PCOMLINK
JULY 2009
Commencement Marks Milestone With the hooding of 78 new physicians on Sunday, May 17, PCOM history was made. The GA–PCOM DO class of 2009 was the first to graduate from the College’s branch campus. “Every graduation is a joy,” proclaims President Mathew Schure, PhD. “This one is especially so due to the Herculean efforts of the PCOM community to reach this special day. We rejoice with our graduates and know that they join us in thanking the faculty, staff and administrators of the College in making that education possible.” Campus Executive Director John Fleischmann, EdD, MBA, MPA, proudly states, “I have watched as our pioneer class of 2009 has The first graduating class of DO students at GA–PCOM take evolved from eager, over-achieving medical the Osteopathic Oath. students to professional, caring, thoughtful and highly-educated student physicians, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.” Also at the ceremony, 12 graduate students were awarded a master’s of science in biomedical sciences degree. The Philadelphia campus celebrated its 118th DO commencement on May 31. William G. Anderson, DO, known for his significant contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and to the osteopathic profession, spoke before the 270 graduating students. In 1961, Dr. Anderson founded and served as the first director of the Albany Movement, a desegregation coalition in Albany, Georgia. Dr. Anderson is also a former director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and other civil rights pioneers. Currently, Dr. Anderson is vice president for academic affairs and osteopathic medical education at Detroit Medical Center and associate dean for the Michigan region at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.
A very happy Zachary Engler, DO ’09 in Philadelphia is hooded by Dr. Veit.
what’sinside
PCOM IN THE SPOTLIGHT ..............2 RESEARCH NEWS ........................3
PEOPLE’S PASSIONS ............6 NEW HIRES ........................7
PCOM news PCOM in the Spotlight PCOM faculty, students and staff are everywhere. They’ve been spotted on television, in the press and heard on the radio. What an amazing group. PCOM faculty weighed in on important events of the day—from the H1N1 virus to food allergies. Harry Morris, DO, MPH, director and chair, family medicine; Rani Bright, MBBS, HCLD, assistant professor; and Susan Hingley, PhD, professor; pathology, microbiology and immunology, were in the spotlight for their expertise on viruses. Drs. Morris and Bright appeared on NBC10 while Drs. Bright and Hingley were heard on Delaware radio station WDEL. Dr. Bright was also heard on KYW radio and was quoted in the online magazine Smartmoney.com.
Dr. Morris discussed the mechanics of sneezing on the evening news.
Christine Mount, PA-C, assistant professor, physician assistant studies, appeared on NBC’s 10Show! to discuss Lyme disease and physician assistant studies. PCOM folks from the Activities Group and beyond provided Channel 10’s Morning Wake Up Call on May 18. Two student groups heading to Ecuador were featured on Channels 3 and 6 discussing their commitment to providing health care in a third-world country. Brian Balin, PhD, professor; and Scott Little, PhD, assistant professor; pathology, microbiology and immunology, were interviewed by PCOM trustee Lita Cohen, Esq., about their work through the Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging (CCDA). Dr. Balin discussed his Alzhemier’s research and Dr. Little reviewed his work studying peanut allergies. Their interviews will appear on Lower Merion/Narberth public access television.
Dr. Bright appeared with Penn bioethicist Art Caplan on a live broadcast.
To view most of these television segments, click on “PCOM in the Spotlight” on the College’s Web site home page: www.pcom.edu. The PCOM Activities Group celebrated its 10th birthday with a wake-up call.
Learning a Thing or Two Connor McGuinness, son of Michael McGuiness, assistant professor, anatomy, searches for heart sounds during Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Children ages 8–13 spent time in PCOM’s Clinical Learning and Assessment Center while the older kids participated in a Work Ready workshop. All the visitors had the opportunity to meet President Schure, tour the campus and watch demonstrations of the College’s clinical simulators.
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for your benefit Research News
Health Advocate
Thanks to an endowment from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation, interdisciplinary research is ongoing under the umbrella of the Center for Chronic Disorders of Aging (CCDA). Some recent research initiatives include:
Being sick is no fun. Being sick and trying to find the best care can be exhausting. And certainly negotiating with an insurance company for approvals and payments can send the strongest among us to back to bed. Luckily for PCOM employees and their families, the College has contracted with Health Advocate, a service that helps people find the right doctor, jump through insurance hoops and manage other medical headaches.
Randal Gregg, PhD, assistant professor, pathology, GA–PCOM, is studying the effects of weightlessness on immune function, specifically how weightlessness (or microgravity) affects melanoma cell growth. Dr. Gregg is collaborating with researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and at Saint Joseph Translational Research Institute in Atlanta.
