Mission 2010

A message from the dean

As we prepared this issue of Mission magazine, one hurricane after another roared across the Atlantic only to turn north and pass offshore, causing little more than some rough seas and minor erosion along our coastline.

Similarly, our school has been facing some rough weather in terms of the state’s ongoing financial turmoil and the mix of uncertainty and opportunity sure to come with national health care reform.

Our state’s budget picture continues to be grim. Our expansion plans are on hold, and our indigent care appropriation appears to have been a one-time boost. Nevertheless, our physicians are working harder than ever, and our medical group practice continues to expand its contribution to the revenue pie.

That is also true for our researchers, who are bringing in significant amounts of outside funding for their explorations. Many times, it is our young scientists and physicians who are leading the way. Dr. Jared Brown, whom you may read about in this magazine, is pushing frontiers of nanotechnology with the help of more than $3 million in research grants.

Dr. Qing Cao, one of our newest family physicians, has received a five-year, $375,000 grant to study and raise awareness of hospice care.

Simultaneously, our faculty, students and alumni are extending Brody’s compassionate arms to underserved populations as near as the JOY Soup Kitchen on Albemarle Avenue here in Greenville and as far as Central America, Africa and, of course, Haiti. We

Greetings

continue to be a leader in graduating physicians who practice in our home state Brody will also continue to explore and expand partnerships with University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina. For example, an endoscopy center joint venture is up and running, and we are discussing a joint-venture agreement that could greatly improve the operation and revenues of our Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center. For the best in education, research and patient care, we must have healthy relationships with our health system partner.

Brody will also be working with the new ECU School of Dental Medicine, providing classroom space and sharing faculty members as the first classes of dental students begin their studies. Looking back at the first issues of this alumni magazine reminds me that our school began in Ragsdale Hall on the main campus. It’s only fitting that we give a similar hand to the new dental school, and we look forward to a long, productive relationship.

Thank you for taking some time to read this issue of Mission and learn about some of the people whom we can rightly agree represent the “Best of Brody.” And please keep in touch with your school.

Paul R.G. Cunningham, M.D., FACS Dean and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor

Tab l e o f c o n t e n t s

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PUBLISHER

Paul R.G. Cunningham, M.D., FACS Dean, Brody School of Medicine Senior Associate Vice Chancellor of Medical Affairs, East Carolina University EDITOR

Doug Boyd WRITERS

Crystal Baity Marion Blackburn Amy Ellis Karen Shugart ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

Mimosa Hines PHOTOGRAPHERS

Cliff Hollis Dawn Robinson Debbie Creech Doug Boyd Susan Cook

Fa l l 2 0 1 0

f e at u r e s Building bridges . . . . . . . . . . .

ECU teams heal and help in Nicaragua

Second rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Students confidently enter year two of medical school

www.ecu.edu/med COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS Doug Boyd East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-6481 boydd@ecu.edu

© 2010 by East Carolina University

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Emerging research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. Jared Brown’s prestigious award aids study of nanomaterials

A mission of service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dr. Harold Latta has built a career caring for children

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d e pa r t m e n t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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News from Brody In the lab

Mission is published by the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

Any written portion of this magazine may be reprinted with proper credit.

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Faculty news

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Alumni news

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Close up: New clinics

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Inside back cover

On the cover Dr. Timothy Reeder, associate professor of emergency medicine, holds a Nicaraguan child during a July mission trip to the Central American country. Read more starting on page 12.

U.P. 11-027 Printed on recycled paper.

3,500 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $4,965.00 or $1.42 per copy.

2010 mission 1

N Ne ew ws s f fr ro om m B Br ro od dy y

ECU Physicians services now available on main campus East Carolina University main campus faculty and staff as well as their families can now receive fast medical care within walking distance.

The new practice site for ECU Physicians’ Rapid Access service, led

by Dr. Susan Keen, a Brody School of Medicine alumnus and clinical assistant professor of family medicine, began seeing patients in August

Keen

at the Student Health Services center.

“We’re open to suggestions about how to provide exceptional service,” Keen said. “We’re open to molding the practice to whatever the needs are.”

Rapid Access is the same-day appointment system available at

practices on the health sciences campus, ECU’s Firetower Medical Office and other sites. These are open to employees on all ECU campuses, but they must get to one of the practice sites. The new site is right on main campus.

Known as Family Medicine East, it’s open 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Monday-Friday. Keen is there most days; at other times, Terry Icard, a physician assistant, will see patients. The practice has two exam rooms, complete with purple and gold tiles. Pharmacy, laboratory and radiology services are also available.

Medical students and residents aren’t involved in patient care at the practice.

Keen spends her afternoons seeing patients at the ECU Family Medicine Center on the health sciences campus. Main campus employees can see her there at those times.

Keen is a Wisconsin native but grew up in Rocky Mount. She received her biology degree from ECU in 1997 then taught high school science in Bear Grass before enrolling in the Brody School of Medicine. She finished medical school in 2003, completed a family medicine residency at ECU in 2006 and has been working in the emergency department at Nash General Hospital and the ECU Family Medicine Center.

She said her familiarity with ECU and experience in urgent care settings make her a good fit for the new practice. And she hopes having services available on main campus will help employees choose ECU Physicians as their “medical home,” a practice that covers all of a person’s health care needs, hospital visits and follow-up care.

“Because we don’t have any hard and fast rules about this clinic, it’s more exciting to imagine the possibilities,” she said. “There’s just something exciting about the fall, the start of the new school year. It’s just a great time to start the new clinic.”

Brody to extend early assurance admission to two other universities The Brody School of Medicine will guarantee admission to a few top students at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and N.C. A&T State University under a new agreement among the three schools.

ECU is expanding its “early assurance” medical school admission plan to the other universities in hopes it will further ECU’s mission of training doctors who will choose to practice in underserved areas.

For 10 years, ECU has offered guaranteed admission to medical school to select high school seniors competing for the East Carolina Scholars program, the university’s top undergraduate scholarship. Each year, four are selected to receive early assurance, which means if they meet certain academic requirements they will be admitted to medical school after college graduation without having to compete with other applicants or take the Medical College Admission Test, a five-hour examination of writing, science and reasoning skills.

Since the program began, 15 early assurance scholars have gradu2 mission 2010

ated from medical school at ECU. “It’s been an unqualified success,” said Dr. James Peden, associate dean of admissions at the Brody School of Medicine. “Generally speaking, the early assurance scholars have been among the best students in the school.”

Officials from ECU, UNC-P and N.C. A&T met last fall to explore an early assurance partnership and set criteria for the Peden program. Each year, ECU will admit two early assurance students each from UNC-P and N.C. A&T. Those students must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.5 and be North Carolina residents. They will not have to take the MCAT so long as their SAT scores meet a certain figure.

UNC-P expects to offer the program to students entering school in fall 2011. N.C. A&T is offering it to students this fall or next fall.

N e w s f r o m B r o dy

Sleep center expands to serve more adults, children East Carolina University’s Sleep Disorders Center has expanded to help speed a restful night to weary adults and children.

The center has expanded to six beds, including a special room for children with sleep disorders. Dr. Ronald Perkin, chair and professor of pediatrics at the Brody School of Medicine, began seeing children with sleep problems at the center in July.

Approximately 25 percent of children experience some type of sleep problem, ranging from Perkin difficulty falling asleep and waking up at night to more serious sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy, Perkin said. More than one-third of elementary school-aged children and 40 percent of adolescents have significant sleep complaints.

“Although many sleep problems in infants and children are transient and self-limited, the common wisdom that children grow out of sleep problems is not an accurate perception,” Perkin said, adding that other factors can lead to chronic sleep problems.

Among those factors is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Up to a quarter of children with ADHD have evidence of sleep-disordered breathing, and up to half of them have evidence of restless leg syndrome

or periodic limb movements, Perkin said.

“Treatment of these sleep problems may improve the symptoms in children with ADHD,” he said. “Similarly, sleep disorders will add to the severity of ADHD symptoms when they co-exist.”

Perkin said some children diagnosed with ADHD have a sleep disorder that accounts for their symptoms. The symptoms of sleep deprivation are very similar to those of ADHD, he said.

Another factor that could exacerbate sleep problems is obesity. Thirty-seven percent of U.S. children between the ages of 6 and 11 years are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Perkin said overweight and obesity can lead to sleep problems, particularly breathing disorders, and the resulting tiredness can lead to children gaining more weight.

Dr. Sunil Sharma, medical director at the ECU center and a board-certified sleep specialist, said children also deprive themselves of sleep. One device he uses with children is similar to a wristwatch that indicates when children actually go to sleep.

That helps parents know if children are staying up in their rooms communicating with friends or playing video games.

Sharma said Americans as a whole are sleep deprived. When doctors work with children to improve their sleep, it can help the rest of the family, too.

Vanderpool named board president of organ agency A top administrator at East Carolina University has been named president of the board of directors for Carolina Donor Services, a regional organ-procurement organization.

Gary Vanderpool, executive associate vice chancellor for health sciences administration and finance, will serve as president from July 1 through June 30. He will be eligible for re-election following his term.

During nearly 10 years of service with the organization, Vanderpool has served as a board member in the roles of treasurer and

vice president.

Carolina Donor Services is the federally designated organ procurement organization serving 78 counties in North Carolina and Danville, Va. It serves Vanderpool 6.1 million people, 102 hospitals and four transplant centers that provide heart, lung, liver, pancreas and kidney transplants.

ECU among nation’s best for putting doctors in underserved areas The Brody School of Medicine ranks among the top medical schools in the country for producing primary care doctors who practice where they are needed most, according to a study published June 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

ECU has the seventh-highest “social mission” score in the study by researchers at George Washington University. ECU’s ranking is the highest of the four medical schools in North Carolina.

To determine the true outcomes of medical education rather than the intermediate preferences of medical students and residents, researchers studied physicians in practice after the completion of all training and national obligations, such as military service or National Health Service Corps placements. The researchers examined data from medical school graduates from 1999 to 2001, which provided a very different picture than previous studies.

Previous analyses, such as the popular U.S. News & World Report rankings, have relied on the initial residency selection or reported specialty preference of students.

The GWU study pinpoints where graduates are and what type of medicine they actually practice.

Among the study findings were that schools with a community rather than research focus tend to produce more primary care physicians and physicians who practice in underserved, often rural areas. ECU fits those criteria, having been established in the 1970s to produce primary care doctors for North Carolina.

Schools with a history of recruiting and educating minority physicians, such as ECU, also fared well in the study.

Each class at Brody is made up of North Carolina residents, and more than half of them stay in the state to practice, many in the rural eastern and western ends of the state.

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N e w s f r o m B r o dy

Grant boosts primary care education East Carolina University medical students who have an interest in family medicine will be among those who may benefit from a new program funded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to mentor aspiring family doctors.

