Fall 2012 - GHSU Today

GHSU

the magazine for Alumni, Faculty and Friends FA L L 2 0 1 2 V O L . 3 9 N O. 3

Deep Roots

photo Š jpainting

Ghost Stories, Jaguar Pride, Arsenal Oak Characterize ASU Culture page 10

from the w w w. g e o r g i a h e a l t h . e d u

editor

Our Mission

Dear Readers,

Leading Georgia and the world to better health by providing excellence in biomedical education, discovery and service.

Our Vision To be a globally recognized research university and academic health center, while transforming the region into a health care and biomedical research destination.

Our Values n Collaboration n Compassion n Diversity n Excellence n Innovation n Integrity n Leadership GHSU Today is produced quarterly by the Division of Communications and Marketing.

GHSU President Ricardo Azziz, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A. Senior Vice President for Communications and Marketing David Brond Editor Christine Hurley Deriso Photographer Phil Jones Writers Toni Baker Christine Hurley Deriso LaTina Emerson Paula Hinely Denise Parrish Jennifer Hilliard Scott Sharron Walls ©2012 Georgia Health Sciences University

CHRISTINE HURLEY DERISO

When President Ricardo Azziz addressed new students at this fall’s Professionalism Forum, he advised them to heed “the next five minutes.”

Professionalism, he said, isn’t something that happens at some undetermined time in the future, but in the next five minutes. It’s what we’re doing right now that defines our character and shapes our destiny. The next five minutes are a building block for the five minutes that follow, and on and on and on.

Conversely, GHSU Senior Director of Development for Gift Planning Tony Duva speaks of the next five years in this edition’s gift-planning article. “It’s been said that people often overestimate what they can achieve in a year,” he writes. “But they vastly underestimate what they can achieve in five years.”

Of course, the sum total of our lives and legacies reflect both ends of the spectrum—the integrity we demonstrate in our day-to-day, minute-to-minute choices, and the seeds we sow to produce long-term dividends for ourselves and others.

Few people better epitomize character at both ends of the spectrum than Dr. J. Harold Harrison, a 1948 Medical College of Georgia alumnus whose estate included a $10 million leadership gift to GHSU. The compassion and altruism he demonstrated in five-minute increments of life translated into better health and happiness for countless individuals.

And what of his seed-sowing? Well, his long-term plans mean that every GHSU student from this point forward will receive a better education. The J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons—the GHSU building that will proudly carry his name—will immeasurably enhance the university’s commitment to health sciences education. (See page 6 for more information.)

We hope this edition to GHSU Today familiarizes you with many other examples of excellence at both ends of the spectrum—and perhaps inspires you to follow their lead.

We also hope the magazine better acquaints you with our sister institution, Augusta State University. Our imminent consolidation will create a whole new university, but the merger will enrich—not obliterate—each university’s illustrious history.

We hope you enjoy reading about ASU’s in this edition. n

GHSU

the magazine for Alumni, Faculty and Friends FA L L 2 0 1 2

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V O L . 3 9 N O. 3

Deep Roots A Closer Look at ASU and its Culture

8 Thoughts on Consolidation

Faculty, Students and Staff Offer Insight

20 A Real Eye Opener

New Vision Center Brightens Patients’ World

28 Hallowed Ground

Father, Son Thrive Amid Hospital, Golf Greens

30 Like Father, Like Son

Nursing a Family Legacy for Fetners

33 Sailing Through

departments

2 News at a Glance 7 New Name, New Era

– President Ricardo Azziz

23 Research Roundup

42 Class Notes 48 Gift Planning

Consolidated Nursing College Promises Top-tier Education

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34 Paying it Forward

SEEP Provides Mentors to Future Clinicians

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Soldiering On

At Your Fingertips Medical Advances

New Alumni Website Launched During the Civil War

news at a glance Consolidation Update n The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved a mission statement for the university being created through the consolidation of Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University.

The regents voted Jan. 10 to consolidate the universities and charged a 21-member Consolidation Working Group to oversee the process. The committee unanimously endorsed a draft of the mission after broad-based feedback from members of both universities before submitting it to the regents. The Regents on May 9 approved the mission: to provide leadership and excellence in teaching, discovery, clinical care and service as a student-centered comprehensive research university and academic health center with a wide range of programs from learning assistance through postdoctoral studies.

“It was important that the new mission reflect the true breadth and scope of the new comprehensive research university, which would include an aligned and integrated health system,” said GHSU President Ricardo Azziz, who will oversee the consolidated university. “Our focus will remain on educational quality, excellence and success, but it is important that our mission reflect the new reality – that we will be a completely new comprehensive university.”

The mission will become effective after accreditation by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, expected in January, after which the Board of Regents will formally approve the consolidation. l

Contract Emphasizes Quality n Georgia Health Sciences’ new multi-year contract with BlueCross BlueShield Georgia includes incentives for quality improvements aimed at reducing readmission rates.

The contract, which went into effect Aug. 15, “enables us to continue making critical investments in our services, facilities, equipment, technology and physician recruitment,” said David S. Hefner, CEO of Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center and Georgia Health Sciences Medical Associates.

The contract also ensures long-term in-network access to GHS Medical Center and GHS Medical Associates physicians for BlueCross BlueShield Georgia members.

“Throughout the [negotiation] process, our members remained our top priority,” said Morgan Kendrick, President of BlueCross BlueShield Georgia. “We understand that negotiations such as these can be disruptive and are pleased to have reached an agreement that preserves access to a quality provider network, improves the quality of care that our members need and deserve, and maintains health care affordability.” l

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Schizophrenia Insight n An interview with MCG Dean Peter F. Buckley regarding the complex links between violence and schizophrenia was published in the Aug. 15 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Awareness of the situation is important, and that gets at the issue of stigma,” Buckley said, noting that Dr. Peter F. Buckley the small percentage of violence associated with schizophrenia frequently involves the same risk factors linked to violence in the general population, such as drug abuse. “To treat every patient with schizophrenia as if they were potentially violent would be ridiculous. The risk of violence is associated with untreated schizophrenia. Helping people remain engaged in treatment voluntarily is a mitigating approach.”

To read the article in full, visit http://tinyurl.com/8sylakh. l

Affiliation Strengthened n A strengthened academic affiliation between Georgia Health Sciences University and University Hospital has 32 medical residents doing a portion of their training at University Hospital this year, a figure that will double by 2014.

“We are exceedingly pleased with the progress and passion for this affiliation that significantly expands the training of GHS Health System residents at University Hospital,” said GHSU President Ricardo Azziz. “The leadership, physicians and staff at University Hospital already are incredible partners; our residents and graduate education leadership are excited; and our alumni are happy that University Hospital, where many of them received exceptional clinical training, is once again our partner.”

University officials said the relationship will enhance the quality of medical resident education, enable more medical students to complete clinical rotations at University and eventually alleviate the physician shortage in state.

“This is a timely and important strategy for many reasons,” said MCG Dean Peter F. Buckley. “This is great for the hospitals, it’s great for the residents and it’s great for Georgia.”

GHSU and University Hospital announced in June 2011 their intention to strengthen their academic affiliation and in September signed the five-year agreement that became effective July 1. University Hospital, a 581-bed community not-for-profit hospital in Augusta, served as GHSU’s primary teaching hospital from the university’s founding in 1828 until GHSU opened its own hospital in 1956.

The residents who will complete part of their training at University Hospital this year include 12 internal medicine residents, eight obstetrics and gynecology residents and 12 general surgery residents. l

Diversity Awards n Dr. Connie Drisko, Dean of the Georgia Health Sciences University College of Dental Medicine, and Brett Heimlich, an M.D./Ph.D. student, are recipients of Georgia Health Sciences 2012 Diversity Awards.

The awards recognize sustained commitment to diversity and inclusiveness at GHS. Drisko, the recipient of the employee award, has promoted and enhanced diversity among students, faculty and staff since becoming Dean in 2003, wrote her nominator, Vice Dean Carol Lefebvre.

More than half of first-year dental students come from areas with a dearth of dental health professionals. “Through her efforts, current students are more reflective of the population of Georgia and are more likely to return to (those areas) to provide dental care to the underserved,” Lefebvre wrote.

Drisko has developed pipeline partnerships and programs to attract non-traditional students in efforts to increase diversity.

Heimlich, the recipient of the student award, embodies the principles of diversity and inclusiveness, according to his nominator, Dr. Kathleen McKie, Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the Medical College of Georgia.

Cause for Kids n Local Walmart and Sam’s Club stores raised $191,618 for the Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center through a six-week Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals campaign.

Customers and members together raised the campaign’s biggest Augusta-area total ever, mostly $1 at a time with donations taken at the register.

The not-for-profit CMC uses Children’s Miracle Network funds for urgent needs, including equipment, research and education. The 154-bed CMC is the second-largest children’s hospital in the state.

2012 marks the 25th year Walmart/Sam’s Club has been raising funds for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

This year’s fundraising campaign was record-breaking on a national level as well, with more than $41 million raised for all Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in the United States, compared to $28 million last year. l

Shot in the Arm n Nearly $4 million in funding from the University System

Brett Heimlich and Dr. Connie Drisko

He is involved in the Harrisburg Community Development Project, immersing medical students in one of Augusta’s oldest and most disadvantaged neighborhoods.

“Brett, in collaboration with Good Neighbor Ministries, lives (in) Harrisburg, where he has been instrumental in establishing programs for all ages, especially the youth, with dinners, afterschool play, tutoring and mentoring, health fairs and all the activities that come with being a good neighbor,” McKie wrote.

Heimlich also attends church in the neighborhood and serves as a member of the Harrisburg Family Health Care Board.

“Brett talks the talk, walks the walk and lives the spirit of diversity in numerous aspects of his life,” McKie wrote. l

of Georgia will promote GHSU research growth and public health initiatives.

This is part of $72.5 million being provided to all 35 USG institutions to strengthen programs that serve students and help increase college completion rates. At GHSU, that translates into $3.1 million for the new Institute of Public and Preventive Health and $750,000 for graduate research assistantships.

Gov. Nathan Deal’s fiscal year 2013 budget also includes $5 million to support GHSU’s initiative to become the state’s second National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center; funding for the university’s Education Commons building, which will enable class sizes to increase; and support for the eventual development of 400 additional residency positions at hospitals throughout the state. Gov. Deal also approved the transfer of the Augusta Golf & Gardens Property to the university system, which will enable future growth in downtown Augusta upon GHSU’s consolidation with Augusta State University next year. l G H S U TO DAY

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Giving Educators a Chance n The Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education has created an award honoring Lucindia Chance, Dean of the Augusta State University College of Education.

The Cindi Chance Award in Recognition of Significant Contribution to Quality Educator Preparation Lucindia Chance in Georgia was presented to Chance during the organization’s luncheon in September.

“The honor was unexpected and humbling,” said Chance, who has served

as the Executive Director of the association for four years.

She also served as a nationally elected member of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Board in Washington, D.C. Her service has been across three states, serving as President of and on the Board of Directors in Tennessee, Louisiana and Georgia.

“At the national level, awards are usually named and awarded to an individual who is at the international level, so to have this award named for me is quite an honor,” she said.

The award will presented annually to a recipient nominated by peers and selected by the Georgia association’s Board of Directors based on leadership in

the organization, involvement with state policy makers on teacher preparation and demonstration of a strong connection between quality teacher education preparation and P-12 schools.

Chance has received a National Board of Professional Teaching Standards’ Leadership Award, a Distinguished Educator Award for the state of Tennessee and a Georgia Association of Teachers’ Outstanding Service Award. She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Lambuth College, master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from The University of Tennessee and doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Memphis State. l

Employer of the Year n Georgia Health Sciences Health System has been named Employer of the Year by the Georgia Department of Labor’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program. The award was presented Sept. 7 at the 2012 Georgia Rehabilitation Association Conference in Savannah, Ga. GHS was nominated for a May employment campaign with Vocational Rehabilitation that resulted in full-time positions for several VR clients in the health system’s Environmental Services Division.

GHS Health System is the not-for-profit corporation that manages the clinical arm of Georgia Health Sciences University, which includes the 478-bed GHS Medical Center, housing the region’s only Level I trauma center; the 154-bed Children’s Medical Center, providing the highest level of pediatric and

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neonatal critical care; and more than 80 outpatient clinics. GHS offers the most comprehensive primary specialty and subspecialty care in the region, has a payroll of more than $100 million and employs about 3,000 people.

