Duke’s Steve Nowicki finds out what songbirds have to say

Published in the Feb. 4, 2013, Raleigh News & Observer and Feb. 4, 2013, Charlotte Observer

By Whitney L.J. Howell

Deep in a North Carolina marsh, a lone swamp sparrow sits on his perch in the middle of the water. He’s singing his usual song. But he’s also aggressively flapping one wing, trying to incite a nearby male into action. Onlookers are watching – just to see what happens.

However, this is no ordinary territorial scuffle. This is bird research. The sparrow on the perch is a robot, and the chief, hip wader-clad onlooker – who is also in control of the robot’s movements – is Steve Nowicki, Ph.D., a biology, psychology, and neurobiology professor at Duke University. He’s testing whether the wing flap will actually prompt a fight.

According to Nowicki, birdsong and signaling have a surprisingly close relationship

Stephen Nowicki, Ph.D., Professor Dean of Undergraduate Education
Jared Lazarus – Duke Photography

with human speech.

“It’s an unexpected and remarkable model for human speech control, development and perception,” he said. “Birds also learn their songs in much the same way humans learn to speak, and that’s an unusual trait. They have to learn their language from their parents.”

His research, though, isn’t about merely studying how birds behave and communicate. He and his team watch signals and behaviors; they run simulations and analyze hormones; they record neurons and assemble protein sets. They’re deciphering how birds promote their survival and reproductive success. In short – they’re studying evolution, past and present.

Why birds?

Nowicki, who is also dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, was almost the bird researcher who wasn’t. As a student at Tufts University in Boston, he was a declared music major. Late in his collegiate career, he discovered a love of biology – particularly the brain and behavior – and raced to complete a major in the subject. He then pursued his graduate degree in neurobiology at Cornell University.

It was there he was first introduced to the siren song of birds. When it comes to communicating, birds have far less to say than humans. But they express themselves in equally complex ways, Nowicki said.

“Humans use complicated signal communication, and we use an array of sounds to create words that have rich meanings,” he said. “When you look at sparrow songs – the number of notes per second and the frequency – it’s just as complicated as human speech. They’re just not saying much.”

All the same, they’re getting their points across.

Songs, signals

In addition to the aggressive response the swamp sparrow’s wing flap provokes, the absence or introduction of song or even a physical attribute can prompt birds to behave differently, Nowicki said.

Birds, like most animals, are territorial and will, in most cases, defend their turf. But how will neighboring birds respond if a battle ensues? Will they come to help or avoid the fight? Will they treat the male differently if he loses to the interloper? Researchers can test this reaction, Nowicki said, by removing a bird from its environment, playing a recording of another male’s song, and, then, reintroducing the bird to see how the others respond.

“It’s interesting to see what happens, because no one wants a floating male in the neighborhood,” he said. “Research has shown that with some birds, peer birds are more wary of the winner, but they might also try to encroach on a loser’s territory.”

A swamp sparrow states his case: According to Duke University biologist Steve Nowicki, birdsong and signaling have a surprisingly close relationship with human speech. PHOTOS BY ROB LACHLAN

And, just as with other species, birds can use their physical attributes to signal to and communicate with each other. For example, a trait, such as a bright red neck and throat commonly seen in the male house finch, can broadcast a bird’s prowess or superior qualities. The red-throated male finch does attract more females, Nowicki said, but it isn’t because of the color. The pigment comes from a carotenoid-rich diet that gives these males a stronger immune system, making them better mates.

Male song sparrows use their song repertoire in much the same way. The more songs they learn and exhibit, the more attractive they are to females. The reason, Nowicki said, is that birds with larger song selections appear to be smarter. They simply learn songs faster.

“Males who sing better have better developed brains, and in theory that makes them better mates,” he said. “We’re still working out why having a better brain for learning song is better for the female, but it’s clear females prefer these males as their mates.”

Impact on human activity

Understanding the role and importance of birdsong and signaling doesn’t shed much light on the evolution of human communication, but knowing what songs and signals mean to birds can directly affect human choices and behavior.

For example, researchers have evidence that stress directly affects a bird’s ability to develop song, which can ultimately impact pair bonding and mating. If scientists study the way birds living in both polluted and pristine environments sing, the data could play a role in accurately evaluating ecosystem health.

This knowledge can also impact wildlife preservation efforts. It isn’t enough to allocate a certain amount of space to a population based only on the number of animals surveyed. There are often other factors at work, Nowicki said. In the case of the small warbler ovenbird, it’s important to know that females won’t be setting in an area with fewer than 10 males. This type of information can significantly alter conservation efforts, he said.

Regardless of how the research of birdsong is used, Nowicki said, his work constantly reminds him of how intertwined birds and music are with our surroundings.

“I keep coming back to birdsong not simply because it’s a good model,” Nowicki said. “When I wake up in the morning and hear birds singing, it’s part of the wonderful aesthetic world we live in, and my job to learn more about it is a privilege.”

To read the story at its Raleigh News & Observer location: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/03/2650134/what-songbirds-have-to-say.html

To read the story at its Charlotte Observer location: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/02/03/3828440/what-songbirds-have-to-say.html

Interventional Radiology and Radiation Oncology: Together Again?

Published on the Dec. 6, 2012, DiagnosticImaging.com website

By Whitney L.J. Howell

Decades ago, radiology and radiation oncology decided to separate, giving rise to two distinct specialties. But times and technologies have changed, and it is, perhaps, time for two branches of radiology to consider a close relationship, said one industry expert.

During this year’s RSNA annual meeting last month in Chicago, William Shipley, MD, a radiation oncology professor at Harvard Medical School and chair of the Massachusetts General Hospital Genitourinary Oncology unit, proposed a partnership between radiation oncology (RO) and interventional radiology (IR).

“With all our new training and new societies, perhaps we’ve gone too far away from each other,” he said. “To survive as a specialty, we must adapt and look at which areas could marry.”

But is such a pairing necessary? According to Shipley, yes. Both RO and IR are facing challenges that they could better weather together. A paradox exists in RO, he said. As the specialty has become for technologically advanced, it has ceded many of its duties to other types of providers. For example, medical oncologists and surgeons frequently conduct patient evaluations, ablation, and brachytherapy procedures. IR faces a similar concern — unless these providers assume clinical responsibility for patients, they will lose ground to physicians who can acquire and learn to use the same imaging equipment.

