The liver is the largest organ in the body and performs an astonishing number of tasks that impact all body systems. We are fortunate to have some of the country's top liver researchers and clinicians in the country working at KUMC's Liver Center. Under the direction of Yu-Jui Yvonne Wan, PhD, professor of pharmacology, toxicology and therapeutics, the Liver Center is developing more effective early diagnosis methods, and successful prevention and treatment therapies for metabolic syndrome, hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and cancer. One of the Liver Center’s outstanding achievements has been the KU Liver Center Tissue Bank. The Tissue Bank is one of the country’s few human liver tissue suppliers for biomedical research. Although it was established just two years ago, the Tissue Bank has already collected more than 800 different specimens that can be used in medical research. We have also seen tremendous growth in our liver transplantation program, which is overseen by Richard Gilroy, MD. In 2006, our program conducted 84 liver transplant evaluations, leading to 64 wait list additions and 56 liver transplants. By 2009, 240 liver transplant evaluations were performed leading to 129 patients being listed and 85 transplants. This growth places KU Medical Center as the 23rd largest single center program for adult liver transplants in the United States and among the top 100 in the world. We have also been able to attract some of the country’s most talented liver clinicians and surgeons to our transplantation program, including Ryan Taylor, MD, Winston Dunn, MD, Bashar Abdulkarim, MD, PhD, and Jameson Forster, MD. The cutting-edge research we are conducting into the causes, prevention and treatment of liver disease is also being recognized nationally. Udayan Apte, PhD, was just awarded a prestigious Liver Scholar Award from the American Liver Foundation. You can read much more about the Liver Center and the people behind its success here. |
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University of Kansas Hospital's Luz Conde and School of Nursing student Cara Larson were among those giving free flu shots at KU Hospital's annual drive-by flu clinic last Saturday. More than 3,200 shots were administered in six hours. The event also collected food donations for the Harvesters food bank. |
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Campus News On Wednesday of this week, the KU School of Medicine received a favorable letter from the Liason Committee on Medical Education (LCME) regarding the expansions of our Wichita and Salina medical education programs. Our plans to move ahead with the expansions are now official, and the two campuses will welcome their first four-year classes in the fall of 2011. Read more about this exciting news here. The KU Cancer Center has announced that Andrew K. Godwin, PhD, will serve as its Associate Director of Translational Research, filling a key leadership position and moving the Cancer Center closer to its goal of attaining NCI designation. Read more about Dr. Godwin's arrival at the KU Cancer Center here. KUMC, KU Hospital and UKP have more than doubled the size of their neurosurgery department with the arrival of five neurosurgeons. The five join the KUMC faculty and the hospital medical staff from the Kansas City Neurosurgery Group. Here is the news release. KUMC is providing employees the opportunity to nominate and vote for worthy charities to support during the 2010 holiday season. Nominations will be collected until 5:00 p.m., on Friday, November 5. To nominate your favorite charity, mail holidaygiving@kumc.edu. Your nomination must include contact and website information for the charity. |
Kudos This week is the space shuttle Discovery’s last flight. That’s significant for Joseph S. Tash, PhD, director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Male Contraceptive Research and Drug Development. Dr. Tash and his team have a unique opportunity to repeat the experiment they conducted on board a Discovery flight in April, when they found that space flight caused the ovaries to shut down. This has implications not only for the reproductive system but also for bone mass, muscle strength, immune response and wound healing, which are modulated by estrogen receptors. Because space flight accelerates aging, this work may help us discover the mechanisms underlying the aging process so we can improve the quality of for people who are getting older. Nick Shields, a master’s student in the KU Nurse Anesthesia department, is being credited with saving a young boy's life. While at a party, Shields responded to a neighbor screaming that a child had drowned. The boy was pulled from the bottom of the pool and wasn't breathing. Shields began to perform CPR and the boy eventually began to cough up water and blood. After emergency personnel arrived, the boy was taken to the hospital where he made a full recovery. The Kansas City, Mo., police department last week presented Shields with a certificate of appreciation for his heroic efforts. Read more on the story here. |
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