USA Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center named for Johnson Haynes, Jr., M.D.

Johnson Haynes, Jr., M.D., left, is recognized at a recent USA Board of Trustees meeting, during which the board authorized the naming of the USA Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center in his honor.

In recognition of his longstanding commitment to the treatment, research and education of sickle cell disease, the Board of Trustees at the University of South Alabama recently authorized the naming of the USA Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center as the Johnson Haynes, Jr., M.D., Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center.

“Dr. Haynes has cared for most of the adults with sickle cell disease in the southern half of Alabama,” said John V. Marymont, M.D., M.B.A., vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine. “His dedication to this community is unsurpassed. It is an honor to name the center that means so much to so many after him.”

Eight years after its inception in 1980, the USA Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center was awarded one of only 10 prestigious, federally funded grants from the National Institutes of Health to sustain the program for the next 15 years. Under the leadership of Haynes, the center went on to fund the Cecil L. Parker Sickle Cell Lectureship Endowment, establish the Pediatric to Adult Care Transition Program, enroll patients into pharmaceutical-sponsored clinical trials and issue one patent.

“Dr. Haynes is known and respected for serving those around him, from his patients and medical students to residents and the community,” said Owen Bailey, M.H.A., FACHE, chief executive officer of USA Health. “This naming not only represents his relentless commitment to the community, but also his comprehensive approach to sickle cell care.”

Haynes has served on various local, regional and national committees dedicated to the treatment of sickle cell disease and has served as principal investigator or collaborator on more than three dozen research grants. He also has authored or co-authored countless publications, book chapters, newsletters, abstracts and reports.

His life’s work has been recognized through numerous awards, including the National Research Service Award, America’s Top Doctor, the Edith Mitchell Health Initiative Academy of Achievers Perseverance Award and a Distinguished Alumni Award from the USA National Alumni Association and Medical Alumni Association.

A 1980 graduate of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at USA, Haynes completed his internship, residency training and fellowship training at USA Health. Haynes has led the center since 2001 and has served in numerous leadership roles including professor of internal medicine at the Whiddon College of Medicine, assistant dean of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and a pulmonologist with USA Health.

Read about the origins of the USA Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center and Haynes' legacy in Sickle Cell Today, the center's semiannual newsletter.

USA researchers uncover novel insights into mitochondrial diseases

Natalya Kozhukhar, research technologist, and Mikhail Alexeyev, Ph.D., professor of physiology and cell biology, are studying mitochondrial DNA replication.

Scientists at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama have developed a technique to perform reverse genetic analysis of proteins involved in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication. Known as the GeneSwap approach, this new technology provides novel insights into how defects in mtDNA replication cause mitochondrial diseases, which are often lethal and have only palliative treatments available.

Mikhail Alexeyev, Ph.D., professor of physiology and cell biology, is the senior author of a study recently published in Cells, an international, peer-reviewed journal of cell biology, molecular biology and biophysics.

The lack of approaches for reverse genetic analysis of mtDNA replication presented a major obstacle to better understanding mtDNA replication and, consequently, developing effective treatment strategies for disorders caused by defects in this process, Alexeyev said.

“Only a person who knows how the car operates can fix it,” he explained. “In the same way, knowing how a disease develops – its mechanism – allows us to intervene and disrupt it.”

Classical, or “forward,” genetics starts with a trait and works to identify a responsible gene or an alteration in a gene. Reverse genetics, on the other hand, is a relatively recent development made possible by advances in molecular biology and genetic engineering. 

“It works in the opposite direction: We alter, or mutate, a gene in a test tube and examine changes in this gene's or its product's function,” Alexeyev said. “The advantage of reverse genetics is that it allows the generation and testing of specific hypotheses as to how a given gene or its product may work.” 

The lab utilized genetic recombination systems encoded by bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) and mutant genes carried by a type of disabled mouse virus to substitute, in one step, a mutant gene for a normal one in cultured cells. 

Using the GeneSwap approach, Alexeyev and the research team identified 730 conditionally permissive mutations in mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), compared to fewer than a dozen that were known prior to their study. They also made several other seminal discoveries that will be published in upcoming papers.

Additional authors of the study are Natalya Kozhukhar, research technologist; Domenic Spadafora, Ph.D., Flow Cytometry Core Lab manager; and Yelitza A. R. Rodriguez, Ph.D., a recent graduate in basic medical sciences.  

Read the full article in Cells: “A Method for In Situ Reverse Genetic Analysis of Proteins Involved mtDNA Replication.”

