USF Health child psychologist Kathleen Armstrong, PhD, is interviewed in her office by Oprah through the magic of Skype technology.
Director of USF Health’s Pediatric Psychology Program Dr. Kathleen Armstrong had the opportunity to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for the March 3rd episode on a Tampa Bay area girl traumatized by extreme neglect. USF Health pediatrician Dr. Lisa Rodriguez was also filmed for the show.
This powerful story, which was originally covered in the St. Petersburg Times.
USF Health Associate VP Phillip Marty, PhD, says the quality of faculty and student presentations at this year's Research Day were impressive, even as the event has expanded.
The Research Day 2009 posters wound throughout the lobby of the USF Health Rotunda continuing into the atrium and up onto the second floor of the College of Nursing
Amid the buzz, aspiring researchers -- graduate and postgraduate students and residents from across USF Health -- chatted with those who stopped at their posters to ask questions and explained their projects to faculty judges making the rounds to each presentation.
Research Day presenters and onlookers packed the USF Health Rotunda and adjacent College of Nursing.
L to R: Xiaoquin Wang, MD, explains her research investigating the role of Natriuretic Peptide Receptor A in the development and spread of prostate cancer to faculty judges Nagwa Dajani, PhD, and Robert Deschenes, PhD.
Investigators from seven different USF colleges participated Feb. 20 in the 19th Annual Research Day -- with studies covering disciplines ranging from allergy and immunology and cancer biology to nursing and public health. Many of the 166 presentations displayed were the result of interdisciplinary collaborations.
“Every year Research Day grows and the presentations continue to increase in quality,” said USF Health Associate Vice President Phillip Marty, PhD, glancing around the crowded lobby. “It’s impressive to see the large number of students who have become involved in this event. This building is literally packed with poster presentations.”
Lindsey Boone, a doctoral student in Molecular Medicine, won the USF Health Vice President's Award for Outstanding Oral Presentation.
The day included oral presentations by eight students, whose work was judged outstanding by faculty committees from their respective colleges. Lindsey Boone, PhD student in Molecular Medicine, received the USF Health Vice President’s Award for Outstanding Oral Presentation for her project titled In Vivo Analysis of the Thyroid Hormone Response Elements in HMG-CoA Reductase Promoter.
This year’s three USF Health Distinguished Professors -- David V. Sheehan, MD, of the College of Medicine. C. Hendricks Brown, PhD, of the College of Public Health, and Susan McMillan, PhD, of the College of Nursing -- were recognized by their respective deans.
Cardiovascular researcher Dr. John Carlos Burnett, Jr., featured speaker for the Behnke Distinguished Lectureship, is designing the next generation of natriuretic peptides to treat human disease.
John Carlos Burnett, Jr., MD, director of the Cardiorenal Research Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, was the featured speaker for the 13th Annual Roy H. Behnke, MD, Distinguished Lectureship. His talk was titled “Natriuretic Peptides and Drug Discovery for Cardiovascular Disease: Translation from Bench to Bedside.”
Wilbur Milhous, PhD (left), associate dean for research at COPH, and Kevin Kip, PhD, executive director of the CON Research Center, help judge the Oral Presentation sessions.
USF public health researcher Carol Bryant, PhD, told a community group attending Research Day that the U.S. obesity epidemic needs to be treated as a crisis.
Carol Bryant, PhD, professor of community and family health at the College of Public Health, spoke at a Research Day Donor Brunch about the public health threat of the nation's obesity epidemic. Bryant described one campaign she worked on through the college's Prevention Research Center that focused on making physical activity fun for tweens (kids who are not quite teenagers), rather than something they need to do to be healthy. It included a "scorecard" where kids could get discounts on such activities as laser tag, then turn the card in for prizes.
Research Day culminated with the much-awaited Awards Ceremony, which included accolades and cash awards for each of the winners.
LISTEN TO some Research Day participants talking about their projects:
Dr. Jorge Marcet (left), director of the Division of Colon & Rectal Surgery, with research fellow Dr. Jaime Sanchez. They worked with colleagues in Pathology &Cell Biology to create a 3-D male pelvis model with potential applications for surgical training and preoperative planning.
Mibel Pabon, MS, of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology and the Center for Excellence in Aging and Brain Repair, won a Neuroscience Award in the Graduate Student Category.
Nursing doctoral student Teresa Russo, MS, is studying the clinical decision-making processes used by emergency room nurses managing pediatric pain. Neurology resident Rachel Tabangcura, MD (left), presented a case report on treatment strategies for PAID Syndrome with dystonia.