The foundation has awarded a six-year, $1.18 million grant to the N.C. Academy of Family Physicians Foundation that will increase medical students’ exposure to innovative practice in family medicine and encourage more of the state’s medical students to pursue a career in family medicine, ultimately ensuring that more North Carolinians have access to high quality primary care.

“This grant from BCBS of North Carolina is the most significant response to the growing need for family physicians from the health care industry I have seen,” said Dr. Dean Patton, a longtime professor of family medicine and director of the medical student education division at ECU. “This grant has the potential to make a school that has chosen to remain faithful to its mandated mission an even more significant player in meeting the critical health care needs of our region.”

The program aims to increase the percentage of medical students who commit to a residency in family medicine and the percentage of those who elect to stay in the state for their residency training. This grant is expected to yield a significant return on investment. According to the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies, the annual economic impact of one new family physician to the state of North Carolina is more than $950,000.

Hannah Fuhr is one of five ECU students participating. The second-year student from Chapel Hill worked with Dr. J. Thomas Newton of Clinton.

“I found that being exposed to a less familiar practice environment – a large private practice in rural North Carolina – this summer was both fascinating and beneficial for me,” Fuhr wrote in an e-mail. “The externship provided me with great opportunities to strengthen my interviewing and physical exam skills. My mentor, as well as the other physicians at the Clinton Clinic, provided me with interesting insights

“This grant has the potential to make a school that has chosen to remain faithful to its mandated mission an even more significant player in meeting the critical health care needs of our region.”

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—Dr. Dean Patton

into career choices and the advantages and disadvantages of specialties and different types of practice settings.”

Students who participate in the scholars program will also receive additional exposure to family medicine throughout their schooling, including additional clinical experiences, and will have the opportunity to access scholarship funding Fuhr if they ultimately enter a family medicine residency program.

In addition to Fuhr, the following ECU students are participating in the program for the 2010-2011 academic year: Ashley Hink of Raleigh, Kelley Haven of Greenville, Holly Love of Mount Pleasant and Patrick Williams of Hickory. A total of 11 students from ECU, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University are participating.

Physician mentors who are participating are Newton, Mark E. Beamer of Belhaven (Pungo Family Medicine), Sara O. Beyer of Charlotte (Steele Creek Family Practice), Jonathan E. Fischer of Carrboro (Piedmont Health Services), Conrad L. Flick of Raleigh (Family Medical Associates of Raleigh), Brian R. Forrest of Apex (Access Healthcare), Elizabeth P. Fry of Greenville (Physicians East), Michelle F. Jones of Wilmington (Wilmington Health Associates), David E. Lee of Lewisville (Family Medical Associates), Charles W. Rhodes of Mount Pleasant (Cabarrus Family Medicine) and J. Carson Rounds of Wake Forest (Village Family Medicine).

Students who participate in the scholars program will also receive additional exposure to family medicine throughout their schooling, including additional clinical experiences, and will have the opportunity to access scholarship funding if they ultimately enter a family medicine residency program.

PARTICIPATING ECU STUDENTS Hannah Fuhr......................................................................Chapel Hill Kelley Haven........................................................................Greenville Ashley Hink.............................................................................. Raleigh Holly Love................................................................ Mount Pleasant Patrick Williams..................................................................... Hickory

PARTICIPATING PHYSICIAN MENTORS J. Thomas Newton.....................................................Clinton Clinic Mark E. Beamer.......................................Pungo Family Medicine Sara O. Beyer................................ Steele Creek Family Practice Jonathan E. Fischer..........................Piedmont Health Services Conrad L. Flick............ Family Medical Associates of Raleigh Brian R. Forrest................................................ Access Healthcare Elizabeth P. Fry.......................................................Physicians East Michelle F. Jones...................... Wilmington Health Associates David E. Lee......................................Family Medicial Associates Charles W. Rhodes........................... Cabarrus Family Medicine J. Carson Rounds.................................. Village Family Medicine

N e w s f r o m B r o dy

ECU recognized for sending graduates into family medicine The Brody School of Medicine is one of top medical schools in the country for sending graduates into family medicine, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Based on a three-year average for the period ending last October, 19.4 percent of the school’s graduates have entered an accredited

family medicine residency program.

That ranked ECU second in the country and marked the fourth consecutive year ECU has been ranked in the top 10.

In March, 20 percent of Brody’s graduating students matched with family medicine residency programs during the school’s annual

Match Day. Eight of those 13 graduates will remain in North Carolina for their residency training.

ECU was also ranked 28th in primary care among medical schools in the May issue of U.S. News & World Report magazine.

ECU’s 2010 Schweitzer Fellows are, from left, Steven Pontickio, Cierrea Roach, Ashley Hink, and Jason Lee.

Students receive Schweitzer Fellowships Four students from the Brody School of Medicine have received Schweitzer Fellowships for 2010.

The students, who have finished their first year of medical school, commit to a year of service with a community agency, devoting more than 800 hours to local communities lacking access to adequate health services.

Below are the students’ names and their service projects: ■■

Ashley Hink is addressing domestic violence by providing health education classes and one-on-one health education

sessions, as well as engaging in advocacy, for people who have left or are in abusive relationships. She is working with the Center for Family Violence Prevention in Pitt County.

with the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, which funds projects aimed at underserved populations in North Carolina.

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Jason Lee and Steven Pontickio are addressing mental health disparities by establishing a biweekly mental health clinic at the JOY soup kitchen in Greenville. Lee and Pontickio will also provide health services, conduct health literacy education and screen for chronic diseases. For this project, Lee and Pontickio are also working

Cierrea Roach will work with underserved elementary and middle school students by providing science- and math-based education and tutoring through the Little Willie Center in Greenville.

ECU’s Schweitzer Fellows are also supported by grants from the Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation.

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D tr mo em n tB h Ne e pa w sr f re oa dd yi n g

Members of the Class of 2014 hold up the messages from alumni who helped sponsor the annual white coat ceremony.

Brody welcomes Class of 2014 The Brody School of Medicine welcomed 78 new medical students in August.

The 39 men and 39 women in the Class of 2014 range in age from 20 to 36. As usual, they are all North Carolina residents, with 32 counties of residence listed. They received their undergraduate degrees from 31 different colleges and universities, with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill having the most graduates, 20. ECU has 12 alumni in the class, and North Carolina State University has 11.

Dr. Keith Nelson, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, told the new students to remember their humanity while learning and as they move into patient care.

“Let your patients know you care even when you can’t help,” he said.

The class also includes three Brody Scholars, Stephanie Carrier and Stephanie Maxwell of Raleigh and Nicole Merli of Greenville. The scholarship program pays

6 mission 2010

tuition and living expenses and encourages participants to design their own summer enrichment program that can include travel abroad.

Maxwell probably spoke for many of her classmates when she said: “At this point, I’m nervous but excited. I think it’s a good mix.”

The symbolic white coats are a gift to class members from the Brody School of Medicine Alumni Society, said Karen Cobb, director of development for the foundation. Sixty-six alumni donated approximately $7,000 to pay for the coats and welcome breakfast Participating alumni were given note cards to write a personal note to their students, and Dr. David Collier, an assistant professor and president of the alumni society, gave one to each new student.

Public health program hits enrollment record The Department of Public Health at the Brody School of Medicine enrolled its largest class to date in August, according to Dr. Lloyd Novick, department chairman.

The new class consists of 41 students. The class is made up of 11 men and 30 women. A third of the class is minority students. Seventy percent attended high school in North Carolina, and 78 percent received their undergraduate degrees from a college or university in the state. Fourteen students have degrees from East Carolina University.

Upon finishing their studies, 88 percent plan to stay and work in North Carolina, 68 percent in the East.

The department now has a total of 110 students, and 110 students have graduated from ECU with MPH degrees.

N e w s f r o m B r o dy

ECU among nation’s best for in vitro fertilization East Carolina University has one of the nation’s most successful programs for helping women become pregnant through in vitro fertilization.

At ECU Women’s Physicians, 68.8 percent of embryo transfers resulted in live births for women younger than 35 during 2008, according to the Society for Assistive Reproductive Technology, which collects fertility clinic data nationwide. Nationally, the average success rate in 2008 for women 35 and younger was 47.3 percent, according to SART. ECU had an overall success rate of

New name, chair for department The former Department of Medical Humanities at the Brody School of Medicine has a new name and a new chair.

Dr. Maria Clay has been named chair of the Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies. She said a consultant brought Clay in following the retirement of founding chair Dr. Loretta Kopelman said the former name didn’t reflect the various fields the department comprised.

Faculty and school leaders agreed.

“We wanted to celebrate and honor the past while moving forward,” said Clay, who had served as interim chair since 2007.

The department retains the qualities that made it one of the first medical school departments in the country that dealt with history, economics, ethics and other non-medical matters. Faculty members have backgrounds in history, law, nursing and more.

“When you say ‘bioethics,’ that’s a much more concrete meaning,” said Dr. Daniel Goldberg, an assistant professor who arrived in August with a law degree and a doctorate in medical humanities. “On the other hand, we’re not just bioethics. I think it broadens the scope appropriately.”

56 percent for all women undergoing IVF regardless of age.

That success rate ranked ECU fourth in the country and first in North Carolina for 2008. In North Carolina, the next best success rate was at Wake Forest University and the nation’s top fertility clinic that year was in Houston. There are nearly 500 IVF centers in the U.S. “We’ve had an established program that has concentrated on continued quality improvement and higher pregnancy rates,” said Dr. Cal Hayslip, medical director of

reproductive endocrinology and infertility services at ECU. “In the past year, some of that hard work has been realized.”

ECU’s program Hayslip began in 1993. In 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, a total of 81 women underwent IVF treatment at ECU.

Chitwood and sculpture

Sculpture honoring Brody unveiled at heart institute A sculpture at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University honors the legacy of one of the founders of the Brody School of Medicine while also symbolizing his and the school’s sense of service to eastern North Carolina.

Those were the thoughts expressed by Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., director of the institute, during the unveiling ceremony June 10.

The sculpture is titled “Hands of Hope” and was created by ECU faculty member Hanna Jubran and his wife, Jodi Hollnagel-

Jubran. It was commissioned by Myrtilla Brody in memory of her late husband, J.S. “Sammy” Brody. He was an early advocate and supporter of the medical school that now bears his family name.

“Many now will benefit from (Myrtilla Brody’s) wisdom in providing this lasting memorial to her husband and our friend, Mr. Sammy Brody,” Chitwood said. “This sculpture is a lasting reminder of his abiding hope for better health for all people of eastern North Carolina.”

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D ment heading I ne pa t hr e tLab

Sensor helps achieve better glucose control An insulin pump with a sensor can help adults and children with diabetes better manage their blood-sugar levels, according to research conducted at 30 trial sites, including East Carolina University.

