Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D., Ph.D.

A recently discovered enzyme with big implications in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders has led to the largest acquisition of venture capital funds obtained to date by UNeMed Corporation and UNMC.

NuMedix Health Group, a venture capital firm in Sydney, Australia, has invested about $2 million in the research of Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D., Ph.D., a professor in the department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience at UNMC.

The money will help further Dr. Ikezu’s work to find a compound to block the newly-discovered enzyme’s function and subsequently prevent the damaging effects of the enzyme’s overactivity — which contributes to the onset of dementia.

“The University of Nebraska Medical Center has an international reputation in producing quality research and Dr. Ikezu has done an impressive amount of research in this particular area,” said Michael Issakidis, NuMedix managing director. “We hope that by our investments, we can assist hundreds of thousands of individuals and their families in achieving a better quality of life.”

UNeMed first filed a patent application on this enzyme when Dr. Ikezu discovered it in 2002 and just received word that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office expects the patent to issue later this summer.

“The reward of UNeMed and Dr. Ikezu’s diligence over the past six years is paying large dividends,” said Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president of UNeMed. “Everything has come together nicely and we are pleased to be able to attract additional research money to this valuable research as well as establish a partner to help translate the results of this research into the clinic.”

Enzyme does damage in mouse models

Dr. Ikezu’s lab developed a transgenic mouse model to show that the enzyme — known as tau-tubulin kinase1 (TTBK1) — induces memory impairment.

The study in the mouse model was published in the December Journal of Neuroscience and revealed that TTBK1 is a potential therapeutic target for neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

“We are all excited about the publication and funding for initiating the drug screening program to regulate this enzyme activity in brain,” Dr. Ikezu said.

Company takes notice of Dr. Ikezu’s work

Nearly a year ago, UNeMed was approached by Neumedix in regards to Dr. Ikezu’s work. Due to the complex nature of the project, negotiations and plans took nearly several months to complete and work began April 1.

The research will take place over the next four years at which time, it is anticipated that it will be ready for clinical trials.

Dr. Ikezu is optimistic a compound can be identified through the drug discovery endeavor.

“I really appreciate all the lab members contributing to this project, support from department of pharmacology and experimental neuroscience, and UNeMed for identifying the sponsorship,” Dr. Ikezu said. 

      Date Published: Friday, May 29, 2009 ]]> http://blog.unmc.edu/ihs/?feed=rss2&p=153 0 http://blog.unmc.edu/ihs/?p=159 http://blog.unmc.edu/ihs/?p=159#comments Wed, 27 May 2009 13:44:59 +0000 oihs http://blog.unmc.edu/ihs/?p=159

by Tom O’Connor, UNMC public relations

James Campbell, M.D.

 A leader in the development of a compatible worldwide system for electronic health records, UNMC’s James Campbell, M.D., has earned a prestigious international award for his pioneering work.

Dr. Campbell, who has devoted nearly 30 years to development of an electronic health record system, received the first-ever Award for Excellence from the International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO), a non-profit association in Denmark.

IHTSDO evolved from a project that originated in the United States known as SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine–Clinical Terms). For years, Dr. Campbell was a proponent for the use of SNOMED CT in clinical settings primarily in the United States but also around the world.

More about Dr. Campbell

Hometown: Geneva, N.Y.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in physics, University of Rochester, (N.Y.); medical degree, UNMC, 1976

Training: Internal medicine residency and fellowship, UNMC

Faculty positions: Internal medicine instructor, 1980-1981; assistant professor, 1981-1990; associate professor, 1990-2000; professor, 2000-present.

Other positions: Medical director for clinical information systems development for UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, 1998-present.
 

“There have been many barriers to making electronic health records a reality,” Dr. Campbell said. “With the free enterprise system, there are lots of different vendors who have the expertise. We needed to develop an infrastructure, and that’s where SNOMED CT comes in. It allowed us to standardize the various components of the medical record.”

 President Barack Obama has made electronic health records a priority in his administration, Dr. Campbell said.

“This is a critical element under President Obama’s economic stimulus package,” he said. “He has created incentives to encourage health care providers to get this done in the next two to three years. This has created a sense of urgency among providers.”

Dr. Campbell received the award at a gala conference dinner in Helsingor, Denmark, on March 31-April 1.

SNOMED CT has become an international operation, including foreign countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Lithuania and Sweden.

 The Award of Excellence is given for outstanding contributions to the improvement of SNOMED CT and/or its successful implementation in any aspect of health and social care. IHTSDO officials said Dr. Campbell was recognized for volunteering hundreds of hours of his time to participate in weekly conference calls, provide support for document development, and schedule global face-to-face meetings.