Barbara Clark-Alexander, PhD, a faculty member in the College of Public Health, looked at dental hygienists beliefs and attitudes toward treating HIV/AIDS patients.
Kyle Austin represented a COM Center for Advanced Clinical Learning project investigating the effectiveness of combining high-fidelity simulators with traditional methods in teaching Advanced Cardiac Life Support.
- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications/Media Ctr.
Carol Bryant photo by John Lofreddo
Lindsey Boone, MS (PhD student), Molecular Medicine: In Vivo Analysis of the Thyroid Hormone Response Elements in HMG-CoA Reductase Promoter.
Lorent Duce, BS (Medical student): Resection of Portovenous Structures to Obtain Microscopically Negative Margins during Pancreaticoduodenectomy for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma is Worthwhile.
William Kong, BS (PhD student), Cell Biology and Pathology: MicroRNA-214, a Direct Target of TGFb, Promotes EMT and Breast Cancer Metastasis by Inhibition of E-cadherin.
Pamela Malone-Quarles, BS (Master’s student), College of Nursing: Randomized Trial of Regimented Patient Turning and Positioning on Labor and Delivery Outcomes.
Tara Schwetz, MS (PhD student), Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology: Atrial Myocyte Repolarization and Ik Are Modulated by ST3Gal-IV.
Patricia Spencer, MPH (PhD student), Department of Health Policy & Management, College of Public Health: The Influence of Specialized Cancer Hospitals in Florida on Mortality, Length of Stay, and Charges of Care.
Panida Sriaroon, MD, (Fellow), Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine: Memory CD27+B220− B Cell Subpopulation is Decreased in Immunodeficiency Virus Disease (HIV) on Therapy, Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).
Marissa Zwald, BS (Master’s student), Child & Adolescent Health, College of Public Health: Changes in Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity Frequency Among Participants of Girls on the Run.
USF HEALTH VICE PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ORAL PRESENTATION
Lindsey Boone, MS, Molecular Medicine (see presentation above)
WATSON CLINIC 4TH YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT AWARD
Sarah Eisen, BS: Preoperative Angulation of the Distal Esophagus and Outcome After Heller Myotomy and Anterior Fundoplication for Achalasia.
MEDICAL STUDENT AWARDS
Cancer Biology: Michelle Davis, BS: Trends in Breast Cancer: A 13-year Analysis of Mastectomies vs. BCT in 5865 Patients.
Interdisciplinary: Kathleen Kinney, BS: Dendritic Cell Vaccine Combined with Gemcitabine Induces Protective Immunity in Murine Pancreatic Cancer.
Clinical Studies & Case Reports: Benjamin Browning, MS: A Novel and Simple Computer-based Method to Measure Anterior Glenoid Bone Loss Using Unilateral 3D CT.
RESIDENT AWARDS
Signature Program in Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Disease: Drew Rideout, MD: Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Alters TNF-alpha but not Adiponectin Signaling in the Immediate Postoperative Period.
Cancer Biology: Steven Finkelstein, MD: The Florida Melanoma Trial: A Prospective Interdisciplinary Multicenter Phase I/II Trial of Postoperative Hypofractionated Ajuvant Radiotherapy With Concurrent Interferon-alpha in the Treatment of Advanced Stage III Melanoma.
Cardiovascular: Christopher C. Reynolds, MD: Trastuzumad Cardiotoxicity: Not as Benign As It Looks?
Interdisciplinary: Jaimie Sanchez, MD: Surgical Anatomy of the Male Pelvis: A 3-D Model Based on the Visible Human Project.
Clinical Studies & Case Reports: Christine Kay, MD: Digital Interference Holography Imaging of Human Macula.
GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS
Signature Program in Allergy, Immunology & Infectious Disease: Marisela Agudelo, BS: Role of Cannabinoid Receptors in Modulation of TLR 4 Expression and Antibody Class Switching in B Lymphocytes.
Cancer Biology: Matthew Smith, MPH: PRDM1 Inducibly-expressed in Human Natural Killer Cells and Functions in a Non-canonical Manner.
Cardiovascular: Sarah Norring, MS : Glycosylation Modulates hERG1 Channel Function.
Neuroscience: Mibel Pabon, MS : Loss of TH Positive Cells Correlated With Inflammation Following AAV9-Alpha-Synuclein.
Interdisciplinary: Cecilia Vindrola Padros, BA : Working with Pediatric Oncology Patients in Argentina : Improving the Training of Hospital Volunteers.
