Click here for more information on USF Health's K30 Scholars.

Dr. Brian Giunta is investigating whether the green tea extract EGCG may protect the brain against dementia.

A member of the USF Health’s inaugural class of K30 scholars is the first to earn a prestigious federal grant intended to help young clinical scientists build their academic research careers.

Brian Giunta, MD, has been awarded a four-year, $629,500 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08 grant) from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Giunta, a research physician and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, is one of 12 junior faculty members enrolled in the NIH-sponsored K30 Scholars in Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) program at USF Health. Dr. Giunta will graduate from the SPOR program in May, earning a master’s degree in medical sciences with a concentration in clinical and translational research. He plans to continue in the newly approved PhD concentration in clinical and translational research after this spring.

The K30 SPOR program, begun at USF Health in 2005, is helping to prepare the next generation of clinical researchers. It is designed to attract talented individuals to careers in patient-oriented research and provide them with the critical skills needed to translate basic discoveries into clinical treatments.

“Brian’s achievement is exactly what the K30 scholars program was meant to do -- allow young, clinically-trained faculty to generate questions and conduct investigator-generated research needed to advance the field of medicine,” said Phillip J. Marty, PhD, co-principal investigator for the SPOR program and associate vice president for USF Health. “It’s a great milestone for our relatively young program.”

“Facilitating bench to bedside-community research is the cornerstone of USF Health’s vision to continue to build global recognition in interdisciplinary translational and clinical research” said Abdul S. Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president, USF Health. “To materialize this bold vision, junior physician-scientists have to be formally trained in conducting meaningful clinical research and Brian’s accomplishments are a testimony of the success of this program."

"The mentored awards (K08 and K01) are one of the most important mechanisms NIH has to bring scientists early in their careers, especially clinicians, into research. They enable us to attract some of the most promising talent available, and we have a sure winner in Dr. Brian Giunta,” said Francisco Fernandez, MD, chair of psychiatry.

“If academic departments of psychiatry are to serve as the intellectual home base for our discipline, we must keep training investigators with broad and varied expertise, especially if we are to solve the problem of disorders of the mind.”

Patricia Emmanuel, MD, associate dean for clinical research at the USF College of Medicine, said Dr. Giunta’s research success would be highlighted in USF Health’s upcoming application to NIH for an institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award

“The K08 grants are difficult to get,” Dr. Emmanuel said. “This is an honor for the individual investigator, the mentor and our institution because it indicates the NIH realizes we’re committed to developing our translational and clinical research enterprise.”

USF neuroscientist and senior faculty member Jun Tan, MD, PhD, has mentored Dr. Giunta for the last two years out of the neuroimmulogy laboratories in the Silver Child Development Center.

Dr. Tan will help oversee Dr. Giunta’s work on the K08 grant, which will examine the role of the neurotoxic HIV protein Tat in the development of Alzheimer’s-like brain damage. Dr. Giunta and Dr. Tan have developed a new mouse model for HIV-induced Alzheimer’s disease and are using the model to evaluate whether the green-tea derived compound EGCG may protect the brain against dementia.

The K08 grant will support 75 percent of Dr. Giunta’s salary over four years so he can focus on setting up his own lab space, generating preliminary data, writing grant proposals and getting more publications in the pipeline – all activities needed to lay the foundation for an independent research career.

Dr. Giunta credits Dr. Fernandez, as well as Dr. Tan, Dr. Marty, Kenneth Zuckerman, MD principal investigator for the SPOR program; and Sandra Anderson, MEd, senior research administrator, for providing the assistance needed to successfully compete for the grant. “Dr. Fernandez has always been very supportive in allowing clinicians time to do basic and translational research,” Dr. Giunta said. “I never would have been able to get this award without having a portion of my time blocked out to participate in the K30 scholars program.”

Dr. Giunta received his MD degree from the USF College of Medicine in 2004, followed by an internship in psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. He previously worked as a clinician in the USF Memory Disorders Clinic. He is the recipient of a 2007 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Young Investigator Award.

As a physician scientist, Dr. Giunta said, he enjoys the challenges of bridging the gap between laboratory-based research findings and patient care.

“We still don’t fully understand how the normal brain works – even less so how it malfunctions in people with neuropsychiatric disorders,” he said. “By drawing on experiences and questions that arise in the clinical setting, I have the opportunity to bring ideas back to the laboratory and develop experiments that may lead to new ways of treating diseases like Alzheimer’s.”

