Contents:
James Dye estate bequeaths $1 million to HSC
Strodel is new chair of surgery
Bowman scholars announced
Pathology selects Reddick as chair
School of Nursing opens expansion
Physical therapy names Hartgraves new chair
San Antonio Cancer Institute receives top status
designation
Crosby joins HSC to develop major gifts
Researchers shed new light on causes of stuttering
Dental associations select Boyan, Sandoval as
presidents
Colon cancer patients may have alternatives to
traditional surgery
State and local groups support HSC projects
Monitoring moles could save your life
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Winter 1996 
James Dye estate bequeaths $1 million to HSC
The Health Science Center has received a $1 million
bequest from the estate of James D. Dye of San Antonio to fund the James
D. and Ona I. Dye Endowment. Mr. Dye's will directed that income from
the endowment be "used as the president of the Health Science Center School
directs."
"We are grateful to the Dyes for their wonderful contribution," said John
P. Howe III, MD, Health Science Center president. "Their endowment
will serve as a lasting tribute to honor the memory of our generous friends.
It will provide perpetual annual income, and we are honored by the
confidence shown by Mr. Dye. We are committed to meeting and exceeding
his expectations."
According to W. Frank Elston, vice president for university relations,
"When Mr. and Mrs. Dye came to my office, Mr. Dye told me he was
impressed with what he saw at the Health Science Center. He stated that
through his will, he wanted to help the university."
Mr. Dye referred to himself as a "roughneck" from Oklahoma who
made his money in oil and investments. "I believe it is important to share
your wealth," Mr. Dye said.
He had become friends with Dr. Frank Harrison, university president
from 1972 to 1985, and Mr. Dye created the generous bequest "in recognition
of my friendship with Dr. Harrison."
Winter 1996
Strodel is new chair of surgery
William E. Strodel III, MD, joined the Health Science Center in August as
chairman of the department of surgery. He succeeds J. Bradley Aust, MD,
PhD, Dorn Distinguished Professor of Surgery, who retired as chairman after
30 years and remains on the faculty quarter time.
Dr. Strodel, 48, previously served as professor and head of general surgery
at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. He also held the
W.O. Griffen Endowed Chair and served as associate chairman of the
department of surgery.
A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Dr. Strodel
graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1973. He
completed his internship and residency in surgery at the University of
Michigan Affiliate Hospitals. He is a diplomate of the American Board
of Surgery/Surgical Critical Care and a fellow of the American College
of Surgeons.
In 1979 he joined the University of Michigan general surgery faculty and
served until his 1987 appointment to the University of Kentucky faculty.
Dr. Strodel's accomplishments in surgery encompass education, patient
care and research. Dr. Strodel has received several teaching awards during
his career and recently was listed in Best Doctors in America, Midwest
Region. Author of more than 100 journal articles, he is the co-author of
two books on surgical endoscopy and surgical education as well as
numerous book chapters.
He is known for his innovations in clinical and surgical treatment of
pancreatic cancer as well as research on the biology of pancreatic tumor
growth.
Pancreatic cancer is different from other types of tumors, he explained.
"I've had the opportunity to learn how to manage a disease that was previously
believed to be unmanageable," Dr. Strodel said.
Winter 1996
Bowman scholars announced
Drs. Richard Thielen, pharmacology, and Allison Kitten, biochemistry,
are the first winners of the Barbara H. Bowman Postdoctoral Research
Scholarships.
These awards honor the late Dr. Bowman, longtime chairman
of the Health Science Center's department of cellular & structural biology.
Dr. Thielen, who received his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology
from the University of Indiana School of Medicine, has helped characterize
putative serotonin1A receptor antagonists in rats.
Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter that may be involved in mood and
depression.
Dr. Kitten, who received her PhD in physiology from the Health Science
Center in 1993, is studying bone morphogenetic proteins, an interesting set of
molecules that promote bone formation.
Winter 1996
Pathology selects Reddick as chair
Dr. Robert L. Reddick, veteran faculty member at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, started Oct. 1 as professor and chairman of pathology at
the Health Science Center. He holds the Frank M. Townsend, MD, Chair in
Pathology.
Dr. Reddick was director of anatomic and surgical pathology at the
University of North Carolina Hospitals, director of pathology for transgenic
animal models, and served on numerous hospital committees. He joined the
UNC faculty in 1978 after three years in the Laboratory of Pathology at the
National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. "My area of service concentration
is in surgical pathology," he said, "and my major research interests have been
in atherosclerosis and oncology. As a surgical pathologist, I have wanted to
know as much about these disease processes as possible in order to facilitate
patient care."