The Department of Labor Rehabilitation Services Division operates five programs that aim to optimize the productivity, independence and employment prospects of people with disabilities. One of those programs, Vocational Rehabilitation, serves an average of 35,000 Georgians annually and interacts with more than 3,200 Georgia employers.

In each of the last five fiscal years, an average of 4,500 Georgians with disabilities were successfully rehabilitated and employed in meaningful jobs at competitive wages. l

A National Stage

Battling Obesity

n Kara Piganelli’s eighth-grade visit to Georgia would make the state her college home and the platform that propelled her to a national stage.

Piganelli, a Georgia Health Sciences University nursing student at the Athens campus, has been selected a Northside Scholar and elected Chair of the Nominating and Elections Committee of the National Student Nurses Association.

The Northside Scholars program identifies highperforming students in a full-time B.S.N. program. The program selects 12 students annually, with participants receiving a maximum scholarship of $10,000 per Kara Piganelli school year and committing to two years’ full-time employment as a registered nurse upon completion of the internship program.

Participants collaborate with a mentor during the academic year to develop a job-shadowing program and meet regularly with their mentors as they transition into their professional careers. Junior students must work in the paid externship program for a minimum of 24 hours per month and senior students must work at the hospital for at least 48 hours per month.

Piganelli is the fourth GHSU student selected as a Northside Scholar in two years, following 2011 participants Briana Bracewell, Hannah Goldberg and Calli Watson.

Piganelli, who noted that the three of them encouraged her to apply, credited GHSU for preparing her for not only the clinical component of the Northside Scholars program, but also in professional communication and presentation.

This preparation has helped Piganelli in her role on the Nominating and Elections Committee, as well.

Piganelli, an Oakland, Calif.-native, oversees the southern region and serves as the main liaison for the committee’s Executive Director, in addition to serving on the Nominations and Elections Committee of the Georgia Association of Nursing Students.

The National Student Nurses Association, founded in 1952, has 60,000 members nationwide and is dedicated to the professional development of students.

Piganelli plans to pursue her nurse practitioner’s license and values the experiences for the professional and personal opportunities they have provided.

“I have grown so much as a student, a leader, as a professional and as a nurse,” said Piganelli. l

n GHSU’s Medicine-Pediatrics Interest Group recently partnered with the Salvation Army Kroc Center to offer obesity intervention for high-risk youths.

The program, held in September in observance of Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, featured weekly aerobics classes, cooking classes and nutrition meetings led by volunteers from GHSU, the Kroc Center and the Augusta community. Participants were 20 physician-referred youths who are obese or have a family history of obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately 17 percent of American youths age 2-19 are obese, with obesity rates nearly tripling since 1980.

The program aimed to equip families with the knowledge and confidence necessary to maintain healthier living habits, in addition to the tools necessary to fight obesity, according to Heather Jekot, Vice President of the Med-Peds Interest Group.

The program resulted from collaboration between Dr. Katrina Nguyen, GHSU Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and advisor of the Med-Peds Interest Group, and Heather Altman, Health and Wellness Manager of the Kroc Center, on a National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality grant application for obesity treatment and prevention.

The program was part of an obesity intervention project that includes a 5K walk/run and T-shirt design contest. l

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Education Commons to be Named for MCG Alumnus n A $10 million leadership gift from a Medical College of Georgia alumnus has resulted in the naming of a building that will enhance the university’s commitment to growing health sciences education.

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents has approved the naming of the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons for the late philanthropist, renowned vascular surgeon and 1948 graduate.

“Dr. Harrison’s legacy will live on through his commitment to Dr. J. Harold Harrison education,” said Susan Barcus, GHSU Senior Vice President for Advancement and Community Relations and Chief Development Officer. “The impact of this transformational gift is immediate and will be felt for years to come. We have successfully leveraged Dr. Harrison’s gift to generate additional support for the Education Commons, including $5 million in support from Augusta donors and an $8 million gift from the Woodruff Foundation.”

“We are leading the charge in expanding health care education in this state,” said GHSU Provost Gretchen Caughman.

“With the addition of the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Education Commons, we will be able to increase class sizes in the College of Dental Medicine and the Medical College of Georgia, educating more health care professionals to care for the citizens of Georgia.”

“We are most grateful to Dr. Harrison and to his family for their generosity in supporting a beautiful, contemporary learning

BY JENNIFER HILLIARD SCOTT

environment for our students that enables us to continue to grow our class size and help meet the physician needs of our state,” said MCG Dean Peter F. Buckley.

Harrison, who practiced medicine for more than 50 years, helped refine the repair and replacement of diseased arteries. He chose his specialty in 1953 when, during his residency at Grady Health System in Atlanta, he learned about a new technique for freeze-drying arteries for later use. Harrison and a Ph.D. student tried the technique on a patient with a blockage in his aorta.

He decided to be a vascular surgeon the day he successfully completed that surgery.

He joined the Emory University faculty in 1957 and later headed the Department of Surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta, where he developed the nation’s first vascular training program in 1959. He operated on more than 7,000 blocked neck arteries before retiring as St. Joseph’s Chief of Surgery in 1999.

Harrison was an active member of the MCG Alumni Association and the MCG Foundation, having served as President of both. He received the alumni association’s 1996 Distinguished Alumnus Award. A native of Kite, Ga., he lived with wife Sue on a cattle farm in Bartow, Ga., until his death on June 2.

The commons is slated to be a three-story, 172,000-squarefoot building with classroom space for the College of Dental Medicine and the Medical College of Georgia and an interprofessional state-of-the-art simulation center. The total construction cost of the project, including the simulation lab, is $76.5 million. The state of Georgia is providing $42 million in bond funding, and the university is raising the additional $34.5 million through private philanthropy. l

“Dr. Harrison’s legacy will live on through his commitment to education.”

–SUSAN BARCUS

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Ricardo Azziz:

New Name, New Era

Georgia Regents University

A

ug. 7 marked an important milestone in the consolidation of Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences universities.

The University System of Georgia Board of Regents selected a name on that date that reflects the true breadth and depth of Georgia’s new comprehensive university: Georgia Regents University.

It is important that our name reflect not only who we are, but what we hope to become: a leader in quality teaching and education, with a broad array of academic programs ranging from the arts and humanities to sciences and mathematics to medical and allied health education. Consider just a few of our defining characteristics: n A $1 billion-plus enterprise with statewide and national reach n One of only four public comprehensive research institutions in the state n An aligned and integrated health system n Nine colleges with nearly 10,000 students, 1,000 full-time faculty and 5,000 staff members n More than 650 acres of campus with nearly 150 buildings n A growing intercollegiate athletics program Now that a name has been selected, our real mission continues in earnest: excellence in teaching, research and service—branding ourselves as the next great American university, competing with peers across the nation.

I am confident that our collective investment in the future of Georgia Regents University will be tremendous—a higher-quality university for our community, a greater portfolio of offerings for our students and added collaborative opportunities for our faculty and staff. Georgia Regents University will contribute to the health of the local and state economies like never before.

With the continued support of our campus communities, alumni and local citizens, we will move forward into the future and continue to build one of the best and most treasured resources of this nation.

Thank you for your continued support. n

Follow his blog at: azziz.georgiahealth.edu G H S U TO DAY

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Thoughts on Consolidation “I see wonderful opportunities for more interdisciplinary research, recognition of the

uniqueness of such a diverse

”

faculty, staff and student body, as well as possibilities for the development of a new curriculum.”–Heather Abdulnur, ASU Professor of History

“Consolidation is unifying

our excellence

in education, research and patient care delivery with cutting-edge treatment and outcomes for best practices.”

–Saku Sundaram, GHSU Rehabilitative Services Team Lead

“The consolidation process not only serves to broaden educational opportunities while further increasing access to patient care and enhancing collaborative research endeavors but is promoting adaptability through assimilation between both universities—which

is imperative in staying nimble in today’s versatile socioeconomic environment.” –Miranda Hawks, GHSU Ph.D. Nursing Student “It will be great to have the additional resources and facilities

that consolidation will bring, while keeping the relationships we have with our faculty.”

–Isis Nezbeth, ASU Communications Student

“I’m looking forward to being a part of the new university. A high-quality education coupled with

“Change is necessary and I believe our

new university will greatly benefit the staff, students, faculty and the community.”

–Oscar Hayes, ASU Department of Physical Plant

a mission to strive for excellence in research and service will promote a vibrant and engaging academic culture in Augusta.”

–Trinanjan Datta, ASU Professor of Physics

“Student research is a vital part of our

academic career.

“I am excited about the consolidation. This move will not only

make our new institution more competitive, but it will increase our funding and it may even encourage businesses to come to the Augusta area.”

–Lacie Irvine, ASU MBA Student

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I think consolidation will help further the research opportunities for our STEM initiatives.”

–Nuvonka Wilson, ASU Biology Student

“I am excited about the expanded fields of study we can pursue.

For example, we will have access to training in areas such as business and marketing as we prepare for our careers as health care providers.”

–Will Brantley, GHSU Dental Student

“The fields of science, math, engineering and technology are ever-changing, and we have

“I am expecting great things from the consolidation. The educational

with staying current. I believe we will be able to do this even the more through this consolidation.”

that will result from this will not only benefit the new university, but the community as well.”

done a great job –Skylar Hendricks, ASU Chemistry Student

opportunities

–Heather Dunaway, ASU Art Student

“Art and medicine go hand in hand. I believe this consolidation will offer the funding

needed to expand some of the art degree programs already in place such as the pre-medical illustration track.”

–Ernest Anderson Jr., ASU Art Student

“Consolidation cuts out duplication and merges great minds and departments.

It means evaluating the current processes and creating new ones in order to

bring the organization together.

If all parties are patient, this could result in wonderful things!”

“Change is good. It is exciting to imagine the possibility of becoming

a national presence.

There is the potential for each department to be even more than it already is.”

–Martin David Jones, ASU Professor of Music

–Dena J. Pickett, GHSU Associate Director of Talent Acquisition and Management

“Consolidation will hopefully bring arts into the sciences. Augusta State has a vibrant theater and liberal arts program that I hope will contribute to and round out our strong science-centered curriculum.”–Shikha Kapil, GHSU Medical Student G H S U TO DAY

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Deep Roots

Ghost Stories, Jaguar Pride, Arsenal Oak Characterize ASU Culture

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BY PAULA HINELY

estled on Walton Way behind hot pink-blossomed crepe myrtles and towering deodar cedars, you’ll find the picturesque campus of Augusta State University.

The institution’s nearly 230-year past is storied as one of Georgia’s oldest liberal arts universities, and its future is bright as it prepares to consolidate with Georgia Health Sciences University to become Georgia Regents University in 2013.

The 80-acre main campus is home to both historic buildings and modern architecture. If you spend an afternoon enjoying its History Walk, a beautifully landscaped brick walkway that winds its way around campus, you can read the story of the university and the Augusta Arsenal that was once housed on its grounds.

Or ask most anyone on campus to name his favorite part of ASU. While the words spoken may be different, the sentiment is the same – its people and close-knit family atmosphere are its crowning jewels. They are the Jaguar Nation, after all.

But everyone has a different reason for loving the campus, and they all have different tales to tell of their university—stories of family legacy, breaking down barriers, even ghosts.

continued

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History Still Lives Here

The Benet House

Guardhouse Museum

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When Ginny Luke says, “You can really feel the history around you,” she means it.

Twenty-five years ago when the two-time ASU alumna began working in her alma mater’s counseling center, her office was in Bellevue Hall. The structure, built in 1815, was the summer home of U.S. Senator and inaugural Augusta Mayor Freeman Walker before he sold his property to the U.S. government as a new home for the Augusta Arsenal.

For 15 years, Luke’s office was in the back of the building by the break room, and she heard things happen that she can’t explain.

“The break room TV would turn itself off and on when no one else was in the building and the phones would act up,” she says. “A custodian saw someone walk across the upstairs landing [when the building was supposedly empty]. Another counselor working alone one night heard two people arguing at the foot of the stairs, but when she went to check, there was no one there. There are lots of stories like that.”

