CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu
Cell: (850) 694-3735

By Doug Carlson
March 20, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- All 57 students in the FSU College of Medicine Class of 2008 received notification today of where they will enter residency training this summer after graduation.

Thirty-eight of the 57 graduating students, or 67 percent, are entering residency in primary care specialties, including family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics/gynecology.

Other students matched in anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, orthopedic surgery, pathology, plastic surgery and psychiatry.

Thirty-three of the students, or 58 percent, will remain in Florida for their graduate medical education. Twelve percent of the students (seven total) will be at the Family Medicine Residency Program at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.

On average about 40 percent of students graduating from allopathic medical schools in Florida remain in the state for residency training, due in part to a limited number of available residency positions in state. The 58 percent of students remaining in Florida from FSU this year represents the largest percentage of any graduating class at the College of Medicine to secure residency positions in the state.

Of those matching outside of Florida, students matched in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C.

“This is great news for the state of Florida with an extraordinarily high number - 58 percent - of our students able to remain here at a time when there simply aren’t enough residency positions in the state to go around,’’ said Dr. J. Ocie Harris, dean of the College of Medicine. “Overall, seeing that every one of our students had a successful match, and the quality of the programs they matched with, is a very strong indication of the first-rate medical education they are receiving here at Florida State.’’

The residency match, conducted annually by the National Resident Matching Program, is the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at U.S. teaching hospitals. Graduating medical students across the country receive their match information at the same time on the same day.

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255; doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

By Doug Carlson
March 24, 2008

Heart damage due to blocked arteries remains the leading cause of disease and death in the Western world, but a Florida State University College of Medicine researcher is helping to open new pathways toward treating the problem.

Michael Blaber, a professor in the department of biomedical sciences, is researching mutant forms of a human protein that have been shown to help the human body grow new blood vessels to restore blood flow in damaged areas of the heart.

Working with a $264,000, three-year grant from the American Heart Association, Blaber hopes to provide data that will enable the use of the mutant proteins in new treatment methods previously unavailable for patients with advanced "no option" heart disease.

"This research offers the potential to treat people who currently are being sent home to die," Blaber said. "We've tested a group of mutants in the laboratory with unusual properties of increased stability and activities—good properties. In some cases it was unexpected, but the results are very promising."

Obstructed blood vessels and clogged or blocked arteries typically are treated through angioplasty, the mechanical widening of a vessel, or bypass surgery. Some patients, however, have numerous small blockages that cannot be treated through traditional approaches. In most cases, they are sent home with a predicted life expectancy that, no matter how it's phrased, sounds like a death sentence.

A new approach to the problem called therapeutic coronary angiogenesis is creating hope through the injection of human fibroblast growth factor protein into affected areas. Improvements with the procedure may arise from the use of mutant forms with increased stability.

Blaber and his research team are creating artificial "mutant" proteins in their College of Medicine laboratory that mimic the human proteins used in angiogenic therapy, and with enhanced stability properties. So far, the mutant proteins engineered at the College of Medicine have exhibited potency in stimulating cell growth while simultaneously maintaining greater stability under conditions common to angiogenic therapy.

The work has enormous potential commercial applications and already has drawn the attention of private companies interested in the results Blaber's lab has achieved and the intellectual properties his studies are generating.

CONTACT: Nancy Kinnally
(850) 645-1225

By Nancy Kinnally
April 10, 2008

Florida State University Provost and Executive Vice President Lawrence G. Abele has announced the appointment of Dr. John P. Fogarty as the next dean of the College of Medicine, effective Aug. 8.

Senior associate dean for operations and associate dean for primary care at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, Fogarty will succeed Dr. J. Ocie Harris, who is retiring after more than five years as dean. Harris joined the FSU College of Medicine in 2000 as an associate dean and was one of the primary architects of the school's innovative and nationally acclaimed community-based medical education program.

"We could not have had a better, more experienced leader to guide us through our early development," Abele said. "Dean Harris was a rock of stability during the college's early years, and his guidance and maturity were just essential. I hope he will consider a continuing role in the college once the joy of retirement wears thin. In the meantime, he will be handing over a highly successful medical education program, and I am extremely confident in Dr. Fogarty's ability to build on that foundation."

