CONTACT:
Brad Schmidt, (850) 644-1707; schmidt@psy.fsu.edu
or Natalie Sachs-Ericsson, (850) 644-4576; sachs@psy.fsu.edu

By Jill Elish
December 2009

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Every New Year, many smokers resolve to kick the habit but older smokers may have a leg up on their younger counterparts, according to Florida State University researchers who developed an intensive 16-week cessation program.

Psychology professors Natalie Sachs-Ericsson and Brad Schmidt surveyed 88 smokers participating in the cessation program and found that older smokers were more likely to cite health concerns as the reason they wanted to quit, while younger smokers were more motivated by financial reasons or the desire to prove their self-control.

“Many of the older smokers have significant health problems,” Schmidt said. “When there is the combination of a health issue and distress about that issue, we see a high motivation to quit. Young people intellectually understand the health risks of smoking, but these risks do not appear to be sufficiently salient in terms of what it takes to get them to quit.”

Consequently, it’s the older smokers — defined as those 55 and older — who are having more success in quitting. Of 37 participants — 19 of whom were over 55 and 18 younger — who had completed a follow up at least one month after the treatment, 68.4 percent of the older participants were smoke-free versus 44.4 percent of younger smokers.

“The older smokers have so much more work to do because they have been smoking longer, smoke more and are more addicted,” Sachs-Ericsson said. “They are very distressed about their health. But it is this very distress and concern for their health that plays a pivotal role in their motivation to quit.”

The findings are significant because current treatment plans do not consider different motivations for quitting across the lifespan, according to Schmidt and Sachs-Ericsson. They are now developing a proposal for a unique new treatment plan that specifically targets older smokers.

“The needs of individuals and effective tools in smoking cessation treatments may differ depending on the age of the individual,” Sachs-Ericsson said. “We believe we may have an even higher rate of smoking cessation success among older adults if we would more directly address their health concerns and the considerable benefits they will experience, even at a late age, from smoking cessation.”

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disability in North America, but overcoming nicotine addiction is very difficult without a multifaceted strategy such as the one the Florida State program employs, according to Schmidt.

The researchers, in collaboration with College of Medicine Assistant Professor Mary Gerend, developed the cessation program with a $375,000, three-year grant from the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program. It includes education, group sessions with a therapist and nicotine replacement therapy, also known as “the patch.”

Daily smokers between the ages of 18 and 65 who are in good health are eligible to participate in the program. Participants are expected to attend screening appointments, weekly group sessions and follow-up appointments. In return, they will receive free nicotine patches and can earn up to $120 for taking part in the assessments.

For more information, call the Anxiety and Behavioral Health Clinic at (850) 645-1766 or visit

www.anxietyclinic.fsu.edu/research.htm

After a national search, Richard Nowakowski, Ph.D., has accepted an offer to join the Florida State University as professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Medicine.

Dr. Nowakowski, whose leadership of the department will begin officially in March, is currently a professor of neuroscience and cell biology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J., and the New Jersey Professor of Spinal Cord Research. He also directs the medical school’s postdoctoral career development program.

With a wealth of experience ranging from his own funded research projects and service on grant review panels to teaching and editing, Nowakowski joins the FSU College of Medicine at an opportune time.

“It is clear that the next decade will bring revolutionary changes in the structure of medical schools, the economy and also science,” he said. “These changes will be layered on top of the major scientific revolution of the past decade, specifically the sequencing of genomes that has quite literally changed the world of biology.”

Nowakowski, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, earned a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University. He completed his postgraduate education at Duke University and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry.

“I am very pleased that this distinguished scientist and teacher is joining our ranks,” said College of Medicine Dean Dr. John Fogarty. “He has a national reputation as a scholar and mentor and is the perfect candidate to continue to build and expand upon our initial research success. His extensive background and experience in research, medical education and academic leadership will serve the department well into our next decade.”

After joining the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1985, Nowakowski spent 20 years as neuroscience course director for the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School while also teaching neuroscience and genetics. For the past five years, he also has served as director for the history of neuroscience course taught to Rutgers University graduate students.

The named chair for senior faculty funded by the New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research provides support for his work on an analysis of the cell cycle and stem cell proliferation after spinal cord injury.

Nowakowski takes leadership of a department that has made significant contributions to the 500-percent increase in overall research grant funding at the FSU College of Medicine since 2002. Research in the department of biomedical sciences focuses on the molecular basis of human disease and, in addition to faculty, currently provides learning and mentoring opportunities for more than 100 undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows.

His hiring concludes an exhaustive search.

“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the faculty and staff that participated in the search process and helped bring it to a successful conclusion,” Fogarty said. “I would especially like to thank Dr. Ken Brummel-Smith, who chaired the search committee, and all the members of his committee for their dedication and diligence in helping us recruit our newest chair.”

