== AAMC president urges Bush administration to support stem cell
research
== "American Hospital Preservation Act of 2001" introduced in Senate
== AAMC launches new "Analysis in Brief" fact sheets
== Johns Hopkins receives $100 million pledge to fight malaria
== RWJF issues call for nominations for Generalist Physician Faculty
Scholars Program
== Hot headlines
== On the move
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AAMC president urges Bush administration to support stem cell research
AAMC President Jordan J. Cohen, M.D., sent a letter on May 10 to
President Bush calling on him to support federal funding for research
using human pluripotent stem cells. While recognizing the significant
ethical issues that embryonic stem cell research raises and the
differing views of some in the medical school community, Dr. Cohen
stressed in the letter the unprecedented potential such research has to
transform medical therapy and profoundly benefit humanity.
Information: The AAMC is an active member of the Coalition for the
Advancement of Medical Research, a leading advocate for federal funding
of embryonic stem cell research. The coalition's Web site,
http://www.stemcellfunding.org/fastaction, allows visitors to share
their views directly with Congress and the administration. The text of
Dr. Cohen's letter to President Bush is available at
http://www.aamc.org/research/stemcell.htm.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"American Hospital Preservation Act of 2001" introduced in Senate
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) introduced
on May 7 the "American Hospital Preservation Act of 2001" (S. 839). This
is a companion bill to H.R. 1556, sponsored by Reps. Mark Foley (R-Fla.)
and Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and introduced in the House on April 24. The
bills maintain the Medicare indirect medical education (IME) payment at
6.5 percent in fiscal year 2003 and thereafter and provide a full
inflation update for Medicare inpatient services in fiscal years 2002
and 2003.
Information: Lynne Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations,
202.828.0529, ldavis@aamc.org.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AAMC launches new "Analysis in Brief" fact sheets
The AAMC has launched "Analysis in Brief," a series of two-page fact
sheets designed to disseminate data and research generated by
association staff. The new publication unites the educational efforts of
the former Center for the Assessment and Management of Change in
Academic Medicine (CAMCAM) and Contemporary Issues in Medical Education
(CIME) fact sheets. Topics will include a wide range of issues affecting
medical schools and teaching hospitals, such as trends in medical school
curricula and the impact of specific legislation on teaching hospital
revenues. The sheets will be widely distributed to AAMC constituents,
members, policy-makers, and other interested parties. "Analysis in
Brief" will be published six times a year, starting this month. The
inaugural issue is available at http://www.aamc.org/data/aib/start.htm.
Information: Deborah Danoff, AAMC Division of Medical Education,
202.828.0982, ddanoff@aamc.org, or Karen Fisher, AAMC Division of Health
Care Affairs, 202.862.6140, kfisher@aamc.org.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Johns Hopkins receives $100 million pledge to fight malaria
An anonymous donor has pledged $100 million to the Johns Hopkins
University Bloomberg School of Public Health for the purpose of
eradicating malaria through the development of a new vaccine and drugs.
The gift is not designated as an endowment, but will be spent over 10
years to maximize its impact. The largest-ever donation received by the
university for a single purpose, the gift will be used to establish the
Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute.
Researchers at the new institute will be specialists in such fields as
immunology and vaccine development; statistical analysis of genetic data
and populations studies; the biology of malaria parasites and their
mosquito hosts; and molecular parasitology. The institute will also
establish core service centers to study the genome of the parasite and
the mosquito; the proteins produced by genes in the parasite, the
mosquito, and humans; and what happens to cells during the life cycle of
the parasite and the course of the disease.
The Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute will collaborate with the World
Health Organization's "Roll Back Malaria" program, aimed at halving the
disease's worldwide impact by 2010.
Information: Dennise O'Shea, JHU Office of News and Information,
410.516.7160, dro@jhu.edu.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
RWJF issues call for nominations for Generalist Physician Faculty
Scholars Program
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Generalist Physician Faculty
Scholars Program offers career development awards to outstanding junior
faculty in medical school departments or divisions of family practice,
general internal medicine, and general pediatrics. The program is
intended to strengthen generalist physician faculty in the nation's
medical schools by improving their research capacity while maintaining
their clinical and teaching competencies.
Up to 15 four-year awards of $300,000 will be made in 2002. Grants will
be made to sponsoring institutions to help cover the selected scholars'
salaries and research costs. Scholars will be required to spend at least
40 percent of their time in research and other scholarly pursuits.
Nominations will be accepted by deans of four-year, fully accredited
U.S. medical schools. The deadline for receipt of completed applications
is Sept. 28, 2001.
Information: For the full text of the call for nominations, visit the
RWJF Web site at http://www.rwjf.org, click on "Applying for a Grant,"
and then on "Calls for Proposals."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hot headlines
Study Finds Nurses Dissatisfied, Concerned About Patients
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2001/05/07/nati
onal0106EDT0410.DTL,
Associated Press, 5/7/01
Prescription Drug Spending Booms: Study Finds Demand for Brand Names
Driving Up Premiums for All
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/05/08
/MN78566.DTL,
San Francisco Chronicle, 5/8/01
Hospital Closures a 'Silent Epidemic'
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20010510/t000039385.html, Los Angeles
Times, 5/10/01
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On the move
Shirley M. Caldwell Tilghman, Ph.D., has been elected president of
Princeton University. Currently the Howard A. Prior Professor of the
Life Sciences and founding director of Princeton's Lewis-Sigler
Institute for Integrative Genomics, she will assume her new post June
15.
Leo M. Henikoff, M.D., has announced that he will retire within a year
as president and chief executive officer of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's
Medical Center, after the search for his successor is completed.
Following his retirement, Dr. Henikoff will remain with Rush in a
special senior advisory role.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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