Francis Jenney, Jr., PhD, assistant professor, biochemistry, GA–PCOM, is researching a protein that is a potential agent for detection, diagnosis, and treatment of many different diseases, including cancer. Dr. Jenney is collaborating with a scientist at Vanderbilt University. Michael McGuinness, PhD, assistant professor,
The services of Health Advocate are available to you, your spouse, your dependent children, your parents and your parents-in-law. When you need help, call Health Advocate at 866-695-8622. You will be assigned your own personal health advocate (PHA) who will work to solve your problems and support your needs. Your PHA can help you with the following: • Find qualified doctors and hospitals
anatomy, is studying how estrogen affects sperm production.
• Schedule appointments with hard-to-reach specialists
Mary Owen, PhD, JD, associate professor,
• Identify “best-in-class” medical institutions for a serious illness or injury
pharmacology, GA–PCOM, is exploring the role of smooth muscle in the vision problems and blindness that can occur in diabetes. Dr. Owen is doing her research in conjunction with scientists at the Medical College of Georgia and the University of Georgia.
• Help maximize your benefits • Help resolve eligibility, benefit and claims issues • Assist with eldercare issues • Save money on healthcare bills and help reduce out-of-pocket costs • Help negotiate with providers on your behalf • Navigate through the healthcare system to help you obtain the services you need • Secure second opinions to help provide peace of mind • Help find community services • Assist with correcting billing mistakes • Help find clear, objective health information to help you make an informed decision For more information about your PCOM benefits, contact Naja Foushée, x6552 or najafo@pcom.edu.
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PCOM news Dr. Woodruff Delivers As Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, it’s Tina Woodruff’s job to help students. But no job description ever included the responsibilities she assumed on April 27. Dr. Woodruff was in her office that Monday morning when a student rushed in to announce that a pregnant student’s water had broken. Dr. Woodruff walked to the exam room where first-year medical student Amanda Ellis had just finished her cardiovascular 2 exam. Dr. Woodruff accompanied her back to Student Affairs and asked who she could call to take her to the hospital. Ms. Ellis replied that her husband was on a plane to Puerto Rico for his grandmother’s funeral. Her parents live seven hours away, and she and her husband are newcomers to the area so there were no friends or neighbors to call. Without a second thought, Dr. Woodruff guided Ms. Ellis to her own car, and off they went. Once at the hospital, “Amanda asked me to stay, and I told her that of course I would,” recalls Dr. Woodruff. With Ms. Ellis due for a C-section, Dr. Woodruff donned a pair of scrubs and prepared to be her coach. Thinking back to when her own daughter had given birth two weeks before, Dr. Woodruff knew how important photographs of the birth would be and gave a nurse ten dollars to run to the gift shop to buy a disposable camera. “I couldn’t bear the thought of them not having photos of that magical moment,” explains Dr. Woodruff, and that’s what outweighed her apprehension of seeing the surgery. “Amanda’s husband should have been there, and I wanted to make sure he could at least have photos.” Amanda Ellis and Dr. Woodruff proudly display a photo of baby Gus.
“She kept me calm,” recalls Ms. Ellis. “She kept talking to me and telling me everything was going to be alright. I don’t know what I would have done without her.”
Dr. Woodruff remembers the day with awe. “It was an honor for me to be there for Amanda. You can’t control what happens in life, you can only control how you handle it, and she handled it beautifully. I just hope Amanda remembers this day not as the day the Director of Student Affairs took her to the hospital, but as the day she delivered a beautiful baby boy.”
go green One easy way to go green is to do nothing. Well, almost nothing. Every time we make a purchase, the cost is greater than what we see on the price tag. Consider the energy and materials used to make and ship the product and the waste created by the packaging. Here are some easy ideas to save money and the environment:
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Share power tools and other equipment you use infrequently. You’ll get to know your neighbors and cut down on the clutter in your garage or basement.
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Visit the library and borrow books, DVDs and CDs. Not only will you save money, but you’ll reduce the use of ink and paper used to print new books and the plastics used in CDs and DVDs. And there’s no packaging to throw away.
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Buy in bulk to save money and packaging. Keep your cell phones, computers and other electronics as long as possible. When the time comes to replace these items, donate or recycle them responsibly. Electronic waste contains mercury and other toxic materials that pose a threat to the environment. Do an Internet search for a hazardous waste recycling program in or near your community.