CONTACT: Lei Zhu
(850) 645-6813
lzhu@fsu.edu

By Barry Ray
January 2010

A team of Florida State University researchers will use a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a way to measure levels of the trace metal zinc in the human body.

Scientists have long known that zinc plays a critical role in numerous biochemical processes, but exactly how it works has never been clear, due partly to the lack of an effective means for measuring its varying levels of concentration.

Led by Lei Zhu, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, the Florida State team received the grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of 27 research centers and institutes that comprise the NIH. They will work to develop a method for measuring the levels of zinc ions (Zn2+) in biological samples through an analytical process known as fluorescence microscopy.

“Zinc is essential for a wide variety of physiological functions within the human body,” Zhu said. “Just to cite a few examples, it plays a major role in cell division, the synthesis of DNA, the production of proteins and enzymes, and proper immune function. However, we still don’t have a solid understanding of the mechanisms behind these biological processes, or even of how much daily intake of zinc is required in the human diet.”

Complicating matters is the fact that Zn2+ levels aren’t uniform throughout the body. While an average adult’s body may contain from 2 to 4 grams of the mineral, most of that can be found in a few key places — the brain, kidneys, liver, bones and muscles — with the highest concentration located in the eyes and the prostate gland in men.

“The successful completion of this research project will result in a valuable new technique for measuring the distribution of Zn2+ ions in various biological systems throughout the body,” Zhu said. “This in turn could help other scientists to identify therapeutic targets for diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to the disruption of zinc homeostasis.”

Building on previous findings in Zhu’s laboratory, he and his colleagues will seek to design and prepare new, fluorescent probe molecules that will bind to Zn2+ ions over broad concentration ranges, thus allowing for far greater sensitivity and accuracy in measuring the levels of zinc found in biological samples. In particular, the researchers hope to use the probe molecules to measure zinc levels in neurons found in a part of the brain known as the hippocampus. A better understanding of zinc’s neurochemical role in the hippocampus could one day lead to more effective treatments for depression, autism, schizophrenia and other disorders.

Other Florida State researchers working with Zhu on the NIGMS project are Cathy W. Levenson, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences within the College of Medicine; and Michael W. Davidson, a research associate at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and one of the world’s foremost experts in the field of optical microscopy.

Zhu, whose own research typically focuses on the areas of organic chemistry and materials science, expressed excitement about the opportunity to work with scientists from other disciplines whose knowledge complements his own.

“Cathy is an expert in neurosciences and has contributed greatly to our understanding of the effects of zinc on the function of brain neurons,” Zhu said. “And Mike is one of the best microscopists in the world. I’m happy that we can work together to tackle such a complicated scientific problem, which has elements of synthetic chemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, microscopy, cell biology and neuroscience.”

An abstract of the team’s research project, titled “Development of Sensitive Fluorescent Probes for Physiological Zn2+ Over Large Concentration Ranges,” is available at http://tr.im/L88I.

March 1, 2010

Richard Nowakowski is not only the new chair of Biomedical Sciences but also the first Randolph L. Rill Professor of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine.

This is the medical school’s first named professorship. Different from “Distinguished Research Professor” and other titles, a named professorship at Florida State University generally honors a past member of a department’s faculty. It requires the provost’s approval.

Rill, a founding member of the College of Medicine’s faculty, died last year. He established the biochemistry content of the medical curriculum, played a key role in establishing the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program, served as its director, and wrote the successful proposal for the M.S. in Biomedical Sciences Bridge to Clinical Sciences degree for our Bridge program. The first Bridge students to earn M.S. degrees will graduate this spring.

Rill’s widow, Louise Rill, wrote in a letter to Dean John P. Fogarty that the family greatly appreciated this acknowledgment of her husband’s work.

“Randy was inspired by his students and grateful for his fine colleagues in a profession that he loved,” she wrote. “A named professorship in the Department of Biomedical Sciences is a wonderful tribute that he would find a deep honor.”

Nowakowski this week officially began his role as Biomedical Sciences chair. The eminent neuroscientist earned tenure moving up through the academic ranks at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of New Jersey. He has had a very successful career in research and teaching, earning the recognition of his peers in awards, grants and contracts, publications, study section memberships and more. He has held a named chair at the RWJ Medical School.

“He has earned the stature required of a named professor at Florida State University,” Dean Fogarty said.

CONTACT:
Ron Hartung, (850) 645-9205; ronald.hartung@med.fsu.edu
Marshall B. Kapp, (850) 645-9260; marshall.kapp@med.fsu.edu

By Ron Hartung
March 2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida State University Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine & Law has been established to promote cooperation between two professions that often view each other warily.

