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School of Medicine Newsletter - November 2011

November 2011

Dean's Message

Dear Medical Alumni,

In this season of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for alumni who see medicine as a means to engage and change the world.

Christopher Elias, BS’79, MD’83, HON’09, was recently named to oversee global-development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Elias has been connecting the dots between health and prosperity for years, through his work with the international nonprofit PATH. PATH, which helped develop a vaccine against meningitis, discovered that families in some African nations can expend three to four months’ income when a family member falls sick. "In fragile economic environments, one of the things that pushes people into poverty the most is disease," he said.

But we can find examples of physicians who change the world in our own backyard.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Creighton Cardiac Center. Great names in Creighton Cardiology history – Drs. Booth, Runco, Sketch and others – were among the first cardiologists in the state and set as a cornerstone of Creighton’s program the education of other physicians. They traveled extensively, lecturing on advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. They leveraged emerging technology and established data-phone lines at the Cardiac Center that could transmit EKG results from outlying areas, changing the practice of cardiology and improving the lives of patients.

For more than 130 years, Creighton has inspired men and women to be visionaries as well as healers. Fueled by knowledge, compassion, hope and a desire to shape a more just world, they have changed it through medicine. Their contributions have developed critical insights in areas such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, and more.

Please join me in gratitude for the medical visionaries of today and help the visionaries of tomorrow by making a gift to the School of Medicine. Your gifts help Creighton medical students prepare to face and solve the challenges of humankind and improve the lives of others.

To learn more, contact Michon Marcil Abts, 402. 280.1138.

Sincerely,

Rowen K. Zetterman, MD, MACP, MACG
Dean

Elias joins gates foundation

Health-technologies expert Christopher Elias, BS’79, MD’83, HON’09, was named president of the global-development program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For more than a decade, Elias, 54, has headed PATH, the Seattle-based international nonprofit that focuses on technology and health and is a major recipient of Gates Foundation grants. His selection comes as the Gates Foundation moves family health and vaccine delivery out of its global-health program and into the global-development program Elias will head. Elias is pictured above in the west African nation of Burkina Faso (photo courtesy of PATH). Read More

Want to learn more about PATH’s Malaria Vaccine Initiative to deliver a vaccine to the children of Africa? First results of the trial indicate it could potentially reduce the risk of malaria by half. Read More

faculty News

	wang, Schima honored
	Zhao-Yi "Charlie" Wang, M.D., left, (Medical Microbiology/Immunology) received the 2011 Distinguished Research Career Award, and Edward Schima, M.D., (Neurology) the 2011 Master Clinician Award. Read More

	LAUREATE AWARD
	Syed Mohiuddin, MS'67, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine, received the Laureate Award from the American College of Physicians Nebraska Chapter for commitment to excellence in medical care, education and research.

School news

	A vision fulfilled
	Don Petersen, BSC’50, left, with Associate Dean Thomas Hansen, MD’00. A gift from Petersen’s late friend Albert Soberanski, MD’56, will help medical students further explore Ignatian philosophy. Read More

Research

	aspirin and cancer
	New research shows that aspirin can reduce the long-term risk of colorectal cancer in people with a family history of Lynch syndrome. Creighton's Henry Lynch, M.D., is a study co-author. Read More

	bartz featured
	“In Vitro Generation of High Titer Prions,” by Jason Bartz, Ph.D., appears in the December issue of Journal of Virology, in a section highlighting five research articles of significant interest. Read More

in service

	fox noted for service
	The Nebraska chapter of the American College of Physicians presented its 2011 Volunteerism and Community Service Award to Creighton Medical Associates’ Devin Fox, M.D., an internist at CMA's Dundee location.

	1,000th Hernia Surgery
	A Creighton medical team participating in its ninth annual trip to the Dominican Republic to repair hernias reached a milestone on Nov. 8, when it completed its 1,000th patient surgery. Read More

Time travel

	50 years ago ...
	Among the first cardiologists in Nebraska, Drs. Vincent Runco and Richard Booth, left, joined Creighton University and Saint Joseph Hospital in 1961, opening the first coronary care unit in the city. Read More \| Watch Video

Creighton Alumni

School of Medicine Newsletter - November 2011

School of Medicine Newsletter - November 2011