kudos! Bonnie Buxton, PhD, professor, GA–PCOM, and Randal Gregg, PhD, assistant professor, microbiology and immunology, GA–PCOM, coauthored the board-reviewed book Lippencott’s Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology to be published September, 2009. Stacey Cahn, PhD, assistant professor; Virginia Salzar, PhD, associate professor and director; clinical research, psychology, and Roger McFillin (PsyD) coauthored the poster “Social Information-Process and Coping in Adolescent Girls with an Eating Disorder” presented at the 2009 Academy for Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders in Cancun, Mexico. Marina D’Angelo, PhD, associate professor, anatomy, coauthored two manuscripts: “Radiographic Evaluation of Mucopolysaccharidosis I and VII Dogs After Neonatal Gene Therapy” published in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism and “Mechanism of Glycosaminoglycan-mediated Bone and Joint Disease: Implications for the Mucopolysaccharidoses and Other Connective Tissue Diseases” published in The American Journal of Pathology. Dr. D’Angelo also coauthored the chapter “F-Spondin: A new regulator of cartilage maturation in development and osteoarthritis” published in Temporomandibular Disorders and Orofacial Pain: Separating Controversy from Consensus. Camille DiLullo, PhD, professor, anatomy, attended the American Association of Anatomists 2009 National Meeting where she chaired the symposium “All About Myocardial Infarction: A Paradigm for Integrated Course Delivery.” She also presented “Together at First: Integrated Delivery of Basic and Clinical Sciences.” Its abstract was coauthored by Dr. DiLullo and Richard Kriebel, PhD, professor and chair, neuroscience, physiology and pharmacology. At the same meeting, Dr. DiLullo’s laboratory presented the poster “In Vivo Reorganization of Alpha 1 Integrin in Developing Skeletal Muscle.” Robert DiTomasso, PhD, professor and chair; Arthur Freeman, EdD, clinical professor; psychology, Bruce Zahn, EdD, professor and director of training, school psychology; and Raymond Carvajal (PsyD) coauthored the chapter “Cognitive-Behavioral Concepts of Anxiety” published in Textbook of Anxiety. Katherine Galluzzi, DO, professor, chair and director, geriatrics, presented the lecture “It’s About Time: Smoking Cessation” at the ACOFP Annual Convention in Washington, DC. At the same convention she moderated “New Horizons in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Expanding the Treatment Paradigm for Glycemic Control and Risk
Reduction.” Dr. Galluzzi and Larry Finkelstein, DO ’87, associate professor, family medicine, coauthored the chapter “Malnutrition and Depression in Older Adults” published in Medical Nutrition and Disease: A Case-Based Approach (4th ed). James Hale, PhD, associate professor and associate director of clinical training, school psychology, coauthored the article “Differential Ability Scales–Second Edition (Neuro) Psychological Predictors of Math Performance for Typical Children and Children with Math Disabilities” published in Psychology in the Schools. He also coauthored the chapter “The Enigmatic Population of Specific Learning Disabilities: Comorbidity of Psychopathology in Cognitive and Academic Subtypes” published in Emotional Disorders: A Neuropsychological, Psychopharmacological, and Educational Perspective. He also presented three posters at the International Neuropsychological Society in Atlanta and several posters, a paper and a workshop at the National Association of School Psychologists meeting in Boston. Michael Kuchera, DO, professor and director, OMM research, was inducted as an inaugural fellow and chair to the National Academy of Osteopathic Medical Educators. George McCloskey, PhD, associate professor and director, school psychology research, coauthored the book Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties. Rosemary Mennuti, EdD, professor and director, school psychology programs; George McCloskey, PhD, associate professor and director, school psychology research; and Tita Baldino, PsyD ’08 presented the poster, “Mindfulness: Extending Treatment for Early Onset Obsessive Compulsive Disorder/Tourettes Syndrome” at the July 2009 First World Congress on Positive Psychology. Dr. Mennuti and Ray Christner, PsyD, clinical assistant professor, psychology, coedited the book School Based Mental Health: A Practitioner’s Guide to Comparative Practices. Dianzheng Zhang, PhD, assistant professor, biochemistry/molecular biology, coauthored the poster “Activity of GMP Grade Adenovirus GM-CAIX: A Novel Molecular Targeted Vaccine Therapy for Kidney Cancer” that was presented at the 2009 American Urology Association Annual Meeting. Dr. Zhang was also interviewed by journalist Maryann Hammers. His comments and suggestions for resveratrol consumption were cited in an article published in the March issue of the online magazine Delicious Living. 5
people’s passions Dr. Simelaro and his Craft What’s the difference between practicing medicine and woodworking? According to John Simelaro, DO ’71, professor and chair, internal medicine, if you mess up a project in woodworking, “you can just do it again.” When Dr. Simelaro isn’t teaching or practicing medicine, there’s a good chance you’ll find him in the 15 x 30 foot wood shop he built as an addition to his home in 1984. “It’s where I go to relax,” he explains. It started on a snowy day in 1954 or 1955, Dr. Simelaro renovated his kitchen with cabinets he made by hand recalls Dr. Simelaro. With school closed, his in his wood shop. father, a contractor, told the 12-year-old John to come to work with him for the day, His workshop is his pride and joy, “I have a and handed him a broom. complete shop,” he boasts, “every tool you can “That’s how you started,” Dr. imagine and not howdy-doody tools—commercialSimelaro explains, “as a grade Delta tools. My saws are the same saws ‘broom’.” My dad did they use in lumber yards. I even have machines everything—plumbing, to fix my machines.” electric, brick—everything but stone cutting. I worked for him on and off until my fourth year in medical school.” Like his dad, Dr. Simelaro can do everything except cut stone. “That’s an ancient art that not many people can do,” he says. But his true love is woodworking. He rebuilt his house and made all his own oak kitchen cabinets. He spent a year making his daughter, an attorney, a law desk. “I love to take a piece of wood and turn it into something—I love to create. If I could make a living doing this I would.”
