CONTACT: Melissa Powell
(850) 645-9699; melissa.powell@med.fsu.edu

October 2017

FSU RESEARCHER LOOKING FOR CLUES ABOUT SCHIZOPHRENIA WITH NIH GRANT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida State University researcher has received a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study potential molecular therapies for schizophrenia.

The human brain’s 10 billion nerve cells communicate by transmitting signals through tiny connections known as synapses. Disruptions in those transmissions are an underlying cause of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric diseases.

This new grant will allow Yi Zhou, associate professor of biomedical sciences at FSU’s College of Medicine, to study a brain protein that may be critical in maintaining proper synaptic transmission.

Zhou previously found that inhibiting a protein called 14-3-3 also inhibits synaptic function in the brain. Inhibiting 14-3-3 disrupts nerve cell signals and brain circuitry, leading to schizophrenia-associated behaviors such as social withdrawal, hyperactivity and learning and memory deficits in mouse models.

“This 14-3-3 family protein is very abundant in the brain, and nobody really knows what exactly it does,” Zhou said. “We do know it binds to other proteins and modulates the function of those proteins. We are trying to figure out what it regulates that leads to synaptic deficits and behavior deficits.”

Restoring function in this regulatory protein could potentially serve as a therapy for schizophrenia down the line. Schizophrenia patients may suffer from a wide range of symptoms — including disorganized speech and behavior as well as hallucinations and delusions associated with psychosis, a detachment from external reality.

“Right now, the only treatment we have for schizophrenia is for psychosis,” Zhou said. “There’s no cure for other symptoms because we don’t really understand the neurocircuitry or neurobiology behind that. We are trying to figure out what causes the disease. Is there a better molecular target we can find to treat it in the future?”

Because nerve cells don’t work in isolation, scientists strive to understand whole brain circuits and network activity in different regions of the brain. One goal of Zhou’s project is pinpointing where 14-3-3 originates and following its path of protein interactions. That may help identify molecular pathways that can be specifically targeted by drug therapy.

“We are trying to address the fundamental questions to understand the neurobiological, molecular, synaptic and circuit basis. Can we find something wrong that can translate to therapy in the future? This 14-3-3 protein is just one of the keys to open the door.”

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CONTACT: Amy Farnum-Patronis
(850) 645-1294; afarnumpatronis@fsu.edu

October 2017

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University’s continuing efforts to promote diversity and inclusion have earned national recognition for the fourth consecutive year.

Florida State received the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. FSU also won the award in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

“Diversity and inclusion is more than just a strategic goal at Florida State University — it’s at the heart of everything we do as an institution,” said President John Thrasher. “Receiving this award for the fourth consecutive year reflects our ongoing university-wide efforts to further develop a welcoming, cohesive campus environment.”

Florida State’s comprehensive plan to unite efforts for diversity and inclusion began in 2007-2008 with the vision of being a university and workplace of choice. As a part of that plan, the President’s Diversity and Inclusion Council was created.

The council is made up of faculty, staff and students who have demonstrated a commitment to diversity, inclusion and social justice and is championed by a steering committee composed of division vice presidents and senior staff members. Members of the council work throughout the year on a number of initiatives, including efforts to recruit and retain a diverse faculty, staff and student body.

Among the steps the university has taken to implement its continuing initiative to improve diversity and inclusion are including it as a standalone goal in its five-year strategic plan; launching the #PowerOfWe, a student-driven, university-wide diversity and inclusion campaign; and contracting with the National Coalition Building Institute to establish the university as an affiliate and develop a campus team.

“This award is a testament to our university’s ongoing commitment to celebrating and valuing our community’s differences and similarities,” said Renisha Gibbs, associate vice president for Human Resources and the university’s chief diversity officer. “Being recognized for the fourth consecutive year inspires us to work even harder to realize our vision of a cohesive, diverse and inclusive community.”

In addition, Florida State’s College of Medicine earned distinction as one of 24 recipients of the Health Professions HEED Award — a national honor recognizing U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing and allied health schools that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. FSU is the only medical school from the state of Florida to receive the award.

Among the factors considered in the College of Medicine’s recognition are its successful outreach programs, created to help achieve its mission to “develop exemplary physicians who are responsive to community needs, especially through service to elder, rural, minority and underserved populations.”

The pipeline programs have been instrumental in producing a diverse student body — the College of Medicine is the only medical school in the United States among the Top 10 for enrollment of both black and Hispanic students. The pipeline programs also have helped FSU recruit medical students from rural areas, increasing the chances that alumni physicians will choose to practice in those Florida communities where recruiting new doctors can be a struggle.

“Everything we do starts with our mission,” said FSU College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty. “Our outreach programs have brought us many outstanding students who otherwise might never have found the path to medical school. They are excelling for us as both leaders in the classroom and as alumni who are meeting Florida’s health-care needs. The HEED Award is a wonderful affirmation for all of the people here who are working so hard to achieve our noble mission.”

The HEED Award is the only national honor for U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

HEED Award institutions were selected based on their exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives that focus on all aspects of diversity, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community. As a recipient of the annual HEED Award, Florida State will be featured in the November 2017 issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, while the College of Medicine will be highlighted in the December 2017 issue.

Earlier this year, Florida State was recognized for the second time by the magazine as one of 10 Diversity Champion colleges and universities in the nation. Diversity Champions exemplify an unyielding commitment to diversity and inclusion throughout their campus communities, across academic programs and at the highest administrative levels.

For more information about the 2017 HEED Award, visit http://www.insightintodiversity.com. For more information on Florida State’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, visit hr.fsu.edu/diversity.

MEDIA ADVISORY

CONTACT: Jessica Valceus
(561-542-3025); jv15g@med.fsu.edu

Nov. 29, 2017

FLORIDA STATE MEDICAL STUDENTS TO HOLD HIV/AIDS AWARENESS
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL

In observance of World AIDS Day and the beginning of AIDS Awareness Month, the FSU College of Medicine’s Student National Medical Association will host its third annual HIV/AIDS Awareness Candlelight Vigil on Friday, Dec. 1.

The candlelight vigil is meant to honor the lives of those affected by HIV and AIDS and raise awareness of prevention, early detection, and treatment options. Free mobile HIV testing will be offered from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, and 1 in 7 are unaware that they are infected.

The vigil will take place:

FRIDAY, DEC. 1
6 P.M.
FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE ATRIUM
1115 W. CALL ST.
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.

The event will bring together a variety of student and community organizations:
• Black Women in Medicine
• Bond Community Health Center
• Florida Health
• Gays, Lesbians and Allies Advancing Medicine (GLAAM)
• Kappa Psi Psi Healthcare
• Minority Alliance Advocating Community Awareness and Action (MAACA)
• Med Life
• Students Interested in Global Health (SIGH)
• University Health Services
• Women Student Union

Directions to the FSU College of Medicine: From downtown, travel west on Tennessee Street and turn left on Stadium Drive. Parking is available in the parking garage at Stadium Drive and Spirit Way.

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

Jan. 17, 2018

Members of the Florida State University College of Medicine’s first physician assistant class will receive white coats this week in a traditional ceremony symbolizing professional competence and human compassion.

The ceremony will take place:

The College of Medicine graduated its first class of M.D. students in 2005. In August, the college’s new School of Physician Assistant Practice welcomed its first 40 PA students.

PAs provide another layer of primary-care providers capable of strengthening the College of Medicine’s commitment to improving access to care in Florida and beyond. They work as part of a health care team under a physician’s supervision. Students in the FSU PA program spend 27 months learning within the same network of faculty physicians who teach FSU medical students.

CONTACT: Melissa Powell, College of Medicine
(850) 645-9699; melissa.powell@med.fsu.edu

January 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University College of Medicine researcher Michelle Arbeitman is exploring the elaborate courtship displays of male fruit flies to better understand how one’s genetic makeup influences a range of complex behaviors.

Arbeitman has received two grants totaling $2.2 million from the National Institutes of Health. One focuses on genes and epigenetic changes that cause behavioral differences between males and females. The other looks at the nervous system and how different neuronal connections make males and females behave differently.

“The genetics of behavior is an area of research where there are still many unanswered questions, even in a relatively simple model system such as the fruit fly,” Arbeitman said. “It’s important to understand how these processes work, because defects in them will be informative about how mental health and behavioral disorders arise in humans.”

One molecular-genetic mechanism she’s exploring is how DNA modifications that change during the life of an organism — that is, epigenetic changes — occur in response to sex differences and different experiences. Example: the male fruit fly that is rejected by a female.

Scientists previously discovered that a single regulatory gene called fruitless produces male-specific proteins necessary for male reproductive behaviors in fruit flies.

“Things like the environment, sex differences, the stage of development, life experiences and nutrition contribute to differences in DNA modification,” Arbeitman said. “For example, these DNA modifications change during learning and memory formation in humans and the fruit fly. DNA modifications may also underlie adverse life events in humans, like stress and long-term drug addiction.

“What fruitless does is recruit chromatin-modifying enzymes to different regions of the genome, which establishes whether a gene is likely to be turned on. We think that fruitless both specifies the potential for behavior and the maintenance of the potential for the behavior through epigenetic modifications of DNA.”

Her team’s findings may help lay a foundation to better understand human neurological diseases. In certain mental health and behavioral disorders, various genes can be turned on or off due to epigenetic changes, causing them to switch away from their normal or healthy state.

In her second study — backed by a four-year, $1.2 million NIH grant — Arbeitman will also use the fruit fly to study sex-specific differences in neural circuit formation in the brain and how those differences drive reproductive behaviors.

