Category Archives: Medical School

Critical Diagnostics
James Januzzi, Jr. MD. Associate Professor Harvard Medical School CARDIAC BIOMAKER ST2From:VSUVideoViews:0 0ratingsTime:47:39More inScience Technology

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Critical Diagnostics - Video

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An Austin company is very close to gaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a cancer treatment being used on patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

KXAN News got a unique tour inside the XBiotech lab where is it being produced, packaged and shipped.

Plastic bags lined the wall, filled with a red liquid where proteins were being made with genetically engineered cells that can stop cancerous tumors from growing.

The company behind it, XBiotech, says a medical school in Austin can only help their cause.

"It just gets us more notoriety and it helps get a great drug like ours out," said XBiotech manufacturing director Josh Combs.

Tom Kowalski, president of the Texas Healthcare of Bioscience Institute , says XBiotech is a prime example of the companies and breakthroughs a new medical school will bring to Austin.

"It will bring in top quality researchers on various disease groups from asthma, diabetes, oncology and heart disease," said Kowalski.

The institute aims to recruit and keep life science companies in Texas. It is a $75 billion industry, and there are currently 3,400 across the state. According to Kowalski, there are around 160 life science companies in Austin that provide jobs for about 8,400 people.

The medical school will also provide facilities for the company to conduct clinical trials, which is an important part of bringing a drug to the marketplace. That will provide benefits for Central Texas patients.

"Instead of driving to Houston or driving to Dallas for a clinical trial, at some point in the very near future, we'll be able to have clinical trials here where a patient can go and receive the type of medical treatment," said Kowalski.

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Med school could grow biotech biz

The Technion American Medical School (TEAMS) is now collaborating with top U.S. universities such as Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan, providing excellent opportunities for the transfer of medical knowledge, TEAM-work and collaboration. Ties between the Technion in Haifa and the United States have never been stronger.

Established at the turn of the century, the collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the Technion already has proved fruitful in the fields of cancer, cardiology and tissue-engineering research.

Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins University pioneered the concept of the modern American research university and is renowned as one of the top learning institutions in the world for science and medicine.

The Technion, founded in 1912, is Israels oldest university, and according to the book Start-up Nation, it produces graduates with the skills and education behind the protection of the State of Israel. Nestled on the shores of the Mediterranean, the Technion has built a reputation for being Israels premier institute for science and technology and for producing groundbreaking research across the sciences and medicine. The medical school is home to three Nobel Prize winners and has contributed to countless medical breakthroughs from revolutionary pharmaceuticals to robotic-surgery techniques. Always on the cutting edge of science and highly regarded among the international academic community, the Technion also has solidly established itself as a bridge between Israel and the U.S.

Combining these two heavyweights in the academic world has been a perfect match.

Keeping Their Fingers on the Pulse For Prof. Ofer Binah, who is one of the key researchers participating in the collaboration, working with Johns Hopkins University has enabled a welcome transfer of both universities specialist skills. The Technion is at the forefront of stem cell research, having developed the first human heart tissue in the laboratory, and Johns Hopkins leads the way in the various technologies involved in extraction, monitoring and implantation of stem cells. Together, the two universities are working on a project involving stem cells and repairing cardiac damage following heart attacks.

Both universities are working with the latest Nobel Prize-winning research involving IPS stem cells (adult cells that are reprogrammed and transformed to be used as stem cells). The team at Johns Hopkins induces a heart attack and extracts cells from the animal subject, and the team at the Technion reprograms and develops the cells to be eventually reimplanted into the animal. The process is a long and complicated one, but combining some of the worlds top scientists in the stem cell field has allowed a stem cell dream team to be created.

The strong connection between Johns Hopkins University and the Technion has added benefits for medical students of both schools. Prof. Andrew Levy, having received his medical degree from JHU, now directs the Technion American Medical School program, and Dr. Lior Gepstein, who is a key collaborator on cardiac research with JHU, directs the physiology course for the TEAMS program. The results of the Technion-JHU collaboration directly impact students, enriching their knowledge and allowing them to participate in the research taking place in both countries.

Fourth-year TEAMS student Monty Mazer from Canada took part in the JHU-Technion clinical exchange program. He commented that learning from some of the best clinical teachers in the world and experiencing a new way of clinical problem-solving was an extremely beneficial addition to my already fantastic Technion experience.

For American and Canadian students who come and study in Israel at the Technion American Medical School, experiencing Israeli research and medicine does not come at the expense of their exposure to American research and medicine. The Technion is constantly building on its growing international reputation as one of the leading producers of groundbreaking medical research worldwide.

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Israel-Johns Hopkins Collaboration Making Medical History

From the outset, the civic argument over whether Central Health should raise its tax rate to help fund a medical school had a very familiar ring to it.