Register now: Paddle the Escatawpa River CME Conference

The USA Department of Emergency Medicine's Wilderness Medicine Division will host the 2nd annual Adventure CME: Paddle the Escatawpa River. This challenging and informative continuing medical education conference is planned for Oct. 21-23 at the Longleaf Farm and Lodge in Deer Park, Alabama.

The conference will bring together experts to share their research, experience and interventions surrounding wilderness medicine. Speakers include USA emergency medicine faculty: Grace Lagasse, M.D., Raymond Maguire, M.D., Walker Plash, M.D., and Lynn Yonge, M.D.

Participants will earn eight Category 1 Wilderness Medicine CME hours in preparation for a guided wilderness expedition down the Escatawpa River. During the weekend, participants will learn to camp, canoe, and cook delicious meals over a fire. All camping and canoe supplies will be provided, and all levels of outdoor experience are welcome.

Cost is $800 for the CME course, canoeing and camping. Visit CME Tracker to view the brochure and register for the conference. 

Contact Walker Plash at wplash@health.southalabama.edu for more information.

Singh appointed to BCRFA Medical Advisory Council

Seema Singh, Ph.D., professor of pathology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine, was recently appointed to the Medical Advisory Council of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA).

The Medical Advisory Council has the critical job of reviewing the foundation’s funding requests from researchers across the state, ensuring that the science is sound and BCRFA investments have maximum impact.

Beth Davis, BCRFA president and CEO, said council members are the foundation’s “boots on the ground” within the medical community. “They are megaphones at their respective research institutes, spreading the word about our mission and encouraging investigators who are focusing on breast cancer to pursue BCRFA funding,” she said.

Singh, who is also a senior member of the cancer biology program at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute, said she is honored to represent USA on the council. “I would advocate for funding the most impactful science, out-of-the-box research ideas, and research aimed at improving health equity,” she said.

According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common malignancy affecting women in the state and the second leading cause of cancer-related death. “Funding innovative and promising science will pave the way for effective management of breast cancer in the future and thus enhance the life expectancy of women in our nation and worldwide,” Singh said.

Her research interests include the role of inflammatory signaling in cancer progression, angiogenesis and metastasis, cancer stem cells, and cancer health disparities.

Founded in 1996, the BCRFA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to find a cure for breast cancer by funding promising breast cancer research in Alabama and raising community awareness and funding for that research. BCRFA’s investment in life-saving research totals over $12 million.

USA Health earns rectal cancer program accreditation

USA Health is the first health system in Alabama and the upper Gulf Coast region to earn a three-year accreditation from the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC), a quality program of the American College of Surgeons.   

To achieve voluntary NAPRC accreditation, a rectal center must demonstrate compliance with the NAPRC standards addressing program management, clinical services, and quality improvement for patients. Centers are required to establish a multidisciplinary rectal cancer team that includes clinical representatives from surgery, pathology, radiology, radiation oncology, and medical oncology. About 60 health systems in the nation hold the accreditation. 

Lee Grimm, Jr., M.D., Colon and Rectal Cancer Program leader at USA Health, established the multidisciplinary rectal cancer team at USA Health in 2015. “This accreditation points to the expertise of the physicians we have at USA Health and the dedication we have to treating patients with rectal cancer,” said Grimm, a colorectal surgeon and professor of surgery at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama.  

USA Health’s program met standards addressing the clinical services that the rectal cancer program provides, including Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA testing), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Computerized Tomography (CT) imaging for cancer staging, which allow patients to start treatment within a defined timeframe. Rectal cancer programs accredited by the NAPRC undergo a site visit every three years and are also accredited by the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer.   

Taken together, colon and rectal cancer are the third most common cause of cancer diagnosis and death in the United States. Rectal cancer can be difficult to treat because of the rectum’s proximity to other vital organs and because it often is diagnosed at an advanced stage, Grimm said. In addition, treatment for rectal cancer can have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life.  

National accreditation demonstrates that a health system has the necessary breadth and expertise to treat those difficult cases, Grimm said. “Studies have shown that when rectal cancer is treated at a high-volume center, patients have better outcomes,” he said.  

Accreditation by the NAPRC is granted only to those programs that are committed to providing the best possible care to patients with rectal cancer. The NAPRC provides the structure and resources to develop and operate a high-quality rectal center, and accredited programs follow a model for organizing and managing a rectal center to ensure multidisciplinary, integrated, comprehensive rectal cancer services.