The center, a joint effort of Florida State’s College of Medicine and College of Law, is based in the medical school. Marshall Kapp, previously the Garwin Distinguished Professor of Law and Medicine at the Southern Illinois University Schools of Law and Medicine, has been named its director.

“Its unique mission is collaboration starting at the student level, through the practitioner level, through the policy level — collaboration on behalf of the consumer, who’s the doctor’s patient and the lawyer’s client,” said Kapp, who is also a professor in the medical school’s Department of Geriatrics, a courtesy professor in the law school and an affiliate of the Claude Pepper Institute at Florida State.

“Many law schools have health-law centers; many medical schools have medical humanities departments that touch upon legal issues. But I think both in terms of its potential educational program and projects it might do, this mission is unique for an academic enterprise.”

Kapp, who has a law degree and a master’s degree in public health, also is professor emeritus from Wright State University School of Medicine and for more than 20 years was on the adjunct faculty at the University of Dayton School of Law. He is current editor of the American College of Legal Medicine’s Journal of Legal Medicine and serves on the editorial boards of several other major journals in health law. He has published and spoken extensively on topics in health law, medical ethics, and law and aging.

Kapp said the idea for the center arose from informal conversations among faculty members at the medical and law schools.

“One of the premises of the new center is that, yes, there’s a certain innate distrust, and we’re not going to make everybody love each other, but we’re going to try to break down the barriers enough to at least identify the areas where we can work together,” Kapp said.

Among the center’s constituents, he said, will be policymakers, both public (such as legislators) and private (such as insurance companies).

“As an academic institution, we can present information and counsel without having our own agenda, other than wanting to benefit consumers — patients and clients,” he said. “I think if we can establish that credibility, legislators will come to us. Whether we do briefings, programs or publications for the policymakers, they will see what we have to say on issues.”

Among the many issues the center will address, he said, is end-of-life care.

“That issue is a good example of a situation where doctors’ anxieties and apprehensions about the law and their own legal exposure influence how they treat patients,” Kapp said. “So through this center, I want to identify those kinds of issues and ask: What are their apprehensions? Where do doctors get these legal fears? Are they justifiably worried, or is it a matter of misunderstanding and missing information? If that’s the case, then one remedy is education. And to the extent that doctors are justifiably fearful, to the extent that the law actually does work at cross purposes with ethics and medicine, what can we recommend to policymakers to change the law?”

Perhaps the best-known fault line between medicine and law, Kapp noted, is the debate over medical malpractice.

“The two primary objectives of the current system are to compensate people who are, through no fault of their own, injured while receiving medical care, and to improve medical care, to deter bad practice,” he said. “The question is: What’s the best way to achieve those two objectives? Is it the current tort system, or is it some other system? You can’t really talk a lot about collaboration between the two professions and ignore the liability concerns.”

But the field of medicine and law is much broader than just the liability question, he said, and there is much for this new center to explore.

John Fogarty, dean of the College of Medicine, is enthusiastic about the possibilities.

“This new center provides Florida State University an incredible opportunity to truly build collaborative programs between our medical school and law school that should set the national model,” Fogarty said. “Sharing faculty and resources and providing expertise and frameworks for looking at the difficult ethical, moral and health care-related concerns of our society should be a great benefit to our university and our state.”

Donald Weidner, dean of the College of Law, is equally optimistic.

“We hope to help bridge the gap between the professions of law and medicine,” he said, “to improve the health and justice systems for all our citizens.”

March 3, 2010

The College of Medicine and four other colleges at The Florida State University joined together March 2 to host “Healing and the Arts: Space Between Breaths,” an event that explored ways in which loss and grief can serve as a motivational force in people’s lives.

The centerpiece of the event was a 2 p.m. screening of the film “Space Between Breaths.” Featuring conversations with parents who have experienced the death of a child, including parents who lost children at Columbine, on Sept. 11 and in the Iraq war, the documentary offered a healing perspective on loss.

Two-time Grammy-nominated recording artist Cindy Bullens, who contributed the musical score for the film, performed live following the film presentation. The event concluded with a panel discussion that included Bullens; Luther and Rosemary Smith, producers of “Space Between Breaths”; Nick Mazza, interim dean of the College of Social Work; Sally Karioth, professor of nursing; Mindi Rojas, an art therapist at Big Bend Hospice; Dr. Harold Bland, a pediatrician and interim chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Medicine; and Darcy Walworth, assistant professor of music therapy.

“This allows us to share with our community an event that highlights the resilience of families that have had significant losses in their lives,” said Pam Graham, associate professor of the College of Social Work, who coordinated the event.

It was sponsored by the colleges of Medicine, Music, Nursing, Social Work and Visual Arts, Theatre and Dance. Physicians were able to earn Continuing Medical Education credits for attending.

March 12, 2010

On Thursday, members of the Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2010 will find out where they will receive residency training – a defining moment in their medical careers – during a Match Day ceremony.

