The University of Miami’s mission to become an internationally renowned scientific research powerhouse received a big boost Friday when Florida Governor Charlie Crist formally announced the awarding of an $80 million grant to the Miami Institute for Human Genomics during a news conference on the medical campus. 

The Institute at the Miller School is home to the world’s top geneticists who conduct leading-edge work in identifying genetic variants that underlie common human diseases.

“We’re always mindful of how important projects like these are," Governor Crist said. "Not only will it improve the quality of lives, it will save lives. Let me repeat that, it will save lives. It will also help our economy, a tremendous byproduct of what we’re talking about here today." For the complete story click here.

The Miami Institute for Human Genomics is accepting applications from UM graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty for an upcoming course on "Genetic Analysis of Complex Human Diseases." This comprehensive, four-day course will introduce new approaches for the mapping and characterization of human inherited disorders and focus on the mapping of genes involved in common and genetically complex disease phenotypes.

Applications are now being accepted from qualified medical students for the 2008 Summer Research Fellowship Program. Students must be Florida residents enrolled in a degree-granting program at a Florida institution, identify a sponsor, work on a cancer-related project in a UM/Sylvester laboratory and submit their application to the Office of Education and Training by March 3.

Students cannot use this fellowship toward a master's or doctorate degree or be employed by UM during the fellowship. A total of six fellowships are available at $2,500 each from June through August.
 
Fellowships are scheduled to be announced on March 28. For further information, contact Diane Dames at 305-243-2287 or ddames@med.miami.edu.

The question and answer session and bingo game scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 7, at noon have been cancelled.

Lincoln Financial will be on the medical campus throughout the day on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at Park Plaza East, suite D. To schedule an appointment with Lincoln Financial, contact Theresa Yong at 305-245-7332 or Theresa.Yong@LFG.com.

Your 2008 Health Care Desk References are being sent via interoffice mail next week. You will receive a customized guide to the plan you are enrolled in. The Health Care Desk References include important information such as costs of specific medical services, definitions, prescription drug plan guidelines and contact information.

El Centro, the Center of Excellence for Hispanic Health Disparities Research, is now accepting applications for pilot studies. The pilot studies program is being undertaken to help develop new or adapt to the existing prevention and treatment options currently used in the Hispanic culture for substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence and co-occurring mental health conditions. 

Those interested should submit a CV and an abstract of 1,000 words or less that includes goals, background information, preliminary studies and methods. Please submit your information to tlopez1@miami.edu no later than Saturday, March 15.

Biomedical Communications is offering free tutorials, designed to assist UM faculty and staff with creating posters for presentations and conferences using PowerPoint. The workshop covers PowerPoint menus, the basics of page setup, importing objects and other tools needed to create impressive poster exhibits. These free sessions provide individual assistance and will be held on a one-on-one basis.

For more information, or to make an appointment, contact Peter Raposo at 305-243-6783 or visit http://calder.med.miami.edu/biomed/.

Bascom Palmer’s Aesthetic Center, featuring non-surgical cosmetic enhancements including Botox, Restylane, Dermal fillers, and Intense Pulsed Light for the treatment of wrinkles, age spots, sun damage and permanent hair removal, is now scheduling February appointments. Appointments can be made at either Bascom Palmer on the medical campus or Bascom Palmer in Palm Beach Gardens, by calling 305-482-4888. All UM employees receive a 20 percent discount.

The Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center in the Department of Neurology has multiple Parkinson’s Disease events planned for patients and families. "Parkinson’s Disease 101" is a 3-part lecture series for people with Parkinson’s Disease. The series will be held Tuesday, Feb. 26, March 4, and March 11, from 10 a.m. to noon. The first Parkinson’s Disease Complementary Therapies Symposium will be presented on March 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Both events will be held at St. Catherine’s Rehabilitation Hospital auditorium, 1050 NE 125 Street, North Miami. Parking is free and lunch will be served.

Other activities offered are a Parkinson’s Disease Support Group/Tai Chi Class every first Thursday, a Parkinson's Disease caregiver support group, and deep brain stimulation support groups. They are held at the National Parkinson Foundation, third-floor conference room. 

To register for any of these events or to obtain further information, please contact George Dumenigo, L.C.S.W., at 305-243-1865 or gdumenigo@med.miami.edu.

Portable USB drives, personal digital assistants (PDAs), memory cards and smart phones (Blackberry, Treo, etc.) store information you may not want anyone else to access. This is important to remember when using these devices and when you are ready to dispose of them. Insecure disposal is one of the most common causes of sensitive data being compromised. Just as you may shred sensitive paper documents before disposal, you should also securely destroy sensitive electronic data. For more information, please visit http://www.med.miami.edu/hipaa/public/x370.xml.

