Jacqueline Gonner Recognized for Customer Service

Jacqueline Gonner, pediatrics clinical nurse practitioner at the University of South Alabama Midtown Clinic, recently was presented an Employee Recognition Award for her outstanding customer service skills.

"Nurse Gonner is a wonderful nurse and educator. As a practitioner, she saw patients in the emergency room at USA Children's & Women's Hospital before coming to the Midtown Clinic. She now assists with the education of residents and nurse practitioner students, as well as lectures once per month to physicians and staff about adolescent care. She is truly one to be nominated."

-Excerpt taken from a patient nomination form

To learn more about the USA Physicians Group Customer Service Recognition Program and to print a nomination form, click here. 

USA College of Medicine Researchers Awarded Abraham A. Mitchell Cancer Research Fund Grants

Left to Right: Dr. Kim Littefield, assistant vice president for research development and learning; Dr. Mike Finan, MCI director; Dr. Luda Rachek, assistant professor in the USA College of Medicine, department of pharmacology; Abraham "Abe" Mitchell; Dr. Mark Taylor, associate professor in the USA College of Medicine, department of physiology and cell biology; Dr. Glen Borchert, assistant professor in the USA department of biology; and, Dr. Laurie Owen, MCI associate director for basic and translational sciences, and Barbara Colle Chair for oncological sciences.

Two researchers at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine have been awarded grants by the Abraham A. Mitchell Cancer Research Fund.

Dr. Mark Taylor, associate professor of physiology and cell biology at the USA College of Medicine, was awarded a one-year grant totaling $59,640. Dr. Taylor was recognized for his work on “Ca2+ Signal Patterning in Cancer.” Dr. Taylor works in collaboration with Dr. Garry Piazza from the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute and Dr. Lalita Shevde-Samant from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Dr. Luda Rachek, assistant professor of pharmacology at the USA College of Medicine, also was awarded a one-year grant totaling $60,000. Dr. Rachek’s project is “Targeting TAT-DNA repair enzymes into mitochondria as a novel therapeutic strategy for breast cancer progression.” Dr. Rachek is working in collaboration with Dr. Ming Tan, a faculty member at the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute.

A third one-year grant award was presented to Dr. Glen Borchert, assistant professor of biology at USA, for his work on “Discovery and Characterization of MicroRNAs with Undescribed Roles in Breast Cancer Pathology.” Dr. Borchert is collaborating with Dr. Yaguang Xi, a faculty member at the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute.

Abraham Mitchell created the fund with a $1 million gift to the University, hoping to encourage cancer-related and cancer-relevant research by scientists in many different University departments.

Medical Students Form Preventive Medicine Team

University of South Alabama College of Medicine second-year medical student Jason Snider instructs a group of children at the Boys & Girls Club on Cody Road April 29, 2015. Medical students from the USA College of Medicine have formed a Preventive Medicine Team. The team's mission is to provide education and resources on medically relevant topics to the local community.

Second-year medical students at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine have formed a Preventive Medicine Team. The team reaches out to the local community by providing education about the prevention of common diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

USA medical student Jason Snider, a founder of the Preventive Medicine Team, said the team believes that such topics are rarely addressed with traditional education. Therefore, they educate on these topics to help the community better understand and prevent common diseases.

The team also attends local conferences, teaches lessons at USA's Student Run Clinic, and maintains an active outreach program with the local Boys & Girls Club. Topics addressed have included heart disease, hypertension, vaccinations, hygiene, effects of smoking, vitamins and exercise.

Snider says the team's most active community involvement is with the Boys and Girls Club outreach program. The team meets weekly at the local Boys & Girls Club to provide lessons to children between the ages of six and 10. There the team teaches interactive lessons on topics that can be left out of a traditional disease education. “The children are heavily involved and are encouraged to ask and answer questions,” Snider said. “Each lesson involves a teaching component along with an activity demonstrating that lesson’s concept.”

The Preventive Medicine Team is run by medical students that include a mixture of officers and volunteers.

Those active with the team are committed to continuing the community outreach. Recently, they elected officers from the first-year class to take over the Preventive Medicine Team as the second-year students transition into their third year.

Founders: Margot Fortenot, Kyoshi Scissum, Jason Snider
Co-presidents/Development: Mike Marshall and Beth Terry
Liasion to the Student Run Clinic: Amber Souers
Curriculum Head: Thomas Lunsford
Volunteer Coordinator: Yasmine Cargill
Liasion to the SGA: Kyle Duncan

Dr. Adams Presents Frazer/Leigh Memorial Lecture

David B. Adams, M.D., F.A.C.S., professor and interim chairman of the department of surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, S.C., recently presented two lectures at the University of South Alabama Medical Center.

Dr. Adams earned a doctor of medicine degree from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Va. Following his residency in general surgery at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Va., Dr. Adams served successively as chief of surgery at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and chief of surgery at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Charleston, S.C.

While at MUSC, Dr. Adams has served as medical director at the One West Trauma Center; program director for the graduate general surgery residency educational program; and director of the MUSC annual postgraduate course in surgery.

This annual Memorial Lectureship is given to honor the legacies of Dr. Emmett B. Frazer and Dr. Milton M. Leigh as leaders in clinical service and graduate surgical education in the Mobile community.