A family physician and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Fogarty earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College of Union University in Albany, N.Y., and completed his family practice residency at DeWitt Army Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Va. Fogarty spent the first 20 years of his career as an Army physician and academic leader, rising to the rank of colonel and serving the last five years of his military career as chair of family medicine at the Uniformed Services University School of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. In that position he oversaw nine clinical clerkship sites in six states in an educational model similar to FSU's system of regional campuses based in six Florida cities.

Fogarty joined the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1995 as chair and physician leader of family medicine and was appointed associate dean for primary care in 2006. He was then appointed interim dean of the college, and over the next 15 months provided stable leadership during the search for a permanent dean. During his tenure, new chairs in medicine and surgery were recruited as well as the president of the faculty practice; the entering class of medical students grew in numbers as well as quality measures; and the college completed a successful Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) re-accreditation.

In 2007, Fogarty was honored by the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians as Vermont Family Physician of the Year and also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Vermont Medical Society, the highest honor the society bestows, for meritorious service in the science and art of medicine, as well as for outstanding contributions to the medical profession, its organizations and the welfare of the public.

"Dr. Fogarty's experience supervising a distributed model of medical education and serving as a department chair and interim dean, along with his background as a family physician, make him a great fit for the mission and needs of the FSU College of Medicine," Abele said.

Fogarty, who takes the helm as the college enters its eighth academic year, said he was drawn to FSU because its medical school has achieved remarkable success in a short time.

"It is patient-focused, with a commitment to Florida and its citizens to provide medical care and workforce solutions for them," he said. "The campus has superb educational facilities and tools for education, and FSU has developed great hospital and physician partners for its clinical educational programs at its regional campuses. I look forward to working together with the students, staff and faculty at FSU to continue this progress."

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

By Doug Carlson
April 24, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Two leaders in medicine, Florida State University and Mayo Clinic, today signed an agreement to work as research partners in the quest to improve health care outcomes for Floridians and all Americans.

“Florida State University and the Mayo Clinic are accepting the challenge and the responsibility of improving the quality of life for Florida’s citizens,’’ said FSU President T.K. Wetherell. “In the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, we can work together to accomplish results that we expect will have a significant impact on health care well beyond our state.’’

The agreement calls for interaction and collaboration between researchers at FSU and Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., the establishment of joint research programs and the exchange of scientific and educational literature and research. The agreement opens up unique opportunities to turn basic science into new cures for a variety of diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer’s.

“Mayo Clinic’s history is one of teamwork and integration that bridges the gap between basic science and the bedside,’’ said George B. Bartley, M.D., chief executive officer of the Florida clinic. “This new collaboration links our researchers with FSU’s talented physicians, scientists and students to bring new discoveries to Florida’s patients.”

One research project of mutual interest may be the Clinical Research Network being developed at FSU’s College of Medicine, which offers potential involvement of more than 1,200 faculty physicians whose 1.5 million patients represent a broad spectrum of health and illness, gender, age and demographics. The network fits in well with the recent emphasis at the National Institutes of Health on clinical translational research, which involves taking research from the laboratory to the bedside.

Mayo researchers gain access to FSU’s acclaimed National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, where they will have the opportunity to study proteins that play key roles in disease in new ways -- through the lens of a magnetic field more than a million times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field.

By partnering with Mayo, FSU researchers will gain insight from a health-care organization with more than 35 years of continuous funding from the NIH and a Clinical Research Unit considered one of the nation’s premier sites for conducting inpatient and outpatient studies and clinical trials.

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group medical practice in the world. Of nearly 50,000 employees, more than 6,000 are actively involved in medical research, translating discoveries from the laboratory into improved patient care.

FSU’s College of Medicine, the nation’s newest fully accredited medical school, offers a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences in addition to the M.D. Research projects underway at the college are being funded by the NIH, the National Science Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Mental Health, among others.

CONTACT: Nancy Kinnally
(850) 644-7824

by Nancy Kinnally
April 24, 2008

Award-winning teacher, scholar and administrator Dr. Lynn Romrell has been named course director for clinical anatomy and associate dean for curriculum development and evaluation at the FSU College of Medicine.

