School of Medicine physician gains international recognition
A cardiovascular researcher at the University of Colorado Denver’s School of Medicine is part of a team awarded
a $6 million research grant from the Fondation Leducq in France. The
team of recipients was selected out of an international pool and has earned
worldwide
attention in the field of cardiovascular research.
Michael Bristow, MD, PhD, is co-director of the Cardiovascular Institute
at UCD and worked on the team of three American and three European
researchers that won the $6 million grant. Each researcher represented one
of the top
six laboratories in the world in the area of heart failure. Their team
was one of four selected internationally for the Fondation Leducq’s
Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program.
The Fondation Leducq is a Paris-based organization focused on international
collaboration in cardiovascular research. Bristow cites his team of
researchers as “an example of Europeans and Americans working towards
the greater good, looking to discover new causes of heart failure and potentially
new
treatments.”
Bristow’s collaborators are Rodolphe Fischmeister, PhD, Université Paris-Sud,
John Scott, PhD, Oregon Health Sciences University, Marco Conti, MD,
Stanford University, Emilio Hirsch, PhD, University of Torino, and Miles
Houslay,
PhD, University of Glasgow.
The research proposal that won the grant focuses upon therapeutic treatments
involving the nucleotide cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). In heart
cells, cAMP regulates the flow of calcium, the production of proteins, and
the contraction of the cell. Its actions are triggered by hormones and other
signals in the blood. Different signals will prompt different responses by
the cAMP cell.
The researchers found that, in failed hearts, the different signals
are compartmentalized, or moved into specific spatial locations within the
heart cell. Therefore, cAMP in one part of the cell may behave differently
than the same molecule produced in another part of the cell. The researchers
believe that this compartmentalization explains the varied effects of heart
failure treatments which rely upon the modulation of cAMP.
Funding began Oct. 1 and will continue for five years.
UCD doctors
recognized by
Champions in Health Care Awards
 |
| E. David Crawford, MD |
E. David Crawford, MD, a researcher and professor at UCD, was honored
as health care provider of the year by the Denver Business Journal’s
Champions in Health Care Awards.
Two other UCD faculty members were
finalists for the awards, Stuart Kassan, MD, clinical professor of medicine,
as Physician
of the Year and Spero Manson, PhD, professor of psychiatry and head
of the American Indian and Alaska Native Program, as Lifetime Champion.
The Champions in Health Care awards honor those who have made outstanding
contributions to the medical community. Awards were given in seven
categories: lifetime champion, community outreach, innovator, manager, nurse,
physician
and provider. UCD Faculty members were represented in three of these
categories.
Crawford was awarded for his significant accomplishments in the promotion
of early detection of prostate cancer. He has dedicated himself to
raising awareness of the benefits of early detection. By founding the Prostate
Education
Council, which later evolved into Prostate Cancer Awareness Week, he
has been able to realize his goal of making free to low-cost screenings available
to the public.
Prostate cancer is most effectively treated when detected in the early
stages. When Crawford began his work with the program, most cases of
prostate cancer were presented late, thereby diminishing the chance
for successful treatment. Since the program’s inception, presentations
of advanced prostate cancer have dropped by 60 percent.
Crawford serves as chair of the Urologic Oncology Section, and is director
of the Clinical Cancer Unit at UCD.
Book proceeds to benefit Center
for Bioethics and Humanities
A Denver physician and author will donate proceeds from the sale of
his new book about medical dilemmas to the UCD Center for Bioethics
and Humanities.
The book, Doctors on the Edge: Will Your Doctor Break the Rules for
You?, was authored by Fredrick R. Abrams, MD, and already has been
praised by other physicians and those working in the field of bioethics.
“
I never knew a bioethics book could be a real page turner – but this
was. These stories portray the wisdom and compassion of a talented and, at
times, heroic physician, the kind we should all be so lucky to encounter
in our times of illness,” wrote Mark Yarborough, PhD, an associate
professor and director of the bioethics center, in a review of the
book.
“
I am both honored and humbled that Dr. Abrams will donate his profits
from the book to the Center for Bioethics and Humanities. Dr. Abrams has
been a powerful, steadfast, and articulate champion for the field of bioethics,
so it is a true honor for our center to be the recipient of his generosity
and dedication,” Yarborough said.
Abrams, who is now retired from practice, specialized in obstetrics
and gynecology for more than 40 years and served as chair of the ethics
committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
For more information about Abrams’ book, visit http://www.sentientpublications.com/catalog/doctors_edge.php,
and to learn more about the UCD Center for Bioethics and Humanities
visit http://www.uchsc.edu/cbh/
School of Public Health receives gift
A gift of $750,000 has been designated to establish The Colorado Trust
Endowment for the John R. Moran, Jr. Scholarship Fund for the UCD
School of Public Health, when the school is established.
The School of Public Health will be a collaborative partnership between
the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and the University
of Northern Colorado. In the event the School of Public Health is not
established, the fund will be applied toward scholarships for students
in the UCD School
of Medicine.
The gift will provide ongoing scholarship support for students enrolled
in health care services programs beginning in 2008.
The gift to the School of Public Health was part of a total $2 million
gift divided among UCD, Regis University’s School of Public Health,
and to establish a leadership award with The Colorado Trust in recognition
of John R. Moran, Jr., for his long-time leadership of The Colorado
Trust and his devotion to improving the health and well-being of people across
the state. Moran will retire as president and CEO from The Colorado
Trust
in November.
Dr Glen Weiss completes Southwest Oncology
Group Young Investigators Training Course
Glen J. Weiss, MD, chief fellow of hematology/medical oncology at the
University of Colorado Denver was one
of six cancer researchers who recently completed the Southwest Oncology
Group Young
Investigators Training Course.
The course puts the physicians on the
fast track to develop and conduct cancer clinical trials through the
Southwest Oncology Group, one of the largest cancer clinical trials
cooperative groups
in the nation.
Weiss has proposed a study to examine the combination of two oral chemotherapy
drugs for patients with a subtype of advanced non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC) that includes bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) and adenocarcinoma
with BAC features. Weiss plans to evaluate whether a combination of
erlotinib and sorafenib will provide an effective treatment option.
The physicians are selected for the course based on their personal
application, a concept they hope to develop into a Southwest Oncology
Group clinical trial and the recommendation of their medical institution.
During
the course, the doctors receive intensive training in statistical principles,
data collection, analysis, critical decision-making and procedures.
These skills help them propose relevant clinical trials through the
Southwest Oncology
Group that are more likely to be funded by the National Cancer Institute.
The other researcher attending the course were Katherine D. Crew, MD,
MS, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University,
New York, N.Y.; Nestor F. Esnaola, MD, MPH, assistant professor in
the Surgical Oncology Section at Medical University of South Carolina
in Charleston, S.C.;
Norah Lynn Henry, MD, PhD, a hematology/oncology fellow at the University
of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.; John Sarantopoulos,
MD, clinical research fellow in the Advanced Drug Development Program
at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center’s Institute for Drug Development
in San Antonio, Texas; and Andrew J. Stephenson, MD, associate attending
physician and assistant professor at the Glickman Urological Institute
at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.
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