Heckman elected president of AAOS
James D. Heckman, MD, professor and John J. Hinchey, MD, Chair in the department of orthopaedics, became the new president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) at the organization's 65th annual meeting in March. The AAOS is composed of board-certified orthopaedic
surgeons and has 17,000 members.
An AAOS fellow since 1978, Dr. Heckman's goal as president is to maintain the organization's status as the preeminent educational organization for American orthopaedics.
"Continuing education is the primary task of the AAOS," said Dr. Heckman. "We provide a wide array of continuing medical education opportunities for orthopaedic surgeons which range from standard continuing education courses to publications, journals, textbooks, self-assessment examinations and a broad spectrum of educational tools.
"Also, we have a unique surgical skills laboratory built in conjunction with the Arthroscopy Association of North America which is housed in the AAOS building, near Chicago," Dr. Heckman added.
"Orthopaedists go to this state-of-the-art facility to learn hands-on surgical techniques--whatever is new--using models and cadaveric specimens. It's a superb facility, and the hands-on training is done by orthopaedic surgeons who donate thousands of hours--they make it a unique organization."
From 1987 to 1988 Dr. Heckman served on the AAOS board of directors, and in 1996 he was named second vice president. A member of several academy committees and task forces, he was chairman of the academy's Council on Education from 1990 to1994. His major continuing education activity has been writing for and editing publications.
"This year I want to focus on patient-oriented kinds of things," Dr. Heckman said. "My message is: Let's not get lost in the big issues, like insurance and cost reimbursement. Instead, let's first protect the patient."
Dr. Heckman is a member of numerous medical organizations, including the San Antonio Orthopaedic Society, the Texas Orthopaedic Association, the
Academic Orthopaedic Society, the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, the American Orthopaedic Association, the Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons, the Orthopaedic Research Society, the 20th Century Orthopaedic Association, the Society for Biomaterials and the International Society for Fracture Repair.
He received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. He has made scientific presentations to more than 130
local, regional, national and international meetings.
Dr. Heckman is the third Health Science Center orthopaedist to serve as president of the AAOS. The first was John J. Hinchey, MD, a longtime clinical faculty member, and the second was Charles A. Rockwood, Jr., MD, professor of orthopaedics.
Since 1991 York served as associate vice president of information services and technology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). He was responsible for all institution-
wide computing, voice and data communications at the university and its hospital. Also, he supervised 135 staff, oversaw an operating budget of $15 million and served five campus locations in New Jersey.
Among his numerous accomplishments, York served on a
statewide committee whose suggestions resulted in $100
million for academic equipment to be allocated to all
state-supported universities and colleges in New
Jersey. He directed, defined and led the
implementation of an outpatient electronic medical
record resulting in secured access and shared clinical
information for hospital clinics and the faculty
practices at UMDNJ.
From 1983 to 1990 he was vice provost for computing
and information technologies at the University of
Cincinnati, where he was responsible for 140 staff and
an operating budget of $12 million.
He began his information technology career in 1967 and began his supervisory career in 1975.
York has extensive experience coordinating computer system applications in universities and academic health science centers.
"Effective use of information technology will give the Health Science Center a strategic and competitive advantage for recruiting faculty, teaching students,
conducting research and supporting the community," said John P. Howe, III, MD, Health Science Center president. "The stewardship of information resources provided by the CIO will enable the Health Science Center to better benefit
San Antonio and the South Texas/ Border Region."
York was selected following a nationwide search conducted by a Health Science Center committee chaired by Kenneth L. Kalkwarf, DDS, dean of the Dental School.
He succeeds the late Barbara H. Bowman, PhD, longtime professor and chair who died in 1996. Sally S. Atherton, PhD, professor of cellular & structural biology, served as interim chair during the search and selection process.
Dr. Herman, 44, joined the faculty at Chapel Hill in 1983 and served as a core member of UNC's Lineberger Cancer Research Center and co-director of the cell biology department's Digitized Video
Microscopy Facility. He was preceptor on the Lineberger Cancer Center's training grant.
The Bristol, Conn., native received his PhD in cell
biology and biophysics in 1980 from The University of
Connecticut Health Science Center. He completed a
three-year postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology at
Harvard Medical School before joining UNC. His
undergraduate degree in biology was conferred by
Adelphi University in 1975.
