Department of Medicine
Con necting Tec h n olog y, Educ a tion a n d D iscov e r y w i t h H u m a n i s m i n M e d i ci ne
Intrinsic Factors of Discovery
Vol. 3 Issue 1 January 2014
In 1928, when George Minot, MD, assumed his position as the second director of the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory at Boston City Hospital, he pledged to maintain an atmosphere that allowed “opportunities for freedom of thought and open discussion.” Because of its work, this lab is now considered to be the birthplace of modern hematology. Jonathan Wall, PhD, Professor in the Human Immunology and Cancer Program at the University of Tennessee Graduate Drs. Jonathan Wall and Steven Kennel School of Medicine, lead a successful team of investigators that Knoxville, TN, and has been researching better methods to image the director of basic and treat amyloidosis. science research for the Department of Medicine (DOM) runs that kind of lab. The walls along the laboratory hallway are lined with multicolored posters presented at meetings all over the world; each poster, every presentation, reams of journal articles and book chapters documenting incremental progress toward understanding the pathogenesis of primary (AL) amyloidosis. Building on this, Wall’s team was instrumental in performing the “firstin-human” clinical trial studying a radio-iodinated monoclonal antibody that detected light chain amyloidosis by PET scan. Their latest
imaging agent is a protein that seeks and binds to amyloid. In addition to creating better PET scan images, it has the potential to serve a therapeutic role for patients with amyloidosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and Type II diabetes. This expertise was recently acknowledged by an NIH grant that will help fund the program for the next four years. Steve Kennel, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology, transitioned from the Biology Division at Oak Ridge National Labs to the DOM basic sciences division nearly ten years ago, bringing with him a wealth of experience in creating radioisotope delivery systems for the treatment of cancer. The Thorndike atmosphere is especially apparent between Wall and Kennel. They oxygenate their ideas with each other, debating their plausibility while simultaneously designing an experiment to confirm or refute it. Kennel and Wall are quick to give credit to each other, but they both are proud of their committed team of co-investigators. Alan Stuckey, BA, CNMT; Tina Richey, MS; Emily Martin, BS; Angela Williams, MS; Sallie Macy, BS; and Craig Wooliver, MLT, are an unusually specialized group of talented people, each with unique and indispensable talents that are vitally important to the success of this research. Less than a century ago, B12 deficiency was a lethal illness. William B. Castle, MD, another hematology icon, built on Dr. Minot’s work and reversed the bone marrow failure of pernicious anemia by feeding his patients beef steak that was partially digested in the stomachs of impoverished medical students. He concluded that the result was due to a then unknown “intrinsic factor” present in the students gastric juices that was absent in his patients. Now, this once deadly disease is little more than a nuisance. An atmosphere of freedom to think and opportunities for discussion is alive and well in the basic sciences division here in the DOM. It is a lot to imagine, but the work performed here in the shadows of the Smoky Mountains may someday render many fatal illnesses curable.
Points of View
boards, do night call, entertain friends, follow up on patients, practice patient safety, make the right clinical decisions, run a code, do projects, study, sleep, write a paper, attend courses, learn computer programs, work in a team, participate in committees, interact with patients’ families, answer pages, entertain friends, do something interesting, complete paperwork, sleep, be responsive, be respectful, be a role model, teach students, eat, make decisions, be a guide, be diplomatic, be with friends, provide emotional support, go on vacation, learn skills, practice skills, play with kids, apply for jobs, identify patients’ needs, sleep, explain management decisions, respond to emails, interpret tests, help with recruitment, provide preventive care, study, be friendly, learn technical skills, go for job interviews, teach procedures, be professional, communicate as a consultant, have fun. What are the roles and responsibilities of a resident? Are we asking too much of them?
Rajiv Dhand, M.D., Chair
See patients, review lab results, put in orders, present patients, attend conferences, read textbooks, log duty hours, sleep, review protocols, learn to put in central lines, intubate patients, dictate notes, review notes, present at conferences, go to clinic, do journal club, do procedures, be respectful of colleagues, look after family, check emails, attend meetings, review labs and x-rays, arrange day care, study, be responsible, make a poster, read journals, eat, exercise, be professional, lead a team, teach medical students, drop the children off at school, see more patients, help others, do a project, take written tests, prepare for 1