“Since his innovative introduction of the electronic medical record at UNMC in the early 1980s, Jim has positioned UNMC to be a true leader in this area at both the national and international level.”

Lynell Klassen, M.D. 

In addition to his international work in standardizing electronic health records, Dr. Campbell also has been active in the electronic health information initiative in Nebraska. His work has earned the attention of his UNMC peers.

“Dr. Campbell has been a pioneer in the development and use of the electronic medical record,” said Lynell Klassen, M.D., professor and chairman of the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine. “Since his innovative introduction of the electronic medical record at UNMC in the early 1980s, Jim has positioned UNMC to be a true leader in this area at both the national and international level. His activities benefit our patients, our providers and the entire state on a daily basis.”

Date Published: Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Dr. Pierre Fayad

 
Pierre Fayad, M.D., Reynolds Centennial Professor and chairman in the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences, has been named the American Heart Association Physician of the Year.

Dr. Fayad — who also is director of the stroke center at UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center — received the award during a ceremony in Washington on Monday.

The award is conferred annually upon the practicing physician who has rendered “outstanding contributions” toward accomplishing the American Heart Association mission. Dr. Fayad was honored for being a pioneer and leader in numerous initiatives to improve the health of his community, especially in the area of stroke.

“This is a wonderful honor for one of our truly outstanding physicians,” said John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the College of Medicine. “Dr. Fayad’s work in the field of stroke certainly merits this national recognition.

“This is excellent news for Dr. Fayad, the College of Medicine and UNMC as a whole.”

As stroke center director, Dr. Fayad established and now leads a stand-alone outpatient neurological clinic that received more than 7,000 patient visits in 2008. He also oversees a multidisciplinary “Stroke Code Team” that is responsible for the care of patients with acute stroke.

Countless patients have benefited from Dr. Fayad’s neurological expertise, including Lenice Hogan of Omaha.

“I have a complicated medical history and every time I was in the hospital I was told something different and would leave with no idea what the problem was or where to turn,” she said. “From the moment I met Dr. Fayad, I felt absolutely at ease. He took my records and spent a month researching other patients in the world with my condition — he found three. I’m not scared of what lies ahead because I know he’s on top of everything.”

Brenda Barry of Woodbine, Iowa, credited Dr. Fayad with saving her husband Lynn’s life.

“My husband had been having a series of mini strokes for a few weeks,” Barry said. “They would hit him for a few minutes and then he would go about his day like nothing had happened. We knew it wasn’t normal, but it was easy to let it go.”

Until they met with Dr. Fayad.

“In our initial appointment with Dr. Fayad, he was very thorough and quickly diagnosed the seriousness of the situation,” Barry said. “As far as we’re concerned, he saved my husband from having a massive stroke that could have paralyzed or killed him. Lynn is healthier than he has been in a decade or longer.”

Under Dr. Fayad’s leadership, the medical center’s stroke center became the first in Nebraska to be certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission.

In 2008, The Nebraska Medical Center was recognized with the Gold Achievement Award of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program, which recognizes 24 consecutive months of providing care that meets or exceeds stroke treatment guidelines set by the association.

Stewart Becker of Omaha suffered a stroke while on a skiing vacation in Colorado. After a week in a Denver hospital, he came home to Omaha and met with Dr. Fayad.

“The perception was that in the middle of the country I wouldn’t have the resources I needed (as a stroke survivor),” Becker said. “In Dr. Fayad, I’ve got an individual with a great reputation with a great institution, and I can get as good of care right in my home city as I could get anywhere.”

Dr. Fayad currently chairs the Advisory Committee of the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association. He is also a member of the association’s International Stroke Conference Program Committee and National Science Advisory & Coordinating Committee.

The full-time faculty and their specialties are:

James Armitage, M.D. — oncology
Phillip Bierman, M.D. — oncology
William Burke, M.D. — geriatric psychiatry
Kenneth Cowan, M.D. — oncology
Jim Edney, M.D. — surgery
Kevin Garvin, M.D. — orthopedic surgery
James Gigantelli, M.D. — ophthalmology
Carl Greiner, M.D. — psychiatry
Thomas Howard, M.D. — vascular surgery
Donald Leopold, M.D. — otolaryngology
William Lydiatt, M.D. — otolaryngology
Steven Remmenga, M.D. — gynecologic oncology
Michael Sorrell, M.D. — gastroenterology
Paul Tomich, M.D. – maternal fetal medicine
Julie Vose, M.D. — hematology
Dennis Weisenburger, M.D. — pathology

Criteria for making the list include education, board certification, reputation, experience and disciplinary history, as well as interpersonal skills such as empathy, being a good communicator, educator and someone who can instill trust and confidence.

“We’re delighted to have our physicians continue to rank among the best in quality health care,” said John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “They help make UNMC a place where people entrust us with their health and the health of their families.”

Physicians are nominated by their peers in a Castle Connolly survey process each year. Physicians then are screened by a Castle Connolly physician-led research team who rank among the best in their specialties and in their communities.

In addition to nominations from practicing physicians, Castle Connolly solicits nominations from hospital presidents, vice presidents of medical affairs and nursing, chiefs of service in anesthesiology, OB/GYN, medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology and surgery. 

 
Date Published: Monday, March 9, 2009

Omaha, Neb – Dewey Smith thought he was sick. When the 61-year-old Council Bluffs, IA man drove himself home from work one morning in February, he didn’t realize he was quickly dying.

“I don’t remember calling 911,” said Smith. “By the time I got to the hospital, my heart had stopped – I had no pulse.”

Staff at another local hospital revived Smith, and told him he had a massive heart attack.

“We were on the phone making my funeral arrangements,” remembered Smith. One of his doctors made a different call – to The Nebraska Medical Center.

“The FDA had just approved the use of the HeartMate II,” said Ioana Dumitru, MD, heart failure specialist at The Nebraska Medical Center. “Dewey seemed to be an excellent candidate for its use. He would have died without it.”
Smith was transferred to The Nebraska Medical Center for surgery to implant the HeartMate II.

“It’s an open heart surgery,” explained Mohammad Quader, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the heart transplant program at The Nebraska Medical Center. “We connect the device to the left ventricle of the heart. The blood travels from the left ventricle into the pump, and then the pump pushes blood into the aorta.” The HeartMate II provides several advantages over previous mechanical assist devices.

“It’s more reliable,” said John Um, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon at The Nebraska Medical Center. “It has fewer moving parts than other devices, so it’s less likely to have problems. Fewer parts mean smaller size. That allows us to implant the device in smaller patients; women, even teenagers. These are people who would not have been able to have a mechanical assist device before.”

Other mechanical assist devices use pressurized air to propel the blood around the body. The HeartMate II uses a small turbine, similar to a screw, which spins and moves the blood. The device also requires a constant energy supply. Patients must keep the device plugged into an electrical outlet or a mobile battery pack.

Estwing Ferrans, Ph.D.

The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, the College of Nursing and The Nebraska Medical Center will host Carol Estwing Ferrans, Ph.D., next month.

Dr. Ferrans will be the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center grand rounds speaker and the college’s 20th Visiting Nurse Scholar.

Dr. Ferrans, associate dean for research and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing, will present “Research: Exposing the Deadly Difference” during an April 14 Eppley Cancer Center grand rounds luncheon presentation on campus.

The UNMC College of Nursing and The Nebraska Medical Center also will co-host a community presentation and reception that evening.

Dr. Ferrans also will make other presentations at the college and The Nebraska Medical Center, as well as meet with individuals.

The professor, who also is deputy director of the University of Illinois Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, has conducted studies focused on quality of life and disparities in health care for 20 years. She is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

An important part of her research has focused on cross-cultural issues, including approaches to increase validity of data and participation in research for minority populations in the United States.

Ann Berger, Ph.D., who will direct Dr. Ferrans’ visit to the UNMC College of Nursing, said Dr. Ferrans’ talk will focus on a program in Chicago to increase early detection of breast cancer among women of diverse backgrounds and economic levels.

The luncheon will be held at noon in the Durham Research Center Auditorium. Lunch will be served on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservation required.

Reservations for the dinner presentation are required. RSVP by April 2 to concne@unmc.edu or call 559-6565. Those who make reservations are asked to provide name, nursing license number, state of licensure, address, phone number and e-mail.

Free continuing education credits are available during both talks.

 
Date Published: Monday, March 23, 2009

by Shelby Buettner of the Center for Advanced Surgical Technology

 From left to right: Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., UNMC associate professor of surgery and director of the Center for Advanced Surgical Technology (CAST), with other members of the CAST team, Amy Lehman and Jeff Hawks. Lehman and Hawks are graduate student researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Innovative technologies from UNMC’s Center of Excellence in Advanced Surgical Technology (CAST) and Center for Advanced Airway Technology were exhibited recently at the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference.

The conference was held in Long Beach, Calif., in late January.

“This is an established and widely attended international conference that has presented an opportunity for us to exhibit our cutting-edge research,” said Dmitry Oleynikov, M.D., UNMC associate professor of surgery and director of minimally invasive surgery who also directs CAST. “University of Nebraska researchers had a very large presence, which has placed Nebraska on the global radar in surgical innovation.”

