Dr. Frank Chervenak, the Given Foundation Professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was among the leading international experts in fetal medicine to be an invited speaker at the five-day series "Ian Donald Course in Ultrasound," at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Doha, Qatar, in early January. Dr. Chervenak's lecture touched on the similarities between Islamic and secular approaches to obstetric ethics and care. The Ian Donald Inter-University School of Medical Ultrasound, which co-sponsored the event with HMC, will begin offering local training in the technology.
Dr. Kathleen Foley (second from left), recipient of the 2006 John P. McGovern Compleat Physician Award, is congratulated by (from left) American Medical Association President Dr. J. Edward Hill, Harris County Medical Society President Dr. Diana Fite, and Dr. Lewis E. Foxhall of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Kathleen Foley, professor of neurology and neuroscience and professor of clinical pharmacology, was honored with the John P. McGovern Compleat Physician Award on January 27, presented by the Harris County Medical Society (HCMS) and the Houston Academy of Medicine (HAM), at the HCMS/HAM Installation of Officers meeting in Houston. Dr. Foley, an authority on pain research and palliative care, was recognized with the award for exemplifying the Oslerian ideals of medical excellence, humane and ethical care, commitment to medical humanities and writing, research, and harmony between the academic and medical practitioner. The award is named after Dr. John P. McGovern, its first recipient and founder of the American Osler Society.
Mark Funk, head of collection development of the Samuel J. Wood Library and the C.V. Starr Biomedical Information Center at the Medical College, was elected president of the Medical Library Association (MLA) for the 2007-2008 academic year. This is the fourth time he has been elected by his peers to serve the association on a national level. Twice elected to the MLA Nominating Committee, he also served on the MLA Board from 2000-2003, during which time he acted as MLA Board treasurer. One of MLA's most active members and a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals (AHIP), Funk has lent his talents to numerous MLA-affiliated chapters, sections and committees. He will assume the role of president-elect at the conclusion of the MLA Annual Meeting, May 19-24, 2006, in Phoenix, Ariz. The MLA is a nonprofit, educational organization with more than 4,500 health-sciences information professional members worldwide.
Dr. K. Craig Kent, professor of surgery, delivered the Joel J. Roslyn Lecture at the First Annual Meeting of the Academic Surgical Congress on February 9 in San Diego. The title of Dr. Kent's lecture was "The Practice of Surgery: Is There Still Time for Research?" The Academic Surgical Congress was conceived by the Association for Academic Surgery and the Society of University Surgeons to represent a new unified voice for academic surgery. The program integrates research, educational, career and social topics of importance to a broad range of academic surgeons. Other faculty presentations included those by Dr. Evan Ryer, Dr. Kenji Sakakibara and Dr. Susan Trocciola.
Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, the Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, was elected director of the American Board of Surgery representing the Central Surgical Association.
Dr. Michelassi has also recently traveled abroad to discuss his pioneering side-to-side strictureplasty, a bowel-sparing procedure he developed for advanced Crohn's disease. In January, he gave a grand rounds on the technique at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England, where the concept of strictureplasty was born 25 years ago. In February, he spoke at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease International Symposium in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Michelassi will also be speaking at Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar, and has future engagements to discuss side-to-side strictureplasty at Johns Hopkins University, Emory University and the University of Rochester.
Dr. Richard Silver, professor of medicine and director of the Center for the Study of Leukemia and Myeloproliferative Diseases at Weill Cornell Medical College, was a featured speaker at the recent Cancer Survivors Hall of Fame Dinner held in Manhattan. The dinner was sponsored by the Cancer Research and Treatment (CR&T) Fund, a nonprofit group of physicians, nurses and other medical professionals founded by Dr. Silver in 1968 dedicated to research for the treatment of cancer. The CR&T Fund is dedicated to research for the treatment of cancer and other blood diseases. Dr. Silver currently serves as Board Vice President and Medical Director of the CR&T Fund.
Amandeep Singh, a fourth-year MD-PhD candidate, has been selected as one of 30 to receive the 2006 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. The highly competitive fellowship, established in 1997, is funded by income from a charitable trust of $50 million created by philanthropists Paul and Daisy Soros. Candidates, who must be immigrants or children of immigrants, are exceptional undergraduate and graduate students who have shown extraordinary potential to make positive contributes to society. Fellows receive up to a $20,000 stipend plus half-tuition for as many as two years of graduate study at any institution of higher learning in the United States. Singh, who was born in India, graduated from Cornell University summa cum laude with a degree in biology. He plans to use his training as a physician and a scientist to bridge the gap between the scientific, clinical and social aspects of obesity. Singh is the third Tri-Inistitutional MD-PhD student to receive the fellowship—Prabhjot Dhadialla and Conor Liston were recipients last year.
Dr. Andrew Talal, associate professor of medicine, delivered the keynote address at the 2nd International Workshop on HIV/HCV Co-Infection, on January 12-14 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dr. Talal's speech was entitled "Immunopathogenesis of Viral Hepatitis in the Co-Infected Patient." The annual workshop brings together experts from around the globe to discuss current research on HIV and hepatitis.
Photo courtesy of Harris County Medical Society.