e-Update
September 21,
2004
Weekly News Briefs
e-Update is distributed
weekly to keep faculty and staff at the University of Miami School of Medicine
up-to-date on news at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.
To submit news for publication, e-mail items to update@med.miami.edu.
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
--Kaiser Foundation Health Forum Event Rescheduled
--University to Change Health Insurance Provider in 2005
--Health in Aging Month Research Session and Lunch
--Neuroscience Center Seminar and Dialogues in Research Ethics Series Begin
--September Human Subjects Research Seminar
--Office of Medical Finance Has Relocated
--“A Practical Approach to Infectious Disease” International Symposium
--Voting Machine Demonstration and Voter Registration Come to Medical Campus
--Human Subjects Research Opportunities, Including One for This Week Only
--Upcoming Calendar Event
--2004 Little Haiti Health Fair
KAISER FOUNDATION HEALTH FORUM – NEW DATE AND TIME
As part of the Presidential Debate Lecture Series leading up to this year’s
election, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the School of Medicine
are presenting “Why Care, Why Vote? What’s at Stake for Health
in Election 2004,” on Wednesday, October 13 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
in the Lois Pope LIFE Center seventh-floor auditorium. A picnic lunch for students
will take place after the panel discussion at 1 p.m. This event was rescheduled
from September. Dean John G. Clarkson will open the event, which will feature
Judy Feder, Ph.D., professor and dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute,
Georgetown University; Diane Rowland, Sc.D., executive vice president, Henry
J. Kaiser Family Foundation and executive director, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid
and the Uninsured; and Bruce Vladeck, Ph.D., professor of health policy and
geriatrics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Seats are reserved for selected
first- and second-year medical students but the forum will be simulcast online
at www.mededu.miami.edu/Debate2004.
For more information, please call 305-243-3453.
UNIVERSITY TO CHANGE HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDER IN 2005
In 2005, Humana will replace UnitedHealthcare as the University's health insurance
provider. A letter was sent via Interoffice mail that discusses this change.
To view the letter, visit www.miami.edu/benefits and
click on “Healthcare 2005.” Town Hall meetings have been scheduled
to address the changes in employee health insurance coverage. Faculty and
staff are encouraged to attend one of the town hall meetings listed below
for more information.
7 a.m., noon, and 4 p.m., Wednesday, October 6, eighth
floor of the Mailman Center
9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Friday, October 8, UM/Sylvester conference
room 1301
noon, Friday, October 8, Retter Auditorium
CENTER ON AGING DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES AND SPECIAL EVENTS
September is “National Health in Aging Month.” To mark the occasion,
UM’s Center on Aging will present a scientific research session on aging
this Friday, September 24, in room 3028 of the Mental Health Hospital Center
at the corner of NW 17th Street and 9th Avenue. The session is from 11 a.m.
to 1 p.m. and lunch will be served. Immediately following lunch, Len Duhl,
Ph.D., professor of public health and urban planning in the School of Public
Health at the University of California, Berkeley, will lecture on “Healthy
Cities, Healthy Aging,” as part of the Isabel Gadsby Lectureship on Positive
Aging, in the Retter Auditorium. For more information or to RSVP, please contact
Sharon Purcell at spurcell@med.miami.edu,
or call 305-355-9080.
NEUROSCIENCE CENTER SEMINAR SERIES
Peter Sterling, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience in ophthalmology in the Laboratory
of Retinal Microcircuitry at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine, will present "Psychophysics to Biophysics: Efficient Circuits
from Stochastic Synapses" as part of the Neuroscience Center
Seminar Series. The talk will be held at 1 p.m. Friday in the Lois Pope
LIFE Center seventh-floor auditorium. His lecture begins the 2004-2005 annual
series sponsored by the Neuroscience Center, the School of Medicine, and
the Office of the Provost. An informal reception will be held at
4 p.m. For more information, call 305-243-6793.
DIALOGUES IN RESEARCH ETHICS SERIES
The Dialogues in Research Ethics series begins for the 2004-2005 year with
a discussion of Soldiers as Subjects: New Challenges from Military Research
by Kenneth W. Goodman, Ph.D., Friday at noon in room 207 of the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center (across from the library). Lunch will be provided.
Since the 1991 Gulf War and recent Operation Desert Storm conflicts, many
veterans have reported health problems that they link to their service. These
reports have led to several initiatives to study non-battle-related threats
to deployed forces. From health responses to mandatory vaccination to ubiquitous
medical surveillance, service personnel have become a new kind of human research
subject – raising ethical issues different in kind and scope from those
usually encountered in health research. Dr. Goodman is co-director of UM
Ethics Programs. He was an advisor to the U.S. Institute of Medicine’s
project “Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces” and
a reviewer of its “Potential Radiation Exposure in Military Operations.” No
RSVP is required to attend. Dialogues in Research Ethics is a series of monthly
conferences. For more information, please call 305-243-5723 or send e-mail
to ethics@miami.edu.