Male and female fruit flies have very similar neuronal architecture, even in the neurons that specify differences in reproductive behaviors.

“The major question here is to understand how differences in males and females arise when neurons get wired together differently during development,” she said.

Arbeitman has previously identified a family of molecules that has an important function in male courtship behaviors.

“We’re studying a set of molecules that direct neuronal connectivity by serving as landmarks to tell one neuron to connect to another,” she said. “It’s not just connections, but also how strong those connections are. We think these differences ultimately create the vastly different behaviors seen in males and females.”

CONTACT: Ron Hartung
850-645-9205; ronald.hartung@med.fsu.edu

January 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State University’s research reputation is set to receive a boost with the arrival of a highly regarded behavioral researcher whose focus includes improving the health of minority adolescents.

Sylvie Naar, described as a “force of nature” by her department head in the College of Medicine, has been hired to direct FSU’s new Center for Translational Behavioral Research.

“Dr. Naar is a world-class researcher with a long track record of significant research contributions in the behavioral health sciences,” said Gary Ostrander, FSU’s vice president for Research. “We are excited about the possibilities that this new translational center will bring to our community.”

Jeffrey Joyce, the College of Medicine’s senior associate dean for research and graduate programs, agreed.

“This hire shapes our vision of expanding campuswide, collaborative research,” he said. “She is an internationally recognized expert in reducing health disparities through behavioral interventions, something that fits well with our mission.”

Naar is moving to Tallahassee from Detroit, where she was professor and director of the Division of Behavioral Sciences at Wayne State University. Her FSU title is Distinguished Endowed Professor in Behavioral Health in the medical school’s Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine.

“I feel so welcomed and appreciated here, and I already feel like the fit is perfect,” Naar said. “I am thankful every day that I can do what I love, merge my passion for scientific inquiry with helping those most in need, and I am doing this in an environment filled with people who have the same passion and mission. The translation of science to real-world practice to improve mental and physical health is why I became a clinical health psychologist.”

Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine Chair Les Beitsch said Naar’s work will fill a void in the department.

“What’s been missing,” he said, “is a way to take the findings and the ideas that people have and immediately test them to see if they can improve people’s lives. That’s what translational research is about. Dr. Naar has been doing that her entire career and now has this huge research enterprise. She’s passionate about what she does.”

Naar is an expert at writing grants that assemble teams of researchers from across the country. Her resume lists 10 active national or international grants and contracts, with total costs exceeding $17 million. In half of those, she has the top role of principal investigator. They involve HIV-related self-management among youth, adherence to asthma medication among urban African-American adolescents, diabetes care in minority youth, and alcohol and food consumption in female college students who have experienced dating or sexual violence, among other topics.

“What I’m most excited about is that translational piece — relatively modest tweaks on interventions tried in a population that needs those services at a very early stage, and seeing what works,” Beitsch said. “Getting them out into the community as soon as possible is really exciting. The timeline that people used to use is 17 years from bench to bedside” — that is, from a researcher’s lab to a patient’s life. “This is more like 17 months.”

Heather Flynn, the department’s vice chair for research, said Naar’s focus on minority health fits well within the college’s and department’s mission. On the other hand, Naar’s focus on adolescent behavioral health and on intervention, or applied research, helps fill a gap in the department.

In addition, she said, Naar’s work is applicable to a broad range of conditions.

“Her multifaceted intervention approach cuts across different populations and diagnoses,” Flynn said. “For example, she’s not doing an intervention that applies only to HIV risk prevention or only alcohol use or only obesity risk. Her interventions can affect a variety of outcomes.

“I have more of the mental health piece, and she brings more of the behavioral health piece — physical activity, diet, exercise, substance use. All these things go together, so I can really see us beginning to collaborate.”

Flynn got the ball rolling on Naar’s move to FSU. She has known Naar about 10 years because both attend conferences and conduct training in a therapeutic technique called motivational interviewing. Only more recently did Flynn discover that Naar’s other research interests paralleled some of her own. She invited Naar to speak at the College of Medicine in April — and one thing led to another.

Flynn said the department had much to offer:

“We have a lot of different kinds of behavioral health faculty — and that’s very unique,” she said. “Dr. Naar can capitalize on the growing FSU Clinical Research Network, and she will have access to populations not always available in a traditional medical school.”

Flynn said Naar really cares about the people in her research studies.

“She’s one of the most inclusive, down-to-earth people I’ve met,” Flynn said. “We’re just so fortunate that this worked out.”

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

Angel Neubrand, BayCare Medical Group
(863) 291-6736; angel.neubrand@baycare.org

Feb. 2, 2018

FSU COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND WINTER HAVEN HOSPITAL TO ANNOUNCE NEW FAMILY HEALTH RESIDENCY PROGRAM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida State University College of Medicine and Winter Haven Hospital have partnered to provide additional health care access in Polk County.