All employees must receive their annual performance evaluations by Wednesday, April 30. Supervisors must submit completed evaluations to their departmental human resources representative no later than April 30, and all performance evaluation ratings will be submitted in DHRS by Medical Human Resources no later than Thursday, May 1. These ratings must be submitted in order for employees to receive merited increases. 

The Gail F. Beach Memorial Visiting Lectureship scheduled for tomorrow at noon has been cancelled. The lecture will be rescheduled for a later date.

• University Compliance (anonymous hotline): 866-YOURCALL
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• 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 offered by John L. Bixby, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and neuroscience, associate dean for graduate studies, and director of UM's Neuroscience Center. Dr. Bixby will present "Receptor Tyrosine Phosphatases and Axon Guidance Regulation."

The Employee Assistance Program is pleased to offer a seminar on "Relationship Building." By the end of the session, participants will be better equipped to demonstrate respect, establish trust, understand the point of view of others and experience fewer reactive interactions. 

To achieve more satisfying results when interacting with partners, family, friends, colleagues and even those we meet casually; join us for "Relationship Building" today, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. at the Medical Wellness Center, twelfth-floor classroom. To register, please visit http://ulearn.miami.edu. For help with registration, call the Medical Wellness Center at 305-243-7600.

This course will also be held on the Coral Gables campus this Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Max Orovitz Building, room 139. For help with registration call the Coral Gables Professional Development and Training Office at 305-284-5110.

Please join us for the 14th annual Leon Schiff Department of Medicine Grand Rounds with guest speaker Anna Lok, M.D., M.R.C.P., professor of internal medicine and director of clinical hepatology at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Dr. Lok will present "Hepatitis B Treatment: When to Start and When to Stop" tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, third-floor auditorium.

At the end of the lecture, participants will be familiar with the natural history of chronic hepatitis B infection, treatment options, and when to start and stop treatment.

Learn how to use the InfoEd Proposal Development System to prepare and submit your proposal electronically to the NIH by attending an upcoming special presentation. This session will help participants create, route, submit, and track proposals using the InfoEd System. Presentations will be held tomorrow, Feb. 6, and Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 1 to 3 p.m.

Join us this Thursday from 7 to 8 a.m. in the Mailman Center for Child Development, eighth-floor auditorium for the next Orthopaedic Grand Rounds lecture with Ayisha E. Livingstone, M.D., fifth-year resident. Dr. Livingstone will speak on "Upper Extremity Compartment Syndrome without Fracture in the Pediatric Population." 

For more information on this lecture, contact Ledi Figueroa at lfigueroa@med.miami.edu or 305-243-6725.

The Office of Graduate Studies is pleased to announce an opportunity for pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows to develop their grant-writing skills. You are invited to attend a half-day workshop, "Write Winning Grants," this Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Clinical Research Building’s Michael S. Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education seminar room located on the first floor. The emphasis of this workshop will be on research proposals in the biomedical sciences, specifically as it pertains to NIH funding. 
 
Stephen Russell, D.V.M., Ph.D., co-founder and managing member of Grant Writers' Seminars and Workshops, will present the seminar. Dr. Russell has held grant support from the National Institutes of Health as a principal investigator since the early 1970s, including individual, group, center, and training grants. Please visit www.grantcentral.com for more information.
 
Participants who are registered graduate medical school students will receive a complimentary copy of Dr. Russell’s notes and The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook. The cost of the course is $60 and payable by IDR upon registration. Please RSVP to ogs@med.miami.edu by Monday, Jan. 28.

Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., director of the Miami Institute for Human Genomics, has invited Jose Humberto Nicolini, Ph.D., to the Miller School to present a lecture this Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. Dr. Nicolini will discuss "Opportunities for Psychiatric Genetic Research in Mexico." 

Lunch will be served at noon following the lecture. For more information, please contact Maggy De Tullio at 305-243-5381.

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology will present "Dissecting New Costimulatory/Coinhibitory Pathways" this Thursday at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 3109. The seminar will be given by guest speaker Lieping Chen, M.D., Ph.D., professor of dermatology and oncology and director of dermatology research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology will present a seminar by David Adams, Ph.D., professor and chair of physiology at Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia. Dr. Adams will deliver a lecture on "Novel Peptide Toxins and Protein Modulators of Voltage-Gated Ion Channels."
  