The significant decrease in A1C levels observed in the study, called STAR 3, for Sensor-Augmented Pump Therapy for A1C Reduction, occurred without an increase in the rate of hypoglycemia, or low glucose.

A1C testing is a way to measure blood-glucose levels. In people with poorly controlled diabetes, A1C levels are much higher than in healthy people.

The study compared use of the sensor-augmented pump to the traditional method of multiple daily insulin injections.

Dr. Robert Tanenberg, a professor and diabetes specialist at the Brody School of Medicine and a Diabetes educator Savanna Martin talks with principal patient Joe White during a July clinic visit. investigator of the trial, said the sensor measures tissue glucose levels every five minutes and protects patients from having their blood-sugar levels dropping without them knowing it. That compares to patients who must prick their fingers to measure blood-sugar levels several times a day.

“If you had a sensor, you could probably carry on your life pretty easily,” Tanenberg said. “The beauty of the sensor is it monitors blood sugar and shows a trend.” Eleven ECU diabetes patients were enrolled in the 18-month study.

Joe White, a probation officer from Pinetops, was one of those patients. He enrolled in the study after a camping trip where he woke in a sweat in the middle of the night then passed out from low blood sugar. Fortunately, his 8-year-old son was camping with him and heard him rummaging for clothes before passing out. He got help, and White was taken to a hospital.

“I wasn’t a big fan of the pump,” he said. “I was just used to taking injections, and felt I was doing OK with that.”

Adult participants saw a 1 percentage point reduction in their A1C levels. Every percentage point drop in A1C blood test results can reduce the risk of complications by 40 percent. Uncontrolled glucose levels in patients with diabetes can lead to short- and long-term complications, including shakiness, confusion, fainting, blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation and, in rare cases, death.

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Tanenberg

Among children, nearly 44 percent of patients using sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy achieved glucose control targets, compared to 20 percent of patients in the multiple daily injection group.

The study also showed patients on sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy achieved a reduction in mean A1C levels that was four times greater than the multiple daily injection group. The mean A1C decrease was to 7.5 percent in the sensor-augmented pump therapy group, compared to only 8.1 percent

in the daily injection group.

Pumps have been used for years by some diabetes patients, but until recently they did not have sensors and required finger-sticks to measure glucose levels. Tanenberg hopes the study results will help convince insurance companies to fund the devices for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Study results were presented June 29 at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Orlando, Fla. The study was sponsored by the medical device maker Medtronic and conducted at sites in the United States and Canada with participation from 485 patients ranging in age from 7 to 70.

Cancer drug enters clinical trials A potential treatment for many ovarian, breast, cervical and other cancers has entered clinical testing.

The treatment, a collaboration between ImmunoGen and Sanofi-aventis uses an antibody created by Dr. Anne Kellogg, an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Brody School of Medicine.

The antibody seeks out and attaches to cancer cells and serves as a delivery vehicle for ImmunoGen’s Targeted Antibody Payload technology to attack the cancer cells with a potent cell-killing agent. Once inside, the cell-killing agent Kellogg activates and kills the tumor cell as it divides. The technology allows the use of precise amounts of powerful cancer-killing drugs while minimizing side-effects.

Kellogg is happy the drug has made it this far and cautiously optimistic about the future.

“You always hope some of the work you do in your research lab will have some positive benefit for people,” Kellogg said.

“There’s still a lot of years in terms of testing in patients.”

I n T h e Lab

Researchers increase external funding

Medical student Hannah Fuhr poses for Dr. Emmanuel Zervos, professor of surgery, during Medical Student Research Day, held Aug. 16. The program allows rising second-year medical students to spend eight weeks during the summer performing research under faculty direction.

This year, 19 students made 20 poster presentations.

Faculty members at the Brody School of Medicine increased their external funding in fiscal year 2009-2010.

During the 12-month period that ended June 30, research, clinical trials and service contracts brought in slightly more than $25 million, about $1.2 million more than the previous fiscal year.

A total of 182 grants and contracts were funded, down from 195 the previous year, according to figures provided by the school’s Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

Nearly 51 percent of the dollars went to service, such as patient care, while the reminder went to basic science investigations, clinical research and clinical trials of devices, medicines and procedures.

Campuswide, ECU totaled nearly $48.7 million in external research dollars from July 1, 2009-June 30 of this year, down from the previous year, according to the ECU Division of Research and Graduate Studies.

Project takes on heart disease in ‘stroke belt’ A new $10 million grant will help researchers at East Carolina University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill collaborate with health-care practitioners and community leaders in Lenoir County to tackle heart disease, the county's leading cause of death.

The UNC-ECU project aims to better understand the causes of cardiovascular health disparities and test innovative solutions. It is one of 10 Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities funded by a five-year grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The 10 centers are also supported by the National Cancer Institute and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research.

Lenoir County is on the “buckle” of the “stroke belt,” a name given to a region of the southeastern United States recognized by public health authorities for its high incidence of stroke and other forms of cardiovascular disease. The county’s hypertension and cardiovascular disease rates are among the

highest in the country, and many residents lack access to adequate medical care or opportunities that promote good health.

The project will be based at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. The ECU team is led by Dr. Doyle M. Cummings, a pharmacist and professor of family medicine, and Dr. Stephanie Jilcott, assistant professor of public health.

The research will help determine genetic factors associated with cardiovascular disease risk and how clinical and public health communities can more effectively work together to reduce people’s risk of heart disease through medication, diet and physical activity. The project will also offer an intensive weight loss intervention for participants who are overweight.

The study will also include a partnership with a non-profit call center adding lifestyle and medication adherence coaching to its focus on jobs, employment and benefits counseling.

Jilcott

Cummings

The project will explore opportunities to create jobs while promoting health, including local food production and distribution systems in Lenoir County.

The project is guided by a community advisory committee, and researchers will work with local decision-makers to implement policy and environmental changes to sustain long-term health improvements. The committee was scheduled to have its first meeting in September. Cummings said local physicians have agreed to work with the group to improve hypertension management in their patients.

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D ment heading I ne pa t hr e tLab

Effects of 2008 eastern North Carolina wildfire studied When Dr. Wayne Cascio stepped outside his home one day in June 2008, he saw smoke and a research opportunity.

Cascio quickly alerted his colleagues at the Environmental Protection Agency: were they interested in an immediate opportunity to evaluate the public health impact of a wildfire in a non-urban area?

They were. So began an ongoing study of the effects of a wildfire that ultimately consumed more than 40,000 acres in Hyde, Washington and Cascio Tyrrell counties.

Cascio, working with agencies including the EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has documented the wildfire’s impact on eastern North Carolina and beyond.

The EPA used techniques including

geostationary satellite imaging provided by NOAA identified the smoke’s location and density and estimated the concentration of particles in the air. ECU and Cascio accessed health information from the N.C. Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool, a statewide surveillance system that emerged after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“With that information, my colleagues at the EPA were able to get data from N.C. DETECT and relate heart and respiratory complaints to these exposures,” Cascio said.

They found the wildfire coincided with an increase in health problems — some immediately, as in asthma, and some days later, such as heart failure. They also found that poorer counties tended to be disproportionately affected and that the housing in those counties tended to be older, and therefore, more porous and less likely to be air-conditioned.

“There’s a social and environmental justice aspect to this work,” Cascio said.

Partnering with University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, researchers have obtained more detailed information from hospitals and hope to explore matters further.

“Another thing we’re interested in looking at is whether individuals who have underlying diseases like diabetes are at greater risk and also to what extent disparities in health care and socioeconomic conditions add to risk.

These important public health issues tie in well with the mission of ECU’s new Center for Health Disparities Research,” Cascio said.

Because the event occurred in a non-urban area, researchers were able to eliminate traffic or industrial pollution as possible causes.

“The health effects that we saw are really coming from the smoke,” Cascio said.

Cascio and colleagues presented the data at the American Thoracic Society meeting in San Diego early in May, and it’s under review for publication.

Study shows racial disparities in lung cancer treatment A study that looks at newly diagnosed lung cancer patients is one of the first to give reasons why patients don’t undergo lung surgery and why surgery occurs less often in blacks.

Researchers found that when blacks had two or more additional medical conditions, they rarely had surgeries, only about four out of 100, whereas white patients in the same situation had surgery just as often as if they didn't have those conditions.

In addition, when black patients did not have a regular source of care, such as a primary care doctor, physicians recommended surgery only one-fifth as often as they did with whites who had no primary care doctor.

The study was composed of patients and physicians at five medical centers in North and South Carolina, including the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center at the Brody School of Medicine. It was led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and published in the June 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

10 mission 2010

“African-Americans have a poorer outcome in lung cancer because they get less treatment,” said Dr. Paul Walker, a study co-author and director of the thoracic oncology clinic at the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center. “If and when they get the same treatment as Caucasians, the outcome is the same.”

The study analyzes data from 386 lung cancer patients. The results show that 66 percent of white patients had surgery, compared to 55 percent of black Walker patients.

The results suggest there may be thousands of black patients with lung cancer in the United States who should be getting surgery but aren’t, researchers said. The differences in care go beyond what can be explained by differences between blacks and whites in health insurance, education and income, they said.

To correct this disparity, researchers said, physicians should look at cases where black patients have been steered away from surgery.

In such cases, doctors should push for second opinions or other fail-safe mechanisms.

Researchers also recommended improvements in electronic medical records to better track patients and their treatments.

Better care management, communication and patient education are also important, researchers said.

In addition to researchers at UNC and ECU, physicians from Charlotte and Charleston, S.C., also participated. The study was funded by the American Cancer Society.

Researchers plan to further analyze their data to see if differences exist across institutions based upon the makeup of each institution’s lung cancer programs. They also plan an intervention study to focus on changing physicians’ medical sense and perspectives of African-Americans in lung cancer treatment, Walker said.

I n T h e Lab

Microbe research receives grant

Grant to aid cancer research at ECU

Dr. Jeffrey Smith is furthering his study of a gastrointestinal microbe thanks to a new five-year, $1.6 million grant.

Smith, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Brody School of Medicine, received the grant from the National Institutes of Health. He’s working with Bacteroides fragilis to understand how the microbe, which is part of the normal flora of the human digestive system, withstands the body’s immune system.

Doing so could lead to a better understanding of how opportunistic infections occur in Smith the body.

Bacteroides species are generally beneficial, helping to break down complex molecules and supply vitamins, though B. fragilis sometimes can cause infections following appendicitis, diverticulitis, or other trauma to the gut.

Smith has studied the microbe since he arrived at ECU in 1987.

Smith’s research could also benefit the Human Microbiome Project, a NIH program to characterize the entire human microbiota – the microbes inhabiting an organ or body part – and its role in human health and disease. These microbes outnumber the human cells by more than 10 to 1 but we have very little understanding of their biology or how they interact with the human body.

