Ronald P. Burd Appointed Executive Vice President at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
(Published 3-7-2007) Ronald P. Burd, MBA, has been appointed to the newly created position of Executive Vice President for Strategy and Organization Development at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Empathy Skills Must Be Given a High Priority in Medical Education, Says Jefferson Author
(Published 3-9-2007) A paradigm shift in medical education is needed, one with more emphasis on training future physicians to enhance their empathy skills and to learn to view patients as persons, not just cases, a medical education specialist at Jefferson Medical College says.

Meet Eagle Jeremiah Trotter and Chef Susannah Foo at Jefferson HeartCARE Expo
(Published 3-14-2007) Meet Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and renowned celebrity chef and restaurant owner Susanna Foo, all while learning about heart health!

Chemotherapy Resistance Testing Needs to Be Studied, Jefferson Lung Cancer Surgeon Contends
(Published 3-16-2007) A study led by a lung cancer surgeon at Jefferson Medical College suggests that oncologists should take more advantage of laboratory tests that have the potential to help determine a lung cancer patient’s resistance to chemotherapy drugs. All too often, patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are given standard chemotherapy drugs after surgery in a “hit or miss” fashion, without doctors knowing which drugs might have better chances than others to help treat the tumor. Steps should be taken to validate such resistance tests in clinical trials.

Spinal Cord Injuries Among Geriatrics Has Risen Five Times in Last 30 Years, Jefferson Neurosurgeons Found
(Published 3-16-2007) The number of spinal cord injuries among senior citizens (age 70 and above) has increased five times in the past 30 years, as compared with younger spinal cord injury patients, researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson’s Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center of the Delaware Valley recently reported.

Jefferson Scientists Uncover Gene Mutation that Cuts Colon Polyps, May Suppress Cancer
(Published 3-21-2007) Cancer biologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have found a gene mutation that can dramatically reduce the number of colon polyps that develop, and in turn, potentially cut the risk of cancer.

Surgeons at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are First in Pennsylvania to Implant Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System in Heart Failure Patient
(Published 3-23-2007) On Monday morning, March 19, cardiac surgeons Scott Silvestry, M.D. and Linda Bogar, M.D. at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital opened the chest of a 55-year-old man suffering from chronic heart failure and implanted a Jarvik 2000 Heart Assist System to save his life. The Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant team at Jefferson University Hospital is the first in the state to implant the new device.

Jefferson Scientists Find that Drug-Eluting Stents Are Disappointing in Bypass Grafts--Sometimes
(Published 3-23-2007) While drug-eluting stents are effective in keeping open bypassed heart veins that aren’t too diffuse (filled with cholesterol plaque), a new study by cardiologists at Jefferson Medical College shows that they fare less well in keeping open bypassed veins with longer blockages. The researchers suggest that doctors think twice before inserting the drug-coated stents in such extensively diseased bypassed grafts.

Jefferson Scientists Find that Plavix Appears to be Safe During and After Heart Bypass
(Published 3-23-2007) Heart surgeons don’t have to choose between taking a coronary-bypass patient off the popular anti-clotting drug clopidogrel (Plavix) after off-pump heart bypass surgery or having the patient bleed excessively in the days following surgery, according to a new study by researchers at Jefferson Medical College.

Saki Santorelli, Ed.D., MA, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher and Author, to Present a Special One Day Workshop
(Published 3-26-2007) Saki Santorelli, Ed.D., M.A., the nationally acclaimed leader in bringing Mindfulness Meditation into western healthcare and society, will present “A Day of Mindfulness—Meeting Yourself, Meeting the Other,” a full-day workshop on Saturday, May 19.

Treatment of In-Hospital Cardiac Patients is Focus of Jefferson University Presentations
(Published 3-27-2007) The following summaries are based on presentations by Thomas Jefferson University researchers at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 56th Annual Scientific Sessions in New Orleans.

Volunteers Needed for National Study Examining HIV Treatments
(Published 3-27-2007) 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.

Jefferson Scientists in Nationwide Trial to Study Creatine for Parkinson’s Disease
(Published 3-28-2007) Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia has been named one of 51 medical centers in the United States and Canada to participate in a large-scale, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported clinical trial to learn if the nutritional supplement creatine can slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD).