Singh appointed to BCRFA Medical Advisory Council

Seema Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine, was recently appointed to the Medical Advisory Council of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA).

The Medical Advisory Council has the critical job of reviewing the foundation’s funding requests from researchers across the state, ensuring that the science is sound and BCRFA investments have maximum impact.

Beth Davis, BCRFA president and CEO, said council members are the foundation’s “boots on the ground” within the medical community. “They are megaphones at their respective research institutes, spreading the word about our mission and encouraging investigators who are focusing on breast cancer to pursue BCRFA funding,” she said.

Singh, who is also a senior member of the cancer biology program at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, said she is honored to represent USA on the council. “I would advocate for funding the most impactful science, out-of-the-box research ideas, and research aimed at improving health equity,” she said.

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women in the state and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. “Funding innovative and promising science will pave the way for effective management of breast cancer in the future and thus enhance the life expectancy of women in our nation and worldwide,” Singh said.

Her research interests include the role of inflammatory signaling in cancer progression, angiogenesis and metastasis, cancer stem cells, and cancer health disparities.

Founded in 1996, the BCRFA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to find a cure for breast cancer by funding promising breast cancer research in Alabama and raising community awareness and funding for that research. BCRFA’s investment in life-saving research totals over $12 million.

USA Health earns rectal cancer program accreditation

USA Health is the first health system in Alabama and the upper Gulf Coast region to earn a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons.   

To achieve voluntary NAPRC accreditation, a rectal center must demonstrate compliance with the NAPRC standards addressing program management, clinical services, and quality improvement for patients. Centers are required to establish a multidisciplinary rectal cancer team that includes clinical representatives from surgery, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology. About 60 health systems in the nation hold the accreditation. 

Lee Grimm, Jr., M.D., Colon and Rectal Cancer Program leader at USA Health, established the multidisciplinary rectal cancer team at USA Health in 2015. “This accreditation points to the expertise of the physicians we have at USA Health and the dedication we have to treating patients with rectal cancer,” said Grimm, a colorectal surgeon and professor of surgery at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama.  

USA Health’s program met standards addressing the clinical services that the rectal cancer program provides, including Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA testing), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Computerized Tomography (CT) imaging for cancer staging, which allow patients to start treatment within a defined timeframe. Rectal cancer programs accredited by the NAPRC undergo a site visit every three years and are also accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.   

Taken together, colon and rectal cancer are the third most common cause of cancer diagnosis and death in the United States. Rectal cancer can be difficult to treat because of the rectum’s proximity to other vital organs and because it often is diagnosed at an advanced stage, Grimm said. In addition, treatment for rectal cancer can have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life.  

National accreditation demonstrates that a health system has the necessary breadth and expertise to treat those difficult cases, Grimm said. “Studies have shown that when rectal cancer is treated at a high-volume center, patients have better outcomes,” he said.  

Accreditation by the NAPRC is granted only to those programs that are committed to providing the best possible care to patients with rectal cancer. The NAPRC provides the structure and resources to develop and operate a high-quality rectal center, and accredited programs follow a model for organizing and managing a rectal center to ensure multidisciplinary, integrated, comprehensive rectal cancer services.  

Radiation safety officer to retire from USA

A lot has changed in the field of radiation since David Wiik joined the University of South Alabama in 2000 as radiation safety officer. 

“Over the past 25 years, there’s been a shift in ionizing radiation usage from research labs to medical diagnosis and treatment,” Wiik said. “Some research labs still use radioactive materials, but not as many. Since medicine uses so much more ionizing radiation now than 25 years ago, there are a lot more employees that require radiation monitoring, and more emphasis is put on patient dose.”

Laser safety was not such a concern back then, either, he said. About 10 years ago, Wiik was tasked with building and managing a laser safety program as the laser safety officer. “Non-ionizing laser radiation offered a new set of challenges and learning opportunities and broadened my contact with new people I’d not met,” he said.

As Wiik prepares to retire from the Whiddon College of Medicine on Oct. 1, he says meeting and working with so many people at the university and health system have been the most rewarding part of his tenure.

A retirement celebration for Wiik is planned for Wednesday, Sept. 28, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building third-floor multipurpose room. 

Medical students volunteer at GO Run skin screening

USA Health plastic surgeon Kimberly Donnellan, M.D., dermatologist Roberta Swain, M.D., and a group of medical students from the Whiddon College of Medicine volunteer at the GO Run.

Several medical students at the Whiddon College of Medicine gained hands-on experience in dermatology while providing free skin cancer screenings at the 15th Annual GO Run for Gynecologic Oncology on Saturday, Sept. 17.

“Offering this type of service at community events is important as we can be proactive in identifying skin cancers and treating them as early as possible,” said Chandler Hinson, a second-year medical student who helps train volunteers on the signs of common skin cancers.

