USA Cardiology Relocates to State-of-the-Art Facilities

The USA Heart Center will open its newly renovated clinical care offices on March 14. From left to right are Kelley Day, director of cardiology clinics; Dr. Barney Beaver, associate professor of internal medicine; Dr. Barbara Burckhartt, associate professor of internal medicine; and Dr. Clara Massey, professor of internal medicine.

The University of South Alabama Heart Center recently relocated its clinical care offices to newly renovated, state-of-the-art facilities at the University of South Alabama Medical Center Campus. The offices will open on March 14.

According to Dr. Clara Massey, professor of internal medicine and leads the USA division of cardiology, the new unit was developed to provide patients with the latest technology and patient customer experience. All three primary sections of cardiology care – clinic services, outpatient testing, and invasive testing – are now conveniently located together.

"This interdisciplinary approach will allow for optimized patient care," Dr. Massey said. "It will certainly improve communication between physicians and patients, as well as between physicians and staff."

According to Dr. Massey, the many people who all made significant contributions to making the opening a reality are too many to list.  She gives special thanks to the following: Lawrence Gardner, director of facilities management at USA Medical Center; Elmer Sellers, assistant administrator at USA Medical Center; Beth Anderson, administrator at USA Medical Center; Health Services Administration; Beverly Blount, director of cardiovascular services/noninvasive; Kelley Day, director of cardiology clinics; and the entire cardiology staff.

An Open House for the new facility is being planned.  More details to come.

Match Day 2011 - Mark Your Calendars

On March 17, 2011, senior medical students and residency training program directors across the United States and Canada will find out this year’s Match Day results.

The National Residency Matching Program, or Match Day, is the annual event in which future doctors simultaneously learn where they will be doing their residency training.

Locally, the University of South Alabama’s Match Day will be held at 11 a.m. CST, on March 17, 2011, at the USA Mitchell Center.

The Match works like this. After interviewing with several different residency programs - both near and far - students provide a ranking of their top-choice programs in order of preference. The training programs, in turn, rank the students who interviewed.

The NRMP matches applicants’ preferences for residency positions with program directors’ preferences for applicants. Each year, thousands of medical school seniors compete for approximately 24,000 residency positions across the United States.

USA Microbiology and Immunology To Host Retirement Reception For Dr. John E. Oakes

The University of South Alabama Department of Microbiology and Immunology will be hosting a retirement reception honoring Dr. John E. Oakes on March 15, 2011, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the College of Medicine conference room on USA’s main campus.

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.

“One of the things I enjoyed most while working in this department was the opportunity to collaborate with my colleague Dr. Bob Lausch on a number of research projects dealing with herpes simplex virus infections of the eye,” Dr. Oakes said. “Working together, we have published over 50 papers on the immune responses of the cornea to this human pathogen.”

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.

“Working here has been a fantastic experience, and I have enjoyed every minute of my time on campus,” Dr. Oakes said. “At this time in my life, I can look back and really appreciate the tremendous support I have received over the years from our departmental chairs, the deans of the College of Medicine and my current and former colleagues. Without their help I would not have been able to maintain a productive research program over the past 30 years.”

Next Week's DSS - Dr. Nancy J. Rusch

The next Distinguished Scientist Seminar at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine will be presented by Dr. Nancy J. Rusch, professor and chair of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
 
The lecture, titled "Blood Pressure: A Dynamic Regulator of Vascular Calcium Channel Expression," will take place March 10, 2011, at 4 p.m. in the Medical Sciences Building auditorium on USA’s main campus.
 
Dr. Rusch’s laboratory research explores the abnormalities of ion channel expression and composition that contribute to systemic and pulmonary hypertension and identifies channel-based therapies to treat these diseases.
 
She completed a B.S. degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. degree at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. at the Mayo Clinic-University of Minnesota. Dr. Rusch completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Iowa in the department of pharmacology and the University of Cincinnati department of physiology and biophysics. She served on the faculty at the Medical College of Wisconsin from 1987-2004.
 
Dr. Rusch has received several prestigious awards including the Max Baer Heart Award (Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Eagles) and the National Research Award (Fraternal Order of Eagles). She is a member of the American Physiological Society, the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and she serves on the Council on Circulation for the American Heart Association.
 
For more information on Dr. Rusch’s research, visit http://pharmtox.uams.edu/rusch.
 
For additional information on the lecture, contact Natalie Kent at (251) 461-1548.

USA Adolescent Clinic Announces Winners of Black History Month Contest

Dr. Thomas Martinko, associate professor of pediatrics at USA, joins this year's winners of the USA Adolescent Clinic's Black History Month Contest.
 
The University of South Alabama Adolescent Clinic recently wrapped up its annual Black History Month Contest. Winners selected their prizes on March 2. Patients at the clinic were each given a questionnaire with various historical questions, and the patients with all of the correct answers were entered into a drawing. The winner's prizes included an mp3 player, a digital video camera and a media player.