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Laurels for Cushing Harvey Cushing, a legendary figure in American medicine who began and ended his academic life at Yale, has been honored as one of the two most influential neurosurgeons of the 20th century. The Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) honored the 1891 Yale College alumnus as “Man of the Century, 1900-1949,” and devoted a recent cover of its journal to him and to M. Gazi Yasargil, a pioneer in cerebrovascular microsurgery who was trained by a protégé of Cushing’s pupil Hugh Cairns. Cushing’s one-time bursary student Lycurgus M. Davey, M.D. ’43 March, who helped catalog his collection of books in the late 1930s as a Yale undergraduate, was one of four authors who paid tribute to Cushing in the November 1999 issue of Neurosurgery. The journal’s editor, neurosurgeon Michael L.J. Apuzzo, M.D., HS ’73, also worked on the Cushing collection in 1958 as a Yale undergraduate. Yale professor Issam A. Awad, M.D., will become president of the 4,800-member CNS in November. |
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Yale bucked a national trend with a jump of 43 percent over last year’s 2,469 applications to 3,530—or nearly 34 applicants for each spot in the 105-member class entering this fall. Part of the increase was due to Yale’s first-time participation in the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS), which enables students to apply to multiple schools with a single computerized application. However, Yale’s increase comes as medical school applications continued a downward trend nationally. In addition to AMCAS, Director of Admissions Richard A. Silverman credits the appeal of the Yale System for the school’s increasing success in attracting applicants. “We’re pleased with the numbers, but even more thrilled with the quality of the applicant pool,” he said. “They are a remarkably diverse group with outstanding academic, research, and extracurricular leadership records and a wide variety of experiences.” |
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Faculty Practice elects governors The Yale Faculty Practice, the multi-specialty academic medical practice composed of over 650 School of Medicine faculty members, has elected its first board of governors, choosing 10 physicians to set policy and oversee clinical and business activities. David J. Leffell, M.D., director of the Faculty Practice and associate dean for clinical affairs, said the elected representation is needed to achieve the goals of the medical school’s clinical enterprise. The newly elected members of the board of governors include department chairs Gary E. Friedlaender, M.D.; Ralph I. Horwitz, M.D.; Jon S. Morrow, M.D.; Dennis D. Spencer, M.D.; and Robert M. Weiss, M.D. Clinical faculty representatives are Zeev Kain, M.D.; Norman J. Siegel, M.D.; Barbara A. Ward, M.D.; Madeline S. Wilson, M.D.; and Barry L. Zaret, M.D. The board’s appointed members are Leffell, Marna P. Borgstrom, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Yale New Haven Health System: Peter N. Herbert, M.D. ’67, senior vice president and chief of staff of Yale New Haven Health System; Irwin M. Birnbaum, chief operating officer of the School of Medicine. |
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changing terrain In the mid-1990s it seemed unthinkable that the Food and Drug Administration might regulate tobacco, but Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., then FDA commissioner, did just that. One might have expected disappointment in March of this year when the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned federal regulation of tobacco products. But Kessler found cause for optimism. “We’re in a very different place than we were five years ago,” he told The New York Times on the day of the decision. He believes there is widespread agreement on what should constitute FDA regulation of tobacco. Tobacco should, he said, be regulated as a drug as a unique product, there must be constraints on marketing to youth, the FDA should be empowered to remove harmful agents from tobacco, and a regulatory process should encourage the development of “safer” cigarettes. He also noted that the justices acknowledged the dangers of smoking and that one tobacco company has agreed that the FDA should regulate its product. “Today’s decision really puts the issue squarely in the lap of Congress,” Kessler said. “The Supreme Court really has said that Congress has a moral responsibility to act.” |
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A quarter-century of training physician-scientists The Medical Scientist Training Program will celebrate its 25th year of training physician-scientists at the Yale University School of Medicine with a reunion this fall. Scheduled for Nov. 3-4, 2000, the reunion will be open to current trainees as well as graduates. It will feature scientific talks by graduates and panel discussions on the future training of physician-scientists and career pathways taken by graduates. A poster session will highlight the work of current students. The program, generally referred to as the M.D./Ph.D. Program, trains medical students in the basic sciences through completion of a Ph.D. Since 1975 it has been funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. Most of the program’s 160 graduates have gone on to conduct biomedical research. Eighty students are currently training in the program and participation is expected to increase to 90 over the next five years, with continuing support from the NIH and funds from the School of Medicine. For further
information regarding the M.D./Ph.D. reunion, contact Susan Baserga,
M.D./Ph.D. ’88, associate director of academic development
at (203) 785-4403. |