Hinson and the other medical students worked alongside USA Health plastic surgeon Kimberly Donnellan, M.D., and dermatologist Roberta Swain, M.D., to screen about 40 participants at no charge. The volunteers asked standard screening questions and conducted physical exams to identify any concerning markings that needed follow-up care.

The student volunteers included Hinson, second-year medical student Hanna Bobinger, and first-year medical students Grace Sullivan, Caroline Howell, Cya Johnson and Anjali Vira.

Hinson said the event provides an opportunity to educate the community about skin cancer, the most common type of cancer in the United States. “Living in south Alabama, it is essential to do as much as we can to prevent harm from sun exposure, such as the use of sunscreen and long-sleeve, breathable clothing,” he said.

The GO Run 5K and 1-mile fun run, held on the USA campus, raises awareness and funds for GYN cancer research at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute.

USA awarded $1.15 million to study impact of nicotine exposure on prostate cancer

Ajay Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology, is studying nicotine's impact on prostate cancer.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Defense will allow researchers at the University of South Alabama and USA Health to study how exposure to nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco products and cigarette substitutes, impacts prostate cancer progression and therapeutic outcome.

Ajay Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at USA, is the recipient of the $1,155,000 award and principal investigator of the project.

Tobacco use is the single most modifiable risk factor for many human diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States, including an estimated 41,000 deaths from exposure to second-hand smoke. This recognition has promoted the use of cigarette substitutes that contain nicotine to satiate addiction, while having reduced levels of other cancer-causing chemicals, Singh said. 

“Doubts about this notion, however, have been raised; and it has been shown that nicotine can, in fact, affect several steps in the development of cancer,” said Singh, who also leads the cancer biology program at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute. “Our preliminary studies make strong suggestions for a pathobiological involvement of nicotine exposure in prostate cancer aggressiveness and therapy resistance.”

Researchers will use the grant funds to tease out the underlying molecular mechanisms and gather pre-clinical and clinical support for their experimental findings. Additionally, the lab will collect prostate tumor tissues from patients who smoke and those who don’t smoke, and study nicotine-induced changes in proteins of pathological relevance.  

The use of nicotine-based cigarette substitutes has increased at an alarming rate among teenagers and young adults, putting them at serious risk of developing diseases such as prostate cancer. “Our findings may generate more awareness about these health harms and collectively, with other similar findings, may push for stronger regulations about the use of nicotine-containing products,” Singh said.

Sirin Saranyutanon, Ph.D., a recent graduate of the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program; Srijan Aacharya, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow; and Mohammad Aslam Khan, Ph.D., senior research associate, played significant roles in the development of initial supporting data for the grant. Aacharya and Khan will remain an important part of the research team, Singh said. 

Additional collaborators on the project are Seema Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology; Santanu Dasgupta, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology; Elliot Carter, M.D., professor of pathology; Christopher Keel, D.O., associate professor and interim chair of urology; and Madhuri Mulekar, Ph.D., professor and chair of mathematics and statistics.

USA Health appoints new chief of anesthesia services

Gregory W. Bouska, M.D., M.P.A., has been named the new chief of anesthesia services for USA Health. Bouska, the current chair of the department of anesthesiology at Huntsville Hospital, will start at USA Health on Nov. 1.

“As a leader of the program in Huntsville, Dr. Bouska has been able to develop programs that further enhance the excellent quality of care provided to patients,” said John V. Marymont, M.D., M.B.A., vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine.

“As USA Health continues to expand throughout the region, Dr. Bouska’s vast experience in a large health system will be invaluable for the provision of high-quality anesthesia services throughout the organization,” said Owen Bailey, M.S.H.A., FACHE, chief executive officer of USA Health.

“Dr. Bouska will bring expertise in quality and patient experience that are key to the ongoing tremendous growth of our health system,” added Michael Chang, M.D., chief medical officer and associate vice president for medical affairs at USA Health.

Bouska earned his Bachelor of Arts in pre-med studies and a Master of Public Administration from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, before earning his medical degree from the University of Washington. He completed his anesthesiology residency at Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

In addition to his positions in the private workforce, Bouska served in the Air Force National Guard for 15 years before retiring in 2003.

Register now: USA Health Game Day set for Oct. 20

This year’s USA Health Game Day is set for Thursday, Oct. 20, as the University of South Alabama Jaguars take on the Troy University Trojans. The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the USA campus.

Each USA Health employee and volunteer and Whiddon College of Medicine faculty, staff, medical and graduate student is eligible to receive two free tickets to the football game and two vouchers to use at the concession stands in the stadium. 

The deadline to register is Wednesday, Oct. 12. Visit the USA Health Game Day event page to register and for more information.

This event allows us to recognize and honor our employees for their many contributions to our mission of helping people lead longer, better lives. We hope you will join us this year as we continue our USA Health tradition and cheer on the Jags!