Long-distance friendship leads to heartburn relief for New York state resident

Dr. Jack Di Palma and Bill Moylan have been friends since high school. Through their longstanding friendship, Moylan was able to learn about and schedule a LINX procedure for treating GERD at USA Health University Hospital. The two friends attended a University of South Alabama baseball game the night before the procedure.

Using the social media platform Facebook, a resident of New York state and a USA Health gastroenterologist have maintained their close friendship that started when they were both in high school. Through this long-distance connection, our physician was able to help his friend learn about a new procedure for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and introduce him to another experienced USA Health physician for quick relief of his friend’s symptoms.

Bill Moylan grew up with Dr. Jack Di Palma in Bellerose, Long Island, New York, and the two first played music together in the Bishop Reilly High School band before forming their own wedding band with two other friends. Moylan worked as a police officer and detective in Nassau County in New York. After 26 years of police service, he left law enforcement to work in cyber security consulting, from which he recently retired. He lives in Massapequa, New York, on Long Island’s South Shore. Di Palma, after graduating from medical school and service in the Air Force, joined the USA College of Medicine in Mobile.

In 1972, Dr. Jack Di Palma, keyboard, and Bill Moylan, guitar,

play in the wedding band they formed with two other friends

called The Generation Gap.

With the distance between the two, they have been able to keep their friendship up with regular visits and staying in touch through Facebook.

“Social media is irreplaceable as far as keeping in touch with people that you’ve been separated from by time or distance,” Moylan said, adding that he sees a lot of the posts that Di Palma posts about USA Health.

It was on Facebook that Moylan saw a post Di Palma made about a GERD presentation. In discussing the condition further, Di Palma suggested that Moylan, who was battling with GERD, consider the new LINX procedure, sending him additional information on the laparoscopic surgery.

The LINX procedure essentially uses a set of magnetic beads to assist the lower esophageal sphincter in doing its job. Moylan said that, as a handyman, the mechanical solution aspect of the procedure that addresses the problem rather than just treating the symptoms appealed to him. He also noted that the surgery does not involve any anatomical changes and can be reversed if necessary.

Moylan educated himself as much as possible about the surgery and decided to pursue the idea further, so Di Palma told him about USA Health’s Dr. Bill Richards’ experience and success with the surgery and suggested he have the procedure at USA Health University Hospital.

In dealing with GERD, Moylan said the most noticeable symptoms were a constant throat clearing, choking at night, and a disruption of his sleep. It was this that impacted him the most and ultimately led him to have to take double doses of protein pump inhibitors, which are used to treat GERD symptoms.

“If you don’t get a good night’s sleep, then your whole life is affected,” he said. “It impacts your whole day. It impacts your ability to work and enjoy life and your interactions with others.”

A month and a half post-surgery, Moylan had already seen a great improvement in his heartburn symptoms and his ability to sleep.

“Prior to surgery, I was frequently awakened at night due to regurgitation. My symptoms have greatly improved if not eliminated entirely at this point,” he said. “I no longer take the double-dose acid reflux prescription medication that I have been taking for years. I have had no heartburn or other symptoms of GERD since the surgery.”

Moylan said that he was released from the hospital the same day as his surgery and the laparoscopic incisions have healed well. He felt very well prepared to deal with the recovery based on the guidelines provided and has had very little pain.

“My overall experience with at USA Health was very positive,” Moylan said. “Everyone from the administrative staff and medical teams were friendly, helpful and extremely professional.”

When choosing where to have his surgery, Moylan credited the USA Health College of Medicine as being one of the main reasons he chose to have his surgery at USA in Mobile.

“A hospital’s close association with a medical school working on new or improved surgical techniques and alternate solutions to medical issues is where you’re likely to see breakthrough approaches first,” he said.

Learn more about the LINX procedure at USA Health.

Pediatric grand rounds to address posterior urethral valves

Frank R. Cerniglia Jr., M.D., section head of pediatric urology at Ochsner Health System, will present the next pediatric grand rounds.

His lecture, "Posterior Urethral Valves: Before, During, and After" is set for 8 a.m. Friday, June 21, in the Strada Patient Care Center first-floor conference room.

Cerniglia will discuss the embryology of posterior urethral valves, the effect of the obstruction on the child, the surgical correction of posterior urethral valves, and the integrated care of the child after surgical correction.

Pediatric grand rounds is every third Friday of the month. The event is open to USA faculty, staff and students. A light breakfast, coffee and beverages will be provided.