“There are remarkable parallels between interventional radiology and radiation oncology,” he said. “I believe they’re running on the same track and at the same gauge. It’s time for their train tracks to merge.”

RO and IR would still continue as separate specialties. The goal, he said, would be to create a new certification — image-targeted oncology — for those residents interested in mastering skills in both areas. There’s already a great deal of overlap. RO has already become more imaging based, mirroring IR with its use of 3D, 4D, and stereotactic imaging. In addition, both types of providers use the same technologies, such as needles and ultrasound equipment. And, both still hold to continuing the oral exam.

In order for this merger to work, RO and IR must both bring attributes to the table. According to Shipley, RO would bring model of training that includes cancer biology, staging, chemotherapy strategy, and a process of care that incorporates medical and surgical oncology. Conversely, IR would offer a broad portfolio of therapies, including an ablative therapy that is complementary to radiation therapy.

“Radiation oncology is very good at irradiating the microbes of small-volume disease. And, most ablative technologies handle larger tumors, but they don’t address microscopic disease,” Shipley said. “Imagine how powerful it could be if we put them together.”

The advantages of combining these two branches of radiology would extend beyond offering a new training track to medical students and residents, he said. Patients who need these services would also benefit.

To read the remainder of the article at its original location: http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/conference-reports/rsna2012/content/article/113619/2118473

Influencing policy – Changing the way things are done

Published in the Fall 2012 Carolina Public Health Magazine

By Whitney L.J. Howell

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health faculty members and alumni lead state, national and international programs, making an impact upon health outcomes including disease reduction, food choice improvement and enhancement of services for domestic violence victims.

Leah Devlin, DDS, MPH, Gillings Professor of the Practice in health policy and management, secures economic safety and health for North Carolina’s children through her appointment to the policy group Action for Children. Currently, she tackles smoking and obesity prevention.

As North Carolina’s state health director and public health division director from 2001 to 2009, Devlin accomplished a great deal, including policy changes for public schools. Under her leadership, the health department developed comprehensive school health programs, placed nurses in schools, mandated regular physical activity and required nutritious lunches. During her tenure, mental health and injury prevention services also were introduced.

“You cannot separate health and education from outcomes,” Devlin says. “Children must be healthy to learn. If a person doesn’t graduate from high school, he or she is less able to earn a decent wage and therefore less able to live in healthy environments or purchase healthy foods. The impact of poverty, lack of education and housing issues shapes health policy.”

Although 2009 alumna Kristal Chichlowska, PhD, MPH, concentrates on social indicators driving California’s health disparities, her work is important to North Carolina. As director of the California Tribal Epidemiology Center at the California Rural Indian Health Board (www.crihb.org), she serves 109 American Indian tribes routinely
underrepresented in epidemiologic data.

Physicians often misclassify American Indian and Alaska Native patients’ ethnicities, masking the groups’ childhood and
chronic disease burdens. Without accurate data, health programs cannot secure funding to meet community needs.

“For instance, we found California’s American Indians were misclassified in state health databases up to 60 percent for
some health outcomes,” Chichlowska says. “Now, we advocate for oversampling, pushing the state capital and federal agencies for data improvement.”

Since 2010, the epidemiology center has surveyed these communities about diseases and published data online, she says. This information bolsters CRIHB’s outreach effort to enhance policies.

Sandra Martin, PhD, maternal and child health professor, evaluates the performance of policies and strategies. As a Governor’s Crime Commission member, she and her co-members analyze domestic violence and sexual assault programs and helped develop a standardized, statewide reporting system.

The question, she says, is whether these programs can use the system to provide care.

“We’re surveying all programs about their capacity for using the new system, and we’ll offer necessary training,” she says. “We’re also looking at how well programs address substance abuse. It’s a sensitive topic people often ignore because they’re uncomfortable talking about it.”

Martin’s research revealed four components vital to understanding the efficacy of domestic violence and sexual assault services – the victim’s satisfaction with the services, victim’s progress toward goals, changes to violence victims experienced and changes in victims’ knowledge about services.

Martin also has studied child maltreatment in military families. She found abuse occurs more frequently when one parent –
frequently the father – is deployed. Congress used these findings to increase family support services during deployments.

The School’s dean, Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, is chair of the President’s Cancer Panel, the group charged with monitoring the nation’s cancer effort.

The panel has organized a series of four workshops to develop strategies to accelerate cancer prevention by increasing the proportion of age-eligible individuals who are vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. Noel Brewer, PhD, associate professor of health behavior, co-chaired the second workshop, titled “Achieving widespread vaccine uptake.”

Increasing vaccine access is critical to eliminating avoidable disease, Rimer says.

“A vaccine to prevent cancer is the Holy Grail of cancer control. Yet, only about 30 percent of girls and less than 2 percent of boys have been vaccinated,” Rimer says. “If we identify promising strategies to increase HPV vaccine use, then, indirectly at least, we’d contribute to preventing cancers. That’s why I’m doing this.”

While the advisory panel cannot mandate action, Rimer wants health organizations to help implement proposed policies and recommendations. Cervical Cancer Free NC (www.ccfnc.org), based at the School and led by Brewer, is one such effort, aiming to reduce or eliminate cervical cancer in North Carolina by advocating for vaccination, screening and treatment.

HPV causes more than 560,000 new, worldwide cases of cervical, oropharyngeal and other cancers annually. For Brenda Edwards, PhD, who received her biostatistics degree at the School in 1975, the goal is reducing all cancers – her objective
at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) since the 1990s. Now, she is senior adviser to NCI’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database – a registry from 15 major cities, totaling roughly 28 percent of the U.S. population. The data include patient demographics, primary tumor site and morphology, stage-at-diagnosis, first-treatment course and follow-up.

“These data look beyond clinical trial results for a better picture of how to use and apply outcomes to impact total populations,” Edwards says. “Studies and modeling groups can analyze SEER data to see who gets cancer, mortality rates, data changes over time, risk factors and how to minimize risk.”

The Food and Drug Administration uses the statistics to determine orphan drug status (an orphan drug is developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition). The statistics also help NCI extrapolate the number of new diagnoses annually. Such estimates inform Medicare and Medicaid policy decisions, Edwards says.