At UNC he was director of pathology for medical education development,
medical director of the electron microscopic facility and director of the special
procedures (electron microscopy) laboratory. He was named the Kenneth M.
Brinkhous Distinguished Professor of Pathology in 1989 and in 1993 received
the Black Faculty Staff Award for University Community Service.
Dr. Reddick received his medical degree in 1973 at Chapel Hill, building
upon a Master of Science in experimental pathology in 1971 and a bachelor's
degree in chemistry in 1969.
He was investigator or co-principal investigator on three major long-term
grants in the 1980s and '90s from the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute
(NHLBI) and the Office of Naval Research.
His publications total more than 80. One of the more recent journal articles
focused on prolonging the shelf-life of platelets, which have a usual storage limit
of about seven days after donation. "I'm continuing to collaborate with my
colleagues at Chapel Hill. We're looking at extending the life span of platelets
indefinitely," Dr. Reddick said.
He is complimentary of the team already in place in San Antonio. "This
is a stimulating atmosphere, which is why I came. We will continue the
department's tradition of reliable, timely clinical service while fostering an
atmosphere of scholarship and creativity in academic medicine."
"Dr. Reddick was selected because of his leadership and visionary
goals as related to pathology and the managed health care environment,"
said Dr. Vernon Bishop, chairman of the pathology chairman search committee.
Dr. Reddick has two daughters. Catherine is a senior at Duke University
in the pre-med program and Ramona is studying urban restoration at the
Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga.
Winter 1996
School of Nursing opens expansion
September 5 marked the opening of the School of Nursing's new
44,000-square-foot expansion.
"This expansion will allow us to move our enrollments to 800 students
and above, many of whom will stay in South Texas to pursue their careers,"
said Patty Hawken, PhD, RN, dean of the school, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The expansion includes a new research laboratory which will allow
additional kinds of research, a 150-seat classroom and other small classrooms,
a long-distance learning room, a computer room and a learning laboratory where
students practice nursing skills.
The building also provides ample space for student organization meetings
and group studies.
Participants at the ceremony included state Sen. Jeff Wentworth; state Rep.
Christine Hernandez; Jocelyn Straus, president of the Health Science Center
Development Board; Brig. Gen. Sue Turner, chairman of the School of Nursing
Advisory Council; Dr. Mary Ann Matteson, chronic nursing care; Katherine
Shelby, president of the Nursing Alumni Association; Rudy Gomez, nursing
dean's office; and student Glen Warner.
Dr. Matteson represented the school's faculty on the dais; Gomez
represented its staff and Warner its students.
Winter 1996
Physical therapy names
Hartgraves new chair
Stanley L. Hartgraves, PhD, is the new chairman of the Health Science
Center's physical therapy department.
Dr. Hartgraves was previously coordinator of the physical therapy program
at The University of Texas at El Paso — a program offered in cooperation with
the UT Medical Branch at Galveston. He began his duties in San Antonio on
April 1.
The new PT chairman is a 21-year Air Force veteran who served as chief
of physical therapy at two bases and was chief of the radiation biology branch,
School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks AFB, from 1986 to 1991.
His association with the Health Science Center began in 1988; he
became an assistant professor at UTHSCSA in 1991-92 before leaving to
head the El Paso PT program.
Dr. Hartgraves received some of the Air Force's highest honors — the
Meritorious Service Medal in 1991, the David M. Clark Technology Transfer
Award in 1990 and the Commendation Medal in 1982.
A longtime researcher who has authored or co-authored nearly 60
papers and abstracts, his research has focused on behavioral neuropharmacology,
neurotoxicity and neurochemistry, and includes work to assess treatments for
nerve agent poisoning.
Dr. Hartgraves holds a PhD in physiology and biophysics from the
University of Southern California. His physical therapy training was completed
at the UT Medical Branch, Galveston.
He is the chairman of the education committee of the Texas Physical
Therapy Association and is a member of the association's research foundation.
During his years in El Paso, he was active as a physical therapist in
hospital and home care settings and also directed a major international
conference on border industrial health focusing on injury prevention.
Winter 1996
San Antonio Cancer Institute receives top status designation
The San Antonio Cancer Institute (SACI), a partnership of the Health
Science Center and the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC), has
received a "comprehensive cancer center" designation, the highest
designation given by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The San Antonio
center is one of only 28 in the nation.