For more information, contact Nicole Laden at nladen@health.southalabama.edu or (251) 415-8688.

Dr. Christine Fouty joins USA Health University Hospital as hospitalist

USA Health University Hospital is expanding its care team with the addition of Dr. Christine Fouty, a board-certified internal medicine physician who will see patients in the region’s only academic health care setting.

To enhance patient-centered care, University Hospital has hired several physicians to serve as hospitalists on the staff of more than 1,900-employees. A hospitalist is a physician who typically is not in private practice and instead focuses his or her attention on caring for patients within a hospital.

"As a hospitalist," Fouty said, “you can spend as much time as you need to with patients and their families and it gives you the opportunity to determine the challenges the patients are facing in the hospital and at home."

The extra time can be vital, she said, when trying to determine how someone came to need acute care. “I try to find out what causes people to get into a health care crisis,” Fouty said. “Are they taking their medication? Can they afford their medication? Do they have a primary care provider?”

The role of a hospitalist was officially defined in 1996, when the term was coined in a New England Journal of Medicine article. It was becoming increasingly more difficult for internists in private practice to see patients in their offices and then travel to hospitals to round on more patients in the evenings or early mornings.

Having someone within a hospital dedicated to navigating a very sick patient through multiple procedures and tests has become invaluable.

Fouty, who has practiced medicine for more than 22 years, said she enjoys being part of a larger care team: “I learn something every day. I love the nurses, the case managers, and the multidisciplinary approach we take in the hospital.”

Fouty is a member of the Salvation Army's Family Haven and the Homeless Coalition of the Alabama Gulf Coast, where she serves as the chairman of the Discharge Planning Committee. The committee's task is to prevent discharge to homelessness from hospitals, jails and foster care. The group is working on a medical respite care project to provide care for homeless individuals who are too ill to recover from an injury or illness on the street, but are not sick enough to stay in a hospital.

She earned a medical degree from the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Her husband, Brian W. Fouty M.D., is a pulmonologist and Professor of Internal Medicine at the USA Health College of Medicine. They have three children.

USA medical student presents eye research at international meeting

Jack Friend, a rising fourth-year medical student at the USA College of Medicine, presents results from his research project at a meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Jack Friend, a rising fourth-year medical student at the USA  Health College of Medicine, presented a study examining early immune responses in the cornea at a recent meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The research project documented immune responses occurring in the cornea of the eye following an infection by the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1). “This is an important area of focus in eye research because HSV-1 is the leading cause of infectious blindness in developed countries around the world,” Friend said.

Using an experimental model, the researchers studied a type of lymphocyte called a gamma delta T cell. They found that a certain subset of gamma delta T cells helps to limit the corneal damage, reduces the spread of the HSV-1 virus and aids in survival following infection. The research also showed that the T cells produce a specific type of protein called IL-17 that helps with the defensive responses.

“In the future, we hope to look for a vaccine target to help limit the damage caused by the virus, and this is a good start toward that process,” Friend said.

He collaborated on the project with others at USA, including Dr . Robert A. Barrington, associate professor of microbiology and immunology; Dr. Robert N. Lausch, professor emeritus of microbiology; and graduate student Steffani Fitzpatrick.

“Jack’s focus and determination to contribute in this project has helped move the research forward, leading to new insights and possibly new therapeutic angles for ocular HSV-1 infection,” Barrington said.

A native of Mobile, Friend intends to apply to ophthalmology  residency programs following graduation. He received a Knights Templar Eye Foundation Travel Grant and funding from the University of South Alabama Student Government Association to attend the meeting April 28 to May 2.

Temple Grandin to speak at South Alabama Conference on Mental Health: Autism

The University of South Alabama Office of Continuing Medical Education will host the second annual South Alabama Conference on Mental Health from 8 a.m. to 5:35 p.m. July 25, at the USA Mitchell Center.  The conference will bring together speakers and experts to share their research, experience and interventions surrounding autism.

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., will deliver the keynote address, "Autism and My Path Through Life." Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and autism spokesperson. She is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to publicly share insights from her personal experience of autism.

Grandin will also present a community talk at 7 p.m. July 25, at the USA Mitchell Center.

For more information and to register for the conference or community event, visit the CMA Tracker. Contact Sharrie Cranford at (251) 414-8080 or usacmeducation@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Learn more about Temple Grandin.