Jefferson Vaccine Pioneer Hilary Koprowski, M.D., Wins 2007 Sabin Gold Medal
(Published: 05-01-2007) Hilary Koprowski, M.D., one of the world’s outstanding biomedical researchers over the last half-century,
is the 2007 winner of the Sabin Gold Medal.
Jefferson Scientists Find Rabies-Based Vaccine Could be Effective Against HIV
(Published: 04-02-2007) Rabies, a relentless, ancient scourge, may hold a key to defeating another implacable foe: HIV. Scientists
at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have used a drastically weakened rabies virus to ferry HIV-related proteins into
animals, in essence, vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease. The early evidence shows that the vaccine – which doesn’t
protect against infection – prevents development of disease.
Media Coverage:
CBS 3
Volunteers Needed for National Study Examining HIV Treatments
(Published: 03-27-2007) Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University are participating in a study designed to compare the differences
in responses by HIV-positive women and men to an HIV medication. Thomas Jefferson University is one of 50 clinical centers
in the United States to participate.
Benchmark Zero for hospital acquired infection (HAI)
(Published: 02-12-2007, Nursing Specturm) One hospital acquired infection (HAI) is one too many, especially if you are the
patient. Imagine recuperating "almost the picture of health” only to relapse when microbes contaminate your Foley catheter,
or you're scheduled to have the ventilator removed but have developed ventilator-associated pneumonia. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2 million patients a year contract HAI, also called nosocomial infections, during
the course of a hospital stay. Some 90,000 of these patients die in the U.S. each year, more than the number of people who
die each year from breast cancer or auto accidents.
Hospitals throughout Pennsylvania are forging ahead to reduce and prevent this grave patient safety problem. Grant recipient
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH), Philadelphia, is using funding to analyze ventriculostomy, the surgical creation
of an opening in the brain's ventricle to release pressure from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The goal is to eliminate chances
for infection in the neurosurgery population.
Department of Nursing
Division of Infectious Diseases
Media Coverage:
Nursing Specturm
A Half-Century Later, Jefferson’s Hilary Koprowski, M.D., at the Top of His Game
(Published: 12-07-2006) In an environment of flat federal spending on science, renowned Thomas Jefferson University virologist
Hilary Koprowski, M.D., continues to amaze. Last month, Dr. Koprowski – the first scientist to develop the oral polio vaccine
– was honored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, M.D., for 50 years of continuous
funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Featured in the Media
HIV Treatment
(Published: 07-10-2006, CBS 3) Kathleen Squires, M.D., Director of Infectious Diseases and Envionmental Medicine at Thomas
Jefferson University, discussed a new pill for HIV patients that is awaiting FDA approval. Dr. Squires says the new pill,
which will be taken once a day, will make treatment less complicated and will combine three different drugs that many HIV
patients are already taking.
“That makes it more possible to be adherent or compliant with your regimen and to really fit it into your lifestyle and not
let the drugs control you, but you control the drugs and your infection,” said Dr. Squires.
Media Coverage:
CBS
Government Bird Flu Plan To Be Released
(Published: 05-02-2006, CBS3.com) Kathleen Squires, M.D., Director of Infectious Diseases at Thomas Jefferson University tells
Channel 3 that there is no evidence of a bird flu pandemic yet. However, “What would happen in a pandemic is that anybody
who became ill who had signs and symptoms of influenza would be asked to stay home,” she said.
Department of Infectious Diseases
Media Coverage:
CBS3.com
New Infectious Agents Pose New Risks for People with Bleeding Disorders, Jefferson Hematologist Says
(Published: 02-13-2006) An international team of scientists, including a hematologist from Thomas Jefferson University in
Philadelphia, has concluded that people with bleeding disorders such as hemophilia remain at risk from emerging infectious
agents in plasma and blood transfusions. For this reason, recombinant therapies, that is, those produced in the laboratory,
must always be an option.
PA's Hospital-Acquired Infection Battle(Published 02-01-2006, Physician's News Digest) As the patient safety movement continues to evolve as a national priority
in health care, a particular focus on hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has intensified in Pennsylvania. While hospitals
have for years included infection control as part of their quality improvement programs, release of the state’s first HAI
reports – last July and November – by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) has called into question
the adequacy of those efforts by tallying HAI frequency, decrying their cost, and heightening public awareness of their existence.
PHC4 has partnered with the Pittsburgh-based Jewish Healthcare Foundation to fund demonstration project grants to control
these infections. One grant recipient is Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, which is performing a rapid-cycle
work flow analysis of the materials, insertion and care of catheters inserted through the skull to relieve pressure on the
brain of severe stroke patients, several hundred of whom Jefferson treats each year, according to Jonathan Gottlieb, M.D.,
Jefferson’s senior vice president for clinical affairs.
Department of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Media Coverage:
Physician's News Digest