Legend says Emily Galt lived in Bellevue with her family during the Civil War. Her fiancé, an arsenal soldier, told her he was being sent to battle and they argued passionately about it, but off he went to fight for the Confederacy. When word came that he’d been killed, she threw herself from a second-story window, falling to her death.

“Some say Emily’s still arguing with her fiancé at the stairs,” Luke says. Evidence suggests the story could be true—a window etched with Emily’s name and the year 1861 was once on display in ASU’s Guardhouse Museum.

With five buildings predating the Civil War and two cemeteries on campus, it may not come as a surprise that Bellevue is not the only location characterized by peculiar happenings. Legends abound: sturdy items falling from walls and bookshelves in Boykin Wright Hall . . . hangers rattling in closets in the Benet House . . . a man appearing to be a Civil War soldier walking through barriers into one of the cemeteries . . . doorknobs jiggling and invisible hands running across window blinds in Rains Hall, which houses the Office of the President.

But ghost stories just come with the territory, Luke says. “It doesn’t scare me. I just accept that this place has a lot of history, and along with that history comes some strange occurrences.”

Katherine Sweeney n Position: Registrar and Director of Admissions n Years at ASU: 22 n Degrees from ASU: Bachelor’s in 1982, Master’s in 1999 n Favorite Part of ASU: The family atmosphere where everyone pitches in to lend a hand n Favorite Place on Campus: Benet House, where her office is located, the former home of the ASU President and his family

Growing up with ‘Augusta’s College’ When Registrar and Director of Admissions Katherine Sweeney searches through old campus documents, she occasionally stumbles upon familiar penmanship—her mother’s.

Her mother, Katherine Presley, began working in the Registrar’s Office when Sweeney was 13. The family lived on nearby Lombardy Court, so close that she and her sister used to walk to campus to play tennis on courts that are now long gone.

“Having grown up right down the street from ‘Augusta’s college,’ it was always a part of my life,” Sweeney says. She left home to attend college in Vermont, but by the winter of her sophomore year, she was back in Augusta attending ASU. “I hated every minute of it because my mom and stepfather both worked here, but I got past it,” she jests.

Soon after her retirement in 1989, Presley helped her daughter get a foot in the door at ASU—a temporary job answering phones four hours a day in the Registrar’s Office. Temporary turned into a career.

“Mom was very well-respected on campus, so I got respect right off the bat because people thought so much of her,” Sweeney says. “I’m not sure I would’ve had the longevity I’ve had if I didn’t have some of that history.”

From her childhood and undergraduate years and throughout her 23-year career, Sweeney has watched the campus transform. “This was just a commuter campus with six very unattractive warehouse-style buildings, and now it has become something much more,” she says. “Our campus is beautiful, and there’s such an awesome contrast between the old and the new.”

That contrast is more than just architectural.

Whereas students used to come to campus strictly for classes and then leave, now Sweeney can look out her office window and see students playing Frisbee or sunbathing in the amphitheater—a sign that ASU has become more residential. “Students are hanging around now, and it is so important to get a student connected to campus so that you can retain and graduate them.”

“There’s a real sense of family here,” she says.

And when she thinks of ASU’s future as part of Georgia Regents University, she knows that while growing pains are inevitable, the “family” will just grow bigger. “We’re already connected to GHSU in so many ways. It’s old home.” continued

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Breaking Down Barriers

Dr. Lillie Johnson n Position: Professor and Chair of the Department of English and Foreign Languages n Years at ASU: 40 n Degrees from ASU: Bachelor’s in 1971 n Favorite Part of ASU: Working with so many fine people n Favorite Place on Campus: Allgood Hall and its many windows

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“As a native Augustan, I actually never dreamed of coming to the college to study, teach or work,” says Dr. Lillie Johnson, Chair of the Department of English and Foreign Languages. “It would’ve taken something of an imagination in the late ’50s and ’60s to think of that.”

As was the case in so many Southern universities at that time, ASU faced a color barrier. She was one of just a few African-American students when she enrolled at ASU in 1967. She faced discrimination when attempting to enroll in an English class her first semester, but then-department Chair Bill Quesenberry stood up for her. “He said, ‘If she’s an English major, put her in an English class,’” Johnson recalls. “There was something so fair about that, it was immediately a positive for me.”

She had a good academic experience, due in part to some challenging teachers who served as mentors, and graduated at the top of her class. After completing a master’s degree at the University of Chicago, she had four job offers, including an invitation to join the ASU faculty.

Johnson was one of two African-Americans hired

by ASU in 1972 to teach full time, and the early years weren’t always easy. After her first class learned they would be taught by a black woman, only seven of the 30 students showed up to class the next day.

“But I take great pride in the fact that it’s a new world,” Johnson says. “One of the great rewards of having been here so long is seeing the progress that’s been made.”

She notes that the faculty now hails from all over the world, and students have the opportunity to work with people from diverse backgrounds and academic experiences.

“The university has been such a presence, such a force for change in this community, and hundreds of students couldn’t have gone to college if we weren’t here,” Johnson says.

That doesn’t mean she makes college easy for the students—ASU English courses in particular have a reputation for being very difficult—but she does help them be the best students they can be. She credits Quesenberry’s words her freshman year as inspiration for her philosophy for dealing with students.

“It’s been quite a journey and extraordinarily rewarding in so many ways,” Johnson says of her 40 years of teaching. “When I arrived at ASU I was a girl, and by the end of my tenure I’ll be the grand old lady.”

Max Brown n Position: Grounds Supervisor n Years at ASU: 24 n Favorite Part of ASU: He loves his job n Favorite Place on Campus: The historic buildings—Rains, Payne and Benet and the deodar cedars

The Giving Tree If you’re walking through campus in the early summer, you might run across hundreds of grasshoppers as big as your thumb.

“They’re kind of intimidating,” Grounds Supervisor Max Brown says of the frequent campus visitors. “They don’t harm anything; they just like to be in a heavily vegetated area with a lot of shrubbery and cover, all of which are easily found here.”

Brown and his crew plant about 7,000 flower bulbs, 20 to 30 trees and a couple hundred shrubs each year. More than 40 species of trees can be found on the campus grounds.

One tree, the Arsenal Oak, no longer stands, but it’s still a very meaningful part of ASU. The white oak, estimated to be 250-400 years old, stood in the center of campus, near the current location of the D. Douglas Barnard Jr. Amphitheatre.

The tree developed hypoxylon canker, an incurable disease, and had to be cut down in 2004. Although an attempt to clone the tree was unsuccessful, it lives on. Sitting in the entryway of the Fine Arts Center is a butterfly-shaped bench that Art Professor Brian Rust sculpted using some of its salvaged wood in memory of beloved Professor Heidi Atkins, one of Johnson’s mentors in the English department.

And along the History Walk, there’s a replica of the oak’s cross section serving as a timeline, with historical events marked on its rings to parallel the growth of the tree. Granite borders 67 feet on either side of the replica illustrate the tree’s 135foot canopy spread in 2002.

“It was sad to see the tree go, but it’s still the symbol for Augusta State,” Brown says. The Arsenal Oak was incorporated into the university’s logo, symbolizing ASU’s strong roots and heritage in the community. continued G H S U TO DAY

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AS U’s Front Porch

Director of Athletics Clint Bryant compares ASU to a house.

“Athletics is probably not the most important part of the house, but we’re up there serving as the front porch where everybody passes through,” he says.

When Bryant came to ASU in 1988, he also was serving as the head basketball coach, a position he held for nearly a decade. Even so, he doesn’t play favorites. “When you’re the athletics director, all of your sports are closest to your heart because of the student athletes,” he says.

ASU has about 180 student athletes participating in 11 sports within the NCAA Peach Belt Conference – men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, golf and tennis, as well as baseball, softball and volleyball. Men’s and women’s outdoor track and field were added to the lineup this fall.

Jaguar teams have had their share of successes, consistently cheered on by loyal fans and, of course, Al E. Cat, the Jaguar mascot. Last year, seven of the 11 teams qualified for NCAA regional competition.

Since 2008, 28 teams have earned national rankings, including back-to-back Division I national titles for the men’s golf team in 2010 and 2011.

But academics are still number one. “We’re athletes on an academic mission,” Bryant says.

“We want to be competitive athletically, but we understand the reason they’re in school is to gain an education, and we’re very proud of the academic recognition our athletes get.” For the first time, ASU’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics received the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Presidents’ Academic Award, which recognizes the academic excellence of all ASU student athletes.

With the creation of Georgia Regents University, Bryant sees a lot of growth potential not only for the institution as a whole, but also for its athletic program. “I tell people all the time that we always have been and always will be the Jaguar Nation,” he says. “We’re just expanding the nation.” n

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Clint Bryant n Position: Director of Athletics n Years at ASU: 25 n Favorite Part of ASU: Its sense of community and collegiality n Favorite Place on Campus: D. Douglas Barnard Jr. Amphitheatre

Trivia n “It’s healthier on the hill.” That’s why Capt.

Matthew M. Payne, commandant of the Augusta Arsenal, recommended the 1826 move from the unhealthy banks of the Savannah River to the location that now houses ASU. n U.S. President Bill Clinton visited ASU in 1997 to unveil his proposal for national HOPE scholarships. n ASU includes the 80-acre site on Walton Way; the 244-acre complex on Wrightsboro Road, which includes Christenberry Field House and Forest Hills Golf Course; and University Village, ASU’s residential housing complex located between the campuses.

Christenberry Field House

n A number of ASU athletes have made it big in the pros, including Garrett Siler (’09), who played basketball for the Phoenix Suns, and Vaughn Taylor (’99), who golfs on the PGA Tour. n ASU offers more than 50 degree programs in arts and sciences, business administration and education. n Experience campus history for yourself. In addition to the History Walk, the Guardhouse Museum is open to the public. Constructed in 1866, the building is now a museum that houses artifacts uncovered during numerous campus archaeological digs.

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1783–Georgia Legislature establishes Academy of Richmond County, ASU’s parent institution.

1861–The Arsenal is surrendered to Georgia Gov. Joe Brown and the state militia. It supplied arms for Confederate Army troops through the Civil War.

1925–Junior College of Augusta, Georgia’s first junior college, is established.

ASU Timeline 1826–U.S. government moves the Augusta Arsenal from the banks of the Savannah River to the Summerville estate purchased from Freeman Walker.

1865–The Confederate Arsenal is surrendered to the U.S. government.

Your gift to the new consolidated university will advance many worthy goals, including helping to preserve and codify Augusta State University’s rich and vaunted history. For more information, contact Wes Zamzaw at 706-737-1759 or wzamzow@asu.edu.

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1955–Augusta Arsenal is abandoned by the Army.

1957–Junior College of Augusta moves into its new campus, the former arsenal.

1963–Augusta College assumes four-year status.

2000–A $103 million construction boom yields all new and renovated buildings, including Allgood Hall, Science Hall, Jaguar Student Activities Center and University Hall.

Source: aug.edu/timeline

1958–JCA becomes Augusta College; the jaguar becomes the school’s mascot.

1996–Augusta College becomes Augusta State University.

2012–Board of Regents approves consolidation of ASU and GHSU to create Georgia Regents University.

For more information, visit aug.edu or jaguarsroar.com.

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A Real

Opener

BY SHARRON WALLS

New Vision Center Brightens Patients’ World

“It’s blurry, but I can tell it’s an E,” says Sherry Baker-Scott.

The technician slowly moves her hand toward Baker-Scott’s face, asking, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

At a distance of just inches, she responds. “Two.”

Sherry Baker-Scott

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She then describes the white spots she sees in front of her left eye. “They just kind of float there. I see a few flashes every now and then. A couple of times I’ve seen a little red spot, like a blood spot.”

Baker-Scott is one of nearly 14 million Americans with a visual impairment. That’s about one in every 20 people, with 61 million more at high risk of serious vision loss.

Contributing to this burgeoning population are aging baby boomers and people living longer with chronic diseases such as diabetes.

People with low vision tend to struggle with everyday tasks such as reading, shopping, cooking, paying bills and watching TV, even with corrective lenses, medication or surgery. They comprise the third-fastest-growing group in need of health services in the United States, outpaced only by those with arthritis and heart disease.