Recent technological advances allow analysis of the DNA of microbe communities, leading to an understanding of how communities interact with each other. This will ultimately provide insight into how the immune system discriminates between the good and bad microbes and help answer questions from why do doctors see more children with asthma today to how have MRSA infections become so common.

An East Carolina University scientist has received a $45,000 grant from Triad Golfers Against Cancer.

The grant will help Dr. Li Yang, an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, further his research into the interaction between tumors and their microenvironments, identify therapeutic targets and develop small molecules to modulate tumor microenvironment interaction for combination cancer therapy. Li’s research focuses on prostate cancer and melanoma, but is adaptable to other cancers.

Li’s project involves collaboration with Dr. Gordon Ibeanu at N.C. Central University Triad Golfers Against Cancer awarded $219,000 in grants this year to the four medical schools in North Carolina.

Golfers Against Cancer, founded in 1997, is a national charitable organization.

Yang

Professor receives national research award Dr. William Meggs, a professor of emergency medicine and chief of toxicology at the Brody School of Medicine, has received the Research Award from the American College of Medical Toxicology for contributions to toxicology research.

Over the past three decades, Meggs has shown innovation and creativity in medical toxicology and related areas of study. These range from the use of the Meggs drug heparin to treat anaphylactoid shock to ways to delay onset of toxicity from snakebites. Perhaps his greatest impact has been his research into the

problem of irritant sensitivity, which can cause inflammation similar to asthma and other conditions.

Meggs also was the first researcher to report that chronic exposure to low levels of an organophosphate insecticide could induce obesity.

Meggs is also author of “The Inflammation Cure,” a book that combines scientific writings regarding fundamental processes that produce inflammation in diseases with lifestyle modifications to reduce harmful inflammatory processes in the body.

Meggs accepted the award from Dr. Erica Liebelt, president of ACMT, at the group’s March meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.

He has been on the ECU faculty since 1988.

2010 mission 11

BUILDING

BRIDGES ECU teams heal and help in Nicaragua

By Amy Ellis A long line of Nicaraguan villagers who heard a doctor is coming today spirals around a fence surrounding a dilapidated building. As a school bus full of missionaries and medicine chugs into view, many of them press into the person ahead of them, afraid of losing what might be their only chance to see a medical professional. >> 2010 mission 13

S

Some have walked hours in the rain from their rural mountain dwellings of cardboard and tin. There are mothers nursing diaperless infants, old men leaning shakily on crooked sticks, muddy children with bellies protruding beneath tattered clothes.

Those children, many suffering from malnutrition, appear much younger than they are, while their elders appear much older, their lined faces and swollen joints testifying to the rigors of daily life in this Third World country. Hundreds of big, brown eyes track every movement the “gringos” make as they unload plastic chairs, folding tables and tubs of medicine to transform the cinderblock building into a makeshift clinic for the day.

Inside, there are no lights, no running water. A clock, its batteries long dead, hangs upside down on one wall, in many ways a metaphor for this culture as well as the

Dr. Tommy Ellis, an ECU family physician, speaks with a parent and child in Nicaragua.

practice of medicine in this country, the second-poorest of the western hemisphere.

When Dr. Tommy Ellis, a family physician and 1992 graduate of East Carolina University’s medical school, embarked on his first medical mission to Nicaragua in 2003, he brought along two bags of medicine and a giant bundle of uncertainty. Ellis, who serves as medical director for ECU Physicians Firetower Medical Office, said last-minute invitations from local optometrist Ted Watson and then-high-school-student Kelley Haven (now a medical student featured beginning on page 12) coincided with an extra week of vacation that year to convince him to act on inclinations he’d had for some time.

This summer Ellis completed his ninth 14 mission 2010

medical mission in Nicaragua, taking a team of 22 people (including his family of six), 24 50-pound bags of medicine and supplies and an infinite inventory of optimism for an eight-day stay.

“My goal going into it was to see what health care is like in a Third World country, to see if I could make a difference,” Ellis said.

“My goal when I go now is to impact specific, local communities through more continuity of care and to generate awareness in the people who go with me. I hope the desire to help will trickle down and the effect will be multiplied.”

Helping hands Ellis’ base in Nicaragua is an orphanage run by Globe International in the northern mountains of Jinotega, the most medically underserved area of the country. From there, his team traveled about an hour every day to hold medical clinics in various villages. They served 750 patients clinically, treating a parade of infections, asthma, allergies, skin conditions, parasite-related illnesses, anemia, malnutrition and hypertension. They provided parasite treatment to several thousand people. They gave out multivitamins, flip-flops, T- shirts and toothbrushes, as well as dental and medical education.

Ellis is only one of dozens of Brody School of Medicine faculty, staff and students who have devoted weeks of vacation time and untold personal expenses to go on Nicaragua medical mission trips over the past decade or so. Although many medical and nonmedical Greenville residents participate in worldwide missions every year, Nicaragua seems to hold a special draw for the people of this community, ECU and Brody in particular.

A traveler to this country ravaged by war and natural disaster doesn’t have to search hard for evidence that Pirates have been dispensing regular doses of hope and healing there. In certain areas, you’re almost as likely to see a child sporting a Greenville Little League shirt as one combing through a garbage dump for food.

“Brody, ECU and Greenville in general have an unbelievable culture of compassion,” said Sandy Carter-Britnell, director of Globe International-Nicaragua. She said Greenville’s medical community has been the largest contributor to her ministry’s health efforts — physically, financially and emotionally

— since she began helping street children and orphans in the capital Managua 13 years ago.

“I built these orphanages with my heart,” she said, “but the hearts in Greenville and at ECU have kept them going.”

Ellis is often asked why his teams spend months planning, collecting supplies, soliciting donations, packing and drumming up travel expenses, when there are needs in his own backyard. He says it isn’t an “either-or” situation.

“We should do both,” he said. “I try to help the needy here, too. Some areas of eastern North Carolina are definitely underserved when it comes to basic health care. But even the poorest here have access to clean drinking water and shelter — needs that 50 percent of Nicaraguans go without daily.

“I just read that 70 percent of Americans considered below the poverty level have air conditioning. The word ‘poverty’ means something completely different in Nicaragua.

Half the population there makes less than two dollars a day, so things like a one-dollar tube of hydrocortisone cream are completely out of reach for them. It’s astonishing how much suffering I see there due to things we treat so easily here.”

Ellis said the complexity of the U.S. health care delivery system can be frustrating and exhausting for a primary care provider, and his efforts in Nicaragua re-energize him.

“Mission work in a Third World country reminds me that the most basic care can provide long-lasting outcomes,” he said. “It re-emphasizes that primary care providers can have a tremendous impact on our own country’s health and economy if we’re willing to intervene early and take time to educate patients.”

Enriching service Dr. Tim Reeder, an associate professor and vice chair for clinical operations in the ECU Department of Emergency Medicine, said he didn’t really know what “poor” was until he accompanied Ellis to Nicaragua this past July.

A board member and regular volunteer for the Greenville Community Shelter, Reeder was refreshed by “a week of practicing medicine for the joy of it” and the chance to focus on interaction with patients.

“Of course, there’s only so much you can do in a week,” he said. “But a lot of what we

do in medicine anyway is support the body’s process of healing itself. At home, we take for granted that we can pop an ibuprofen when we have a headache. In Nicaragua, just providing a little pain relief makes a huge difference for these people. It’s practicing medicine in its purest form.”

Although many drugs Reeder dispensed to his Nicaraguan patients will undoubtedly make positive – even lifesaving – changes, he believes the external validation the team provided them might well have been the best medicine they received. “It was obvious that our taking the time to listen, support and encourage was enormously reassuring to them,” he said.

Second-year medical student Randall “Rocky” Proctor said the patients’ gratitude alone would have made the trip fulfilling for him. He was grateful, in turn, for some hands-on experience, a chance to observe disease states rarely seen at home and the opportunity to work closely with a diverse group of people.

“This mission trip very much enriched my medical education,” he said. “I saw how culture and environment affect the type of care delivered. I also saw the importance of all members of a health care team. Each team

member had a purpose that was vital to the success of the mission — from the greeters and intake personnel to the translators. I have a new appreciation for the coordination of care and the careful thought process Dr. Timothy Reeder, an ECU emergency physician, speaks with necessary to complete a parent and child in the mission clinic. such a task well.”

Dr. Brett D. Keiper, an associate professor figurative bridges built between Nicaragua in the Department of Biochemistry and and Greenville.

Molecular Biology, opted to spend his “There are clearly kids growing up healthy mission week in Nicaragua assisting with a and strong in the countryside around Jinotega construction project at the orphanage. who would not be, had it not been for the “It must be of some encouragement, both many volunteer hours of students, faculty, to the kids living there and the staff who clinicians from Brody,” Keiper said. “But work there daily, that the infrastructure is more than that, the real impact seems to be a slowly and steadily improving,” said Keiper. rising awareness among these Nicaraguan “It is important both for planning and people that we are not really so far away — morale to be able to envision a future with physically, mentally or spiritually. And we’ve even better facilities and services.” provided some evidence that we are not On his first trip in 2007, Keiper helped unconscious of their plight, not asleep to build a desperately needed footbridge on the their world.” orphanage property. Over time he has seen

Healing hearts The northern countryside of Nicaragua isn’t the only area to be touched by Brody’s “culture of compassion.” For 12 years, Dr. John D. “Jack” Rose, a professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, has been doing medical missions in the bustling city of León, southwest of Jinotega.

Over the past decade, Rose, Dr. Harry Adams, an infectious disease specialist; Dr. Theodore C. Koutlas, a heart surgeon; Dr. David Hannon, a pediatric cardiologist; and others have worked to establish a partnership with the medical school in León. This Rose relationship enables them to offer specialized medical care in Nicaragua that would be unavailable otherwise, as well as frequent mission opportunities for medical students and residents.

Rose said they usually make two trips every 12 months, each about two weeks long. “The first is in September,” he said, “and it involves evaluating patients with valvular and congenital heart disease, and bringing down a surgical team to perform open-heart surgery. The second trip is in February. It involves general clinics as well as cardiology.”

Adams said each team sees about 120 cardiology patients. “In addition, the students round in the hospital,” he said.

“We attend a weekly HIV clinic operated by the infectious diseases specialist there. We also spend time in community clinics in León or in neighboring towns. This gives everyone a great exposure to public primary care in Nicaragua.”

Koutlas is typically accompanied by surgical team members from ECU and Pitt County Memorial Hospital. He performs eight or so heart operations in León annually. “There are about 15 people who all go at their own expense — nurses, operating room techs,

perfusionists, anesthetists, anesthesiologists and medical students,” he said.