USF's Health's K30 SPOR program is looking for more physicians interested in translational and clinical research to benefit from the NIH-funded program, which is available in only limited academic health science centers in the United States, Dr. Rao said.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier/USF Health Communications

USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences Achieves National Ranking

March 28, 2008. University of South Florida, Tampa Bay. The clock struck 3 a.m. and USF Health's William "Sandy" Quillen was wide awake and pouring over the annual rankings list produced by U.S. News & World Report. The publication's rankings were posted on its online newsroom seconds after midnight, March 28th, and to the delight of Bulls, USF's School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences received its first ever national ranking.

Sharing news of the inaugural national ranking and happily emailing colleagues at 3:16 a.m. Friday was the school's director - William S. Quillen, PT, PhD, also an Associate Dean and Professor in the USF College of Medicine.

Quillen wrote "I’m not normally up this late/early but the new U.S. News & World Report Rankings of professional schools were released shortly after midnight and I have been anxiously awaiting the results. Our USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences has achieved a Best Graduate Schools 2009 national ranking tied for 69th out of 200+ accredited physical therapy educational programs in the country. USF was one of only three (3) programs in the state of Florida to be nationally ranked (along with the University of Miami and the University of Florida)."

"The rankings in physical therapy are based upon two types of data: “expert opinion about program quality from Deans, Program Directors and Senior Faculty along with key statistical indicators; ie. licensure pass rate, student-faculty ratios etc.," explained Quillen.

The national ranking comes at a key time for physical therapy faculty, staff and students. This weekend marks the start of the school's re-accreditation visit by the Commission for Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE). Embedded in the USF College of Medicine, it has become a nationally ranked school in slightly less than ten years since the establishment the USF Physical Therapy Program - an impressive achievement. "If we can stay true to our course and believe in the “optimistic future” that is the potential for USF Health we can one day soon become great. All of us should share in and enjoy this moment," said Quillen.

Dr. William Quillen, Director of the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, photographed with Scientific Foundations of Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation textbook which he co-edited and was published in March 2007.

USF College of Nursing 1 of only 2 in Florida ranked in top 100

The rankings also bring good news to USF College of Nursing, lead by Dean Patricia Burns. The college is one of only two public colleges of nursing in Florida to be ranked in the top 100 for its master’s program. Its 2007 ranking -- jumping to number 72 last year from a previous ranking of 115 in 2003 -- was repeated in the current listing. "We continue to be recognized for our outstanding graduate programs," Dr. Burns said. "We're especially pleased with our new Certified Nurse Anesthesia, Clinical Nurse Leader, and Doctor of Nursing practices programs.

USF Rankings
Four USF Programs Ranked Among Nation’s Best by U.S. News & World Report. Graduate Programs in Education, Nursing, Industrial & Organizational Psychology Made the List. USF's College of Education has moved up in its ranking as one of the nation’s top 50 graduate schools of education from 48 to 45, positioning the college in a three way tie with graduate schools at Florida State University and the University of Miami.

The College of Education’s ranking, at No. 45, included in the magazine’s report on “America’s Best Graduate Schools 2009,” places USF’s college among the top 20% of graduate schools of education. USF's is one of only three colleges of education in Florida to be included in the prestigious national ranking.

“These rankings are affirmation of USF’s commitment to scholarly excellence in disciplines that directly impact the lives of people in our region, state, nation and the world,” said USF Provost Ralph Wilcox. “Teaching, learning, research and the creation of new knowledge are valued through the university, and strong graduate programs such as those earning the U.S. News & World Report distinction are key to achieving the bold vision set forth in USF’s strategic plan to transform higher education for global innovation.”

USF’s graduate program in industrial and organizational psychology, among the psychological specialties listings, remains highly ranked, at No. 10 in the nation.

About the U.S. News & World Report Annual Rankings
U.S. News & World Report annually ranks graduate schools in 11 areas, including business, education, engineering, law and medicine. The rankings, based on data from experts regarding program quality and statistical markers gauging the quality of a program’s faculty, research and students, can be found in the April 7 – 14 print edition of the magazine. The top 50 rankings will be showcased in the print edition.

Story by Lissette Campos, Anne DeLotto Baier and Barbara Perkins, USF Health Communications & University Relations

Click here for copy of journal article.

