September 2006
Paul Bray, M.D., Named Director, Division of Hematology at Jefferson
(Published 9-8-2006) Paul Francis Bray, M.D., has been named director, Division of Hematology at Jefferson Medical College
of Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He is also Thomas Drake Martinez Cardeza Professor
of Medicine and Director of the Cardeza Center for Hematologic Research at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.
Jefferson Researchers Find Potential Biomarker for Heart Failure
(Published 9-11-2006) A team of cardiology researchers at Thomas Jefferson University has determined that GRK2, a protein
that plays an important regulatory role in heart failure, is elevated in patients with failing hearts when compared to patients
with normal heart function.
Inpatient Palliative Care Service Available at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
(Published 9-11-2006) A new service, created to aid chronically or terminally ill patients, has been introduced at Thomas
Jefferson University Hospital. Known as the Palliative Care Service, “this innovative program represents a truly interdisciplinary/interdepartmental
effort involving physicians and nurses,” says Christine Arenson, M.D., director of the division of Geriatric Medicine in the
department of Family Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. “The goal is to focus
on a patient’s symptoms and quality of life rather than a cure.”
New Drug Target Might Sidestep Gleevec Resistance, Jefferson Scientists Show
(Published 9-15-2006) Though enormously successful, the leukemia drug Gleevec has some downsides. Recent studies have linked
the drug to heart failure in a small number of patients, and drug resistance continues to be a problem. But now, researchers
at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia may have found a new way to sidestep such resistance.
They have discovered that by reactivating a protein that is normally shut off in leukemia and in Gleevec-resistant cancer
cells, leukemia development is halted.
Jefferson Scientists Find Boosting Protein Levels Staves Off Heart Failure
(Published 9-20-2006) Boosting levels of a protein in the heart might help protect against the development of heart failure,
particularly in those who have had heart attacks. Cardiology researchers at the Center for Translational Medicine at Jefferson
Medical College found that increasing levels of the protein S100A1 above normal helped protect animal hearts from further
damage after simulated heart attacks. In some cases, the animals' heart function hardly changed at all. At the same time,
other animals with heart cells lacking the gene for the protein couldn't handle the stress of a heart blockage; they went
on to develop heart failure.
