Category Archives: Medical School

Make-A-Wish, the organization known for making dreams come true for children with life-threatening medical conditions, has flown kids around the world, granted them shopping sprees and helped them meet their favorite celebrities.

Last week, the organization fulfilled one girls wish of attending Harvard Medical School.

My wish was inspired by my past medical problems, Gabrielle Samsock told FoxNews.com. When I went to Boston for surgeries, wed pass by Harvard and Id say, Daddy, Im going to go there when Im older.

Gabrielle, a 14-year-old high school freshman, who lives in Factoryville, Penn., was born with Shones syndrome, a rare congenital heart disease in which the valves on the left side of the heart are narrowed, and blood flow in and out of the heart is obstructed.

In March of 99, Gabrielle had a chronic respiratory infection, and her doctor did an X-ray to make sure she didnt have pneumonia, said Gabrielles mother, Melissa Samsock. He said her heart was too swollen for her body, and to make sure nothing was seriously wrong, he sent us to a cardiologist at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). That was when we found out about her condition.

Gabrielle underwent her first surgery as a 1-year-old at CHOP to repair her aorta. She and her parents were referred to an expert at Boston Childrens Hospital where she has had multiple surgeries to balloon her valves and put in three different stents.

Her condition is not fatal, but she still needs a valve transplant surgery, which should ultimately fix her heart, her mother explained.

Gabrielle said all her time spent as a patient in the hospital fueled her desire to be on the other side of the situation as a doctor. Specifically, she hopes to one day become a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon.

I was 8 years old when I decided I wanted to be a doctor, Gabrielle said. My parents laughed and were like, OK. I was little, and little kids always say those things, like I want to be a firefighter, or I want to be a policeman. But when I brought it up to Make-A-Wish, they were like, Wow, this is what you really want to do.

According to Gabrielle, when she told representatives from Make-A-Wish she wanted to attend medical school, Their jaws just dropped. They were so shocked. They said my wish was so unique and personal. I was just very excited to start my life.

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Make-A-Wish fulfills teenager's dream of attending Harvard Medical School

Public release date: 26-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jim Fessenden james.fessenden@umassmed.edu 508-856-2000 University of Massachusetts Medical School

WORCESTER, MA A team of scientists, including faculty at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS), have discovered a gene that influences survival time in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease). The study, published today in Nature Medicine, describes how the loss of activity of a receptor called EphA4 substantially extends the lifespan of people with the disease. When coupled with a UMMS study published last month in Nature identifying a new ALS gene (profilin-1) that also works in conjunction with EphA4, these findings point to a new molecular pathway in neurons that is directly related to ALS susceptibility and severity.

"Taken together, these findings are particularly exciting because they suggest that suppression of EphA4 may be a new way to treat ALS," said Robert Brown, MD, DPhil, a co-author on the study and chair of neurology at UMass Medical School.

ALS is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder affecting the motor neurons in the central nervous system. As motor neurons die, the brain's ability to send signals to the body's muscles is compromised. This leads to loss of voluntary muscle movement, paralysis and eventually respiratory failure. The cause of most cases of ALS is not known. Approximately 10 percent of cases are inherited. Though investigators at UMMS and elsewhere have identified several genes shown to cause inherited or familial ALS, almost 50 percent of these cases have an unknown genetic cause. There are no significant treatments for the disease.

Wim Robberecht, MD, PhD, lead investigator of the Nature Medicine study and a researcher at the University of Leuven in Belgium and the Vesalius Research Center, screened for genes in zebrafish that blunt the adverse effect of the ALS mutant gene SOD1. Through this process, his team identified EphA4 as an ALS modifier. Dr. Robberecht's team went on to show that when this gene is inactivated in mice with ALS, the mice live longer.

Dr. Robberecht then turned to UMass Medical School to confirm that turning off EphA4 in human ALS cells would slow the progression of the disease. Dr. Brown and his team identified two human ALS cases with mutations in the EphA4 gene which, like the zebrafish and the mice, had unusually long survival times. This suggests that blocking EphA4 in patients with ALS may be a potential therapeutic target in the future.

In an exciting, related development, a new ALS gene (profilin-1) identified last month by UMMS scientists works in conjunction with EphA4 in neurons to control outgrowth of motor nerve terminals. In effect, gene variants at both the top and the bottom of the same signaling pathway are shown to effect ALS progression. Together these discoveries highlight a new molecular pathway in neurons that is directly related to ALS susceptibility and severity and suggests that other components of the pathway may be implicated in ALS.

"It is exciting that these two studies identify the same pathway in ALS," said John Landers, PhD, associate professor of neurology and lead author of the PFN1 study. "Hopefully this discovery will accelerate efforts to finding a treatment for ALS."

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Scientists identify new gene that influences survival in ALS

One is bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel, whose just-completed Health Policy and the Affordable Care Act class attracted more than 30,000 students - about 5,000 more than the Penn student body.

Emanuel's class is being outdrawn by Wharton School professor Kevin Werbach's Gamification, which starts Aug. 27 and will apply game-design techniques to business problems. Its 50,000 sign-ups top the Penn offerings so far.

Last month, Penn joined with the California Institute of Technology to invest $3.7 million in Coursera, which now offers 117 free courses from 16 official partners, including Stanford, Duke, and Princeton Universities. The University of California Berkeley and two Indian colleges also offer classes on Coursera but are not yet official partners.

The online courses mimic aspects of a traditional experience by having not only video lectures, but also strict class start and end dates, homework assignments, interactive quizzes, and discussion boards for students.

