USA Gold Humanism Honor Society Members Participate in 'Focus on Compassion' Week

USA GHHS Members (from left) Cody Penrod, Ashley Weil, Britni Bradshaw and Dianna Thomas wear red to symbolize unity and to act as a reminder of the importance of compassion and love in health care.

Ashley Weil (far left) and Britni Bradshaw (far right) hand out puzzles at USA Children's & Women's Hospital.

In honor of the Gold Humanism in Medicine Honor Society's (GHHS) 2nd annual Solidarity Day for Compassionate Patient Care, the University of South Alabama chapter of GHHS participated in several activities to remind students and employees of the importance of compassion in medicine.

Last year, over 40 schools and medical facilities across the country responded with their acts of solidarity on February 14. This year, USA's chapter held a "Focus on Compassion" week from February 13-17.

The senior medical students of the USA chapter of GHHS are Britni Bradshaw, Travis Harris, Antwan Hogue, Stephen Marbut, Cody Penrod, Melissa Reimer, Dianna Thomas, Ashley Weil, and Ryan Weldon.

Click here to learn more about the USA chapter of GHHS. To learn more about the Solidarity Day, click here.

USA Physicians Featured at Go Red for Women

Dr. Clara Massey, professor of internal medicine and director of the division of cardiology, was one of three University of South Alabama physicians to speak at this year's Go Red for Women event, which was sponsored in part by the USA Health System.

Olympian Gail Devers motivates women during the Go Red for Women luncheon.

Three physicians at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine recently presented lectures during a series of break-out sessions at the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women symposium.

The event, which was partially sponsored by the USA Health System, was held Feb. 14 at the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in downtown Mobile.

The physicians featured were: Dr. Steve Cordina, assistant professor of neurology and medical director for the USA Stroke Center; Dr. David Lewis, professor and chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology; and Dr. Clara Massey, professor of internal medicine and director of the division of cardiology.

The event's keynote speaker was Olympian Gail Devers. To view a clip from her speech, click here.

To learn more about what every woman should know about heart disease, click here.

COM Dean to Present Lectures at Medical Scholars Forum

Dr. Samuel J. Strada, dean of the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, will be the featured speaker for the 10th annual Susan and Gaylon McCollough Medical Scholars Forum at the University of Alabama.

Dr. Strada will present two lectures during the forum. He will speak on “The Direction of Medical Education: A Fork in the Road,” Feb. 24 at 4 p.m and on “The Importance of Mentors and Mentoring in Career,” Feb. 25 at 10:30 a.m. Both lectures will take place in the Shelby Hall rotunda on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Recognized for his research on cellular signaling mechanisms, Dr. Strada has published more than 200 articles and abstracts. He has been active in the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Council of Academic Societies of the American Association of Medical Colleges. He has served as president of the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs and the Southeastern Pharmacology Society.

Dr. Strada joined USA in 1983 as professor and chair of pharmacology, and he has served as senior associate medical dean, acting director of the graduate program in basic medical sciences, assistant dean for admissions and acting chair of psychiatry at USA. He is president of the South Alabama Medical Science Foundation and was faculty athletics representative from 1990-97.

Dr. Strada received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and master’s in pharmacology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and his doctorate in pharmacology from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He did post-doctoral training in neuropharmacology at the National Institutes of Mental Health in Washington, D.C. Before coming to USA, he spent 11 years on the faculty as the University of Texas Medical School at Houston.

The forum, sponsored by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, was established by UA alumnus Dr. Gaylon McCollough and his wife, Susan. Its purpose is to give students an understanding of the importance of the scientific and humanistic aspects of health care.

Forensics Building Under Construction

The University of South Alabama Medical Center is leasing land to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences for the construction of a new forensics facility. The facility is being built next to the USA Medical Center's rear parking lot.

The crime lab and medical examiner's office had been operating in the east wing of the USA Medical Center for 30 years. After outgrowing the space, the hospital sold the old research building to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, leasing them the ground under it. Since then, they have demolished the structure and are in the progress of rebuilding the new forensics facility.

Next Week's DSS - Dr. K. John McLaughlin

The next Distinguished Scientist Seminar at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine will be presented by Dr. K. John McLaughlin, associate professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University College of Medicine.

His lecture, titled “Transplant models of patient-specific gamete-derived pluripotent stem cells,” will take place Feb. 23, 2012, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium on USA's main campus.

Dr. McLaughlin also serves as director of the Transgenic and Embryonic Stem Cell Core in the Center for Molecular and Human Genetics at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Dr. McLaughlin’s area of research involves genomic imprinting which refers to the phenomenon that, in somatic cells, certain genes are preferentially expressed from one parental allele, such that maternally and paternally inherited genetic information is expressed unequally.

Dr. McLaughlin received B.S. degrees in biology and reproductive physiology and a Ph.D. degree from The University of Adelaide.

For more information on Dr. McLaughlin’s research, click here.

USA Physicians Named Best Doctors

Twenty-three physicians affiliated with the University of South Alabama College of Medicine have been included in the annual Best Doctors in America database. The following physicians were chosen for the list after extensive peer review by thousands of doctors:

• Jorge E. Alonso - Orthopaedic Surgery
• Susan L. Baker - Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Karen Denise Crissinger - Pediatric Gastroenterology
• Errol Crook - Nephrology
• R. Michael Culpepper - Nephrology
• Jack A. DiPalma - Gastroenterology
• Donna Lynn Dyess - Surgery
• Karen Fagan - Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
• Michael A. Finan - Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Ronald D. Franks - Psychiatry
• Richard P. Gonzalez - Surgery
• Johnson Haynes Jr. - Pulmonary Medicine
• Jorge L. Herrera - Hepatology and Gastroenterology
• Arnold Luterman - Surgery
• Paul Maertens - Pediatric Neurology
• Clara Virginia Massey - Cardiovascular Disease
• Frederick N. Meyer - Hand Surgery
• Dean K. Naritoku - Neurology
• Prasit Nimityongskul - Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
• Albert W. Pearsall IV - Orthopaedic Surgery
• Eugene A. Quindlen - Neurological Surgery
• William O. Richards - Surgery
• John Alan VandeWaa - Infectious Disease

USA Physicians Group, the private practice of the academic physicians at the USA College of Medicine is the region’s largest multi-specialty practice and the only academic physicians group along the central Gulf Coast.

Best Doctors, Inc. is a database that uses peer review along with other criteria to determine the most qualified doctors in various fields of medicine. The database seeks physicians whose reputation and expertise put them in the top 5 percent of their specific specialty. To ensure impartiality, physicians cannot pay to be included in the database, nor are they paid for their participation.