University of Louisville associate dean for medical education and associate professor of medicine and pediatrics Amy Holthouser, M.D., has been selected as a member of the 2016-2017 class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (ELAM). Holthouser is one of only 54 women in the nation selected for the program, and is the 18th UofL faculty member to participate.

ELAM is a year-long fellowship for women faculty in schools of medicine, dentistry and public health in which they develop professional and personal skills required for leadership and management in health care. More than 900 ELAM alumnae hold leadership positions in institutions around the world.

Holthouser oversees the design and implementation of the MD program curriculum. She also leads the steering committee for the eQuality Project at UofL, a national pilot initiative to integrate competencies published by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) related to provision of care for LGBT and DSD individuals into the school of medicine curriculum. Holthouser was a primary investigator on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to develop a required palliative care educational experience for medical students, and co-investigator on iCOPE, a five-year NIH grant funding the development of an interdisciplinary palliative care curriculum to improve the care of cancer patients.

Among her 24 teaching awards at the university and school of medicine level, Holthouser has received the American College of Physicians Outstanding Faculty Award and twice won the American Medical Women’s Association Gender Equity Award. The Louisville native is an alumna of the UofL School of Medicine where she also completed her residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics. In addition to her academic duties, Holthouser practices as a pediatric hospitalist at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

In ELAM’s 21-year history, 17 faculty members from UofL have completed the fellowship. Toni Ganzel, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the UofL School of Medicine, is among UofL’s ELAM alumnae, and Diane Harper, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., chair of the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine, was part of the 2015-2016 class. A complete list of UofL’s ELAM alumnae is included below.

Some of North America’s most respected physician researchers in neuro-oncology will share their expertise with physicians and the public at the second annual James Graham Brown Cancer Center Neuro-oncology Symposium on July 8 at the University of Louisville.

“Management of Primary Glioma in Adults,” co-hosted by the UofL Department of Neurology and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health, will be Friday, July 8 from 7:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kosair Charities Clinical and Translational Research Building, 505 South Hancock Street on the University of Louisville Health Sciences Campus.

Conference director Eric Burton, M.D., assistant professor in the UofL Department of Neurology and director of neuro-oncology at JGBCC, will provide an overview of adult glioma, a tumor that develops in the supportive tissue of the brain. Presenters from MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, Toronto General Hospital and the University of Louisville will then address best current practices and future treatment directions for patients with primary gliomas using surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, as well as a discussion of molecular markers in adult glioma.

“These are some of the most influential and highly respected physician researchers in neuro-oncology and neuropathology,” Burton said. “This is an excellent opportunity for physicians across the region, as well as patients and their families, to learn about the latest developments in the pathology and treatment of brain tumors.”

In addition to Burton, presenters include:

Kenneth Aldape, M.D., senior scientist and director of MacFeeters-Hamilton Brain Tumor Centre at Toronto General Hospital and professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Aldape is a neuropathologist with a research interest in primary brain tumors. His work includes the identification of biomarkers in gliomas, characterizing glioma subtypes and identifying clinically relevant molecular alterations in these tumors. In 2014, Aldape received the Guha Award for Excellence in Neuro-Oncology Research from the Society for Neuro-Oncology.

Michael Prados, M.D., Charles B Wilson Chair in Neurosurgery and professor emeritus at the University of California San Francisco. Prados led the North America Brain Tumor Consortium for 15 years and was co-project leader of the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium until 2014. He formed and is co-project leader of the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium, a consortium of 15 major academic centers across the United States, and is co-project leader of a pediatric brain tumor SPORE project at UCSF. Prados has been NIH/NCI funded continuously since 1994 and is a member of the NCI/CTEP Brain Malignancies Steering Committee. In 2014, he was awarded the Victor Levin Award for lifetime clinical research excellence from the Society of Neuro-Oncology.

Raymond Sawaya, M.D., chair and professor of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He is director of the Brain Tumor Center at MD Anderson and served as professor and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine from 2005-2014. His awards include the Joseph P. Evans Award in Neurosurgery at the University of Cincinnati and the Charles Wilson Award from the National Brain Tumor Society. He is past chairman of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons Section on Tumors. Sawaya has particular expertise in primary and metastatic brain tumors and is renowned for his strides in enhancing the accessibility and safety of brain tumor surgery.

