Jay Dean, PhD, professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the USF College of Medicine has been appointed an Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Physiology, a journal published by the American Physiological Society. His term runs from Sept. 1, 2008 through June 30, 2011. Dr. Dean is the scientific director of the Hyperbaric Biomedical Research Laboratory, one of the country’s leading hyperbaric cell biology laboratories. He will be sharing editorial duties with other Associate Editors and primarily reviewing manuscripts involving hyperbaric physiology and respiratory control.

Allen Root, MD, professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the USF College of Medicine, was awarded the 2008 Human Growth Foundation Award at the Foundation’s annual meeting in Baltimore. The Human Growth Foundation, a New York-based national foundation with more than 50 years of service, recognized Dr. Root for his career achievements in research and the treatment of growth and growth hormone disorders. Dr. Root is a former president of Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Society, and director of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes. He is the author of more than 400 scientific papers, many of which have resulted in important advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disordered growth in childhood.

Hussain Saba, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at USF and chief of the Hematology/Oncology Section at James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, has been elected as the 2009-10 President-Elect of the Association of VA Hematology/Oncology (AVAHO). AVAHO is a national nonprofit organization to enhance communication and networking among Hematology Oncology professionals of the Veterans Affairs hospitals to improve patient care, education, and research. Dr. Saba is commited to using the platform of AVAHO to increase interest in basic science and foster clinical trials at veterans hospitals nationwide.

Allergy and Immunology
Roger Williams Fox
Mark Christian Glaum
Alan Barton Halsey
Craig Andrew Kalik
Dennis K. Ledford
Richard F. Lockey
Mitchel Seleznick
Mandel Reid Sher

Anesthesiology
Alan David Almengual
Attila Becsey
Enrico M. Camporesi
Rafael Miguel
David Jeffrey Samuels
John (Hans) Schweiger

Cardiovascular Disease
Guillermo B. Cintron
Anne B. Curtis
Fadi A. Matar
Debbie Rinde-Hoffman
John Thompson Sullebarger

Colon and Rectal Surgery
Jorge E. Marcet

Dermatology
Teresa Pullara Brandt
Peter A. Donelan
Lowella E. Esperanza
Neil Alan Fenske
L. Frank Glass
Timothy Francis Kelly
Christopher G. Nelson
Stacy Perez
Philip D. Shenefelt

Family Medicine
Colin S. Beach
Joedrecka Brown
Harrison James Brownlee, Jr.
Adam A. Brunson
Eric Emmanuel Coris
Thomas E. Esposito
Bruce J. Flareau
Eduardo C. Gonzalez
Pamela C. Grover
Frederic J. Guerrier
George E. Hutter
Paul Lewis
Candice C. Linton
Dolores K. Lowe
Yves Morency
John V. Murray, Jr.
Michele D. Pescasio
Arnold M. Ramirez
Richard G. Roetzheim
Diane M. Rogers
Robert B. Rosequist
Joseph P. Springle
Frank Allen Thompson
Ronald Vicencio
Laurie Joan Woodard
Kira Katherine Zwygart

Gastroenterology
Patrick G. Brady
Jay J. Mamel
H. Juergen Nord
Haim Pinkas

Geriatric Medicine
Claudia Beghé-Balducci
John A. Frutchey
June Y. Leland
Vincent P. Perron
Ronald Scott Schonwetter

Hand Surgery
Robert John Belsole
Thomas L. Greene

Infectious Disease
Margarita Rosa Cancio
John N. Greene
Douglas Allen Holt
Sally H. Houston
John Thomas Sinnott

Internal Medicine (General)
Harold M. Adelman
Claudia Beghé-Balducci
Donald Behnke
Bryan Bognar
Maria L. Cannarozzi
Jose Panganiban Cariaga
Kent R. Corral
Edward Cutolo
Mark Allen Davis
Michael T. Flannery
Kathleen Moss Grizzard
Richard A. Gross
Carol A. Hodges
Richard P. Hoffmann
Deborah A. Humphrey
Jose (Joe) L. Lezama, Jr.
Cuc Thi Mai
Hugo J. Narvarte
Gregory W. Nestor
Kevin O'Brien
Vincent P. Perron
Alexander Reiss
Mitchel Seleznick
Elizabeth A. Warner
Susan M. Zimmer

