News Briefs
Wilson to be “Dean of Deans”
UND Part of AAMC Professionalism Initiative
New Program Gives Communities a VOICE
Federal Health Advisory Committee Visits Region
Rural Assistance Center Announces New State Information Resource
Medical Mission to Honduras
Brown-Borg Named Gerontological Society of America Fellow
$1 Million Addition Expands Neuroscience Research Facility
ROME Gets Students to Choose Primary Care
Dickson Receives National Service Award
North Dakota Students Show Interest in Health Care Fields
Markland Achieves Distinguished Status
North Dakota Communities Receive AEDs
Wilson to be “Dean of Deans”
H. David Wilson, M.D., dean of the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine and Health Sciences, was elected “chair-elect” of the Council of Deans at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting Oct. 30.
The first North Dakota dean to hold such a high office in the AAMC, Wilson will assume duties as chair of the Council of Deans next fall.
The AAMC Council of Deans represents the deans from all 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools. The group identifies issues affecting academic medicine and develops strategies to achieve the various missions of medical schools.
“The AAMC Council of Deans is instrumental in guiding the association’s efforts toward excellence in medical education, research and patient care,” said Dr. Darrell Kirch, AAMC president. “He is a wise and experienced leader, and we at the AAMC, as well as his colleagues across the country, look forward to David Wilson’s leadership on the Executive Council next year.”
“This is a terrific honor for Dean Wilson and for the University of North Dakota,” said UND President Charles Kupchella. “To be named ‘Dean of Deans’ by the deans is clearly no small matter. It surely shows that he is highly respected as a leading figure in American medical education. We’re lucky to have him.”
This is not Wilson’s first service in national medical associations. He was elected to the AAMC Executive Council in 2004 and has served as chair of the AAMC Section on Community-Based Deans since 2002.
From 2001-2004 Wilson was an elected member of the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Education and served as a member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the 17-member committee that is authorized by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit all U.S. and Canadian medical schools.
Wilson grew up in Johnston City, Ill. He graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. before going on to medical school at St. Louis University School of Medicine. He spent 22 years at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington and was serving as full professor and associate dean for academic affairs when he left to join the UND in 1995.
The AAMC is a nonprofit association representing all 125 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 96 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians.
return to top
UND Part of AAMC Professionalism Initiative
UND is the only community medical school to participate in an American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) initiative looking at how professionalism is addressed in the medical curriculum.
One of only 12 U.S. and Canadian medical schools chosen to participate in this project, UND played host to AAMC Robert G. Petersdorf Scholar Linda Blank in August. Blank is writing a report titled “Leadership and Transforming the Culture and Environment to Educate for Medical Professionalism.”
“The senior staff at AAMC chose UND for the study because it already has professionalism programs in place,” said Blank during her visit. “The leadership is transforming and sustaining a professional culture here.”
Blank also cited a few of her observations including the North Dakota work ethic, the success of the school’s patient-centered learning curriculum, the large group of volunteer faculty and the school’s extraordinary commitment to education.
return to top
New Program Gives Communities a VOICE
A new program through the Center for Rural Health at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences will give rural communities a voice in their futures.
The Center for Rural Health received an $80,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to implement the new, two-year Vision, Opportunity and Inspiration through Civic Engagement (VOICE) program, to draw rural communities together to build healthier communities.
return to top
Federal Health Advisory Committee Visits Region
The Center for Rural Health at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences hosted members of the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, which advises the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
During the meetings in Grand Forks, Devils Lake and Cando, the committee gathered information on rural issues involving substance abuse, Medicare Advantage and Headstart programs to include in their annual report to the Secretary.
return to top
Rural Assistance Center Announces New State Information Resource
The Rural Assistance Center (RAC), a national resource for rural health and human services information, has launched State Resources on its Web site, allowing easy access to continuously updated demographics and statistics, documents and resources, contacts and success stories for all 50 states.
