PeopleNotes
Jefferson Names New Gastroenterology
Chief
Anthony J. DiMarino Jr., MD, has been named the William Rorer Professor
of Medicine and chief of the division of gastroenterology at Jefferson.
For the last 10 years, Dr. DiMarino served as the chief of gastroenterology
and director of the Gastrointestinal Institute at the Presbyterian Medical
Center, as well as the clinical professor of medicine at the University
of Pennsylvania.
From 1984 to 1986, Dr. DiMarino was the chairman of the Scientific Advisory
Committee of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the National Foundation for
Ileitis and Colitis. In addition, he was honored by the organization as
"Physician of the Year." In 1991 and 1994, Dr. DiMarino was featured
in Philadelphia magazine as one of the outstanding gastroenterologists in
the Philadelphia area as voted by Delaware Valley physicians. In 1992, he
was the course director of the national postgraduate course held at the
annual meeting of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in
San Francisco, California.
Dr. DiMarino is the author of several original papers. His research interests
have primarily been in the areas of esophageal, gastric and small intestinal
motility, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease.
Dr. DiMarino is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is also
a member of the American Gastroenterological Association, a fellow of the
American College of Gastroenterology and a member of the American Society
for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Dr. DiMarino is a graduate of Hahnemann
Medical College. In addition, he completed an internal medicine residency
and a fellowship in gastroenterology at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Dr. DiMarino is associated in practice with Howard S. Kroop, MD, Jorge A.
Prieto, MD., Mitchell I. Conn, MD, and Robert M. Coben, MD. Their offices
are located in the Digestive Disease Center at Thomas Jefferson University
Hospital. Appoint-ments can be made by calling 5-8900 or 1-800-JEFF-NOW.
Carlo Croce, MD, Elected to National Academy
of Sciences
Carlo M. Croce, MD, director of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center and chair
of the department of microbiology and immunology at Jefferson Medical College,
has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The distinction
was bestowed upon Dr. Croce in recognition of his distinguished and continuing
achievements in original research. Election to membership in the NAS is
considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a scientist or
engineer in the United States.
Among his many research accomplishments, Dr. Croce has explained the roles
of chromosome translocations and inversions in human leukemias and lymphomas,
and identified several genes involved in blood malignancies. A genetic profile
of these genes is already being used in clinical settings to detect residual
disease in patients following treatment. Dr. Croce also is credited with
describing the molecular-genetic events that result in Burkitt's lymphoma,
follicular lymphomas, acute leukemias and in lymphomas in AIDS patients.
Recently, Dr. Croce led a team of investigators that identified the FHIT
gene, which is implicated in a variety of common cancers, such as lung and
digestive tract cancers.
Previously, Dr. Croce has been recognized with the highly coveted Outstanding
Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute and the General Motors
Cancer Foundation Mott Prize.
The NAS is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated
to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The Academy
was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed
by Abraham Lincoln, that calls upon the Academy to act as an official adviser
to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
John L. Abruzzo, MD, professor of medicine
and director, division of rheumatology, Jefferson Medical College, has been
elected the first president of the Eastern Pennsylvania Osteoporosis Society
(EPOS). EPOS is a not-for-profit membership organization providing continuing
education programs in order to increase and maintain the professional knowledge
and skills of physicians and other healthcare professionals in the areas
of diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and related diseases and disorders.
EPOS provides a forum for the exchange and dissemination of information
that is intended to advance the discovery, development, evaluation and utilization
of medicines and related treatment modalities for the evaluation and treatment
of osteoporosis. Dr. Abruzzo, a founder of the new society, is also director
of Jefferson Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Center at Ford Road.
Salman Akhtar, MD, professor of psychiatry
and director of Jefferson Psychiatric Associates (Adult Outpatient Clinic),
Jefferson Medical College, has received three major honors:
- Best Paper of the Year Award from the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association for his paper, "A Third Individuation: Immigration, Identity,
and the Psychoanalytic Process."
- The Margaret S. Mahler Literature Prize from the Mahler Psychiatric
Research Foundation for the same paper. This prize was awarded at the 27th
Annual Margaret S. Mahler Symposium on Child Development in Philadelphia.
- The Lee Hasenbush Memorial Visiting Professorship during the month of
April at Harvard Medical School.
Hie-Won Hann, MD, has received the Order
of Civil Merit Award from the Korean government for her prevention campaign
against hepatitis B in the Philadelphia area. Dr. Hann was honored recently
at the Korean Consulate General's Office in New York City. Dr. Hann is professor
of medicine at Jefferson Medical College and director of the Liver Disease
Prevention Center. Dr. Hann was recognized for her 20 years of service to
the Korean community. She has given numerous lectures on hepatitis B at
medical meetings, local community organizations and churches across the
United States. In addition, she has organized hepatitis B blood screenings
and immunizations and treated infected patients.
In 1986, Dr. Hann, with other Korean women, organized the Korean Women's
Association of Philadelphia which has served the Korean community as a counseling
center. In addition, she has been active in promoting Asian-American issues;
she has given lectures on the subjects of Asian-Americans at the university
campuses of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Bryn Mawr, Smith and the University
of Pennsylvania and at various Asian-American student meetings. Dr. Hann
was one of the keynote speakers at the 1995 First National APAMSA (Asian
Pacific American Medical Student Association) Conference held at NYU Medical
Center, New York.
Jefferson Employee To Serve Her Second Stint
as United States Olympic Trainer
This July and August, our television screens p; or maybe the Internet
p; will be the closest most of us will get to the summer Olympic games
in Atlanta.
Not so for Lynn Van Ost, RN, PT and certified athletic trainer (ATC) who
works in Jefferson's Sports Medicine Center as a clinical specialist in
sports medicine.
She will be at Olympic Stadium right where the action is, serving as an
Olympic certified athletic trainer for all competing nations' track and
field teams. Ms. Van Ost served as an Olympic trainer for the 1992 games
in Barcelona, and it's a rare honor for a person to repeat that Olympic
role.
"Mainly it's because of burnout from tending to so many athletes nearly
around the clock that trainers don't repeat," she explained in discussing
the grueling demands of her schedule, which will probably keep her at Olympic
Stadium close to 24 hours a day for two weeks of her Jefferson vacation
time starting July 22.
Track and field events may start as early as 7 a.m. and frequently last
to midnight. Adding time before and after competition leaves between 2 and
5 a.m. when Ms. Van Ost can count on catching a few winks of sleep.
Since the United States is host country, she and 14 other trainers and four
doctors will be responsible for all track and field athletes, with the United
States alone being represented by possibly 125 to 150 athletes. At Barcelona,
she was responsible for United States athletes only. The scope of the Atlanta
games is analogous to coordinating 13 Super Bowls, Ms.Van Ost says.
Still, she wouldn't dream of missing the experience.
"While the work and intensity are very demanding, being so involved
with a world community of athletes and trainers is the experience of a lifetime,
and I wouldn't miss it for anything," she says. "It may sound
trite, but the camaraderie makes it all worthwhile. I'm totally looking
forward to it."
Being selected is the culmination of a lengthy review and screening process
which, for Ms. Van Ost, began with her applying to the United States Olympic
Committee (USOC) in 1982 for the 1992 Olympics and following a different
selection process with the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG)
for the 1996 Olympics.