Medical Oncology and Hematology
Melissa Alsina
Lodovico Balducci
Gerold Bepler
Paul A. Chervenick
William S. Dalton
Martine Extermann
Alan F. List
Susan Minton
Daniel M. Sullivan
Jeffrey S. Weber
Kenneth S. Zuckerman

Nephrology
Samuel Steven Weinstein

Neurological Surgery
Gene Alan Balis
Steven Brem
Kenneth Louis
Donald A. Smith
Bruce B. Storrs
Fernando L. Vale
Harry R. van Loveren

Neurology
Selim Ramin Benbadis
Edmund Guy Grant, Jr.
Robert A. Hauser
Kenneth Louis
Juan R. Sanchez-Ramos
Michael Allan Sloan
Paul R. Winters

Neurology, Child
Maria A. Gieron-Korthals
J. Richard Gunderman

Nuclear Medicine
Claudia G. Berman

Obstetrics and Gynecology
Jeffrey L. Angel
Ignacio Armas
Marc A. Bernhisel
Jeffrey K. Carlson
Sandra (Sandy) Goodman
Mitchel S. Hoffman
Michael W. Jaeger
Galen Bruce Jones
Mary Lee Josey
Craig S. Kalter
David L. Keefe
Catherine M. Lynch
James C. Mayer
Valerie C. Mechanik
Anthony M. Messina
Anna Kristina Parsons
Michael Thomas Parsons
Barry Stephen Verkauf
James C. Von Thron
J. Kell Williams

Occupational Medicine
Stuart M. Brooks

Ophthalmology
Craig Berger
Christine E. Callahan
Leonard Edward Cortelli, Jr.
Mitchell D. Drucker
Lewis Groden
Steven Abraham Gross
Geoffrey Malcom Kwitko
Scott E. Pautler
Peter Reed Pavan
Thomas J. Pusateri
David W. Richards
Charles B. Slonim

Orthopaedic Surgery
Glen A. Barden
Thomas L. Bernasek
Brett R. Bolhofner
William G. Carson, Jr.
Thomas G. DiPasquale
Thomas L. Greene
George Douglas Letson
Heidi Multhopp Stephens
Michael R. Piazza
Henry Claude Sagi
Roy Sanders
John M. Small
Arthur K. Walling

Otolaryngology
Loren J. Bartels
Kestutis Paul Boyev
Douglas W. Klotch
Judith Czaja McCaffrey
Thomas Vincent McCaffrey
Daniel Vincent

Pathology
Jane Messina
Michael Morgan
Santo V. Nicosia

Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
Alan Barton Halsey
Craig Andrew Kalik
Mandel Reid Sher
John W. Sleasman

Pediatric Cardiac Surgery
Jeffrey P. Jacobs
James Anthony Quintessenza
Alfred Asante-Korang

Pediatric Cardiology
Michael L. Epstein
James Gifford Henry
Richard Manuel Martinez
Jorge McCormack

Pediatric Critical Care
Perry Boyd Everett
Mark Allan Nichter
Daniel J. Plasencia
Dan Riggs
Albert Saltiel
Richard E. Weibley

Pediatric Endocrinology
Barry B. Bercu
Frank B. Diamond, Jr.
E. Verena Jorgensen
John I. Malone
Allen W. Root
Dorothy I. Shulman

Pediatric Gastroenterology
Daniel T. McClenathan
Michele P. Winesett

Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
Jerry L. Barbosa
Michael L. Nieder

Pediatric Infectious Disease
David Michael Berman
Juan Dumois
Patricia Emmanuel

Pediatric Nephrology
Alfonso Campos
Valerie M. Panzarino
Sharon A. Perlman

Pediatric Neurological Surgery
Carolyn M. Carey
Sarah J. Gaskill
Arthur E. Marlin
Luis F. Rodriguez
Bruce B. Storrs

Pediatric Ophthalmology
Magda Barsoum-Homsy
Steven Abraham Gross
Derek B. Hess

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery
Scott Warren Beck
Dennis Paul Grogan
Gregory Verl Hahn
Sheila M. Love
Jeffrey B. Neustadt
Cara D. Novick

Pediatric Otolaryngology
Thomas M. Andrews
Peter W. Orobello, Jr.

