Invest in Your Health, Enter to Win an iPad 2 at USA's Benefits Fair

Stop by and visit the University of South Alabama Physicians Group booth at USA's 7th annual Benefits Fair this week to find out how you can receive a free gel mouse pad and be entered to win an Apple iPad 2.

USA Physician Group providers will also be on hand to answer questions regarding your health. In addition, the Employee Benefits Fair will allow employees to learn more about employee benefits such as the USA Health & Dental Plan and SouthFlex. All benefits-eligible employees are encouraged to attend.

The fair's dates & times are as follows:

USA Children's and Women's Hospital
Thursday, Nov. 3
8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

USA Medical Center
Cafeteria
Thursday, Nov. 3
2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

USA Main Campus
Human Resources TRP III Suite 2200
Friday, Nov. 4
8 a.m. to 1 p.m

USA College of Medicine Welcomes Dr. Mohammad Amin Frotan

Dr. Mohammad Amin Frotan was recently appointed assistant professor in the department of surgery at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. He will serve in the division of trauma and critical care and in USA's Burn Center.

Dr. Frotan earned his medical degree from the Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Lubbok, Texas. He completed residency training in general surgery at the USA College of Medicine, and completed his trauma surgical critical care fellowship at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Frotan is certified by the American Board of Surgery.

November Med School Café - “Lumps, Bumps, and Rashes Seen in Primary Care”

The November Med School Café lecture will feature Mona Hagmaier, a board-certified physician assistant at the University of South Alabama Knollwood Physicians Group.

Her lecture, titled “Lumps, Bumps, and Rashes Seen in Primary Care,” will take place Nov. 17, 2011, at the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m., and the presentation begins at noon.

Hagmaier will discuss the symptoms and treatment options for common skin issues such as moles, acne, warts, and pre-cancerous lesions. She will also include information on how to prevent and protect your skin against future damage.

Hagmaier started with USA in 2006 at the Mitchell Cancer Institute caring for patients with melanoma, and she has maintained a special interest in skin cancers and other skin conditions. She is currently a primary care provider at USA Knollwood Physicians Group and is an adjunct faculty member with USA’s Pat Capps Covey College of Allied Health Professions. She routinely lectures on diseases of the skin seen in the primary care setting, as well as on various disease processes of other organ systems.

The Mobile Museum of Art is located at 4850 Museum Drive in Mobile.

The Med School Café lecture and lunch are provided free of charge, but reservations are required. For more information or to make reservations, please call Kim Partridge at (251) 460-7770 or e-mail kepartridge@usouthal.edu.

Med School Café is a free community lecture series sponsored by the USA Physicians Group. Each month, faculty from the USA College of Medicine share their expertise on a specific medical condition, providing insight on the latest treatment available.

Snapshots: USA Children's & Women's Halloween Costume Contest

Patients at the University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital judged the hospital's staff costume contest on Halloween this past Monday. Click here to view the event as featured in the Nov. 1 Press-Register. Additional photos from the event are shown below.

USA Physicians Group Open House a Success

The University of South Alabama Physicians Group held an open house and welcome reception for eight new physicians on Oct. 28, 2011.

The event provided an opportunity for guests to tour the new Heart Center and Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, as well as the newly renovated Mastin Professional Building clinics.

Photos from the event are shown below. Visit www.usahealthsystem.com/openhouse to learn more about the new physicians.  Look for an ad in this Sunday's Mobile Press Register announcing these new physicians.

Next Week's DSS - Dr. Tetsuji Miura

Next week's Distinguished Scientist Seminar at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine will be presented by Dr. Tetsuji Miura, professor and chair of internal medicine II at Sapporo Medical University in Sapporo, Japan.

The lecture, titled "Pro-survival Signaling Pathways in the Heart: Their Regulation and Dysregulation," will take place Nov. 10, 2011, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium on USA's main campus.

At Sapporo Medical University, Dr. Miura leads both basic and clinical research groups exploring the novel diagnostic methodologies and therapies for cardiovascular diseases.

Dr. Miura's main interest focuses on the cell biology of cardiomyocyte death and protection. His group has recently characterized the novel role of the gap junction in ischemic preconditioning. Since 2006, he has focused on regulation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) in the ischemic cardiomyocyte and has identified several mechanisms by which cytoprotective signaling that inhibits the mPTP is disrupted in diabetic hearts.

Dr. Miura received his M.D. degree at Sapporo Medical University and completed his internship at the U.S. Naval Regional Medical Center in Yokosuka, Japan. He completed a residency and cardiology fellowship in Sapporo, as well as postdoctoral research in the physiology department at the USA College of Medicine in the laboratory of Dr. James Downey.