Noted Author, Orthopaedic Surgeon To Visit USA College of Medicine

Dr. Augustus A. White III, noted author and one of the foremost orthopaedic surgeons in the world, will visit the University of South Alabama College of Medicine on April 29-30, 2011.

Dr. White serves as professor of orthopaedic surgery and the Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medical Education at Harvard Medical School.

He will deliver a keynote address at the USA College of Medicine’s 25th year anniversary reunion celebration of the Biomedical Enrichment and Recruitment (BEAR) program, initiated to prepare, admit, and graduate more African-American medical students and diversify our medical student body.

This event will take place April 30, 2011, at the Downtown Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. During the past quarter century, 152 students have successfully completed the BEAR program, and 50 percent of those have graduated medical school.

In addition to the reunion, Dr. White will present a Grand Rounds lecture, titled “What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Would Want Us to Know About Health Care Disparities,” on April 29, 2011, at 3:30 p.m. at the USA Medical Center, Richard’s Room.

The son of a doctor and teacher, Dr. White grew up in segregated Memphis, Tenn., during the Jim Crow era. Now 74, he has recently released a memoir on his life, entitled “Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care.” The book, a lifelong project, shows Dr. White’s passion for increasing ethnic diversity in the medical field and eliminating disparities in health care.

Dr. White completed his pre-medical studies at Brown University in 1957 and in 1961 was the first African American graduate of the Stanford University School of Medicine. Receiving his Ph.D. degree in orthopaedic biomechanics at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, he then worked as the first African American surgical resident at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. White also served in Vietnam as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, earning a Bronze Star. In addition, he was the first African American resident and surgery professor at Yale and the first black department head at Harvard’s teaching hospitals.

For 13 years, Dr. White served as chief of the orthopaedic surgery department at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He also founded the academic orthopaedic program at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

For more information on the BEAR Reunion and Grand Rounds, call (251) 460-7313.

Next Week's DSS - Dr. Lawrence Mandarino

Dr. Mandarino

The next Distinguished Scientist Seminar at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine will be presented by Dr. Lawrence Mandarino, founding director of the Center for Metabolic Biology and professor of the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.

His lecture, titled “Protemics in the Study of Insulin Resistance,” will take place April 14, 2011, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium.

Dr. Mandarino also serves as professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic Arizona and director of the Mayo/ASU Center for Metabolic and Vascular Biology at Mayo Clinic Arizona and Arizona State University. He holds a cross appointment as professor in the basic medical sciences department at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix in partnership with Arizona State University.

Dr. Mandarino received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Arizona State University in 1978 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

He became the founding director of the Center for Metabolic Biology in 2005. The center’s research focuses on the mechanisms responsible for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Mandarino's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health for over 20 years, has over 115 publications in peer-reviewed journals and was awarded the 2009 American Diabetes Association Cure Award.

For more information on Dr. Mandarino's research, visit http://sols.asu.edu/people/faculty/lmandarino.php.

For additional information on the lecture series, contact Natalie Kent at (251) 461-1548.

Cardiology, Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship Programs Receive Accreditation Renewal from ACGME

Dr. Fouty

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) recently renewed accreditation of both the University of South Alabama’s cardiology fellowship program and the pulmonary diseases and critical care fellowship program for the maximum five-year cycle.

The review committee commended the programs for their demonstrated substantial compliance with the ACGME's requirements for graduate medical education without citations.

Dr. Brian Fouty, associate professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at the USA College of Medicine and program director for the pulmonary diseases and critical care fellowship program, said the five-year renewal signifies that all components of a successful critical care program are in place. “The accreditation renewal is definitely an indicator that the program is in good shape,” he said. “We are doing very well in the areas of training and research.”

The pulmonary diseases and critical care combined fellowship program was established in 2008. Since then, the program has had a total of four graduates. “This accreditation is great because it gives us even more confidence to train pulmonary critical care fellows as physicians and clinicians, and it shows that we can support the fellows adequately.”

Dr. Omar

Dr. Bassam Omar, associate professor of internal medicine at the USA College of Medicine and program director for the cardiology fellowship program, also said satisfying the ACGME’s requirements is an important recognition. “The longer the accreditation, the happier they are with the outcome of our program,” Dr. Omar said. “In addition, it turns out to be a better outcome for our fellows because they are receiving the proper education and training.”

According to Dr. Omar, the cardiology fellowship program currently has six fellows on board. The program has had a total of 33 graduates since 1987.

USA Biomedical Library's Community Day Event To Feature Meteorologist Alan Sealls

Alan Sealls

The University of South Alabama Biomedical Library, along with the University Library and other campus entities, is hosting a Campus Preparedness: Community Day Event to raise awareness for students, faculty, and staff about how to prepare for possible emergencies related to campus life.

The event will take place April 13, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the USA Student Center.

Alan Sealls, Chief Meteorologist at WKRG-TV, will be presenting an informative talk about local weather hazards and how to avoid or handle them at 1 p.m. in the USA Student Center Ballroom. His presentation will include information about extreme heat, severe thunderstorms, flash floods, tornadoes and hurricanes, with a focus on awareness and knowledge of safety plans, procedures and locations.

Sealls, who has written and produced weather programs for local WKRG-TV, has also written and produced more than a dozen programs distributed by Discovery Education throughout North America. He has been involved with the USA Biomedical Library’s emergency preparedness efforts for the past year. His experience as an award winning meteorologist with over two decades of experience in TV, two Emmys, and an award from the American Meteorological Society in 2009 for a series on climate change, has been a valuable contribution in the library’s efforts to promote libraries as active partners in a community's emergency preparedness.

In addition to the talk, special exhibits will be held throughout the day with librarians and other campus entities providing information about preparation for weather related emergencies as well as for preventing identity theft, using electronic health records and using mobile applications for emergency related information needs. The event will feature special exhibits by USA librarians, campus police, residential housing, Safety and Environmental Compliance, student government, Mobile Public Health Department, CERT trainers, and Mobile County Emergency Management Agency.

Community Day is a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s "Ready America" nationwide effort encouraging all Americans to prepare for possible emergencies in their homes, businesses, schools, and in their communities.

National Library Week is celebrated this year from April 10 to April 16, and librarians from the University Library will be on hand to promote this annual celebration and the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians.

Drawings for door prizes and free READ posters will be given to event attendees.

For more information, contact Beverly Rossini at brossini@bbl.usouthal.edu.

Dr. John E. Oakes Retirement Reception

The University of South Alabama Department of Microbiology and Immunology hosted a retirement reception honoring Dr. John E. Oakes on March 15, 2011.

Dr. Oakes retired after more than 33 years of service to the university. When he was hired in 1977 as an assistant professor, the microbiology and immunology department consisted of just three faculty members. Dr. Oakes, who became an associate professor in 1982 and a full professor in 1988, said it has been satisfying to see the department grow over the years.

Dr. Oakes plans to continue to teach some virology courses at USA, as well as stay involved in the herpes simplex virus projects still being done in the department.