Brody faculty members who work out of León are members of Project Health for León, an effort organized by Dr. John Paar, a Raleigh cardiologist who established the cardiology program in León years ago. The organization aims to train Nicaraguan medical professionals, provide specialized medical care to Nicaragua and offer educational experiences in Nicaragua to American medical students and other medical professionals.

The project also funds several cardiac surgeries at PCMH every year for Nicaraguans who require the more extensive resources available here.

“I think we all agree it is an incredibly valuable experience going down there,” said Koutlas. “We have a lot of poverty in eastern North Carolina, but there is nothing in the U.S. like you see down there. A week working down there makes us all understand why we went into medicine as a career.”

—Amy Ellis

2010 mission 15

Emerging RESEARCH

Dr. Jared Brown’s prestigious award aids study of nanomaterials

By Karen Shugart

16 mission 2010

I

It was in graduate school that Dr. Jared Brown began the work that would just six years later net him and his colleagues more than $3 million for research.

First came a $75,000 grant from the N.C. Biotechnology Center in June. That same month, Brown, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Brody School of Medicine, learned officially he received a $2.2 million grant as one of a half-dozen researchers to be awarded an Outstanding New Environmental Scientist Award.

Awarded to early-career scientists, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ program since 2006 has annually identified and supported scientists who intend to dedicate their careers to environmental science research.

Then, in early September, Brown learned that he and Dr. Christopher Wingard, associate professor of physiology, will share in a $3.75 million, five-year, multi-project grant funded by the National Institutes of Health. Brown and Wingard will each lead $700,000 projects.

It’s a slate of accomplishments that’s not too shabby for someone just six years out of graduate school. Even more impressive, perhaps, is the area of his research — carbon nanotubes and the nascent study of nanomaterials’ effects on the human body.

Smaller than 1/1000th of a millimeter, carbon nanotubes are tube-shaped fi bers that have proved useful in products as varied as cosmetics, sunscreens, bicycle frames, electronics, sailboats, space shuttles and pills. They’ve even been used to clean up oil spills.

“This is probably one of the most rapidly growing commercial applications of material science,” said Wingard. “There’s more than 800 registered nanomaterials out there in commercial use.”

Until recent years, however, their effects on human health have gone largely unexamined and unregulated. Now, agencies including the NIH, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are pushing for answers.

OPPOSITE: Dr. Jared Brown is studying carbon nanotubes in his laboratory.

“Are these things toxic and, if they are, what levels are we exposed to? And if we are exposed, what level is safe, and what level is not safe?” said Brown, citing some of scientists’ questions.

There’s reason to be asking questions. Experiments have shown that rodents, when exposed to nanotubes in the lungs, developed pulmonary inflammation and fi brosis, Brown said.

“What’s not known is how that might occur,” he said.

Brown and Wingard aren’t alone among ECU researchers in asking such questions. Others examining nanotechnology’s effects on the human body include Dr. Alexander Murashov, associate professor of physiology; Dr. Wayne Cascio, director of research at the East Carolina Heart Institute; and Dr. Dave Brown, assistant professor of physiology.

For his part, Jared Brown has studied how response to nanotubes is affected by mast cells, which play an important role in allergic reactions. He’s studied two groups of mice, one with the cells and one without, and found that the mice with mast cells developed pulmonary inflammation and fi brosis when exposed to nanotubes.

The ones lacking the cells did not.

“It was a completely different response, almost like night-and-day,” Brown said.

Brown suspects that nanotubes damage the lung through the epithelium or through a macrophage. Those cells, he hypothesized, release interleukin 33, a protein that acts as a signaler between immune system cells, which in turn activates the mast cell.

If mast cells provide key answers to understanding the body’s response to certain nanotubes, then perhaps scientists have a leg up already on preventing adverse effects, Brown said. An array of drugs targeting mast cells or mast cell products such as antihistamines is available that address allergic reactions.

Studying the effects of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes is complicated by the abundance of types available. With already more than 800 nanomaterials registered and many more in development for commercial use, there are a lot of unknown effects, Wingard said.

Brown said probably 20 to 30 U.S. companies make their own nanotubes.

“How they’re made can vary from lab to lab to company to company, so even if you compared a carbon nanotube from one company to another, you’re going to get different biological responses,” he said. “So there’s this big push to try to identify common mechanisms to model and predict effects.”

The ONES Award, much like the Biotechnology Center grant, will help Brown identify properties that might make carbon nanotubes toxic.

The most recent grant, which Brown will share with Wingard as well as researchers from RTI International and the Hamner Institute, will create a Center for Estimating Human Health Risks from Exposure to Nanomaterials. Brown’s project in the joint effort will examine the uptake of nanomaterials by epithelial and endothelial cells in rodents.

Their conclusions will contribute a growing body of research that may have important ramifications for nanotechnology: Will the rapidly growing industry need regulation? Should rules be put in place to protect workers in the industry — or members of the public — from some exposure to carbon nanotubes, just as laws were passed to regulate asbestos, another long, thin fi ber?

“The idea is to try to pre-empt something like the asbestos fiasco,” Brown said.

2010 mission 17

Dr. Elizabeth Fry of Greenville talks with medical student Kelley Haven as part of a mentoring program funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina.

Mission magazine writer Marion Blackburn catches up with the group of medical students she interviewed last year as they embarked on medical school.

Here’s how they’re doing.

Second

STUDENTS CONFIDENTLY ENTER 18 mission 2007 2010

rounds

YEAR TWO OF MEDICAL SCHOOL 2010 mission 19

What a difference a year makes. Gone are the overworked first-year medical students, and in their place are composed M2s ready for just about anything.

Last year, Mission magazine introduced four first-semester medical students. Since then, they’ve had a wild ride, but they have adapted and succeeded.

They’re focused and calm; they even find a free hour here and there.

During their second year, they’ll complete courses in microbiology, pathology and pharmacology. They’ll have an introduction to medicine and clinical skills. They’ll also prepare for step one of their licensing exam, which they’ll have to pass before they can continue. By July, they’ll be ready for clinical rotations.

While it’s a tough regimen, most students make it. Brody’s withdrawal and dismissal rate is only 3.24 percent, which is fewer than three students a year. Brody’s five-year average of 1.5 percent compares favorably with the national average of 2.8 percent.

A chance to travel Diana Spell, 24, is a Brody Medical Scholar and graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta, one of the nation’s top historically black universities and one known for sending a high number of graduates into medicine.

During the summer, she traveled to Africa, fulfilling a long-held dream. Her Brody award funded five weeks in Senegal, during which time she volunteered as a teacher and camp mentor to girls. She worked with at-risk girls and women ages 14-21, helping raise awareness of environmental basics as well as self-awareness and empowerment. She also taught computer skills.

She thought she would be able to speak French with them, but found most people using a regional dialect known as Wolof.

“Senegal allowed me to appreciate the basic passions in life again – community and love, care and wisdom,” Spell said. “I am more patient now, smile more, and have a genuine spark for meeting people just to experience life. Senegal taught me that the relationships you make are way more valuable than the 20 mission 2010

clothes you wear or the car you drive.”

Back in school, Spell grins when asked about how she’s handling her course load and laughs at the thought of having a social life. “I figured LL E out some organization,” P AS N she said.

“Sacrifices? I’m used DIA to them.” She does, however, make time for a reunion with friends once a year.

Spell is originally from Raleigh.

Her level-headed approach allows her to study, hit the gym, talk to her mom and get to bed at “a reasonable hour,” which is around 1 a.m. She’s eating healthier foods, too.

“Now, I know it’s doable,” she says. “I’m not an obsessivecompulsive studier anymore, but I’m doing better.”

Her medical interests are taking

shape, too, and she’s thinking about pursuing rheumatology. “I’m very passionate about lupus,” she said, noting that two of her friends have this autoimmune disorder. She also feels pulled toward nephrology, thinking it will allow her to help those with late-stage kidney disease.

“You can always give people hope,” she said.

‘You get your priorities’ Hunter Mehaffey, 22, is enrolled in the university’s “MD in seven” program, which allows motivated students to complete undergraduate and medical degrees in seven years through accelerated coursework.

In the spring, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology but was unable to attend the ceremony. “Graduation was a week before finals,” he said.

“We had an entire semester’s worth of material, so it just wasn’t worth it. But all the work paid off.”

While he declined to reveal his grades, he’s not complaining

HUNTER MEHA

FF

EY

about them. “People don’t like to discuss grades,” he says. “The best rule of thumb is just don’t.”

Mehaffey was a competitive swimmer for ECU during his undergraduate years.

M Now that he’s a IC HA full-time medical student, EL WE E KS he no longer competes, but he coached a Greenville swim team this summer. He also runs, often for five, six, even eight miles. He’s originally from Clyde, near the Tennessee border.

Looking ahead, he realizes how much information he has to learn and accepts that he can’t master it all during two years of coursework. “I currently know enough to realize I know nothing,” he said. “We’re learning the language, so we can learn what we need to know.”

Already, he’s starting to think about his future – “I’m in a hurry,” he said – and surgery has captured his imagination, despite its lengthy residency. “It’s a skill you hone over years,” he said.

Like his peers, he’s found balance. “You get your priority list right,” he said. “You figure out where med school belongs. You still have to clean your house and pay your bills. But a balanced life helps everything. Some people get too involved in studying, but you have to do other things, as well.”

Is he enjoying himself ? “We’re living the dream,” he said with a genuine smile.

Otherwise engaged After many years as an accountant, social worker and addiction counselor, Michael Weeks, 44, realized he really wanted to become a doctor. He entered medical school older than his classmates, but found the same lessons held true regardless of age.

Confident in his studies, he enjoyed an especially meaningful Christmas break last December.

“I made it through the first semester,” he said. “I passed everything, and I got engaged.

It was a happy time. Coming back, I felt like a different person. So much of the anxiety

was gone.”

The combination of so many roles has Not that he’s refined her abilities. Surprisingly, she’s found taking it easy. a fuller life can also mean a more meaningful And he makes one. “I feel more balanced than I have felt in sure to share years,” she said. “Minnie is flourishing, and with his I’m able to focus on school work. I don’t feel fiancée, overwhelmed. I feel interested.”

