Medical Information Technology's help desk assists approximately 4,500 callers each month with computer and networking questions. The help desk is available 24/7, every day of the year. It's a free service for UM faculty, staff and students on the medical campus. To reach the help desk, call 305-243-5999 or send e-mail to help@med.miami.edu. For more information about help desk services, visit http://it.med.miami.edu/x248.xml.

The CHAMP Community Pediatrics Internal Competitive Grant presents an opportunity for pediatric faculty and residents to develop a research team, address a problem of community concern, and develop a project that can lead to larger federal or foundation support. These grants are for projects ranging in cost from $3,000 to $30,000 for a twelve-month period, beginning July 1. Proposals must include:

1. A pediatric resident as co-principal investigator
2. A UM faculty member with a primary or secondary appointment with the Department of Pediatrics as co-principal investigator
3. Substantial involvement by a community-based organization
4. A focus on a research project with an aim that addresses improvement in child/adolescent health in community settings

Partnerships between general pediatricians and pediatric sub-specialists as well as involvement by teams of pediatric residents are encouraged. Other graduate students, medical students and fellows may also be included as co-investigators. The deadline for completed applications is midnight, Friday, March 31. All application materials should be submitted electronically to darmstrong@miami.edu  and bguerdat@med.miami.edu.

Piano Music Center, the company that supplies pianos to the Frost School of Music, is having its annual sale January 5 through January 8. As a special offer, University faculty, staff and alumni will have the opportunity to purchase Yamaha pianos that were used for one year by university students at a special rate on Thursday and Friday. Other brands of new and used pianos will also be available. The sale takes place in Gusman Hall at the Coral Gables campus. For more information or to make an appointment, contact Rick Malinowski at 305-663-4450.

UM/Sylvester’s Pharmacy Department presents “Things to Know about Research.” All lectures will be held in UM/Sylvester, room 1301. Displays and give-aways take place from 11:30 a.m. to noon. The lectures are presented by Ollie Anum, Pharm.D., from noon to 1 p.m., and are worth one contact hour for nursing and pharmacy. Lunch will be served. Please reserve your space with Joannys Cortinas at 305-243-9192.

Thursday
“Protocol Approval Process”
Sponsored by Glaxo Smith Kline

January 12
“Pharmaceutical Company Initiation Meeting”
Sponsored by Wyeth, Genentech, Sanofi-Aventis

January 19
“Basic Institutional Review Board (IRB) Regulations & Review Process”
Sponsored by Amgen, Merck, AstraZeneca

January 26
“Data Collections I”
Sponsored by Berlex, Ortho-Biotech, Novartis

February 2
“Data Collections II”
Sponsored by Roche, Abraxis, MGI

The University of Miami’s Families First Network is offering free parenting groups for parents of newborns through children age 5. Parents will discuss ways to manage behavior, build stronger families and help their children grow and develop. Parents will receive free items related to the topics discussed and lunch will be served. Classes will be held at the Debbie School during lunchtime. For more information or to register over the phone, call 305-243-8425 or e-mail mastacio@med.miami.edu.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) 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. Two awards for $35,000 are available for a one year period. For guidelines and application forms for the ACS Institutional Research Grant, contact Dorothy Mills at 305-243-6292 or dmills@med.miami.edu. The deadline for applications is Tuesday, January 31.

To ensure that your child car seat is installed correctly, a certified child passenger safety technician will be available on Wednesdays in front of the Mailman Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The service is available to everyone who transports children under the age of 12 in their vehicle. For more information, e-mail gstepanian@um-jmh.org, or call 305-243-3928 to set up an appointment. Priority will be given to those with appointments. The Injury Free Coalition for Kids is a division of Holtz Children's Hospital/ Miller School of Medicine.

A representative from Fidelity Investments will be on the medical campus to conduct individual counseling sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., February 1, March 1 and 29, April 27, May 24, June 28 and July 26. To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-642-7131.

A representative from TIAA-CREF will be at the medical campus tomorrow and Thursday, February 22 and 23, March 27 and 28, April 25 and 26, May 23 and 24, and June 27 and 29 to conduct individual counseling sessions. To schedule an appointment, click here http://www.tiaa-cref.com/moc, or call 1-800-842-2003 ext. 3522.

All counseling sessions from these organizations will take place in the Human Resources Benefits Office, 901 N.W. 17th St., suite D.

• 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.

• Please note that submissions are due no later than 5 p.m. Thursday for publication on Tuesday.
• We are unable to include attachments.
• Please use URL addresses in your announcements rather than hyperlinks.
• Event announcements should include the time, date, location, speaker, topic and cost if applicable. All events should have a contact phone number or e-mail address for further information. We will run event announcements for three weeks only.
• Information must be written in paragraph form. PDFs, Publisher files and flyers are not accepted.
• Human Subject recruitment announcements must be IRB approved.
• Events to be listed should be either held on the medical campus, sponsored or hosted by the Miller School of Medicine, or affect all or most of the employees on the medical campus.
• Please be sure to e-mail items to e-Update at update@med.miami.edu. Submissions to other e-mail addresses run the risk of being missed.