During the ceremony, the students will simultaneously open envelopes, learning for the first time where they will spend the next three to seven years completing training in the medical specialty they will practice. Graduating students at M.D.-granting medical schools across the United States receive their match information at the same time through the National Residency Matching Program, the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at U.S. teaching hospitals.

The ceremony will take place:

THURSDAY, MARCH 18
NOON
AUDITORIUM
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, 1115 W. CALL ST.

CONTACT: Doug Carlson
(850) 645-1255 or (850) 694-3735
doug.carlson@med.fsu.edu
By Doug Carlson
March 18, 2010

Watch the Match Day ceremony

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— All 94 students in The Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2010 received notification today of where they will enter residency training or continue their education this summer after graduation.

Fifty-two of 93 graduating students, or 56 percent, are entering residency in primary care specialties, including family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics/gynecology. One of the 94 graduates is choosing to spend a year conducting research before entering residency.

“With an increasing need for primary care physicians in Florida, it is rewarding to see that more than half of our graduates will be entering primary care fields,” said Dr. John Fogarty, dean of the College of Medicine. “Many others matched in areas where Florida has great needs, such as surgery and emergency medicine, providing for the future of our physician workforce.”

Other students matched in anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, pathology, psychiatry, radiation oncology, diagnostic radiology, general surgery, vascular surgery, orthopedic surgery and urology.

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.

April 1, 2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A Florida State University and internationally recognized leader in the study of autism-related disorders has been recognized as a Distinguished Research Professor – one of the university’s highest faculty honors.

Amy Wetherby, director of the Autism Institute and a faculty member in the Department of Clinical Sciences at the College of Medicine, was recognized for her significant contributions to the study of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Wetherby currently is principal investigator for more than $12 million in federally funded grants dedicated to better understanding and treatment of ASD.

She becomes the second faculty member since the medical school’s founding in 2000 to be recognized with the Distinguished Research Professor award. In 2009, the same recognition was given to Suzanne Johnson, formerly chair of the medical school’s Department of Medical Humanities and Social Sciences.

Wetherby received the honor, which includes a $10,000 award, during Thursday’s 2010 Faculty Awards Ceremony at the Augustus Turnbull III Florida State Conference Center.

The title of Distinguished Research Professor is the third highest faculty award at Florida State, following the Robert O. Lawton and Daisy Parker Flory awards. A select panel of current Distinguished Research Professors vets the nominations, submitted by faculty peers, for presentation to the university president. Joining Wetherby in receiving the recognition for 2010 are: William C. Burnett, Oceanography; Bruce R. Locke, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering; and Per Arne Rikvold, Physics.

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

By Doug Carlson
April 7, 2010

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — From an initial group of 30 students and borrowed classroom space to a current enrollment of 451 students and a $60 million, state-of-the-art main campus, the Florida State University College of Medicine has come a long way in 10 years.

The college will celebrate its 10th anniversary April 9-10 at the Program In Medical Sciences (PIMS) and College of Medicine Alumni Reunion Weekend. Special guests include members of the inaugural Class of 2005 and Florida State President Emeritus Talbot “Sandy “ D’Alemberte, who will present “The History of the College of Medicine: From Ideas to Outcomes,” at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the College of Medicine Auditorium. A reception in the atrium will follow.

D’Alemberte helped guide the medical school through a tumultuous accreditation process. The success of that effort led to changes that paved the way for more new medical schools in the United States. The creation of a medical school at Florida State was a contentious political battle during the spring 2000 legislative session. Backed by research highlighting the need for more U.S. physicians — especially those who would practice primary care — the College of Medicine at Florida State was approved and signed into law by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.

With administrative offices housed in trailers and using the nursing school’s classroom space, the first new medical school in the United States in nearly a quarter-century opened its doors in May 2001. During Friday’s anniversary celebration, the College of Medicine will highlight many of its accomplishments during the first 10 years, including:

• Nearly 60 percent of graduates to date have entered primary care residency programs, consistent with the medical school’s mission.
• Two-thirds of graduates to complete residency training are practicing in Florida, with most of those working in primary care.
• The research program, begun in 2002, has experienced a more than 600 percent increase in grant funding despite a difficult economic climate.
• Through planned growth, the college will reach full enrollment of 480 in May.
• Regional campuses have been opened in six Florida cities, allowing for the one-on-one clinical training in community settings that sets the Florida State College of Medicine apart from other medical schools.
• More than 1,500 community physicians across the state are teaching third- and fourth-year students.

D’Alemberte, former College of Medicine Dean J. Ocie Harris, current Dean John P. Fogarty and members of the first graduating class will be available to the media on Friday. For a complete list of reunion weekend activities at the College of Medicine, visit the Alumni Reunion Page.