OFFICE OF MEDICAL FINANCE HAS RELOCATED
The Office of Medical Finance has moved from Park Plaza West to the first floor
of the Professional Arts Center. All telephone and fax numbers remain the
same. To reach the Office of Medical Finance, call the main number at 305-243-9000;
fax number is 243-9187.
SEPTEMBER HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH SEMINAR
The Human Subjects Research Seminar for September will feature Stephanie
Anderson, M.D., J.D., research assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics,
speaking on “Consent and Assent in Pediatrics.” The seminar
will be held on Tuesday, September 28, at the Mailman Center, room
3023, from noon to 1 p.m. Advance registration is required as room capacity
is limited. Please e-mail MAbraham@med.miami.edu to
reserve your space.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: “A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO INFECTIOUS
DISEASES”
Fighting Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries, a non-profit organization
founded by Daniel Stamboulian, M.D., along with the UM School of Medicine Infectious
Diseases Division, headed by Gordon Dickinson, M.D., will hold the Second International
Symposium, “A Practical Approach to Infectious Diseases,” at the
Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort in Sunny Isles September 26 through
28. The conference will offer updated information on the diagnosis, prevention
and management of infectious diseases to primary care practitioners and ancillary
staff members in internal medicine, pediatrics and family medicine. Besides
the schedule program, there will be workshops and discussion groups on topics
such as travel medicine and adult immunization, severe sepsis, chronic hepatitis,
and fungal infections. There will be simultaneous translation (English and
Spanish). For information and registration, please contact SMG in Miami at
305-856-7847, by e-mail at info@smgmedical.com,
or on the SMG Web site at http://www.emedlearning.com/idsymposium.
BESMOKEFREE PROGRAM STARTS UP AGAIN AT THE END OF THE MONTH
Another round of the UM BeSmokeFree program is beginning. BeSmokeFree offers
faculty, staff and dependents, as well as students and non-university affiliates,
a number of techniques designed to help kick the cigarette habit. These options
complement the six-week program’s seven support group/classroom sessions.
Each session will be led by a variety of health experts, such as a health
educator, respiratory therapist, exercise physiologist, mental health therapist,
and nutritionist. Participants in BeSmokeFree who also are enrolled in the
University’s health care plan will receive full reimbursement of program
fees upon completion of the program. The cost is $84 for each participant,
and all UM health care plan members will receive a $12 voucher for each classroom
session they attend. For more information on BeSmokeFree, contact Jennifer
Pinto at: jpinto@miami.edu or 305-243-3209.
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT CANCER SERIES
Deborah O. Heros, M.D., co-leader, Neurological Cancer Site Disease Group,
director of Neuro-Oncology, and assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s
Department of Neurology, will talk about “Neurological Implications
of Breast Cancer,” as part of the Conversations about Cancer series
on Tuesday, September 28, from noon to 1 p.m. at UM/Sylvester at Deerfield
Beach, 1192 East Newport Center Drive, Suite 100. The presentation is free,
and a light lunch will be provided. Please call 1-800-545-2292 to register.
Seating is limited. For more information, contact Joanne Leahy at 954-571-0107.
VOTING MACHINE DEMONSTRATION AND VOTER REGISTRATION ON MEDICAL
CAMPUS
Also rescheduled from an earlier date, representatives from the Miami-Dade
County Elections Department will be on the medical campus on October 1 to demonstrate
new touch-screen voting machines. The county is demonstrating the machines
to make sure voters are comfortable with the voting process and training will
be available in English, Spanish, and Creole. Representatives will also be
there to answer any questions about the voting process and help voters register
in the breezway area by Au Bon Pain from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For any questions,
please call 305-243-3453.
NEXTEL REPRESENTATIVES COMING
Representatives from Nextel will be in the Mailman Center, room 5003, every
Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Employees can stop by with questions about
billing and service for Nextel phones and Blackberry personal data assistants,
learn about special offers, and see new products. For more information, please
call Medical IT at 305-243-5999.
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS AVAILABLE TO ANSWER FINANCIAL QUESTIONS
A representative from Fidelity Investments will be on the medical campus on
Thursday, September 23, in the Human Resources Benefits Office, 901 NW 17th
St., suite D, to conduct individual counseling sessions. To schedule an appointment,
call 1-800-642-7131.
FINANCIAL ADVICE FROM LINCOLN LIFE
A representative from Lincoln Financial Group will be at the University of
Miami to conduct individual financial counseling sessions from 10 a.m. to
4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 28, and Wednesday, September 29, in the Human
Resources Benefits Office, 901 NW 17th St., suite D. To schedule an appointment,
contact Aimee Hugdahl toll-free at 866-524-2443, or via e-mail at ahugdahl@LNC.com.
