HOPKINS MEDICINE E-NEWS (November 2004)
A round-up of news from Johns Hopkins Medicine for busy executives._________________________________________________________
In the fight against prostate cancer, the torch passes this month from one hero to another as Alan Partin takes over Patrick Walsh’s job as director of our Brady Urological Institute. Fortunately, Pat will remain on our faculty, and with fewer administrative responsibilities he will devote full time to patient care, surgery and research. The $25 million raised by his appreciative patients helps fuel the continuing fight.
Exciting news of other advances against cancer are detailed below, along with research into such common problems as sinus disease and coffee addiction.
With Veterans' Day as a fresh reminder of all we owe our troops, we’re pleased one of our neurosurgeons used a bold procedure to save the leg of a brave young soldier. The U.S. government also is turning to Johns Hopkins in a partnership for a mammoth new National Institutes of Health Biomedical Research Center on our Bayview campus.
We welcome your suggestions and hope you enjoy reading these reports.
-- Edward D. Miller, M.D., Dean of the Medical Faculty, CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine
-- Ronald R. Peterson, President, Johns Hopkins Health System, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
THE BUSINESS OF MEDICINE
PARTIN SUCCEEDS WALSH AS UROLOGY DIRECTOR
Alan Partin, a prostate cancer expert who developed a way to predict the likelihood of a patient being cured, is the new director of the Department of Urology and the Brady Urological Institute, and urologist in chief of The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He replaces Patrick Walsh, who led the department for three decades.
PATIENTS RAISE $25 MILLION TO FIGHT PROSTATE CANCER
To further Dr. Patrick Walsh’s winning approach to prostate cancer, a group of former patients raises $25 million in just two years with the goal of supporting research.
NIH BEGINS WORK ON $250 MILLION BAYVIEW RESEARCH CENTER
The National Institutes of Health starts construction on a massive Biomedical Research Center on the Bayview campus. It will create nearly 500,000 gross square feet of lab, vivarium and administrative space for 1,000 scientists.
Related story: A QUARTET OF BAYVIEW PROJECTS COMMENCE
$10 MILLION GRANT AIMS AT HALTING SPREAD OF BREAST CANCER CELLS
Hopkins wins grant to bring together national oncology experts to find technologies that halt spread of breast cancer cells to rest of the body. Collaborators include University of Maryland Greenebaum Cancer Center.
ROBERT NEALL TAKES OVER PRIORITY PARTNERS MCO
Former state Senator Robert Neall becomes CEO of Priority Partners, a managed care organization (MCO) that treats 117,000 Medicaid patients and is co- owned by Hopkins and eight community health centers.
HOPKINS RECEIVES $17 MILLION NIH GRANT
The National Institutes of Health asks Hopkins researchers to find new ways to examine the interaction of proteins by developing technologies in genomics, proteomics, mass spectrometry, microarray techniques and computational biology.
MCNIECE BECOMES DIRECTOR OF SINGAPORE RESEARCH DIVISION
Ian McNiece, an expert in stem cell and bone marrow research, will chair Hopkins’ new Division of Biomedical Sciences in Singapore with 12 full-time Johns Hopkins faculty and 150 research professionals.
WILMER EYE INSTITUTE TOPS AGAIN
For the ninth straight year, the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins ranks as the nation’s best ophthalmology program, according to Ophthalmology Times.
RESEARCHERS LEAD HUGE HUNT FOR AUTISM GENES
With a three-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Hopkins scientists are applying new genomic technologies in the largest-ever search for genetic factors in autism.
THREE FROM HOPKINS ELECTED TO INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Thomas Quinn, Diane Griffin, and John Griffin join 62 other new members on this prestigious body. Quinn’s research focus is HIV and AIDS. Diane Griffin studies virus-linked brain disorders. Her husband, John Griffin, directs the neurology department and studies degenerative nervous system diseases.
HOPKINS ALUM SHARES NOBEL PRIZE
Richard Axel, a 1971 graduate of the School of Medicine, becomes the 31st person with Hopkins ties to win a Nobel Prize. He’s the co-discoverer of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system.
SCIENCE REPORT
DARING SURGICAL PROCEDURE SAVES SOLDIER'S LEG
A young solider in Iraq, shot at close range, lost five inches of his sciatic nerve. To save the soldier's leg and restore nerve function, neurosurgeon Allan Belzberg tried a bold approach.
LOW-DOSE RADIATION EVADES CANCER CELLS' PROTECTIVE "RADAR"
Lower doses of radiation elude a damage-detection "radar" in DNA and actually kill more cancer cells than high-dose radiation, a new study finds. Tests in animals should begin soon.
A CUP OF JAVA CAN BE HABIT-FORMING
As little as one standard cup of coffee a day can produce caffeine addiction, according to a Hopkins study that should result in caffeine withdrawal being recognized as a mental disorder.
TWO THIRDS OF ASSISTED LIVING RESIDENTS DIAGNOSED WITH DEMENTIA
A Hopkins study finds a majority of elderly residents in assisted living facilities in central Maryland have dementia, but it often goes undiagnosed and untreated.
STUDY LAYS DOWN GENETIC BASIS FOR SINUS DISEASE
In a three-year analysis of 10,500 genes, researchers find a starting point to establish the genetic basis for sinus disease and nasal polyps, which could lead to the development of targeted gene therapies.
"ENERGY BLOCKER" KILLS BIG TUMORS IN RATS
An apparently nontoxic cellular "energy blocker" eradicates large liver tumors grown in rats, researchers find. This could eventually lead to new treatments for advanced liver cancers.
Using modified magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, researchers find early benefits of a cholesterol-lowering drug, Zocor, within six months of commencing therapy instead of the usual year or two. __________________________________________________________
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