Romrell, whose teaching career began 37 years ago at Harvard Medical School, most recently served as professor of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He was executive director of the Anatomical Board of the State of Florida from 1983 to 2008, associate dean for education at the UF College of Medicine from 1988 to 2008, and director of the Office of Medical Education from 1979 to 2008, having first joined the faculty at UF in 1975.

College of Medicine Dean J. Ocie Harris, M.D., who worked closely with Romrell for more than two decades at UF, said the FSU College of Medicine could not have found a finer teacher for the anatomy course. “Dr. Romrell is one of the most accomplished and respected anatomists teaching in the United States today,” Harris said. “Our students will benefit tremendously by having him as the course director for clinical anatomy, which is the first unit in the curriculum and the foundation on which subsequent courses are built.”

Romrell’s teaching awards are numerous and include being named Basic Science Teacher of the Year in the UF College of Medicine three times. He also was co-recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Basic Science Course by each graduating class from 1993 to 2000 and 2002 to 2004. And in 1996 he was honored with the UF American Medical Women’s Association Gender Equity Award for promoting a gender-fair environment for the education and training of women physicians and assuring equal opportunity for women to study and practice medicine.

Dr. Alma Littles, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the FSU College of Medicine, studied anatomy under Romrell at UF.

“He is an outstanding teacher, and I’m so excited for our students,” Littles said. “He also will be a big help to us as we continue to enhance our curriculum and refine our evaluation methods.”

A representative on the USMLE Step 1 Anatomy Test Committee for the National Board of Medical Examiners from 1995 to 1998 and 1999 to 2001, Romrell also served as program secretary on the Executive Council of the American Association of Clinical Anatomists. At UF he was elected as a faculty member to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and was named to the UF College of Medicine Society of Teaching Scholars. He is author of numerous peer reviewed articles, abstracts and chapters, and has also co-authored seven books and two computer programs in the fields of anatomy and histology.

Also an expert on mission-based budgeting in medical education, Romrell has been tasked with organizing the data on medical student performance at the FSU College of Medicine.

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

By Doug Carlson
May 12, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida State University College of Medicine has been recognized as one of the top medical schools in the country for producing family physicians.

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) presented its Top 10 Award to FSU last week during the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine annual conference in Baltimore.

“Family physicians play an important role in our health care system and part of our mission is to identify and recruit students who understand the significance,’’ said College of Medicine Dean J. Ocie Harris. “To have the AAFP recognize us with an award of achievement in this particular aspect of our mission is especially meaningful.’’

In September, the AAFP announced that FSU’s College of Medicine rated second nationally in the number of its graduates entering family medicine residencies over the past three years. Based on a three-year average for the period ending October 2007, 17.9 percent of FSU College of Medicine graduates entered an accredited family medicine residency program. FSU was tied for No. 1 nationally in the number of graduates entering family medicine over the past year.

“This contribution is important to the specialty and, more importantly, to the health of all Americans,’’ said Dr. Perry Pugno, director of the division of medical education at the AAFP.

FSU will graduate its fourth class of medical students on Saturday, and the school’s distinction in producing family physicians will continue. Ten of the 58 students scheduled to receive their medical degrees, or 17.2 percent of the class, have been accepted into family medicine residency programs.

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255 or (850) 694-3735
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu 

May 14, 2008

The Florida State University College of Medicine will graduate its fourth class of students at a commencement ceremony on Saturday. Dr. Alma Littles, senior associate dean of the College of Medicine, will deliver the commencement address.

The 58-member Class of 2008 includes six students who benefited from College of Medicine outreach programs. The outreach programs, including Bridge, SSTRIDE and MAPS, seek to increase the enrollment of minority, rural and other students who are traditionally underrepresented in medical school and in the physician work force.

SSTRIDE (Science Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence) gives urban and rural middle- and high-school students opportunities to participate in academic enrichment activities. They are tutored and mentored by college students, most of whom are pre-med.