Elisabeth, the Haven took a break during her M1 year, considerable then returned in 2009 to complete those pressures he’s studies. The workload, coupled with the under. Though it’s demands of being a mom, sometimes seemed nothing like the insurmountable, but she had more strength anxiety of the first than she realized. She pared her attention to year. Weeks is originally the essentials. “Just knowing what resources from Charlotte. are available is helpful,” she said. “You can’t It’s been a tremendous experience store all the information in one brain.” for him to volunteer at the Greenville Shelter On Mother’s Day, she was preparing for Community Clinic and Grimesland Free finals, knowing she’d have to forego a Clinic. celebration. But to her delight, her dad and “They have significant health problems,” stepmom showed up at the Brody Building he said of the patients he saw. “It really with chocolates and a plant for her. She took opens your eyes and gives you a new a much-needed break to visit with them. “We perspective on what a ‘bad’ day is. When I walked around the duck pond,” she rememcame home, I realized how much I took for bered. And in the end, she did just fine on her granted. It was a very humbling experience exams. and a great reminder of how privileged our Along with studying, labs, mommy duties lives are.” and volunteer work, she has found unexHis medical goals reflect his longpected joys, such as moving into a new standing interest in addiction house. “We invited all of our treatment, and he’s friends over to celebrate,” thinking about a she said. “It was a primary care specialty warm moment after or psychiatry. But a long journey, but he knows enough it really felt like about life to home.” understand all As a Blue can turn on a Cross Blue dime.

Shield scholar, “You realize she’s worked how often life closely with a changes,” he said. mentoring “I have a general doctor, attended idea of where I’m conferences and going. If I were in my participated in a skills N 20s, I’d be in a hurry. But I workshop in family E AV H have more serenity now.” medicine, which continues to Y KE LLE be her medical interest.

“Given that I’d like to work where there’s a Dr. Mom shortage of health care, the scope and These days, Kelley Haven, 25, is not only spectrum of skills in family medicine would juggling medical school and personal be very useful,” she said. “I’d love to do an obligations, but she’s also a Blue Cross Blue OB fellowship, so I could also deliver babies.

Shield Family Medicine scholar.

I would enjoy that.”

And most importantly, she’s a loving mom to sprightly, brown-haired Minnie, 2, her daughter.

2010 mission 21

A mission of service Dr. Harold Latta has built a career caring for children

BY DO UG BOYD

22 mission 2010

2010 mission 23

D

Dr. Harold Latta’s compassion for his patients reveals itself in one particular story.

During one of his many mission trips to Haiti, Latta saw a 6-year-old girl named Marie Yves whose case of strep throat went untreated, led to rheumatic fever and damaged the mitral valve in her heart.

Latta, who practices pediatrics in WinstonSalem, arranged for Marie Yves to fly to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, where a pediatric heart surgeon inserted an artificial valve, helping Marie Yves to be able to lead a normal, active life.

“She was a well child for seven years,” he said. After a brief pause, he continued. “She passed away in the earthquake.”

The quietly emotional moment said a lot about the character of Latta, a 1987 medical graduate of ECU. “Harold is not talkative – some might even say shy – but his life, and the ministry of his medical practice, speaks eloquently to why the practice of medicine matters so very much,” said Dr. Dudley Bell, who practices with Latta. “He demonstrates every day the highest professionalism, modeling for all of us how to follow the calling of being a physician.”

Latta has practiced in Winston-Salem for 20 years, since completing his residency at Wake Forest University. His professional life has centered on healing sick and injured

children, while outside of work he has been a leader in his church, active in community charities and a dedicated medical missionary.

“He is quite remarkable and just inspiring,” said nurse Susan Cook. “The patients he treats are also inspiring to him and make him laugh.”

“He [Latta] demonstrates every day the highest professionalism, modeling for all of us how to follow the calling of being a physician.”

—Dr. Dudley Bell

Many of those patients come from towns outside Winston-Salem, particularly ones with special needs. Latta has built a subspecialty around such children.

“With all of Dr. Latta’s patients, these families keep coming back because they trust him,” Cook said. “He believes in providing the best quality of care rather than the quantity of care. In pediatrics you have to build a rapport with the patient and family because it’s important for these families to

Dr. Harold Latta talks with nurse Jennifer Andrews at his pediatric practice in Winston-Salem.

24 mission 2010

trust you. This is truly how Dr. Latta works every day.”

Commitment to family and patients Family is a cornerstone of Latta’s life. He and his wife met in the early 1980s, while they were students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“We had sworn off that we would never go on another blind date, but our friends talked us into it,” Latta said. Two years later, they were married and living in Greenville while Latta attended medical school.

Dr. Tom Irons, an ECU professor of pediatrics, not only taught Latta in medical school but also taught the couple in Sunday school at First Presbyterian Church. He said the Lattas were inquisitive, raised pointed questions and had a way of applying spiritual lessons to contemporary times.

“They’re very, very service-oriented in their lives,” Irons said. “And they have a warmth about them you feel. I always knew they would do something like this.”

The Lattas then went to Winston-Salem, where he completed residency training in pediatrics. That’s where they’ve been ever since. Lydia Latta is a grade-school teacher in Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools.

In the office, Latta earns praise from colleagues for his demeanor and for his knack for finding innovative answers to patient care matters.

“Harold is the epitome of a great pediatrician,” Bell said. “He is highly intelligent and thoughtful, very gentle with kids and parents and practices medicine and, in fact, lives all of his life, with the highest integrity. My own practice of medicine is made easier by Harold’s presence in the office.

He is the ‘go-to guy’ for puzzling, difficult or obscure cases.

“He makes sure his patients are taken care of as well as is humanly possible, no matter the time or effort involved,” Bell said. “‘Dedication’ is the word to use.”

That’s also a word to use for Latta’s pursuit of mission work. He’s inspired others, including Bell, to get involved in mission organizations in Haiti as well as locally.

In addition to his regular practice, Latta also sees patients at the Sunnyside clinic, operated by the Moravian Sunnyside Ministry and the Forsyth County Department of Public Health. The free clinic

At left, Latta examines a child during a trip to Haiti. At right, Latta and nurse Susan Cook take care of a child.

operates two days a month and provides routine care, lab work and school physicals.

Some of the patients he’s seen there have become regular patients at his practice.

He carries that demeanor to the medical students who pass through his practice.

“Harold has a great love of teaching, and enjoys the obligation we all have to pass on medical knowledge to those following us,” Bell said. “He models excellent, compassionate care in a non-threatening, helpful, positive fashion.”

Mission work calls Winston-Salem may be where he focuses his practice, but his mind is never far from Haiti and the patients, like Marie Yves, he’s treated there. In 1996, a colleague convinced him to give overseas work a try. So Latta planned to take off two weeks during the summer and contacted a mission group for an assignment. For various reasons, communication didn’t go smoothly, and Latta began to wonder if the trip would happen.

But one day he received a phone call from a pharmacist who was working at a hospital in Haiti. It turned out the pharmacist’s wife had been in the office of the mission organization Latta was working with and overheard his name during a phone call. She looked him up and forwarded his name and number to her husband.

“I kind of felt like it was meant to be, because if she hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t

have fallen into place,” Latta said.

Soon, he arrived at the hospital in Leogane, Haiti. He described it as dark and dreary, but it provided life-saving care. Latta was changed forever. People suffered with illnesses and injuries that would be easily and quickly treated in a clean, modern U.S. hospital or doctor’s office – or, they would have been prevented through vaccines and public health measures such as clean water.

“And I felt tremendous guilt for weeks after I came back,” he said, until his wife told him he should plan to return.

To Latta, taking care of children in Third World countries is vital. He cites statistics detailing the inequity in health care spending

“Harold is the epitome of a great pediatrician.”

—Dr. Dudley Bell

and public health measures between rich and poor countries and their effects on the health of children in poor countries. For example, he said, about 8 percent of children live in developed countries, but they receive 90 percent of children’s health spending.

“When you see that great difference, certainly we want to do everything we can do to” to help, he said.

Latta has long-term goals for his work in Haiti, too.

“He feels a strong desire to raise a generation of healthy Haitian children,” Cook said, “so our Haitian brothers and sisters can help themselves solve the problems of health, economics, infrastructure and literacy.”

Sources of inspiration Latta has been back to Haiti numerous times, often taking colleagues and his family with him. His oldest daughter, Courtney, 23, was working with a children’s hunger project in Haiti Jan. 12 when the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck.

“My wife and I had a very long hour,” he said, recalling when news of the earthquake arrived. “We were very fortunate one of her friends was able to get a cell phone call out before all the cell systems died.”

Courtney Latta was OK; in fact, she spent the night helping care for the injured even though she had no medical training. Her father immediately began making plans to go there, and he arrived Jan. 18 and was there about nine days. He called it “not only the most overwhelming and depressing but also the most inspiring trip.”

After a night of rescue work, he recalled a moment the following morning that seemed to reflect the spirit of his own work there.

“As the sun was coming up,” he said. “I awoke to people singing hymns.”

2010 mission 25

D e pa l rtty me Facu Nn et wh seading

New Faculty Lavanya Alapati Clinical assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: JJM Medical College, India Residency: Interfaith Medical Center, New York Dr. William Bailey Clinical assistant professor of cardiovascular sciences M.D.: Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Residency: Baylor and University of Texas Health Science Center Fellowship: Baylor and Texas (cardiac electrophysiology, cardiology) Dr. Gentiana Bakaj Clinical assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: Saint George’s University School of Medicine, Grenada Residency: ECU

Pennsylvania

Dr. Sharon Ben-Or Assistant professor of cardiovascular sciences M.D.: University of Pennsylvania Residencies: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lankenau Hospital,

Dr. Tithi Biswas Clinical associate professor of radiation oncology M.D.: University of Calcutta, India Residency: University of Rochester Medical Center, New York Fellowship: Strong Memorial Hospital, New York (radiation oncology) Dr. Karen Buckley Clinical assistant professor of surgery M.D.: New York Medical College Residency: Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, New Jersey 26 mission 2010

(cytopathology)

Dr. Lessia Burke Clinical assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine M.D.: University of Colorado Residency: Mayo Clinic, Minnesota Fellowship: ECU

Dr. Abid Butt Clinical assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: Quaid-E-Azam Medical College, Pakistan Residency: New York Medical College Dr. Amir Butt Assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: Quaid-e-Azam Medical College, Pakistan Residency: Lutheran Medical Center, New York Fellowship: Brooklyn (N.Y.) Hospital Center (gastroenterology) Dr. Yvonne Carter Assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: University of Maryland Residency: University of Maryland Fellowship: University of North Carolina (infectious diseases) MPH: University of North Carolina Dr. Martin Cichon Clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine M.D.: Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences, Poland Residency: ECU Dr. Irma Corral Clinical assistant professor of psychiatric medicine Ph.D.: University of California, San Diego MPH: San Diego State University

Dr. Jennifer Crotty Assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: Pennsylvania State University Residency: ECU

Dr. Daniel Fried Clinical assistant professor of radiation oncology M.D., Ph.D.: University of North Carolina Residency: UNC Dr. Harris Green Clinical assistant professor of internal medicine M.D.: East Tennessee State University Residency: ECU Dr. Tana Hall Assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology M.D.: ECU Residency: ECU

