Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the UM Miller School of Medicine, is inviting all faculty and staff to join him at a town hall meeting where he will discuss recent developments, such as the acquisition of Cedars Medical Center, and future plans for the Miller School.

The University values your opinion. In an effort to further enhance the benefits enrollment process, an online survey has been created to get feedback on the open enrollment experience this year. Please take a few minutes to complete the short "Open Enrollment Survey" that was e-mailed to to all faculty and staff last week. Your participation in the survey will help improve your overall open enrollment experience next year. The survey is completely anonymous and can also be accessed online at https://surveys.miami.edu/WebService/mrwebpl.dll?project=KZUNIG0711010944&test=1 until Friday, Nov. 30.

The Medical Wellness Center Pro Shop will have a blow-out sale starting Monday, Nov. 26, at 7 a.m. Fitness gear, accessories and yoga mats will be marked down 50 to 60 percent. The sale will continue Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Christmas, while supplies last. One dollar of each purchase will be donated to the United Way.

Fidelity Investments has changed the date it will visit the medical campus in December. A Fidelity Investments representative will now be at the Miller School on Thursday, Dec. 6. All counseling sessions will still take place in the Human Resources Benefits Office, suite D. Employees can schedule appointments between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. by calling 1-800-642-7131.

• University Compliance (anonymous hotline): 866-YOURCALL
• Billing (anonymous hotline): 305-243-HELP or 877-415-HELP
• Research Integrity and Compliance: 305-243-6415
• Financial Improprieties: 305-284-2605
• Privacy Office/HIPAA: 305-243-5000 or 1-866-366-HUSH
• University Ombudsperson: 305-284-4922

Any University of Miami employee reporting or deciding whether to report activity that may be in violation of a law, rule, or regulation is protected against retaliation by the Whistleblower Protection Statement. For more information, visit the Office of Compliance site.

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Please join us today at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, fourth-floor auditorium for a seminar by Kwang Chul Kim, Ph.D., senior scientist of the Respiratory Immunology and Asthma Program at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute. Dr. Kim will present "The Anti-Inflammatory Role of MUC1 Mucin During Airway Bacterial Infection." This seminar is sponsored by the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy.

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will host Susan T. Lovett, Ph.D., professor of biology at Brandeis University, for a seminar on "DNA Exonucleases and Genetic Stability." The seminar will take place today at 11 a.m. in the R. Bunn Gautier Building, room 118.

If you would like to meet the speaker, please e-mail rmyers@med.miami.edu.

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology  will host a seminar at noon on Monday, Nov. 26, in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 3109. Katerina Wolf, Ph.D., will present "C. Pneumonie Infection of Epithelial Cells Leads to Modification of the NFκB Activator 1 (ACT1)."

Please join us on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 3109 for a Department of Microbiology and Immunology seminar. The seminar, "Effector and Memory T Cell Differentiation," will be presented by Manjunath Swamy, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Please join us for a special presentation, "Update on the Protection of Human Subjects in Psychiatric Research," by Richard M. Steinbook, M.D., professor and director of psychiatric residency training. The presentation will cover the current effort to incorporate the proper procedures for protection, briefly review the necessity of such research, discuss the use of these procedures in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness and evaluate new efforts to simplify measuring the patient’s capacity to give informed consent.

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine will be presenting Grand Rounds on Wednesday, Nov. 28, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. Michael Wang, M.D., associate professor of neurosurgery at the Miller School, will present "Spinal Cord Injury Trials."

For further details, please contact Coretha Davis at 305-585-1431. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine now offers one continuing medical education credit for attendance.

Please join us for a microbiology and immunology seminar with Premlata Shankar, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shankar will present "RNAi-Mediated Inhibition of HIV-1" on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 3109.

Join the class of 2010 Student Government as it collaborates with Physicians for Human Rights to host the Miller School's first food competition on Wednesday, Nov. 28, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Schoninger Research Quadrangle. In addition to the competition, participants will learn about issues that afflict Third World countries and disparity concerns in our community.

TIAA-CREF will be visiting the medical campus to answer your questions about retirement plans on Wednesday, Nov. 28; Thursday, Nov. 29; Wednesday, Dec. 19; and Thursday, Dec. 20. To schedule an individual counseling session, please call Daphne Georges Kong at 866-842-3357.

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology will host a seminar, "Hypoxia-Adenosinergic Tumor Protection: Implications for Cancer Immunotherapy," in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 3109 at noon on Thursday, Nov. 29. The seminar will be presented by Michail Sitkovsky, Ph.D., Eleanor M. Black Chair of Immunophysiology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and professor of pharmaceutical biotechnology at Northeastern University.

For more information, please contact Michelle Perez at 305-243-6655 or
miperez@miami.edu.

Orthopaedic Grand Rounds will be held at the Mailman Center for Child Development, eighth-floor auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7 a.m. Peter A. W. Ostermann, M.D., Ph.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery at St. Agnes-Hospital Bocholt, will present "The Micro Hip Technique--Always a Good Option?" The lecture will discuss minimally invasive total hip replacement. For more information, please contact Ledi Figueroa at lfigueroa@med.miami.edu or 305-243-6725.

The Department of Medical Education Grand Rounds series, sponsored by the Educational Development Office, will host Nancy Searle, Ed.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Searle will present "Developing a Pro-Teaching Environment Through Faculty Development and Recognition."