The undergraduate component of SSTRIDE, the only program of its kind in the state of Florida, provides comprehensive support and advising to its participants. The program focuses on FSU students interested in attending the FSU College of Medicine, many of whom are members of MAPS (Multicultural Association of Pre-Medical Students). Bridge gives College of Medicine applicants the opportunity to strengthen their skills during a post-baccalaureate year before being admitted as first-year students.

The commencement ceremony will be held:

SATURDAY, MAY 17
10 A.M.
RUBY DIAMOND AUDITORIUM
WESTCOTT BUILDING
TALLAHASSEE

May 17, 2008

Good Morning,

I consider it a privilege and an honor to have been invited to share this moment with the FSU College of Medicine’s Class of 2008. I thank you for the opportunity. I would also like to thank Dr. Harris for his support, and I join you in thanking him for staying on as Dean of the College of Medicine throughout your tenure as students here. You are the Class who moved into our newly constructed COM building in the fall of 2004 as first year students and shortly after that we had our site visit which led to our eventual full LCME accreditation. That was a really big deal for those of us who had been around a while.

Of course, you were just enjoying the fact that you’d successfully made it through your first Doctoring Class and Gross Anatomy, and were hoping your second semester would be just as successful. You had no doubts about our eventual accreditation status, as was evident in many of your profiles where you almost unanimously state that you chose to come to the FSU COM because you believed in our mission to educate and develop exemplary physicians who practice patient-centered health care, discover and advance knowledge and are responsive to community needs, especially through service to elder, rural, minority, and underserved populations.

As you complete your medical student careers and officially enter the profession, I want to share a few words about who you told us you were when you started and who we expect you to become, remembering that “to whom much is given, much is expected”. We have equipped you with some of the most advanced, high-tech, cutting edge medical knowledge and skills available in the world. But what will make the difference in your success as physicians is what comes from your heart, calling on those qualities instilled in you early in life from your family and others around you.

You came to us from all sorts of backgrounds:

A nurse assistant originally from Turkey who was involved in fundraising to help families from a devastating earthquake in Istanbul and whose experience with medical hardships in his own family gave him tremendous inspiration to become a doctor;

A youth basketball coach and rock band member originally from Brazil who once served as a missionary in East Los Angeles and chose to become a physician “to help those who could not help themselves in their most vulnerable times”;

A basketball coach for the Junior Magic League in Orlando who chose to become a physician because of the opportunity to touch people's lives;

A captain of the University of Florida’s Women’s Lacrosse team who wants to serve her community and help others;

A medical technician who spent two weeks in Honduras working with the Mosquito Indians, spent two months in Belize working in a primary-care clinic and two weeks in Nigeria at a diabetes clinic, inspired by his physician father to become a doctor;

A member of FSU Women’s Basketball team who was motivated to pursue medicine after serving three years as the public relations lead on Florida’s youth anti-smoking program;

A gentleman born in Hong-Kong, who mentored and taught piano and music theory to an underprivileged elementary school student;

A licensed medical technologist who’s life goals are to educate and to heal;

A bass guitarist who participated in a Mission trip to Belize where he played with children and helped build churches;

An Army medic; A medical assistant and former Girl Scout troupe leader; A soccer coach for children with diabetes; A University of Miami’s women’s varsity crew team member; A certified surgical technologist and certified tissue bank specialist; A research assistant and personal trainer who grew up on a farm in the woods; A Desert Storm Veteran of the US Army; A Nursing assistant, who ran cross country and track and participated in mission trips; A pediatric Registered Nurse; A member of the United States Air Force, K-9 police officer, and personal fitness trainer; Many volunteers for Habitat for Humanity; Former middle, high school and college tutors; Many who were inspired to pursue medicine after witnessing illness in family members, bystanders, or on mission trips.

In addition, eight of you participated in our College of Medicine Outreach programs, either SSTRIDE, MAPS, or Bridge.

The diversity among you has enriched the entire FSU COM and will serve to make you all better physicians. While what you brought to the COM table was diverse, you will all leave with the same credential – an MD degree from the Florida State University College of Medicine. I had the opportunity to give you an initial welcome to the profession when you received your first white coats in August 2004 and I am even more privileged to welcome you now as you receive your MD degrees and prepare to leave today as colleagues in the profession.

