Thursday, June 30, 2022

Meet a Med Student: Virginia Farley

Virginia Farley

Age: 23

Class of: 2025

Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Undergrad institution: Sewanee: The University of the South

Degree earned: Bachelor of Science in biochemistry with a psychology minor

Interests, hobbies: I started powerlifting at the beginning of medical school, so I love going to the gym! I also enjoy playing soccer on the COM intramural team, spending any time outside (especially at the lake or beach), photography, and playing with my cat Sylvester.

Something unique about me: I actually know how to windsurf and love it! I'm not the best at it, but I have been windsurfing in three different countries! At some point I want to learn how to kitesurf. I am also the only student who went to Sewanee at the College of Medicine.

Three of my favorite things: Good food, a good belly laugh and traveling

What I enjoy most about being a student at the Whiddon College of Medicine: All of the professors know the students by name, enjoy having conversations, answering questions and even enjoy seeing them outside of class. You can tell they genuinely care about our success in the program. Additionally, you get to know your classmates so well due to the small class size, and it's so fun to hang out with other classmates outside of school!



Monday, June 27, 2022

Davies awarded $3.5 million NIH grant to study drug-resistant bacteria that causes gonorrhea

Christopher Davies, Ph.D.
Scientists and physicians have worked for decades to understand why some bacteria that cause infections grow increasingly resistant to certain antibiotics. Such resistance limits treatment options for many of those with the illnesses and now poses a threat to millions of people worldwide.

Christopher Davies, Ph.D., associate dean for research at the University of South Alabama’s Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine, recently was awarded a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to determine the molecular mechanisms that confer antibiotic resistance to Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the bacterial species that causes gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted illness responsible for more than 800,000 infections annually in the United States and some 78 million cases worldwide. Untreated or untreatable infections, noted Davies, can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility in women, gonococcal arthritis in both sexes, and an increased risk of contracting and transmitting HIV. There is no vaccine available.

In recent decades, resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae toward multiple classes of antibiotics has increased steadily, leaving only extended-spectrum cephalosporins as recommended treatments. Extremely troubling, Davies said, is that strains of N. gonorrhoeae exhibiting resistance to these cephalosporins have emerged and spread globally, including in the U.S. Finding new treatments for gonorrhea is therefore a matter of urgency.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the bacterial species that
causes gonorrhea.
The emergence of cephalosporin-resistance in N. gonorrhoeae is due to mutations in a protein called penicillin-binding protein 2 (PBP2), an enzyme that is essential for bacterial cell-wall synthesis. The project aims to understand how mutations in PBP2 lower reactivity with cephalosporins while preserving its essential enzymatic function.

“This is a delicate balancing act that must be negotiated by the bacteria,” Davies said. “If the mutations compromise enzyme function, the bacteria cannot grow, but if the effect of mutations on resistance is too small, then the bacteria will be killed by cephalosporins. The strains we are seeing have solved this conundrum.”

For the project, Davies’ team will work to determine the molecular structures of PBP2 from cephalosporin-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae and also examine their properties biochemically. Early indications are that mutations act by restricting the protein dynamics of PBP2 in a way that selectively discriminates against cephalosporins.

The overall goal of the research is to develop new agents to treat gonorrhea, and this already is happening through an NIH-supported collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Venatorx Inc., which is translating findings from the Davies lab to design new inhibitors of PBP2.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Graduate students and faculty present at ATS International Conference

Faculty, residents, fellows and graduate students participate in the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Francisco.
Representatives from the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine and USA Health attended the American Thoracic Society (ATS) International Conference, held last month in San Francisco, to present and learn about the latest advances in pulmonary disease, critical illness and sleep disorders.

Numerous faculty, residents, fellows and graduate students participated in the meeting, which drew nearly 14,000 physicians, scientists and healthcare professionals from around the globe.

The following Ph.D. students in the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program were poster presenters: Aritra Bhadra, Grant Daly, Meredith Gwin, Jenny Hewes, Jennifer Knighten, Sunita Subedi Paudel, Pallavi Sen and Reece Stevens. Viktor Pastukh, Ph.D., pharmacology instructor; Nida Ahmed, M.D., pulmonary fellow; and Taylor Cook, M.D., internal medicine resident, also presented posters at the conference.

