagnosed withacute myeloid leukemia. Among the optionsis a chemotherapy regimen that, dependingon the recipient’s genetic makeup, is highlyeffective—or deadly.

Before you decide on a treatment plan,wouldn’t you like to know which categoryyour child falls into?

Stella Davies would. A pediatric oncolo-gist, Davies has treated many children withthe therapy and encountered both outcomes.Grieved by the adverse effects but unwillingto sacrifice the successes to avoid them,Davies is developing a genetic test to indicateahead of time which children are likely torespond well and which ought to be steeredto a different treatment.

Davies’s efforts are part of an excitingnew approach known as pharmacogenomics.An outgrowth of the Human GenomeProject, the science works to link genetic differences among people to differentresponses to drugs. The goal: more effectiveand efficient treatment for just about every-thing, from allergies to AIDS.

“It helps us target treatment,” saysStephen Schondelmeyer, director of theUniversity’s PRIME Institute, which focuseson pharmaceutical economics and policy.“Pharmacogenomics will let us use better the

drugs we already have, and will lead to the design of new drugs specific to a unique patient.”

The theory behind the science is as simple as the difference between your noseand that of your friend. Scientists and med-ical practitioners have long known that, justas we all look a little different from eachother, we also have different responses tomedication. Those differences—and ourinability to predict them—have helped makeadverse reactions to correctly prescribeddrugs the sixthlargest cause ofdeath in theUnited States.

Untilrecently, no onecould predictthose differences.But now numer-ous efforts areunderway to plumb the depths of people’sgenetic material and use the informationgleaned in the process to fine-tune treatment.It’s the pharmacological equivalent of sellingpeople shoes in different sizes rather thanforcing everyone to cram into—or sloparound in—some primitive, “one-size-fitsall” footwear.

“Knowing how they will respond to the drugs before you give them is a greatbenefit,” Schondelmeyer says.

In the case of AML, Davies is focusingon two genes, GSTM1 and GSTT1. Otherresearchers have shown that the genes, whichare found in some 50 percent and 85 percentof individuals, respectively, make proteinsthat reduce the toxicity of chemotherapydrugs. Davies and colleagues have found thatchildren who lack the GSTT1 gene are less

likely to survive chemotherapy for AMLthan are children with the gene.

The next step is to refine the test for usein the clinic. “It’s not ready for prime time,but it’s pretty close,” Davies says.

As excited as Davies and others are aboutthe hope pharmacogenomics offers, they alsocaution against being overly optimistic aboutthe widespread availability of tailor-madetreatments in the near future. While thehuman genome lies like an open book, it’s

going to take lots of time,effort, and money to trans-late that massive amount ofinformation into concretealterations in the pursuit ofbetter health and well-being.

Pharmacogenomics also will need to pass testsposed by public policy. It’sjust beginning to shift from

theory to practical application, but policymakers and ethicists already are debating the propriety of basing health care on geneticinformation. Some folks fear that if the medical community knows too much abouttheir genetic makeup, they could be deniedinsurance or a job because of an inheritedpredisposition to cancer, heart trouble, orsome other malaise.

Will science, ethics, or economics deter-mine the future of this emerging discipline?All three, Schondelmeyer says. Economic andethical angles could act as brakes, slowingdevelopment or changing its direction. As theydo, however, he emphasizes that research mustcontinue to add practical knowledge forthese other forces to act upon. He says: “Thescience is what’s needed to keep it moving.”

■ Mary Hoff

GettingOur growing

knowledge of what’s

where in the human genome

holds promise for safer,

more effective treatments

for a variety of diseases.

STELLA DAVIES, A PEDIATRIC

ONCOLOGIST, IS DEVELOPING A

GENETIC TEST TO INDICATE AHEAD

OF TIME WHICH CHILDREN ARE

LIKELY TO RESPOND WELL TO A

COMMON THERAPY AND WHICH

VULNERABLE CHILDREN OUGHT

TO BE STEERED TO A DIFFERENT

TREATMENT.

Pharmacogenomics offershope, but Davies and others

caution against expectingtailor-made treatments in

the near future.

PersonalPersonal

8

Jesse Mason grew up in a low-income neighborhood rav-aged by drugs. “I’ve seen a lot of lives ruined,” he says ofhis childhood in Columbus, Ga. In high school, Mason,an African American, recognized that treatment programs

weren’t sensitive to race and cultural issues for drug addicts.Today, he says, the same is truefor those addicted to cigarettes.