Shiao Woo, M.D., chair and professor in the UofL Department of Radiation Oncology, professor in the UofL Department of Pediatrics and the Kosair Children’s Hospital/Norton Healthcare Chair in Pediatric Oncology. His clinical focus and research is on brain and spine tumors, pediatric cancer and lung cancer. Woo has received Clinical Fellowship Awards from the American Cancer Society, Teacher of the Year Award from the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology and the Patient Golden Apple Award from the MD Anderson Cancer Center. He also served as president of the MD Anderson Radiation Oncology Gilbert H. Fletcher Society.

“We have invited speakers with varied areas of expertise with the intention of creating a collaborative environment that will improve the regional standard of care,” Burton said.

Continuing education credit is available for health care providers. The event is free for UofL-affiliated providers, $15 for nurses and $20 for all others. For additional information, visit the conference website or contact Emily Rollins at emily.rollins@louisvilleneuroscience.com.

May 19, 2016

A local school has joined a landmark health research project headed by the University of Louisville designed to use nature to tackle the health impact of busy city streets.

St. Margaret Mary School, 7813 Shelbyville Road, is the new site of an experiment designed to use trees and shrubs to create a living filter for roadway air pollution. The project will be a model for metro-wide "greening" projects that use our environment to improve health.

The Louisville Green for Good project is a collaboration among the Diabetes and Obesity Center at the University of Louisville, The Institute for Healthy Air Water and Soil and the City of Louisville’s Office of Sustainability.

The current levels of air pollution at the school will be measured and then half of the school’s front yard will be filled with a green buffer of shrubs, deciduous trees and pines. Then the team will measure air pollution levels a second time. The goal is to test the idea that a greener neighborhood is a healthier neighborhood.

“This project has the potential to improve the health of nearby students and residents for years to come by improving local air quality," said Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., the Smith and Lucille Gibson Chair in Medicine and director of the University of Louisville Diabetes and Obesity Center. “St. Margaret Mary was chosen due to its location which is close to a high traffic roadway. The school also includes a spacious lawn that allows for the addition of foliage, which will act as an air-cleansing barrier between the school and the street.”

Mayor Greg Fischer said, “I am committed to helping Louisville become a greener and healthier place to live – and, I’m a data guy. So I’m excited that this project will provide the data we need to move forward on our sustainability goals for the city.”

St. Margaret Mary Principal Wendy Sims said she isexcited about this project for the parish, school and community.

“In his encyclical letter ‘Laudato Si’,’ Our Holy Father Pope Francis reminds us that ‘we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and for the world, and that being good and decent are worth it...social love moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society’,” Sims said. “This project is a wonderful lesson for our students, faculty, and parents about how to foster such a culture of care, now and for future generations.”

Air monitoring will start this summer. The trees and shrubs will arrive in October with a second round of air monitoring taking place later this year. Students will participate in the monitoring work.

In addition to tracking certain pollutants, the project team will collect data on traffic and weather.

The project includes ecology experts from around the country with deep understanding of air pollution and the power of plants.

Funding comes from the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

The research effort is a project of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. The grant was matched with $50,000 from the Owsley Brown Charitable Foundation and $25,000 from an anonymous donor in Louisville. The Institute for Healthy Air, Water, and Soil received the funds and will be managing the project.

May 18, 2016

The University of Louisville car-share program is expanding to the Health Sciences Center to serve the downtown area with a new fuel-efficient vehicle available to the public for hourly, overnight and daily rentals.

Reservations have increased 30 percent since 2014 when UofL’s Enterprise CarShare program, which has been operating on the main Belknap campus since 2012, was opened to the public.

“UofL and the city of Louisville are committed to reducing pollution and the number of cars on the road,” said Justin Mog, UofL’s assistant to the provost for sustainability initiatives. “Having cars available to share allows people to commute via bus, carpool, bike or foot, knowing that a vehicle is accessible if needed for an appointment or errand. It also allows residents on or near campus to avoid the expense and hassle of owning a car. Millennials are totally into that.”

The new UofL CarShare vehicle will be parked outside UofL’s Kornhauser Library at 500 S. Preston St. Four other CarShare vehicles are located on Belknap Campus. All cars are cleaned, maintained, insured and fueled by Enterprise CarShare as part of the hourly rental charge.

Anyone over 18 with a valid driver’s license can use the cars, which are available year-round, 24 hours a day. Once users purchase a low-cost annual membership, they can access the vehicles whenever needed for $8 per hour or $56 per day. Details can be found at enterprisecarshare.com.

For more information, email Mog or call 502-852-8575.

As health care providers seek to better meet the needs of their patients, interdisciplinary practice has become increasingly crucial.

