No. 396, September 2006
Editor: Kathleen Watson, M.D., drwatson@umn.edu
Editorial Assistant: Allison Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu
In this issue:
NEWS: MED 2010 and more
STUDENTS
FACULTY
EVENTS
LITERARY INSPIRATION
NEWS
MED 2010 report: Global health retreat
More women die in childbirth each year in the developing world than died in the 2005 tsunami, said one physician at the MED 2010 retreat for the global health work group. He was one of nearly 30 faculty members, community physicians, residents, medical students, and others involved in international issues who attended the Sept. 9 half-day retreat, convened by co-chairs Cynthia Howard, M.D., MPHTM, and Glenn Nordehn, D.O. Offering suggestions for meaningful global health experiences, examples of didactic curriculum and benefits from networking internationally to the group was Jessica Evert, a family medicine resident who helped establish a global health emphasis at Ohio State while a medical student and now is furthering a similar track at University of California-San Francisco. "Often, medical schools teach in a bubble," Evert said. Global health issues go beyond simple medical problems to encompass a broader definition of health that recognizes the importance of such factors as poverty, religion, and politics. Evert's presentation and focus group discussions held during the retreat helped this MED 2010 group make progress toward putting together objectives for its goals and vision. Its vision is:
"The Global Health Work Group will respond to the increasing student interest in global health by providing dynamic and longitudinal education, service and research opportunities for medical students to significantly improve the health of immigrants in Minnesota and populations worldwide."
MED 2010 progress report
What will MED 2010, learner-centered education for patient-centered care, be like? "Ultimately, medical education becomes more like graduate education," Dean Deborah E. Powell, M.D., told about 40 first-year medical students on Sept. 14. Education will become more flexible and more individualized, with pathways opening up for students to make their own choices. MED 2010 goals include transforming medical education from a time-based curriculum to a competency-based curriculum, which involves all aspects of education. More than 120 faculty members, medical students, residents, and staff members are participating in MED 2010 work groups and short-term initiatives (for details, see www.med.umn.edu/med2010 ).
Community Fund Drive begins Oct. 1
Dean Powell serves as co-chair with Dean Steven Crouch of the Institute of Technology for the 2006 Community Fund Drive. Goals this year are to raise $1.2 million and have at least one-third of our University faculty and staff participate. "As an individual," says Powell, "I am moved to give to the Community Fund Drive because I recognize the need is great. And as a member of this University, I know that this Community Fund Drive is one more way that we at the U make a difference for the state of Minnesota." Consider giving to one of the federation of charities who connect us to the wider community in the Twin Cities and Minnesota by addressing issues in health, community organizing, the environment, higher education, and human needs such as hunger and homelessness. In addition, contributors may write in the nonprofit charity of their choice on CFD forms. Watch for Community Fund Drive notices in your departments or go online for information (www.umn.edu/cfd).
Rural and interprofessional focus for visits
For the first time, 54 first-year students from the College of Pharmacy, Duluth, joined the 56 first-year medical school students from the Duluth campus for one-day rural community visits during the Introduction to Rural Primary Care Medicine course. On August 31, the students loaded onto buses to visit 74 hospitals, businesses and community groups in six rural communities in northern Minnesota: Aitkin, Cloquet, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, Moose Lake and Two Harbors. Students visited hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, as well as police and fire departments, businesses and schools and early childhood development centers.
STUDENTS
Kudos to Trotzky-Sirr
Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, a third-year medical student, is one of three students nationally to receive a Fulbright Scholarship to Venezuela. She will attend the post-graduate public health program through the Escuela de Salud Publica Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. As part of this program, she will conduct her dissertation study as a participant observer in the Barrio Adentro clinics and will address the successes and challenges of Barrio Adentro using patient-centered performance indicators.
Kudos to McGinnis
On Sept. 14, Lisa McGinnis received the Minnesota Medical Association's Medical Student Award at its 153rd Annual Meeting. The award is given to a Minnesota medical student who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the medical profession. McGinnis has been a delegate to the American Medical Association House of Delegates and served on the AMA--MSS Public Health Committee. She was the president of the University of Minnesota Medical School AMA Chapter, a delegate and board member of Hennepin County Medical Society and a delegate to the MMA Medical Student Section. McGinnis volunteered at a medical clinic in rural Costa Rica and Panama, as well as in the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery. She also volunteered for the Glaucoma Screening Project and at a health care career fair for high school students.
Ragusa's report from Washington, D.C.
Third-year medical student Peter Ragusa has been awarded the American Medical Association's Government Relations Advocacy Fellowship (GRAF). As the GRAF, Ragusa will work for one year in the Division of Legislative Counsel in the AMA's Washington, DC offices. In this capacity, he will advocate for medical student issues on behalf of the 50,000-member Medical Student Section of the AMA. He is excited about the opportunity, "I am thrilled to have been chosen for this position and could not be more enthusiastic about the chance to work on health policy, and for the future of medicine, in our nation's capital." For more information, go to http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/12201.html.
Smith experiences Flexible M.D.
It is not every day that a person gets to conduct qualitative research in Cape Town, South Africa, nor is it very common for that same person to wake up four months later, and travel to work at a public clinic in Quito, Ecuador. Thanks to the Medical School's Flexible M.D. Program, this scenario became a reality for Stephanie Smith, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Minnesota. "The flexible M.D. Program has given me the opportunity to push boundaries and has helped me create my own version of enhancing human well-being," says Smith, who spent nine months overseas. Although much of her trip was devoted to researching human rights and working with patients, Smith had time to travel and even found herself on a safari. "My experiences abroad have helped me extend my imagination across national and cultural boundaries to increase my capacity for empathy, and to bring justice to the bedside," explains Smith, who aspires to become a psychiatrist.