The degree you will receive today is much more than a piece of paper. It is much more than initials behind your name. You were reminded many times in your medical school career about the expectations that society would have of you as medical students. Those expectations will dramatically increase as you leave today with your degrees. The medical profession is a calling that is devoted to health, healing, caring and compassion. Society has entrusted us with its health and well-being and with that trust comes a responsibility that is unmatched in other professions. We are expected to meet higher standards of knowledge, skill, compassion, ethics and service.

You now join, what we still believe today, as even Hippocrates declared, is the most noble profession in the world. It is a profession filled with challenges and opportunities, moments of disappointment, years of joy. Your patients will share their innermost thoughts and life experiences with you, things they won’t share with anyone else, not parents, not children, not spouses. You get to share the joys of the birth of a baby, guide others through periods of trauma and illness, and when medicine and science can offer no more, assist your patients in dying with dignity.

Class of 2008, we have equipped you with excellent preparation for the practice of medicine. No doubt, while you may be able to put them at rest today, you have fears of what the future holds for you as, in a few short minutes, everyone begins to address you as “Doctor.” You undoubtedly have some trepidation regarding your entry into residency training.

I encourage you to remember what that hesitation feels like and never lose sight of it. You must never become too complacent with your knowledge base and skills. Medicine is an ever-changing profession and you must forever be a student for the sake of your patients.

The uncertainty you feel is normal, but I assure you that you have demonstrated the ability to succeed and we are certain you will become some of the best family physicians, internal medicine physicians, ER docs, psychiatrists, radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, ophthalmologists, urologists, dermatologists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians and obstetricians/gynecologists wherever your career takes you.

Today marks the beginning of a new identity for you. No matter what you choose to do in your future careers, whether you see patients, teach medical students or residents, work in a research laboratory, work in health policy or choose not to practice medicine at all, being a doctor will forever remain a part of your central identity. Over time, it will likely become the most important part of who you are.

You will be recognized that way, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. At the grocery store, at church, at the barber shop, hair salon, college football games, shopping malls, your childrens’ plays at school, your son’s baseball game, your daughter’s soccer game, on the beach – someone will come up to you and say something like, that’s Griffin Gaines, he’s a doctor, you know; or let me introduce you to my daughter, Nikita Wilkes; the doctor, or here comes Dr. Alci, let’s ask him what’s wrong with your hip. There will be no escape. So my advice is, embrace it and don’t try to fight it.

It defines you not just to your patients, but to your family and friends who will always consult you first for every health issue, whether it’s in your field of expertise or not. They may not always believe or accept what you tell them, but they will always consult you. Even more, it will define you to society as being someone who is quite distinct, someone who has the highest of integrity and someone they can trust. You will be the one governmental officials will call upon to offer expert advice on medical issues. Please answer their call if you get it.

The document you receive today will be a symbol of a much deeper commitment to promoting our expectations of professionalism, humanism and compassion. You may or may not remember my words from before, so I remind you again that it’s not all about YOU anymore.

You must remain committed to maintaining life-long learning skills, to putting the interests of your patients above your own, to striving to treat patients with the highest possible standards, to respecting the values, culture, and dignity of every patient and to working respectfully with other health professionals to ensure the best care for your patients.

I’ll close with just a few comments about the current challenges the medical profession faces today. Despite increasing use of diagnostic technologies and advancements in therapeutic abilities, we continue to witness increasing disparities in the delivery of health care.

Despite spending more on health care than many other developed nations we have one of the highest percentages of uninsured citizens, leading to increased morbidity and further creating disparities in infant and maternal mortality and other preventable diseases.

The threats of medical liability claims are constantly present. Reimbursement isn’t always what we feel it should be.

These challenges lead some to become disillusioned and cynical. I challenge you to beware of this pitfall, and always remember whether you’re in the Emergency Room, Operating Room, Delivery Suite, or exam room and the exam door closes, and it’s just you and your patient, this is a profession of compassion, integrity and service.