For many patients, health care is obtained at rural, critical-access hospitals (CAHs), which often don’t monitor their financial status. To help these vital facilities track expenditures, George Pink, PhD, Humana Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management, and Mark Holmes, PhD, health policy and management assistant professor, developed the Critical Access Hospital Financial Indicators Report, based on data from 300 CAHs.

Using 21 financial ratios, the report identifies hospital financial strengths and weaknesses. Thus, facility and state program
administrators can pinpoint institutions that could benefit from grant funding or consultant guidance, Pink says.

“The hope is that these data will help hospital managers think strategically and strengthen their system to adapt and survive when federal reimbursement rules change,” Holmes says. “It’s something they might not have been able to do prior to getting these reports.”

In 2009, President Obama appointed David B. Richardson, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology at the School, to the White House Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health.

Two years later, Japanese citizen groups and public health researchers called upon Richardson’s expertise in radiation after a national disaster. When a horrific earthquake and tsunami damaged a nuclear energy facility, Richardson advised about the development of policies that would keep the Japanese people safe and about long-term strategies to understand health effects of the disaster.

Richardson’s research investigates occupational and environmental causes of disease, with a particular focus on ionizing
radiation. He has served in various capacities at UNC since 1996 when he began as a postdoctoral researcher.

He has led a number of studies of workers at U.S. Department of Energy facilities focused on occupational health and radiation exposures. Previously, he worked at the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, and at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan.

Barry Popkin, PhD, W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of nutrition, improves global food choices by helping countries establish proper nutrition labeling guidelines. Currently, only The Netherlands has national labeling policies. This dearth of guidance troubled Popkin.

“I had to get involved when I saw the food industry – global and stateside – creating labeling systems to allow enormous amounts of sugary, salty and fatty foods to be labeled as healthy,” Popkin says. “I knew it was essential for a scientist to create an appropriate, science-based system.”

Based on World Health Organization and U.S. standards, these labeling policies reduce added sugars and sodium, lower trans and saturated fats, and increase whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables. Seven additional countries are considering a national labeling policy, Popkin says, to control obesity, diabetes and other diet-related ailments.

To read the article at its original location: http://www.sph.unc.edu/images/stories/news/cph_2012_fall/documents/influencing_policy.pdf

Faculty Forward Survey Finds High Faculty Engagement, Guides Institutions in Developing New Policies

Published in the October 2012 AAMC Reporter

By Whitney L.J. Howell

The majority of faculty at the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals are happy with their jobs, according to the 2011–2012 Faculty Forward Engagement Survey, recently conducted by the AAMC’s Faculty Forward initiative, which helps institutions build capacity for creating effective organizational cultures to attract and retain faculty. But pinning down the issues that are important to faculty and programs that will help them be as effective as possible can be difficult for leadership.

“The goal of the Faculty Forward program is to help AAMC members create and sustain the positive culture that they will need to attract and retain the best talent in academic medicine,” said Shannon Fox, Ph.D., AAMC director of Faculty Forward. “We hope the survey results will guide participating institutions in improving faculty engagement.”

It is critical that institutions help faculty succeed, said Valerie N. Williams, Ph.D., M.P.A., vice provost for academic affairs and faculty development at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. “Without our faculty, who is going to do all the work of the institution?” Williams asked. “Faculty play such a central role in achieving the tripartite mission of teaching, research, and patient care. We need to understand what helps them be as effective and driven as they can be about the work they engage in.”

According to Williams, the survey is an excellent way for institutional leaders to determine what issues are important to faculty. As an ongoing AAMC initiative, Faculty Forward works with medical schools to understand and improve policies, practices, and cultural issues that directly influence faculty engagement and retention. The program also offers a peer discussion forum, allowing leaders from participating institutions to share how they have improved faculty engagement. Two cohorts—one in 2009 and another in 2011—have participated in the program, with a third cohort forming this fall. With results from their engagement survey, several medical schools from the 2009 and 2011 cohorts are launching initiatives to improve faculty engagement on issues such as hiring and retention practices, and leadership communication about things like institutional finances. Regardless of each participating institution’s focus, the goal is the same—an organizational culture that attracts exceptional faculty.

The 2011–2012 survey polled more than 15,000 faculty from 31 departments at 14 medical schools nationwide. Nearly 75 percent of faculty are satisfied overall with their department as a place to work and would choose to work at their medical school again if given the chance to “do it all over.”

Among respondents engaged in clinical practice, 55 percent were very satisfied or satisfied with the ability to provide high-quality care or teamwork between physicians and other clinical staff at their institutions. But those involved in clinical practice were less satisfied with decision making. For example, 47 percent of respondents were satisfied with opportunities for input in management or administrative decisions, and only 39 percent were satisfied with communication they received about the financial status of their practice location.

Respondents indicated the lowest overall satisfaction with communication about medical school governance. Only 42 percent agreed that there is sufficient communication from the dean’s office to faculty, and only half believed the dean’s priorities for the medical school were clear. In addition, faculty recognize that retention is an important issue facing their institutions, with only 45 percent agreeing that their medical school successfully retains high-quality faculty.

Although the findings highlight areas of concern, academic medicine has grappled with similar problems before. Whenever the industry faces a policy shift, such as the Affordable Care Act, the normal routine gets derailed, Williams said. “It’s sort of like renovating your kitchen. You still have to provide a meal for your family every night, with no sink, stove, or lights. Health policy changes can throw everything in an institution into a chaotic state.”

Surprisingly, the survey showed concerns are relatively uniform across all medical schools and teaching hospitals, said Patrick Smith, Ph.D., associate dean for faculty affairs at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. It is reassuring to know that individual institutions are not alone in their struggles to meet faculty needs and expectations, he added. During upheaval, clear communication between administration and faculty is essential, Smith noted.

In addition to identifying communication patterns, administrators can use the survey results to make clinical care responsibilities less stressful and more rewarding, said Leslie Morrison, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. The industry’s recent shift toward team-based patient care likely will alleviate faculty’s perception that they are overloaded with clinical time. “It’s difficult to provide care in a complex setting like an academic medical center,” Morrison said. “We have a great opportunity with all these changes to have transformation that, I think, all institutions will need to stay nimble and be ready to take on new challenges.”