“We have a higher death ratein most smoking-related cancer,”he says of African Americans.“We need better prevention andintervention efforts and we needto reduce health disparity.”Mason, a graduate student in the U’s psychology department,intends to help make that happen

at the University of Minnesota and the TransdisciplinaryTobacco Use Research Center.

The center, part of the U’s Cancer Center, is fundedby the National Cancer Institute, the National Instituteof Drug Abuse, and the Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation, and is one of seven in the country. Led byDorothy Hatsukami, director, and Stephen Hecht, co-director, TTURC and its 38 researchers emphasize atransdisciplinary approach: Scientists from across disci-plines—psychiatry and psychology, laboratory medicineand pathology, epidemiology, medicine, biostatistics,biochemistry, and pharmacology—collaborate anddeliver integrative insights and analysis of interventionswith smokers. TTURC also works with local health care providers in ensuring that the latest treatment meth-ods for smoking cessation and smoking reduction areavailable for patients.

“The Center’s main goal,” says Hatsukami, “is toexamine effective ways to reduce death and disease asso-ciated with tobacco use.” Although most smokers wantto quit smoking, most are unsuccessful in their efforts.TTURC scientists are conducting research with animalsand humans to test new medications and novel approachesto intervention and to better understand why some individuals experience more difficulty quitting than others. Medications that target specific chemicals in thebrain affected by nicotine, and those that prevent theentry of nicotine into the brain are being examined along with nicotine byproducts.

TTURC is also exploring new treatment approachesthat include reduction as a segue to eventual abstinence,or as a means to reduce secondhand smoke exposure.Reduction may be a final goal for some smokers, butwhether it yields health benefits is uncertain and will also be a focus of investigation.

“Ultimately, a better understanding of individual differences in responses to treatment and nicotine willinform us of ways to tailor and provide more effectivetreatments,” Hatsukami says.

Mason has completed a pilot study looking atwhether differences exist in how nicotine is metabolizedby African Americans and Caucasians. In the study,subjects—blacks and whites—agree to abstain fromsmoking and wear a nicotine patch daily. Blood andurine samples are collected and analyzed for ethnic andracial differences.

“African Americans, who report a harder time quit-ting cigarettes, experience a higher rate of lung cancerand other tobacco-related diseases,” says Hatsukami.“If, indeed, African Americans metabolize nicotine moreslowly, that may be one reason why they find it harder to quit.”

A research teamseeks to fight a

toughaddiction

—nicotine.

Tobacco Road

JESSE MASON, LEFT, DISCUSSES A

PROJECT WITH DOROTHY HATSUKAMI

AND STEPHEN HECHT, CO-DIRECTORS

OF TTURC.

Mason’s study is one of 17 current studies at TTRUC,nine of them pilot studies. Oneof the main studies is looking at whether providing high levelsof nicotine in rats will result inthe reduction of the rats’ self-administration of nicotine. Themodel attempts to replicatenicotine replacement therapy—the use of nicotine patches,inhalers, and nicotine gum to help humans quit smoking.In this study, however, the nicotine replacement is at much higher doses.

“Nicotine replacement therapy is certainly helpful forquitting smoking, but it’s notalways effective or completelyeffective,” says Paul Pentel,a professor in the MedicalSchool’s pharmacology depart-ment, and principal investigatorof the study. He says that cur-rent patches are at low doses of nicotine, typically about one-half the level of smoking. Only 25 percent of smokers are successful inachieving long-term abstinence through nicotine replacement, he says.

According to Hatsukami, this low ratemay be attributedto several factors,including thatnicotine levelsdelivered to theindividual are significantly lowerthan the levelsachieved whilesmoking.

Three and a half years into the five-yearstudy, preliminary results show that, indeed,the higher doses are resulting in a greaterdecline in self-administration by the rats.Hatsukami says the next step is to conducthuman trials with an ultimate goal of pro-viding a better treatment method and identi-fying who might benefit.

Products to be studied include SNUS, aSwedish smokeless tobacco, Omni cigarettes,and Arriva nicotine lozenges. Omni is billedas a reduced-carcinogen cigarette, which maybe misleading, says Charlotte Lemmonds,principal investigator, and post-doctoral

research fellow in theMedical School’s psychia-try department. “It’simplying that there’s areduced health risk forsmokers,” she says. Of thethree carcinogens in thecigarette that have lowerlevels of toxicity,Lemmonds says they have

reduced toxicity of only 30 to 50 percent. Inaddition, there are more than 40 known car-cinogens in cigarettes.