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE SEMINARS
The Employee Assistance Program will present Managing Your Teen’s Behavior.
The seminar is designed to provide simple and effective discipline strategies
to parents, and will be especially helpful to busy working parents. Parents
will be provided with a framework for developing and implementing discipline,
as well as strategies for motivating teens to act responsibly. The seminar
will be held on the medical campus on Thursday, September 30, from 1 to 2:30
p.m., in room 155 of the Dominion parking garage. For questions about content,
contact your EAP at 305-284-6604.
EAP will also be presenting Motivating Others To Be Their Best on Wednesday,
October 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in room 155 of the Dominion Parking Garage.
This seminar, based on Thomas Connellan’s book, Bringing Out the
Best in Others, will review strategies for motivating people to be their
best. Participants will discuss motivators and de-motivators, review
three key principles of motivation, and practice strategies for bringing
out the best in others. The seminar is a must if you are a parent, supervisor,
little league coach, team member, or friend.
The Professional Development and Training Office has implemented a new
online registration system to access the training calendars, enroll in
a session, un-enroll, and view and print your transcript. Go to http://netlearning.miami.edu where
you’ll find instructions and a brief tutorial. You need your
UM identification number ("C number") and birth date to access
the system. If you have any questions on using this new system, please
call 305-243-3090. For questions about content, call the EAP at 205-284-6604.
Supervisors are encouraged to post this notice for employees who do not
have electronic access.
HUMAN SUBJECT RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
The SPARE Study (Soy Phytoestrogens As Replacement Estrogen) is currently recruiting
women between 45-58 years of age to study the role of soy phytoestrogens
given in tablet form to prevent bone loss. Participants will be given a physical
exam at study entry, an annual mammogram and bone density test, and will
be asked to come for 10 study visits over a period of two years for blood
tests and to complete questionnaires about diet, exercise, and well-being.
Interested women should contact the SPARE Study Office at 305-243-4330 or
via e-mail at aherrin@med.miami.edu.
Researchers at the MRI Center need healthy subjects for a magnetic resonance
imaging study. For more information please visit http://midas.med.miami.edu/Research/MRStudies.htm.
The UM Skin Research Group, directed by Brian Berman, M.D., Ph.D., professor
of dermatology and internal medicine, is conducting research studies now
on keloids and in the near future on chronic idiopathic urticaria. If you
are interested in participating, please contact us at 305-243-5519.
The Miami Center for Patient Safety is looking for volunteers who have
experience with anesthesia machines to help conduct an evaluation of a
soon-to-be-released anesthesia machine Wednesday, September 22 and Thursday,
September 23, in the first floor TV studio of the Rosenstiel Medical Science
Building. The Center for Patient Safety is looking for resident anesthesiologists,
nurse anesthetists, physician assistants or attending anesthesiologist
to help with the study. Participants will be paid $50 to view the new features
of the equipment and share their opinions on these features. The session
will take approximately 40 minutes to complete. If you are interested in
participating, please e-mail Peter P. Mitchell, Ph.D., at pmitchell@med.miami.edu,
or call Dr. Mitchell at the Center for Patient Safety at 305-585-8364.
QUESTIONS ABOUT COMPLIANCE?
TWO UM HELPLINES CAN ASSIST YOU
Research integrity concerns? Report concerns regarding research integrity and
adherence to federal or University regulations directly to the Office of the
Vice Provost for Research at 305-243-6415, or you can call the University's
toll-free, anonymous compliance hotline at 866-YOURCALL. Billing concerns?
Address questions to the Office of Billing Compliance at 305-243-HELP or 877-415-HELP.
For information regarding training programs offered by the Office of Billing
Compliance, contact Gemma Romillo or Nancy Rivero at 305-243-5842.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
TIAA-CREF VISITS THE MEDICAL CAMPUS
A representative from TIAA-CREF will be on the medical campus on October 6
in the Human Resources Benefits Office, 901 NW 17th St., suite D, to conduct
individual counseling sessions. To schedule an appointment, click here http://www.tiaa-cref.org/moc or
call toll-free 1-800-842-2003 ext. 3522.
FIELD GUIDE TO GENBANK AND NCBI MOLECULAR BIOLOGY RESOURCES SEMINAR
The Office of Graduate Studies and the UM DNA Microarray Facility will co-host
the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)'s Field Guide to
GenBank and NCBI Molecular Biology Resources Seminar on Wednesday, October
6. An overview of these resources will be introduced in the morning, and
a hands-on computer workshop on GenBank and related databases covering effective
use of the Entrez databases and search service, the BLAST similarity search
engine, genome data and related resources will be held in the afternoon.