Dr. Robert Harland Professor of surgery M.D.: Duke University Residency: Duke University Fellowship: Duke University (transplant surgery) Dr. David Holder Clinical associate professor of pediatrics M.D.: Harvard University Residency: Boston City Hospital MPH: Harvard University Fellowship: Boston Children’s Hospital (adolescent medicine) Dr. Nathan Holladay Clinical assistant professor of internal medicine M.D., Ph.D.: University of Texas Southwestern Residency: ECU

Facu lt y N e w s

New Faculty Dr. Jennifer Baird Humberson Clinical assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: Medical College of Virginia Residencies: University of California, San Francisco, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Brock Niceler Clinical assistant professor of family medicine M.D.: Marshall University Residency: University of Utah Fellowship: University of Utah (sports medicine) Dr. John Norbury Clinical assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation M.D.: Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Ohio Residency: Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia

Dr. Robert James Clinical assistant professor of surgery M.D.: Tulane University Residency: University of Maryland Fellowship: Vanderbilt University (neurosurgery) Dr. Folashade Jose Clinical assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria Residency: St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, New Jersey Fellowship: University of California, San Francisco (pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology, nutrition) Dr. Ridas Juskevicius Clinical associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine M.D.: Vilnius University, Lithuania Residency: Vilnius University, ECU Fellowship: Vanderbilt University Medical Center (hematopathology) Dr. Suzanna Kitten Clinical assistant professor of psychiatric medicine M.D. University of Illinois Residency: ECU

Dr. Nathan Nehus Clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine M.D.: Ross University School of Medicine, West Indies Residency: ECU

Dr. Kraigher O’Keefe Clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine M.D.: University of California, San Diego Residency: University of Michigan Dr. Allen Oseroff Clinical associate professor of cardiovascular sciences M.D.: George Washington University Residency: Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Georgia Fellowship: Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. (cardiology) Dr. Balaji Pabbu Clinical assistant professor of family medicine M.D.: Sri Venkateswara Medical College, India Residency: Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, California Fellowship: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia (geriatrics) Dr. Laura Raynor Clinical assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Residency: ECU Fellowship: University of Virginia (neonatology)

(pediatric surgery)

Dr. David Rodeberg Professor of surgery M.D.: University of Wisconsin Residency: University of Cincinnati Fellowship: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore

University

Dr. Jason Rolls Clinical assistant professor of surgery M.D.: Columbia University, New York Residency: New York Presbyterian Hospital Fellowship: Columbia

Dr. Dennis Russo Clinical professor of family medicine Ph.D.: University of California, Santa Barbara

Dr. Carolyn Spencer Assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: University of North Carolina Residency: University of Florida Fellowships: Children’s Hospital, Boston (pediatric cardiology/echocardiography), University of Florida (pediatric cardiology) Dr. Richard Stair Clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine M.D.: University of Maryland Residency: University of Maryland

Dr. Jennifer Sutter Clinical assistant professor of pediatrics M.D.: University of Florida Residency: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Fellowship: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (pediatric endocrinology) Dr. Jill Sutton Clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology M.D.: ECU Residency: ECU

2010 mission 27

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Kolasa receives state award Dr. Kathryn Kolasa, a dietitian and professor of family medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, received the Jim Long Lifetime Achievement Award from N.C. Prevention Partners, a state organization that promotes better diets, more physical Kolasa activity and reduced tobacco use.

The award was presented in Chapel Hill at the group’s annual meeting and awards ceremony. Long was a state insurance commissioner, NCPP board member and an advocate of prevention. He died in 2009.

Kolasa was recognized for her extraordinary leadership to bring awareness and solutions about good nutrition to North Carolinians and across the nation. Her latest project is working to make sure employees and visitors at North Carolina hospitals have access to affordable and healthy foods and beverages at all times of day.

Pekala named department chair Dr. Phillip H. Pekala has been named chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Brody School of Medicine, which he joined as a faculty member in 1981.

He has a doctorate in biochemistry from Pekala Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in physiological chemistry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Pekala has also served as the assistant dean for research and as the associate director of research for the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center.

Pekala received the Brody School of Medicine Master Educator recognition in 2002 and the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2003.

Pekala had served as the interim chair since 2006.

Kataria recognized

Kataria

28 mission 2010

Dr. Yash Kataria received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Amritsar Medical and Dental Alumni Association of North America at the group’s annual meeting Aug. 14-18 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Kataria is professor emeritus and director of the Sarcoidosis Clinic at the Brody School of Medicine.

Moore named to fellowship

Moore

Dr. Justin B. Moore, assistant professor of public health at the Brody School of Medicine, has been named a fellow in the American College of Sports Medicine, acknowledging high standards of professional responsibility, achievement, participation and continuing professional development.

Ferguson leads task force Dr. Jeffrey Ferguson, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, served as co-chair of the International First Aid Science Advisory Board, a task force co-sponsored by the American Heart Association and the Ferguson American Red Cross. The group included more than 70 members from emergency health care organizations worldwide.

Willson re-elected to council Dr. Charles Willson, a clinical professor of pediatrics at the Brody School of Medicine, has been re-elected to a four-year term on the Council on Medical Service. The council is part of the American Medical Association. It studies Willson and evaluates the social and economic aspects of medical care and suggests means for developing services in a changing socioeconomic environment. It was established in 1943.

Cao receives grant Dr. Qing Cao, a geriatrician and clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, has received a five-year, $375,000 Geriatric Academic Career Award grant for faculty development. The grant was one of 58 awarded to new faculty around the country by the Cao federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Cao will focus her work on hospice and palliative care teaching.

Facu lt y N e w s

Three named master educators at Brody for 2010 Drs. Harry Adams, Lars Larsen and Robert Newman have been named master educators for 2010 at the Brody School of Medicine.

Adams Adams is a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases. He has a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and completed residency training at Vanderbilt University and a fellowship at the University of Washington. He’s been a Brody faculty member since 1984 and served as division chief from 1987 to 1996. Adams was recognized in the category of outstanding teaching or mentorship.

Larsen is a professor of family medicine.

He has a medical degree from the State University of New YorkSyracuse and completed a Larsen fellowship and post-doctoral training at the University of Utah. He’s been an ECU faculty member since 1992. Larsen was recognized for educational leadership and administration and for outstanding teaching or mentorship.

Newman is also a professor of family medicine and an adjunct faculty member in the ECU College of Health and Human Performance. He is also director of clinical services for family medicine. Newman has a

medical degree from the University of Virginia and completed residency training at Charleston (S.C.) Naval Hospital. He Newman joined the Brody faculty in 2002. Newman was recognized for outstanding teaching or mentorship.

Since the program began in 2002, 37 Brody faculty members have been recognized.

Dr. Irwin S. Johnsrude died May 16 in Greenville. He was 80. He taught radiology at the medical school from 1978 until his retirement. He is survived by his wife, Wanda, five children, eight grandchildren and other relatives.

Dr. Opal Hood died of cancer Aug. 8. She was 60. Hood was a pediatrician and specialist in pediatric genetics, which she led at Hood ECU from 1990 until her retirement in 2009. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Charles Daeschner, an ECU pediatric cancer specialist, her stepmother, her sister and other relatives.

Ann Cory, a retired research associate in the Department of Biochemistry, died in Florida Aug. 15 of a pulmonary thrombosis.

She was 73. She is survived by her husband, Joe, a former chair of biochemistry, two sons, two grandchildren and three sisters. A son and daughter preceded her in death.

Dr. Lynn Orr died of cancer Aug. 17. He was 62. He was a faculty member from 1979-1985 and from 2000 until his death.

He was a clinical Orr professor in the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences. Orr is survived by his wife, Becki, a son, two daughters, a sister and other relatives.

Wayne Williams, founding director of the ECU Center for Medical Communication and author of histories of the Williams medical school and Pitt County Memorial Hospital, died Sept. 13 in Baton Rouge, La. He was 85. He is survived by a daughter and other relatives.

Faculty/staff deaths Dr. Daniel Crabtree died Feb. 28 in Norfolk, Va., after a two-year bout with malignant melanoma. He was 63. He taught at ECU from Crabtree 1988 to 1990.

Crabtree is survived by his wife, Linda, his father, three daughters, eight grandchildren and other relatives.

Dr. Theodore Kushnick died May 1 in Greenville. He was a retired professor of pediatrics and director of the Developmental Kushnick Evaluation Center at ECU. Kushnick is survived by his wife, Judith, three children, three grandchildren and other relatives.

2010 mission 29

D e pa l rtty me Facu Nn et wh seading

COMBAT CARE: Schenarts saves soldiers, others at Afghan hospital At a dusty base in Afghanistan, Dr. P.J. Schenarts is doing what he loves: taking care of the injured.

“To work here, you need your funny bone, your back bone and your brain bone,” said Schenarts, better known there as Lt. Col. Paul J. Schenarts, a trauma surgeon and deputy commander of clinical services, 344th Combat Support Hospital. “I feel like it’s not only my duty, but an honor for me to be able to do this. Being able to provide critical care to soldiers is really wonderful.”

Dr. Paul Schenarts, an ECU surgeon and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, treats a patient at the 344th Combat Support Hospital in Afghanistan.

Schenarts is an Army reservist, associate professor of surgery and assistant dean for clinical academic affairs at the Brody School of Medicine. From July until October, he served his sixth tour of duty in the Middle East. He returned Oct. 14.

The hospital, at Forward Operating Base Salerno, stays busy.

During one 38-day period this summer, hospital staff responded to 39 traumas and admitted 47 patients. They took nearly 600 X-rays, performed 57 surgeries, conducted 259 CT scans and treated 56 battle-related injuries.

“This is a trauma hospital,” said Lt. Col. Gregory A. Kolb, commanding officer. “It’s not a typical hospital like we have in the U.S. Most of our patients are trauma patients.”

Approximately 90 percent of those who arrive at Salerno Hospital do so by helicopter and are coming to get treatment for injuries sustained in battle, mostly from improvised explosive devices, shrapnel and gunshot wounds.

“This hospital is completely on par with hospitals in the U.S.,” Schenarts said. “We don’t lack anything. We are able to get diagnostic results back very quickly here, usually within a matter of minutes.

That doesn’t happen in the States.”

Although their main focus is saving soldiers’ lives, the hospital also treats contractors, coalition forces, detainees, Afghan National Security Forces and local nationals on a case-by-case basis.

Recently, staff treated several civilians who had been the target of an insurgent ambush and massacre that claimed 12 lives. One of the survivors was happy to be treated by the hospital staff.

“I thank the ISAF forces so much,” said Gula Gha, a 28-year-old Pakistan native from Parachinar District, Pakistan. “If it was not for their help, I would have died. I had lost a lot of blood, but the American doctors saved my life. I will never forget them.”