In a study of 50 smokers, Lemmondswill compare biomarkers that measure expo-sure to tobacco toxins for those who quitsmoking by using a nicotine patch to thosewho smoke the “reduced carcinogen” Omni

cigarettes to see if there’s a reduced toxinexposure.

The Arriva nicotine lozenge allowssmokers to get nicotine fixes in non-smokingenvironments, such as at work. Lemmondssays the manufacturer is implying that theproduct will help smokers deal with with-drawal. “We’re concerned that it could be aninitiation product for teens. You don’t wantthem to start with Arriva and get hookedand go to cigarettes.”

“We believe that the public needs to be educated about the actual toxin exposureof these modified tobacco products,”Hatsukami says. “Current marketing of themodified tobacco products may mislead theconsumer into thinking that the tobaccoproduct is safe or safer to use.”

Thanks to Lemmonds, Hatsukami,Hecht, Mason, Pentel, and others atTTURC, the public will be more informed.

■ Mark Engebretson

“We [African-Americans] have ahigher death ratein most smoking-

related cancer.” –Jesse Mason

Dorothy HatsukamiHatsukami, director of TTURC, is professor of psychiatry and adjunctprofessor of psychology and epidemiology at the University ofMinnesota. Her current research includes examining the role various

neurotransmitters and nico-tine metabolites play intobacco dependence, andlooking at treatments fornicotine dependence.Hatsukami is chair for theSociety for Research on

Nicotine and Tobacco/ World Health Organization tobacco treatmentdatabase, and co-recipient of the Ove Ferno award for her researchon tobacco dependence. She has served on a number of national com-mittees including the National Advisory Councils for Substance Abuseand Mental Health Service Administration and the National Instituteon Drug Abuse and has served as a scientific advisor to a number offederal and international agencies including the Food and DrugAdministration, Center for Disease Control, National Institutes onHealth, and the World Health Organization.

Stephen HechtCo-director Stephen Hecht leads TTURC’s biomarker team, whichis conducting research to determine whether smoking reductionleads to a decrease in carcinogen exposure. Biomarkers areobservable properties of an organism that indicate variation in cel-lular or biochemical components, processes, structure, or function,and that can be measured in biologic systems or samples. Hecht,professor in the Medical School’s Department of LaboratoryMedicine and Pathology, is the Wallin Professor of CancerPrevention, and director of the Cancer Center's Carcinogenesisand Chemoprevention Program. He also is a research professorfor the American Cancer Society. Hecht, who completed hisDoctorate in Organic Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, is a recipient of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)Outstanding Investigator Grant (1987-2001) and a ResearchCareer Development Award (1975-1980). He was awarded theAlton Ochner Award Relating Smoking and Health in 2001.

■ M.E.

THE INCREASE IN UNREGULATED

ALTERNATIVE NICOTINE PRODUCTS SUCH AS

THESE PROMPTED TTURC TO LOOK AT

WHETHER THESE PRODUCTS DELIVER

WHAT THEY PROMISE: FEWER

TOXINS AND LESS HARM.

A look at the

leadership

9

RE SEARCHSEARCH

10

OUTREACH

John Vriez believescows deserve compassion.The fourth-generation dairyfarmer oversees a 1,600-headmilking operation in Emerald,Wis. His cows sleep on sand,rather than bacteria-harboringstraw. They’re herded with gentlehands, not switches, and care-fully monitored for disease andinjury. On a recent tour of thefacility, Vriez told a group, “Wetell our people to treat the cowslike you’d treat your mother.”

The city slickers visitingVriez’s dairy were participantsin the 2002 Public HealthInstitute, jointly sponsored bythe University of Minnesota’sSchool of Public Health, theCollege of Veterinary Medicine,and the College of Agricultural,Food and EnvironmentalSciences. The three-week institute,held May 28-June 14, focused onfood safety, a growing concernworldwide and a particularlyhot topic in the United States inthe wake of September 11. In

addition to such age-old worriesas E. coli outbreaks and food-borne pathogens, food-safetymonitors now mustsafeguard againstbioterrorism andthe potential con-tamination of thenation’s food or water supply.

“We have ateachable momentbecause of the highvisibility of publichealth issues rightnow,” says WillHueston, directorof the U’s Centerfor Animal Health and Food Safety, who helped planthe institute.