Faculty, staff and student researchers made presentations about expanding university research and collaborative multi-disciplinary research projects, including miniature robots for surgery, novel airway management solutions, telemedicine capabilities for perioperative medicine care, proficiency in robotic surgery and surgical applications of robotic and mechanical systems.

“The conference … provides a venue to network and foster collaboration with other like-minded researchers,” said Ben Boedeker, M.D., Ph.D., UNMC professor of anesthesiology who also works in the Center for Advanced Airway Technology.

Aside from Drs. Oleynikov and Boedeker, other Nebraska presenters were:

Mary Barak-Bernhagen, Center for Advanced Airway Technology;
M. Susan Hallbeck, Ph.D., CAST;
Jeff Hawks, CAST;
Amy Lehman, CAST;
Mukul Mukherjee, Ph.D., CAST; and
Carl Nelson, Ph.D., CAST.

The Nebraska Medical Center is among the “Top 100 Hospitals” named in 2009 by Nursing Professionals magazine. The hospital ranks as one of the best places for nurses to work.

The spring 2009 Top 100 Hospitals issue is available, beginning Thursday.

The Nebraska Medical Center placed 43rd in the ranking and joins a select group of hospitals.

Hospitals are selected based on a survey that is sent out to 25,000 randomly selected hospital nurses throughout the country that measures their job satisfaction.

by Andrea McMaster, The Nebraska Medical Center

UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, has been named one of the 2009 ‘Top 100 Hospitals’ for nurses to work for by Nursing Professionals magazine. The Spring 2009 Top 100 Hospitals issue is now available.

Rosanna Morris

The Nebraska Medical Center placed 43 in the ranking and joins a select group of hospitals such as Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland.

“The Nebraska Medical Center appreciates and promotes a strong nursing care delivery model,” said Rosanna Morris, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at The Nebraska Medical Center. “The hospital ensures that nursing has a seat at every table where decisions are made not only organizationally, but particularly those that impact nursing practice and patient care.

“Support, recognition and promotion of the value of the nursing profession at The Nebraska Medical Center is what sets us apart from other organizations.”

Hospitals are selected based on a survey that is sent out to 25,000 randomly selected hospital nurses throughout the country that measures their job satisfaction. The survey featured questions such as, “How well does your hospital manage personal training and development?” and “Is your hospital a family-friendly employer?”

 
News of The Nebraska Medical Center’s award did not come as a surprise to many nursing staff.

 
“The thing that impresses me the most about working at the medical center is how much management involves nurses in decisions that affect us,” said Missy Schreiber, a staff nurse in the cancer care area at The Nebraska Medical Center for the past 21 years. “The hospital realizes nurses are the front line to patients and they want us to our job well and to do that, we have to have the right tools and resources.”

 
Mike Diggins, an emergency department nurse at The Nebraska Medical Center for 23 years, agreed.

 
“Nurses have a large voice in the hospital and that is supported by management’s open door policy,” Diggins said. “I can talk to my manager or director anytime. They welcome my input and they often will act upon it if they feel it’s valid.”

 
Diggins, who works three 12-hour weekly shifts, said the opportunity to have a flexible work schedule that fits his needs and allows him to have a balanced family and work life, is another attractive aspect of working at The Nebraska Medical Center.

 
“The hospital staff support me 100 percent when I’m here, but when my shift is over, I can leave my phone behind and focus on my family,” he said. “We truly have a state-of-the-art facility, so when I’m here, I know I have the equipment, tools and personnel to do my job well and provide exceptional nursing care.”

The support of education and of professional growth has been attractive factors for Schreiber.

“Support, recognition and promotion of the value of the nursing profession at The Nebraska Medical Center is what sets us apart from other organizations.” Rosanna Morris

 
“I’ve always been encouraged to participate in conferences, certifications and other educational opportunities,” Schreiber said. “The medical center wants nurses to be knowledgeable and current because that directly relates to how we care for our patients and allows us to provide the most current and up-to-date care.”

The working relationship between nurses and doctors is also important, Diggins said.

 
“The physicians respect our skills and judgment and rely on our input,” he said. “It is very much a team environment.”

 
A recent testament to nursing satisfaction at The Nebraska Medical Center was the hospitals “60 Nurses in 60 Days” recruitment campaign this past summer, which ended with 90 nurses joining the organization.

 
“A great majority of these nurses were from the local area and came with previous experience,” Morris said. “One of the greatest outcomes of this campaign, in addition to surpassing the initial goal, was that every one of the new nurses had been internally referred by a medical center employee.

 
“We are very pleased that our staff has such confidence in this organization to refer individuals that they knew to become a part of our team.”