After the 2009 survey, New Mexico looked to the results to increase faculty engagement. The university’s Academic Affairs Advisory Committee created CHAOS— Contract, Hiring, and Other Stuff—an electronic system that streamlined the hiring process. One of the biggest changes, Morrison said, is a new faculty mentoring program. This initiative will benefit new faculty and will keep existing faculty engaged as a condition of promotion.

Mississippi also is putting the survey results to good use, Smith noted. A task force is at work developing three initiatives and reviewing nearly 500 open-ended faculty comments about promotion and tenure, as well as human resources and benefits. “The task force is working to distill down what will be best for the School of Medicine. We’re trying to be sensitive to developing realistic initiatives that we can accomplish in a timely manner.”

At Oklahoma, department chairs identified challenges after the 2009 survey and are evaluating their progress, Williams said. Initially, faculty were most concerned about promotion and tenure and how their roles fit into their departments. She hopes the new survey data will reveal whether faculty have more clarity on these issues.

Administrators will use 2011–2012 data to plan new initiatives, but Williams cautioned that change will not happen overnight. There are no quick fixes, but the survey data should inform strategies that will produce long-term systemic improvements, she said. “If you have the resources to dive into the data, the Faculty Forward survey is rich with information. You can garner a lot of things that aren’t at the surface level—things that contribute to our capacity as medical schools to do the work that is necessary on behalf of our students and to continue to foster engagement and career satisfaction for our faculty.”

To read the story at its original location: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/october2012/308514/facultyforward.html

Former NASA historian says agency’s future lies with unmanned projects

Published in the Sept. 17, 2012 Raleigh News & Observer and Charlotte Observer

By Whitney L.J. Howell

We asked Alex Roland, professor emeritus of history at Duke University, to put the current Mars Curiosity mission in a perspective. Roland is a former NASA historian.

Q: What are the benefits of unmanned space exploration, such as the Mars Curiosity?

One question has driven all current space exploration: Was there ever, or is there now, life on Mars? It’s likely if there were, it’s disappeared, but we might find evidence. That would have enormous implications for the space program and for the human race and condition. It would suggest we’re not unique in the universe.

Such a discovery would increase NASA’s emphasis on getting the country to agree to a manned Mars mission. NASA sees itself as having had a golden age with the Apollo program. Ever since, it has tried to find something else to capture public imagination to justify a large increase in our space activity spending. Curiosity plays an interesting role because if it finds evidence, NASA can increase its manned mission push. But Curiosity is such a capable exploration vehicle, and it’s so much cheaper and less dangerous than a manned mission, that many of us believe we should invest in more Curiosities.

Q: What’s the advantage of unmanned missions?

Whenever you send people to space, the expedition’s purpose changes. To explore Mars, we can send up as many remotely controlled vehicles as necessary. They’re uniquely designed for exploration. A manned mission must get people there and back safely. That trumps all else, and it limits exploration. Humans can only do safe exploration. Their exploration time is limited because they must return to Earth soon. It also limits the equipment sent up because astronauts need a lot of life support. For exploration, we’re better off sending custom-designed, remotely controlled, automated spacecraft. There’s nothing humans can do on Mars that a machine can’t. Sending people increases risk and diverts the mission’s goal.

Q: Are there potential technological gains from the Curiosity mission?

Investing in science and technology, especially research and development,

This panorama image of Curiosity’s lower front and underbelly combines nine images taken by the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager on Sept. 9. Fine-grain Martian dust can be seen adhering to the wheels, which are about 16 inches wide and 20 inches in diameter. The bottom of the rover is about 26 inches above the ground. On the horizon at the right is a portion of Mount Sharp, with dark dunes at its base. The imaging by MAHLI was part of a week-long set of activities for characterizing the movement of the arm in Mars conditions.

always produces spinoff. Second-order consequences and unanticipated technological applications can be useful in other fields. But that comes from any R&D. NASA’s spinoff record isn’t great. It has claimed the dollars it has invested produced more spinoff technology, but that mostly isn’t true. There’s nothing specific NASA does that makes R&D any more productive.

Q: Could this Mars mission be seen as a relaunch of space exploration?

Whenever I hear of manned Mars missions, my first question is, “Why?” What will we do? Will it be like Apollo where we send humans there and bring them home safely, and that’s the end?

NASA maintains manned Mars missions will be part of a permanent space colonization program. That begs the question of why colonize Mars? Sending humans there to take pictures, scoop soil, and return safely will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. An initial colonization mission would cost probably around $1 trillion just to get started.

So, it’s reasonable to ask the purpose and benefit of having people on Mars. A good comparison is the International Space Station. We paid more than $100 billion to put it up there and never found a good use for it. Within a decade, we’ll likely abandon it, let it decay in orbit, and burn up in the atmosphere. If we can’t find a good use for the space station that’s comparatively close and safe – even though we’ve lost two space shuttles and crews going there and back – how do we think we’ll find a good use for humans on Mars?

Q: What continues to drive NASA toward manned exploration? Are we still searching for our place or role in the universe?

That’s exactly it. When NASA sent the first crew to the space station, it stressed this reflected both the agency’s and our country’s place in history. It emphasized this was the beginning of permanent human space habitation. It believed from then on humans would be in space and people would look back and remember America, NASA, and the space program.

But there’s no commitment to fund the space station very far into the future. It’s too expensive to maintain, and it’s not doing anything useful.

NASA will argue strenuously to maintain a space presence. We all love NASA. We love what they do and think they’re good and capable. But the public has a right to ask what we’re getting for our investments, especially when budgets are stressed.

Q: In the last decade, space exploration has shifted from government-funded enterprise to the private sector. Will this continue?

I’ve long been skeptical that private companies without government subsidy can make money flying in space. There isn’t that much money to be made. It’s a big business, but it’s not what most private venture firms are motivated by. Often, it’s idealistic, very wealthy people with lots of money to invest.

They grew up in the space age. They want the same permanent space presence NASA wants, and they’re going to help make it happen. I think we’re seeing evidence they can build launch vehicles and operate them more cheaply than NASA. But do they have a business model for sustainable programs and making money?

None will reveal how much they’ve spent, and without long-term, sustainable business models, venture capital isn’t attracted. It’s unclear how many companies will make money.