"I hope to enhance the academic mission of the cellular & structural biology department," Dr. Herman said. "It excels in teaching, research and service, and my job is to provide an environment in which all faculty and staff can be as successful as possible in those endeavors."
Dr. Herman brings a vigorous program of research and millions
of dollars of grant funding to the Health Science Center. "Coming
here is exciting because my laboratory team brings areas of research that are complementary
to what is being done here," he
said. "Much of our research
focus is in the areas of aging and cancer, and these are fields of study in which the Health Science
Center has a very strong and respected reputation.
"More specifically, I think we can try to build in two study areas. The first is apoptosis, or ‘programmed' cell death, as it relates to aging and cancer. The second is cellular senescence, the phenomenon in which cells age and stop dividing.
We are interested in understanding the signals that tell cells it is time to stop dividing."
These areas are of particular interest in oncologic research. Cancerous cells either never stop dividing or they do not undergo apoptosis, indicating the regulatory signals governing these pathways
are not present or are not interpreted correctly by the cells,
Dr. Herman noted.
The new chairman is an associate editor of the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry and the Journal of Bioimaging, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biomedical Optics, the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the American Journal of Physiology: Cell Physiology. He serves as a reviewer for at least two dozen other journals.
A holder of the National Institutes of Health's MERIT Award (Method to Extend Research in Time), Dr. Herman is principal investigator of a five-year, $1.18 million study of "Mechanisms of
Cell Death in Liver Cells," and a
four-year, $500,000 study of "Apoptosis and Cervical Cancer."
He also is PI for an NIH-funded
five-year, $937,000 study of
"Mechanisms of Hypoxic/Reperfusion Injury in Endothelial Cells." His term as a MERIT awardee currently extends through 2004.
Dr. Herman has co-authored more than 110 publications in refereed journals and more than 40 book chapters. A member of 21 NIH Study Sections between 1988 and 1995, he was selected to chair the Cell Biology II Study Section from 1995 to 1997.
At UNC he taught courses in medical cell biology, medical histology, graduate cell biology, graduate statistics and regulation of cell growth. He has supervised many undergraduate students, graduate students and
postdoctoral fellows.
As head of the university relations team, Wolf oversees Health Science Center initiatives in development, news, publications, public affairs and alumni relations. She was director of public affairs at the university from 1992 to 1998 and director of community relations and special services from 1989 to 1992.
Prior to moving to Texas, Wolf was appointed to several senior-level positions in Washington, D.C., by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. She also served in the administration of Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller. A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Wolf was twice elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives.
Wolf served as director of public affairs for the American Legislative Exchange Council and public affairs consultant to the U.S. Department of Transportation, all in Washington, D.C., and has represented the
United States at NATO conferences in France, Belgium,
England and Germany.
Now the scientists are focusing on three biological mechanisms that may be responsible for the anti-aging action of DR.
The studies are part of a dynamic research program titled "The Nutritional Probe of the Aging Process." This program project, funded continuously by federal grants since 1979, recently gained a five-year, $6 million infusion of competitive renewal funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA).
"Since its conception, this program project has used rodent models to test the hypothesis that DR extends longevity by enhancing the physiological functions involved in cell protection," said Arlan G. Richardson, PhD, director of the program project. "The objective of this newly funded grant is to use ‘transgenic' animal models to test three specific biological mechanisms that have been proposed to be responsible for the anti-aging action of DR."
Transgenic animals are those whose genes have been adapted to model human diseases.
Dr. Richardson heads the Project One group testing the hypothesis that DR alters aging by reducing the accumulation of DNA damage and mutations. The team, including project co-leader Christi A. Walter, PhD, is studying a "gene knockout" mouse model to shed light on the effects of deleting or inactivating certain genes that protect DNA in cells. The group also plans to develop a transgenic mouse model that shows enhanced DNA repair.
DNA, short for deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic "blueprint"
found in the nucleus of living cells and is critical in their normal function.
The Project Two leader, Roger J.M. McCarter, PhD, is studying transgenic mice that over-express the "GLUT4" glucose transporter protein. These experiments are designed to determine whether reduced plasma glucose (blood sugar) contributes to the increased longevity observed in DR animals.
