med ed
A newsletter for faculty, staff, and students of the University of Minnesota Medical School

No. 391, April 2006

Editor: Kathleen Watson, M.D., drwatson@umn.edu

Editorial Assistant: Allison Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu

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Outlook positive on LCME follow-up visit

On April 5, visitors from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education completed a three-day follow-up visit to our Medical School. While we await the final report in late June, the preliminary report is very positive. The site visitors visited the Duluth and Twin Cities campuses of the medical school and were favorably impressed with the progress that has been made during the past two years and by the enthusiasm and commitment to medical education by faculty, students, staff, and administrators.

Michel Sanders wins University teaching award

Please join Dean Powell and me in congratulating Michel Sanders, Ph.D., for winning one of this year's Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate, and Professional Education. Sanders, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, joins a small and distinguished group of University faculty. She receives the award during a ceremony April 24.

Barbara Elliott wins Duluth research award

Barbara Elliott, Ph.D., Department of Family Medicine, has been chosen as the recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Research for 2005-2006 from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her outcomes research focuses on access to care for the underserved. She will be among those honored at an all-campus award ceremony, lecture, and reception Wednesday, May 3.

Gold Humanism Award-winning residents announced

Six residents are this year's winners of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Awards. They are Kevin Brown, D.O., neurology; Harley Dresner, M.D., otolaryngology; Angela Fischer, M.D., ob/gyn; Allison Holt, M.D., psychiatry; Kambiz Kosari, M.D., surgery; and, Paul Vietzen, M.D., surgery. These outstanding residents were selected by University of Minnesota medical students in years three and four. The awards will be presented on April 7, during Transition Day.

New Alpha Omega Alpha members announced

Join me in congratulating the following students who have been elected to Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA): Sarah Berini, Emily Birkholz, Matthew Carlson, David Daniels, Andrew Hollatz, Jessica Kassis, Amy Kolbe, Lisa Stirling, Christopher Walker, and Tzu-Fei Wang. There will be another AOA election in October when an additional 28 students will be selected. For information about the selection process, as well as about AOA, go to the chapter Web site (http://www.meded.umn.edu/students/aoa/).

Match Day results

"You're going to be absolutely superb physicians," Dean Powell told the fourth-year medical students on Match Day March 16. Of the 216 medical students who participated in Match Day, 116 of them placed in Minnesota residencies. The remaining students divided almost equally among residencies in the Northeast, West, and Central Region. Nearly 46 percent matched in primary care specialties; emergency medicine, surgery, and anesthesiology were popular specialties. For more detailed results, see the Web site (http://www.meded.umn.edu/students/residency/match/index.cfm ).

M.D./Ph.D. students match well---a note from the program director

"It is with great pride that I announce the outcome of Match Day for our seven graduating M.D./Ph.D. students:

"Jonathan Carlson (thesis advisor Rick Wagner, Ph.D.): Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard;

Eleanor Chen (thesis advisor Steve Ekker, Ph.D.): Pathology, Brigham & Women's Hospital/Harvard;

Joseph Fullmer (thesis advisor Bob Elde, Ph.D.): Pathology, University of Washington;

Michael Linden (thesis advisor Brian Van Ness, Ph.D.): Pathology, University of Washington;

Benjamin Mueller (thesis advisor Dave Thomas, Ph.D.*): Orthopedic Surgery, University of Minnesota;

Robert Schwartz (thesis advisor Catherine Verfaillie, M.D.): Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University; and,

Xilma Ortiz-Gonzales (thesis advisor Walt Low, Ph.D.): Pediatric Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia /Penn.

"This is a flat out red letter day for this program and, in my opinion, represents a level of accomplishment on Match Day that is second to no other Medical Scientist Training Program in the United States.  Please join me in congratulating each and every one of these remarkable individuals on the occasion of this defining day in our M.D./Ph.D. program! They shine on us and we will follow their continuing career development with great interest." -- Tucker W. LeBien, Ph.D., Director, Medical Scientist Training Program

Success and/or Making a Difference: clinical research lecture series

"Academic Success vs. Making a Difference, Academic Success AND Making a Difference," a talk by Robert Brook, M.D., Sc.D., vice president and director of RAND Health, and Professor of Medicine and Health Services at the Center for Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he directs the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, takes place 12:10 p.m., Tuesday, April 18, in 2-650 Moos Tower, as part of the Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series. A light lunch will be served. The series is sponsored by the Academic Health Center's Office of Clinical Research. Next speaker will be Marvin Moser, M.D., Yale School of Medicine. For more information, contact Sue Jackson at 612-626-6033 or sjackson@umn.edu . All are encouraged to attend. 

PreMed Day a success

Some 50 schools in the area, including several colleges within the University of Minnesota system, were represented by more than 300 students considering medical school and their advisors during our Medical School's PreMed Day April 1. Thanks to all faculty, staff, and students who helped make this 48th PreMed Day a success for our outreach and recruitment programs. The program was sponsored by the Office of Admissions on the Twin Cities campus of the Medical School.

Minnesota Medicine writing contest: May 1 deadline

Physicians, residents, and medical students can share stories and insights gained from their education and practice and perhaps win a cash prize and be published in Minnesota Medicine's July issue. Cash prizes 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. The contest deadline is May 1; submissions should be original, previously unpublished, and not exceed 2,000 words. Submit online to jryan@mnmed.org.

Portal provides support for teaching and learning

The myU portal is a secure, personalized, customizable, and centralized location to find and share University resources, electronic tools, and up-to-the-minute news and information. And now, the myU portal offers customized views for Academic Health Center faculty, staff, and students to support efforts to teach, learn, and communicate. For more information about the myU portal and its uses, go to https://www.myu.umn.edu/metadot/index.pl?iid=613433&isa=Category.

May 11-12 Best Practices Institute: Teaching in the Health Professions

Registrations are now being accepted for this free faculty development opportunity, spanning a day and a half, Thursday and Friday, May 11 and 12. More than 25 leaders in education from all six Academic Health Center schools, as well as a national education leader, are lined up to engage participants on topics that are very relevant to everyone who teaches in the health professions. Opportunities for skill-building and sharing of ideas will be provided to participants in small groups. The four educational themes of the institute are: 1) Enhancing Key Teaching Skills; 2) Teaching Ethics in the Classroom, Clinic, and Community; 3) Finding Balance for Health Care Professionals; and, 4) Technology-Enhanced Teaching. To view a complete schedule and to register, go to http://www.BPinstitute.umn.edu .

Upcoming events

· April 18: Celebrating Excellence, Minnesota Medical Foundation Honors & Awards program, 11 a.m., A.I. Johnson room, McNamara Alumni Center.

· April 20: King Holmes, M.D., speaks on sexually transmitted infections for the Wesley W. Spink Memorial Lecture, noon, Moos 2-620.

Author Atul Gawande spoke March 21

"The more technological medicine has become, the more human it has become," Atul Gawande, M.D., told a breakfast gathering hosted by Fairview Health Services. Physicians' decisions increasingly matter, and they need to emphasize clinical research more to improve outcomes, he told the primarily physician audience March 21, during his presentation "The Bell Curve in Medicine: Exploring the Roots of Failure and Excellence in Performance." Gawande is author of Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, a Harvard professor, staff member of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and staff writer on science and medicine for The New Yorker magazine.

Literary inspiration

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world."

--Harriet Tubman