With the combination of the latest technology and highly-skilled medical staff, soldiers can rest assured they will receive the best care available if they find themselves at the CSH. “This is a great hospital with a great staff,” said Schenarts. “We provide excellent quality care, and we treat the best patients in the world ... the soldiers.”

—Sgt. Brent C. Powell, 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs

ECU physicians named to annual Best Doctors list Forty-three physicians from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University have been chosen by their peers for inclusion in the annual “Best Doctors” list.

The annual list is compiled by Best Doctors Inc., a Boston-based group that surveys more than 30,000 physicians across the United States who previously have been included in the listing asking whom they would choose to treat themselves or their families.

Approximately 5 percent of the physicians who practice in North Carolina make the annual list. A partial list of the state’s best doctors was in the November issue of “Business North Carolina” magazine.

The ECU physicians on the list are 30 mission 2010

Dr. William A. Burke, dermatology; Drs. Greg W. Knapp, Lars C. Larsen, Gary I. Levine, Robert J. Newman, Kenneth Steinweg and Ricky Watson, family medicine; Drs. Paul P. Cook and Keith M. Ramsey, infectious diseases; Dr. David Goff, pediatrics and internal medicine; Drs. Mary Jane Barchman, Paul Bolin and Cynthia Christiano, nephrology; Drs. Raymond Dombroski and Edward R. Newton, obstetrics and gynecology; Drs. David Hannon, Charlie J. Sang Jr. and Carolyn T. Spencer, pediatric cardiology; Drs. Irma Fiordalisi, Glenn Harris, William E. Novotny and Ronald M. Perkin, pediatric critical care; Dr. Michael Reichel, pediatric developmental and behavioral problems; Dr. Debra A.

Tristram, pediatric infectious diseases; Dr. David N. Collier, pediatric obesity; Dr. Daniel P. Moore, pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation; Dr. Elaine Cabinum-Foeller, pediatric abuse; Dr. Diana J. Antonacci, John Diamond and Kaye L. McGinty, child and adolescent psychiatry; Drs. James J. Cummings and Scott S. MacGilvray, neonatal medicine; Dr. Karin Marie Hillenbrand, Thomas G. Irons, Dale A. Newton, Kathleen V. Previll and Charles Willson, general pediatrics; Dr. Robert A. Shaw, pulmonary medicine; Drs. Robert Harland, Eric Toschlog and Emmanuel Zervos, surgery; Dr. W. Randolph Chitwood Jr., cardiothoracic surgery; and Dr. Charles S. Powell, vascular surgery.

D pa g Ae lu mr nti mNeenwts h e a d i nhttp://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/mhsfoundation/alumni.cfm

Barbecue Memories Ask Dr. David Ginty about living in Greenville and he remembers the camaraderie of the Brody School of Medicine, along with Venters biscuits and B’s barbecue.

“I must have gained 20 pounds while I was living there. The food was so good,” said Ginty, who has a picture of B’s in his home office in Baltimore.

He lived off N.C. 33 in a big farmhouse with little insulation, several roommates and his dog. “We’d set an alarm to wake up and put firewood in the stove,” he said.

He arrived in 1984, originally from Connecticut, having just finished an undergraduate degree at Mount Saint Mary’s College in Maryland.

“I was interested in not being too far away and interested in physiology,” Ginty said.

“They gave me a chance. I liked that part of the country and the idea of living there for five years, so it was perfect.”

After graduating from East Carolina University’s medical school with a doctorate in physiology, Ginty was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston, studying development of the nervous system and, in particular, the mechanism of action of nerve growth factor.

He later joined Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he is a professor of neuroscience, oversees the neuroscience graduate program and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, an honor bestowed only on the best of the best, said Dr. Edward R. Seidel, ECU professor of physiology.

In Seidel’s lab, Ginty focused on the role of polyamines in cellular proliferation.

“He was the hardest-working student I’ve ever had in my lab,” Seidel said. “He came in by 8 a.m. and rarely went home before 9 at night. He truly enjoyed working in the lab and was completely devoted to it.”

Ginty said Seidel “provided the right amount of independence and guidance,” which gave him confidence to tackle problems as he matured as a scientist.

“Of all the people I’ve worked with in 25 years, he stood out,” Ginty said of Seidel.

“He was far and away my most influential colleague not only at ECU but elsewhere.”

Ginty has tried to emulate Seidel’s style of thinking and creativity when working with his own students.

“It was Ed’s enthusiasm and approach to science and life,” he said. “It was invigorating.

He really motivated us to look further and try harder.”

Ginty is internationally known for his work on how neurons track to the places they were meant to travel in the brain and peripheral nervous system during embryological life.

“My mission is to understand how nerve cells in the developing brain form their proper connections with one another in order to generate functional circuits,” Ginty said.

His research on the nervous system is examining sensory neurons, the nerve cells that detect touch, pain, temperature or itch, how they develop and form, and give rise to the sense of touch.

The research could lead to a better

Ginty

understanding of diseases afflicting patients with nerve damage, including diabetic and chemotherapy-related neuropathies, and neurodegenerative disorders like ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

Ginty has been recognized with a Pew Scholars Award, the Klingenstein Foundation Award in Neuroscience, Alfred P. Sloan Research Award, the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award by the National Institutes of Health, as well as by the March of Dimes and American Cancer Society.

His time at ECU reflects in his teaching today.

“People really cared and discussed ideas and helped me grow tremendously,” Ginty said. “The environment was nurturing. People were generous and shared their time and expertise. It led to the style and approach I take in my own lab.”

­—Crystal Baity

Brody Class of 2010 graduates From left, Geniene and Jamande Jones and Catherine Loflin pose for a photo May 8 following the Brody School of Medicine convocation at Wright Auditorium. Sixty-six medical students received their degrees at the event. During their senior year in medical school, the Joneses married during a mission trip to Zambia. Dr. Tom Irons, professor of pediatrics, performed the ceremony on the banks of the Zambezi River.

2010 mission 31

D pa r tI mNeenwts h e a d i n g Ae LU MN

Brody sends 58 percent into primary care residencies Neel Thomas, left, celebrates the news that he’ll be heading to Wake Forest University for a residency in anesthesiology.

Thomas was one of 65 Brody School of Medicine students who participated in Match Day on March 18. Thirteen of them – the same number as last year – are entering family medicine residencies.

Eleven are entering some type of internal medicine residency. Nine students are entering pediatric residency programs, and five are entering obstetrics and gynecology. Those numbers equal 58 percent of the students participating in the match.

The class of 2010 was accepted into institutions in 18 states in 17 specialties. The Brody School of Medicine and PCMH will be home to 15 class members. Thirty-one graduates will stay in North Carolina.

Susan Morgan will be studying obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State University. “I’ve loved it here, and I'm going to miss it here a lot, but I'm very excited to be going somewhere completely different,” she said, adding she will especially miss Pirate football games.

Before the first student's name was called to come get an envelope with the match letter, Dr. Paul R.G. Cunningham, dean of the Brody School of Medicine, spoke. “You are cut from the Brody cloth.

Remember to lead,” he said.

Alumni deaths

Bray-Strickland

Dr. Katherine BrayStrickland, a 2009 graduate of the Brody School of Medicine, died Feb. 10 after a lengthy struggle with cancer. She was 27 and a family medicine

resident at ECU. Bray is survived by her husband, David, and parents, Paul and Dr. Emily Bray, a faculty member at Brody. She posthumously received the new Young Alumni Award at the 2010 alumni weekend event in September.

The award will be named in her memory.

Dr. Linda Miller died March 31 of cancer. She was 54. A 1999 graduate of the Brody School of Medicine, Miller completed residency training in Miller psychiatric medicine at ECU and PCMH and practiced as a child psychiatrist in eastern North Carolina. Miller had bachelor’s and master’s degrees in textile engineering from N.C. State University and worked in that field and as a volunteer emergency medical technician before entering medical school.

Miller is survived by her husband, Donald, two daughters, a brother and other relatives.

Dr. Anna W. Hudson died Sept. 18 of cancer.

She was 30. She was a 2008 graduate of the Brody School of Medicine and a family medicine resident at Hudson ECU. Hudson is survived by her husband, Keith, her parents, two sisters and other relatives.

FOR MORE A L U MN I NE WS : http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/mhsfoundation/alumni.cfm

32 mission 2010

CLOSE UP: NEW CLINICS FAMILY MEDICINE CENTER

517 MOYE

NEW CLINIC SPACES OPENING FOR PATIENTS ECU Physicians is welcoming patients to a pair of new clinical spaces that promise more space, better parking and more.

A leased building at 517 Moye Blvd. will house several services.

Surgery and pharmacy services moved in on the first floor during early October.

Adult and pediatric health care and adolescent medicine, previously housed in Doctors Park, were scheduled to move in to the second floor by early November. The building offers more space, an updated look and better patient access compared to previous clinic sites.

“It is, in fact, designed as a primary care office, which gives us both efficiency and creates a teaching model,” said Dr. Dale Newton, professor of pediatrics. The adult and pediatric clinic will grow to approximately 30 exam rooms from 12 and accommodate 10 full-time providers.

Plastic surgery will move to the third floor in late fall, as will dermatology and Mohs surgery.

In the spring, the Department of Family Medicine will move the bulk of its clinical practice into the new Family Medicine Center, nearing completion near Arlington Boulevard.

The new 117,000-square-foot center will have more than 60 exam rooms, plus a pharmacy, laboratory, a geriatric center, better parking and other amenities. Officials expect patient visits to climb by 8 percent from the approximately 46,000 patients seen yearly at the old Family Medicine Center.

The building’s geriatric center will have 12 rooms, a covered drive-up area to drop off and pick up patients and more space for families and students. It will provide easy access to radiology, physical therapy, nutrition, pharmacy and other services, unlike the previous site at Physicians Quadrangle.

“With the increase in clinic rooms we will be able to accommodate more learners in the geriatric clinic,” said Dr. Irene Hamrick, associate professor of family medicine and director of the geriatric division. “We are currently using the waiting room, which is the largest room in our current clinic, to discuss our research and other geriatric teaching points.”

The North Carolina Legislature approved $36.8 million in bonds for the project. The Golden LEAF Foundation also awarded $1 million to the project. Other donations include a $2.5 million gift from the estate of Frances Joyner Monk of Farmville to fund the geriatric portion.

mission ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation Mail Stop 659 East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27834-4354

Non-profit org.

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Change service requested

Learning the ropes From left, Jonathan Scott, Nicole Merli and Carol Akers negotiate the Mohawk walk at ECU’s ropes course near the Belk Building during a team-building exercise for medical students in August. The event was part of orientation week for the Class of 2014. Merli, of Greenville, is also one of three Brody Scholars in the class.