The morning session will run from 8:30 a.m. to noon in the Rosenstiel Medical
Sciences Building, room 6018. The afternoon session will run from 1 to 5
p.m. in the Calder Library Computer Room. Seating for both sessions is limited
and will be available on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP
directly to Dierdre Lacativa at dierdre@miami.edu. In
your reply, please indicate which session you would like to attend, your
name, department and lab if applicable, phone number, and e-mail address.
For more information about NCBI and their workshops, please visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Class/FieldGuide/
MIAMI PARTNERSHIP NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SHOWCASE
Civic Center area developers will present information and exhibits on their
current and pending plans during the Miami Partnership Neighborhood Housing
Showcase, to be held on Thursday, October 7, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the
Alamo Courtyard. Learn what builders have in store for new housing for the
medical campus area. For more information, please call 305-243-3453.
MAGEC ETHNO-GERIATRIC CONFERENCE
The Miami Area Geriatric Education Center (MAGEC) and the Miami VAMC GRECC
will host the MAGEC Ethno-Geriatric Conference, “Our Multi-Cultural
Aging Communities: Clinical & Legal Realities,” October 14 and
15 at the Doubletree Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay in Miami. As the older population
increases it will also grow more diverse, reflecting the demographic changes
in the U.S. population as a whole over the past century. This educational
event will focus on the healthcare and legal implications of serving a multi-ethnic
elderly clientele. This course is designed for physicians, attorneys, nurses,
psychologists, social workers, nursing home administrators, guardians, mental
health professionals, and local community agencies serving the elderly. Please
visit the MAGEC website at http://www.miami.edu/magec to
preview the conference agenda, or call 305-243-6270 for additional information.
2004 LITTLE HAITI HEALTH FAIR
Students and physicians from the School of Medicine will provide health services
such as vision screening, blood and cholesterol testing, cancer screening
and physical examinations to the residents of Little Haiti at the 2004 Little
Haiti Health Fair. The Health Fair will be held on October 16 from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. at the Center for Haitian Studies, 8260 N.E. 2nd Avenue, Miami.
For more information, please contact Wendy Quirino at 786-853-0661 or via
e-mail at
wendyquirino@yahoo.com.
MEDICAL EDUCATION GRAND ROUNDS
Jenny Mladenovic, M.D., vice chair of the Department of Medicine and chief
of the medical service at the VAMC, will be the guest speaker at Medical
Education Grand Rounds on Friday, October 29, at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical
Science Building, fifth floor. Lunch will be served. The title of Dr. Mladenovic’s
presentation is “Competencies for the future physician and tools for
their evaluation.” For more information, contact the Office of Educational
Development at 305-243-7482.
2004 ACS INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH GRANT
The American Cancer Society Institutional Grant is providing funds for meritorious
cancer research that cannot be readily supported through other funding mechanisms.
The primary purpose of the ACS grant is to provide seed funds for the initiation
of promising new projects or novel ideas by junior faculty members. Applicants
must not have had any peer reviewed funding. An award of $20,000 is available
for a one-year period. For guidelines and application forms, contact Dorothy
Mills at 305-243-6292 or via e-mail at dmills@med.miami.edu.
The deadline for applications is November 1.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON BLOOD MANAGEMENT
The Division of Continuing Medical Education would like to invite faculty and
staff to a two-day symposium about blood management and blood conservation
strategies on November 20-21 at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami
Beach. This unique program is a must attend conference for hospital
policy makers, patient care professionals, blood bank professionals, military
medical care providers and legal decision-makers, Jehovah Witness health
experts, risk managers and legal professionals who are interested in the
most recent advances in blood management for surgery, trauma and disasters.
For more information on course registration, please contact the Division
of CME at 305-243-6716 or kdavila@med.miami.edu.
TEACHING CONFERENCE ON HEART & STROKE – EMPHASIZING
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Registration is open for the 37th Annual Teaching Conference in Clinical Cardiology
and Neurology, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, January 28-29, 2005 at the
Hyatt Regency in Miami. The conference is a primary care update presented by
the Center for Research in Medical Education. This year’s focus is heart
disease and stroke in women. UM physician assistants, nurse practitioners and
nurses can register for a reduced fee of $100 ($150 for UM physicians). CME
credit and nurse contact hours can be earned up to a maximum of 15.5 hours.
Tuition remission is available, awarded on a first-come first-served basis.
The conference features a variety of School of Medicine faculty, led by Michael
S. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., David Lee Gordon, M.D., S. Barry Issenberg, M.D., and
Joan Baker, R.N., M.S.N., C.C.R.N., C.N.R.N. Also presenting are visiting professors,
Gordon A. Ewy, M.D., from the University of Arizona and Patrick S. Reynolds,
M.D., from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. To register, or for
more information, call 305-243-6491 or visit http://www.crme.med.miami.edu/meded_conf2005.html.
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