========================== JeffNEWS, January 31, 1995 ========================== PeopleNOTES o Barry W. Rovner, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior, Jefferson Medical College, and director of the division of geriatric psychiatry, has been invited to serve as a member of the Human Development and Aging Study section, Division of Research Grants, United States Public Health Service for a three-year term, ending June 30, 1997. Members are selected because of their competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as demonstrated by the quality of their research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Study sections review grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), make recommendations on these applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields. These functions are of great value to medical and allied research in this country. o The American Cancer Society awarded Rebecca A. Liddell, PhD, a postdoctoral fellowship to study and train under Jefferson Cancer Institute's Linda D. Siracusa, PhD, assistant professor, microbiology and immunology. Dr. Liddell will further investigate the role the ALL-1 gene, which is found on chromosome 11, plays in the development of acute lymphocytic leukemia. Her work will also provide a model system to aid researchers in the early diagnosis and treatment of leukemia. o Kevin J. Lyons, PhD, associate dean and director of the Center for Collaborative Research, College of Allied Health Sciences, has been named to a study committee of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences that will study a series of questions about health services research. Known as the Committee on Health Services Research: Training and Workforce Issues, the group will consider questions, raised by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, related to the current U.S. training capacity and adequacy to meet research needs, as well as the current supply of health services researchers, what they are doing and for whom. The committee will complete its report by the summer of 1995. o As part of an article in the October 1994 issue of Working Woman on how to get the best mammogram, Stephen A. Feig, MD, professor of radiology and director of the Breast Imaging Center, was ranked as one of the 16 top radiologists in the country by radiologists and other mammography professionals. The 16 radiologists were listed alphabetically by city. o Elizabeth J. Forbes, RN, EdD, FAAN, professor, department of nursing, College of Allied Health Sciences, was elected as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. At the ceremony, Dr. Forbes was cited for her dedication to improving the quality of care of vulnerable populations including disadvantaged women and the elderly. o At the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' (AAPS) ninth annual meeting, Tony A.-N. Kong, PhD, assistant professor of medicine/clinical pharmacology and head of the division's Laboratory of Investigative Medicine, was awarded the 1994 New Investigator Grant in Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics and Drug Metabolism, sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for his contribution to those areas. Since coming to Jefferson in 1991 after postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Kong has been involved in the area of the molecular biology of two key genes occurring in both humans and animals that detoxify cancer-causing substances and therapeutic drugs. Therapeutic drugs must be detoxified so that they leave the body after producing their desired effects. Dr. Kong aims to show how these genes are regulated by substances outside the body, chemical agents designed to prevent cancers, and environmental pollutants, and to discover the impact such regulation may have on patient care. In addition to this most recent award, he has also received a five-year and a three-year grant from NIH, and a two-year research grant from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation. The AAPS's New Investigator Grants are one-time grants of $10,000 to support the research efforts of an individual actively engaged in training graduate students who is conducting basic research in pharmaceutics, drug delivery or pharmaceutical technology or in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics or drug metabolism. o The American Cancer Society, Philadelphia Division, has honored Carl M. Mansfield, MD, professor of radiation oncology, with the creation of an award bearing his name. The Carl Mansfield Award is presented to the group or program that demonstrates unique and successful outreaches to the underserved community. Dr. Mansfield is a past division president and chairman of the Cancer Advisory Committee for the Underserved. o A series of articles showcasing Jefferson's Mobile Immunization Unit and submitted by Gloria McNeal, BSN, MSN, CS, assistant professor, College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS), department of nursing, earned the American Academy of Nursing's 1994 Media Award. Under Philadelphia's Immunize Children at Risk Early (ICARE) project, part of the Clinton Administration's 1993 Summer of Service program, CAHS nursing students under faculty supervision joined their peers from seven other area nursing schools in immunizing approximately 3,000 children against infectious childhood diseases at six stationary sites and one other mobile unit over a nine-week period. The project, which operated under a $1.1-million federal grant to the Philadelphia Department of Health, was the first of its kind to link academic nursing programs with several key community partners to improve the health of a community block-by-block as a way of actualizing nursing's agenda for social change. ICARE gained widespread media attention in more than 10 general and professional publications, on local television newscasts and a televised public service announcement. In addition, one of the academy's four certificates of merit was awarded to an educational video, "Asthma the Breathtaker," produced and directed by Vicki Lusk, a cable television children's program host, and submitted for an award by Barbara D. Schraeder, RN, PhD, FAAN, nurse researcher in the department of nursing service and research associate professor of pediatrics. The video, which was has been seen by a cable television audience of more than 800,000, delivers information about asthma in a gentle, supportive and child-centered manner. Lively animation and attention to family involvement help focus on ways patients can recognize causes of asthma attacks and prevent them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Information provided by: Editor, JeffNEWS (215) 955-6204 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------