NASA’s trying to help them because if companies assume routine activities, like launching satellites or resupplying the space station, then NASA can divert funding to futuristic enterprise, including manned Mars missions. Perhaps NASA has enough business to keep them going for a while, but not enough for long-term profit. One strange peculiarity of modern technology is the satellites we launch now are so big and powerful we don’t need as many of them as we used to.

Q: What can NASA do to reignite or reinvent itself?

What many at NASA only say privately is the public often doesn’t appreciate NASA’s unmanned spacecraft magnificence. It has transformed how we understand the universe and presented research possibilities, but NASA’s believed its public and congressional support and budget depend on manned space exploration.

NASA has believed people don’t care about space science, communication and weather satellites. But these technologies give us today’s world. Manned space flight has been little more than circus or stunt. Astronauts go up, float around, and return without accomplishing much.

Curiosity exemplifies how exciting unmanned space activity is, and how interested the public can be if NASA educates them.

To read the Q&A at its original Raleigh News & Observer location: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/16/2346665/what-will-follow-curiosity.html#dsq-content

To read the Q&A at its original Charlotte Observer location: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/16/3534401/what-will-follow-curiosity.html#storylink=misearch

Public Service A Lifestyle for Knoxville Mayor Rogero

Published in the Summer 2012 Furman University Alumni Magazine

By Whitney L.J Howell

TAKE A LOOK around Furman’s campus and it’s clear there’s no “typical Furman student.” The student body is a mish-mash of ages, interests, ethnicities, accomplishments and goals.

But even among such a diversified group, Madeline Rogero was unique as a senior in 1979.

“I was a bit of an older student. I had one child already, and one was on the way,” she says. “My second child was just about
three weeks old when I graduated.”

That wasn’t the only thing that made Rogero stand out. She had transferred to Furman after a year at Temple University and two years as a political science major at Ohio State. Before her senior year, however, she felt called to help California’s farm aides — which led to a four-year hiatus from higher education, during which she worked with Cesar Chavez to help farm workers improve their living and working conditions.

Today, as mayor of Knoxville — the first woman to serve as mayor of any of Tennessee’s four largest cities (including Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga) — Rogero says those kinds of experiences shaped her view not only of public service, but of what it means to be a contributing member of a community. She jumped head-first into improving Knoxville as soon as she moved there more than 30 years ago.

“I got my start in politics as a county commissioner. I cared about neighborhood issues,” she says. “I ran for mayor because I wanted to continue the work that I had been doing — dealing with blighted properties, strengthening our communities, and actively supporting sustainability issues.”

During the past three decades Rogero has served on numerous boards, including the Knoxville Transportation Authority, Partnership for Neighborhood Improvement, and the Mental Health Association of Knox County. Her efforts have earned her many accolades, including the 2003 Knoxvillian of the Year award.

Rogero has a long history of working to revitalize areas that have fallen into disrepair. After losing a close mayoral race in 2003 to Bill Haslam — now the state’s governor — Rogero joined his administration as community development director. The Office of Neighborhoods, launched under her leadership, was instrumental in completing a $25.6 million program that helped secure tax credits, grants and bonds for businesses in economically depressed parts of the city.

Rogero and her staff also spent countless hours on commercial redevelopment, historic preservation, property redemption, and services that enhanced the community’s economy. She spearheaded a five-county collaboration that garnered a $4.3 million grant to support sustainable community planning.

Even before taking the job with the city, though, Rogero pushed to improve her community. Among other responsibilities, she consulted with Capital One Financial Corporation’s community affairs office and was executive director of Knoxville’s Promise, an organization devoted to giving youths the resources they need to become successful adults.

As mayor, Rogero is focused on redeveloping Knoxville’s south waterfront and working with a local foundation to support 10 city parks, as well as hiking and biking trails.

Although she spent only a year at Furman, she credits her time there with helping her learn to translate her real-world, outside-the-box experiences into effective civic endeavors. She points to classes with professors Jim Guth and Don Aiesi as forums where she came to understand the value of her work with Chavez.

“I remember they would often call on me during political science and constitutional law discussions because I had a lot of real and practical experience to bring to those conversations,” she said. “They knew I had a different point of view.”

From a young age, Rogero says, she felt she would become involved in causes greater than herself.

“The nuns and priests [in her Catholic schools] challenged us to be involved,” she says. “A lot of different things were happening in the ’60s — the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War. That education opened my mind beyond my personal experiences and really
instilled in me a sense of working for the world to be more equitable, inclusive and diverse.”

Rogero also learned firsthand the importance of helping others during her childhood in Florida. At any given time, foster children or other family members lived in her house. Seeing her parents open their lives to those in need taught her to reach out to others whenever she could.

That time with family also nurtured Rogero’s love of nature. Her father, she says, loved to hunt and fish, and they spent a great deal of time at the beach or on the river.

Her affinity for the outdoors has never faded. Rogero and her husband, Gene Monaco, often bike around Knoxville’s greenways or use their flatwater kayaks to paddle down the Tennessee River. Her greatest outdoor adventure, however, is being a beekeeper.

“As a family, we suit up in the gear with the veil and the gloves, and we share the honey the bees make with friends and family,” says Rogero, a mother and grandmother of two and stepmother of three. “It’s a really amazing thing to get into when you realize that
one-third of the things we eat depend on honeybees for pollination. It’s really helped me to learn about and appreciate the ecosystem we live in.”

To read the article online at its original location (p. 33): http://www2.furman.edu/sites/fumag/Documents/FM12%20SUMMER%20low%20res%20spreads.pdf

Genomics: A New Tool for Primary Care

Published in the Summer 2012 Duke University Nursing Magazine

By Whitney L.J. Howell

Nurses lead effort to evaluate, educate, and implement

Sitting in a genetic counseling session at Duke Primary Care’s Pickett Road Clinic, Sharon Graffagnino received news she never thought she’d hear. She was at high risk for diabetes. It was news that caught her completely by surprise.

“It was really shocking for me to get such strong and bad genetic information,” said Graffagnino, 51. “I always thought my numbers would be normal and in the middle.”

Graffagnino was familiar with diabetes and its serious health effects. Her brother weighs 400 pounds and takes insulin four times a day; her sister teeters on the border of full-blown diabetes; and her father battled against it until he passed away. But, as someone who always tried to eat well and exercise, she thought she was protected.