The health care district proposed raising its tax rate from 7.89 cents per $100 valuation to 12.89 cents per $100 valuation. That nickel also triggered a memory of the election that established a tax base for Austin Community College. When proposed, the community college ran into a wall of objections. Today, it is difficult to imagine Central Texas without it.

Travis County voters took a huge step forward by giving Central Health the authority it sought to raise its tax rate in order to meet its commitment to a complicated funding scheme that will establish the medical school and a teaching hospital and pay for clinics. The vote was 54.7 percent for and 45 percent against.

It was a big commitment. UT officials estimated the cost of the medical school at $4.1 billion over its first 12 years. UT will cover $300 million, plus an additional $40 million over the first eight years for equipment. Seton Healthcare Family will cover $1.9 billion, mostly for medical education and training, plus $250 million to build a teaching hospital. Seton currently contributes $45 million a year to cover medical education costs.

UT officials asked Central Health to cover $420 million over the 12 years, with the rest coming from state aid, grants and other sources. The Central Health tax increase would round out the federal, state and Seton money going toward the financing of the medical school.

The approval was validation for Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who assumed the role of head cheerleader, chief fund raiser and senior disciplinarian for the effort. He worked hard, and there is no denying that he incurred considerable political risk by championing the project. Now, for good or ill he will forever be tied to the project. A proposal of that magnitude was bound to draw opposition, and opponents hammered on the percentage increase of the tax and questioned at high decibel why the University of Texas, which will operate the medical school, didnt do more financially.

Again, people who have been around awhile could have sworn they were hearing echoes of the arguments over establishing a community college.

In retrospect, establishing an open enrollment institution of higher learning was a no-brainer if youll pardon the expression. When ACC opened its doors to its first students in 1973, it had one campus and shared a governing board with the Austin school district.

Today, Austin Community Colleges service area covers 7,000 square miles that include Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, Caldwell, Blanco, and Gillespie counties, plus a portion of Gonzales County. Leander, Del Valle, Manor, Round Rock, Elgin and Hays County taxpayers have approved taxing themselves in return for that inclusion.

As that brief recount of the history of ACC confirms, education makes for success.

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Med school debate had a familiar ring

LYNCHBURG, Va.

Liberty University broke ground on a medical school building Friday morning, the latest step in an aggressive expansion of the Lynchburg school.

The facility, dubbed the Center for Health and Medical Sciences, will cover about 138,000 square feet and include a medical clinic, resource center and labs.

The Virginia tobacco commission is giving Liberty more than $20-million to help pay for the project. It's one of the largest investments the tobacco commission has ever made in a single project.

"I am confident there will not be a better designed, equipped, or more technologically advanced medical college in the United States than what we're developing right here on this campus," said Ronnie Martin, dean of Liberty's new medical school and a past president of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.

The new medical school is being built on top of Liberty Mountain, east of Route 29 and the Lynchburg Regional Airport.

Construction is expected to be complete in the spring of 2014. The first students in the osteopathic medicine program are expected on campus in the fall of 2014.

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Liberty University breaks ground on medical school

In 1881, a statewide voter referendum decided the location of the University of Texas: Austin for the main campus, Galveston for the medical school.

On Tuesday, 131 years later, the voters of Travis County decided that the main campus should have its own medical school. They approved a property tax increase that will generate $54 million a year in new revenue for health care projects, including $35 million for the Austin school.

For the university, this is a legacy moment, a milestone moment, said UT-Austin President Bill Powers, adding that the school would improve the communitys health, as well as its economy.

The passage of Proposition 1, 55 percent to 45 percent, is also a signature achievement for state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who a little more than a year ago assumed leadership of a campaign for a medical school, a new teaching hospital, expanded indigent care and other initiatives.

Im very proud of the people here, Watson said. Theyre willing to invest in their future, to invest in their families. Its a very gratifying result.

Now comes the challenging work of establishing the sort of medical school UT officials want, with top-flight faculty members and a heavy dose of research, as well as constructing buildings for research, classrooms and a teaching hospital.

Steven Leslie, UTs executive vice president and provost, said efforts would begin immediately to form a steering committee, hire an inaugural dean and recruit faculty members.

It usually takes about three years for a school to gain accreditation, he said. UTs goal is to enroll the first class of about 50 students in 2015, although Leslie said it could be 2016.

Besides accreditation, UT also needs Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approval. Since all of the boards members are appointees of Gov. Rick Perry, that isnt expected to be a problem. Another set of Perry appointees the UT System Board of Regents voted unanimously in May to establish the school, contingent on the community coming up with $35 million a year to help fund it.

Although state medical schools in Texas receive local support in the form of bond money, free land and other assistance, this was the first time creating a school hinged on voter approval of higher taxes. That was the last piece of a funding pie that also includes millions from the UT Systems endowment and the Seton Healthcare Family, the areas largest hospital system.

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Prop. 1 victory presages work to make medical school, teaching hospital a reality