"Coursera feels like a good partner for us," said Deirdre Woods, interim executive director of Penn's Open Learning Initiative, which is for now primarily devoted to the Coursera project. "Penn is about rigor . . . and [Coursera's] philosophy was very much in line with that."

Of Penn's 16 online courses, two are currently in session and more will start up in the next several months.

The focus on medicine was not deliberate, explained Coursera cofounder and co-CEO Andrew Ng. However, the strength of its medical school makes the dominance of health-related classes "an obvious choice" for Penn, which so far is the only Philadelphia medical school - and one of the few nationwide - to present its classes online.

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Penn amps up role in Coursera online-education effort

Is a forecast of 15,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity a year too sunny for a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility in Austin? Or is it on the money?

State Sen. Kirk Watson has touted those numbers for much of the past year and spotlighted them at a news conference Thursday, releasing a six-page report prepared by Jon Hockenyos, president of an economic analysis and consulting firm in Austin. Hockenyos said his research is the genesis of those numbers, and he came up with them about two years ago.

"We have the opportunity to truly be a contender ... in competition with regions from Houston to Hong Kong," Watson, D-Austin, said at Austin Community College's Eastview campus. He was referring to the biotechnology and life-science industries -- which can include pharmaceutical and medical device firms -- that he expects to spin off from a medical school in Austin.

But economic development experts said having a medical school, teaching hospital and research center is no guarantee that Austin would see that amount of new jobs and economic benefit.

"It depends on the size of the medical school and teaching hospital" and how much public funding they attract for research, said Ross DeVol, chief research officer at the Milken Institute, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that does a variety of economic analyses. "It does take decades to have that type of return on a medical school and teaching hospital."

Joe Cortright, president of Portland, Ore.-based Impresa, which specializes in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters, thinks the public should take the numbers Watson trumpets with a heavy dose of skepticism. Most of the nation's largest cities have a medical school, teaching hospital and research facility, but only nine areas have sparked enough economic growth to become biotechnology/life-science hubs, he said. They are Boston; Los Angeles; New York; Philadelphia; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington/Baltimore.

"These nine areas account for more than three-fifths of all (National Institutes of Health) spending on research and for slightly less than two-thirds of all biotechnology-related patents," a 2002 report he co-wrote says.

"Austin is coming awful late to this dance," he said Thursday.

Hockenyos, who attended the news conference but didn't speak to the crowd, said he acknowledges it could take 15 to 20 years for the economic benefits he estimates to be realized.

But, he added, "I think this is the greatest economic development thing in this community in a long time."

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Austin Experts Weigh in on Medical School Job, Economic Predictions

University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa noted progress on the projects slated to directly impact South Texas including a regional medical school and independent UTB at a UT System meeting Thursday.

The UT System Board of Regents heard the first annual report on the plan Cigarroa presented one year ago. The Rio Grande Valley figures significantly in several components of UT Systems extensive undertaking known as A Framework for Advancing Excellence.

The UT System board also approved an incentive plan for university presidents, including University of Texas at Brownsville President Juliet V. Garcia.

The futures of our children and our grandchildren are at stake, Cigarroa wrote in his letter opening the progress report. How do we make higher education more accessible and affordable to an increasing number of students? How do we produce more doctors, nurses and health professionals and improve the quality of health care in Texas?

Part of the answer, Cigarroa wrote, is a team effort that includes not only UT System campuses, but experts and consultants, too.

Incentive plan

How well UTB transitions into an independent university could be a factor in a potential bonus for President Garcia based on the incentive plan the UT regents approved Wednesday. Administration executive officers also fall under the plan.

In 2011, Garcias salary was $304,179, and within that contract she also received a one-time merit award of $32,272.

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Regents discuss medical school, bonuses for admins

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Five days before they don white coats and officially begin their medical school education, the future doctors in Michigan State Universitys College of Human Medicine put in a day of volunteer work Tuesday.

In Grand Rapids and Lansing, the 200 first-year medical students stocked food pantries, helped with childrens and senior activities, sanitized toys and did outdoor maintenance at community service organizations.

Its a great way to kick off the year because it helps keep the focus on why students are in medical school, even as they begin a period of intense academic study, said student Ricky Rodriguez.

Its good to try to come out here and try to make a difference, said Rodriguez, who was stocking food for the pantry at Salvation Armys Booth Family Services in Grand Rapids. Getting involved in the community is important to a medical school education, said the Miami resident, who is new to West Michigan

I think its a good way to get out there and be part of the Grand Rapids community and see what kinds of volunteer opportunities are out there, said Matthew Thomas, of Bloomfield Hills.

Its a good way to embody what our school represents, added Jeffrey Sweers, of Jenison.

Community service is an integral part of the medical school. Dean Marsha Rappley has said it is critical to know the community and its needs to effectively deliver health care.

While some students stocked the Salvation Army pantry, a group in a nearby room tied slipknots in strings that will be used for balloons in an ArtPrize campaign by the Manessah Project. The organization, part of Wedgewood Christian Services, works to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

The students officially kick off the school year Sunday with the White Coat and Matriculation Ceremony.

Other Grand Rapids agencies served by the student are: Mel Trotter Ministries, Catherines Health Care, Porter Hills Village, Heartland Health Care, American Cancer Society, Clark Retirement, Baxter Community Center and Spectrum Health Care.

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See why future doctors are stocking pantry shelves and tying knots in balloon strings