The Project Three leader, James F. Nelson, PhD, is testing the hypothesis that elevated glucocorticoid levels play a role in the anti-aging action of DR. He and co-leader Brad E. Windle, PhD, are using a gene knockout mouse model to investigate the prevention of the elevated glucocorticoid surge characteristic
of diet restriction.
Glucocorticoids, including the well-known hydrocortisone, are steroid hormones that fight inflammation but also suppress immune function.
The program project also is composed of four cores: the administrative core, led by Dr. Richardson; the animal core, led
by J. Randy Strong, PhD, and co-leader Helen A. Bertrand, PhD; the pathology core, led by Yuji Ikeno, MD, PhD, and co-leader Robert L. Reddick, MD; and the developmental core, led by Z. Dave Sharp, PhD, and co-leader William W. Morgan, PhD.
Dr. Richardson believes the animal and pathology cores are vital to the program project because they will provide essential survival and pathology data showing the differences between the animals allowed to eat at will (termed ad libitum) and those fed DR diets.
The developmental core, meanwhile, will generate new transgenic models to be used in the next generation of DR research.
Dr. Richardson is director of the Health Science Center's Aging Research & Education Center (AREC), professor and Methodist Hospital Foundation Chair in the department of physiology, and career scientist in the Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Center (GRECC) at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System. The program project originally was funded with a grant to Edward J. Masoro, PhD, first AREC director and professor emeritus of physiology.
Project leaders and co-leaders from the physiology department are Dr. McCarter, professor; Dr. Nelson, associate professor; Dr. Ikeno, assistant professor; and Dr. Bertrand, associate professor. From cellular & structural biology, Dr. Walter is associate professor, Dr. Windle is assistant professor and Dr. Morgan
is professor. Dr. Reddick is professor and chairman of pathology and holds the Frank M. Townsend, MD, Chair in Pathology; Dr. Strong
is associate professor of pharmacology; and Dr. Sharp is associate professor and deputy chairman of
molecular medicine.
The hospital's Nursing Multimedia Resource Center (NMRC), which opened in July, was jointly developed by Adem Arslani, RN, and Jeff Moffatt, RN, nursing informatics coordinators at Mercy. The NMRC enables nurses to choose from more than 200 continuing education courses and complete them through the hospital's intranet. Even test results will be immediately accessible online, said Arslani.
"The goal of the center is to improve patient care," said Arslani. "Other benefits come along with that. For example, nurses don't have to travel to another institution to earn continuing education credits nor do they have to pay for the courses taken at the hospital's NMRC."
"We already have 175 nurses registered for the online CE [continuing education] program," stated Moffatt. "For those nurses who don't have computer training, we can provide it. The user-friendly software and browser-based CE offerings require very little learning time."
The resource center also gives nurses access to online
information on diseases, including symptoms and
interventions. The online continuing education
offerings were created by Springhouse Corp.,
publisher of several professional nursing journals
such as Nursing98® and Nursing Management®.
Mercy Regional Medical Center will pay for the ongoing costs of the NMRC, as well as for up to 20 CE contact hours for each staff registered nurse or licensed vocational nurse per year.
"Eventually, we want to set up a center where any nurse in Laredo can come in and use these
services," said Arslani.
York becomes HSC's first chief information officer
A. Jerome York, MBA, a leader in his field with 23
years of experience heading information technology
organizations, became the Health Science Center's
inaugural Vice President and Chief Information Officer
(CIO) effective Sept. 1.
Herman is new chair of cellular &
structural biology
Brian Herman, PhD, professor of cell biology & anatomy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), is the new chairman of the Health Science Center's department of cellular & structural biology.
Wolf named vice president for university relations
Judy Petty Wolf has been named vice president for university relations at the Health Science Center.
Anti-aging study gets $6 million funding from
NIA
Slower aging? Longer life? Years ago, researchers at the Health Science Center made the landmark finding that diet restriction (DR) retards aging in lab animals and extends their life span. By feeding animals 40 percent fewer calories, the average maximum survivals were increased 25 percent to 40 percent.
STBI grant advances technology and
education
A $50,000 grant from the South Texas/Border Region Health Education Initiative has helped bring continuing education offerings to nurses and make technological history at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Laredo.
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