Pulse

Volume5/2000_March29March 29, 2000 PULSE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER Medical School Seniors Score High in ' Match' for Specialty Training University of Utah medical school seniors have once again been extremely successful in receiving top post-graduate residency positions in hospitals of their choice across the country. The 2000 Match Day was held at medical schools throughout America Thursday. " Our students exceeded, by far, the national match figures for being placed at one of their top three choices for specialty training," said Claire H. Clark, Ph. D., associate dean, student advising and counseling, and associate professor of family and preventive medicine. The primary care specialties were again the top choices for the 100- member senior class: family practice, 16; pediatrics, 14; and internal medicine, 11. Although residencies will take the new physicians from Washington to Rhode Island, six of the internal medicine graduates High five! Fourth- year medical students Lee Eberting and will remain at University of Utah Affiliated Hospitals for Alantois Mclnnes celebrate during Match Day activities. advanced training. Eberting is headed to dermatology training at Roger Four of the students will receive double hoods at Williams Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island and commencement in May, signifying their completion of Mclnnes will do his surgery training at the Naval Medical work for a Ph. D. degree ( all four are in human genetics) C e n t e r i n S a n DieS°' California. in addition to the M. D. According to Clark, this many students receiving both degrees simultaneously at com-mencement is unusual, and reflects the school's efforts to expand this program. " These students complete the first two years of the medical school's core curriculum, then devote two to three years to their Ph. D. work before returning to the medical school's final two years of study," Clark said. Surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, diagnostic radiology, orthopedics and pathology followed the primary care specialties as residency choices. The Match, formally known as the National Resident Matching Program ( NRMP), is the primary route by which applicants to residency programs obtain training positions at U. S. teaching hospitals. The U's Match Day included distributing letters indicating residency acceptance, and a luncheon and program for students and their families. Softball League Meeting This Thursday A captains' meeting for the Health Sciences Center's summer softball league will be held this Thursday in room 210 of the Medical Research and Education Building ( MREB). A representative from each team planning to participate in the league must attend the meeting. Employees who would like to play in the league but have no team also are encouraged to attend the meeting. For more information, contact Dennis Oyler, Deans Office, x5- 6122. Nurses: Register Now for Trauma Course A U of U sponsored trauma symposium for nurses is scheduled May 5- 6, in the Moran Eye Center's first-floor auditorium. The conference will focus on pathophysiology and management of traumatic shock; head and spinal cord injuries; abdominal and thoracic trauma; musculoskeletal injuries; thermal, maxillofacial, soft tissue and ocular injuries; genitourinary injuries; and trauma in pregnant, pediatric, and elderly patients. The course is $ 40 and provides 14 contact hours. For more information or to register, contact Deb Melle, R. N., Emergency Department, x5- 294l. Payment should be made to Michele Grow in room 4100, x7- 9195. Participants also can register online at www. med. utah. edu/ nursed. Faculty in the News Donna Dizon- Townson, M. D., assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, recently received the Society for Maternal- Fetal Medicine's Award for Research Excellence for her work " Fetuses Carrying the Factor V Leiden Mutation May Be Predisposed to Cerebral Palsy." Her research showed an increased carrier rate for the Factor V Leiden mutation in a group of children with cerebral plays as compared to individuals without cerebral palsy. The mutation is the most common genetic predisposition to abnormal blood clotting. Her research is expected to help physicians and scientists better understand the causes of cerebral palsy and identify risk factors that will enable development of therapeutic strategies. * * * U. S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley has officially recognized the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education ( CCNE) as a national agency for the accreditation of baccalaureate and graduate- degree nursing education programs. Linda K. Amos, Ed. D., F. A. A. N., associate vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Nursing, chairs the CCNE Board of Commissioners. The new agency is specifically attuned to the needs of baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs and is designed to advance the quality of nursing education, according to Amos. Established in 1996, CCNE is an autonomous arm of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. In Memoriam Linda Anne Harrington, UH contracting office, died March 15 from complications related to liver disease. She was 52. A hospital employee for more than 30 years, Harrington was the first manager of UH's Computer Services Department. In 1984, when the hospital installed a new computer system, she became manager of the Data Services Department. Most recently she served as Cost Decision Management ( CDM) coordi-nator for the hospital's contracting office. Need a Reason to Get Moving? Help Fight MS at April 15 Walk The National Multiple Sclerosis Society's annual MS Walk is scheduled for Saturday, April 15 at Gardner Village, 1100 West 7800 South. The six- mile walk begins at 9: 30 a. m. For more information, call Jen at 493- 0113. Report Suspicious Persons. Call Security, xl- 2295. These Students Are Real Brains Graduate students in the U of U's Neuroscience program explain the complexity of the brain to Highland Park Elementary students during Brain Awareness Week, which also included free presentations about neurological diseases at the Salt Lake City Library. The events were sponsored by NPS Pharmaceuticals, Cognetix Inc., Ovid Technologies, the Intermountain Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience and Stephen D. Matheson, D. M. D., P. C. Want an Exotic Volunteer Opportunity? PT/ OTs Needed to Help in Haiti Healing Hands for Haiti Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization, is looking for licensed physical and occupational therapists to participate in working vacations in Port- au- Prince, Haiti. Volunteers divide their time between clinic work and teaching. The organization has new clinic equipment and provides housing and meals. For more information, call Susan Gleason, 408- 5407 or e- mail ldsgleas@ ihc. com. Low Fat Doesn't Mean No Fat Those new and jumped on the " low- fat improved food labels bandwagon," avoiding don't seem to be stopping high- fat foods but people from packing on forgetting to cut calories, the pounds. When the In fact, many Americans new labels, which spell are consuming more out fat, calorie and calories because they're cholesterol content, were eating more food overall, introduced six years ago, Especially more take- out nutritionists hoped they food. And they're exercis-would help Americans ing less than ever. The slim down. But a study by clue to weight control is the Centers for Disease the same as it ever was- Control and Prevention watch your total calorie shows that 18 percent of intake and exercise at least all Americans are obese- three times a week-- a six percent increase since Courtesy of Regence 1991. Experts say that's BlueCross BlueShield of partly because people have Utah. RINTED ON RECYCLED PAPE