To help, Georgia Health Sciences opened a Low Vision Rehabilitation Center earlier this year. A collaboration of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Ophthalmology; the College of Allied Health Sciences

Department of Occupational Therapy and its Driving Simulation Laboratory; and the GHS Medical Center Department of Rehabilitation Services, the center offers care strategies to patients with low vision.

For Baker-Scott, 45, who was diagnosed with Type II diabetes 15 years ago, the new center opened in the nick of time. Two years ago, she lost her vision almost instantly.

“One day I could see and the next day I couldn’t. It was that fast,” she says. “I thought I had strained my eyes. Then I thought I needed a new prescription for my glasses, because it got to the point where I had to wear my glasses plus a pair of drugstore magnifying glasses and use a magnifying glass just to be able to read.”

When Baker-Scott finally went to her eye doctor, he discovered bleeding in her eyes and quickly referred her to Dr. Julian Nussbaum, Chair of the MCG Department of Ophthalmology.

She has since undergone three Dr. Julian Nussbaum surgeries to reattach her retinas and to remove scar tissue. In her right eye, she can see only light, color and movement.

The goal now is to keep as much vision in her left eye as possible.

“We’re going to continue to prevent you from going blind,” Nussbaum assures Baker-Scott as they discuss treatment options. He also refers her to the Low Vision Rehabilitation Center.

At Baker-Scott’s initial visit, Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy Mariana D’Amico conducted a comprehensive evaluation of her daily living activities, including orientation, cognitive ability, Mariana D’Amico visual skills, balance and mobility to determine which adaptive techniques and equipment would be most helpful.

“Once we have a realistic assessment, we can develop specific, customized therapy strategies,” explains D’Amico, Director of the center. “Our goal is to help individuals with vision impairment remain safe and independent as they adapt to challenges in their home and community environments.”

For Baker-Scott, who had to resign from an occupation that required attention to details she could no longer see, that means being able to continue home activities she loves – baking and reading with her 10-year-old son, Derrick.

“I’m not a person who is used to having to depend on somebody else,” she says. “Mariana showed me

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“They’ve shown me how to be as independent as possible in my daily household functions. That helps me be a happy lady.”

– SHERRY BAKER-SCOTT

several different devices that can help me see so much better. There’s a magnification device, almost like a plate, that can be hooked to a lamp. When I put a book under it, I can read. And I don’t have to follow the lines with a magnifying glass; it’s big enough that I can read the whole page without having to move everything.”

The Fresnel stand magnifier she’s describing has also been a boon to Shirley Sands, an active 92-year-old who recently developed macular degeneration.

“The problem I have mostly is reading the labels on my prescription medicine bottles,” she says. “And I can’t read the price of things when I go shopping, or see the cards when I play bridge.”

The center’s customized approach is a perfect fit for Sands.

In addition to using a Fresnel stand at home, she carries a device small enough to fit in her pocketbook for outings, and D’Amico even found large-print playing cards for her bridge games.

“I would never have known about these things if not for the center,” Sands says. “Coping [with vision loss] is difficult, and anything that can help is just a godsend.”

Past treatment for patients with low vision typically has been limited to complex aids that often become “expensive paperweights,” according to Nussbaum. “People aren’t trained to use these devices, and they frequently don’t suit a person’s particular needs. Each

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person with low vision has a different priority. We have dedicated practitioners who can sort through this menagerie of things people want, whether it’s being able to sew, watch TV or see their grandchildren’s faces.”

D’Amico not only offers patients a bevy of adaptive devices, she patiently helps them find practical solutions to everyday problems.

“There are a lot of simple ways to make life easier,” she says. “For example, if it’s difficult to see your food on a plate, using one in a contrasting color makes the food easier to see.”

The Department of Occupational Therapy’s Community Reintegration Lab includes a simulated kitchen, restaurant, bank, grocery store and work center, allowing patients to practice Dr. Abiodun Akinwuntan techniques that can be used in a variety of environments.

D’Amico also collaborates with Dr. Abiodun Akinwuntan, Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Director of the GHSU Driving Simulation Lab, to assess and rehabilitate patients with driving concerns. Grants from the John and Mary Franklin Foundation funded the purchase of specialized assessment equipment, adaptive devices and other assistive technologies.

“This is the first step in uniting vision research science with practicing ophthalmologists and occupational therapists in an environment that enriches a visually impaired person’s life,” says Nussbaum, who hopes to expand the program throughout the Southeast.

He also plans to eventually integrate research and teaching components into the program through the university’s Vision Discovery Institute. “We want to cross-train our medical residents in the low-vision center, so they learn about this while they’re with us, and have occupational therapy students over here in the eye clinic to see what we do.”

“The service we offer in the Low Vision Rehabilitation Center is very much needed,” D’Amico says. “As the population ages, the need will only increase because it’s inevitable that there is some form of vision impairment, such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts.”

For Sands and Baker-Scott, knowing help is available eases the frustration of having limited vision.

“They’ve shown me how to be as independent as possible in my daily household functions,” BakerScott says with a smile. “That helps me be a happy lady.” n

Research Roundup

Precision Control

C

ommunication between the brain and muscle must be strong to enable breathing, eating or walking. Now scientists have found that a protein known to be on the surface of muscle cells must be present in both tissues to ensure the conversation is robust.

MCG scientists have shown that without LRP4 in muscle cells and neurons, communication between the two cells types is inefficient and short-lived.

Problems with the protein appear to contribute to disabling disorders such as myasthenia gravis and other forms of muscular dystrophy. The scientists reported finding antibodies to LRP4 in the blood of about 2 percent of patients with muscle-degenerating myasthenia gravis in Archives of Neurology earlier this year.

Scientists know that LRP4 plays an important role in the muscle cell, where it receives cues from the brain cell that it’s time to form the receptors that will be enable ongoing communication between the two, said Dr. Lin Mei, Director of the GHSU Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and corresponding author of the study in the journal Neuron.

However, when Dr. Haitao Wu deleted LRP4 just from muscle cells, a connection—albeit a weak one—still formed between muscle and brain cells. The mice survived several days, during which they experienced myasthenia gravis-like muscle weakness. “That’s against the dogma,” Mei said. “If LRP4 is essential only in the muscle cells, how could the mice survive?” When they totally eliminated LRP4, neuromuscular junctions never formed and the mice didn’t survive.

Additional evidence suggests that LRP4 in the neurons is vital, said Wu, postdoctoral fellow and the study’s first author. “When we knocked out the LRP4 gene in the muscles, there was some redundant function coming from the motor neuron, like a rescue attempt,” he said. They documented the neuron reaching out to share LRP4 with the muscle cell. Unfortunately, the gesture was not sufficient.

“The nerve does not get the stop signal,” Mei said, referencing images of too-long neurons that never got the message from the muscle that they have gone far enough.

Drs. Haitao Wu (right) and Lin Mei

When they cut the elongated nerves, they found they didn’t contain enough vesicles, little packages of chemical messengers that enable brain cell communication. On the receiving end, muscle cells developed receptors that were too small and too few—hence, the tenuous communication network. “When LRP4 in the muscle is taken out, not surprisingly, the muscle has some kind of a problem,” Mei said. “What was very surprising was that the motor neurons also have problems.”

“The talk between motor neurons and muscle cells is very critical to the synapse formation and the very precise action between the two,” Wu said. Mei’s lab earlier established that the conversation goes both ways.

The scientists believe about 60 percent of the LRP4 comes from muscle cells, about 20 percent from brain cells – which helps explain why the brain’s effort to share is insufficient – and the remainder from cells in spaces between the two. In addition to better explaining nervemuscle communication, the scientists hope their findings will eventually enable gene therapy that delivers LRP4 to bolster insufficient levels in patients. n

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Research Roundup Inflammation Implicated

R

esearchers at the Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center have identified a gene that disrupts the inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer.

Laboratory mice bred without the gene lacked a pro-inflammatory protein called TREM-1 and protected them from developing liver cancer after exposure to carcinogens.

The study, published in Cancer Research, a journal for the American Association for Cancer Research, could lead to drug therapies to target TREM-1, said Dr. Anatolij Horuzsko, an immunologist at the GHSU Cancer Center and principal investigator on the study.

“We have long suspected that chronic inflammation is a very powerful tool in the initiation of cancer, and also in the progression or metastasis of cancer,” said Horuzsko. “We [looked] at the molecules that control inflammatory responses to gain a better understanding of how this process works. One important triggering receptor for inflammation is TREM-1.”

TREM-1’s role in promoting inflammation is useful in cases such as battling viral or bacterial infections and in maintaining normal tissue function.

But as Horuzsko’s team discovered, in abnormal conditions—such as liver damage due to alcohol abuse or other irritants—production of TREM-1 goes haywire. A chronic, low-level state of inflammation is produced as TREM1 leads to the development of other inflammatory agents, which causes more damage, increases cell production and

creates mutated cells. These mutated cells then reproduce—planting the seeds that can lead to cancer.

In the 14-month study, two sets of mice—one with the TREM-1 gene removed—were exposed to a carcinogen. Within just 48 hours, the control mice were already showing signs of liver cell injury and death and high levels of TREM-1 expression in the liver’s Kupffer cells. These specialized liver cells normally destroy bacteria and worn-out red blood cells. Eight months later, these mice also showed massive liver tumors.

But the mice with the gene removed remained healthy, showing very few changes—and very small, if any, tumors after eight months. The only difference between the two groups was the appearance of TREM-1 in the Kupffer cells.

Horuzko’s team hopes the findings— and their potential in TREM-1-related cancer treatment—will be applicable to other cancers as well. “TREM-1 could be a target for any inflammationassociated cancer,” said Horuzsko. “In the future, we could use a drug to target TREM-1 in the body. We are already working in this direction.” n

Dr. Anatolij Horuzsko

Fiber Dearth

L

ow-fiber diets increase teens’ risk of abdominal fat and inflammatory factors in the blood, both major risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, researchers report.

The study of 559 adolescents age 1418 from Augusta showed they consumed on average about one-third of the daily recommended amount of fiber, said Dr. Norman Pollock, bone biologist at the Medical College of Georgia and the Institute of Public and Preventive Health.

“The simple message is adolescents need

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to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Pollock said. “We need to push recommendations to increase fiber intake.”

He and Dr. Samip Parikh, an internal medicine resident at GHS Health System, are co-first authors of the study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Only about 1 percent of the study participants consumed the recommended daily intake of 28 grams for females and 38 grams for males. The study appears the first to correlate dietary fiber with inflammatory markers in adolescents. n

Compression/Stroke Link

S

uccessive, vigorous bouts of leg compressions following a stroke appear to trigger natural protective mechanisms that reduce damage, researchers report.

Compressing then releasing the leg for several five-minute intervals used in conjunction with the clot-buster tPA, essentially doubles efficacy, said Dr. David Hess, a stroke specialist who chairs the Medical College of Georgia Department of Neurology.

“This is potentially a very cheap, usable and safe – other than the temporary discomfort – therapy for stroke,” said Hess, an author of the study in the journal Stroke. The compressions can be administered with a blood pressure cuff in the emergency room during preparation for tPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, currently the only Food and Drug Administration-approved stroke therapy.

For the studies Dr. Nasrul Hoda, an MCG research scientist and the study’s corresponding author, developed an animal model with a clot in the internal carotid artery, the most common cause of stroke.

The compression technique, called remote ischemic preconditioning, reduced stroke size in the animals by 25.7 percent, slightly better than tPA’s results. Together, the therapies reduced stroke size by 50 percent and expanded the treatment window during which tPA is safe and effective.

Next steps, Hess said, include looking for biomarkers that will enable researchers to easily measure effectiveness in humans.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health. n

Drs. David Hess (left) and Nasrul Hoda Drs. Norman Pollock (left) and Samip Parikh

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Glucose Control

A

bout 40 percent of ischemic stroke patients arrive at the hospital with high blood glucose levels that can worsen their brain damage, say physicians working to stop the additional loss.

Insulin, a hormone that enables cells to use glucose as energy, can help, but questions remain about the optimal way to give it, said Dr. Askiel Bruno, an MCG stroke specialist. He is a Clinical Principal Investigator on a National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-funded study that should determine whether intravenous delivery or the usual shot of insulin works best.