The UM Ethics Program will present its 16th annual Dialogues in Research Ethics seminar series at noon on Friday, Nov. 30, in the Diabetes Research Institute, first-floor conference room. This dialogue, "Culture, Ethnicity and Cancer Trials: Managing Communication Disparity," will be presented by Christian Simon, Ph.D., assistant professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University.

His lecture will examine key gaps in what patients and families are told about cancer clinical trials. These gaps may be linked to clinician assumptions about patient ethnicity, cultural background and information preference. The goal is to invite reflection and dialogue on the need for cultural competence and equity in current informed consent practices. 

Are you new to working with the National Institutes of Health grants? Need a refresher course? The Sponsored Programs Roundtable Series: "NIH 101," will start with the basics and lead you through the NIH application review, award and grants management process. Maria Valero Martinez will present this session on Thursday, Dec. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Batchelor Children's Research Institute, Baxter Conference Room.

Registration is required through http://Ulearn.miami.edu. For more details, please contact saymerich@med.miami.edu.

Please join us at UM/Sylvester at Deerfield Beach on Thursday, Dec. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. for a Conversations About Cancer seminar series, "Ask the Doctor About Cancer." This free lecture will be presented by Arnold Markoe, M.D., Sc.D., professor and chair of radiation oncology.

This class is free. Reservations are required by calling 1-800-545-2292. A light lunch will be provided.

The University of Miami Comprehensive AIDS Program and the South Florida AIDS Network at Jackson Memorial Hospital are hosting the annual World AIDS Day health fair at Alamo Park on Thursday, Dec. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free and confidential testing will be offered for HIV, cholesterol, glucose, high blood pressure, vision and STDs. 

For more information, please call the Comprehensive AIDS Program at 305-243-6535 or Edgard Resto at the South Florida AIDS Network at 305-585-5241.

The Laboratory for Clinical and Biological Studies will host Bender MedSystems for a workshop on "Quantitation of Cytokines by FlowCytomix Technology." The workshop will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13, in the Fox Cancer Research Building, room 118.

To register, please contact Naresh Sachdeva, Ph.D., at 305-243-2010 or  nsachdeva@med.miami.edu. Space is limited. 

Gene Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University, will discuss "A New View of the Aging Brain & Mind: Positive Changes Because of Aging, Not Despite Aging." Dr. Cohen's research centers on establishing new programs focused on understanding, studying and promoting creativity that accompanies aging. The lecture will be held on Friday, Dec. 14, from noon to 1 p.m. at the BankUnited Center, Hurricane 100 Room. Lunch will be served following the lecture. Please RSVP via e-mail at spurcell@med.miami.edu or call 305-355-9081.

This year's Richard P. Bunge Memorial Lecture will feature William Snider, M.D., director of the University of North Carolina Neuroscience Center, presenting "Dissection of Neurotrophin Signaling Pathways by Mouse Genetics."

The lecture will be held in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium at 1 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. Lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. For more information, contact the neuroscience program office at neurosci@med.miami.edu or 305-243-3368.

Please join us at UM/Sylvester at Deerfield Beach on Monday, Dec. 17, from noon to 1 p.m. for Conversations about Cancer. John I. Lew, M.D., F.A.C.S, assistant professor of surgery, will discuss thyroid cancer.

Register now for the 40th annual Teaching Conference in Clinical Cardiology and Neurology, a primary care update presented by the Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education. The conference will address both acute and long-term evaluation, management, practical treatment and clinical skills for nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists and physicians. Case-based presentations will include Harvey, the cardiopulmonary patient simulator. 

The conference will also feature University of Miami faculty Michael S. Gordon, M.D., professor of clinical medicine, director and associate dean for research in medical education; S. Barry Issenberg, M.D., assistant director and assistant dean of the Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education; and Joan Baker, R.N., MSN, CCRN, CNRN. Also presenting are visiting professors Robert E. Safford, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine from the Mayo Clinic, and Jaffar Khan, M.D., assistant professor of neurology from Emory University.

A maximum of 14 continuing medical education credit hours and continuing education units can be earned by attending. The registration fee for full-time UM employees is $100 for non-physicians and $150 for physicians. All learning materials for the course are included. The conference will begin at 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 25, and will continue through Saturday, Jan. 26.

Please register online at http://www.gcrme.med.miami.edu/meded_conf2008.html. For more information, call 305-243-6491 or e-mail tcccn@crme.med.miami.edu.

The Department of Pathology will conduct its 33rd annual "Review and Recent Practical Advances in Pathology" course at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa from Monday, Jan. 28, to Friday, Feb. 1.

Topics include neuropathology, prostate pathology, kidney tumors, urologic pathology, automation, cytopathology, breast pathology, pediatric pathology, soft tissue tumors and GI pathology.

For information or assistance, please contact Linda Hung at 1-866-794-9942, lhung@med.miami.edu or visit the Web site at http://pathology.med.miami.edu.

Adult Acne
Leslie Baumann, M.D., professor and director of the UM Cosmetic Center, is looking for women between the ages of 21 and 45 who have mild to moderate acne to participate in a research study to determine whether use of a treatment regimen will improve acne.  If interested, please contact a member of the research staff at (305) 531-5788 or www.derm.net.

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