David D. Ginty, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will present "Growth and Survival Signals Controlling Development of PNS Neurons” tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon in the Lois Pope LIFE Center seventh-floor auditorium. For more information, call 305-243-7108 or visit http://www.miamiproject.med.miami.edu/x381.xml.

Arnold M. Markoe, M.D., Sc.D., chairman and professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, will present “Eye Cancer” on Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. at UM/Sylvester at Deerfield Beach, 1192 East Newport Center Drive, suite 100. This event is free and a light lunch will be served. Please call 305-243-1000 to reserve your space. Please call 1-800-545-2292 to register.

Ellen Warner, M.D., MSc., F.A.C.P., F.R.C.P., medical oncologist, Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center, will present “Is Breast MRI now the Standard of Care for Screening High Risk Women?” on Friday. The lecture begins at noon in UM/Sylvester, room 1301. Lunch will be served. For more information, please call Diane Dames at 305-243-2287, or e-mail DDames@med.miami.edu.

May A. Wahab, M.D., will discuss “Radiation as a Treatment in Prostate Cancer,” on Monday, January 9, from noon to 1 p.m. in UM/Sylvester, room 1301. This event is free and a light lunch will be served. Please call 305-243-1000 to reserve your space.

By May 2007, all research grant applications for NIH will have to be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using the SF424 Research & Related (R&R) form set. This training session, geared toward the applicant community, will provide an overview of NIH’s transition plans, the submission process and the new form set. The Office of Research has arranged to participate in a video-cast being sponsored by NIH. It will be held Wednesday, January 11, from 12:30 to 4 p.m., in the Lois Pope LIFE Center, seventh-floor auditorium. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentations. Visit NetLearning at http://netlearning.miami.edu to register. If you have any questions, please e-mail mvalero@med.miami.edu.

The Landon-AACR Prizes for Basic and Translational Cancer Research are offered by the Kirk A. and Dorothy P. Landon Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research, and are the largest prizes offered to cancer researchers from a professional society. Each recipient will present a lecture on Friday, January 20, at UM/Sylvester, room 1301. This year’s winners are Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D., Morris Herzstein professor of biology and physiology, University of California, who has been awarded the Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Cancer Research, and Janet D. Rowley, M.D., the Blum-Riese distinguished service professor of medicine and molecular genetics & cell biology, University of Chicago Medical Center, who has been awarded the Dorothy P. Landon-AACR Prize for Translational Cancer Research.  Lunch will be served immediately following the noon lectures. For more information, please contact Kathy Salce at 305-243-2287.

The ALS Recovery Fund is holding its 5th Annual Lou Gehrig's Disease 10K Run and 5K Run/Walk on Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 a.m. Please note that this is a date change from November 5, 2005. The race starts at Dinner Key/City Hall in Coconut Grove. There will be an award ceremony, post-race refreshments, entertainment and prize giveaways. You can pre-register on line at http://www.footworksmiami.com/races/gehrig.asp or register the day of the event. Early registration is $22 per person and $12 for ages 14 and under. Race day registration is $25. For more information, visit upcoming events at http://www.alsrecovery.org.

Kelly Insignares will present “Update on HSRO and Changes with IRB” on Tuesday, January 31, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Mailman Center, eighth-floor auditorium. Advance registration is required as room capacity is limited. Log on to Net Learning at https://netlearning.miami.edu to register. For more information e-mail Maira Abraham at Mabraham@med.miami.edu.

Scripps Florida is now a sponsor of the annual Miami Nature Biotechnology Winter Symposium, along with the University of Miami and Nature Publishing Group.  The 2006 Symposium is entitled “Angiogenesis in Cancer and Vascular Disease” and takes place at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort February 4-8, 2006.  Full-time employees of the University of Miami can register using tuition remission.  Send an e-mail to sblack@miami.edu with your UM ID# and full UM address if you wish to register.  Graduate students can register in the same way and receive a registration waiver.

The fourth Miami International Revascularization Summit will be held February 9 to 12 at The Alexander Hotel, Miami Beach. For more information, please contact the Division of Continuing Medical Education at 305-243-6716, or e-mail e.perez6@med.miami.edu.

On February 10, David Carbone, M.D., Ph.D., Harold L. Moses Chair in Cancer Research, Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, Director of Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Lung Cancer, Vanderbilt University Cancer Center, will present “Molecular Signatures of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer,” as part of the UM/Sylvester Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture begins at noon in UM/Sylvester, room 1301. Lunch will be served. For more information, please call Diane Dames at 305-243-2287, or e-mail DDames@med.miami.edu.

On Friday, February 24, Haydee Kapin M.S.N., and Karon Rzad, R.D., will present “Common Physical Symptoms II: GI, Fluid Balance, 2006 Anorexia and other Nutritional Issues.” It will be held at noon in UM/Sylvester, room 1301. Please note that this is a date change from January 27. Lunch will be served. Log onto NetLearning at https://netlearning.miami.edu to register. For more information, contact Diane Dames at ddames@med.miami.edu

The University of Miami Skin Research Group, directed by Brian Berman, M.D., Ph.D. is looking for people with acne, atopic dermatitis (eczema), and keloids.  Participants should be 18 or older for the acne and keloid studies and ages 2-17 for the atopic dermatitis or eczema studies.  If interested, please contact the research staff at 305-243-5519 or visit our website at www.skininvestigation.com.

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