Pediatric Plastic Surgery
Ernesto Ruas

Pediatric Pulmonology
Anthony Kriseman

Pediatric Rheumatology
Mandel Reid Sher
John W. Sleasman

Pediatric Specialist/Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Anthony E. Napolitano, Jr.
Dean Theophilopoulos

Pediatric Urology
Yves L. Homsy
E. Michael Reisman

Pediatrics (General)
Dipti Patel Amin
Melody M. Baade
Tommy J. Borrell
Lori A. Bowers
Robert A. Buzzeo
Maria L. Cannarozzi
Jose E. Colon
Sharon M. Dabrow
Gabriele Hosemann
Gerard R. Hough
Patricia L. Jeansonne
Mudra K. Kumar
Katherine Lewis
Carol Lilly
Fred I. Lipschutz
Karalee Kulek Luzey
Ovidio Mendez
Hugo J. Narvarte
Stephen George Nelson
Emily T. Perkins
Robert J. Pesce
Christopher D. Reiner
Lynnette N. Ringenberg
Antoinette C. Spoto-Cannons
Christopher L. Tappan
Marianne Trubelhorn

Plastic Surgery
Henry Arvil Redmon
Ernesto Ruas
Karen E. Wells

Psychiatry
Martha Eugenia Brown
Glenn Catalano
Francisco Fernandez
Robert C. Fernandez
Jaffrey Hashimie
Eric A. Pfeiffer
Marguerite Poreda
Pauline S. Powers
Deborah C. Roth
Bonnie Saks
David V. Sheehan
Michael Finbar Sheehan
Jonathan Taylor Stewart
Julia Winston

Psychiatry/Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Jeffrey L. Alvaro
Glenn Catalano
Mark A. Cavitt
Steven Noah Kanfer
Kailie R. Shaw
Saundra Stock

Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
W. Michael Alberts
W. McDowell Anderson
Claudia G. Cote
Allan L. Goldman
Mark Rumbak
Daniel Jacob Schwartz
David Allan Solomon
Frank W. Walsh

Radiation Oncology
Harvey M. Greenberg
Sarah Hoffe
Andrea (Andy) Trotti III

Radiology
John A. Arrington
Junsung Choi
Robert (Bob) Jay Entel
Carlos R. Martinez
Frederick Reed Murtagh
Bruce R. Zwiebel

Rheumatology
John D. Carter
Bernard F. Germain
Dennis K. Ledford
Louis R. Ricca
Mitchel Seleznick
Joanne Valeriano-Marcet
Frank B. Vasey

Sleep Medicine
W. McDowell Anderson
Daniel Jacob Schwartz

Surgery
Michael H. Albrink
Martin R. Back
Dennis F. Bandyk
James A. Christensen
Charles E. Cox
John L. Driscoll
Steven B. Goldin
Brad Larvin Johnson
Richard Clemens Karl
Michel Murr
Ernest C. Rehnke
Alexander S. Rosemurgy II
Larry R. Williams

Surgical Oncology
Charles E. Cox
Richard Clemens Karl
Mokenge P. Malafa
Vernon K. Sondak
Timothy Joseph Yeatman

Thoracic Surgery
Jeffrey P. Jacobs

Urology
Jorge L. Lockhart
Julio M. Pow-Sang

In the Tampa Bay area, nearly a third (32 percent) of the physicians who made the 2008 Best Doctors in America list work at USF Health.

And when you include the generous volunteer faculty members (those who teach medical students several times each year) and College of Medicine alumni in private practice locally, the numbers go up even more – 62 percent of the list has a connection with USF Health.

The annual list for Best Doctors in America is compiled from surveys of physicians asking them who they would go to for treatment in their specialty. The result is a national listing of 30,000 physicians in more than 40 specialties.