Comprehensive centers emphasize a multidisciplinary approach to
cancer research, patient care and community outreach. The designation
for the SACI is the result of years of hard work by both clinicians and
researchers.
This designation substantially increases the national and international
visibility of these centers and significantly improves their ability to recruit
both investigators and cancer patients.
Comprehensive cancer centers are required to include basic science
research centers, mechanisms for translating research into patient care,
clinical trials of new anti-cancer treatments, and cancer prevention and
education programs.
The SACI draws upon decades of basic research conducted at the
Health Science Center, as well as a longtime tradition of clinical trials at
CTRC. For many years, the San Antonio group has been among the few
authorized by NCI to conduct Phase I clinical trials. These are first-time
trials of promising anti-cancer agents in humans.
Winter 1996
Crosby joins HSC to develop major gifts
Michael M. Crosby recently joined the Health Science Center as director
of major gifts. Crosby is responsible for developing major gift support for
the university's capital and endowment needs.
Crosby previously served as Director of Foundation Development,
Endowment Fund and Capital Campaign at Southwest Foundation for
Biomedical Research in San Antonio.
"Mike is a tremendous addition to our fund-raising team," said W.
Frank Elston, vice president for university relations. "He brings valuable
experience from staffing six capital campaigns that received more than
$200 million."
A veteran of more than three decades in institutional advancement,
he served as vice president for external affairs at Gannon University in
Erie, Pa.; vice president for development at St. Ambrose University in
Davenport, Iowa; executive director of development and acting vice
chancellor at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga; and director of
development for Viterbo College in LaCrosse, Wisc.
Crosby also has experience as a consultant-implementor for a number
of colleges, universities and private schools.
A native San Antonian, he received a bachelor's degree in economics
from St. Mary's University in 1962.
He and his wife, Katherine, have four children.
Winter 1996
Researchers shed new light on causes of stuttering
Why do people stutter? Causes ranging from psychological to physical
have been theorized, but none has ever been proven. Researchers in Texas
and California have shed new light on stuttering in a cooperative study
published in the July 11 issue of the international journal Nature.
Using positron emission tomography (PET) to view the brains of
stutterers as they speak and perform a unique set of tasks, neuroscientists
at the Health Science Center and the University of California, Santa Barbara
have for the first time documented what they believe is a faulty wiring system
or systems within the brains of these individuals.
"Our studies show that stuttering may be due to abnormal activations
in neural systems that support speech production and hearing," says lead
author Peter T. Fox, MD, director and professor of the Research Imaging
Center at the Health Science Center.
According to Dr. Fox, about 1 percent of the population stutters to
some extent. "It is known that there are several so-called 'fluency inducing'
procedures that allow stutterers to speak normally," he says. "These
include singing, rhythmic speech, whispering and reading out loud in
concert with others. We used the chorus speech technique to test our
subjects, who ranged from healthy controls to mild and severe stutterers.
We compared non-stutterers with chronic stutterers as they read aloud
individually and in chorus with others.
"What we found," Dr. Fox says, "was that during paragraph reading,
while the stutterers were stuttering, they showed unusually intense cerebral
and cerebellar activity, especially in the right hemisphere of the brain, and
significant deactivations in the auditory system.
"These findings are consistent with theories that stuttering is associated
with unusual hemispheric processing of speech, and an abnormal activation in
neural systems known to be associated with normal speech production. They
also support theories that claim stuttering is associated with abnormal auditory
monitoring of speech by the speaker."
Brain regions activated and deactivated with remarkable consistency
during the tests, according to Dr. Fox. "This consistency is interesting when
considering that stuttering is often characterized as being highly variable.
Such consistency could bode well for development of therapies that might
help a broad spectrum of patients.
"Most of these systems became relatively normal when our stutterers
produced fluent speech during chorus reading. These findings suggest that
treatments that focus on the modification of speech production and self
monitoring may help to overcome this disorder. They also highlight the
neural system activations and deactivations that might be the focus of future
treatments."
Scientists on the project in addition to Dr. Fox included Drs. Roger J.
Ingham and Janis C. Ingham of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences
at the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Drs. Traci B. Hirsch, J.
Hunter Downs, Charles Martin, Paul Jerabek, Thomas Glass and Jack L.
Lancaster of the Research Imaging Center and the radiology department
at the San Antonio Health Science Center.
Winter 1996
Dental associations select Boyan, Sandoval as presidents
Two Health Science Center faculty were leading two of the major dental
associations in the United States in 1996.
