Distinguished Faculty Award Granted to Adam Wanner

Adam Wanner, M.D., chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and an internationally renowned pulmonary specialist, is this year’s Distinguished Faculty Scholar. The award, established by the Faculty Senate in 1987, acknowledges either a single outstanding achievement or sustained career contributions to an area of research or creative activity.

The Joseph Weintraub Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Pediatrics at the School of Medicine, Wanner studies asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Among other achievements, his research has helped develop therapeutic strategies for the treatment of asthma. Upon accepting the award, Wanner stressed the importance of awareness of the global burden of lung diseases, which account for more than 17 percent of all deaths worldwide.

Group Releases New Guidelines for Hypertension in Blacks

The Hypertension in African-Americans Working Group recently released new guidelines offering treatment strategies to reduce the rate of uncontrolled hypertension in this population. Experts convened by the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks included Murray Epstein, M.D., professor of medicine. Their recommendations, published in the March 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, include two major differences from earlier guidelines. They recommend combination therapy as first-line therapy for patients with a systolic blood pressure exceeding 15 mm of mercury (Hg) or a diastolic blood pressure exceeding 10 mm Hg above target blood pressure. In addition, target blood pressures should be lowered further for patients with concomitant Type 2 diabetes mellitus or renal insufficiency. Physicians also are urged to prescribe medications that slow the progression of kidney disease, a frequent consequence of hypertension.

“If you treat aggressively and successfully, that will translate into a decrease in hypertensive target organ damage, including myocardial infarction, stroke, or end-stage renal disease,” says Epstein, who has participated in national and international programs to create guidelines addressing hypertension.

The International Society on Hypertension in Blacks will promote national implementation of the guidelines. A follow-up assessment will measure blood pressure control rates and reduction of target organ damage.

Botox Is More than Just a Pretty Face

Patients at UM’s spasticity clinic routinely receive botox injections not for cosmetic correction, but to regain a better quality of life. Caused by a dramatic increase in muscle tone as a result of some neurological disorders, spasticity can severely hinder movement and speech.

In the same manner that it reduces wrinkles, botox halts the release of neurotransmitters that signal muscle contraction to relax muscles, reducing spasticity.

“Spasticity has been a stumbling block for rehabilitation,” says Bruce Rubin, M.D., assistant professor of neurology and one of the few providers in Florida to administer botox injections in treating spasticity. “We provide evaluation and recommendations in collaboration with physical and occupational therapists to enhance the comprehensiveness of treatment.”

Rubin employs other invasive treatments including baclofen pumps, which administer a continual dose of medication to the patient’s spine, combating severe increased muscle tone without the side effects of oral medications. Rubin also looks to further the field with a study to compare physical/occupational therapy versus therapy plus botox treatments for stroke patients.