This year, the list included 508 physicians from the Tampa Bay area. Of that 161 are full-time, courtesy or OPS physicians for USF. The list also included 111 physicians who are volunteer faculty members for USF and 42 alumni of the USF College of Medicine (some of the physicians in other categories are also alumni but were counted only in their faculty category). That brings the total to 314 physicians (62 percent) who have a connection with USF Health.

“Once again, the Best Doctors in America list shows that our faculty physicians have a huge impact on the healthcare of families in this community,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine.

“These doctors touch every one of our key mission areas: education, healthcare and research," Dr. Klasko said.

USF Health boasts the area’s largest medical practice, with 332 physicians treating this region’s residents. They see nearly 400,000 patients each year in dozens of medical facilities – large and small – along the Florida gulf coast.

Here is a list of physicians included in the 2008 Best Doctors in America who have a connection to USF Health. Some physicians earned spots in more than one specialty, so this list will total more.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, USF Health Communications

The charter class of the College of Medicine’s School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences Doctor of Physical Therapy program exceeded both state and national averages on the national licensing examination. Graduates must pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) before they can practice physical therapy in the United States.

All 20 DPT students graduating this spring from the USF COM SPTRS – the DPT charter class of 2008 -- successfully passed the NPTE. The USF students averaged a score of 659.05 compared to 647.88 for all U.S. physical therapy program graduates and 646.36 for all Florida graduates.

“With the implementation of a new examination blueprint this spring by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, the bar was significantly raised for the domains of knowledge, skill and affective values that a Doctor of Physical Therapy graduate must possess,” said William Quillen, PT, PhD, associate dean of the College of Medicine and director of the School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences. "This achievement is a reflection of both the outstanding students we have at the School and the excellence of our interprofessional educational program and faculty at the College of Medicine."

The University of South Florida was the first State University System institution authorized to implement the DPT degree in 2004. More than 100 students are currently enrolled in the program.

L to R: Members of the Rothman Neuropsychiatry Center are Dr. Steve Pence, Omar Rahman, Dr. Aldea Adina, Dr. Jane Mutch, Dr. Eric Storch, Dr. Tanya Murphy, Danielle Bodzin and Jeannette Reid.

With the addition of a highly respected team of child neuropsychiatrists and clinical psychologists, USF Health recently launched the Rothman Center of Neuropsychiatry at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Tanya Murphy, MD, professor and Rothman Endowed Chair of Developmental Pediatrics in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, oversees the new multidisciplinary clinic, for children, adolescents and adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders, Tourette’s syndrome, autism spectrum disorders and learning disabilities.

The center’s team includes faculty members Eric Storch, PhD; Steven Pence, Jr. PhD; Adina Aldea, PhD; and Jane Mutch, PhD, who provide comprehensive evaluation and individualized treatment. They offer virtually all services in one location, including medication management; cognitive-behavioral therapy, which safely exposes patients to a dose of what they fear to help prevent a compulsive response; habit reversal training, an intervention for managing tics or hair pulling-behaviors; parent training; occupational therapy; speech therapy; and audiology.

Dr. Storch, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry, directs the center’s OCD Program – one of few in the Southeast. Previously considered a rare condition among children and adolescents, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has become one of the most common pediatric psychiatric illnesses.

The condition is characterized by intrusive, troubling thoughts and repetitive behaviors intended to alleviate the anxiety brought on by the unwanted, obsessive thinking. It can be tricky to identify in youngsters, who can normally seem obsessed with one thing or another, including bedtime and mealtime routines, their appearance, and repetitive play. The Rothman Neuropsychiatry Center offers both intensive daily outpatient treatment and the more standard weekly cognitive-behavioral therapy program for OCD.

“We are rehabilitating the mind,” Dr. Murphy. “Children have such plastic brains that you can often change the way the brain functions through behavioral therapy rather than just throwing medication at the problem. You can teach them skills to modulate their anxiety or depression in everyday life so it doesn’t develop into a long-term neuropsychiatric disorder.”

