News from the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Office

News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City and Wichita

News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City

News from the School of Nursing

News from the School of Allied Health

News from the Kansas Cancer Institute

News from the Center on Aging

News from the Intercultural Center

News from the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Office

A group of 75 KU faculty, staff and students began work Oct. 27 on the first phase of a strategic plan for the university. Working within broad themes identified by Chancellor Robert Hemenway, Executive Vice Chancellor Donald Hagen, and Provost David Shulenburger, the group will recommend to the university’s leadership ways that KU can prepare for the future. The plan is called Initiative 2001 and builds on earlier initiatives from the Kansas Board of Regents and two earlier university-sponsored discussions, the Government University Industry Round Table and the Pew Higher Education round tables. In a task force titled Act as One University, Deborah Powell, MD, executive dean of the School of Medicine, will co-lead discussions about improving cooperation among KU’s campuses. A task force titled Serve Kansans will be co-led by Joseph Meek, MD, dean of the School of Medicine-Wichita. It will explore development of a philosophy of public service that spans the university. The third task force, Build Premier Learning Communities, will include groups at each of KU’s campuses that will explore enhancements to the educational experiences of students as well as positive interaction among faculty, staff and students. Sam Enna, chair of pharmacology, toxicology and therapeutics, will lead discussions for the Medical Center, and Garold Minns, interim chair of internal medicine at the Wichita campus will lead discussions for the School of Medicine-Wichita. In its charge to the membership, KU’s leaders said the group’s task was to build upon earlier discussions and offer the university community a set of recommendations "for shaping our future." The task forces are expected to complete their work by April 1, 1998, to enable the universitywide dissemination and discussion before the end of the spring semester. The following is a list of the other KU Medical Center and KU School of Medicine-Wichita faculty, staff and student task force members. Act as One University task force: Jan Arbuckle, associate dean for administration at the School of Medicine-Wichita; Jim Bingham, associate vice chancellor for information resources and chief information officer; A.L. Chapman, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of Graduate Studies and Research; Donna Daily, director of the Child Development Unit; Brian Dewhirst, fourth-year medical student; S. Edwards Dismuke, professor and chair of preventive medicine; Jack Fincham, dean of the School of Pharmacy; Shari Sokol, speech-language pathology graduate student; and Cynthia Teel, assistant professor at the School of Nursing. Serve Kansas task force: David Calkins, associate dean of primary care and acting associate dean of medical education at the School of Medicine; Sandra Colyer, executive officer; Norge Jerome, acting associate dean of minority affairs at the School of Medicine; Barbara Langner, associate professor at the School of Nursing; Jane Murray, professor and chair of family medicine; Charisse Sparks, third-year medical student; and Lorene Valentine, director of rural health education and services. Build Premier Learning Communities KU Medical Center task force: In addition to Enna as chair of the KU Medical Center committee, other members are Robert Ardinger Jr., associate professor of pediatrics; Guilia Bonaminio, director of the medical education support unit; Gerald Call, doctoral student in physiology; Helen Connors; associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Nursing; Linda Davies, director of academic support; Winnie Dunn, professor and chair of occupational therapy education; Cheryl Pace, assistant director of information services; and Lori Lynn Winfrey, senior nursing student. Build Premier Learning Communities Wichita task force: In addition to Minns as chair of the Wichita campus committee, other members are: Doug Woolley, associate professor of family and community medicine; Katherine Melhorn, clinical associate professor of pediatrics; Carol Trissell, director of academic and student affairs; and Joshua Carey, third-year medical student.

The next CenterNet Conference will be from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Nov. 12 in 1025 Orr-Major. Lynette Nieman, MD, clinical director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will present "Cushing’s Syndrome." Neal Young, MD, chief of the hematology branch at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, will discuss "Pathophysiology and Treatment of Acquired Aplastic Anemia."

News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City and Wichita

Several School of Medicine faculty gave presentations at the Association of American Medical Colleges annual meeting Oct. 31-Nov 5 in Washington. Deborah Powell, MD, dean of the School of Medicine, discussed "Show Me the Reason" and was on a panel. Herbert Swick, MD, senior associate dean for academic affairs, presented "Impassioned and Imprisoned" in conjunction with a performance by the Guild Trio. Allen Rawitch, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, presented "Basic Science Education Forum." David Calkins, MD, associate dean of primary care and acting associate dean of medical education; Giulia Bonaminio, PhD, director of the medical education support unit; Robert Haskins, MD, medical education director of the Southeast Kansas Regional Network Site, Pittsburg; Richard Ohmart, MD, medical education director of the Northwest Kansas Regional Network Site, Hays; and Ann Polich, MD, medical education director of the Southwest Kansas Regional Network Site, Garden City, presented "Developing Partnerships Through an Education-Based Network of Primary Care Providers – The Kansas Experience." Nancy Davis, MHS, director of postgraduate education, presented "Summer Research Education Program." Calkins, Rawitch and Bonaminio presented "AAMC Medical School Objectives." Michael Lawson, MD, assistant professor of medicine, and Bruce Johnson, MD, professor of medicine, presented "General Medicine and Family Medicine: Can We Work Together to Develop Curriculum?" Anne Walling, MD, professor of family medicine and associate director for education in the office of primary care, Rick Kellerman, MD, professor and chair of family and community medicine; and Pam Shaw, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, presented "Creating a Statewide Mechanism for Collaboration Among Primary Care Residency Programs."