Tampa, FL (March 26, 2008) — Targeted immune suppression using human umbilical cord blood cells may improve the pathology associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study in a mouse model of this currently untreatable neurodegenerative condition reports. The study, led by researchers at the University of South Florida, is published online in the peer-reviewed journal Stem Cells and Development (www.liebertpub.com/scd).

Following a series of low-dose infusions of human umbilical cord blood cells into mice with Alzheimer’s-like disease, the amount of amyloid-ß and ß-amyloid plaques -- hallmarks of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain -- was reduced 62 percent. Amyloid-ß induces an inflammatory response in the brain associated with the interaction of CD40 and CD40L, two pro-inflammatory molecules. Researchers also reported an astonishing 86-percent improvement in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), another hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. CAA compromises the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, disrupting normal trafficking of various molecules and cells from and to the brain and is believed to be the main culprit for the brain inflammation observed in Alzheimer’s.

Human umbilical cord blood cell therapy appeared to suppress CD40-CD40L activity, suggesting that this therapeutic approach offers the potential to target the pathogenic inflammatory response that contributes to Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative conditions.

Jun Tan, PhD, MD, and colleagues from USF (Tampa), Yale University (New Haven, CT), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA), Saneron CCEL Therapeutics (Tampa, FL), and Saitama Medical School (Japan), concluded that human umbilical cord blood cell-induced disruption of the CD40-CD40L interaction may alleviate the key pathologic changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

“It has been well documented that altered immune functioning, characterized by the presence of molecules and cells that promote inflammation, can accelerate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” said senior study author Dr. Tan, Robert A. Silver Chair, Rashid Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology at Silver Child Development Center, USF Department of Psychiatry.

“Our study is the first to report that the potential therapeutic mechanism of umbilical cord blood cells is more through targeting and fixing this malevolent peripheral immune functioning rather than through direct interaction with neurons. We believe restoring the balance between molecules that promote and inhibit inflammation could play a big role in future treatment strategies against Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Our previous studies have shown HUCBC can provide protection to other organs as well as the brain. Their multifunctional capabilities have excited scientists who have identified a significant presence of stem cells among umbilical cord blood cells,” said co-author Paul R. Sanberg, PhD, DSc, director of the USF Center for Aging and Brain Repair. “This study may open a door to a new field focusing on studying these molecular mechanisms in detail, and hopefully use them in the future not just for Alzheimer’s disease, but for other neurological or systemic chronic diseases.”

“Previously, challenging observations have reported phenomena suggesting the non-hematologic therapeutic potential of blood stem cells,” said Graham C. Parker, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of Stem Cells and Development, and a research professor in at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Children's Hospital of Michigan. “What is novel about this paper is its application to Alzheimer’s disease, and a significant advance in characterizing the ameliorative mechanism of action.”

William Nikolic, a PhD candidate of the USF Department of Molecular Medicine, and Huayan Hou, MD, were co-first authors of the study. Other study authors were Terrence Town, PhD, Yuyan Zhu, PhD, MD, Brian Giunta, MD, Cyndy D. Sanberg, PhD, Jin Zeng, MS, Deyan Luo, PhD, MD, Jared Ehrhart, MS, and Takashi Mori, PhD.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer program, the Florida Hi-Tech Corridor, the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute, Cryo-Cell International, Inc., and Saneron CCEL Therapeutics, Inc.

- USF Health -

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With $308 million in research funding last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of Florida’s top three research universities.
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March 25, 2008. University of South Florida, Tampa Bay. At the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences (SPTRS), they are celebrating the win of one of their own. Dr. Laura Lee Swisher, better known as "Dolly", has received the prestigious Lucy Blair Service Award by the American Physical Therapy Association. The USF Health faculty member is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Professional Education.

"It is especially rewarding when peers and colleagues recognize your professional efforts as valuable to the profession," said Dr. Swisher. "Physical therapy is a wonderful profession, and I am honored and humbled to receive the Lucy Blair award."

The award is named after the late Lucy Blair who served the American Physical Therapy Association from 1950 to 1969. The award honors physical therapist & members of the association, nationwide, who have made positive contributions and have been of "exceptional value".

