Current Releases
Jefferson Physician Wins Prestigious Curtis Hames Research Award from Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
(Published 5-5-2008) Howard Rabinowitz, M.D., the Ellen M. and Dale W. Garber Professor of Family Medicine in the Department
of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, has been selected as the 2008 recipient of the Curtis Hames
Research Award in Family Medicine. Dr. Rabinowitz formally received his award May 3rd at the 41st Annual Society of Teachers
of Family Medicine (STFM) Spring Conference, which was held in Baltimore.
Wal-Mart Executive to Discuss Link between Business and Public Health at Jefferson’s Annual Grandon Lecture
(Published 5-5-2008) John O. Agwunobi, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., Senior Vice President, and President, Health and Wellness, Wal-Mart
Stores Division, and former Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will give the 17th
Annual Dr. Raymond C. Grandon Lecture, "Bridging the Worlds of Business and Public Health," at Jefferson Medical College of
Thomas Jefferson University. The lecture will take place on Thursday, May 8, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm in the DePalma Auditorium.
It is free and open-to-the-public. CME and ACPE credit is available for health care professionals.
Double Duty: Loss of Protective Heart Failure Protein Causes High Blood Pressure
(Published 5-2-2008) Scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have
found that a protein that appears to have protective and perhaps healing effects for failing hearts also plays a similar role
in high blood pressure. They found lower-than-normal levels of the protein S100A1 in cells that line blood vessel walls in
animals with high blood pressure.
Methodist Hospital Radiologist, Philly Native, Dr. Mark Cooper, Gets Own Exhibit at National Baseball Hall of Fame
(Published 4-30-2008) For only the third time ever, the National Baseball Hall of Fame has dedicated an exhibit to the collection
of one person--and that person is Philadelphia native and Methodist Hospital radiologist Mark Cooper, M.D., M.B.A. The exhibit,
which opened on April 12 in Cooperstown, NY, is called "Home Games: A Century of Baseball Games from the Collection of Dr.
Mark Cooper." It features more than 50 games over a 100 year period from 1860 to 1960, and is on display through the end
of the 2008 baseball season.
Mind-Body Therapies Benefit Cancer Survivors, Doctor-Patient Relationship, Jefferson Specialist Says
(Published 4-30-2008) As the number of cancer survivors continues to climb, physicians need to be more open to discussing
the potential use of mind-body therapies, such as various stress-reduction techniques, which are increasingly popular and
the use of which in some cases is supported by scientific evidence, says Daniel Monti, M.D., director of the Jefferson-Myrna
Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Jefferson’s Daniel Taub, M.D., D.D.S., to Receive Operation Smile Volunteer of the Year Award during National Volunteer Week
(Published 4-25-2008) Daniel Taub, M.D., D.D.S., associate director of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Thomas Jefferson
University Hospital, will be awarded the Operation Smile 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award on May 1, 2008. Nominated from the
organization's network of over 6,000 volunteers worldwide, Dr. Taub will be recognized for his extraordinary dedication to
the Operation Smile since 1995, and for his work in co-founding a dental clinic and the dental mission program in Vietnam.
He will be honored at a ceremony in celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 27 - May 3) in Norfolk, VA.
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Designated Live Donor Liver Transplant Center by UNOS
(Published 4-23-2008) Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has been designated a Live Donor Liver Transplant Center by the
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that administers the nation's policies on organ transplantation
and procurement. The designation makes Jefferson's one of only three adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT)
programs in the Delaware Valley.
Blood Pressure Drugs Halt Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth, Jefferson Researchers Find
(Published 4-14-2008) Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are inching closer
to understanding how common blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer. They have found
in the laboratory that one type of pressure-lowering drug called an angiotensin receptor blocker inhibits pancreatic cancer
cell growth and causes cell death.
Jefferson Scientists’ Discovery May Help Explain Smoking-Pancreatic Cancer Link
(Published 4-13-2008) If lung cancer and heart disease aren't bad enough, cigarette smokers are also at higher risk for developing,
among other things, pancreatic cancer. Now, researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have preliminary
evidence indicating one possible reason why. Data being presented April 13, 2008 during the Annual Meeting of the American
Association for Cancer Research shows that they have found that nicotine in cigarettes increases the production of a protein
that is known to promote cancer cell survival, invasion and spread.