POSTDOCTORAL STUDENT AWARDS
Interdisciplinary: Daniel Lee, PhD: Age-related Gene Expression During Classical and Alternatively Activated Microglia in Mouse CNS.
COPH
Matt Tucker: Examination of the Molecular Basis of Resistance to Artemisinin Drugs in Plasmodium Falciparum.
Liu-Qin Yang, MA: Workplace Violence, Violence Prevention Climate and Back Injuries in Nursing.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARD
Autumn Barthelemy: Irritability and Functional Impairment in Bipolar Disorder.
Who says exercise can’t be fun? Grace Emery jumps on her mini-trampoline when her blood sugar gets too high.
Grace Emery loves jumping on her mini-trampoline but already dreams of law school.
She makes plans for a high-school trip but wears a sweatshirt from George Washington University.
She still gets squeamish just looking at her own veins but knows too much about grown-up fears.
Grace is 17, and she has Type I diabetes.
So she fits a chronic disease, one that demands attention and energy every day, into her life, around the tennis team and her fencing class and the sailing on Lake Tarpon and the once-in-a-lifetime trip to see Barack Obama become president.
“It’s a huge part of my life,” Grace said of her diabetes, “But I don’t let it limit what I can and can’t do.”
So yes, Grace went to see the inauguration with a teen leadership group she has belonged to for years. Just like all the other kids, she partied at a youth Inaugural Ball, heard Colin Powell speak, and watched the ceremony by the reflecting pool.
She just carried extras with her: a backpack with snacks and insulin pens. A stash of extra insulin pens back at the hotel, just in case.
Sometimes it’s hard. There are no days off, no coffee breaks, no rest stops. When you have diabetes, you can’t escape it.
“Even when you try to forget about it, you don’t,” she said. “It’s always, always, always, always there.”
So you just go on with it.
Grace and her mom, Mary Ellen, work on fixing healthy meals to help keep Grace’s diabetes under control.
Growing up in north Pinellas County, Grace lived an idyllic childhood: sailing on Lake Tarpon, playing volleyball, enrolling at Berkeley Preparatory School.
Everything changed when Grace was 14.
She didn’t realize anything serious was wrong. She got her blood work done for a temporary condition and the results were puzzling. Her blood sugar was sky-high. Grace got on the internet herself and looked up diabetes, and saw all the symptoms she had. She’d lost 15 pounds for no reason. She was always thirsty and always running to the bathroom.
Dr. Frank Diamond, a pediatrics professor with the USF College of Medicine, gave her the official diagnosis.
It was two days before Christmas. Her mother still cries when she thinks about it.
“It was just devastating,” said Mary Ellen Emery. “You just want to pull the sheets over your head, and then you think, you have to be the mom, and you go do the mom thing. But it’s not an easy diagnosis.”
The family had planned a holiday ski trip. Instead, Grace spent winter break learning about diabetes: how to change her diet, how to check her blood sugar, how to give herself injections.
“She’s a survivor,” her mom said.
It was an adjustment for the rest of the family too. Grace’s father, Ken, can no longer bring home bagels on a whim. Mary Ellen makes an effort not to focus family events and celebrations around meals. Ken helps Grace plan her injection schedule for trips.
“It’s what life is,” Mary Ellen said. “It’s not what we were bargaining for. But with love and faith and prayer and hope, you do it. Grace does a great job.”
Grace relies on the support of her parents, Ken and Mary Ellen Emery, to help her with the challenges of diabetes.
The injections were easier than Grace thought they would be. She was afraid she’d have to stick needles in her veins. Instead, she uses insulin pens, with short needles she injects directly into her skin, most often in her stomach or thigh, about five times a day.
Each day, Grace takes two kinds of insulin: two shots of a long-acting insulin to keep her blood sugar steady throughout the day, 23 mg. in the morning, 23 mg. at night.
She checks her blood sugar before school and has about five units of her fast-acting insulin just before breakfast.
Then it’s on to school, where she checks her blood sugar again and takes more insulin just before lunch. She tries to decide what she’ll eat first, so she’ll know how much insulin to take. She always carries snacks with her; her teachers know she has diabetes and don’t mind if she eats during class.
After school, it’s on to tennis practice or home. Sometimes, she’ll take more insulin.
Grace checks her sugar again just before dinner, and takes more insulin – usually six to eight units -- just before she eats.
Then she checks a final time before bed.
A few times each month, her sugar drops too low during the night.
“I wake up in a cold sweat,” she said. Then she comes downstairs and has something to eat.
Last year, Grace’s orderly routine shattered. She stopped taking her insulin. It’s still hard for her to explain why.
“It was just a phase,” she said. “For a week, I was lazy.”
What began as rebellion became something worse. After two weeks of not taking her insulin, she found she had lost 15 pounds.
So she kept skipping it – for three or four months. She lied about taking her shots, so Mary Ellen began insisting on watching her. Then she started pretending to inject herself, using the pen without delivering insulin. They argued about trust, about independence.
“It became constant monitoring,” Mary Ellen recalled. “It was very hard, and very, very scary.”
What Grace did isn’t unusual for diabetic teen girls. Many struggle to cope with managing a disease that requires compulsive attention to diet while navigating the body image worries of growing up. Dr. Diamond had warned Grace and Mary Ellen about deliberate weight loss, sometimes called “diabulimia,” when she was first diagnosed.
Grace had sworn never to try it.
Skipping insulin doses can cause weight loss because the body, unable to break down sugar without insulin, excretes it in urine. But it is dangerous – and Grace found that out firsthand. Without her insulin, her blood sugar levels soared. One day her vision suddenly became blurry. She couldn’t see anything clearly, not even objects a few feet away.
“I really couldn’t see,” she said. “I thought I was going blind.”
She knew she had to get her blood sugar back under control.
Grace had to visit an eye specialist and wear magnifying glasses for a while, but she was lucky. She learned her lesson without doing permanent damage to her eyes.
"It's a huge part of my life, but I don't let it limit what I can and can't do," Grace Emery, 17, says of her Type I diabetes.
These days, Grace has learned to balance her diabetes with a full round of school and extracurricular activities. Exercise helps control diabetes, and Grace plays on the school tennis team and takes a fencing class. She keeps a mini-trampoline out back to jump on when her blood sugar gets high – or just for fun.
At school, she’s involved in model United Nations, a teen court program and the Chinese Club. She’s been accepted early decision at George Washington, and says she wants to be a lawyer “because that’s the best way to change the world.” Her interest in politics led to the inauguration trip with the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference.
Still… Grace has fears about the future as well. Every child with diabetes fears the complications that can come later with the disease, she said, and she rattled off a list: “My heart, my hands, my feet.”
Her biggest worry is whether she’ll be able to have children.
But Grace tries to keep those fears in perspective. After all, if she’s afraid of the future, at least she’s spent more time thinking about what lies ahead and what her goals are. With fear comes maturity and strength.
“I try to see it as a positive,” she said.
And that’s the advice she gives to other kids who have just been diagnosed.
“You may think it’s a little scary at first,” she said. “I know I did... Be strong and believe in yourself, and know you can do it.”
From the tiniest details within our genes to the more abstract psychological perceptions outside our bodies, the projects of two public health students help illustrate the extremes that will be found among the research presentations on Feb. 20 at Research Day.
Matthew Tucker and Marissa Zwald, both graduate students in the College of Public Health, will be presenting their research projects at the 2009 Research Day, starting at 8 a.m. in the USF Health Rotunda.
COPH students Matthew Tucker and Marissa Zwald.
PhD student Tucker works with Dennis Kyle, PhD, professor in the Department of Global Health. His project - titled "Examination of the Molecular Basis of Resistance to Artemisinin Drugs in Plasmodium falciparum" - invloves genetic studies to determine which genes are responsible for causing the parasite responsible for the most lethal form of malaria to become resistant to our most promising malarial drugs.
Currently, the parasite Plasmodium falciparum is not resistant to the drug artemisinin, which provides rapid relief from malaria symptoms, faster clearance of the parasite, and is the best medicine available today. In Dr. Kyle's laboratory, Tucker developed a parasite that is resistant and is using those genetic lines to determine the molecular basis of drug resistance, which will help in the development of better drugs.
"Currently the World Health Organization recommends artemisinin combination treatment for countries that experience resistance to conventional monotherapies. Therefore, it will be a problem if Plasmodium falciparum becomes resistant because we need to preserve the effectiveness of artemisinin," Tucker said. "So finding the genes responsible for the resistance has significant public health importance."
Graduate student Zwald is working with Rita Debate, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Community and Family Health. Her research project - titled "Changes in Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity Frequency Among Participants of Girls on the Run" - tracked the data of a national youth sports program and found that young girls who participated in physical activity felt better about themselves.