"We extend our congratulations to Dr. Swisher on the receipt of this richly deserved national rcognition," said William S. Quillen, PT, PhD, SCS, FACSM, Associate Dean, Professor & Director of the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences. Swisher has been at USF since October of 1998, arriving as a charter faculty member for USF's School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences.

The official award ceremony will take place in San Antonio, Texas this coming June during the association's 2008 conference and exposition.

Newsbrief by Lissette Campos, USF Health Communications

Some core members of the Indo-USF team, including USF Health's Dr. Eknath Naik (second from left), Dr. Patricia Emmanuel (center), and Dr. Shyam Mohapatra (second from right), at the inaugural Workshop on Adolescent HIV/AIDS Research Training in India.

The University of South Florida’s global health initiative to help India build an infrastructure to fight AIDS began Feb. 29 with the first Indo-US Workshop on Adolescent HIV/AIDS Research Training at Vadodara Medical College (VMC) in Gujarat, India. The workshop was the culmination of several important steps laying the foundation for an interdisciplinary training program focused on the biomedical, behavioral, cultural and ethical aspects of detecting, treating and preventing HIV/AIDS among adolescents in India.

USF Health was awarded a $1.36-million, five-year research training grant from the National Institutes of Health in September 2007 to create the program.

The First Workshop
In February, a team of USF Health investigators -- Dr. Julie Baldwin, Dr. Patricia Emmanuel, Dr. Shyam Mohapatra and Dr. Eknath Naik -- visited India to set the tone of collaboration between USF and VMC and to officially inaugurate the first Indo-US Workshop on Adolescent HIV Research Training conducted by USF and VMC faculty. Representing local faculty at the workshop were Dr. Yogesh Marfatia, acting dean of VMC; Atul Patel, Vedanta Institute of Medical Sciences; and Vijay Shah, medical director of Indu Health Research Foundation. The team established contact with prominent U.S. and India organizations involved in the US-India collaboration including Dr. Altaf Lal, Health attaché and HHS Regional Representative for South Asia, U.S. Embassy; Dr. Sanjay Kapur, Chief of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Division, U.S. Agency for International Development; and Dr. Madhuri Thakar, National AIDS Research Institute.

The workshop was attended by more than 250 physicians and allied health workers across Gujarat.

Dr. Mohapatra set the tone of the workshop by describing the goals and objectives of the AIDS/HIV International Training Research Program (AITRP) grant, the program's scope and the capacity building intended by this Indo-US collaboration. He outlined the team’s vision, which entails building an Adolescent AIDS/HIV Center of Excellence (AACE) in Vadodara at VMC. This public-private partnership would include major stakeholders such as the VMC and USF-AITRP, the city of Boroda, and the state of Gujarat. The main goals of AACE will be to gain support from the city, state, and the Government of India for undertakings such as the Indian Council for Medical Research, the National AIDS Control Organization (India), and the National AIDS Research Institute (India) to foster and develop state-of the-art diagnostic, Integrative HIV Care Centers, and to build a world-class network in adolescent HIV/AIDS research training.

The Adolescent AIDS/HIV Center of Excellence intends to play a pivotal role in HIV detection, prevention and care in India and in other developing nations of the world, which harbor about 96 percent of the approximately 33 million people infected globally.

Dr Naik talked about the global adolescent HIV scenario, Dr. Emmanuel discussed the U.S. scenario, and Dr. Baldwin spoke about potential behavioral research projects and project evaluation issues. Drs Marfatia and Patel discussed the current scenario in HIV research and care in India. Other speakers described the epidemiology, HIV scene in the United States and India, updates in HIV detection, prevention and care, and training opportunities to be pursued during the grant's tenure.

The workshop concluded with an interactive panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Mohapatra, which focused on the challenges and opportunities in adolescent HIV, the role of clinical trial and microbicides, HIV detection and point-of-care diagnostics, and future research training and grant opportunities.

Unveiling of the plaque at inaugural workshop

The penultimate part was the unveiling the AITRP plaque by Honorable Minister of State on Health and Family Welfare, Shri Jay Narayan Vyas. Joining this inagural function was surprise guest Dr. Kiran Patel, a USF Trustee, who had jump-started the CHART-India Program in 2001. Dr. Patel described the needs for public-private support required for the success of the program. The Minister of Health addressed matching support from the State Government for the AACE, providing the site for AACE in Vadodara, and funding for the infrastructure development.