The launch of the summerinstitute coincides with thedevelopment of an ExecutiveMasters of Public Health pro-gram, aimed at mid-career pro-fessionals interested in workingtowards another degree. But“From Farm to Table: Safety &

Biosecurity in Food ProductionSystems” drew interest from 39varied participants. In addition

to graduatestudents,the instituteattractedemployeesfrom theMinnesotaDepartment ofAgriculture, theU ExtensionService, theNorth CarolinaDepartment ofHealth, and alocal insurance

company. Hueston says instituteplanners wanted to bringtogether a broad spectrum ofprofessionals and give them arudimentary understanding ofevery link in the chain of foodsafety. “Nowadays, peoplebecome an expert in a very, verysmall area of knowledge, with-out understanding where they fitin the system,” Hueston says.

Lectures by experts on subjects ranging from foodmicrobiology to occupationalhealth were supplemented by participant field trips tofood production, packaging,and distribution facilities.Community partners such as Hormel Foods and CubFoods collaborated with“Farm to Table” planners tooffer up-close views of food-safety protocols and proce-dures. Shortly before visitingVriez’s milking operation,institute participants visitedthe Schroeder Milk Companyin Maplewood, a grade Afluid milk manufacturer.Quality assurance managerCheryl Bell explained howSchroeder complies with fed-eral regulations and increasingrequests by some of the company’s customers to haveseals placed on shipments asa guarantee of safety. “Wewanted to give people a bettersense of what’s involved ineach step,” Bell says.

Understanding the web offood production and packagingis vital to improving food safety,says Craig Hedberg, associateprofessor in environmental andoccupational health and a for-mer foodborne-disease epidemi-ologist with the MinnesotaDepartment of Health. “Whenwe think about food safety, wehave to understand that it is bynature a cross-disciplinary task,”Hedberg says. Food-safetyexperts frequently must dealwith industries they don’t knowmuch about. Learning to ask theright questions and foster coop-eration between regulators andindustry professionals is vital to stopping or preventing out-breaks of foodborne illness.

“No single discipline has allthe answers,” concurs Hueston.“To assure a safe and abundantfood supply, it takes collaborationacross all the disciplines.”

■ Joel Hoekstra

Clean PlateJo

el H

oeks

tra

“When we thinkabout food safety,

we have tounderstand that it

is by nature across-disciplinary

task.” –Craig Hedberg

Improving food safety is a process that starts with producers, according to the first Public Health Institute.

SANDRA GODDEN, A PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE,LEADS A FIELD TRIP TO A DAIRY FOR THE FIRST PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE.

OUTREACH

Ernest Retzel is a nationally known leader inbioinformatics, an obscure but fast-growingscience that seeks to make sense of the vastvolumes of data researchers in laboratoriesall over the world are gathering from thegenetic material of people and other livingthings. He also is director of the Center forComputational Genomics and Bioinformatics,which serves as a hub within the Universityfor processing genetic data.

“We tend to see our role both as verypractical organizers of data and developersof new techniques for managing that data,”he says, “and extracting the hints that datahas in it about the organisms we’re studying,whether pine trees or pigs or people.”

Sound interesting? So does this:Bioinformatics, Retzel says, is one of thefastest-growing careers around. With aworld of applications, from combating cancer to improving the nutritional value of crops to reducing pollution from paper-making, genomics—the study of gene structure and function at the molecularlevel—is a booming business. So is the business of deciphering the data it generates.

“Everybody needs us and there are relatively few people who are able to dothis,” he says. “It’s a very lucrative place to be working now.”

With the demand fast outpacing workers in the field, Retzel and colleagues atother institutions are planning for the future.He is involved in several multimillion-dollar National SciencesFoundation Plant GenomeResearch Program grants,which give him influenceacross several diverse fieldsof biological and nutritionresearch. As part of a three-year, $4.5 million NationalSciences Foundation granthoused at North CarolinaState University, Retzel andU of M colleague RobertMilius, NCSU’s CatherineClark and Ron Sederoff,and Claire Kinlaw of theUniversity of California,Davis, are spearheading aseries of summer workshopsto educate high schoolteachers about the emergingfield, to plant the seeds offuture careers in the youngpeople those teachers teach.

“When training stu-dents at the university,they’ve already made theirchoices,” Retzel explains.“What we really need to do

is try to have some impact before that. Youcan be a mentor, but how many people doyou impact? You can go and make a visit,but that’s a memory. But if you can teach theteachers, you impact hun-dreds, even thousands, ofstudents each year.”