Zwald set out to assess the short-term impact that Girls on the Run (a national youth sports program designed for girls in 3rd to 8th grade) had on self-esteem, body image, commitment to physical activity and the frequency of activity. Her findings showed that the program produced beneficial changes in self-esteem, body size satisfaction, commitment to physical activity and frequency of activity.
'This is a really exciting project to be a part of," Zwald said. "These girls experienced positive changes in their self-esteem and had a better perception of self. That improved perception could carry forward into adolescence, especially with continued physical activity."
These two students are among the 166 poster presentations on display throughout the USF Health Rotunda. In addition, the outstanding work of eight researchers has earned them an invitation to present their work in an oral session. One of those eight is Marissa Zwald.
USF Health's Amina Alio, PhD, was lead author of the new study in Lancet, finding a strong link between spousal violence and fetal loss.
Women victimized by spousal abuse are at significantly increased risk of losing at least one pregnancy.
A study of more than 2,500 women in Africa by the University of South Florida College of Public Health’s Amina Alio, PhD, and colleagues found that women who experience domestic violence of any kind were 50 percent more likely to have a least one episode of fetal loss (stillbirth or spontaneous abortion) than women reporting no partner violence. The findings were reported in the January 24, 2009 issue of the journal Lancet.
It is estimated that half of African women suffer abuse by their partners.
“Violence against women by their male intimate partners is a violation of human rights and an important public health problem worldwide,” said Dr. Alio, lead author and an assistant professor of Community and Family Health at the USF College of Public Health. “Our findings support the need to screen women in Africa for spousal violence not only during routine prenatal visits, but also following a miscarriage or stillbirth. These events signal a 50 percent probability that the woman is the victim of some sort of physical, emotional or sexual violence by a partner.”
The authors analyzed data from the Cameroon Demographic Health Survey. In the violence module of this survey, women were questioned about their experience of physical, emotional, and sexual violence inflicted by their spouses. Respondents were also asked about any stillbirths and spontaneous abortions. From detailed questions, violence was categorized into subtypes: (1) physical violence, including instances of pushing or shoving, throwing objects, slapping, arm twisting, punching, hitting with an object, kicking, dragging, attempting to strangle or burn, threatening with a weapon, and attacking with a weapon; (2) emotional violence, referring to verbal or physical public humiliation and verbal threat to the woman or her family; and (3) sexual violence, incorporating being forced to have sex or to undertake sexual acts. The authors included all women who responded to the violence module questions by referring to their “husband” or “spouse”.
Of the 2,562 women who responded to the violence module, those exposed to spousal violence (1307) were 50 percent more likely to experience at least one episode of fetal loss compared with women not exposed to abuse. Repeated fetal loss was associated with all forms of spousal violence, but emotional violence had the strongest association. If the prevalence of spousal abuse could be reduced to 50 percent, 25 percent, or eliminated completely, preventable excess recurrent fetal loss would be 17 percent, 25 percent, and 33 percent respectively.
“Spousal violence increases the likelihood of single and repeated fetal loss. A large proportion of risk for recurrent fetal mortality is attributable to spousal violence and, therefore, is potentially preventable,” the authors concluded. “Our findings support the idea of routine prenatal screening for spousal violence in the African setting, a region with the highest rate of fetal death in the world.”
Providing commentary for the study, Dr. Claudia Garcia-Moreno of the World Health Organization’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research in Geneva, Switzerland, wrote: “More support is needed for education and information for healthcare providers and the integration of intimate-partner violence and sexual violence into existing initiatives for maternal, infant, and child health. There is also a major need for more research on primary prevention interventions.”
Hamisu Salihu, MD, associate professor of epidemiology at the USF College of Public Health, and Philip Nana, MD, of the University of Yaounde in Cameroon were study co-authors.
- A news release by Lancet was used in this report.
Sure medical students benefit from the clinical experience they get with Project World Health (PWH). After all, they spend an entire week in rural communities of the Dominican Republic with a team of physicians and nurses seeing patients from dawn to dusk.
But talk to any of them about their PWH work and you’re more likely to hear about the impact their visits have on those communities and how their time there gives local residents the basic patient care, health education and preventative medicine they might not otherwise receive.
“These communities are in dire need of healthcare,” said Sara Saporta, a second-year USF medical student and co-president of PWH. “We provide some of the basic resources that we take for granted here in the states. The enthusiasm these people have about receiving even the most basic of things, like toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap, is not just astounding, it’s illuminating.”
