News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City

News from the School of Nursing

News from School of Medicine and the School of Allied Health

News from the Kansas Cancer Institute

News from the Center on Aging

News from the KU Medical Center Bookstore

News from Community and Volunteer Services

News from University Relations

News from the School of Medicine-Kansas City

There will be a reception for Sterling Williams, MD, who recently joined the School of Medicine as chair of obstetrics and gynecology, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 25 in the Hixon Atrium. He will be joined by his wife, Joice Williams.

The second annual School of Medicine Faculty Recognition and Awards Ceremony will be at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 5 in Battenfeld Auditorium. Deborah Powell, MD, executive dean, and the School of Medicine associate deans will host a reception in Francisco Lounge prior to the ceremony.

The School of Medicine Faculty Holiday Party will begin at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on the Plaza. The social hour will be followed by dinner and dancing. Please RSVP to ext. 5287 or ext. 5274 by Dec. 1.

An innovative effort that has brought the message of AIDS prevention to more than 28,000 Kansas City-area high school students was honored Nov. 13 with a Ribbon of Hope Community Service Award. The award, sponsored by the AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the AIDS Council of Greater Kansas City, honors the program’s contributions to the local fight against AIDS. The Dramatic AIDS Education Project is a collaborative effort by KU Medical Center’s department of preventive medicine and the Coterie Theater. The program includes a dramatic presentation of HIV-positive teens combined with education that dispels the myths of HIV and AIDS. At each high school, one actor and one medical student portray HIV-infected teen-agers. The actors and students visit about 125 schools each year to promote positive attitudes toward persons living with AIDS and encourage young people to abstain from high-risk behaviors that would put them at risk for HIV transmission. The audience does not discover that they are students and actors, or AIDS peer educators, until after the dramatic presentation, during a question and answer session. Other community service honorees recognized for volunteer contributions were: Barkley & Evergreen, Ed Gleason, Gina Levra and Loyed Mitchell. Sandra Schermerhorn, Jackson County counselor, was honored at the dinner with the Marion Kreamer Ribbon of Hope Award for her fund-raising efforts and service as president of the board of the Good Samaritan Project. As part of the event, the Dramatic AIDS Education Project gave a showcase presentation and Judith Billings, featured speaker at the Ribbon of Hope dinner, answered questions from high school newspaper editors during a press conference at KU Medical Center. Billings, former Washington state superintendent of public education, announced she was HIV-positive in 1996. She currently has a private consulting firm, Targeted Alliances. Christine Moranetz, PhD, director of health promotion for preventive medicine, and Jeff Church, Coterie Theater, are co-directors of the Dramatic AIDS Education Project. The projected is funded by American Century Investments, with additional assistance provided by the Heart of America Community AIDS Partnership/DIFFA and the AIDS Service Foundation of Greater Kansas City. The outreach coordinator is Annette Filippi. The project is now in its eighth year.

Curtis Klaassen, PhD, professor of pharmacology and toxicology, presented a plenary lecture at the 10th Brazilian Congress of Toxicology Nov. 2-6 in Salvador, Brazil.

Debra Collins, MS, genetic counselor and assistant clinical professor of medicine, presented "Human Genome Teacher Networking Project" at the Department of Energy Human Genome Program Contractor-Grantee Workshop Nov.10 in Santa Fe, N.M.

The Internet site maintained through the genetics division in the department of medicine, Genetic Conditions/Rare Conditions Information [http://www.kumc.edu/gec/support/groups.html], was one of 11 sites highlighted in "Genomic Medicine: Internet Resources for Medical Genetics," JAMA. Oct. 15, 1997; 278 (15): 1212-1213.

Faculty from gastroenterology and hepatology are the co-authors of two recently published articles. James Gordon, MD, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, and Ervin Eaker, MD, associate professor, are the authors of "Prospective Study of Esophageal Botulinum Toxin Injection in High-Risk Achalasia Patients," American Journal of Gastroenterology. October 1997; 92 (10): 1812-1817. G. Nicholas Verne, MD, University of Florida; Eaker, Richard Davis, PA-C, University of Florida; and Charles Sninsky, MD, University of Florida, are the co-authors of "Colchicine Is an Effective Treatment for Patients With Chronic Constipation: An Open-Label Trial," Digestive Diseases and Sciences. September 1997; 42 (9): 1959-1963.

William Valk, MD, 88, Prairie Village, who became the first chief of the section of urology at KU Medical Center in 1948, died Nov. 15. Valk gave more than 30 years to the Medical Center, and under this leadership, the urology section flourished, producing more than 100 urologists. During the 1950s, he perfected the transurethral proctectomy procedure, which at the time was only in use at three other institutions, including Ann Arbor, where he earned his medical degree and served his surgery and urology residencies. Today, his method of surgery is almost exclusively used. During his tenure at KU, he was a visiting professor at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic and Mount Sinai Medical School. Valk, who earned the rank of major in World War II, was a regional consultant to the Department of Veterans Affairs for Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska and a consultant to the Department of Health Education and Welfare. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy appointed him a regent of the National Library of Medicine. He was the first secretary of the American Board of Urology and president of the American Urological Association. In 1990, he received the AUA’s Ramon Guiteras Award, the highest honor awarded in the field of urology. When Valk, a diplomate of the American Board of Urology, retired from KU Medical Center in 1974, he was named an emeritus professor. That year, his former residents established the William L. Valk Society to fund a professorship in his name at the KU Endowment Association. In May 1997, the KU Medical Alumni Association named him its Honorary Medical Alumnus. A memorial reception will be held at a later date. Contributions to the William L. Valk Urological Chair Fund may be made payable to the KU Endowment Association, G013 Wahl East.

News from the School of Nursing

Karen Wambach, RN, PhD, clinical assistant professor, recently passed the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners’ certification exam. The board is the official certification body for lactation consultants.

News from School of Medicine and the School of Allied Health

Several faculty are the co-authors of "Prospective, Multivariate Evaluation of CLOtest Performance," The American Journal of Gastroenterology. 1997; 92 (8): 1310-1315. The authors are: Allan Weston, MD, associate professor of medicine; Donald Campbell, MD, associate professor of medicine (both in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology); Ruth Hassanein, PhD, professor of biometry; Rachel Cherian, MD, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine; Anita Dixon, MD, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine; and Douglas McGregor, MD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine.

News from the Kansas Cancer Institute

The next Kansas Cancer Institute Research Round Table will be at noon Dec. 9 in Wahl West Auditorium. Leela Krishnan, MD, professor of radiation oncology, will present "Ductal Carcinoma in Situ of the Breast."

Analee "Betsy" Beisecker, PhD, 54, Baldwin City, who served the University of Kansas for 26 years, died Nov. 18. She joined the university as an adjunct professor of sociology for continuing education in 1971 and KU Medical Center as a lecturer in the department of nursing education in 1972. She was later an instructor of sociology of health and medicine at KU and an instructor of allied health sciences, associate professor at the School of Allied Health and assistant scientist in the Center on Aging at KU Medical Center. Since 1988 she had been an adjunct professor of communication studies at KU. She was named an associate scientist at the Center on Aging in 1990. In 1991, she was named associate director for behavioral and social sciences research at the KU Cancer Center, director of education and information transfer for the Alzheimer’s Disease Center, associate professor of preventive medicine and adjunct associate professor of sociology at KU. She also was an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Graduate School. She was known nationally for her research and public education programs on doctor-patient communication and breast cancer awareness, risk factors and detection. She earned her master’s and doctorate in sociology in 1966 and 1986, respectively, from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She received her bachelor’s degree Phi Beta Kappa from KU in 1964. In 1990, she received a KU Medical Center Faculty Research Award, and in 1994 she received the Saks Fifth Avenue Award for Leadership in Breast Cancer Awareness. Memorial services will be held 1 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence. Donations to the Analee Beisecker Fund for Behavioral and Social Science Research in Cancer may be made payable to the KU Endowment Association, G013 Wahl East.

News from the Center on Aging

Randolph Nudo, PhD, associate director of research in the Center on Aging and associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology, was a speaker at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 59th annual assembly Nov. 14 in Atlanta. He presented "How Motor Rehabilitation Alters the Motor Cortex and Potentiates Movement After Brain Damage."

News from the KU Medical Center Bookstore

The Bookstore will be closed for the holidays Nov. 27-29 and will open Dec. 1.

The KU Medical Center Bookstore will conduct a Book Exhibit and Software Demonstration from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 3 in the Stoland Lounge. Product representatives will give demonstrations and answer questions. (The companies represented at the event will give a 10 percent discount on purchases made Dec. 3-5. Software is excluded). All faculty, staff and students are invited.

The KU Medical Center Bookstore will conduct its annual Bookstore Bucks auction at noon

Dec. 3 in the Stoland Lounge. About 75 items, such as radios, telephones, books and Chiefs tickets, will be auctioned. Only Bookstore Bucks may be used at the auction.

The Student Union Corp. has again arranged to have the Dickens Carolers provide entertainment during the lunch hour on Dec. 3. In addition to strolling through the Stoland Lounge and Courtyard Cafe, the carolers will visit and sing for some of the hospital patients.

News from Community and Volunteer Services

The department of community and volunteer services is offering several opportunities to provide community service during the holiday season. 1. Adopt-a-Family: The department will partner with a community agency so members of the KU Medical Center community may adopt families in need. Adoption involves providing gifts of new clothes, toys and household items. Interested departments or areas should decide whether they would like to accommodate a small (up to two), medium (up to four) or large (five or more) family. Please assign a contact person and have that person e-mail afranken or call ext. 5851. 2. Project EAGLE Adopt-a-Child: About 250 children have unmet holiday wishes. This is a good opportunity for a single employee or student to help. Those interested may adopt one child or several. E-mail afranken or call ext. 5851 if you are interested. Wish lists for Project EAGLE children are already available and wish lists for the families should be ready very soon. All gifts must be purchased and wrapped by Dec. 16. (Each department or individual will be given a time to deliver their gifts.) Dec. 19 is the date for gift distribution at the Medical Center.

News from University Relations

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Faculty Report will not be published Dec. 1. The next Faculty Report will be published Dec. 8.

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