“I love to take a piece of wood and turn it into something— I love to create.”
Although he works in his shop to get a break from practicing medicine, he can’t quite make a clean break. The tops of his work benches are doors from City Avenue Hospital and he has solid steel cabinets from PCOM that were replaced during the College’s renovation. “I don’t work in my shop as much as I used to,” he admits. “When I was younger I’d come home from work and go right to my shop. I’d be there all weekend. Now I pretty much do it just on weekends. But it’s great. Nobody complains. My wife is my only customer, and she can’t complain.”
Dr. Simelaro goes to his woodshop to relax while making doors and other beautiful and functional oak cabinetry and furniture.
News from HR
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8. Mark Litzinger, RPh, Director of Experiential Education, School of Pharmacy, GA–PCOM
9. Michelle Repass, Administrative Assistant, School of Pharmacy, GA–PCOM
10. Cindy Rosario, Sergeant, Public 11
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New Hires
11. Nancy Shapiro, PharmD, Assistant
1. Cliff Akiyama, MPH, Assistant Professor, Forensic Medicine
2. Christen Aldermatt, MD, Assistant Professor, Clinical Education, GA–PCOM
3. Michael A. Becker, DO, Vice Chair, Family Practice
4. Jill Cunningham, PA-C, Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Studies
6. Michelle Ingram, Administrative Assistant, Clinical Education, GA–PCOM
7. Karen Kelly, Administrative Assistant, Dean’s Office
PCOMLINK CAROL WEISL Editor/Writer
Professor of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, GA–PCOM
12. Dean Sykes, Technical Support Specialist, MIS
13. Rouslan “Russ” Tzonev, Sergeant, Public Safety and Security, GA–PCOM
Promotions Shaun Carlin, from Technical Support Specialist, to Telecommunications Specialist, MIS
5. Nicole Dillard, Secretary, Dean’s Office
WENDY ROMANO Executive Editor
Safety and Security, GA–PCOM
Rick Lansford, from Technician, to Clinical Training Coordinator, Standardized Patient Program Barbara Smith-Muhammad, from Registrar, to Billing Representative/Assistant Supervisor, Family Practice Send, fax or e-mail news items to: Marketing and Communications, Levin Administration Building; fax 6307; e-mail: carolwe@pcom.edu. We can also be reached at x6300.
ABIGAIL CLAYTON Graphic Designer
BRUCE FAIRFIELD/TABATHA TROLLI Photographers 7
calendar of events JULY 16
WEEK OF AUGUST 17
PCOM and GA–PCOM Classes start for DO, Employee Appreciation Day Biomed, School Psychology, Clinical JULY 31 Psychology, Counseling Graduate Programs and Clinical Health Commencement Psychology Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Noon AUGUST 19 Board of Trustees Meeting Evans Hall 327 A&B, Noon
SEPTEMBER 2
SEPTEMBER 7
Department Heads/Key Personnel Meeting Evans Hall, 334 A&B, 2:30 Administration Conference Room, GA–PCOM
Labor Day Holiday
Executive Faculty Meeting Evans Hall, 334 A&B, Noon Administration Conference Room, GA–PCOM
SEPTEMBER 8 Faculty Senate Meeting Zedeck Amphitheater, 4:00
SEPTEMBER 14 PCOM Golf Classic Aronimink Golf Club, Newtown, PA
Why Wait? Why wait for Friday, when you can celebrate Stress Free Friday on Tuesday? The PCOM Activities Group helped the College community relax with games, snacks and a cake raffle.
Left: Jeff Morris, custodian/mechanic, plant opeations, perfects his cotton candy twirling.
Frank Windle, director, plant operations, encourages PCOMers to try their luck.
Below: Kea Tull (left), secretary, psychology, and Cindy Coleman, administrative assistant, anatomy, celebrate the Activities Group’s 10th birthday.
30% PCW
This newsletter was printed on Finch Casa Opaque digital, a paper manufactured with 66% renewable energy, utilizing 30 percent post-consumer recycled fiber.
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Brian Balin, PhD, professor, pathology, microbiology and immunology, nails the hula hoop portion of the scavenger hunt.