Project World Health Board Back row: Sara Saporta (Co-President), Ty Jeske (Co-President), Jael Rodriguez (Fundraising), Patrick Carroll (Treasurer), Matt DiVeronica (Pharmacy Co-Chair)
Front row: Irene Hotalen (Fundraising Chair), Meghan NeSmith (Pharmacy Co-Chair)
Each year, USF students travel to the Jarabacoa region of the Dominican Republic. Returning the same region each year helps both the students and the communities since the established ties provide continuity of care for the patients and a sense of follow up for the students.
“Although the week is full of long, exhausting days of nonstop patient encounters, we gain skills that we bring back with us to school, to the clinics, to our future patients, and to these same people when we return the next year.”
The trips are only possible because of generous donations made by supporters and business partners, Saporta said. Last year’s effort meant more than $200,000 that allowed 50 individuals to travel to Jarabacoa, including attending physicians, residents, nurses, a dental hygienist and first- through fourth-year medical students. The team provided care to more than 2,500 residents. This year’s trip is set for April and fundraising is kicking into full gear, Saporta said.
New this year is business partnership with the Red Elephant Restaurant here in Tampa. On Feb. 23, the restaurant will donate 20 percent of the bill of anyone eating lunch or dinner there who mentions USF’s Project World Health.
In addition, the medical students host an annual fundraiser called the E-Ball, at which proceeds from live and silent auctions go to PWH. Although this event is typically for fellow medical students and faculty, donations to be auctioned off are always welcome, Saporta said.
Artist and third-year medical student Navid Eghbalieh donated his painting "Esperanza" to be auctioned at the PWH E-Ball, with proceeds going directly to PWH. The scene of this child in the Dominican Republic was taken by photographer Jennifer Browning and inspired Eghbalieh to put oil to canvas.
“Last year, some of the most successful items auctioned off were those of personal time and services, like a faculty member who sails offering an outing on his sailboat, or another faculty member who is a pilot offering a plane ride to Key West in his single-engine plane. The students also quickly bid on dinners with residents, since we love the extra time with physicians to learn more about the field of medicine.”
The group also accepts direct donations, which can best be made online and allows the donation to be deposited directly into the PWH account.
For more information about Project World Health, visit their web site or email Sara Saporta at ssaport1@health.usf.edu, Co-chair Ty Jeske at tjeske@health.usf.edu, or Fundraising Chair Irene Hotalen at ihotalen@health.usf.edu.
One day each year, up-and-coming researchers involved in cutting-edge interdisciplinary discovery and innovation tack their abstracts onto bulletin boards lining the breezeways and, more recently, the Rotunda of USF Health. Judges make their rounds to each student presentation, asking the lead student researchers to further explain their methods, results and conclusions before deciding on the award-worthy entrants.
This is Research Day, an annual event that brings together some of the latest work of graduate and postgraduate students and residents from throughout USF Health, as well as across the University campus. The day-long event is a prime opportunity for collaboration, since it bridges several colleges, schools and disciplines, and acts as a perfect “practice run” for many of the presenters whose work is destined to garner recognition at national and international research meetings.
Research Day 2009 will be on Friday, Feb. 20, and promises to offer a great sampling of the enterprising research at USF, with investigators from seven different USF colleges participating.
“The recognition that most discoveries are made at the interface of disciplines has had a dramatic impact on our strategy for recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students, development of required infrastructure, and has prompted us to rethink the purpose, value and vision of our graduate programs” said Abdul Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, senior associate vice president for USF Health and vice dean for research and graduate studies for the College of Medicine. “This presentation of scholarly work exemplifies our commitment to interdisciplinary research and defines and establishes new potential partnerships for collaboration and synergy.”
There will be 166 poster presentations on display throughout the USF Health Rotunda. In addition, the outstanding work of eight researchers has earned them an invitation to present their work in an oral session. These eight presenters are:
From the College of Medicine: Lindsey Boone (PhD student), Lorent Duce (second-year medical student), William Kong (PhD student), Tara Schwetz (PhD student) and Panida Sriaroon, MD (resident).
From the College of Nursing: Pamela Malone-Quarles (PhD student).
And from the College of Public Health: Patricia Spencer (PhD student), and Marissa Zwald (MPH student).
The poster sessions will be 8 to 10 a.m. in the USF Health Rotunda and the College of Nursing Foyer and Atrium areas. The oral presentations will be 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in room MDA 1096.