The lecture will be held this Thursday at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, room 6018. For additional information, contact Nivia Machin-Gonzalez at 305-243-1078.

The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis will hold a Synergy Day Conference this Friday, Feb. 8, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. Guest speakers will include Timothy Vollmer, M.D., director of the Neuroimmunology Program, and the Betty and John Van Denburgh Chair of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona; Dan Lammertse, M.D., medical director at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado; Stephen L. Huhn, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.P., vice president, and head of the Neural Program at StemCells, Inc. in Palo Alto, California; and Roxanne Reger, research instructor at the Gene Therapy Program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

Introductory remarks will be given by Bart Chernow, M.D., vice president for special programs and resource strategy; and W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., professor of neurological surgery, neurology and cell biology and anatomy, and scientific director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, will briefly outline proposed clinical trials.

For more information, call 305-243-7108 or visit http://www.miamiproject.med.miami.edu/x381.xml. Refreshments will be served.

Join us for Psychiatry Grand Rounds this Friday from noon to 1 p.m. in the Mailman Center for Child Development, eighth-floor auditorium. Davangere P. Devanand, M.D., professor of clinical psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, will present "Predictors of Conversion to Alzheimer's Disease in Mild Cognitive Impairment."
 
By the end of the lecture, participants will be able to review the features of mild cognitive impairment and evaluate the validity of predictors of conversion to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Marshall B. Kapp, J.D., M.P.H., Garwin Distinguished Professor of Law and Medicine, and co-director of the Center for Health Law and Policy at Southern Illinois University School of Law, will discuss "The Liability Environment for Physicians Providing Nursing Home Care: Does It Make a Difference for Residents?" Professor Kapp is the author and co-author of a substantial number of published articles, book chapters and reviews. He is also the founding editor of the Ethics, Law and Aging Review. 

The lecture will be held from noon to 1 p.m. this Friday at the Coral Gables Wellness Center, second-floor conference room. Lunch will be served following the lecture. Please RSVP via e-mail to spurcell@med.miami.edu or call 305-355-9081.

This Friday, the next seminar in the UM/Sylvester Distinguished Lecture Series will be presented by Qingyi Wei, M.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. Dr. Qingyi will discuss "DNA Repair Capacity as a Susceptibility Marker for Smoking-Related Cancers (Lung, Head and Neck Cancers)."

On Monday, Feb. 11, Music Ensembles for the Enrichment of Medicine (MEEM) will hold a Valentine's Day concert for its latest monthly concert series. Bring a blanket, pack a picnic and join us at 5 p.m. in the Schoninger Research Quadrangle, where students will showcase their talents with a variety of musical performances. 
 
This concert is free and open to everyone. For more information, please contact Dan Cushman at dcushman@med.miami.edu.

The Medical Wellness Center will present "Building Blocks: The Basics of Nutrition and Exercise" on Tuesday, Feb. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Medical Wellness Center's twelfth-floor classroom. In this one-hour workshop, you will learn and discuss the basic principles of energy balance as it is related to nutrition and exercise. Topics reviewed will include the major nutrient groups (carbohydrates, protein, fat, etc.), how nutrients are metabolized for energy and how nutritional intake affects exercise performance and metabolism.

Please RSVP by this Friday, Feb. 8, by calling 305-243-7600.

Please join us on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at noon in the Rosenstiel Medical Science Building, third-floor auditorium for the next lecture in the Jay Weiss Center for Social Medicine and Health Equity Grand Rounds series. Cheryl Little, J.D., executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, will present "Immigration Detainee Medical Care." 

Lunch will be provided. For more information, e-mail Katie Houghton at Khoughton@med.miami.edu or visit www.jayweisscenter.org.

Nordstrom, one of the nation’s leading fashion specialty retailers, will kick off the opening of its third Miami-area store with an evening gala on Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Aventura Mall. The party is expected to raise more than $300,000 for The Buoniconti Fund/The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and UM/Sylvester. Nordstrom in Aventura Mall opens on Friday, Feb. 15.

Mark Prasarn, M.D., fifth-year resident, will present the Orthopaedic Grand Rounds lecture on Thursday, Feb. 14, from 7 to 8 a.m. in the Mailman Center for Child Development, eighth-floor auditorium. Dr. Prasarn will speak on "Infected Nonunions of Diaphyseal Fractures of the Forearm."  

For more information on this lecture, contact Ledi Figueroa at figueroa@med.miami.edu or 305-243-6725.