The partnership establishes a residency program, also known as graduate medical education, for family health physicians.
Media and community stakeholders are invited to attend an announcement of the partnership that will feature guest speakers including FSU President John Thrasher and College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty, M.D.
The announcement will take place:

FRIDAY, FEB. 9
NOON
WINTER HAVEN HOSPITAL AUDITORIUM
200 AVENUE F NE
WINTER HAVEN, FLA.

Attendees are encouraged to use valet parking services at the main entrance of the hospital. Directions and navigation assistance to the auditorium will be provided at the main entrance. Speakers will be available for interviews following the program.

About Florida State University College of Medicine
The FSU College of Medicine was founded in 2000 with a 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.

About Winter Haven Hospital
Established in 1926, Winter Haven Hospital is a 529-bed facility accredited by the Joint Commission. More than 300 board-certified physicians comprise its medical staff, covering specialties such as orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, open heart and emergency services.

About BayCare
In 2013, Winter Haven Hospital joined the Tampa Bay area-based BayCare Health System, a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 15 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care and wellness.

MEDIA ADVISORY

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

March 14, 2018

On Friday, members of the Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2018 will find out where they will receive residency training — a defining moment in their medical careers — during a Match Day ceremony.

 The students will simultaneously open envelopes, learning for the first time where they will spend the next several 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 Resident Matching Program, the primary system that matches applicants to residency programs with available positions at teaching hospitals in the United States.

The ceremony will take place:

The ceremony can also be viewed online. Visit http://med.fsu.edu/matchday for parking and map information, as well as details about the webcast.

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

March 16, 2018
 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Graduating students in the Florida State University College of Medicine Class of 2018 received notification today of where they will enter residency training this summer.

Of the 108 graduating students who registered in the matching program, 58 (54 percent) matched in a primary care specialty, including internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology.

Other students matched today in emergency medicine, general surgery, psychiatry, anesthesiology, orthopedic surgery, neurology, otolaryngology, child neurology, diagnostic radiology, ophthalmology, plastic surgery, radiation oncology and urology.

Eight students matched in Tallahassee, including five with residency programs sponsored by the College of Medicine. All eight will be training at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.

Forty-three students matched in Florida, a state that ranks 42nd nationally in the number of available residency slots. Of those, seven matched with programs sponsored by the FSU College of Medicine (the five in Tallahassee, plus one in internal medicine at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and one in family medicine at Lee Health in Fort Myers).

“Our students continue to match with wonderful programs in Florida and throughout the country,” said College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty. “I’m also pleased that seven of our graduates matched in residency programs that we’ve started in the past seven years. That means more doctors for Florida in specialties where there is a significant need.

“We are continuing to build capacity for graduate medical education so that more of our alumni are able to stay in Florida in the future.”

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.

For information about current and past Match Day results, visit http://med.fsu.edu/alumnifriends/residency-match-day-results.

To see where past College of Medicine graduates are practicing, visit http://public.med.fsu.edu/alumni/alumni.aspx?class=2005.

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

April 2018

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Light stretching can make a big difference for elderly people with low mobility, according to a new study from a Florida State University-led team of international researchers.

“The benefits of exercise are well known, but elderly people with limited mobility are often less likely to take part,” said the study’s lead researcher Judy Muller-Delp, professor in the College of Medicine. “Our research suggests that static muscle stretching performed regularly can have a real impact by increasing blood flow to muscles in the lower leg. This highlights that even individuals who struggle to walk due to pain or lack of mobility can undertake activity to possibly improve their health.”

The strenuous nature of exercise makes intense physical training uncommon among elderly people with reduced mobility and weak muscles. Muscle stretching, on the other hand, is widely performed as a warm-up or cool-down and is low intensity compared to aerobic exercise.

This means that even very old individuals can perform muscle stretching with minimal risk of injury.

In their study, Muller-Delp and her collaborators from Kansas State University and the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo found that regular muscular stretching performed five times per week for four weeks can increase blood flow to muscles of the lower leg, improve the function of arteries in the muscles of the lower legs and increase the number of capillaries within stretched muscles.

Patients with peripheral artery disease and patients with foot or leg problems related to conditions such as diabetes also could use muscular stretching to improve blood flow to their lower limbs and increase or regain walking function, researchers said.

Their findings were published in the Journal of Physiology.

While the team only tested one specific intervention over a span of four weeks, Muller-Delp said that more stretching could yield increased benefits for older, less mobile individuals.

“It is possible that greater stretch or stretch that increases steadily over the four-week period would have an even greater benefit,” Muller-Delp said. “It is also possible that greater benefit would be seen if the stretching continued for longer than four weeks.”

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the 27th Japan Heart Foundation/Bayer Yakuhin Research Grant Abroad.