Pediatric intensivist joins USA College of Medicine faculty

Mukul Sehgal, M.D., a pediatric intensivist who also serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. examines a patient at USA Health Children's & Women's Hospital.

USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital has expanded its pediatric care capabilities with the addition of Mukul Sehgal, M.D., F.A.A.P., a pediatric intensivist who also serves as an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

“Pediatric critical care medicine involves taking care of very sick children, sometimes on the verge of life and death,” Sehgal said. “The gratification of improving the outcomes of these children, in my opinion, is unmatched to any other aspect of medicine.”

Before moving to Mobile in August, Sehgal completed a pediatric critical care fellowship at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, Florida. He is board certified in pediatrics by the American Academy of Pediatrics. From 2013 to 2016, he was a resident at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

During residency, Sehgal earned a mini Master of Business Administration degree in strategic healthcare management from Rutgers Business School. In 2012, he was awarded a medical degree from Seth GS Medical College in Mumbai, India.

Sehgal wanted to work within an academic health setting, he said, because of the opportunity to train residents and medical students: “I enjoy working in simulation labs and performing mock codes with residents, which in turn helps to prepare them for potential life-threatening situations with their patients.”

Making a difference matters to Sehgal: “There is no better field than medicine to truly help others,” he said. “Human physiology always fascinated me and a quest to learn more about it drew me into the field of medicine.”

Medical Spanish Interest Group and SRFC care for Latino immigrant population

USA College of Medicine first- and second-year students provided free health screenings to a Latino immigrant group in Semmes, Alabama.

The University of South Alabama College of Medicine's Medical Spanish Interest Group and the Student-Run Free Clinic recently partnered with the community organization BELONG to provide free health screenings to a Latino immigrant group in Semmes, Alabama.

Under the supervision of preceptors Eduardo Calderon, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine, and Amanda Robinson, M.D., a local family medicine physician and USA College of Medicine alumna, the team of first- and second-year medical students provided exceptional care to this disadvantaged population.

"The Latino population in Mobile faces unique challenges that must be met with unique solutions," said Elizabeth Hernandez, a second-year medical student and president of the Medical Spanish Interest Group. "While the Student-Run Free Clinic already provides free health care on Friday afternoons at Salvation Army, this population in particular finds it difficult to take off of work, to find transport to this location, and most importantly to communicate with the staff there. An ambulant clinic with native Spanish-speaking staff was the perfect solution."

According to Hernandez, more than 15 adults and children were seen that day, some of which presented with health issues that may have otherwise gone undetected and caused greater issues later on had the clinic not reached that community.

"The Medical Spanish Interest Group and the Student-Run Free Clinic look forward to a continued partnership with BELONG and hope to reach many more Latinos of the Mobile area," Hernandez said.

To learn more about joining the Medical Spanish Interest Group and future outreach opportunities, contact Elizabeth Hernandez at edh1322@jagmail.southalabama.edu.

Register Now: Obstetrics and Gynecology Conference

The 28th annual University of South Alabama Obstetrics and Gynecology Conference will be held Oct. 10-11 in the USA Student Center Ballroom.

Numerous USA faculty and special guests will present at the conference. Topics include Maternal Early Warning Systems, Trauma-Informed Maternal Healthcare, Maternal Mortality, Fertility Sparing Surgery in Gynecologic Oncology, Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome, and Cardiac Disease in Pregnancy.

The program will be of particular interest to obstetricians and gynecologists, family medicine physicians, ARNPs, PAs, CNMs, nursing professionals, social workers, and other healthcare team members interested in the healthcare of women and newborns.

View the full conference schedule and register online: http://cmetracker.net/USAL/Catalog?SessionType=C 

Med School Café video online: "What Is Urogynecology?"

Charles R. Hanes II, M.D., adjunct assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and a urogynecologist with USA Health, presented the August Med School Café lecture.

In his talk, Hanes discussed his subspecialty of urogynecology, which is devoted to the treatment of pelvic floor disorders.

Watch Med School Café - "What Is Urogynecology?" on YouTube or below.

Studies examine anti-cancer compound developed at Mitchell Cancer Institute

Gary Piazza, Ph.D. works on drug discovery research in the lab at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute.

USA Health cancer researchers are trying to unravel a mystery that has perplexed oncologists and their patients for decades – how to stop cancer in its tracks.

An anti-cancer compound developed at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute is showing promise in pre-clinical studies – one involving pancreatic cancer and the other involving breast cancer. The compound, MCI-715, was developed by Gary Piazza, Ph.D., and his lab team at the Drug Discovery Research Center at MCI.

“MCI-715 was designed to inhibit the activity of a specific protein overexpressed in cancer cells that drives malignant progression, as well as resistance of cancer cells to conventional chemotherapeutic drugs,” said Piazza, professor of pharmacology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

The pre-clinical studies were conducted in Australia and Alabama.

Researchers at Curtin University in Western Australia studied MCI-715’s effectiveness against pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), a highly aggressive cancer for which chemotherapeutic drugs provide limited benefits and are associated with severe toxicities.

“We were able to show that by targeting this specific protein with the modified drug, it significantly decreased the spread of PDAC and slowed tumor growth,” said Marco Falasca, Ph.D., professor at the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at Curtin University. Falasca was lead author of an article on the research published in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research.

Falasca said the findings have potential implications for human clinical trials because the pancreatic cancer protein being targeted is known to be resistant to chemotherapy. “Any discovery that can improve the survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer and provide another treatment option is significant,” he said.

Meanwhile, University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Clinton Grubbs, Ph.D., found that MCI-715 was effective in a pre-clinical model of breast cancer prevention to a level comparable to tamoxifen. Tamoxifen is widely used to prevent the progression of breast cancer in high-risk patients but is also associated with severe side effects.

“Based on these data, a second study is planned to further evaluate efficacy and toxicity in a more comprehensive manner,” said Grubbs, director of the Chemoprevention Center in the UAB Department of Surgery. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama supports a joint grant that funds Grubbs’ and Piazza’s research.

Piazza said the results from the two independent labs, along with studies at MCI, provide “compelling evidence that MCI-715 has promising anti-cancer activity.”

“These results support the need for further pre-clinical studies to further assess the efficacy and safety for the prevention or treatment of cancers,” Piazza said.