This summer, health professionals from several disciplines can expand their skillset with new courses offered through the University of Louisville School of Dentistry’s Office of Continuing Education.

The first course, “Local Anesthesia for Advanced Nursing: Acute Dental Pain Management in a Primary Care Setting,” set for June 18 from 8a.m. – 3:30p.m., will teach nurses how to address acute dental pain when patients can’t immediately visit a dentist. The course, which costs $150, will focus on how to administer block and infiltration oral anesthesia.

“If a patient shows up in a primary care office with tooth pain late on a Friday afternoon or in a hospital emergency room over the weekend, a trained health professional could inject a long-acting local anesthetic to help manage the pain until the patient could get to a dentist the following week,” said Dedra Hayden, M.S.N., A.P.R.N.-B.C., School of Nursing assistant professor.

The School of Dentistry also will offer the course, “Integrating Oral Health into the Primary Care Setting Through Allowable Reimbursement Techniques” on July 9 from 8a.m. – 12:30p.m. The course, geared toward physicians, physicians’ assistants, registered nurses, advanced practice registered nurses and dental hygienists, informs these health care providers about their allowed role in conducting state required oral health screenings for Kentucky children entering Kindergarten, and understand that it is a billable service. The screening involves looking into a child’s mouth for signs of decay and reporting it on a required form.

The course will focus on optimizing oral health for evidence-based, patient-centered care and will include recent federal recommendations on prevention of tooth decay in children ages 5 and younger in the primary care setting. The class is $75 through advance online registration and $110 for on-site registration.

Both continuing education courses are part of the interdisciplinary collaboration between the UofL schools of dentistry and nursing, established through a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration to integrate nursing and dental students in practice.

Since 2013, the schools’ collaboration has focused on the connection between oral and systemic health.

“Over the past several decades, there has been a tremendous amount of research directed at discovering the links between oral health and overall body health,” Hayden said. “The primary care provider can perform an oral exam and identify lesions in the mouth to indicate a systemic disease and the dental provider can identify when to consult primary care, therefore developing a reciprocal referral process.”

UofL nursing and dental students have engaged in joint seminars, standardized patient learning and clinical experiences to better identify and manage systemic diseases sometimes linked to oral health, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“Our interprofessional collaboration has focused on the continued improvement of oral health across the lifespan and has contributed to the development of cutting edge providers in our community,” said Daniel Fadel, D.M.D., director of the School of Dentistry Office of Continuing Education.

For more information on the courses and to register, click here.

May 11, 2016

The University of Louisville Department of Neurology will host the 8th annual Advances in Neurology course in conjunction with the annual spring meeting of the Commonwealth Neurological Society. This year’s focus will be on Movement Disorders and Multiple Sclerosis, two of the more challenging therapeutic areas in neurology. The conference will present the latest update in the evaluation and management of multiple sclerosis, including the newer options in disease-modifying therapy. Neuroophthalmologic evaluation of the patient with movement disorders or multiple sclerosis will be discussed. The latest available treatment options, both medical and surgical, for the patient with movement disorders will be discussed.

Visiting faculty include David Charles, M.D., professor of neurology in the Division of Movement Disorders at Vanderbilt University and Aaron Miller, M.D., professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and medical director of The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis.

The event begins at 7:00 a.m., May 21, 2016, in the Derby and Oaks rooms at Churchill Downs, 700 Central Avenue. Program concludes at 2:30 p.m.

The seminar is free for UofL faculty, staff, residents and students, UofL Physicians nurses, and members of the Commonwealth Neurological Society.  Cost is $40 for all others. For a copy of the full agenda, CME credit information and a registration link, go to:  http://louisville.edu/medicine/cme/events/neurology16/#Brochure

Lee Dugatkin, Ph.D., professor of biology at the University of Louisville, will regale guests at the next Beer with a Scientist with the story of how a Revolutionary War-era dispute over natural history took on important political overtones in European-American relations.

The story involves three individuals:  Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence; George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, a French count and world-renowned naturalist who claimed that all life in America was "degenerate," weak and feeble; and a very large, dead moose. Jefferson believed the moose could help quash early French arrogance toward the fledgling United States and demonstrate that America was every bit the equal of a well-established Europe.

Despite Jefferson's passionate refutation, the theory of degeneracy far outlived both him and Buffon and continued to have scientific, economic and political implications for 100 years.

Dugatkin has written a book, Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, on the impact of the disputeand has spoken on the topic at the Smithsonian Institution and Jefferson’s Monticello estate.