The trial will enroll 1,400 participants nationally.

A blood glucose level check, part of the early evaluation of all stroke patients, is important not only because of the association with increased damage but because the symptoms of low glucose can mimic stroke symptoms.

“When blood glucose is high, the damage is worse, so lowering that glucose right away should result in less damage and better outcomes,” Bruno said.

Stroke triggers the release of stress hormones that interfere with insulin’s ability to coax glucose into cells. Scientists theorize that free radicals produced by stroke also pile on the damage.

Stroke patients with acute high glucose levels typically get a shot of insulin.

When those levels are particularly difficult to control, patients may get an intravenous dose instead, which requires closer monitoring but seems to work better. The SHINE Trial directly compares stroke outcome using the two approaches to determine the most efficacious.

“We may find intravenous works better for some patients than others,” Bruno said. n Dr. Askiel Bruno

Dr. Gaston Kapuku

Meditation Correlation

R

egular meditation could decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease in teens who are most at risk, according to MCG researchers.

In a study of 62 black teens with high blood pressure, those who meditated twice a day for 15 minutes had lower left ventricular mass, an indicator of future cardiovascular disease, than a control group, said Dr. Vernon Barnes, an MCG physiologist and Institute of Public and Preventive Health faculty member.

Barnes, Dr. Gaston Kapuku, a cardiovascular researcher in the institute, and Dr. Frank Treiber, a psychologist and former GHSU Vice President for Research, co-authored the study published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Half of the group was trained in transcendental meditation and asked to meditate for 15 minutes with a class and 15 minutes at home for a four-month period.

The other half was exposed to health education on how to lower blood pressure and risk for cardiovascular disease, but no meditation. Left ventricular mass was measured with

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two-dimensional echocardiograms before and after the study and the group that meditated showed a significant decrease.

“Increased mass of the heart muscle’s left ventricle is caused by the extra workload on the heart with higher blood pressure,” Barnes explained. “Some of these teens already had higher measures of left ventricular mass because of their elevated blood pressure, which they are likely to maintain into adulthood.”

During meditation, the activity of the sympathetic nervous system decreases and the body releases fewer-than-normal stress hormones. “As a result, the vasculature relaxes, blood pressure drops and the heart works less,” he said.

School records also showed behavioral improvements. n

Gene Uncovered

The Body’s GPS

A

A

gene whose mutation results in malformed faces and skulls as well as mental retardation has been found by scientists.

They found that the gene, PHF21A, is mutated in patients with PotockiShaffer syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by a small head and chin and intellectual disability.

The scientists confirmed PHF21A’s role by suppressing it in zebrafish, which developed head and brain abnormalities similar to those in patients. “With less PHF21A, brain cells died, so this gene must play a big role in neuron survival,” said Dr. Hyung-Goo Dr. Hyung-Goo Kim Kim, an MCG molecular geneticist and lead and corresponding author of the study published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.

After giving the gene back to the malformed fish, they became essentially normal. The researchers also documented the gene’s presence in the craniofacial area of normal mice.

While giving the normal gene unfortunately can’t cure patients as it does zebrafish, the scientists believe the finding will eventually enable genetic screening and possibly early intervention during fetal development, including therapy to increase PHF21A levels. n Dr. Vernon Barnes

lipid that helps lotion soften the skin also helps cells find and stay in the right location in the body by ensuring they keep their “antennae” up, scientists report.

Each cell has an antenna, or cilium, that senses the environment, then determines where to go and what to do when it arrives, said Dr. Erhard Bieberich, an MCG biochemist.

“A cell needs to have an organelle that senses where Dr. Erhard Bieberich it is in space in order to go where it wants and needs to go,” said Bieberich, corresponding author of the study in Molecular Biology of the Cell.

The organelle is enabled by receptors on the antennae that are attracted to growth factors secreted by cells that already have found their way. Once cells are situated, the antennae help them respond to nearby signals.

Bieberich’s team has shown that the lipid, ceramide, helps cells keep this organelle from retracting by inhibiting the enzyme, histone deacetylase 6 or HDAC6. Activating HDAC6 prompts antennae to retract, a prerequisite for cell division. Interestingly, some of the most rapidly dividing cells, cancer cells, hijack HDAC for their purposes and suppress ceramide, which induces cell suicide.

Bieberich’s team reported in 2007 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry that in the earliest days of development, ceramide helps orient stem cells and find their place in a lineup that is important for embryonic development.

Three years earlier, the scientists showed the lipid teams up with the protein, PAR-4, to eliminate useless cells in developing brains.

Bieberich also was the corresponding author of a study published recently in the Journal of Biological Chemistry noting that the astrocytes that normally nourish and protect brain cells instead deliver a suicide package in the case of Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that could open the door to new treatment options. n

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Hallowed Ground Father and Son Thrive Amid Surgical Suites, Golf Greens

BY PAULA HINELY

Less than four miles from Georgia Health Sciences University is a place some consider hallowed ground: the Augusta National Golf Club. While most golf fans dream of playing through Amen Corner, just entering its gates can pose a challenge.

But Dr. Charles Howell Jr. has a family connection.

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“I haven’t been successful in getting Masters practice-round tickets, so I always hope my son qualifies to play,” says the Chair of the Department of Surgery.

His son, Charles Howell III, has played golf professionally since 2001 and has qualified for the Masters Tournament eight times.

The years he qualifies are obviously far more exciting for his family, not only because they get tickets, but also because their son comes home.

“Growing up in Augusta, the Masters was always Charles’s favorite tournament,” Howell says.

His son picked up golf from a nextdoor neighbor at age 7 and started watching the tournament every year, going in person whenever he could. “And now,” his father says, “the hometown kid can come back to play in the biggest golf tournament in the world.”

Charles made the cut in this year’s Masters, tying for 19th place after a three-year hiatus from the tournament.

Howell and his wife, Debbie, also try to go to as many PGA tournaments outside of Augusta as they can, usually 10 to 12 a year.

“It’s different on the PGA Tour than

a lot of people might think it is,” he says. “There is a lot of glamour and prestige, but there’s also a lot of hard work.”

While traversing the globe to cheer on their son may sound like a dream, it’s hard work for the parents, as well. Howell explains, “You want your child to succeed and do as well as they want to do, and the times they don’t accomplish what they set out to accomplish, you’re right out there suffering with them.”

But Charles’s 11 years on the PGA Tour attest to a career with far more successes than letdowns.

This year, he’s had five top-25 finishes, including tying for second in Hawaii’s Sony Open. He’s also made two holes-in-one, the first at The Honda Classic and second at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

“He loves golf and loves to compete,” Howell says. “That’s always been his dream, to be the very, very best he can be.”

Neither Charles nor his brother, Benjamin, ever had an interest in following their father’s footsteps into pediatric surgery. “They would sometimes make rounds with me when they were kids, and they both saw all the sick babies

I would operate on,” Howell says.

“I thought that might stimulate them to want to go into medicine, but it certainly didn’t.”

However, Charles was later inspired to help support medical education. He designated his proceeds from the 2003 PGA Tour’s Presidents Cup to establish a pediatric surgery chair endowment at GHSU. Howell says that while the chair is not fully endowed yet, the fund is still growing, with gifts from Charles and other donors.

In Augusta, where both golf and medicine are pillars of society, the Howell family has found success in both. But the similarities between the two professions end there.

Howell says, “Golf is kind of a lonely sport. And although surgeons are the captains of the ship in their operating room, there’s a team of people to assist you, and you can always call your partners in to help. In golf, you’re out there by yourself with no one to turn to, especially at the level Charles plays at.”

So Howell leaves the golfing to Charles, while he sticks to his own hallowed ground—the operating rooms of the Children’s Medical Center. n

The Players’ Stats Dr. Charles G. Howell Jr.

Charles Howell III

n Position: Chair of the MCG Department of Surgery n Turned Pro: 1973 M.D. n College: Medical College of Georgia n GHSU Career Victories: Co-Director and Surgeon-in-Chief of GHSU Children’s Medical Center, Medical Director of its operating room

n Position: Golfer on the PGA Tour n Turned Pro: 2001 n College: Oklahoma State University n PGA Tour Victories: 2002 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill and 2007 Nissan Open

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Like Father, Like Son Nursing Profession Offers Family Legacy of Service

BY SHARRON WALLS

W

Wesley Fetner

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esley Fetner didn’t plan to be a nurse as he was growing up. In fact, he actively decided against the profession.

“I never found it appealing,” he recalls. “I even tried to talk myself into getting my bachelor’s degree in nursing, but I just couldn’t do it.”

But something changed when he and his wife, Nicole, spent 10 months on a mission trip to Hungary after he graduated from Kennesaw State University with a degree in exercise and health science. During their stay, Wes read about Hudson Taylor, the 19th century British physician who founded the China Inland Mission to promote Christianity in the Far East.

“I was able to see through his story just how impactful he was, how he was able to help people and have a great ministry,” he says. “That got me thinking about something with medicine. I actually even had a dream that my dad came in and said, ‘You need to do what I’m doing.’”

Wes’ father is a nurse.

A genuine anomaly back in 1979, Charles Fetner was the only male to graduate from the nursing program at Georgia Southwestern State University that year. A half-dozen men had started the program two years earlier, but by the end of the first semester, Charles was the only one left.

He had taken a roundabout path to the nursing profession: studies in engineering and forestry at West Georgia College, Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia and Troy State University before ultimately majoring in general science with minors in psychology and criminal justice. He taught high school science for two years and then, facing additional courses to earn his teaching credentials, began to rethink his options.

“I knew I wanted to do something to serve, to help my fellow people,” Charles says. When his aunt, a nurse anesthetist, invited him to shadow her, he found his calling. “I watched a total

hip replacement surgery and thought that was something I could enjoy doing.”

After nursing school, he answered an ad for a night shift nurse in an intensive care unit. The position had just been filled, but the interviewer said, “I need an L&D nurse.” Charles laughs as he recalls his reaction: “You’re really going to offer me a position in labor and delivery?”

It turned out to be a good fit. He considered becoming a midwife after being deeply affected by the devastating loss of a mother and baby in childbirth, but he also worked shifts in the intensive care unit and went on to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist like his aunt. For most of his career, he has combined labor and delivery with an anesthesia practice.

Now, some 5,000 babies later, it’s not unusual for him to be approached in the grocery store by a mom offering to show him “his” baby, says his son, Wesley. “Stuff like that really means a lot to him.”

Charles’ greatest challenge early in his career was making elderly female patients comfortable with him, particularly regarding personal hygiene.

At first, he would follow the patient’s instructions to “get one of those women in here.” But he quickly realized asking his fellow nurses to take care of his patients was causing resentment. So he changed his tactics and developed a way to maintain his patients’ modesty while getting the job done. It worked. It pleases him that no patient has objected to his care since.

Through the years, even though Wes wasn’t planning on following in his father’s footsteps, seeds were being planted. As a child, he would hang out in his father’s office, and he vividly recalls observing a cesarean section in his late teens. “That was a really cool experience,” he says. “It was neat to see what the doctors were doing, what my dad was doing, to observe his communication with the

Fetner with father Charles

Not just for women...

When Charles Fetner joined the nursing profession in the late 1970s, men comprised less than 3 percent of registered nurses in the United States. As his son Wesley prepares to enter the field, that number is still low, hovering around 6 percent, or about one in every 15 nurses.

But indications are more men will join the ranks in coming years.

At Georgia Health Sciences University, the number of men among all nursing students is steadily rising. Most are in graduate programs such as Clinical Nurse Leader, where 16 percent of students in 2011 were men, up from less than 12 percent the previous year. In contrast, men in undergraduate nursing classes have remained in the 5-6 percent range since 2009.

Those figures don’t surprise College of Nursing Dean Lucy Marion.

“Men look at nursing a bit differently. Many have tried other fields but always wanted to be a nurse, so they find the Clinical Nurse Leader program appealing,” she says. “As nursing becomes more and more high-tech and procedureoriented and provides more opportunities for advancement, it will draw more men. We’re glad to have the diversity.”

A recruitment initiative undertaken by the American Assembly for Men in Nursing aims to increase male enrollment in nursing programs nationwide 20 percent by 2020.