News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City

From Nov. 10-13, the Association of American Medical Colleges liaison committee on medical education will make a site visit to the School of Medicine.

Deborah Powell, MD, executive dean, attended the kick-off meeting of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Health Improvement Nov. 6 in Topeka.

Charles DeCarli, MD, associate professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center, received a one-year, $173,297 bridging grant from the National Institute on Aging. The money will be used to continue programs within the center and to help the center apply for a much larger renewal of the Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center grant that expired last year. In 1991, KU Medical Center received a five-year, $2.8 million grant to create the Alzheimer’s Disease Center. DeCarli was recruited to KU Medical Center last year to continue the work of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center and apply for the core grant renewal. The center operates a large brain bank of people who have died of dementia-related illnesses, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Through the brain bank, the center has studied more than 200 Parkinson’s disease patients for more than five years, making it the largest longitudinal study of Parkinson’s disease brains and among the largest well-characterized Parkinson’s disease brain banks.

Donald Goodwin, MD, professor of psychiatry, presented "Breast Feeding and Alcoholism" at the annual convention of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatry Oct. 24 in Washington. On Nov. 14 he presented a paper on alcoholism and depression at the annual meeting of the Iowa State Medical Society.

Stanley Edlavitch, PhD, professor of preventive medicine, was recently appointed to the strategic advisory committee of the Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine (IPCM), Slovakia. The IPCM mostly corresponds with the National Institutes of Health. Other members of the IPCM include representatives from the EPA, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Iowa and academic institutions in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. The first meeting was Sept. 29 in Brataslavia. While in Slovakia, Edlavitch presented "The Role of Pharmacoepidemiology in Assessing Compliance and Drug Safety" for Comenius University medicine faculty. Edlavitch, founder and director of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), also served as chair for the organization’s 13th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology Aug. 24-27 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Edlavitch, who stepped down as executive director Oct. 29, was honored during a special luncheon. The ISPE offices, formerly housed in the department of preventive medicine, will move to Washington.

Debra Collins, MS, genetic counselor and assistant clinical professor of medicine, and Lenna Levitch, MD, genetic counselor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, gave presentations at the recent meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in Baltimore. Collins gave a platform presentation, "Medical Genetics Information on the Internet: Three Years’ Experience," Oct. 31. Levitch presented "Monozygotic Twins With Chromosome 22q11 Deletion and Concordant Heart Defects" Nov. 1. Her co-authors include Dawn Zimmer, MD, obstetrics and gynecology; Holly Ardinger, MD, pediatrics; and Diane Persons, MD, pathology and laboratory medicine. Collins also presented a workshop, "Introduction to Proposal Writing," at the National Society of Genetic Counselors Oct. 27 meeting in Baltimore, and she presented "Genetic Resources on the Internet" to 180 Maryland high school students and teachers at an Oct. 28 Human Genome Project workshop.

News from the School of Nursing

Sharee Wiggins, BSN, MSN, ARNP, clinical assistant professor and family and geriatric nurse practitioner, received the Plaza Rotary Club Vocational Service Award Oct. 31. The award is one of three presented annually to individuals in the Greater Kansas City community who have distinguished themselves in public service. She operates a geriatric practice at Lakeview Village in Lenexa with Rosemary Laird, MD, assistant professor of medicine and a geriatrician with the Center on Aging.

Virginia Cassmeyer, RN, PhD, ARNP, associate professor at the KU School of Nursing, died
Oct. 29. She was born in Jefferson City, Mo. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1971 from the University of Missouri, Columbia; master’s degree in nursing in 1974 from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; and doctorate in physiology in 1988 from KU. She authored a number of journal articles and made several contributions to nursing textbooks. She was the second editor of Medical Surgical Nursing Concepts and Clinical Practice, Phipps-Cassmeyer-Sands and Lehman, 1995. She was a member of the Kansas State Nurses Association, Delta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, American Diabetes Association, Kansas League of Nursing, National League for Nursing, American Nurses Association and the Alumni Association of the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. Memorial gifts for the School of Nursing scholarship program in honor of Cassmeyer may be sent to the KU Endowment Association, G013 Wahl East.