Jefferson Scientist Named Editor-in-Chief of Prestigious Pathology Journal
(Published 3-31-2008) Renowned cell biologist Michael P. Lisanti, M.D., Ph.D., the Margaret Q. Landenberger Professor in Breast
Cancer Research at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia,
has been named Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Pathology (AJP). His term begins in July.
National Society Selects Hand Specialist Randall Culp, M.D., to Lobby for Funding to Fight Disease
(Published 3-26-2008) Randall W. Culp, M.D., of The Philadelphia Hand Center at Methodist, recently served as the only representative
for the American Society for Surgery of the Hand at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) 2008 Research Capitol
Hill Days. Dr. Culp was selected to join more than 115 orthopaedic surgeons, researchers, and their patients from across
the country in Washington, D.C., to encourage members of Congress to appropriate $548 million to the National Institute of
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) in fiscal year (FY) 2009 -- a 6.5 percent increase from FY 2008.
Smokers Treated for Brain Aneurysm with Coils at Higher Risk of Recurrence
(Published 3-20-2008) Cigarette smokers who were treated for cerebral aneurysms with coil embolization (blocking of a blood
vessel) are at greater risk of developing another aneurysm, say neurological surgeons at Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience
in Philadelphia in the first-known study of its kind.
Match Made in Medicine—The Most Important Day in a Young Doctor’s Life
(Published 3-20-2008) From day one of their freshman year, medical students anticipate and look forward with trepidation to
National Match Day. This is the day that graduating medical students from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University,
as well as other medical schools across the country, learn for the first time where they’ll begin practicing medicine.
Julia Haller, M.D., Appointed First New Chair of Ophthalmology at Jefferson in Over 20 Years
(Published 3-13-2008) Retina specialist Julia A. Haller, M.D., has been appointed Professor and Chair of the Department of
Ophthalmology at Jefferson Medical College (JMC) of Thomas Jefferson University, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
In conjunction with her duties at Jefferson, Dr. Haller also assumes the responsibilities of Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at Wills
Eye Institute.
Blocking Growth Protein Kills Prostate Cancer Cells, Inhibits Tumor Growth, Jefferson Scientists Find
(Published 2-28-2008) Researchers at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia have shown that they can effectively
kill prostate cancer cells in both the laboratory and in experimental animal models by blocking a signaling protein that is
key to the cancer's growth. The work proves that the protein, Stat5, is both vital to prostate cancer cell maintenance and
that it is a viable target for drug therapy.
Potential Test to Gauge Extent of Colorectal Cancer, Advances in Therapy, Imaging, Highlight Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center
Symposium Feb. 29
(Published 2-27-2008) If clinical pharmacologist Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., is right, a simple test for a marker involved
in traveler’s diarrhea will help provide surgeons and oncologists with a more accurate picture of the extent of colorectal
cancer in patients.
Dr. Waldman, professor and chair of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson
University and Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center (KCC) in Philadelphia, will discuss the test and a just-completed, five-year
National Institutes of Health-backed clinical trial this Friday, February 29, 2008 at a colorectal cancer symposium held at
Jefferson’s Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
Take a Stroll through the Colon and Learn How to Prevent Colorectal Cancer
(Published 2-18-2008) Take a Stroll through the Colon and Learn How to Prevent Colorectal Cancer
(PLYMOUTH MEETING), Mall shoppers and area residents will be able to take a walk through a colon while learning about colorectal
cancer Thursday, February 28, when the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Super Colon exhibit comes to Plymouth Meeting
Mall.
High Intensity Ultrasound Being Studied as New Treatment for Prostate Cancer
(Published 2-14-2008) High Intensity Ultrasound Being Studied as New Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Urologic researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are studying whether high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)
can be an effective treatment for low-risk prostate cancer and an alternative to using surgery, radiotherapy or cryosurgery.
Jefferson is taking part in a phase three clinical trial for treating localized prostate cancer using HIFU and is currently
enrolling participants.
Jefferson Specialists Expand Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) to Correct Major Deformities
(Published 2-13-2008) Spine specialists at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are expanding the field of minimally invasive
spine surgery (MISS) by refining new techniques to correct even complex spinal deformities such as scoliosis and kyphosis.
Correction for these conditions using standard surgery historically required a recovery period of at least three to six months,
and even up to a year. But with MISS, selected cases can be managed with recovery times as short as three to six weeks.
Led by D. Greg Anderson, M.D., the Jefferson team is the only in the Philadelphia region, and one of only a handful in the
U.S., employing an MISS approach to treat patients with major multi-level deformities involving the lumbar and thoracolumbar
spine.
