No. 367,
April 2004
Editor: Gregory Vercellotti,
M.D., verce001@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison
Campbell, aac@umn.edu
Successful Match Day
"We know you're going to do splendidly and make us
very proud," Dean Deborah Powell, M.D., told the Class of 2004 at Match Day
last month. The class as a whole did well in the match. On March 18, the
University of Minnesota's fourth-year medical students were notified of their
positions in residencies from NYU School of Medicine to Drew in Los Angeles.
Nearly half the class (48.7 percent) entered residencies in primary care
specialties and a little more than half (52.7 percent) will be learning their
specialties in Minnesota. The unmatched rate of 7 percent was about the same as
the national rate.
Congratulations to great teachers Giesler
and Carey
Two of
our own have been chosen to receive University of Minnesota 2004 Awards for
Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional
Education. Medical School faculty members Glenn J. Giesler, Ph.D., professor in
the Department of Neuroscience, and James R. Carey, Ph.D., associate professor
in the Department Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, were chosen to receive this
highly competitive award, given to those who exemplify commitment to the
highest quality teaching. Congratulations to each for their dedication and
their accomplishments. Giesler and Carey will be inducted into the Academy of
Distinguished Teachers at 3:30 p.m., April 26, 2004, in McNamara's Memorial
Hall. To register to attend this ceremony and reception, go to http://www.alumni.umn.edu/distinguishedteaching
or call (612) 624-2323.
More teaching awards
Recipients
of Minnesota Medical Foundation teaching awards will be honored on April 20 but
don't wait until then to congratulate our medical school's dedicated teachers.
Chosen for the Distinguished Year One Award (2002-2003) was Patrick Schlievert,
Ph.D., and for the Distinguished Year Two Award (2002-2003) was John Day, M.D.,
Ph.D. Winners of the Distinguished Years 3-4 Clinical Awards were Kelli Bullard,
M.D., and Thomas Stillman, M.D., and of the Distinguished Years 3-4 Resident
Awards were Peter Eckman, M.D., and Robert Quigley, M.D. The Leonard Tow
Faculty Humanism in Medicine Award Presented by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation
was given to John Song, M.D. The Outstanding Medical School Teacher Award for Basic
Sciences went to Kenneth Roberts, Ph.D.; the Outstanding Medical School Teacher
Award for Clinical Teaching was presented to Sharon Allen, M.D., Ph.D. And last
but not least, the Thorne Stroke Award was given to Clifford Steer, M.D.
Increasing (brain) awareness
This is
the eighth year that the University of Minnesota has participated in Brain
Awareness Week. Brain Awareness Week is an international program created in
1996 by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and the Society of Neuroscience
to promote the public and personal benefits of brain research.
Key
components of the program are visits made to elementary schools by biomedical
researchers, as well as graduate and medical students. In March, Duluth
faculty and students made presentations in 24 schools, reaching more than 2,200
elementary school students. During April, neuroscientists from the Twin Cities
campus are expected to visit 26 schools, teaching more than 4,000 4th and 5th
graders about the brain. Presenters engage students with human and animal
brains and hands-on activities demonstrating how different brain regions
control diverse body functions.
In
February, the University of Minnesota hosted the Minnesota Brain Bee, a
competition for high school students. More than 90 students from around the
state registered for the computerized preliminary round, with 20 qualifying for
a quiz-show style final round contest that was held at the
--Janet Lyn Fitzakerley, Departments of Pharmacology
and Physiology, Duluth
Graduation May 7
Everyone
is invited to the Medical School's graduation ceremony, 2:30 p.m., May 7,
Northrop Auditorium. Students will gather at 12:30 p.m. for a group portrait.
Faculty members in academic costume may gather at 1:30 p.m. in Coffman Union to
prepare for the processional. This year's keynote speaker is Randy Shaver,
KARE-11 sports anchor and cancer survivor.
New to the Alpha bit
Nine
from the Class of 2005 will be inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha April 22. They are:
Jonathan Edel, Jessica Gerwing, Paul Kleinschmidt, Tamra Knutson, Michael May, Michael
Miedema, Daniel Miller, David Polga, and Katie Toft. Please join me in
congratulating them. In October, more members of this class will be chosen for
this medical honor society.
News from Family Medicine in Duluth
Duluth Department
of Family Medicine faculty members have been busy this winter. Jeff Adams,
M.D., presented the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team Program, in which
second-year medical students work with College of St. Scholastica nursing
students, to the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Predoctoral
Conference on Jan. 30, 2004, in New Orleans. Ruth Westra, D.O., presented the
Family Connection Program at the STFM Annual Conference on Families and Health
on Feb. 26, 2004 at Amelia Island, Florida. The Family Connection Program
attaches each first-year medical student with a family and their family
physician in conjunction with Standardized Family Sessions at the medical
school. Funding was obtained for the Interdisciplinary Health Care Team Program
and the Family Connection Program through a HRSA Academic Administrative Grant
for Family Medicine Departments. Glenn Nordehn, D.O., served as a grant
reviewer for the HRSA Predoctoral Grant Applications in Washington, D.C., in
February 2004.
Get in touch with your muse
Medical Musings,
a writing contest that gives Minnesota physicians, residents, and medical
students the chance to share the myriad stories that they accumulate throughout
their medical education and daily practice, has been announced by the Minnesota
Physicians Foundation and Minnesota Medicine, the Minnesota Medical
Association's journal. Cash prizes of $200 will be awarded for the best
creative writing (nonfiction story, short fiction, poetry, or essay) dealing
with the practice of medicine or the medical school experience. Winning entries
and other submissions chosen by Minnesota Medicine's advisory board and editorial
staff may be published in the journal's July issue. Contest deadline is May 1,
2004. For details, see the Web site: http://www.mmaonline.net/News/fullstory.cfm?recNum=3001
Editor's note: Hats off to thee,
Minnesota!
Faculty,
staff, and students dedicated 18 months of effort to get ready for the Liaison
Committee on Medical Education accreditation visit last week. The unofficial
outcomes, as Dean Powell has conveyed to several leadership groups, were
positive. We must wait for fall for the official letter from the LCME. But now
that we have had a chance to catch our collective breath, I want to personally
thank everyone who was involved, particularly several people whose hard work
and perseverance were essential to the success of our site visit. We could not
have done this without the leadership of LCME self-study co-chairs Jim Boulger, Ph.D., Glenn Giesler,
Ph.D., and Chuck Schulz, M.D. Outstanding in surveying their fellow students
were student leaders Chloe Zera and Alen Sabati on the Twin Cities
campus and Theodore Ruzanic and Paul Tonkin on the
Duluth campus. I also want to thank Allison Campbell and especially my assistant
Linda Reilly, whose helpfulness was specifically mentioned by our site visitors.
And thank you to everyone who makes the University of Minnesota Medical School
a great medical school.
--Gregory Vercellotti, M.D.,
Senior Associate Dean for Education