The new State Resources features an overview of each state and its rural health and human services environment.
return to top
Medical Mission to Honduras
A Grand Forks team comprised of physicians, medical students, dieticians, nurses, teachers, college and high school students traveled to Honduras in July on a mission trip for the purpose of delivering medical care, teaching, construction and Christian education. For several members, this is their second or third trip. The medical team members included UND medical students: Nancy Longfors, Kris French, Rebecca Rameden and Heidi Jordheim. RaNae Doll, M.D., ’96 (clinical assistant professor) and Jon Allen, M.D., ’84 (associate professor of internal medicine), led the medical component. Dieticians Brenna Kerr (UND) and Marla Love (The Kidney and Hypertension Center), dietetics student Lindsey French (UND) and Stephanie Olson, RN (Altru) provided support for the medical team. Teachers Lynn Christianson (Mohall, ND), Julie Larson (Thompson, ND), and Jodi Larson (Twin Cities) assisted Honduran teachers in a remote kindergarten and students Katherine Allen (Concordia) and Kristen Allen (Red River HS) provided medical and teaching assistance. All team members participated in construction and nutrition programs. The team is just one of many teams from Grand Forks traveling to El Triunfo, Honduras. Past teams have included several medical students from UND and Warren Jensen, M.D., (B.S. Med. ’80), clinical associate professor of family and community medicine, and Lucia Romuld (EERC).
return to top
Brown-Borg Named Gerontological Society of America Fellow
Holly Brown-Borg, Ph.D., a faculty member at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, has been awarded the status of fellow in the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
The GSA Fellows represent the highest class of membership and are recognized by their peers for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology, the branch of science that deals with aging and the special problems of aged persons.
return to top
$1 Million Addition Expands Neuroscience Research Facility
Construction has begun on a $1 million addition to the Neuroscience Research Facility at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The new building will add 2,200 square feet of laboratory space to the research facility at Hamlin and Fifth Avenue North, just west of the medical school on the UND campus. When the addition is completed, the entire Neuroscience Research Facility will include 17,000 square feet of space.
Funding for the structure came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provided an initial $3 million for the original building three years ago. Senator Byron Dorgan was most helpful in securing this outstanding research facility.
return to top
ROME Gets Students to Choose Primary Care
A study, conducted at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences and published in the July 2006 issue of Academic Medicine, the Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, showed that UND medical students who participated in the Rural Opportunities in Medical Education (ROME) program performed about the same as their classmates on national board examinations.
As a group, ROME students appeared to have a better grasp of patient care compared to students who were educated in the urban hospital-based program.
After earning their medical degrees, a total of 62 percent of the ROME graduates selected primary care residencies for further training, compared to 36 percent of traditional program graduates.
return to top
Dickson Receives National Service Award
Lynette Dickson, project director at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ Center for Rural Health, received the Distinguished Service Award at the annual National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health (NOSORH) meeting recently.
Dickson received the award for making outstanding contributions to NOSORH and for being actively involved in the state office of rural health. She was also re-elected as treasurer to the Board of Directors for the organization.
return to top
North Dakota Students Show Interest in Health Care Fields
High school students in North Dakota are very interested in pursuing careers in the health care field, according to a study by the Center for Rural Health at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Nearly 40 percent of North Dakota high school students indicated an interest in health care in a survey done in 25 schools throughout the state. Of those interested in health care, top career picks were to become a nurse, physician or physical therapist.
The survey was done as part of the North Dakota Nursing Needs Study, an ongoing project at the Center for Rural Health, funded by the North Dakota Board of Nursing.
return to top
Markland Achieves Distinguished Status
Mary Markland, Southeast Clinical Campus librarian, Fargo, has been awarded membership in the Academy of Health Information Professionals at the Distinguished Member level. The academy is a peer-reviewed professional development and career recognition-credentialing program of the Medical Library Association. Distinguished Member status is the highest level of recognition in the Academy.
Markland was also recently elected chair-elect of the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association.
return to top
North Dakota Communities Receive AEDs
Just over 100 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have been purchased by the Center for Rural Health (CRH) at the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences and distributed to 78 North Dakota communities.
In the past four years, CRH has placed 550 AEDs in approximately 275 rural North Dakota communities. Through this Rural Access to Emergency Devices Grant Program, funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, every county in the state has at least one AED.
return to top
|