The program begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11 at Against the Grain Brewery, 401 E. Main St. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

The Beer with a Scientist program began in 2014 and is the brainchild of UofL cancer researcher Levi Beverly, Ph.D. Once a month, the public is invited to enjoy exactly what the title promises:  beer and science.

Admission is free. Purchase of beer, other beverages or menu items is not required but is encouraged.

Organizers add that they also encourage Beer with a Scientist patrons to drink responsibly.

For more information and to suggest future Beer with a Scientist topics, follow Louisville Underground Science on Facebook.

May 4, 2016

A pregnant woman’s body undergoes a complex set of interconnected, mutually beneficial phases that prepare her and her baby for childbirth. The hormonal actions occurring in one phase anticipate and usher in subsequent phases.

These phases are known collectively as the hormonal cascade of childbirth, and a Certified Nurse Midwife at the University of Louisville Center for Women & Infants will present a continuing education session on the topic for nurses, midwives, lactation consultants and other professionals involved in childbirth.

“Normal Physiologic Birth and Supporting the Hormonal Cascade of Childbirth” will be presented by Damara Jenkins Tuesday, May 3, at Babyology, 3934 Dutchman’s Lane, beginning at 6 p.m. The presentation is sponsored by Kentuckiana Lactation Improvement Coalition, a chapter of the United States Lactation Consultant Association that provides support and education on breastfeeding in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Jenkins will discuss practices that encourage normal physiologic birth, the role of certified nurse midwifery in supporting normal childbirth and the phases of hormonal childbirth:

• Late pregnancy and early labor: There is an increase of hormones and receptor systems in the woman’s body that prepares her for an efficient labor and birth; efficient lactation that leads to bonding and attachment with the baby; and the well-being of the fetus during labor and the transition to a newborn.

• Active labor: Hormonal processes during active labor prepare the body for effective postpartum contractions and hemorrhage prevention; the health transition of the newborn; and breastfeeding and bonding.

• Birth and the hours that follow: The process of giving birth and skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth promote a hormone release that is thought to further reduce hemorrhage risk, initiate mother-baby bonding and help establish success in breastfeeding.

“The hormonal cascade of childbirth shows us how the body perfectly times the release of hormones in each phase and ensures that labor, birth and breastfeeding all happen according to the body’s design,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins, who also is an Advanced Practice Nurse, is one of three Certified Nurse Midwives who practice with UofL Physicians-Certified Nurse Midwife Program in tandem with the UofL Physicians-OB/GYN & Women’s Health practice. While pregnancy and childbirth care is her primary practice, she provides care to women across the entire lifespan, partnering with them to enable them to live their healthiest life.

Jenkins received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Louisville in 1999 and Bellarmine University in 2000 and received her MSN degree from Frontier Nursing University in 2009. She is president of the Kentucky Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives and received the Frontier Nursing University 75th Anniversary Pioneer Award in 2014. She is on the board of the Friends of the Louisville Birthing Center and a member of the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Midwives.

Continuing education credit will be provided for some disciplines, and pre-registration is requested but not required for the presentation. For more information, contact Kentuckiana Lactation Improvement Coalition member Peggy Rinehart at rinehart.peggy@gmail.com.

April 30, 2016

As states relaxed laws related to fireworks sales during the past decade, emergency doctors saw an increase in both the number of fireworks-related injuries among children and the severity of those injuries, according to new research being presented by faculty from the University of Louisville at the Pediatrics Academic Societies 2016 Meeting.

An abstract of the study, “Effect of Fireworks Laws on Pediatric Fireworks Related Burn Injuries," will be presented at the PAS meeting in Baltimore on May 3.

Researchers looked at federal and state data from the National Inpatient Sample, with data on 8 million hospital stays each year, and the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, which annually compiles information on 30 million discharges from emergency medicine facilities.

They determined the number of patients under age 21 treated and released by emergency departments between 2006 and 2012 rose modestly. Significantly larger increases were seen in injuries requiring inpatient hospital admission, which skyrocketed from 29 percent of cases in 2006 to 50 percent in 2012.

“The increase in fireworks-related injuries and the severity of these injuries in children since 2006 are very concerning,” said Charles Woods Jr., M.D., one of the study’s authors and associate chair of pediatrics at the University of Louisville. “Although our findings do not prove a direct link to relaxations in state laws governing fireworks sales, it may be time for lawmakers to reassess this issue. Parents and caregivers of children also should be aware of these increasingly serious injuries and the potential dangers involved in allowing young children to handle and play with fireworks.”

