For the past five years, local artists have lent their work for exhibition in the hallway between The Doctor’s Inn and the dean’s suite as part of the College of Medicine’s mission to cultivate compassionate physicians. But art actually has been a priority for the college since its inception.
  “A compassionate physician is a person that feels something for their patient,” said Myra Hurt, senior associate dean for research and graduate programs. “Encouraging feeling toward your environment, toward your fellow man, is all a part of encouraging people to feel something for their patients.”
  Currently in the hallway, artist Eluster Richardson’s work (above) depicts a vibrant series of subjects with quilts. In the adjacent hallway, Junia Mason-Edmonds’ artwork displays abstract scenes of live oaks.
  “The purpose of art is to expose people to beauty, and get them to feel something,” said Hurt. “Beyond the beauty, it’s about making us see and reflect on things that perhaps we wouldn’t normally think about.”
  Rob Jurand, general counsel, coordinates and sometimes curates the exhibitions displayed on a two- to four-month rotation. He inherited the responsibility from former Medical Humanities and Social Sciences Chair Janine Edwards. Often, the Gadsden Arts Center lends exhibits from its gallery.
  “The hallway exhibits started out with vernacular art: African-American art of the South,” said Jurand.
  Hurt describes how the evolution of art at the college began.
  “The statue in the atrium came from a cast, a Renaissance art piece,” she said. “The college could have it if we paid to repair one of the hands. It had to go back to Italy to be repaired. The names on the base are those who contributed to get that done. Art in the building beyond that has evolved.”
  Besides the atrium and the hallways near the dean’s suite, art is also on display outside the main entrance, near the Clinical Learning Center and by the learning communities on the second floor.
  Richardson’s exhibit features watercolor and oil paintings centered on the tradition of quilting. The Tallahassee native described those paintings during an interpretive talk at the college.
  “My mom kept house and made quilts and raised the family,” he said. “She never had a W-2 form. I wanted to bring a little recognition to her craft after she passed away at 97 years old. I wanted her quilting to live past her and, perhaps, past me.”
  Hurt believes art exhibitions and talks by artists are important for the college to maintain its humanistic focus.
  “It contributes to the culture that I would hope our college has — being civilized, sensitive people,” she said. “I think having an environment that’s warm and conducive to interaction is part of developing physicians that enjoy life, and enjoy their practice, and feel something for their patients.”

Dr. Kendall Campbell, fellow at the National Academy of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Underrepresented Minorities in Academic Medicine, recently published, “Informing Social Security’s process for financial capability determination,” in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Visit http://www.nap.edu/read/21922/chapter/1 (doi: 10.17226/21922) to learn more. 

Biomedical Sciences researcher Diego Zorio received $100,000 from Genentech to study advanced neurogenerative disease. His project title is "Role of FMRP on Brain Development."

Associate Professor Heather Flynn received $99,086 from the Florida Institute for Child Welfare in collaboration with the College of Social Work. The Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine professor will study "Enhancing Parental Behavioral Health Services Integration in Child Welfare" for a year.

Biomedical Sciences Professor Yuan Wang received $135,000 from the Binational Science Foundation to study a mental retardation protein in the brain called FMRP. Loss of FMRP is the leading heritable cause of autism. The goal of the research is to understand brain development and how abnormal FMRP leads to brain pathology. 

In June a team of students from the College of Medicine and the College of Nursing, as well as undergraduate students and faculty members, spent eight days in Nicaragua. Their goal was to provide health care to the underserved people of Los Cedros and Montefresco. The trip was part of a continuing effort that began in 2010. SIGH (Students Interested in Global Health) and the College of Medicine set up clinics in churches and made house calls to patients who could not travel.

Together the team saw 455 patients. For second-year medical student Ashley Kreher, it was a return visit.

“When I first traveled to Nicaragua two years ago as an undergraduate, I fell in love not only with what I was doing but also with the people and the communities,” she said. “When I returned to the same communities as a medical student, my passion grew even stronger.”