Today, 30 percent of men in nursing are under 40. As the nursing population ages and retires (only 8 percent of registered nurses are under 30), these younger men will comprise a larger percentage of the profession.

Men in nursing tend to be very satisfied with their career choice, according to an AAMN survey. Eighty percent of respondents said they “would become a nurse all over again…based on compensation, personal satisfaction and the challenge and variety that nursing provides.”

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patient. There were times I got to walk through the hospital and talk to his co-workers. I saw how much of an impact he has.”

Yet his father remembers that Wes “kind of ignored me” when he suggested nursing as a career option. It wasn’t until his mission trip to Hungary that it all came together for Wes. In nursing, he could support a family, have numerous career options and fulfill his desire to serve.

“My dad has always talked about how much of a ministry it is for him to be able to really help people,” Wes says. “I’ve always respected what he’s done.”

An advanced-practice nurse as well as a certified registered nurse anesthetist, Charles now works with Sweet Dreams Nurse Anesthesia Inc., a private group that provides anesthesia services to surgery centers and small hospitals throughout Georgia. He has always been passionate about men having their place in nursing and has encouraged many to join the profession. His enthusiasm clearly influenced his four sons.

Wesley’s older brother, Lenn, a paramedic, is now in nursing school at Darton College in Albany, Ga. His younger brother, Joseph, just started the nursing program at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn. And Charles says he wouldn’t be surprised if the youngest sibling, John, also joined the profession. “I know it passes through his mind once in a while.”

Times have changed since Charles was the lone male in his nursing class. Wes is one of 15 men who will graduate in December from the GHSU College of Nursing’s Clinical Nurse Leader program, an accelerated master’s-level program for students with bachelor’s degrees in other disciplines. They are unlikely to have the same worries Charles once had.

“I was a little concerned about fitting in to a predominately female profession at the time,” he says of those early days, when less than 3 percent of nurses were men. “Mostly, I was real concerned about how my friends might perceive me.”

Wes doesn’t feel that pressure. “It’s different now. It can be challenging sometimes in a profession dominated by women, and sometimes I’d much rather be out with the guys, using muscles and getting dirty, but this is a great way to serve people whether you’re a guy or a girl.”

“I’m mighty proud of him,” Charles says. “This is important work.” n

Charles Fetner (from right) with sons Wesley and Joseph

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Sailing Through Consolidated Nursing College Promises Top-Tier Education

S

tudents and faculty can look forward to growth and transformation as Georgia Health Sciences University and Augusta State University plan to consolidate their colleges of nursing in January.

“We’re comfortable that we’re going to sail through these uncharted waters,” said Dr. Lucy Marion, Dean of the GHSU College of Nursing, during her annual State of the College Address on Sept. 28.

Marion anticipates the student body at the consolidated Georgia Regents University College of Nursing to exceed 800, with 361 undergraduates and 471 graduate students in 2013. By 2020, enrollment could reach 1,000, she said.

The GHSU College of Nursing enrolled 558 students this fall, with just over one-quarter (162 students) in the baccalaureate program and almost one-third (172 students) in the graduate-level Clinical Nurse Leader Program. The remaining students are enrolled in graduate Nurse Practitioner and Nursing Anesthesia programs and in doctoral programs. Enrollment in the college’s graduate programs has steadily expanded, Marion said, and consolidation will enable expansion of the undergraduate program as well.

ASU and GHSU representatives aim to double doctoral enrollments in the consolidated university by 2020. Research will grow as well, Marion said, noting plans to recruit an Associate Dean for Research and senior research faculty, as well as increased support for researchers.

“Our focus for the coming years is to advance the Center for Nursing Research and to support nursing

faculty and students who are learning to conduct research, novice researchers and experienced researchers,” Marion said.

In addition, the college intends to disseminate more work and research through publications and scholarly presentations and to increase applications for funding.

Representatives for both schools have also identified strategies to embrace change, work as a team, operate leaner, become more entrepreneurial, and focus on teaching, research and practice, Marion said. The overall goal is to cultivate a culture of trust, accountability and effectiveness.

These strategies, she said, will lay the groundwork for consolidation and advance the college’s mission “to prepare caring and futuristic clinicians, scholars and researchers to lead and transform nursing in dynamic, diverse, complex and global health care environments.”

The vision of the consolidated College of Nursing is “to be a top-tier college that educates individuals to become nurse leaders in the discovery, delivery and transformation of health care.”

The consolidated College of Nursing is developing an Athens, Ga.-Atlanta corridor to help systems in these areas with partnerships and practice.

The College of Nursing will also develop new programs, including the STEPS grant, which is $500,000 for University System of Georgia faculty throughout the state to pursue a D.N.P. or Ph.D. in Augusta or any of the GHSU nursing campuses offering these degrees.

BY LaTINA EMERSON

Dean Lucy Marion

Several partnerships will also be unveiled: n Clinical opportunities for Athens Clinical Nurse Leader students through Emory Health System n Partnership with Clayton State University and Columbus State University for nurse practitioner education expansion n Partnership with China for Chinese baccalaureate students to attend school in Augusta n Mental health graduate certificate partnership with Valdosta State University and Columbus State University n Partnership with Medical Center of Central Georgia to deliver the Nursing Anesthesia program in Macon, Ga. n

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Paying it Fo D

aphney Joseph raises her eyebrows and opens her eyes wide, intently watching the numbers creep up as she takes Julia Waller’s blood pressure.

As she hesitantly calls out her patient’s pressure, she gets a round of applause.

“You’ve got your first blood pressure,” cheers Dr. Vanessa Spearman (MCG ’05). Daphney smiles, her body relaxes and she sighs in relief.

“We don’t usually teach this until the second year of medical school,” Spearman tells her, “so you’re ahead of the game.”

The atmosphere in the exam room is electric as the women alternate taking each other’s vitals—procedures they’ve only watched doctors do, but hope will be second nature one day when they’re physicians themselves.

Daphney, a senior at the University of Georgia, and Julia, a junior at Georgia Southern

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University, were 2012 participants in GHSU’s Student Educational Enrichment Program, or SEEP. The seven-week summer program prepares high school and college students from backgrounds under-represented in medicine for careers in the health sciences. Through the program’s clinical mentoring component, Daphney and Julia shadowed Spearman, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry, for several hours every Thursday.

Spearman’s pager buzzes and the trio heads to the emergency room to consult with a new patient. She leads the way in her long, white physician’s coat, while her mentees follow in short white coats similar to those worn by medical students.

“They’re a part of my team when they’re shadowing me, and I wanted them to wear the white coats to help them integrate into that team seamlessly,” Spearman says.

SEEP Mentors Lay Groundwork for Future Clinicians

orward Julia felt the team spirit as Spearman introduced her and Daphney to patients. “We really were able to listen to and interact with her patients,” Julia says, remembering one patient they consulted with for more than two hours. “Dr. Spearman was completely compassionate and supportive. Her drive is inspiring and it made me love medicine even more.”

Spearman knows firsthand how SEEP can help mold the careers of these young women. “SEEP is a part of my family legacy,” she explains. When the program was initiated in 1970, her father, Dr. Ronald Spearman (MCG ’74), was one of its first student moderators, along with Dr. Joseph Hobbs (MCG ’74), Chair of the Department of Family Medicine.

So naturally, the summer after her freshman year at Spelman College, Spearman participated in SEEP herself.

“It was a unique experience, and I wouldn’t change going to SEEP for anything,” she says. “When I came to MCG, I felt like I already knew a lot of other students and faculty, which was helpful.”

TOP: Julia Waller (from left), Daphney Joseph and Dr. Vanessa Spearman

BY PAULA HINELY

She shadowed Dr. Vincent Robinson, Professor of Cardiology, who instilled in her the desire to volunteer her time and pay forward the same experience she received to future generations.

When Spearman joined the MCG faculty in 2010 after completing a residency at the Medical University of South Carolina, she immediately sought ways to mentor through the MCG Office of Diversity Affairs, which oversees SEEP. “I grew up with a physician dad, a dentist mom and many surrogate aunts and uncles in medicine, so medicine has always been a part of my life. But a lot of young people don’t have that experience, and I want to give them the opportunity to have that exposure in a low stress environment,” Spearman says.

It was important to Spearman to have a mentor of her own race to look up to, and that’s one reason she volunteers with SEEP. “It does make a difference, because if you don’t see someone who looks like you, sometimes you can get discouraged. If I can eliminate that risk for another person, that’s my goal,” she says.

This summer, Spearman was one of 48 GHSU faculty members who volunteered as clinical mentors for SEEP. Collectively, the group gives about 2,500 hours annually to mentor a group of students who might not otherwise get the chance.

One mentor, Dr. Jack Yu, says there’s no question he would have jumped at the chance to participate in a similar program if he’d had the opportunity.

“I had to personally seek out opportunities like this when I was in college,” says Yu, Chief of Plastic Surgery. “I never could go in the OR to observe, except for when I was the patient.” continued

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“Shadowing gives the students a firsthand, realistic portrayal of the profession, and it may either stimulate their interest or reinforce interest that’s already there. These students have been very inquisitive and observant and they ask good questions.”

–DR. JACK YU

Jose Cruz and Margaret Akinhanmi (both in blue) shadow Dr. Jack Yu (right)

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While Yu, who was born in Taiwan, is not from an ethnic group under-represented in medicine, the mission of SEEP resonates with him. “The country needs more physicians and more diversity in the workforce, because we are taking care of a diverse population of patients,” he says. “SEEP gives good exposure to students who may one day fill those needs.”

Yu has volunteered as a clinical mentor for more years than he can count, and he tries to show his mentees the full experience—from scrubbing in and prepping the patient, to working as a team during surgery and talking with the patient’s family afterward.

“Shadowing gives the students a firsthand, realistic portrayal of the profession, and it may either stimulate their interest or reinforce interest that’s already there,” Yu says.

“These students have been very inquisitive and observant and they ask good questions.”

His mentees, University of Georgia senior Margaret Akinhanmi and Georgia Southern University junior Jose Cruz, both say shadowing Yu has shown them there’s much more to plastic surgery than the cosmetic enhancement procedures often portrayed in the media. They observed surgeries including cleft palate reconstruction, bone grafting and facial reconstruction following a gunshot wound.

“Shadowing Dr. Yu has been a great, eye-opening experience,” Margaret says. “The biggest impact on me was watching him build trust and a delicate doctor-patient relationship that I admire and am aspire to uphold in my future career.”

Inspiration is not a one-way street. The students stimulate Yu, as well. “Interacting with these young minds

gives me fresh perspective,” he says. “It keeps my mind young—somewhat.”

Intangible benefits like these are the only payment clinical mentors receive for the hours they spend with SEEP participants, and their support is invaluable to the program, says its Director Linda James.

“The mentors mean a great deal to our program and the success it’s obtained over the years,” she says. “This is the first clinical exposure for some of the SEEP participants, and the mentors often inspire, motivate and solidify their decision to go into a particular field.”

Dr. Shirley Redd, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, strives to do just that. “I really love to share my passion with the younger generation, and I think it is very important to introduce more people to medicine because there are so many underserved areas,” says the 1985 alumna.

Redd was introduced to SEEP after her freshman year of medical school, when she served as a resident counselor for the program’s high school females. She recalls taking them on excursions with other minority medical students, talking to them about college expectations and even tracking down a couple students who were sight-seeing on the city bus one night at bed check.

“I basically played parent for the summer to these kids who were excited to be away from home for the first time,” she says.

The experience resonated with her. After completing her anesthesiology residency at MCG in 1989 as the program’s first African-American female, Redd joined the MCG faculty and began a mentoring mission that has spanned more than 20 years.

“Over the years, I can reflect back on the number of students I’ve mentored who are now cardiologists or thoracic surgeons, for example,” she says fondly. “I still remember the students because you really get to know them quite well.”

Redd has written recommendation letters for medical school admission and provided guidance to mentees who continue to seek her advice. Her passion to mentor doesn’t stop when SEEP concludes at the end of each summer.

“Mentoring has kind of become a year-round thing for me,” Redd says. Several Augusta-area mentees have continued to shadow her throughout the school year.

The mentors do not take their roles lightly. After all, they could be leading a first-generation college student to a career as a surgeon, psychiatrist or anesthesiologist. They could also be inspiring a future colleague to pay it forward.

Or, as Spearman says, they could be taking part in a living legacy. “By being a clinical mentor, you really have the opportunity to be a physician to patients you never meet,” she says. “By touching the lives of future physicians, you essentially get to touch the lives of others.” n

What is SEEP?

The seven-week summer enrichment program for high school and college students interested in careers in health sciences targets those from under-represented, non-traditional or economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Association of American Medical Colleges defines under-representation as “racial and ethnic populations that are under-represented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population.”

While most SEEP participants aspire to be physicians, the program also hosts budding dentists, nurses and allied health professionals who shadow clinical mentors from their areas of interest.

In addition to clinical shadowing or volunteering, SEEP participants take rigorous courses and seminars in biomedical sciences, admissions test preparation, pre-professional development, communications and writing, library research and health science education admissions.

This summer marked the first year of SEEP’s expansion to Savannah. SEEP Savannah is a sixweek program for high school students at Alfred Ely Beach High School through a partnership with Savannah State University.

The Numbers 2,338: Approximate number of SEEP graduates 132: Faculty and staff who volunteered to teach, mentor or lecture in SEEP in 2012 42: Age of SEEP 37: SEEP participants in Augusta in 2012 8: SEEP participants in Savannah in 2012

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“This dust was once the man, Gentle, plain, just and resolute, Under whose cautious hand, Against the foulest crime in history Known in any land or age, Was saved the Union of these States.”

–Walt Whitman, 1865

Soldiering

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Dylan Carroll discusses amputation and post-traumatic stress disorder during Civil War medicine symposium.

On

Civil War Opened Floodgates of Medical Advances BY CHRISTINE HURLEY DERISO

C

ivil War medicine was much more advanced than public perception would suggest, but the story of a soldier walking a mile to the nearest field hospital holding his severed hand is, unfortunately, one of countless grisly anecdotes from the period.

Three Civil War scholars gathered on campus recently to discuss their extensive research on the subject and, more importantly, its relevance to medicine today. The half-day symposium was held at the Greenblatt Library last summer in conjunction with the National Library of Medicine traveling exhibit, “Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries.”

“Civil War soldiers were witness to an unprecedented amount of death and destruction,” said Dylan Carroll, a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Georgia Department of History.

Some 618,000 soldiers were killed during the war, and an untold number lived to tell grim tales. The man with the severed hand was one of many who had to make their own way to safety and even then encountered starkly crude forms of assistance. Amputation was the most common form of treatment, not necessarily because the wound was so bad but because the risk of infection was so high. Physicians at the time didn’t realize that their dirty surgical tools imparted as much of an infection risk as the war wound.

“The fact that so many young men survived surgery and infection is truly a testament to the power of the immune system,” Carroll said. continued G H S U TO DAY

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Surviving the pain was also a formidable task. Although ether was widely available at the time, he noted that Civil War physicians gave as little anesthesia as possible for fear of addiction, making surgery often excruciating.

And “for all that Civil War surgery lacked, Civil War psychiatry was much worse,” Carroll said, citing almost total neglect of symptoms—including tremors, catatonia, depression, screaming and nightmares—that in retrospect clearly suggest post-traumatic stress disorder. Diaries and letters from the period chronicle the sad truth that, in many cases, these untreated symptoms lingered for years or even decades. One young soldier died in battle shortly after writing home that he hallucinated seeing his young daughter standing alone on the battlefield.

Among those who lived to tell the tale, suicide was common. “At the time, physicians simply could not connect the dots,” Carroll said.

But in countless other ways, medical standards rose substantially during the Civil War. Dr. A. Jay Bollet, former Chair of the GHSU Department of Medicine and a lifelong Civil War history buff, noted that “lots [about medicine] was dismal, but

it improved immensely as the war progressed.

Doctors made a lot of effort to improve from experience.”

They got better not only at treating war wounds, but in treating infectious diseases that ran rampant as young soldiers transitioned from rural farms to crowded campgrounds.

Physical exams improved as well, Bollet said, noting that early recruits were checked more for missing teeth than anything. (Those missing back teeth got a pass; missing front teeth, shockingly common, was a dealbreaker.) There was nowhere to go but up, Bollet said with a chuckle, after several recruits deemed physically able for service were later discovered to be women in men’s clothing.

Medicine improved not only because of the sheer volume of casualties, but because of a new emphasis on pooling information. The U.S. Surgeon General at the time, Dr. William Hammond, oversaw the establishment of the Army Medical Museum, enabling physicians to preserve specimens, share literature and otherwise exchange notes.

“The war created a community of knowledge,” said Dr. Shauna Devine, Assistant Professor of History at Duke University.

Dr. William Hammond

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Even the general public responded to the new wellspring of information, turning the museum into something of a tourist destination. Advances in photography enabled war wounds and disease manifestations to be visually preserved for posterity. Medical photography served not only to advance medicine but to familiarize laymen with conditions that had formerly been considered shocking and repulsive. “The patient was no

The National Library of Medicine’s sixbanner traveling exhibit, which examines the African American men and women who served as surgeons and nurses and how their work challenged the prescribed notions of race and gender, was hosted by the GHSU Greenblatt Library for six weeks in May and June.

“By hosting the exhibition, we [paid] tribute to the contributions of African Americans to the fields of science and medicine,” said Dr. David N. King, then Interim Director of Libraries at GHSU. “It is important that we do not overlook this important piece of history.”

The exhibit will continue to make national rounds through 2015.

longer a freak or a curiosity,” Devine said.

“The goal was to teach and learn.”

The Surgeon General also mandated autopsies on fallen soldiers when possible, enabling physicians to study disease more intimately than ever before and to compile their observations. “The museum was exceptionally useful for the dissemination of knowledge,” Devine said. “It changed basic assumptions about how to study and teach medicine.”

Many findings were immediately applicable.

For instance, reconstructive surgery and prosthetic devices were widely pioneered during the Civil War. Mortality rates fell sharply as the war progressed. New understandings of infection and hygiene emerged as well.

“By the end of the war,” Devine said simply, “medical education was on a new course.” n

COURTESY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

Typical Civil War surgery and amputation kit

–Susie King Taylor, nurse, 33rd U.S. Colored Infantry

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CLASS notes

Allied Health Sciences Dental Allied Medicine Health Graduate Sciences Studies Medicine Nursing Dental Medicine Graduate Studies

Medicine Nursing

Awards? Professional Honors? Special Activities?

College of

Allied Health Sciences Lisa Daitch (’98) will be published in 2013 by ADVANCE for NPs and PAs for her article, “Alzheimer’s disease: A review for the primary care clinician.”

Kimberly Freyman (’12) has been selected for the Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Jessica Holland (’12) received a research grant from the Vesalius Trust for Visual Communications in Health Science at the Association of Medical Illustrators’ 67th Annual Conference Lee Nyquist (’12) received an Award of Merit in Instructional Tone Illustration at the Association of Medical Illustrators’ 67th Annual Conference.

Stephenson Robinson (’12) received a research grant from the Vesalius Trust for Visual Communications in Health Science at the Association of Medical Illustrators’ 67th Annual Conference

College of

Graduate Studies Dr. Arthur Taft (’98) recently discussed capnography as a featured speaker at the 34th annual Japanese Society for Respiratory Care Medicine in Okinawa, Japan.

College of

Nursing Marilyn W. Farmer (’85) was named the 2012 J.W. Fanning Humanitarian of the Year Award by the Athens Regional Foundation for her years of service and dedication to Athens Regional Medical Center and the community.

In February, she received the 2012 international Athena Award from the Athens Chamber of Commerce for her professional dedication to community service and her support of women’s career and leadership development. Farmer has been a member of the Board of Trustees at Athens Regional for nine years. She chairs the Athens Regional Health Systems and the Athens Regional Medical Center. She served 14 years as an Athens Clarke County Commissioner. Her areas of emphasis throughout most of her career have been in geriatric and hospice care.

Jennifer Edmunds (BSN ’03, MSN ’08) presented “Evolution not Revolution: Transitioning to a patient and family centered model of ICU care” at the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Region six conference in Atlanta on September 18. Edmunds is currently Clinical Nurse Educator in the Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center’s Surgical and Shock Trauma ICU.

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Contact Christine Hurley Deriso, Editor, at 706-721-2124 or email cderiso@georgiahealth.edu.

We would like to recognize our alumni from all five colleges.

College of

Dental Medicine

Medical College of Georgia

Dr. Bill Williams (’75) brings 28 years of general dentistry experience to the Gwinnett Gladiators, the East Coast Hockey League affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers, as Team Dentist. Dr. Williams is a member of 12 dental organizations including the International Academy for Sports Dentistry. He holds Mastership in the International College of Craniomandibular Orthopedics and is a Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry.

The Hon. Phil Gingrey (’69, R-Marietta) is seeking re-election in U.S. District 11. Gingrey established an obstetrics practice in Marietta after completing an internship at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and a residency at MCG.

Dr. Michael R. Carr Jr. (’78) has joined Southwest Georgia Dental Associates in Donalsonville and Cuthbert. He completed his general practice and hospital residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Hospitals. During his residency he worked in various rotations, including anesthesia and sedation, family medicine, emergency room/ trauma, oral surgery, medically compromised patients and implant prosthodontics.

Dr. Joseph Dromsky (’88) was named a “Top Dentist” in Augusta Magazine as selected by the organization topDentists. Dromsky practices family and cosmetic dentistry in his Augusta office.

Dr. Emmanuel “Manny” Ngoh (’94) was named a “Top Dentist” in Augusta Magazine as selected by the organization topDentists. Ngoh was the first African American to be accepted into GHSU’s endodontics program and currently maintains a successful practice at the Augusta Endodontic Center.

Dr. William Trotter IV (’00) was named a “Top Dentist” in Augusta Magazine as selected by the organization topDentists. Trotter has treated patients at the Center for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery since 2004.

Dr. Lyndsay Langston (’05), Atlanta, joined Drs. Sugarman and Brunner Periodontics and Implant Dentistry in June. Langston was previously Chief of Periodontics, Fort Drum, N.Y., where she was responsible for the periodontal and implant diagnosis and treatment of the 17,000 soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division of the United States Army. During her service career, she received many decorations and awards, including the Army Commendation Medal , the Army Service Ribbon, Global War on Terrorism Ribbon and the National Defense Service Medal.

Dr. Lane Price (’74), a cancer specialist with a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia, is running for the at-large vacancy on the Dougherty County School Board.

Dr. Irving M. Pike (’78) has been named the first Chief Medical Officer of John Muir Health, a not-forprofit health care organization east of San Francisco.

He provides medical and clinical leadership, expertise and perspective to the executive team, medical staff and clinical employees. He also contributes to business strategies supporting the organization’s growth and long-term goals. He has practiced gastroenterology in Virginia Beach, Va., since 1983 and is President of the Gastroenterology Quality Improvement Consortium. He serves on the American College of Gastroenterology’s Board of Trustees. Pike completed an internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas.

Dr. Dean Burke (’81), Bainbridge, Ga., has been appointed to the Georgia Board for Physician Workforce by Gov. Nathan Dea. Burke practices gynecology and is on the medical staff of Bainbridge Memorial Hospital. Previously, he served as a hospital board member and Chief of Staff. He previously served on the Georgia Medical Care Foundation and presently serves on the Bainbridge City Council. The author of The Millionaire Nurse, a financial-planning guide for nurses, he and wife Thea have two grown children.

Dr. Richard E. Fine (’83) has joined the West Clinic Comprehensive Breast Center in Memphis, Tenn.

Fine diagnoses and treats breast diseases and has extensive experience in new breast biopsy methods.

A native of Atlanta, he completed a general surgery residency at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. He has published numerous articles about stereotactic and ultrasound core needle biopsy.

Fine has served on the boards of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and the National Consortium of Breast Centers. He is a past President of the American Society of Breast Surgeons and serves on the board of the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers.

He was appointed a Governor of the American College of Surgeons to represent the American Society of Breast Surgeons. In 1996, he was appointed by Gov. Zell Miller to Georgia’s Cancer Advisory Committee.

Dr. Mark Albritton (’90) has joined Northeast Georgia Physicians Group in Oakwood , Ga. He completed a family practice residency at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, Ga., and is a member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.