The USF Health clinical psychologists have extensive experience using intensive outpatient cognitive-behavior therapy to help reduce or eliminate a child’s obsessions and compulsions. Therapy sessions involve exposing patient to what they fear in graduated doses in an attempt to decrease their anxiety over time and prevent a compulsive response. It’s the psychiatric equivalent of immunotherapy, or allergy shots, which gradually reduce a patient’s sensitivity to the allergens that trigger their symptoms by exposing them to graduated doses of the substances.

Clinical studies have shown that this integrated treatment approach -- behavior therapy alone or combined with medication when needed -- helps 80 percent of patients improve. “Most children with straightforward OCD, without complicating conditions like autism or ADHD, have tremendous recoveries with cognitive-behavioral therapy alone,” Dr. Murphy said.

Dr. Murphy and Dr. Storch, long-time collaborators, came to USF this summer from the University of Florida, where they helped establish a Child OCD Treatment Program in 1999.

They edited the Handbook of Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, published over 200 articles and book chapters between them, and together bring to USF more than $3 million in research funding, including grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders and the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation.

Dr. Murphy was chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and directed the Child Anxiety and Tic Disorder Clinic at UF. Her research interests include investigating the role of infections in the onset of childhood psychiatric disorders and medical and psychological treatments for Tourette’s syndrome and OCD. She is a member of the National Tourette’s Syndrome Association Medical Advisory Board and the Regional Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Storch was director of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Research at UF. He is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in the psychological treatment of OCD, Tourette’s syndrome, trichotillomania and anxiety disorders. His research interests include cognitive-behavioral therapy for OCD, augmenting therapy for patients who do not respond to treatment, and symptom assessment.

The clinic, open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, is located on the Fourth Floor of the Children’s Health Center at All Children’s Hospital.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call (727)767-8230 or email NeuropsychClinic@health.usf.edu.

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications

Departmental seminars are not news on the USF Health campus. They happen nearly everyday. But an upcoming Department of Molecular Medicine seminar will feature a College of Medicine alumnus working on a promising discovery could be a new treatment option for osteoporosis, cancer-related bone disease, and other bone loss conditions.

Scott Simonet, executive director of research and interim head of the Metabolic Therapeutic Area at Amgen, will speak on the topic From Genomics Discovery of OPG and RANKL to Development of Denosumab: The Future of Targeting the Osteoclast for Bone Therapy, at noon on Monday, Oct. 6, in MDC 1003. Simonet, a 1988 PhD graduate of the USF College of Medicine, is a former student of Gene Ness, PhD, professor of molecular medicine. His highly cited research was featured in the August issue of The Scientist.

While working in the mid ‘90s at Amgen, a leading human therapeutics company in the biotechnology industry, Simonet discovered a protein that promoted bone growth in transgenic mice. He named the protein osteoprotegerin (OPG), which is Latin for “the bone protector.” Simonet further demonstrated that OPG works through RANKL (Receptor Activator for Nuclear Factor-B Ligand), a pathway essential in the differentiation of osteoclasts – bone-marrow-derived cells that dissolve bony tissue. The balance between OPG and RANKL is a critical regulator of bone mass.

Simonet’s team at Amgen developed a human monoclonal antibody called “denosumab” to directly destroy RANKL. More than 20,000 patients have been involved in the clinical studies needed to obtain FDA approval for the drug. Results of a head-to-head Phase 3 trial released this month showed that denosumab outperformed the current leading osteoporosis drug Fosamax in postmenopausal women.

“Scott’s work is a great example of how an observation made with transgenic mice can ultimately lead to a promising therapy to promote bone growth,” Dr. Ness said. “It takes someone with a prepared mind who is unafraid of failure and can recognize potential applications.”

Newsbrief by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications

- New center will expand care, education and research at USF Health’s North campus -

The new Parkinson Research Foundation Center of Excellence at USF Health is staffed by, l to r, Dr. Juan Sanchez-Ramos; Kelly Sullivan, MSPH; Lisé Casady, MSCN, ARNP-C; and Dr. Theresa Zesiewicz.

Tampa, FL (Sept. 22, 2008) -- The Parkinson’s Research Foundation will establish a new PRF Center of Excellence at USF Health to expand research, programs and services for Parkinson’s patients and their caregivers, primarily in the greater Tampa Bay area. The center has already received funding and future commitments for $175,000 from PRF.