The first session washeld at NCSU last summer.Nineteen biology teachersfrom area high schoolsspent five days learningabout molecular geneticsand bioinformatics andtrying hands-on experi-ments they could takeback to their classes.Each evening they gathered with experts fordiscussions on topics suchas the ethical implicationsof genetic engineering.

Participant KevinPorch, a biotechnologyteacher at F.J. Carnage Middle School:Math, Science, and Technology Magnet inRaleigh, N.C., used workshop informationto develop a class for eighth graders ongenomics and bioinformatics.

“It is absolutely key that students learnthis information,” Porch says. “Their lives,no matter what they do in the future, will beimpacted by the genomic and biotechnologicrevolution. They will be confronted as

citizens, leaders, and parents with decisionsthat we can only imagine presently. Theyneed the information to allow them to make good decisions and to allow them to

shape the world in the21st century.”

This summer’sworkshop will be held at the University ofMinnesota and Retzelexpects it to be even bet-ter. “We learned a lot ofthings last year,” he says.“You have to do this in away the teachers can putit into their curriculum.You don’t just teach peo-ple about what you do;you have to get to wherethey can actually put itinto their classroom.”

For Retzel, a bigpart of the program isworking with teachers

who in turn work with underserved popula-tions, encouraging women and minorities to get on board. “It’s pretty clear that thescientific community is a middle-aged whiteguys’ world,” he says. “A lot of us reallybelieve you have to attract more women,you have to bring in people of color to gain a new perspective.”

■ Mary Hoff

Next

DISCUSSING THE

BIOINFORMATICS

WORKSHOP FOR

HIGH SCHOOL

TEACHERS ARE,FROM LEFT,ERNEST RETZEL,KEVIN ROBERG-PEREZ, RODNEY

STAGGS, AND

ROBERT MILIUS.

“The scientific

community is a

middle-aged white

guys’ world. A lot of

us really believe

you have to attract

more women, you

have to bring in

people of color

to gain a new

perspective.”

–Ernest Retzel

GenerationThe

11

Future leaders in bioinformatics, says Ernest Retzel, are sitting in biology class, daydreaming aboutprom or the next big game.

Andrew “Fuzz” Busskohl is a typical 12-year-old, but for the past 10 months Fuzz has been waiting for a hearttransplant through the University’s transplant program.

Last December, Fuzz’s classmates fromBailey Elementary School in Woodburyraised more than $6,000 for heartresearch in his honor.

The gift was part of “Medicine at Minnesota,” a new fund-raisingcampaign that encourages Minnesotansto contribute to world-class medicalresearch in their own backyard. Giftscan be directed to specific researchareas at the University, such as cancer,heart, Parkinson’s, or Alzheimer’s.

“It’s just an incredible thing thatthese children collected their pennies,nickels, and dimes because their friendis in trouble,” says Cynthia Herrington,Fuzz’s doctor. “It was a remarkable giftof love, and it really lifted his spirits.”

Minnesota has long been recog-nized for its world-class research andmedical firsts. It was at the University

of Minnesota where C. Walton Lillehei performed the world’sfirst open-heart surgery using cross-circulation in 1954. Today,it’s where cutting-edge stem cell research is happening throughthe work of Catherine Verfaillie and the Stem Cell Institute.

“Clearly, we live in the most exciting period in the historyof medicine,” says Charles Moldow, associate dean of theMedical School. “Our team of 600 investigators is working onbehalf of you and your family—looking for answers to per-plexing medical problems that have plagued all of us for gen-erations. Medicine at Minnesota looks to heighten awarenessof this research activity, and generate financial support to helpshorten the timeline for new discoveries and treatments.”

For more information about Medicine at Minnesota, visitthe Web site at http://www.medicalresearch.umn.edu/ or call612-625-1440 or 1-800-922-1663.

■ Mark Engebretson

A new program to supportspecific areas of healthresearch

Close to Home

Close to Home

PICTURESOF HEALTH

SUMMER 2002

Nonprofit Org.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPermit No. 155

Minneapolis, MNOffice of Communications420 Delaware Street SE, MMC 735Minneapolis, MN 55455

change service requested

“Our team of 600

investigatorsis working onbehalf of you

and yourfamily—

looking foranswers toperplexing

medicalproblems.”

–Charles Moldow

WAITING FOR A NEW HEART AND PROMOTING RESEARCH:ANDREW “FUZZ” BUSSKOHL AND HIS DOCTOR

CYNTHIA HERRINGTON.