She learned she had a strong genetic risk for developing diabetes when she chose to participate in Effects of Type 2 Diabetes Genetic Risk Information on Health Behaviors and Outcome study through the Duke University School of Nursing. The result: Graffagnino now pays more attention to her food choices.

“I definitely hear the little voice in the back of my head if I’m overdoing it with sweets or starches or not getting enough exercise,” she said. “I’m totally aware and take it seriously. That doesn’t mean I always do really well, but I’m trying.”

This study, which tests whether identifying and relaying genetic risk factors can positively change health behaviors, is part of a larger push within the Duke University Health System (DUHS) toward personalized medicine. This emerging health care model fuses a patient’s genetic and genomic information with family history to provide tailored care. Nursing faculty are leading an interdisciplinary team focused on initiating a paradigm shift in patient care.

Personalized Medicine and Nurses
Nurses have a longstanding reputation as being effective in identifying and managing illness and treatment-related symptoms. Knowledge of genetic factors that put some patients at higher risk for intense symptom experiences is rapidly developing. Nurse researchers are working on studies that help build this knowledge.

“If nurses are aware of genetic markers that make adults or children more or less susceptible to symptom distress, they are
better prepared to make decisions and recommendations that will greatly benefit the patient,” said associate professor Sharron
Docherty, PhD, CPNP-AC/PC, RN. “Understanding individual patients’ genetic risk for key symptomatology, such as cognitive
dysfunction or fatigue, will allow them to more efficiently and accurately assess patients and intervene during treatment.”

It’s also critical to study the use of personalized genetic information to increase knowledge about the impact of whole genome sequencing results on patients and families.

“The role of nurses is to help broker information to the patient and help families understand the difficult concepts that come with this information,” she said. “Nurses today and in the future must be able to understand whole genome sequencing, risk levels, and be able to help families interpret results.”

Researching the impact of Genetic Knowledge
Interest in how personalized medicine can touch clinical care sparked at Duke in 2010 with the creation of the Duke Center for Personalized Medicine. This group, led by genomics clinical director Geoffrey Ginsburg, MD, PhD, fuses resources and expertise from a broad array of players, including the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP), the schools of medicine and nursing, the Sanford School of Public Policy, and the Fuqua School of Business. Through these partnerships, faculty and students are searching for the best ways to bring personalized medicine to all aspects of health care.

The Center for Personalized Medicine (CPM) is also pursuing a policy agenda that will consider reimbursement, legal, and ethical issues related to genomic testing when assessing potential research projects, said assistant professor Allison Vorderstrasse, DNSc, APRN, CNE.

While these multidisciplinary investigations are complex and must be deftly designed, nurses are, in many ways, the keystones in these projects.

“Clinically, nurses tend to take a personalized, holistic approach with patients without even realizing it. They’re all well trained to provide a lot of patient interaction and education,” said Vorderstrasse, who serves on several personalized medicine working groups. “It’s a goal, through CPM’s educational, clinical and research initiatives, to ensure that nurses, as providers, are up-to-date on health
care advances and that they can translate what it all means to patients.”

But there’s not much existing evidence to validate the proposed benefits of the individualized approach to health care. This flimsy body of research is why studies, such as the previously mentioned diabetes study, are critical, said assistant professor Michael Scott, DNP, FNP-BC. This work provides valuable information about how genetic factors can be used clinically.

“With this study, we wanted to explore the value of genetic testing as it pertains to the predisposition to chronic diseases, in this case Type 2 diabetes, and how feasible it is to do this type of testing in a primary care clinic,” said Scott, who provided risk counseling to study participants. “We wanted to see if personal genomic information is likely to benefit patients through motivation of lifestyle behavioral change.”

Scott’s colleagues from the IGSP recruited participants from the Pickett Road Clinic and Pickens Family Medicine who had no reported history of diabetes and had never been genetically tested. Overall, 317 participants completed the full study.

To gather genetic material, researchers scraped the inside of each participant’s cheek with a tongue blade, and a genetic testing company analyzed samples for certain genes associated with a risk for Type 2 diabetes. Investigators also collected information about other factors influencing diabetes risk, such as family history, blood sugar, body mass index, age, and ethnicity. All participants had the opportunity to meet with Scott for risk counseling, and those who were randomly selected for testing received counseling rooted in their individual genetic results.

Based on study results, 26 percent of participants were pre-diabetic with blood sugar levels between 100 and 125; 68 percent were either overweight or obese; and 57 percent had a family history of diabetes. In addition, 92 percent returned for counseling sessions. Preliminary analysis is ongoing, but early results have shown both groups—those who were genetically tested and those who weren’t—made minimal improvement in overall health status, especially with weight loss.

“We’re thinking just the possibility of sitting down with me to talk about risk in the way a clinician doesn’t have time to do may have made an impact. Weight loss in both groups doesn’t mean genetic testing isn’t necessary,” Scott said. “These are just the early results, but whether the participant was genetically tested, it’s clear simple involvement with a health care professional gets people motivated.”

The Center for Personalized Medicine has other ongoing medicine studies, as well. Vorderstrasse, who sits on the center’s leadership team charged with creating criteria that will determine which future studies win funding, is also a co-principal investigator on a pilot study. This study is currently recruiting patients and is led by co-principal investigators Ruth Wolever, PhD, of Duke Integrative Medicine and Alex Cho, MD. It is designed to determine whether genomic risk assessment can be effectively added to standard risk assessments for heart disease. The goal, she said, is to develop risk assessment tools and behavioral support interventions (health
coaching) for implementation in primary care.

Educating Nurses to Play Their Role
Determining the efficacy of discussing genetic results with individual patients could drastically change the health care delivery model, and all providers must be ready to implement such a strategy. This spring, the School of Nursing introduced an interdisciplinary pilot elective class focused on genomic fundamentals and how they apply to personalized medicine.

Having a solid understanding of how genomics can impact patients’ response to treatments and medications could greatly
enhance the quality of care, said assistant professor Jennifer Dungan, PhD, RN.

“If nurses truly understand how genomics impacts health risk at the forefront and know how to evaluate it, they can be much better at approaching these topics with patients,” said Dungan, who co-teaches the course with Sara Katsanis, MS, an associate in research in the Duke IGSP. “Rather than being reactive to patients, they can proactively reach out and determine if this information is important to patients, what it all means, and what to focus on.”

During the first seven weeks of the seven-student class, the curriculum focused on fundamental genomic principles, such as human genetic variation, bioinformatics, ethical and social issues, and the principles of genomic testing. But it’s the second half of the semester where students saw how genomic test results can directly impact health care.

In addition to hearing clinical and research experts discuss these topics, students had the option, but weren’t required, to complete a free, anonymous 23andMe genetic testing panel. After receiving the results, they used skills they mastered during earlier weeks to evaluate their own genetic risk through the Web site of the direct-to-consumer company that analyzed the tests. Students who didn’t submit samples used data from mock patients.

This activity gave students the opportunity to experience what it would be like to learn about genetic risk from the patient’s perspective. They discussed how to convey genetic results and how to put them into proper context. It’s the knowledge of how
and where to find additional information in existing literature, however, that is one of the class’s most valuable lessons.

“I think getting the resources is one of the biggest take aways from the class. It’s having the knowledge of where to turn,” said Ann Miller, an accelerated BSN student in Dungan’s class. “A lot of physicians and nurses don’t know about this stuff. Being the only person or one of a few that know and understand is a huge asset.”

Tailoring health services to the individual patient is the next phase of medical care, she said, and a nursing workforce well-educated in genetics and genomics will be better prepared to advocate for their patients’ needs.

This type of class also introduces nurses and nursing students to more scientific aspects of health care, said Sarah Timberlake, an accelerated BSN student who has a microbiology and biomedical research background. The more exposure nursing students have to genetics and genomics in the classroom, she said, the greater opportunities they will have to influence how this knowledge is integrated into personalizing health care.

Educational efforts aren’t solely focusing on students, however. According to Dungan, the School of Nursing is investigating ways to provide genetics and genomics education for practicing nurses, physical therapists, and other health professionals through short courses, workshops, or continuing education modules. The Center for Personalized Medicine leadership group is also discussing a similar educational model for physicians, including online modules and webinars.

Next Steps in Personalized Medicine

Although much has been done over the past two years, work still remains before personalized medicine can be effectively implemented across the Duke University Health System. In the coming year, Vorderstrasse said, working groups intend to establish an official agenda and priorities. The long-term goal is to develop partnerships both within and outside of Duke.

In addition, there are extensive curricular revisions underway that will thread genetic and genomic information through bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral tracks in nursing, Dungan said. Weaving instruction through all programs would eliminate the need for an elective class and would turn nursing graduates into some of the most knowledgeable and effective providers in their communities, she said.

Nursing faculty and students view these efforts as necessary in order to provide the highest quality care possible, and support for the personalized medicine model continues to grow throughout the health system. But, most importantly, patients are beginning to grasp the importance of having health care providers who understand how genetics and genomics can directly impact individual health outcomes.

“When you look at American culture, having a doctor or nurse who can explain genetic risk is extremely important. We see so many people innocently unaware of the lifestyle choice they’re actually making as they pull up for fast food, for example,” Graffagnino said. “Most people don’t know that their genetics are a big part of how your health will play out over the years. They don’t understand how medically tied in everything is.”

To read the story at its original location, pg. 8: https://nursing.duke.edu/sites/default/files/alumni/magazine/summer_2012_issue.pdf

Tour for Diversity Inspires Minority Students to Pursue Medicine

Published in the June 2012 AAMC Reporter

By Whitney L.J. Howell

At Mississippi’s Jackson State University campus, roughly 160 undergraduate students gathered last February to learn about the ins and outs of medical school—applying, financing, and navigating the curricula. Most important however, they discovered that becoming a doctor is within reach.

The experience was part of a five-day campaign, known as the Tour for Diversity in Medicine (T4D), a bus tour that brings information about academic medicine and clinical practice to students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The tour also includes information for students interested in dentistry.

“We wanted to make sure these events had a personal component to them. We, as physicians and medical students, go to campuses, sit with students, and have conversations about their personal and academic lives,” said Alden Landry, M.D., M.P.H., T4D co-founder. “It’s more personal than a webinar, Web site, or newsletter. We wanted to meet the students where they are comfortable so they could see us as examples in front of them.”

Landry is an emergency medicine instructor and associate director for the office of multicultural affairs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Massachusetts. Along with Kameron Matthews, M.D., J.D., an attending physician at Cermak Health Services of Cook County in Chicago, Landry created the tour to introduce health and medical careers to minority students with the goal of increasing the number of doctors and dentists from groups that are underrepresented in medicine and other health professions.

Academic medicine continues to make progress toward growing a more diverse student body, but programs like T4D still are important, said Norma Poll-Hunter, Ph.D., director for diversity programs and policies at the AAMC.

“It’s critical to take this innovative approach to reach out to underserved communities. Despite concerted efforts from medical schools, associations, and foundations, the overall percentage of racial and ethnic minorities matriculating to M.D.-granting institutions hasn’t changed significantly in the past 10 years,” Poll-Hunter said.

T4D completed its first tour in February, visiting five HBCUs: Jackson State, Tuskegee University in Alabama, South Carolina State University, Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina, and Hampton University in Virginia. All told, the tour reached approximately 500 students and provided information on how to prepare for and take the Medical College Admission Test®, which undergraduate courses to take to strengthen medical school applications, and how to finance medical education.

But the most significant information, according to Matthews, came from the nine mentors she and Landry recruited. The group of practicing physicians representing minority groups traveled with the tour and offered students first-hand experiences from both school and practice.

“They hammered home that there’s a sense of delayed gratification with medical school. It’s a marathon in terms of the steps from application to becoming a physician or dentist,” Matthews said. “You need to look at this as a long-term career and not be swayed so much by what it takes to get through school. The students got the hint that we did it, and they could persevere to do it, too.”

The information students gathered and the skills they learned through T4D undoubtedly will contribute to increasing the number of minority students who enter medicine, said Michael Druitt, who coordinates pre-health programs and a medical science master’s degree program at Hampton University. The mentors offered tips on how students can improve their interview performances and how they can build rapport with practicing health care professionals, he said. These relationships could lead to shadowing experiences that bolster medical school applications.

Bridget Rideau, M.D., Jackson State’s pre-med and pre-nursing coordinator, said the T4D inspired several of her students to begin actively taking the path toward medical school.