“The AITRP program and proposed AACE have had a great jump-start with this first Indo-US workshop," Dr. Mohapatra said. "We have had exciting discussions with the Municipality Corporation of Baroda and the Minister of Health and Family Welfare who both have promised support for the infrastructure needs of the AACE. We hope that we will find donors and contributors from the private sector as well."

"We want to make this a world-class Center in Adolescent Clinical Research," Dr. Mohapatra said.

Videoconference Launch Procedes Workshop
On December 11, a formal cross-continental video inaugural event was held through videoconference to launch AITRP. Dr. Kamal Pathak, the then Dean of VMC, visited USF. In return, USF's Dr. Mohapatra visited the VMC investigators -- Dr. Yogesh Marfatia, professor and chairman of Skin and Venereal Diseases, and Dr. Vijay Shah, the medical director of the Indu Health Research Foundation (IHRF) in Baroda. USF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to further HIV/AIDS research in Gujarat. Dr. Pradeep Kumar, director of the Gujarat State AIDS Control Society, also joined the inaugural event. Dr. Mohapatra met with the acting Dean and the heads of the six departments -- Pediatrics, Medicine, Dermatology, Preventive and Social Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology -- to discuss the capacity building intended in the research trainning grant.

For more information, visit the USF India Program in Adolescent HIV/AIDS Research Training website.

USF neurosurgeons Dr. Fernando Vale, left, and Juan Uribe perform minimally-disruptive spine surgery at Tampa General Hospital.

USF Health neurosurgeons at Tampa General Hospital are performing a new minimally disruptive spinal fusion surgery to provide relief to patients suffering from back pain. Dr. Juan Uribe, Dr. Fernando Vale and Dr. Donald Smith are among the first in the region to perform this procedure, called XLIF® (eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion).

An estimated 10 million adults suffer from chronic back pain annually, a condition that can limit their activities. Until recently, adults with back pain have undergone traditional or “open” spine surgery, requiring weeks or months of recovery.

The XLIF surgical procedure employs NuVasive®’s minimally-disruptive instrumentation. This technology allows surgeons to perform a wide range of conventional spine procedures through a minimally invasive approach that causes less musculature disruption and enables faster recovery. Additionally, surgeons can perform surgical procedures using instruments that are similar to those used in conventional procedures, but through significantly smaller incisions.

“This surgical procedure offers a safe and effective, less invasive alternative to traditional or open spine surgery,” said Dr. Uribe, assistant professor of neurosurgery at USF Health. “This approach provides greater access to the spine, better visualization during surgery, less tissue disruption and blood loss, and faster patient recovery times. Another benefit is that patients are often walking within a few days, with a typical four to six-week recovery, rather than the six-plus months of recovery following traditional back surgery. And the best part is that they are no longer suffering from back and leg pain. It is a win-win approach for all -- the patient, surgeon and hospital.”

NuVasive’s MaXcess® surgical retractor allows the surgeon maximum access with minimal disruption of surrounding tissue, while the NeuroVision® JJB system uses electromyography, or EMG, to enable the surgeon to avoid nerves during spine surgery.

The USF neurosurgeon’s offices are at the USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare, 2A Columbia Drive in Tampa, FL 33606. They can be reached at (813) 259-0965.

- Story by Ellen Fiss/Tampa General Hospital
- Photos by Hugh Jones/TGH Photography

March 20, 2008, Tampa Bay. As some 15-thousand medical students across the nation learned where they would be conducting their residency training, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) was also canvassing the country in search of 'Match Day' stories. The University of South Florida was one of only three medical schools in the country selected for inclusion in the AAMC's video gallery of Match Day '08.

In the USF video, the camera crew follows one med student from start to finish - the young mother of twins, and first 'doctor' in her family experiences an emotional day as she waits to hear if she and her children will have to relocate because of her residency match. It's a USF Match Day story that viewers across the nation are tuning in to.

Click here for AAMC site w/USF College of Medicine video. See "Match Day Videos" box.

- Photos by Eric Younghans/USF Health Media Center

"It's a Match Mom!"

Megan Lasseter's daughter Kayla reads Mom's match: "Emergency Medicine - USF" as twin brother Connor looks on. It's what the single mom was hoping for -- a residency without uprooting her family. Click box below for Lasseter's experience.