Barbara Boyan, PhD, director of the Health Science Center's
Industry-University Cooperative Research Center and professor of
orthopaedics and biochemistry, was president of the American Association
for Dental Research (AADR).
Victor Sandoval, DDS, associate professor of general dentistry, was the
president of the American Association of Dental Schools (AADS).
"What a wonderful statement about the quality of our dental research and
education programs," said John P. Howe III, MD, president of the Health
Science Center.
"San Antonio and South Texas can be very proud that Drs. Boyan and
Sandoval have been selected by their peers to lead such prestigious national
organizations."
Dr. Boyan, a recognized authority on bone mineralization, directs the
university's division of orthopaedic research, which is considered to be
among the top bone and cartilage cell biology laboratory groups in the
orthopaedic and oral health fields. She also has directed research that has
shown how microorganisms contribute to buildup of dental tartar.
Dr. Sandoval has authored numerous scientific papers on chemical
dependency in the health professions. His focus has ranged from
identification and treatment of the chemically dependent dental patient
to alcohol and drug abuse among health professionals themselves. He
has served on the Executive Committee of the Texas Dental Peer
Assistance Program and is an alumnus of Leadership San Antonio.
Winter 1996
Colon cancer patients may have alternatives to traditional surgery
An alternative to traditional colon surgery is being tested in San Antonio
as part of a three-year, multicenter National Cancer Institute study. The Health
Science Center is the only Texas site among the 30 institutions included in the
national trial.
Led by institutional principal investigator Jay S. Stauffer, MD, assistant
professor of surgery at the Health Science Center, surgeons are offering some
patients with cancer of the colon, or large intestine, who need surgical removal
of a portion of their colon, laparoscopic surgery instead of traditional open
surgery.
Colon cancer affects an estimated 155,000 individuals each year and
60,000 of these die from the problem. Men and women suffer equally from
the disease and it is most often diagnosed at about age 60.
Rather than the normal incision in the abdomen, laparoscopic surgery is
performed through small holes in the abdomen with the assistance of a camera
inserted into the abdomen. "The procedure takes about an hour longer than
traditional surgery but patients tend to go home sooner and have faster
recovery," Dr. Stauffer says.
"Half of the patients enrolled in the colon study will undergo traditional
open surgery and half will undergo the laparoscopic surgery," he says.
"We hope to document whether the new technique offers equal survival rates
without recurrence of the cancer, whether it is equally safe and whether there
are any differences in quality of life following the two surgical techniques.
Leading the nationwide study of 1,200 patients is the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minn. Dr. Stauffer already has performed 27 such operations
and anticipates enrolling approximately 50 patients per year in the study.
Dr. Stauffer and other Health Science Center surgeons in the Southwest
Oncology Group will perform the surgeries primarily at University Hospital
and the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital. They hope to expand
this service to other local hospitals in the near future.
Winter 1996
State and local groups support HSC projects
The American Heart Association's Texas Affiliate (AHA) has awarded
more than half a million dollars in grant support this year to Health Science
Center investigators, while the San Antonio Area Foundation (SAAF) has
awarded more than $160,000.
The AHA grants, announced in July, fund research on ways to detect,
treat and prevent heart and blood vessel diseases, which are collectively San
Antonio's number one killer. The SAAF award, the largest amount awarded
to a single institution, is supporting projects ranging from testing the eyes of
South Texans to developing new therapies for children with cancer.
Over the years SAAF has awarded more than $1.3 million to the Health
Science Center for research, equipment and a variety of health-related programs.
Winter 1996
Monitoring moles could save your life
Monitoring your moles could save your life. Eric Kraus, MD, associate
professor of dermatology at the Health Science Center, advises everyone to
perform a skin self-check every three months. That mole on your back you
never noticed before could be more than a blemish, Dr. Kraus says.
Although moles are common in adults, too many could mean you're at
increased risk for malignant melanoma, a fast-spreading cancer. Moles that
itch, bleed, have a poorly defined border or are mixed in color are immediately
suspect, he notes.
Since melanomas often start as mole-like growths, it's important to
remember the ABCD rule: A—Asymmetrical shape, B—Border irregular,
C—Color mixed, D—Diameter bigger than 6 mm (pencil eraser). Moles
should be removed if they appear suspicious or if they itch, bleed or cause
concern to the patient, says Dr. Kraus. All moles removed are examined in
the laboratory for diagnosis.