“Many of our students latched onto information about the National Health Service Scholarship. I’ve already filled out five recommendation letters to accompany applications,” Rideau said. “This is especially significant for our students coming from lower-income families who are fearful of how to pay for additional education.”

Student feedback from this year’s tour has been overwhelmingly positive, Landry said, and the program has already scheduled a Midwest tour for this fall and another tour across Texas in spring 2013. HBCUs will continue to be a focus, but upcoming tours also will concentrate on Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities, and regions that have few minority physicians and dentists.

To read the story at its original location: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/june2012/285340/diversity.html

Preventing the spread of infectious diseases

Published in the Spring 2012 Carolina Public Health Magazine

By Whitney L.J. Howell

Identifying proper treatments for eradicating infectious diseases is often “the easy part.” The hurdle is to deliver effective prevention protocols to affected populations. UNC public health researchers are overcoming this challenge with some of the world’s most contagious viruses.

Malaria
Malaria causes almost a million deaths per year. Around 30 percent of adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are infected with malaria, according to epidemiology professor Dr. Steve Meshnick. Meshnick has worked closely with UNC geography professor Dr. Michael Emch to map the disease and identify factors responsible for its geographic spread. Read more about Meshnick’s work at www.sph.unc.edu/cph/tropical_disease.

SARS
Airborne viruses are also dangerous. A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded team led by epidemiology professor Dr. Ralph Baric investigates why SARS infection is more lethal among individuals over age 50. Using a mouse model, the team tests how new vaccine platforms induce robust protective immunity in older adults. Furthering their work, Baric and a team from UNC and Vanderbilt University have reconstructed synthetically the bat variant of the SARS coronavirus that caused the SARS epidemic of 2003. “By reconstructing the synthetic bat SARS virus, we have a model that will allow us to design better vaccines and drugs that will treat any strain of this virus that infects humans,” Baric says.

HIV prevention in Africa
Africa’s HIV statistics fueled Dr. Frieda Behets’ interest in reducing mother-to-child transmission of the virus.

 In the Democractic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Behets’ PEPFAR*-funded team trains HIV-positive mothers as lay counselors. The counselors teach pregnant women who have HIV how to use treatments that prevent virus transmission to their infants. It is significant, Behets says, that the number of HIV-positive women contacting the community lay counselors is increasing. Her research shows that pregnant women with HIV are twice as likely overall not to return to clinics, where they could receive antenatal treatment, delivery support and postnatal care. Those who interact with lay counselors are more likely to utilize the clinics. Behets’ team helps train an interdisciplinary group that works in 44 maternities and two treatment centers in Kinshasa, DRC.

Dr. Suzanne Maman also studies whether prenatal and postnatal counseling with the same nurse prevents mother-to-infant transmission or new infections. In a five-year, 1,500-woman study in South Africa, Maman’s team examines how counseling may have affected infant feeding, contraception use and HIV testing.

Dr. Audrey Pettifor studies whether giving South African adolescent girls and their families a monthly cash transfer equivalent to $10 per month, conditional on school attendance, prevents HIV infection. The 2,900- girl randomized controlled trial will follow young women and their parents/guardians over three years to look at the impact of the program on HIV incidence.

“The theory is that keeping girls in school will reduce their risk of HIV infection,” Pettifor says. “There are many ways that schooling may be protective for young women, but providing money to them also may be protective.” Although study results will not be available until 2015, Pettifor says cash transfers seem to be a promising intervention. A study published in The Lancet on Feb. 15, for which she wrote a commentary (http://tinyurl.com/lancet-commentary), found cash transfers reduced HIV risk.

In a two-year, NIH-funded study, Maman’s team implemented microfinance interventions in “camps” in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where 15- to 19-year-old males socialize. By giving 19 men $100 loans each, researchers tested whether professional goals would deflect men from risk-taking behaviors. Although there were too few participants in this pilot study to determine impact upon behaviors, a positive outcome was that the majority of the men have repaid their loans.

Dr. Sharon Weir participates in the USAID-funded MEASURE Evaluation project based in UNC’s Carolina Population Center. She helps establish international guidelines to monitor and evaluate HIV programs for gay men, transgendered individuals, sex workers and intravenous-drug users.

“These groups suffer from stigma and inadequate access to prevention services,” Weir says. “Guidelines give countries and providers tools to track coverage and identify gaps in information, counseling and treatment access.”

HPV
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer death among women in many countries in Africa. HIV-positive women are at a notably higher risk, says Dr. Jennifer S. Smith. Using PEPFAR* funding, her team works in Kenya and South Africa to increase cervical cancer screenings, particularly among HIV-positive and higher-risk women. Smith and Dr. Noel Brewer are leading programs to eradicate cervical cancer in North Carolina and in the U.S., too.

“HIV-positive women with a lower count of CD4 cells (a type of white blood cell) have a higher risk of high-grade cervical lesions that are more likely to lead to cancer,” Smith says. “That’s important when thinking about increasing screening for HIV-positive populations.”

To read the article at its original location: http://www.sph.unc.edu/carolina_public_health_magazine/preventing_the_spread_of_infectious_diseases_22556_13720.html

Breakthrough of the Year

Published in the Spring 2012 Carolina Public Health Magazine

By Whitney L.J. Howell

A UNC-led team has identified a protocol that prevents the transmission of HIV, the AIDS causing virus–a feat once considered an impossible dream.

In a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded study of 2,000 couples, epidemiology professor Dr. Myron Cohen and colleagues found starting antiretroviral therapy in infected partners with relatively healthy immune systems reduced HIV transmission by 96 percent. The one identified transmission likely occurred close to the time of study enrollment.

The findings were lauded as Science magazine’s “Breakthrough of the Year” in December 2011 (http://tinyurl.com/cohen-breakthrough).

“As researchers in labs, we can discover pills to improve individual health, but it’s different to develop a strategy that touches public health,” Cohen says. “This work is an unbelievable example of bench to bedside to public health.”

In April, Cohen’s research won top honor in the Clinical Research Forum’s inaugural Top 10 Clinical Research Achievement Awards. The forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing national leadership in clinical research and is comprised of the nation’s most prestigious academic medical centers and health systems. Read more at http://tinyurl.com/UNC-spotlight.

To read the story at its original location: http://www.sph.unc.edu/carolina_public_health_magazine/breakthrough_of_the_year_22716_13724.html