During three days of clinic work – two in Los Cedros and one in Montefresco – students provided care alongside attending physicians. They treated and dispensed medications to patients with both chronic and acute conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes and ear infections.

Regular College of Medicine visits to Nicaragua began after a partnership with the people of Los Cedros was created six years ago. Teams of faculty members, medical students and medical resident alumni return to the same site every three to four months to provide care to residents who have difficulty accessing it. This is often due to their distance from the capital, their lack of transportation and the cost of prescription medications.

Students work together throughout the year to finance the trips. SIGH organizes an annual talent show and other fundraisers. Students also raise money for the trip independently to pay for housing, food, transportation and clinic medications.

The summer 2016 team consisted of:

• Faculty members Jonathan Appelbaum, M.D. (pictured above), Suzanne Harrison, M.D., Diane Pappachristou, M.D., and Theresa Winton, D.N.P.
• College of Medicine students Alan Chan (pictured above), Heather Cross, Ashley Kreher, Kevin List and Tiffany Smith-Sutton.
• Nurse practitioner students Sabrina Baker, Christina Jones, Brittany Tenorio and Claire Parsons Winfree.
• Premedical students Elizabeth Hull, Ishani Patel and James Perrigan.
• High school student Garret Winton.

Biomedical Sciences Researcher Jose Pinto and his lab recently gained two publications. Pinto and undergraduate student Shelby Straight published "Troponins, intrinsic disorder and cardiomyopathy" in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Pinto also published "Enhanced troponin I binding explain the functional changes produced by the hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mutation A8V of cardiac troponin C" in the Journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics with Clara A. Michell and Maicon Landim-Vieira.

The summer edition of Annals of Health Law has published a paper by Marshall Kapp, J.D., MPH, director of FSU's Center for Innovation Collaboration in Medicine and Law. The title is "Speculating About the Impact of Healthcare Industry Consolidation  on Long-Term Services and Supports," in Vol. 25, No. 2, Pages 1-33.

July 12, 2016

Seventeen students in the Class of 2017 have been chosen as the newest members of the FSU Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Jesse “Blake” Bauer (Tallahassee campus).
• Staci Biegner (Daytona Beach campus).
• Nicole Brunner (Sarasota campus).
• Allison Ellis (Daytona Beach).
• Ariel Hoffman (Daytona Beach).
• Emily Kaltz (Pensacola campus).
• Joelle Kane (Daytona Beach).
• Ilisa Lee (Tallahassee campus).
• Juan Lopez (Tallahassee/Thomasville campus).
• Rodolfo Loureiro (Orlando campus).
• Angelina Malamo (Daytona Beach).
• Tamara Marryshow Granados (Fort Pierce campus).
• Stacy Ranson (Daytona Beach).
• Jarrod Robertson (Tallahassee).
• Carlos Rubiano (Orlando).
• Tyler Wellman (Sarasota).
• Susanna Zorn (Pensacola).

Six are from the Daytona Beach campus; four from Tallahassee/Thomasville; two each from Orlando, Pensacola and Sarasota; and one from Fort Pierce.

Eleven of the 17, nearly two-thirds, are women.

The Gold Humanism Honor Society honors doctors, medical students and residents who demonstrate excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service, placing high value on the interpersonal skills and attitudes essential for excellent patient care.

The announcement was made by email July 11 by Daniel Van Durme, M.D., faculty advisor and Gold Humanism member.

“The Gold Humanism Honor Society Selection Committee carefully reviewed the nominations from MANY of you,” he wrote. “It was encouraging to see so many of our students recognized by faculty and staff from across all four years of the curriculum AND their classmates. These students rose to the top as true exemplars of humanism by receiving multiple nominations from faculty, staff and peers in categories demonstrating clinical excellence, service to others, patient-centered approach to care and compassion.”

Biomedical Sciences Researcher Branko Stefanovic received $53,000 from Thrivant to study "Development of Biosensor for High throughput Phenotypic Screening of Antifibrotic Compounds."