At 1 p.m., the three selected USF Health Distinguished Professors will be recognized by their respective deans. The three outstanding faculty members who will be recognized during this event are:
Dr. David V. Sheehan, professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Studies and Director, Depression & Anxiety Research Institute, College of Medicine.
Dr. C. Hendricks Brown, professor of Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, College of Public Health.
Dr. Susan McMillan, professor, College of Nursing.
This will be followed by the 13th Annual Roy H. Behnke, MD, Distinguished Lectureship, which begins at 1:15 p.m. in MDA 1096. This year’s guest speaker is John Carlos Burnett, Jr., MD, director of the Cardiorenal Research Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. His talk is titled “Natriuretic Peptides and Drug Discovery for Cardiovascular Disease: Translation from Bench to Bedside.”
The day concludes with the much-awaited awards ceremony from 2:15 to 3 p.m., also in MDA 1096.
A study published by a USF general surgery resident was chosen as one of the Top 10 General Surgery Articles for 2008 by Medscape, a popular international online resource of medical information and education for physicians and other health professionals.
Haytham M.A. Kaafarani, MD, MPH, was lead author of the paper “B-Blockade in Non-Cardiac Surgery: Outcome at All Levels of Risk,” which appeared in the October 2008 issue of the journal Archives of Surgery. The new study found that for some patients undergoing surgery, beta-blockers taken before and around the time of the operation appears to increase the risk of heart attack and death. It received wide national and international attention from the media, including the Boston Globe, CNN, BBC, the Washington Post and Reuters.
Dr. Kaafarani is conducting two years of outcomes research in Boston while earning a master’s degree in health policy and management at Harvard University. He will return to USF to finish the fourth and fifth years of his general surgery residency in July 2010.
The study reported in Archives was conducted by a team led by Dr. Kaafarani and Dr. Kamal M.F. Itani of the Veterans Affairs Boston Health Care System. Guidelines from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association recommend beta-blockers for high-risk patients having surgery, particularly vascular procedures. The authors set out to explore the effect of beta-blockers among patients at all levels of risk for heart problems -- high, intermediate and low.
The investigators examined records of patients who underwent non-cardiac surgery, including plastic, vascular, abdominal or hernia repair, at a VA medical center in 2000. Patients receiving beta blockers perioperatively to lower their blood pressure were matched by age, sex, cardiac risk, procedure risk, smoking status and kidney health with patients who underwent surgery at the same time but received no beta blockers.
The researchers found patients at all levels of cardiac risk who received the beta-blockers had lower heart rates before and during the surgery unrelated to their hearts, but in the 30 days following surgery the beta-blocker group had higher rates of heart attacks and death than the control group. No deaths occurred among patients classified as high cardiac risk. However, those in the beta-blocker group who died had significantly higher heart rates before surgery than those who didn't (86 beats per minute vs.70 beats per minute).
“Our study adds to the controversy regarding the optimal use of perioperative beta-blockers in patient populations at various levels of cardiac risk," the authors wrote. "Further investigations in this field with standardizing of beta-blockade regimen and with monitoring of heart rate in populations at various levels of cardiac risk should be pursued."
During her 12-year tenure, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, built a thriving, nationally-prominent USF College of Nursing
Tampa, FL (Feb. 9, 2009) – After a highly successful 12-year career, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, has announced that she will step down as Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Dr. Burns is well respected in the nursing profession and the Tampa Bay community for her immeasurable contributions towards making life better through research, education and healthcare.
"I will miss the College of Nursing a great deal; however, the time has come for me to embark on a path towards a new chapter in my life,” Dr. Burns said. “I will always cherish my years at the College of Nursing and I’m looking forward to continuing a relationship with the community that I have been so much a part of for the past 12 years.”
In the Tampa Bay area, nursing shortages and nursing faculty shortages are greater than the national average. Under Dr. Burns’ leadership, the USF College of Nursing has developed new advanced degree programs and created innovative education models to fill this need in the profession. She established the Clinical Collaborative Initiative, a partnership between local healthcare agencies in the Tampa Bay area and the USF College of Nursing. The Initiative gives students seeking bachelor’s degrees the opportunity to reside in a single agency for clinical coursework. Students are often eligible and qualified to serve as nurse technicians, and employed by the agency after the first semester.
Addressing the Nursing Shortage
“The USF College of Nursing has fostered innovative programming between the community and college to address the nursing shortage by expanding student numbers and needs for more educators and enhancing the research focus within hospitals,” said Sandra K Janzen MS, RN, CNAA-BC, associate director of patient care services at James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, “This forum is an exemplary model of community and academic collaboration that addresses current and future needs while systematically exploring innovative ideas together.”
