Actions inspire others

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”

–         John Quincy Adams

 

June 7, 2013

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

 

Heartfelt Accolades… American Heart Association…Fellowship Awardee

We congratulate our stellar medical student Aalok Sanjanwala who was awarded a one-year Predoctoral Fellowship by the Research Committee of the American Heart Association for his project, “From Prevalence to Functional Significance: Somatic Mutations of Beta-Catenin as a Cause of Endocrine Hypertension.” All the best to Aalok in this pursuit.

Speaking of Great Hearts …the CSRA Heart Ball Returns…

The CSRA Heart Ball got quite a revival after a six-year hiatus when 225 heartfelt supporters ‘had a ball’ supporting AHA initiatives. A total of $105,000 was raised through donations, table sales, Open Your Heart gifts, as well as our silent and live auctions. To see a few images from our Heart and Cardiovascular Services, check out — http://on.fb.me/1827wB3

Nothing Short of a Miracle… $913,000 Given for Hospitalized Children

As expected, the Children’s Miracle Network and the Children’s Hospital of Georgia hosted another fantastic celebration this past weekend.Locally we celebrated $913,000 in donations to benefit the services and programs at Children’s Hospital of Georgia!! That total represents fundraisers and campaigns over the past year from various supporters and partners, as well as about $18,000 in new pledges and donations raised over the weekend through the televised celebration. This is a fantastic cause as it raises money to support initiatives just for kids and their families. It is truly inspirational to see our community come together for the sake of children. A special thanks as well to our partners in this important endeavor, the local CBS affiliate, WRDW-TV. Like so many across our incredible community, WRDW’s staff members donate their time and significant talent to make this an annual reality. To review the live-feed, check out this link– http://on.fb.me/11s06ll

Reaching Out…. Service-Oriented Faculty and Alums … New Global Initiative

In another great example of identifying needs and working hard to meet them, Dr. Max Stachura has been invited to serve on the Advisory Board of Global Health Investments Consortium, a non-profit group led by citizens of Ghana who want to upgrade health care in their country, enhance retention of Ghana physicians, and eventually establish a private medical school in this tropical country of 20 million. Meanwhile another one of our terrific graduates, Dr. Leslie Ofori, Class of 2010 and a native of Ghana, is working with officials at his alma mater, including Dr. Kathryn Martin and Dr. Roman Cibirka, to bring MCG students to his homeland. Longer term, he also has sights on that new medical school in Ghana to help ensure better health care for all. These individuals are among so many affiliated with our medical school who work in our immediate community and throughout the world to help others. We have much and many to be proud of.

NIH Funding… New policies for a New Day …

We all know that National Institutes of Health grants are part of the lifeblood of medical schools and that acquiring funding has gotten even tougher in recent years. In the face of ongoing economic issues, the NIH, like so many of us, is operating with a decreased budget and has put updated info out there to help all of us maneuver the remainder of this new fiscal year with them.For more information see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-13-064.html

Building our Team … Enhancing Student Services

Our new Office of Student and Multicultural Affairs, which blends the significant strengths of two previously distinct offices, will really enhance our student services, programs and resources. The pooled strengths will enable us to stay in touch with our students from the day they become our students to long after they have ventured out into the world. We are excited about the synergy of this new program and thank Dr. Paul Wallach for his leadership in making it happen. Dr. Kim Halbur is taking the lead for this new group and each class will have its own advocate/class dean. These remarkably committed leaders include Drs. Kathy McKie, Greer Falls, Lynette Bauza and Eric Lewkowiez.  What a front line for our students and the magic continues with a truly experienced and stellar total lineup of student support.

Keeping an Objective Eye and Ear … Evaluating Holistic Admissions for Medical School … Our Best Practices

The AAMC has produced a third publication regarding holistic admissions, this one focusing on the all-important aspect of evaluation to ensure that mission and goals are being fulfilled. This insightful piece uses similar tenants of good journalism to lay out an evaluation strategy: why, which, when, who and how. Dr. Paul Wallach and Dr. Gina Duncan have helped lead us to this holistic approach, which promises to deliver a quality, diverse and successful class. Still, as scientists and educators, we all understand how important assessment is even when common sense says something works. By objectively measuring our students’ success as they move through the educational process and beyond, we’ll know for sure. To read the report visit —http://bit.ly/11ls3bi 

Great Representation…Statewide Presence …

We were well represented at the recent Georgia Radiological Society meeting where Radiology Resident Dr. Robert Mackey was awarded the inaugural J. Daniel Hanks Fellowship in Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, which honors our esteemed alum, Dr. Dan Hanks. The fellowship enabled Dr. Mackey to spend a week at the American College of Radiology in Washington, D.C., studying economic and governmental issues in radiology. This is a terrific honor and opportunity for Dr. Mackey and we thank Dr. Hanks for his steadfast support of his profession and his alma mater. And there’s more. Dr. James Rawson was named President-Elect of the Georgia Radiological Society and will begin his term in just a few short days. Furthermore, Dr. Mackey along with faculty members Dr. Kristopher Lewis and Dr. Darko Pucar gave lectures. Thank you all for your fantastic representation and leadership. Please follow this link to learn more about the society — http://www.thegrs.org/ 

Working to Restore Competency …. New Approaches to Difficult Problems … Helping Across our State

Dr. Anthony Ahmed’s desire to help restore competency to those confined to our state mental institutions because they have been found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity has attracted the attention of national leaders in the field of neurocognition. Today he receives the Science to Practice Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and the Cognitive Remediation in Psychiatry Conference during the 16th Annual Conference in New York City. Dr. Ahmed is among the first to apply brain-training computer games to improve these patients’ ability to think and remember. His theory is that the inability to do so is part of the reason they wound up in the criminal justice system. This approach to cognitive remediation is surfacing in a number of problems such as traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Ahmed’s work is being done in partnership with East Central Regional Hospital and is already being sought after as a “best practice” across Georgia. We congratulate him for this award and thank him for his service to Georgians. Read more at http://news.gru.edu/archives/9025

Upcoming Events…

June 7 – A faculty and staff development opportunity is being offered by the Southeast Campus at the beautiful Jekyll Island Convention Center. Medical School Expansion in Georgia: Public Health’s Role in Medical Education will be held from1-5 p.m. Featured speakers include Brenda Fitzgerald, Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health. For more information, contact Malinda Moore at 912-466-7540 or marmoore@gru.edu.

June 13 – MCG Chair Investiture Ceremony, starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Lee Auditorium. If you can’t be there in person, check out the live stream at www.gru.edu/stream. Or, link in with the event page on our MCG Facebook http://on.fb.me/1azHbWP . Images and happenings from the event will be listed there as well as the live stream link.

June 20 – Vocalists from the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mark Diamond and Lauren Snouffer, will perform opera and musical theater selections in “Cancer Sings a Song,” a concert benefitting music therapy programs at the GRU Cancer Center, The event is 7:30 p.m. at the Maxwell Theatre on the Summerville Campus. General admission is $5 for the public and free for GRU students with an ID. VIP tickets are $10 and include access to a backstage reception with the performers. Tickets can be purchased at the GRU Cancer Center, the Maxwell Theatre box office or online at http://www.gru.edu/maxwelltheatre/

Check out our MCG Facebook page at www.facebook.com/grumcg and Twitter page as well #Follow.

Enjoy the weekend!