Natalie Bauer, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology, was selected as co-chair of the Assembly on Pulmonary Circulation planning committee and will serve as chair for 2023-2024. She also organized the ATS Science and Innovation Center (SIC) reception, hosted the SIC/Ph.D., Basic and Translational Scientists Working Group reception, chaired a faculty development session, and facilitated a poster discussion session.

Karen Fagan, M.D., professor of internal medicine and pharmacology and director of the pulmonary and critical care division, facilitated a poster discussion session. Troy Stevens, Ph.D., professor and chair of physiology and cell biology and director of the Center for Lung Biology, organized an endothelial workshop.

Also in attendance were Phillip Almalouf, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine; Mark Gillespie, Ph.D., professor and chair of pharmacology; Raymond Langley, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology; Ji Young Lee, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of internal medicine, physiology and cell biology; and Robert Petrossian, M.D., pulmonary fellow.

Meet a Med Student: Sarah Blackstock

Sarah Blackstock

Age: 24

Class of: 2025

Hometown: Gadsden, Alabama

Undergrad institution: Auburn University

Degree earned: Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences

Interests, hobbies: Traveling, baking and listening to true-crime podcasts

Something unique about me: I was almost stuck in Peru when COVID-19 first broke out. We were the last plane to leave the country, and we left just 30 minutes before they closed the borders.

Three of my favorite things: I love traveling to new places, spending time with my family and dogs at the lake, and eating anything chocolate.

What I enjoy most about being a student at the Whiddon College of Medicine: I really appreciate that South offers us so many opportunities to get involved on campus and in our community.



Monday, June 20, 2022

USA Health residents, fellows compete in 2022 scholarship exposition

Chaitra Manjunath, M.D., right, a third-year pediatrics resident, discuses her research with Mimi Munn, M.D., professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology. Manjunath won first place in the Clinical and Translational Research category for her poster presentation. 
Residents and fellows at USA Health presented scholarly works at the USA Resident and Fellow Scholarship Exposition on Thursday, June 16, at the Strada Patient Care Center. The expo was held in person after being held virtually in 2021.

The expo provides an opportunity for residents and fellows to display their scholarly activities from research projects, quality improvement projects, and patient safety, education and advocacy projects, as well as case reports. This year featured an oral presentation competition in addition to the poster competition.

“It’s important for us to share our knowledge to add to the overall body of medical knowledge that helps advance care for all patients,” said Judy Blair-Elortegui, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education, associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics, and program director of the internal medicine residency program. “In particular, our projects in quality improvement and patient safety have a specific, measurable impact on the care we provide to our patients at USA Health.”

Elizabeth Ekpo, M.D., a third-year resident in emergency medicine, presented a poster outlining a case in which Double Sequential External Defibrillation (DSED) was used in a 36-year-old patient who was admitted to the emergency department with refractory ventricular fibrillation from thyrotoxic periodic paralysis, a rare condition that causes severe muscle weakness. Ekpo concluded that DSED could have value in an in-hospital setting. 

“This event allows us to showcase all of our hard work,” Ekpo said. “When I see a rare case, I want to know how the physicians solved the case, and how I can do better. Hopefully, people can learn from this and save someone’s life.”

Winners were announced in these categories:

Poster sessions

Quality Improvement and Performance Improvement, Patient Safety, Patient Education, and Patient Advocacy: Jonathan Jones, M.D., a third-year resident in OB-GYN, who presented “Financial toxicity of gynecologic oncology patients undergoing treatment in the Deep South.”

Clinical and Translational Research: Chaitra Manjunath, M.D., a third-year resident in pediatrics, who presented “Multivariate analysis of the use of Quetiapine in delirium among hospitalized children.”

Clinical Vignettes: Katie Vines, M.D., a second-year resident in surgery, who presented “Traumatic Aortic Injury: Is the seatbelt to be blamed?”

Oral presentation session

1st place (tie): Benjamin Eisenman, M.D., a second-year resident in family medicine, who presented “One step at a time: Addressing COVID hesitancy in patients who received one out of two recommended doses.”

1st place (tie): Jorge Sucar-Marquez, M.D., a second-year resident in pediatrics, who presented “Retrospective review of accidental toddler drug ingestion; the clinical manifestations and length of stay.”

2nd place: Joseph Anderson, M.D., a third-year resident in orthopaedic surgery, who presented “Clavicle mass in a competitive CrossFit athlete.”

See more photos from the expo on Flickr.