View Video as Windows Media File

March 20, 2008. Across the nation today, senior medical students found out their residency assignments for the next three to seven years. Residency is a key phase in very doctor's career - the time when a licensed medical graduate begins specialized training in their chosen field. At the USF College of Medicine, approximately 115 senior medical students were among the 14,359 nationwide participating in Match Day. The USF students selected Internal Medicine (20 percent), Emergency Medicine (13 percent), and Pediatrics (13 percent) as their top three specialty choices. About half are staying in Florida for their residencies, including 28 percent remaining at USF College of Medicine.

Two USF medical students will enter USF's brand new Orthopaedic Surgery residency program, which attracted four of the top six people on its rank list -- quite a coup for a program participating in its first match.

With emotions running high, a half dozen are couples and waited on 'pins & needles' to learn if Match Day assignments would land them in separate cities or even states. As part of the USF tradition, couples' residency assignments are announced simultaneously. Adding to the adventure of Match Day each year at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa, the names are drawn at random. Each student trades a dollar for their Match Day letter and the money pot serves as a consolation prize for the very last student to be 'matched.'

In the months leading up to Match Day, students have applied and interviewed with medical schools around the country. On Match Day, students are officially notified which of those programs has selected them for residency training.

Other Links

- Photo Gallery
- Where USF medical students matched
- National Resident Matching Program statistics

A CLOSER LOOK...
We'd like to introduce you to a group of medical students...their stories and personal journeys give readers a closer look at the Class of 2008.

Megan Lasseter
Megan Lasseter’s 5-year-old twins – Kayla and Connor – were at her side when she opened her Match Day envelope. Daughter Kayla read the results -- "Emergency Medicine at USF!" The twins were 14-months-old when Lasseter, 28, a single mother, entered USF College of Medicine. During the week, she’d rise at 4:30 a.m. to get the toddlers ready for daycare and sneak in some studying before school. After class or clinical rotations, she’d rush back to the campus daycare center to pick up the twins and head home where she’d make dinner, then bathe and play with the children before tucking them into bed. When the little ones were sick, she’d keep up with recorded lectures on the web. At class meetings, she’d bring the twins along in their double stroller, with plenty of toys to keep them occupied. On weekends, the twins’ father, a recent law school graduate who shares custody with Lasseter, took over child care so she could immerse herself in her studies. “There were many nights when I ended up falling asleep on the couch with my textbook open,” she said. “And, I’m sure I had spit-up on some of my papers.”

College of Medicine Dean and USF Health VP Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, turns the microphone toward Megan Lasseter's daughter Kayla.

Lasseter credits the support and understanding of family, classmates and medical school student affairs with helping her through. She will specialize in emergency medicine – a passion she shares with her father, a firefighter/paramedic in West Broward County's city of Miramar. She recalls the excitement of occasionally riding with her father in the ambulance as a child, the compassion and commitment of the emergency room physicians she shadowed at Jackson Memorial Hospital as a high school student, and volunteering in the ER at Shands Hospital while a pre-med student at the University of Florida.

“You’re at the forefront of medicine’s battleground in the emergency room… with the opportunity to help people at their worst moments,” said Lasseter. While she never seriously considered another field, she adds that ER shift work would allow her to spend more time with her twins throughout their elementary and junior high school years. Watching their parents persevere in their professional studies has rubbed off on the twins. “They’ve seen the type of hard work and persistence it takes, and they’re looking forward to starting kindergarten,” Lasseter said. “My daughter wants to be a pony doctor (veterinarian), and my son a train conductor.”

Jason Wilson
Also looking forward to a career in emergency medicine is Jason Wilson, 29, who plans to complete his PhD in anthropology from the University of Michigan while conducting an ER residency. Wilson, president of the Class of 2008, wants to combine the clinical expertise he’ll gain as an emergency physician with his population health background to work in international emergency medicine and health policy.

Wilson at Templo Mayor, an archaeological site of Aztec ruins, in Mexico City.

Wilson is working with physicians from the Pan American Center for Emergency Medicine Development to study the high rate of obstetrical emergencies among Mexico’s indigenous Indian populations in Oxaca and Chiapas. The goal is to help develop and implement standardized programs to train paraprofessionals, the equivalent of U.S. paramedics and midwives, how to recognize and manage obstetrical emergencies. Mexico has an acute shortage of specialty and obstetrical trained physicians, most of whom work in urban areas with hospitals. “But, most high-risk births among women from these remote rural areas occur at home – as much as three hours away from the nearest hospital,” Wilson said. “Postpartum hemorrhage is one of the major causes of maternal death that could be prevented with a training protocol for health workers in the field.”