International clinical research training program
The Association of American Medical Colleges is seeking applicants for an international clinical research training fellowship for graduate level health professions students. The program is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Fogarty International Center, in partnership with the Ellison Medical Foundation. The AAMC and the Association of Schools of Public Health manage the program, which is beginning its fourth year. This one-year program provides students with mentored research training at top-ranked, NIH-funded research centers in a diverse group of countries. Applications are due Dec. 8. For more information, go to http://www.aamc.org/overseasfellowship .
Invitation to medical students to hear Tracy Kidder Oct. 11
Medical students are welcome to join the Physician and Society class when Tracy Kidder speaks, 3:30-5:30 p.m., Oct. 11, in PWB 2-470. Kidder is the author of Mountains Beyond Mountains, about the work of Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D., to help poor people in underdeveloped areas be treated for HIV/AIDS and drug-resistant tuberculosis. (For more information on Farmer's work, go to www.pih.org, the Partners in Health Web site.)
Calling all students: For future issues, we'd love to hear your news about volunteer efforts, research work, or medical experiences in new environments. Send an e-mail to Allison Campbell Jensen, aac@umn.edu.
FACULTY
Mentoring matters, Sept. 21
Faculty at every level in the Medical School are invited to career development sessions led by mentoring expert Janet Bickel, Career Development and Executive Coach, and former associate vice president for Medical School Affairs at the Association of American Medical Colleges. She leads three sessions -- aimed at junior, senior, and women faculty, respectively -- on mentoring and career development at our Medical School, Thursday, September 21. The sessions are free of charge but pre-registration is required. For more information, see the Web site (http://www.med.umn.edu/events/mentoring/home.html) or call Jeni Skar, Medical School Office of Faculty Affairs, 612-624-5442.
Eisenberg receives national award
Richard Eisenberg, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and adjunct professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus, has received the Distinguished Service Award from the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). The award has been bestowed only four times in the past by CPDD, the longest standing group in the United States addressing problems of drug dependence and abuse. In collaboration with John Kamien, Ph.D., president of Biopsych Consulting, Eisenberg helped the CPDD develop total electronic media solutions for a variety of purposes to manage information and data more efficiently and effectively. The award was presented at the CPDD Annual Meeting held in Scottsdale, Arizona.
EVENTS AND LECTURES
Enhancing faculty success in clinical research, Sept. 21
Eugene Orringer, M.D., executive associate dean for Faculty Affairs at the School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will talk on "An Innovative, Dean's Office-Based Approach Designed to Enhance Faculty Success" at the next Academic Health Center Office of Clinical Research Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series lecture. The lecture will be held on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, 1:30-2:30 p.m. in 2-690 Moos Tower.
Talk on health disparities in American Indian communities, Oct. 3
Spero M. Manson, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry and Head, American Indian and Alaska Native Programs at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, will present a Distinguished Visiting Scholar Series Health Disparities lecture, "Wounded Spirits, Ailing Hearts: Trauma in American Indian Communities," on Tuesday, October 3, 12:15-1:15 p.m., in 1-450G Moos Tower (lunch provided).
Conference on clinical research trends Oct. 4-5
The University of Minnesota Academic Health Center and Mayo Clinical Trial Services are jointly sponsoring a major conference on clinical research: "Current Issues in Clinical Research." It will take place October 4-5, 2006 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. An outstanding, nationally-prominent faculty has been assembled. Cost is only $25 for U of M faculty, research staff, or trainees; to register, complete the form on the Web site (www.mayocts.com/education/conferences) and return by mail or fax.
Author Tracy Kidder to visit Oct. 10 & 11
The Medical School is co-sponsoring a Creative Writing Program event, "Good Societies," featuring Tracy Kidder, 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10, at Cowles Auditorium. See Students section for another event featuring Kidder.
Minnesota Alliance for Patient Safety conference, Nov. 15-16
Keynote speaker will be the author of the best-seller Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes, and Chief of the Medical Service at University of California, San Francisco Medical Center Bob Wachter, M.D. He will discuss how far health care systems and providers have come since 1999, and how far they need to go in sustaining our commitment to address medical mistakes. Registration at the conference is $310; for details, see the MAPS Web site (http://www.mnpatientsafety.org/).
LITERARY INSPIRATION
Afraid so
Is it starting to rain?
Did the check bounce?
Are we out of coffee?
Is this going to hurt?
Could you lose your job?
Did the glass break?
Was the baggage misrouted?
Will this go on my record?
Are you missing much money?
Was anyone injured?
Is the traffic heavy?
Do I have to remove my clothes?
Will it leave a scar?
Must you go?
Will this be in the papers?
Is my time up already?
Are we seeing the understudy?
Will it affect my eyesight?
Did all the books burn?
Are you still smoking?
Is the bone broken?
Will I have to put him to sleep?
Was the car totaled?
Am I responsible for these charges?
Are you contagious?
Will we have to wait long?
Is the runway icy?
Was the gun loaded?
Could this cause side effects?
Do you know who betrayed you?
Is the wound infected?
Are we lost?
Will it get any worse?
by Jeanne Marie Beaumont