He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice.

Dr. Douglas Lundy (’93) of Resurgens Orthopaedics in Canton, Ga., is included in Atlanta Magazine’s 2012 list of top doctors.

He completed his residency at Georgia Baptist Medical Center and is certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons. He was a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2010.

Dr. Natalie Burger (’00) has been named a partner in the Texas Fertility Center. She is board-certified in obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive endocrinology/infertility.

Burger specializes in diagnosing and treating infertility, focusing on recurrent pregnancy loss, in vitro fertilization, complicated endoscopic surgery, PCS and ovulation induction with intrauterine insemination.

Dr. John C. Keel (’01) has joined the medical staff of New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. His clinical interests include spine disorders, musculoskeletal and sports medicine, neuromuscular disorders, rehabilitation and disability. He is an instructor in orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School and previously served in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Department of Orthopedics. He completed an internship and residency at Emory University School of Medicine and a fellowship in pain management at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Roger Ulrich (’09) has joined Beaufort Memorial Bluffton Primary Care in Bluffton, S.C., as a family medicine specialist. He recently completed his residency at Self Regional Healthcare Family Medicine in Greenwood, S.C. He lived many years abroad in Europe and the Middle East and is fluent in Spanish, German and Arabic. He has also volunteered for a number of medical missions in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Niger and Peru.

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Obituaries Dr. Joseph Lee Parker Jr. (Medicine, ’42), the last surviving Navy doctor who landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy during the D-Day invasion of World War II, died Sept. 27 in Greensboro, Ga. Parker, a Waycross, Ga., native, was a member of the Sixth Naval Beach Battalion. He received the French Legion of Honor medal in 2011. He practiced in Greensboro and was a founding doctor at the Minnie G. Boswell Hospital, where he later served as Chief of Staff for 25 years. “He knew every country dirt road like the back of his hand. Beloved and esteemed by all who had the privilege of knowing him, he was a hero to his community,” his obituary read.

Survivors include his wife, daughter, son eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Dr. H. Calvin Jackson (Medicine, ’45), 91, died March 31 at his residence in Manchester, Ga. Jackson completed an internship at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta and served in the U.S. Army-Air Force as a medical officer at two U.S. Air Force hospitals from 1946-48, achieving the rank of Captain. He was a charter Fellow and life member of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a life member of the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians, a life member of the Medical Association of Georgia and past President of the Meriwether-Harris-Talbot County Medical Society. He served as Meriwether County Medical Dr. Lane Price (’74), a cancer specialist with a master’s degree in education from the University of Georgia, is running for the at-large vacancy on the Dougherty County School Board.

(Please note that Jackson’s class year was erroneously listed as 1941 in the summer 2012 edition of GHSU Today. We regret the error.)

Dr. Louie Frances Woodward Marshall (Medicine ’48), Covington, Ga., died July 16 at age 89. She was preceded in death by her husband, George J. Marshall. After earning her medical degree from MCG, she completed a residency at Sheppard Pratt in Ellicot City, Md., then returned to MCG where she served on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry from 1959 until her retirement in 1985. She then served as Chief of Staff at the Lenwood Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, after which she maintained a private practice for many years in Augusta before retiring. She was recognized by Who’s Who in America and was a Master Gardener.

Survivors include sons George J. Marshall Jr. and Rick Marshall, daughter Louise M. Avaritt, eight grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.

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Dr. Royce Van Jackson (Medicine, ’58), Crawfordville, Fla., died July 10 at age 83. After graduating as valedictorian from Attapulgus High School in 1945, he earned a degree at Georgia Southern College and taught science at Chattahoochee High School before entering the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps in 1950. He also served in the Korean Conflict with the 2nd Infantry and received the Combat Medical Badge and a Bronze Star. After earning his medical degree, he studied psychiatry at Tulane University and family systems theory at Georgetown University.

He practiced psychiatry in Tallahassee, Fla., from 1967-93, then became certified in chelation therapy. He retired from that practice in 1998.

He chaired the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry. Survivors include wife Patricia Jones Jackson, two children and eight grandchildren.

Dr. Bonner Lee Baker (Medicine ’76) died May 22 at age 62. Baker practiced internal medicine in Macon, Ga., from 1980-90. He was Medical Director of Coliseum Northside Hospital in Rome from 1990-99 and Medical Director of Rutherford Hospital in Rutherfordton, N.C., until his retirement in 2005. He was a member of the American Medical Association and Bibb County Medical Society. He was on the volunteer faculty of Mercer University and was a Diplomat of the American College of Physician Executives.

Survivors include wife Kathy Hudson Baker, two children and four grandchildren.

Events

Mark Your Calendars Thursday, Jan. 31 MCG Atlanta Perimeter Regional Reception Medical College of Georgia Alumni Association 6 p.m., Maggiano’s Little Italy at the Perimeter 4400 Ashford Dunwoody Road Atlanta, GA 30346

Thursday, Feb. 07 MCG Gainesville Regional Reception Medical College of Georgia Alumni Association 6 p.m., Northeast Georgia History Museum 322 Academy Street Northeast Gainesville, GA 30501

We’d like to hear from you Changed addresses lately?

Have a question or concern?

Want to learn more about participating in alumni programs?

Contact: Scott Henson Executive Director, Alumni Affairs shenson@georgiahealth.edu 706-721-4416

Allied Health Sciences Dental Allied Medicine Health Graduate Sciences Studies Medicine Nursing Dental Medicine Graduate Studies

Medicine

Nursing

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At Your Fingertips New Website Creates Thriving, Interactive Alumni Community

Like many GHSU alumni, Dr. Sandra Inglett wanted to give back to her alma mater after graduating from the College of Nursing in 2005, but the pursuit of a graduate degree held her back. After earning her Ph.D. in 2011 and joining the faculty last January, she knew it was an opportune time.

However, when life and work got hectic, the alumni association correspondence she received at home sometimes got set aside. When the GHSU Division of Advancement and Community Relations unveiled its new giving website to the campus, Inglett saw her chance to contribute online.

“It was convenient. I was at my desk with a few extra minutes and it was so easy to give on the website,” said the Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Nursing.

That website, giving.georgiahealth.edu, resulted from an enterprise initiative that also spawned a new donor database and foundation financial system.

“People are increasingly Internetsavvy, so the trend is to move fundraising online,” said Jennifer Russ, Associate Vice President for Advancement Programs.

“One click and you’re going to a giving page. It saves time and money for our donors, as well as the enterprise.”

The website not only makes contributions easier, it provides a new means of keeping in touch with GHSU. “It’s a brand new tool for networking and relationship-building with our donors, alumni, faculty and staff,” Russ said.

While anyone can view the website’s information focusing on why, how and where to give to GHSU, becoming a website member opens up a whole world of interactive information. In addition to making online gifts to both the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia Health Sciences Foundations, website members can join their alumni association, keep track of their personalized donation history and find fellow alumni. An interactive calendar enables members to register for alumni events and pay registration fees online.

The website also provides directed content based on the member’s connection to GHSU. For instance, College of Dental Medicine alumni will see information pertaining directly to their college, such as a story about the college’s 2012 graduating class contributing $25,000, while foundation or health system board members can log in to review board meeting minutes.

“Above all else, the website gives us an online interactivity that we’ve been missing with our alumni and constituents,” Russ said. Members can update their contact information and specify how they wish to be contacted—email, snail mail or phone.

“Preference is key, and we know people love to have control of their information.”

Since its launch on March 30, 42 people have joined the website and given $4,341 through it.

“The site can only get better as more people join,” Russ said. “We want our alumni to give feedback on the website so

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BY PAULA HINELY

“You never know when telling your story will inspire a fellow alumnus to give back as well, and the website gives a quick way to do that 24-7.”

–JENNIFER RUSS we can expand it and tailor it to fit their needs.”

Inglett is on the bandwagon. “When I graduated with my Ph.D., several students wanted to start a scholarship fund for [former College of Nursing Professor] Gerald Bennett, and I’d like to see a simpler way to contribute to that fund,” she said.

“I think the website would be a great opportunity to make that easier.”

Russ and her team also want to use the website to hear from “GHSU Ambassadors” who are willing to tell the story of how the enterprise has impacted their lives and why they give back. “You never know when telling your story will inspire a fellow alumnus to give back as well, and the website gives a quick way to do that 24-7,” she said. n

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Tony Duva, J.D., M.P.A., Senior Director of Development for Gift Planning

GIFT planning

A Passion, a Purpose, a Promise

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“As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time, at the peril of being not to have lived.”–Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

University campuses across the nation are transformed with the arrival of students each fall.

And our campus is no exception.

New and returning students populate the classrooms, labs, the student center and clinical facilities filled with purpose and zeal for the year ahead, a year that will lead them closer to their goal of becoming a researcher, a practitioner, an educator.

Without their laser-like focus on their professional aspirations, the many hours spent studying, doing lab work and listening to lectures could be a struggle.

A natural tendency at times is to lose focus of that which ultimately drives us . . . to risk becoming less than we had hoped.

Passion is often thought of as fleeting and indeterminate. That isn’t always the case. Think of the innovator, the entrepreneur, the scientist. Their passion must become tangible to be fully realized.

If passion is but a spark, an idea, a vague yearning, it is futile. Without passion, the work becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Until we respond to a call larger than ourselves, we risk losing our humanity.

So what is your passion? Are you purposeful about fulfilling it? Will the things you most care about extend beyond your lifetime? Do you have a legacy? Like centuries-old cathedrals and monuments, is your legacy immovable, unshakable?

Will it weather the slings and arrows of change?

More importantly, will it speak to future generations of that which inspired you, that which initially brought you to an academic medical center as a seeker of soul-satisfying work? Will it inspire others as you were inspired?

True philanthropy—altruism motivated by our deepest desire to make a positive, lasting difference—rekindles the fire that burned within us

when we first realized the possibility of achieving our goals.

And true philanthropy rises above prosaic concerns, the mundane, the necessary machinations of daily life—to the ethereal, the idealistic, the possible.

A colleague of mine received a much-needed scholarship to complete undergraduate school. The endowment had been established in memory of a beloved student who shared her major.

Today, this colleague contributes annually to the scholarship that helped her get through school. It didn’t seem like much at first, but after a few years, it made a tremendous difference in the pay-out to the scholarship recipients.

It’s been said that people often overestimate what they can achieve in a year. But they vastly underestimate what they can achieve in five years. If you start planning now, you can make a significant difference in the lives of future generations. Whether you begin making an annual donation to scholarships or plan to leave a portion of your estate to Georgia Health Sciences, you can have a tremendous impact on the quality of education and health care we provide.

Connecting back to the university where it all began, connecting forward to students who are just beginning . . . there is no higher calling.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, “Man is only great when he acts from passion.”

Five years from now, will you have made a difference? Will you be the change you wish to see in the world? Why not start today? In five years, in 50 years, in 150 years, will your passion be evident to others? Will it still be making a difference? Will others celebrate it? Action and passion: such is the mark of a life well-lived. n

Options for Remembering GHSU in Your Will

n A bequest of a fixed dollar amount. n A percentage of your estate, allowing you to keep the division of the estate residue in desired proportions regardless of its size. n A contingent gift in which funds go to GHSU if a designated beneficiary predeceases you. n A trust that pays income to a designated individual for life, with the remaining principal to be given to GHSU thereafter. n A gift in memory/honor of yourself, your family or a person you have loved or admired.

For help in making your plan, contact Tony Duva at 1-800-869-1113, 706-721-1939 or aduva@georgiahealth.edu

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Tell us by email at: updateinfo@georgiahealth.edu Go online to: www.georgiahealth.edu/updateinfo Or call us at: 706-721-4001

A Beautiful Rose Lila Rose Burbage’s life was saved in 2010 at Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center by awardwinning ECMO technology, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a lifesaving technique that mimics the natural function of the heart and lungs, allowing an infant or child to heal without taxing these vital functions. The 2-year-old returned to the CMC on Aug. 15 with her mother and brother to say thanks to some of her care team. The CMC ECMO team recently received its fourth consecutive Award of Excellence in Life Support from the Extracorporeal Life Support organization.

georgiahealth.edu/today