“Parkinson’s is so tricky to treat effectively, and unfortunately too many patients with this age-related neurodegenerative disease don’t have the opportunity to see neurologists who specialize in movement disorders,” said Larry Hoffheimer, chairman and founder of the Sarasota-based PRF. “We want to work with USF to reach out to a wider patient community and improve their quality of life through education and the highest standard of care. That includes research to determine what medications and therapies work best.”

The grant will allow USF Health to increase clinical services, conduct more clinical trials and further support basic and translational research on its North campus. The PRF Center of Excellence’s daily Parkinson’s clinics are expected to move into the Carol and Frank Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare by the end of the year.

The PRF Center of Excellence’s core members Juan Sanchez-Ramos, PhD, MD, professor of neurology and the center’s medical director; Theresa Zesiewicz, MD, professor of neurology and the center’s director of clinical research; Lisé Casady, MSCN, ARNP-C, an adult nurse practitioner specializing in Parkinson’s disease; and Kelly Sullivan, MSPH, a neuroepidemiologist and associate in research.

“Because of our state’s elderly population, the numbers of people with Parkinson’s disease in Florida, particularly mid-Florida, continues to grow by leaps and bounds,” said Dr. Sanchez-Ramos, the Helen Ellis Endowed Chair in Parkinson’s Disease Research at USF. “USF has a wealth of expertise in movement disorders. With this PRF award, we now have the resources to complement the existing Center of Excellence on our South campus and offer convenient access to patients in North Tampa.”

“As the daughter of a mother who is severely affected by Parkinson’s disease, as well as a neurologist, I am grateful to the PRF for supporting USF in this endeavor,” Dr. Zesiewicz said. “The PRF Center of Excellence will allow us to provide outstanding care and clinical research to Parkinson’s disease patients in the north Tampa Bay and mid-Florida area.”

"We are extremely grateful for this generous support from the PRF and very proud of their designation of this center as a PRF Center of Excellence, which is an acknowledgement of the excellent clinical care and research in Parkinson's disease being done by two of our outstanding faculty members, Drs. Juan Sanchez-Ramos and Theresa Zesiewicz, on the North Campus of USF Health,” said Cliff Gooch, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Neurology. “This support is critical for us to expand our work in Parkinson’s disease, and will help ensure a brighter future for patients with this disease in Florida and beyond."

This will be the second privately-funded Parkinson’s Disease Center of Excellence for USF. The USF Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, directed by USF neurology professor Robert Hauser, MD, has been a National Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence since 2005. Located at Harbourside Medical Tower on the USF Health South campus, it is one of the country’s leading sites for testing new medications to combat movement disorders and evaluates new surgeries and innovative cell-based therapies that may offer hope for patients who no longer benefit from drug therapy.

The new award will help establish a PRF Mid-Florida Chapter co-directed by Dr. Sanchez-Ramos and Dr. Zesiewicz. The chapter will support and educate patients and their families, providing the latest information about Parkinson’s disease care and research.

The PRF Center of Excellence will host the first in a series of patient conferences, “Parkinson’s Disease: What does the Future Hold?” 10 a.m. to Noon, Saturday, Oct. 25, at the Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute, 4001 E. Fletcher Ave. The inaugural meeting of the chapter’s patient support group will be noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, at USF Health’s Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, 13330 USF Laurel Drive.

The award will also fund a post-doctoral research fellowship to train future generations of Parkinson’s disease experts. The PRF Center of Excellence is recruiting its first physician-scientist for the position. The fellow will see patients with Dr. Sanchez-Ramos and Dr. Zesiewicz and work in the laboratory of Dr. Sanchez-Ramos, who studies neurodegeneration, neurotoxicity, and the potential of adult stem cell therapies to delay or prevent Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

For more information on the PRF Center of Excellence at USF, click here.

About the Parkinson Research Foundation
PRF is a nonprofit health organization providing Parkinson’s disease research, information and advocacy. PRF is an IRS-recognized 501c3 organization and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. The mission of the organization is to cure Parkinson’s disease and to improve the lives of all people affected by the disease.