Attend a lunch-and-learn session and discover how to maximize the value of your flexible spending account benefits. Flexible spending accounts use pre-tax dollars to pay for everyday expenses such as doctor's visits, medications, day care and more. Learn how to get the most out of your health care or dependent care flexible spending account by attending a lunch-and-learn session on Thursday, Feb. 14, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. 

Please RSVP to vagramonte@miami.edu. Lunch will be served.

This Valentine’s Day, Thursday, Feb. 14, the Medical Wellness Center invites all members to bring a loved one, friend or family member to participate in a special couples' class for free. "Partners Yoga," led by Jennifer and Silvia, will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Medical Wellness Center, room A, and "Couples Heart and Body," led by Jessica, will be held from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. in room C.

The first three couples to sign up for Partners Yoga will also receive free red yoga mats.

The Seventh Annual South Florida Environmental Ethics Consortium Conference is set for Friday, Feb. 15, on the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science campus. This year's theme is "Good Food: From Farm and Sea to Table in South Florida." The conference is co-sponsored by the UM Ethics Programs, Florida Atlantic University, the Florida Bioethics Network and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.

The Department of Orthopaedics will host William Hozack, M.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, for Grand Rounds. Dr. Hozack will present "Minimally Invasive Total Hip Arthroplasty--Current Status" on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 7 to 8 a.m. in the Mailman Center for Child Development, eighth-floor auditorium.

For more information on this lecture, contact Ledi Figueroa at lfigueroa@med.miami.edu or 305-243-6725.

Early registration is now open for the "New Concepts in Obstetrics and Gynecology" conference being held Thursday, Feb. 21, through 23 at the Mayfair Hotel and Spa in Coconut Grove.

This course will provide a comprehensive update on the problems encountered in obstetrics and gynecology and its subspecialties. It will also disseminate new concepts of care and new ideas for patient management will be presented.

To register, please visit http://cme.med.miami.edu. For more information, call 305-243-6716 or e-mail umcme@med.miami.edu.

Learn how the CRIS Office can assist you with your clinical trials. Please join us on Thursday, Feb. 21, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Batchelor Children's Research Institute, Baxter Conference Room for the next roundtable discussion on CRIS Office updates and procedures. Suzanne Page, director of CRIS, will present: "Working with Clinical Research Initiation Services: An Overview of the Process and Services Provided."

UM/Sylvester will present an "American-Israeli Oncology Conference Update: How it Impacts Research and Scientific Findings Today" on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gilda's Club in Fort Lauderdale. The seminar will be given by Joseph D. Rosenblatt, M.D., associate director for clinical and translational research at UM/Sylvester.

Reservations are required by calling 1-800-545-2292.

An "Acupuncture for Stress Reduction" seminar will be held at the Medical Wellness Center, twelfth-floor classroom on Tuesday, Feb. 26, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. During this seminar, participants will learn how UM-insured individuals can take part in regular acupuncture treatment for stress reduction with only a co-pay; how physical and emotional stress can disrupt the body's quality, quantity and balance of Qi, a fundamental concept of traditional Chinese culture that is believed to be a life force flowing throughout the body to energize it and help protect it from pain and disease; and how an acupuncturist assesses and treats individuals with the goal of restoring balance and Qi.

Please RSVP no later than Friday, Feb. 22, by calling 305-243-7600.

The "Neurological Update 2008" conference will be held at the Alexander All-Suite Oceanfront Resort Wednesday, Feb. 27, through Saturday, March 1, starting at 7:55 a.m. with opening remarks from Ralph Sacco, M.D., F.A.A.N., F.A.H.A, professor and chairman of the Department of Neurology at the Miller School. Pediatric neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, internists and general practitioners are all invited to attend this four-day course, which is designed to provide clinicians with the most recent developments in diagnosis and management of neurological disorders.

The Office of Graduate Studies will once again host four workshops by the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Announcements will be sent out to the Miller School research community in mid-March. Prior to these workshops, the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Library of Medicine will hold a two-day scientific meeting to celebrate the first 25 years of service by GenBank, the NIH nucleotide sequence database.

The meeting will be held on Monday, April 7, and Tuesday, April 8, starting at 9 a.m. at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, Building 45, Natcher Auditorium.

Although registration is free, seating is limited. Early registration is recommended at
http://www.tech-res.com/GenBank25/. Please send any questions to GenBank25@tech-res.com or call 301-897-7481.

The Division of Geriatrics is recruiting men and women age 65 and older to take part in a study of vitamin D in the prevention of frailty. Participants are asked to come for six visits over six months for blood and urine tests. If you or someone you know are interested, please call Silvina Levis, M.D., at 305-243-4330.

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