Wilson comments on the similarity in skills needed by emergency physicians and anthropologists. “The emergency room is a self-contained field site. You interact with patients of every culture, ethnicity and socioeconomic group, and need to be an astute observer and interviewer.”

He recognizes the importance of the “broader perspective” afforded by focusing on social, economic and cultural risk factors impacting the health of communities and populations, without minimizing medicine’s emphasis on improving the health of individual patients. “I love the balance of the two,” Wilson said. “The social science training of anthropology can help you better understand, and hopefully address, the root causes of the problems that lead patients to the hospital or clinic.”

Wilson, COM Class of 2008 president, will remain at USF for a residency in emergency medicine.

Heidi Haun
Heidi Haun, 28, wants to work in a mission hospital in West Africa after completing her residency training in surgery at Mercer University School of Medicine. Before I ever decided I wanted to be a physician, I felt called to be a missionary," said Haun. "There's no better way to serve in missions than to tend to people's physical needs as well as their spiritual needs."

Haun with young patient in Ghana.

This fall, Haun completed a three-month international health elective at Baptist Medical Centre, in Nalerigu, Ghana, with the support of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board. She went to Ghana with husband, William Haun, who volunteers his time providing computer support to the IMB's West African missionaries, and their son Trey, then 13 months.

Under the supervision of physicians at the 123-bed mission hospital, Haun conducted ward rounds, helped patients in the hospital's outpatient clinics, assisted with minor procedures such as suturing, splinting and debridement, and scrubbed in on more than 75 surgeries, including hernia repairs, C-sections and exploratory laparotomies.

Patients traveled, sometimes for days, to the hospital from their villages by taxi, bus and even on foot. They waited hours in long lines for treatment and to fill prescriptions at the hospital's pharmacy. "A lot of people came with diseases in advanced states. The sheer numbers of patients without adequate health care was striking," Haun said. "They were so appreciative of anything we could do for them."

Haun helped treat malaria, typhoid and other tropical diseases rarely seen in developed countries, and frequently examined snake-bite victims -- some arriving with swollen extremities several days after being bitten. One of her most memorable patients was Lamisi, a young girl with an extensive Buruli skin ulcer, caused by a microbe found in the rain forests of southern Ghana.

Haun brings a smile to Lamisi with the help of 'happy face' stickers.

In addition to antibiotics, patients are treated with frequent debridements of the ulcerated tissue, so Lamisi basically lived at the hospital for two months. Eventually the infection spreading across her chest was halted; she received a successful skin graft and was discharged home. All through the painful wound healing process, Haun recalled, Lamisi kept her sweet smile.

For more on the Hauns' adventures in Africa, including a gallery of the compelling photos William is selling to benefit Baptist Medical Centre, where Heidi worked, go to www.haunsinafrica.com

Heidi Haun with husband William and son Trey

Sam Crane
Sam Crane will be conducting his residency in Family Medicine with a sub specialty in rural and underserved medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He joined the Peace Corps, after receiving his master's degree in public health. Working with the Peace Corps, Crane traveled to El Salvador where he focused on improving health care delivery systems for two years. He also traveled to Chiapas Mexico, participating in a project by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Working with a local Shaman in Chiapas, Crane learned to identify healing plants and use that information to encourage the local community to grow “medical gardens”. In addition, Crane helped trained Mayan students to be health education leaders.

Sam Crane, former Peace Corps volunteer, is headed for a family medicine residency at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Here at the University of South Florida, Crane has channeled this Peace Corp passion and experiences into the International Health Service Collaborative (IHSC) which combines students from the collegs of medicine, nursing and public health. Developed first as a steering committee of students that Crane assembled, the Collaborative organizes annual medical missions in the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

Most notably, the Bridge Healthcare Clinic opened in the winter of 2007 is the brainchild of Crane. The BRIDGE, which stands for Building Relationships and Initiatives Dedicated to Gaining Equality, is the university's first student-run clinic offering free primary care, social services and physical therapy to uninsured adults living in the university area. With Crane at the helm, four USF senior medical students pushed their cause for more than a year, studying models of other student-run free clinics, attending a national conference in New York City, assembling a core group of 30 student volunteers to work in the clinic and securing donations of funding and lab services, as well as negotiating with the Hillsborough County Health Department for the use of one of their clinics once a week.