About 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 more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

For a second time in two years, Associate Professor, Eric Coris, MD, has been nominated for the prestigious Humanism in Medicine Award by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Students from the USF College of Medicine overwhelmingly voted for Coris and his nomination has now moved forward in the awards process earning him a spot among 45 finalists & nominees selected from across the U.S. The official announcement from the AAMC came on September 10th.

The award winner of the national 2008 Humanism in Medicine Award will be announced during the November 1, 2008 AAMC Awards Dinner of the Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. For Coris this is the second time students have chosen him for the Humanism in Medicine Award nomination - also nominated in 2006.

USF medical students on the Organization of Student Representatives for the USF College of Medicine based their nomination of Coris on five defining characteristics:
- positive mentoring skills
- compassion and sensitivity
- collaboration
- community service activity
- observance of professional ethics

In addition to his role as an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine & Sports Medicine, Dr. Coris is the Director of Primary Care Sports Medicine for USF, the Head Medical Team Physician for USF Athletics and the Assistant Director of USF Sports Medicine Fellowship.

The data collected by Dr. Eric Coris, Director of Primary Care Sports Medicine, University of South Florida, is used to prevent potentially life-threatening heat illness in student athletes.

At left, Doug Woolard, USF Athletic Director, joins Coris and the team for a morning of practice. Woolard noting that the university is proud to be part of a research study that can benefit the entire community.

The AAMC, with the support of the Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative (PMHI), honors "humanistic" physicians nationwide. The goal of the award is to advance the ideals of humanism in medicine, including compassion, understanding and partnership.

Congratulations to Dr. Eric Coris!

Other links:

Coris' Biographical Sketch

Coris' Heat Pill Study w/USF Bulls

2006 AAMC Humanism in Medicine Nominee Ceremony

2007 AAMC Humanism in Medicine Nominee Ceremony - Dr. Jose Lezama, Internal Medicine

Newsbrief by Lissette Campos, Photography by Eric Coris - USF Health Communications

Photo Gallery:
Many thanks to Shirley Turner and her daughters Sara and Janis for sharing these family photos with USF Health Communications. The photos and nursing pins are part of the family's collection of items dating back to Shirley's days in nursing school in Springfield, Ohio.

1942 graduation photo & nursing pin from Springfield City Hospital Nursing School in Ohio.

Mr. & Mrs. William Turner were married in April 1941.

Family Photo with Shirley: (From L to R) Son-in-law Don Lockhart, Son-in-law Dave Messer, Grandson's wife Dianne Messer, Grandson Jeff Messer, Great-granddaughter Haley Messer, Shirley Turner, Daughter Sara Lockhart.

From L to R: Shirley with her great-granddaughter, Haley.

At right: Shirley's daughter, Janis Boyd, cheering for the USF Bulls! The devoted USF alumni was the person who came up with the idea of creating a scholarship fund for nursing students in her mother's name.

Tampa, FL (Sept. 17, 2008) -- Neonatal genetic screening will be the focus of the Tenth Annual Lawton Chiles International Lecture on Maternal and Child Health in the Americas at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Lawton & Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, University of South Florida College of Public Health, 3111 E. Fletcher Ave. in Tampa.

Dr. Manuel Saborio Rocafort

Manuel Saborio Rocafort, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics and medical genetics at the Universidad de Costa Rica School of Medicine and director of the National Newborn Screening Program at Hospital Nacional de Ninos, will speak on the “Experience of Providing Genetic Screening in the National Health System in a Latin American Country.” He will discuss the evolution, organization and results of the National Neonatal and High Risk Screening Program in Costa Rica. The same lecture will be presented the next day, Sept. 24, at the Lawton Chiles International House at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, MD.

Dr. Rocafort’s lecture at USF will be preceded by a morning invitational Symposium on Newborn Screening, including presentations on screening for cystic fibrosis and congenital hypothyroidism and an overview of Florida’s expanded newborn screening program.

The event is sponsored by the Chiles Center and College of Public Health at USF and NIH, and supported locally in part by March of Dimes and St. Joseph’s Hospital.

For more information, click here.