The College of Nursing has built healthcare partnerships across 10 counties in Florida and forged collaborations across the University, state, nationally and internationally. The College’s exchange program with the University of Panama is now in its third year. To date, three delegations totaling nearly 45 nursing students have participated in the program, a hands-on community health learning experience.
Clinical community partnerships are imperative for preparing nurses in advanced clinical roles as much needed educators and researchers. One such partnership is the College’s longstanding collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, the only comprehensive cancer center in Florida designated by the National Cancer Institute. USF offers the only oncology nursing master’s program in the state.
Innovative Graduate Nursing Programs
The College’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Nurse Anesthesia, and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) advanced graduate degree nursing programs epitomize Dr. Burns’ vision of the ideal innovative education model. One of the first colleges in the country to offer the CNL and DNP programs, USF has graduated some of the first nurses in the country with these degrees. Started in Fall 2006 in response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers, USF is only the third public university to offer the nurse anesthesia program out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida. USF’s program is the first in the Tampa Bay area. In Fall 2008, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of 12 nurse anesthetists graduated with a job already lined up.
Nursing baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral program students and graduates provide safe competent healthcare in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area, a testament to the significant community impact of the collaborations Dean Burns initiated.
To facilitate the growth of research initiatives in the College and bring together diverse faculty and student research interests, Dr. Burns created a Nursing Research Center within the College. The Center has significantly broadened the College’s research portfolio, including multidisciplinary collaborations, and substantially upgraded its research infrastructure and capacity, including enhanced administrative support and expertise in data management, project management and statistical analyses.
Strengthening Research Collaboration
Recently, the College of Nursing increased its research awards by 64 percent and achieved its goal of raising both public and private funding by 40 percent – resulting in the highest percentage jump for a single college in research funding at USF for FY 2007-2008. The University’s overall research funding for FY2007/2008 rose by 17 percent over the previous fiscal year.
Dr. Burns further strengthened the College’s research endeavors by establishing a Biobehavioral Laboratory. Scheduled for completion this year, the laboratory will support the Research Center and the College’s Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Occupying more than 2,000-square-foot of space, it will house state-of-the art equipment for conducting blood assays, such as inflammatory markers, stress hormones, proteomics, and RNA and DNA analyses. The facility will also include multiple patient rooms for conducting physical examinations, clinical measurements, and treatments for health care and research purposes. Enabled by the College’s productive research environment and clinical partnerships, the PNI Center pursues research, education, and the translation of knowledge into clinical practice.
The College of Nursing’s collaborative structure encourages a community of scholars and clinicians interested in related topics. This benefits the college by providing a framework for research studies and partnerships. Ultimately, this strong research foundation benefits patients through evidence-based clinical care -- another way Dr. Burns’ leadership has profoundly influenced healthcare in the Tampa Bay community.
Continued community support and individual contributions are vital to the future of the College of Nursing. As dean, Dr. Burns fostered a large increase in financial donations to the College; endowments have grown by more than $5 million during her 12-year tenure.
Building National Prominence
The College has received national support and accolades as well. The USF Master’s Program in Nursing was recently ranked 72 by U.S News and World Report -- a large jump from 115 scored when the program was last ranked in 2003. The USF profile included in the 2009 Princeton Review "Best 368 Colleges" praises the College of Nursing. Among the candid comments of USF students surveyed for the book: “There’s a great nursing program.”
USF’s nursing programs have steadily flourished to accommodate a growing student population. As of Fall 2008 the College of Nursing had 1,888 students enrolled across its baccalaureate, masters, doctoral and continuing education programs – up from 628 students in Fall 1999. Dr. Burns oversaw the College of Nursing facility’s much needed physical expansion. Members of the College, University and community gathered to dedicate the new building in May 2005 and celebrated renovations that tripled the size of the College of Nursing facility, from 25,000 to 75,000 square feet.
In 2007, Dr. Burns launched the College on an exciting and momentous endeavor – a comprehensive five-year strategic planning process. Carefully constructed through student, faculty, staff, alumni and community involvement, the strategic plan has set the mission, vision, goals and values to help guide the College of Nursing to future success and prominence regionally, nationally and internationally.
As her lasting legacy Dean Patricia Burns leaves a successful, nationally-recognized College of Nursing built upon innovative education models, collaborative clinical partnerships, advanced practice graduate degree programs and a facilitative multi-disciplinary scientific research infrastructure.
- Story by Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications
