Outpatient ENT Practice Added On Campus

Dr. Wiley H. Justice has recently joined the University of South Alabama as clinical professor of allied health and medical director for the Speech and Hearing Center located in the Health Sciences building on the USA campus. He will begin providing care for patients on July 12.

Dr. Justice, an otolaryngologist, or ENT, who has practiced in Mobile for more than 28 years, will help to establish a voice clinic with USA speech language pathologists and see patients for all ear, nose and throat conditions on an outpatient basis.

Dr. Justice received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and his medical degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his internship at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington D.C. and his residency training in otolaryngology at Wilford Hall U.S. Air Force Center in San Antonio.

Dr. Justice is a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, the American Medical Association, the Medical Association of Alabama and the Mobile County Medical Society.

To make an appointment with Dr. Justice, call the Speech and Hearing Center at (251) 445-9378.

S.T.A.R.S. Program Provides Enrichment Coursework, Health Care Internships for High School Seniors

Shawnterrica Junior and Eglon "E" Mitchell, along with Beverly Rossini, assistant librarian at the USA Biomedical Library, apply a formula for analyzing credible information on Websites.

The instruction is part of USA's Center for Healthy Communities Student Training for Academic Reinforcement in the Sciences (S.T.A.R.S.) Program. S.T.A.R.S., an enrichment program for rising seniors in high school, provides students with a standardized test guidance, science and math reinforcement, college and career awareness, tutoring and shadowing internships.

The program's ultimate goal is to increase the number of minority students who graduate from college in the sciences and assist them in becoming health care providers who will address minority health disparities through culturally appropriate health care and research. The program requires six weeks of summer coursework and a six-week summer internship in a health care provision site.

Dr. Naritoku Appointed to Serve on Board of American Board of Clinical Pharmacology

Dr. Dean Naritoku, professor and chair of neurology at the University of South Alabama, was recently appointed to serve on the board of the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology. He will begin his term July 1, 2010.

Dr. Naritoku has close to 30 years of experience in academic medicine. Prior to joining USA, he served as professor and associate chair of neurology and director of the Center for Epilepsy at the Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine in Springfield, Ill.

At SIU, he also directed the office of therapeutics research and served as the fellowship director of clinical neurophysiology for the school of medicine.

Dr. Naritoku is board certified in neurology and clinical neurophysiology by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and is board certified by the American Board of Clinical Pharmacology.

Dr. Naritoku received his medical degree from Chicago Medical School and completed his internship in internal medicine at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He completed neurology residency training at Washington University in St. Louis. Following his residency, he completed a neuropharmacology and epilepsy fellowship also at Washington University.

The American Board of Clinical Pharmacology was established with the cooperation of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. The major objectives of the ABCP are: to evaluate the training credentials, the scientific research and teaching accomplishments of individuals,

to prepare and administer examinations for individual certification in clinical and applied pharmacology, and to register and accredit training programs in clinical pharmacology.

USA Medical Student Returns From Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship

George Nelson, a medical student at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, recently returned from a year-long research fellowship at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

The Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship (CRF) provides support for one year of full-time clinical research training. The main goal of the program is to encourage medical students to pursue careers in clinical research. Interested medical students must be willing to take a year out from school and conduct fellowship research and training at one of 12 hosting medical schools.

“I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to go to an institution and be immersed in the clinician-scientist culture,” Nelson said. “I learned about the life and work of a clinician-scientist, and the best way to gain this knowledge is through mentorship.”

Each fellowship consists of a structured clinical research experience and coursework. During the program, Nelson’s research focused on cystic fibrosis and gene therapy, specifically the interactions of bacteria and viruses in the lung.

To date, the CRF program has supported a total of 733 fellows, with 108 fellows in the 2009-2010 class. The Doris Duke Fellowship will also fund research-related conferences in the subsequent year. Nelson will be attending a cystic fibrosis conference in October.

Now, Nelson is back at USA, beginning his fourth year in medical school and continuing his clinical training.

Nelson said he is interested in becoming a physician scientist largely because of the important role they play. “Each physician scientist should develop his or her career to include a mix of both clinical and investigational medicine,” he said. “Their role is not only to energize continued medical discoveries, but also to act as liaisons between pure researchers and pure clinicians in implementing new treatments.”

Nelson, originally from Birmingham, Ala., received his undergraduate degree in biological chemistry from Birmingham-Southern College. He plans on studying internal medicine.

Nelson said visiting Iowa was somewhat of a culture shock. “I cross-country skied to work,” he said. “And it was the first time I’ve ever shoveled a driveway. It was little things like that that made it an interesting experience.”

While in Iowa, he also participated in RAGBRAI, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. RAGBRAI, the oldest, largest and longest bicycle touring event in the world, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Nelson biked one of the seven days, along with fellow researchers and Dr. Joseph Zabner, his mentor.

Nelson said he is looking forward to his fourth year in medical school at USA. “It’s all about becoming a better clinician and finding in what I want to sub-specialize,” he said. “While in Iowa, I had really been immersed in basic bench and translational research. Now I’m going back to true bedside medicine to further my clinical training.”

As a physician-scientist, Nelson said he will have the rewarding opportunity to make clinical observations at the patient's bedside, bring those observations back to the lab to find the cause, and translate those findings into treatments. “The privilege to advance medical care for patients, including those who aren't under my direct care, will make coming to work everyday novel and exciting.”

USA College of Medicine Scientist Appointed To Cancer Etiology Study Section

Dr. Susan P. LeDoux, professor and vice-chair of cell biology and neuroscience and assistant dean for curriculum at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, was recently appointed as a member of the Cancer Etiology Study Section, Center for Scientific Review.

Study sections review grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), make recommendations on the applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science.

“Dr. LeDoux’s research has had a profound impact on the study of mitochondrial DNA repair in a variety of disease processes, including cancer,” said Dr. Samuel Strada, dean of the USA College of Medicine. “Her selection to this committee underscores her many contributions to this important scientific field of biomedical research.”

Dr. LeDoux, as a member of the Cancer Etiology Study Section, will be one of 28 scientists who review grant application related to the causal agents, processes and cells involved in early events in carcinogenesis. Specific areas covered by cancer etiology include DNA damage and repair mechanisms, chemical and environmental carcinogenesis, oxidative stress and free radicals that modulate early events in carcinogenesis, and non-HIV/AIDS viral carcinogenesis.

Members for study sections are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Membership on a study section is a major commitment of professional time and energy and provides an opportunity to contribute to the national biomedical research effort.

Dr. LeDoux’s primary research interests are focused on the role of mitochondrial DNA damage and repair in cellular responses to genotoxic injury, or an injury to a cell’s genetic material. In collaboration with Dr. Glenn Wilson, professor and chair of cell biology and neuroscience at USA, Dr. LeDoux’s laboratory was the first to discover that base excision DNA repair, a cellular mechanism that repairs damaged DNA throughout the cell cycle, occurs within mitochondria. For the past 15 years, Dr. Ledoux’s work has been directed toward the study of mitochondrial DNA repair in the central nervous system.

Dr. LeDoux received a bachelor of science degree in biology from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., and her master’s in biology from the University of Houston. She also received a bachelor of science degree in basic medical sciences and her Ph.D. in basic medical sciences and anatomy, both from the University of South Alabama.

Dr. LeDoux will serve as a member on the study section from July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2016.