Lead author John Myers, Ph.D., a researcher in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville, will present the abstract, “Effect of Fireworks Laws on Pediatric Fireworks Related Burn Injuries," at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 3 in Exhibit Hall F at the Baltimore Convention Center. To view the abstract, visit http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS16L1_4135.266.

“Pediatric fireworks-related burn injuries have increased in incidence, apparent severity of injury, the proportion requiring hospitalization and length-of-stay in the hospital in a time period of relaxed fireworks laws in the United States,” Myers said. “These findings suggest that policy-makers should revisit current fireworks laws for the safety of children.”

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About the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting:

The Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting brings together thousands of individuals united by a common mission: to improve child health and wellbeing worldwide. This international gathering includes pediatric researchers, leaders in academic pediatrics, experts in child health, and practitioners. The PAS Meeting is produced through a partnership of four organizations leading the advancement of pediatric research and child advocacy: the Academic Pediatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Pediatric Society, and Society for Pediatric Research. For more information, visit the PAS Meeting online at www.pas-meeting.org, follow us on Twitter @PASMeeting and #PASMeeting, or like us on Facebook.

Charles R. Woods Jr., M.D., has been elected the incoming chair of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) Section on Epidemiology, Public Health and Evidence (SOEPHE). His one-year term begins Nov. 1.

The AAP is a professional membership organization of 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical sub-specialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

The SOEPHE supports development high quality practice guidelines for children’s health care and fosters informed use of data to improve the health of children.  It is composed of AAP members who practice or have interests in the fields of public health and epidemiology.

Woods is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases. He is Associate Chair of the UofL Department of Pediatrics and director of the department’s Child & Adolescent Health Research Design & Support Unit. He has been at UofL since 2006.

In addition to the AAP, his professional affiliations include the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America and HIV Medicine Association. He also has been elected to membership in the American Pediatric Society and Society for Pediatric Research.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Samford University and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed a pediatric residency followed by a pediatric infectious diseases fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital. He later earned a master’s degree in epidemiology from Wake Forest University.

Woods practices with University of Louisville Physicians-Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

It stands to reason: If you want to educate large numbers of people, go where large numbers of people go.

In Dr. Lorrel E. Brown’s case, that place was the Kentucky State Fair – and the nation’s premier cardiology association has presented her an award for her innovative thinking.

Brown, assistant professor of medicine in UofL’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, won first place in the category of “Young Investigator Awards in Cardiovascular Health Outcomes and Population Genetics” from the American College of Cardiology earlier this month. The award was presented at the organization’s 65^th Annual Scientific Session in Chicago. It also was published in the April 5 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Brown headed a group of researchers that included Dr. Glenn Hirsch, associate professor of medicine, cardiology fellows Dr. Wendy Bottinor and Dr. Avnish Tripathi, medical student Travis Carroll, Dr. Bill Dillon who founded the organization Start the Heart Foundation and Chris Lokits  of Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services, Office of Medical Direction and Oversight. They tackled the problem of surviving cardiac arrest – the sudden stopping of the heart – by increasing the number of people trained in hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Titled “CPR at the State Fair: A 10-minute Training Session is Effective in Teaching Bystander CPR to Members of At-risk Communities,” the research effort brought CPR training to the Kentucky State Fair’s Health Pavilion in August 2015.

Nearly 400,000 people in the United States have out-of-hospital cardiac arrest each year, she said, or nearly 40 people every hour. Only one in 10 survives.

“The vast majority of people who suffer cardiac arrest don’t experience it in a well-equipped hospital with highly trained medical staff,” Brown said. “They experience it as they go about their daily lives, and just 30 percent of cardiac arrest victims receive CPR, usually from bystanders. Yet we know that bystander CPR dramatically improves chances for survival.”

The group created a 10-minute training module that uses a short video and hands-on coaching to teach people the basics of hands-only CPR. To further determine their mastery of CPR, participants completed a post-training survey and were asked to return to the training site at the fair one hour after training to re-test their CPR ability.

The state fair location also provided an additional benefit: the ability to reach people from communities and counties throughout Kentucky with low rates of bystander CPR.

“In Jefferson County alone, bystander CPR rates vary dramatically according to zip code, ranging from 0 percent to 100 percent,” Brown said. “We know there is the same variation throughout the state, and 77 percent of the Jefferson County residents we trained at the fair were from zip code areas with bystander CPR rates under the national average of 31 percent.”