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New Haven health information at the click of a mouse Two years after its introduction, a Web site designed to provide users with everything from health statistics to listings of regional public health services had its official launch in January. The New Haven Health site, http://info.med.yale.edu/newhavenhealth, provides access to University, local, state and national resources describing New Haven’s public health and serves as a repository for health data, documents and directories of community organizations. Over the past two years staff at the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library and the Epidemiology and Public Health Library, who created and maintain the site, improved on its basic structure by adding information such as historical images related to New Haven’s health history and annual reports from the city. In addition, links to other health sites were added. By the fall, library staff hope to add a geographic information system with maps that pinpoint pockets of disease in the New Haven area. The site was funded by the National Library of Medicine. |
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High schoolers get down to the micron Most high-school students work with low-powered microscopes and magnifying glasses in their science projects. Students at Hill Regional Career Magnet High School near the School of Medicine are learning from a research-quality Zeiss EM109 electron microscope, an instrument capable of viewing molecular structures. The microscope was donated to the school by Yale in conjunction with the Connecticut Electron Microscopy Society. Yale and Career High already have an extensive partnership for teaching area students about biomedical science. A Yale-directed team, including Barry Piekos, supervisor of the electron microscope laboratory in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, maintains the instrument and trains teachers and students in its use. |
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Light at the end of the carpal tunnel The conventional surgical procedure for alleviating the severe pain and disability associated with carpal tunnel syndrome requires an incision into the sensitive palm. Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery J. Grant Thomson, M.D., is one of the few surgeons using and training surgical residents in an alternative procedure that does not require surgery on the palm. This system utilizes one incision at the wrist into which an endoscope is introduced to release the carpal tunnel. “It’s much less painful and it avoids a scar on the palm,” Thomson, director of the Yale Hand and Comprehensive Microsurgery Center, said. “People can use their hands almost immediately, and they return to work much quicker.” |
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No link found between PCBs, DDE and breast cancer Many have suspected that exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or the pesticide DDE was linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in women. In the largest controlled study to date, Yale researchers found no link between the toxins and breast cancer. Blood serum levels of PCBs and the organochloride compound DDE in nearly 1,000 Connecticut women were analyzed for association with breast cancer risk. No significant difference in serum levels was found between the women with breast cancer and a control group without the disease. The study, directed by Tongzhang Zheng, Sc.D., associate professor of epidemiology, appeared in the February issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. |
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A postdoctoral fellow in ophthalmology, Marcio Marc Abreu, M.D., has designed a new device that allows patients to test themselves at home for glaucoma, an eye disorder which can lead to blindness. Currently, detection of glaucoma requires a visit to the eye doctor. “There is the potential to completely change the way glaucoma is treated, diagnosed and monitored,” said Abreu. “The technology allows for a completely automated system without the need for any drops to anesthetize the eye for measurement. And the whole system is affordable.” Abreu’s system, which has been licensed to a private company for development, does not require direct contact with the eye, which is necessary for current test procedures. Patients with glaucoma will be able to check their own condition at home as frequently as needed. “The device,” said Abreu, “is planned to provide the doctor with a whole history of pressure changes when the patient is not in the doctor’s office.” |
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Job picture bright for radiologists Who says managed care is bad for doctors’ employment prospects? It’s not if you’re a radiologist, according to a job market study done by Howard P. Forman, M.D., vice chair of finance and administration in the Department of Diagnostic Radiology, and others. The investigators surveyed positions advertised in professional publications from January 1991 through December 1998. Following a dramatic decrease to a low of 37 advertised positions in July 1995, the market has dramatically rebounded to its highest levels ever, with more than 300 advertised openings by the end of 1998. “Despite decreased reimbursement for exams,” said Forman, “there is a substantial increase in total volume, so there is a need to hire more radiologists.” The study appeared in April in the American Journal of Roentgenology. |
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Laurels
for Cushing | Big jump in applications | Faculty Practice elects governors | Tobacco War's changing terrain | M.D./Ph.D. celebrates its 25th year | New Haven health information at the click of a
mouse | High schoolers
get down to the micron | Light
at the end of the carpal tunnel | No link found between PCBs, DDE and breast cancer | An at-home test for glaucoma | Job picture bright for radiologists
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