"Big changes start with little actions," said Dr. Douglas Holt, medical director of the county health department.

"We have a community practically across the street from the medical school that can really use our help," noted Crane. "If someone's blood pressure was high at one of our health screenings, the best we could do before was to send them home with a brochure and provide limited counseling. Now, if they qualify, we can refer them to the BRIDGE clinic."

It is a legacy that other generations of med students at USF will benefit from as well. "We are one of few student-run clinics in the country that brings virtually all the health professions together in one location," said Crane, adding that students are getting the chance to learn, first-hand, how a real clinic operates while giving back to the community.

October 2007 Photo. Left to right: Senior medical students Shelby Kent, Samuel Crane, Waldo Guerrero and Omar Hammad, are founders and directors of the Bridge Healthcare Clinic.

After his training, Crane plans to practice full spectrum medicine, including Obstetrics, while fulfilling his National Health Service Corps commitment by working with a Federally Qualified Health Center or with the Indian Health Service. Always planning ahead, Crane also aspires to a creer in health policy working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention or the World Health Organization.

Kathlyn Wilde, Michael Armstrong & Jennifer Shippy - NAVY Bound
As most of their classmates woke up on Match Day, not yet aware of where they will be spending their residencies, three USF medical students have known their destinations since December.

Michael Armstrong, Jennifer Shippy and Kathryn Wilde participated in the match through the military and will be conducting their residencies in U.S. Navy medical facilities. The three received their official assignments on Dec. 15, 2007 via e-mail.
Shippy matched in the specialty of Psychiatry at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA. Wilde matched in Pediatrics at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Armstrong matched in General Surgery at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California.

Wilde admits " It's not as exciting as Match Day, but it is nice to know our futures early.” Although they already know their matches, the Navy trio planned to participate in the local Match Day festivities with their classmates. “I wouldn’t think of missing that!” said Wilde.

Coverage by Anne DeLotto Baier, Sarah Worth & Lissette Campos, USF Health Communications
Match Day 2008 Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Media Center

Video Podcast:
Filmed and Edited by Jean-Rene Rinvil, USF Health Media Center
Edited by Lissette Campos, USF Health Communications
Directed by Klaus Herdocia, USF Health Communications

National AHEC Week 2008 (March 24th-28th)
USF AHEC luncheon Tuesday, March 25
Noon - 1:00pm / MDC 1097
Open Invitation to All USF Health

To mark the start of National AHEC week on Tuesday, March 25th, USF's Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program will host a luncheon & presentation entitled “The Case for a Single-Payer Universal Health Care in the United States”. The thought provoking presentation will be delivered by medical student Jason Wilson, President of the Class of 2008.

“In order to resolve health disparities, we must focus on possible systematic and structural origins of outcome differences,” states Wilson, a fourth year medical student. “A major area where we see large disparities between populations and individuals in this country is in access to health care services. Unfortunately, access is often limited due to lack of health insurance or inadequate coverage. Equal access won't solve all of our health care problems, but certainly we can address many AHEC goals by working towards better policy and economic structure.”

College of Medicine's Class of 2008 President, Jason Wilson, and Cynthia Selleck, Program Director of USF AHEC and President of National AHEC Organization.

USF's AHEC Program Director is also the President of the National AHEC Organization. Cynthia Selleck, DSN, ARNP, says AHECs plays an important role in the workforce development, training and education component of the nation’s health care safety net programs. “AHECs focus on improving the quality, geographic distribution and diversity of the primary care healthcare workforce and eliminating the disparities in our nation’s healthcare system.” There are 54 AHEC programs throughout 47 states operating 208 centers in rural and medically underserved areas.

The March 25th luncheon on the campus of USF Health is open to all, with food provided by Gulfcoast North AHEC.

A Closer Look at USF AHEC and the national organization...

The University of South Florida AHEC was created in 1993 and has placed thousands of medical, nursing, public health and other health professions students in medically underserved and community-based sites to provide health care during clinical training rotations.

Congress established National AHEC Week in 2006 as an opportunity to recognize AHEC’s valuable contributions in the recruitment, retention, education and training of health professionals in medically underserved areas.