Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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academic medicine

Studying the doctor and nursing shortage

An increase in the number of the nation’s elderly and the aging population of doctors is causing a doctor shortage in the United States, with estimates that the demand for doctors will outstrip supply by 2020, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The Association of Colleges of Nursing notes a similar dilemma for the nation’s registered nurses. Read Knowledge@Emory for the full article. 

Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD

Fred Sanfilippo, MD, PhD, executive vice president for health affairs at Emory, CEO of Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center and chairman of Emory Healthcare, says, “There is an ever-changing cycle of shortages. Advances in technology and treatment can reduce or increase demand for specialists needed in one area or another much more quickly than it takes to train or absorb them.”

For instance, the demand for cardiac surgeons has slowed dramatically as a result of better medications and stents. Changes in insurance and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement can also impact specialties, he says.

“Since medical school graduates now carry so much debt, the specialty they choose is often influenced by potential income, which is most evident in the low numbers going into primary care.”

Read more

Posted on March 24, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Academic medicine at the table in health care debate

As the debate on health care reform legislation continues to move forward in Congress, Association of American Medical Colleges President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, MD, urges leaders of the nation’s medical schools and teaching hospitals to be the standard bearers for innovation in health care delivery.

Darrell G. Kirch, MD

Darrell G. Kirch, MD

Kirch says that a year ago he was asked if he believed that academic medicine would have any voice in the health care reform debate. He answered that academic medical centers do have a strong voice in ensuring that the special contributions of our members are recognized in any proposed changes in the current legislation.

Kirch, who recently presented at Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center Future Makers Lecture Series, says, “Just as we have a moral imperative to give people basic health insurance, we have an innovation imperative, as educators, researchers and clinicians, to finally make our health care system work well for everyone.”

In his presentation, Kirch pointed out that, by establishing new models of high-performance, high-value, integrated health systems, academic medical centers across the country are already undertaking clinical care innovations. Similar efforts are also occurring in research, where greater collaboration helps to address complex problems, and in medical education, where cutting-edge technologies are used to train physicians and promote lifelong learning, he noted.

AAMC-supported legislation, introduced by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), to establish Healthcare Innovation Zones (HIZs), would promote the rapid expansion of successful pioneering efforts. These zones would empower centers to partner with local providers and hospitals to conduct large-scale experiments in health care delivery for specific patient populations.

Combining innovations in health care delivery, critically studying the effectiveness of these innovations and educating professionals to work in these new models play to the strengths of academic medicine, continues Kirch. The innovation imperative will allow academic medical centers to finally attain alignment of all three missions, while truly fulfilling their goal to improve the health of communities.

Listen to Kirch’s Emory presentation or read his recent address to the American Association of Medical Colleges.

Posted on November 20, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment