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 Welcome to the second issue of The Pulse, the faculty and staff newsletter for the University of Arizona Department of Medicine. With a variety of holidays upon us — including Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Bodhi Day, Pancha Ganapati, the Winter Solstice and the New Year — it’s a festive time of year that often focuses on the joys of giving and sharing among family, friends and community. As such, I look forward to seeing you all at our annual faculty and all-staff gatherings this first week of December. Let’s celebrate all the promise that the coming months have to offer as we press forward to set and achieve our goals. Again, if you have an idea for a story you may want to see in The Pulse, contact communications coordinator David Mogollón, 626-1137. For now, I wish you and yours all the merriest of season’s greetings and a happy new year.
Monica Kraft, MD
Robert & Irene Flinn Professor of Medicine
Chair, Department of Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson
The first gastroenterology fellows for the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas began to cycle through at the UA College of Medicine in November on a one-month rotation in a new ACGME-approved affiliation to complete their clinical hepatology training in Tucson...
Five Department of Medicine faculty members — including pictured above (back row, 5th, 4th and 3rd from right) Drs. John Bloom (Pulmonary), Amy Sussman (Nephrology) and Tirdad Zangeneh (Infectious Diseases) — came away with seven awards at the 36th Annual UA COM Faculty Teaching Awards and Vernon and Virginia Furrow Awards ceremony, Nov. 19, in DuVal Auditorium. Also recognized were Tammer El Aini, MD, a pulmonary and critical care fellow, and Lu Martinez, PhD, DOM educational research and development director…
It was an inspiring performance by UA Internal Medicine Residency Program members and College of Medicine medical students who took several of the top awards at the American College of Physicians Arizona Chapter meeting, hosted Nov. 13-15 in Tucson. South Campus resident physicians took top honors in the Doctor’s Dilemma™, Oral Clinical Vignettes and Research Poster contest and will represent the state at the ACP nationals…
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Unfamiliar with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) top patient safety recommendations? Here's a hint — the first one involves soap and water. In this inaugural post for a new UA Department of Medicine blog from our vice chair for Quality & Safety, Dr. Phil Factor reviews the first five.
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Several research grant deadlines are approaching, including four requests for applications for Arizona Area Health Education Centers (AzAHEC) Program grants, due by Monday, Dec. 7, and another for letters of interest for Arizona Biomedical Research Commission (ABRC) grants, due by Friday, Dec. 11.
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First responders and medical staff were recognized at Banner – UMC Tucson in a late October media event to allow Robert Freel, 70, who suffered sudden cardiac arrest while driving a month earlier, to thank his rescuers. Among them were Ranjith Shetty, MD, director of the UA Inpatient Cardiology and Cardiac Care Unit, and cardiothoracic surgeon Toshinobu Kazui , MD, PhD (on left in picture). Several local TV stations, including Spanish language, broadcast the story...
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UA endocrinologist Karen Herbst, MD, was recognized at the 25th Annual Los Angeles Music Awards as "Humanitarian of the Year for Medical Research" for her compassionate care of people with adipose tissue disorders. She was nominated by a patient she diagnosed and is treating for Dercum’s disease…
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Recently awarded a 5-year, $2.9 million NIH grant, a team of researchers from the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and El Colegio de Sonora will conduct research to focus on the prevention of cardiovascular disease and its complications among adults with diabetes in Northern Mexico…
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Gastroenterology and the Liver Research Institute’s Archita Desai, MD, Critical Care’s Jarrod Mosier, MD, and Translational & Regenerative Medicine’s Olga Rafikova, MD, PhD, were among UA junior faculty recognized with Career Development Awards for their research efforts. The awards were announced at Joe G.N. “Skip” Garcia, MD's State of the UA Health Sciences address Oct. 29…
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UA Center on Aging Education Director Lisa O’Neill, MPH, was recognized as the “2015 Gerontologist of the Year” by the Arizona Geriatrics Society. Lisa also serves as project manager for the center’s Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, is a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, and participates in other efforts related to Alzheimer’s, hoarding and elder abuse…
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Jeannie K. Lee, PharmD, assistant head of the UA Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science at the College of Pharmacy, was named the “2015 Geriatrician of the Year” by the Arizona Geriatrics Society. She's also a research associate and faculty member of the UA Center on Aging and participates in weekly geriatric clinics to assist seniors and their families in better understanding their medications…
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UA Cancer Center BMT Program Director Emmanuel Katsanis, MD, was featured in an article on haploidentical bone marrow transplants, or haplo BMT. This offers an alternate stem cell source for BMT patients without a donor match. It's particularly important to Arizona’s large population of Hispanics, who have less than a 40 percent chance of finding an unrelated match via the national registry…
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Returning to Arizona from Florida, Julie Ebersole, RN, MSN, OCN, an experienced leader in ambulatory cancer-care settings, has been hired by Banner – University Medical Group as executive director for Oncology Services in Tucson. She most recently was vice president of operations for the Vicinitas Cancer Care in Boca Raton, Fla...
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Mayar Al Mohajer, MD, was interviewed by two local TV news stations about use of the drug PrEP to prevent the spread of HIV. Dr. Al Mohajer noted that, while the drug is 90 percent effective, he wants people to understand it isn't a cure for the disease. PrEP is aimed at people who may come into contact with someone with HIV through sharing needles or sexual contact...
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A recent post for the UAHS Healthy Dose blog focused on tips for Valley Fever as part of Valley Fever Awareness Week, Nov. 9-18, which also was the focus of the 20th Farness Lecture by the CDC’s Tom Chiller, MD. Several media outlets covered related events. A spike in the respiratory infection in recent months also prompted a front page article by the Arizona Daily Star…
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The National Consortium for Credentialing Health & Wellness Coaches has accredited the new Integrative Health Coaching program at the UA Center for Integrative Medicine. The interprofessional, six-month distance-learning program, begun last year, joins 11 U.S. programs with this recognition. Robert Crocker, MD (at left), the Center’s director of strategic clinical planning, said it validates the program’s strength.
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Ernest Vina, MD, was chosen by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Committee on Research to participate in the ACR/EULAR Exchange Program to attend the European Congress of Rheumatology in London, June 8-11, 2016. He and nine of his colleagues in the UA Division of Rheumatology also participated with multiple presentations at the ACR Annual Meeting, Nov. 6-11, in San Francisco…
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Olga Rafikova, MD, PhD, was selected to give an oral presentation at the SFRBM 22nd Annual Meeting, Nov. 21, in Boston, on how elimination of free radicals via anti-oxidative therapies in your diet doesn’t automatically equate to better health as a shift to “reductive” stress can lead to inflammation with negative cardiovascular outcomes, particularly for men.
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