Press-Register Ad To Feature 'Top Docs'

This Sunday's Press-Register will feature an ad congratulating five USA physicians for being named "Top Doctors" by U.S. News and World Report. Click on the image below to view larger.

Dr. Dean Parmelee to Present Two Workshops

Dr. Dean Parmelee, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio, will be presenting two upcoming workshops at USA.

The first workshop, titled “Team-Based Learning 101,” will take place Oct. 19, 2011, at 3:30 p.m. The second workshop, titled “How to Create an Effective TBL Module,” will take place Oct. 20, 2011, at 9:30 a.m. Both lectures will be held in the USA College of Medicine conference room on the main campus.

For the past decade, Dr. Parmelee has been devoted to improving medical education. He has conducted over 60 workshops at national and international medical schools on curriculum design and team-based learning.

Dr. Parmelee has edited four textbooks, and he has authored or co-authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles on child and adolescent psychiatry, psychoanalysis, medical ethics, pediatrics, and medical education.

Dr. Parmelee earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, N.Y. He completed residency programs in adult, child and adolescent psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass.

For more information about the workshops, contact Dr. Susan LeDoux at sledoux@usouthal.edu.

Mark Your Calendars - Gulf Coast Liver Support Group Meeting

The Gulf Coast Liver Support Group, affiliated with the University of South Alabama’s Digestive Health Center, will hold its next meeting on Sept. 22, 2011, at 6 p.m. at the Infirmary West Hospital Conference Center at 5600 Girby Road in Mobile.

This month, a staff member from the Delicious Dietitian will address the group regarding healthy eating habits.

The support group, which meets once every other month, provides a forum for adult patients with liver disease to learn more about their condition. The educational programs cover medical, social and nutritional topics.

Dr. Jorge Herrera, professor of internal medicine at USA, formed the support group in 1998. The Gulf Coast Liver Support Group is the only physician-led liver support group in the region and state.

Participation in the support group is free of charge. For more information, call (251) 660-5555 or click here.

Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program Student Receives Edwin R. Hughes Award

David Schmitt Jr. (right), recipient of the Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award, is shown with Dr. Samuel J. Strada, dean of the USA College of Medicine.

David Schmitt Jr., a second-year student in the University of South Alabama Basic Medical Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, was recently awarded the Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award.

The award is named in memory of Edwin R. Hughes, who served as director of the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program at the USA College of Medicine from its inception in 1978 until 1990. The award, which will be given annually, recognizes the student with the best performance in the curriculum.

Schmitt received his undergraduate degree in pre-medicine from Pensacola Christian College in 2009.

The USA Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program’s first doctoral degrees were awarded in 1983. To date, the program has awarded 174 doctoral degrees to students who have concentrated their advanced studies in the areas of biochemistry and molecular biology, cell biology and neuroscience, lung biology, microbiology and immunology, pharmacology, and physiology.

The Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award was established in 2008 through donations from the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate faculty members and graduates of the program. To make a contribution to the Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award, call (251) 460-7032.

Interventional Neurologist to Discuss New Treatments for Stroke

Interventional Neurologist Dr. Steve M. Cordina, assistant professor of neurology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine and medical director for the USA Stroke Center, will discuss new treatments available for stroke victims during the USA stroke support group meeting.

The meeting will take place Sept. 20, 2011, at 6 p.m. at the USA Medical Center in Mobile. To view an article featured in Sunday's Press-Register about the event, click here.

Free Community Lecture on Weight Loss

Dr. William O. Richards, professor and chair of surgery at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, will present a free community lecture, titled “Bariatric Surgery for Morbid Obesity,” on Sept. 15, 2011, at 6 p.m.

The lecture, open to anyone interested in learning more about bariatric surgery for weight loss, will take place in the Mastin Professional Building Room 203 at 2451 Fillingim St. in Mobile.

Dr. Richards’s clinical interests focus on surgical treatment for Type 2 diabetes and treating motility disorders of the gastrointestinal tract using minimally invasive surgical procedures. He has performed thousands of laparoscopic procedures since 1990, including numerous laparoscopic bariatric procedures.

For more information on the lecture, call (251) 471-7413 or e-mail vheinl@usouthal.edu.