I will quote Dr. Francis Weild Peabody, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, among others, who in the early 1920’s wrote a series titled “The CARE OF THE PATIENT”, where he stated that “Time , sympathy , and understanding must be lavishly dispensed , but the reward is to be found in that personal bond which forms the greatest satisfaction of the practice of medicine”.

He ended it by stating, “One of the essential qualities of the clinician is interest in humanity, for the secret to the care of the patient is in caring for the patient”. In other words, your patients won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

From the time I was in second grade, I knew I wanted to become a doctor. There were many, given the underserved environment I was in, who thought that was an impossible dream. However, I never stopped dreaming it. And it was the support of family members, church members, teachers and friends who encouraged me to continue on that made it possible for me to have my dream fulfilled. Many of you likely have similar stories of overcoming obstacles to get where you are today.

I encourage you to never forget who those individuals are and to let them know how much you appreciate their support along the way. I also ask that as you go on to do great things in your careers that you never forget those who will be coming behind you and need your support and encouragement to succeed as well. Remember “to whom much is given, much is expected”.

In closing, as Alan Kay, American computer scientist, researcher and visionary once said, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it”. Therefore, I admonish you to go out and face the challenges of the profession head-on and do your part to make the necessary changes to provide the best quality care to all citizens. America's healthcare and that of the world is depending on each of you making an impact.

CONGRATULATIONS!

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu

By Doug Carlson
June 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Researchers know that early intervention is the key to better outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but the effectiveness of intervention with very young toddlers is not yet known.

With a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health, Florida State University and University of Michigan researchers aim to find out how effective early intervention is for children diagnosed with ASD by the time they are 18 months old. The study is one of the largest of its kind and one of the first to explore intervention in children that young.

Amy Wetherby, professor of clinical sciences and director of the FSU Autism Institute in the College of Medicine, is principal investigator on the NIMH grant along with UM Professor Catherine Lord.

“A preliminary study at FSU demonstrated the feasibility and promising results of this early intervention,” Wetherby said. “With the new funding from NIMH, we will be able to train researchers at the University of Michigan on early intervention and conduct a large-scale study to examine the impact on toddlers with ASD and their families. The findings will underscore the importance of early detection of ASD leading to early intervention.”

Wetherby and Lord, the director of UM’s Autism and Communications Disorders Center, will recruit 100 toddlers younger than 18 months old who have been diagnosed with ASD. Previous research has shown that children 3 to 5 years old with ASD have the best outcomes if they are actively engaged in intervention at least 25 hours a week. Because children with ASD typically are not diagnosed prior to age 3, research is not available on the effectiveness of earlier intervention.

“The future for children with ASD is changing every day as we create more services to support their strengths and address or prevent difficulties,” Lord said. “As we develop ways of identifying ASD in younger and younger children, we must develop treatment methods and family supports that are appropriate for toddlers. This is the purpose of this study.”

The researchers expect that the study will provide important evidence of parent-implemented intervention for toddlers and will substantiate that autism screening for toddlers is crucial for families to access early intervention.

Symptoms of ASD at 18 months old include a lack of appropriate gaze; lack of using eye gaze with sounds, gestures and facial expression; lack of sharing interest or enjoyment; lack of response to name; lack of warm, joyful expressions; lack of showing or pointing gestures to get others to notice objects or things of interest; unusual melody of speech or babbling; and repetitive movements with objects or with the body.

No single red flag indicates that a child has ASD, and a child with ASD may not show all of these characteristics, according to Wetherby and Lord. However, children who show several should be screened for possible ASD.

Parents of 16- to 20-month-old children suspected of having ASD who are interested in participating in the study should call the FSU FIRST WORDS Project at (850) 488-5780 or the UM Autism and Communication Disorders Center at (743) 936-8600.

This August 1st and 2nd, representatives from the College of Medicine will be participating in the Florida Medical Association's Annual Meeting and Expo at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando.  If you're planning to attend, we invite you to stop by booth 100 and pick up one of our recent publications along with a College of Medicine coffee mug. For more information on the FMA Meeting & Expo, visit http://www.fmaonline.org/annualmtg08/.