Several School of Nursing faculty and students gave presentations at the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 National Conference on Nursing Administration Research in Kansas City, Mo. For a session focusing on improving care in the nursing home setting, Roma Lee Taunton, RN, PhD, professor and interim associate dean for grants and research, presented "Planning and Delivering Continence Care in Nursing Homes." The co-authors are: Daniel Swaggerty Jr., MD, MPH, assistant professor of family medicine; Bob Lee, associate professor of health services administration; and Barbara Smith, doctoral student. Taunton also presented "Evaluating Shared Governance: Conceptual Model" as part of a symposium on "St. Luke's Hospital Longitudinal Evaluation of Shared Governance for Nurses." As part of the same symposium, Marjorie Bott, doctoral student, presented "Shared Governance: Nurse Managers; Perceptions of Role Changes." Nancy Hoffart, RN, PhD, associate professor, discussed "Teaching Doctoral-Level Qualitative Research Using Nursing Innovation Project" in a session devoted to innovations in education and computer use. Ann Cobb, RN, PhD, professor, is a co-author of the article. Carol Smith, RN, PhD, professor, served on the panel for "Explorations in Distance Technology and Graduate Education in Nursing Administration Education." Karen L. Miller, RN, PhD, dean, served on a panel that was a take off of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. For a session on a study of managing children’s pain, Miller also gave the opening presentation, "Determining Organizational Context Differences Among Patient Care Units." As part of a session on nursing roles in caring for the elderly, Wanda Bonnel, RN, PhD, assistant professor, presented "Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Discharge Planning Communication in an Intensely Managed Care Environment." The co-authors include Diane Hill, RN, EdD, assistant professor; June Belt, MSN, ARNP, formerly with KU; and Sharree Wiggins, BSN, MSN, ARNP, clinical assistant professor. Katherine Bradley, RN, MN, doctoral student, (working with Taunton) presented "Development of an Instrument: Measuring Home Health Nurses’ Job Characteristics, Satisfaction and Intent to Remain in the Job" in a session on measuring nurse characteristics and perceptions. Several School of Nursing representatives also gave poster presentations at the conference. Diane Boyle, RN, PhD, assistant professor, presented "Enhancing Nurse-Physician Leadership and Collaboration in ICUs." Barbara Smith collaborated on the presentation. Hoffart presented "Measuring Staff, Patient and Organizational Outcomes of a Differentiated Nursing Practice Model." Katherine Bradley, doctoral student; Ruth Heaton, RN, MS, director of nursing resources at KU Hospital; and M. Suzanne Shaffer, RN, director of nursing practice at KU Hospital, collaborated on the presentation. Susan Kleinbeck, RN, PhD, project director in the School of Nursing, and Carol Smith presented "Cost Benefit Analysis Managing Home Ventilator Care." Betty Smith-Campbell, RN, MN, assistant dean for practice and community affairs, presented "Access Influence of a State-Funded Policy on the Health System in One Community." Bott worked with Taunton on the poster presentation "Using an Influence Diagram to Determine Nursing Home Admission for the Frail Elderly." For the graduate student poster session, School of Nursing doctoral students Cindy Hornberger, Barbara Smith, Wilaiporn Roijanasrirat, Carolyn Graff, Vicki Ross, Katherine Bradley, Joyce Neal, Karin Roberts, Marian Jamison, Nan Smith-Blair, Twila Brown, Kathy Thornton, Virginia Morse and Carol Gaskamp presented "Implementation of the Care Coordinator Role: A View Through the Window."

News from the School of Allied Health

At the Oct. 17-23 meeting of the American Health Information Management Association in Phoenix, Sandy Johnston, RRA, teaching associate of health information management, gave a presentation on "Alternative Careers for the Health Information Manager" to the behavioral health section. She is director of the section.

Karen Nau, PhD, PT, assistant professor of physical therapy education, presented "Fit for Function: Exercise Training for the Elderly" at the annual meeting of the Central States Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Oct. 30 and 31 in Kansas City, Mo.

News from the Kansas Cancer Institute

The Kansas Cancer Institute will host two upcoming Research Round Table sessions. The first will be at noon Nov. 17 in the Wahl East Auditorium. Ronald Weinstein, MD, professor and head of pathology at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson, will discuss "Methods to Detect P-Glycoprotein-Associated Multidrug Resistance in Patients’ Tumors." This round table is co-sponsored by the Kansas Cancer Institute and the department of pathology and laboratory medicine. The second will be at noon Nov. 18 in Lied Auditorium. Leela Krishnan, MD, professor of radiation oncology, will present "Ductal Carcinoma In Situ of the Breast."

News from the Center on Aging

The Center on Aging is the sponsor of the fourth annual Heartland Long-Term Care Symposium, "Improving the Quality of Care in the Nursing Facility." The conference will be from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 14 in Battenfeld Auditorium. Call continuing education, ext. 4488, for more information.

News from the Intercultural Center

The history, heritage and culture of India will be the focus of the Nov. 12 Intercultural Film Series, "India: The Marg Series" (produced in India). The films, 25 minutes long, will be followed by open discussions led by a panel of four facilitators from KU Medical Center. The panel members will be: Rebekah Mani, MS, RD, LD, dietitian specialist; Engikolai Krishnan, MD, research assistant professor of surgery; Leela Krishnan, MD, professor of radiation oncology; and George Varghese, MD, professor of rehabilitation medicine. Pizza and soft drinks will be served at 4 p.m., and the film will start at 5 p.m. in the Clendening Amphitheater. For more information, contact Alisa Lange, diversity coordinator, ext. 5148 or alange@kumc.edu.

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