Since the 2015 fair, Brown has led efforts to conduct bystander CPR training at other locations. “Through the Take It to the Heart tour with KentuckyOne Health, we provided this training in hospital lobbies throughout the state, at UofL women's and men's basketball games and even at the Capitol in Frankfort with the Kentucky Senate,” she said. “Through these efforts, we have trained more than 1,000 individuals in CPR and educated another 43,000. We hope that these efforts not only raise the rates of bystander CPR and survival from cardiac arrest in our own communities, but also serve as a model for other communities.”

Brown will bring the training back to the Kentucky State Fair again this year. “These results suggest that by providing brief trainings in public venues, such as the state fair, we can effectively train people and potentially improve the rate of bystander CPR in this country,” she said.

Organizations or businesses also can schedule their own bystander CPR training session via the Start The Heart Foundation, for which Brown serves as a board member, by calling 502-852-1837.

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About the Young Investigator Awards

The American College of Cardiology’s Young Investigator Awards encourages and recognizes young scientific investigators of promise. To be considered for a Young Investigator Award, candidates submitted an abstract summarizing any problem relating to cardiovascular disease. Five finalists were selected in each of four award categories and invited to attend the Scientific Session to present their work during the Young Investigator Awards Competition.

About the American College of Cardiology

The American College of Cardiologyis a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for cardiovascular care physicians. The mission of the college is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The college operates national registries to measure and improve care, offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications.

More activities have been added to the lineup of the Cancer Awareness Show, set for Saturday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hillview Community Center, 298 Prairie Drive. Proceeds from the day’s activities will benefit research, community outreach and patient support programs of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville.

The Zoneton Fire Department will have its Fire Safety House for participants to walk through, and the Kentucky Cancer Program at UofL will display the pink Horses and Hope Mustang for breast cancer awareness.

Hobbies Café food truck also will be on hand, joining a variety of other vendors at the show, which has sold out its indoor booth spaces, said organizer Richard Luce Jr. Outdoor booth spaces remain available at $20 each.

The Cancer Awareness Show has something for the entire family with three shows-within-the-show: a model train show including 9X9, 4X16 and 3X6 layouts; an arts and crafts show; and “Cruizin’ for Cancer,” a car, truck and motorcycle show and a model car show.

The Zoneton Fire Department’s Fire Safety House is a walk-through model that helps teach children how to best respond to a house fire situation. The house is designed to provide a realistic environment for teaching basic fire prevention and survival skills. Kids learn about smoke detectors, how to determine escape routes from a fire in advance, and the importance of not hiding during a fire.

Former Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear and the organization she founded, Horses and Hope, commissioned the pink Mustang from Paul Miller Ford for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Kentucky Speedway. Since then, the Mustang tours the state to share life-saving breast cancer information. Horses and Hope works with the state’s equine industry to provide breast cancer education, screening and treatment referral.

Also included are prize and cash raffles. Representatives from Be The Match will be on hand to provide information about bone marrow donation. The James Graham Brown Cancer Center also will disseminate information on cancer prevention and treatment.

Admission is a cash donation to the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.

Liberty Tire and Recycling is a sponsor of the Cancer Awareness Show. The car, truck and motorcycle show is sponsored by the South Louisville Antique and Toy Mall and the model car show is sponsored by Dan’s Chips and Toys. Additional sponsorships for the show also are available: Platinum, $1,000; Gold, $500; Silver, $300; and Bronze, $100.

For information on vendors, sponsorships or the show, contact Luce at Bigscoby4@yahoo.com, CancerAwareness15@yahoo.com or 502-802-8308.

University of Louisville researchers have discovered that a protein previously known for its role in kidney function also plays a significant role in the nervous system. In an article featured in the April 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, they show that the adaptor protein CD2AP is a key player in a type of neural growth known as collateral sprouting.

In the first research to be published on this protein’s role in the nervous system, Benjamin Harrison, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and lead author of the article, and his colleagues show that CD2AP, an adaptor protein, orchestrates a complex arrangement of other proteins that controls the branching of nerve axons, the tendrils reaching out from the nerve cell to connect to other nerve cells, skin and organs. This nerve growth occurs in uninjured nerve cells as they extend their reach and create new connections.

“CD2AP brings in all the correct players, forms a multi-protein complex and coordinates that multi-protein complex to achieve growth of the neurons,” Harrison said. “There are a whole bunch of proteins that it could bring together, but it only brings together the correct proteins to create the correct response. In this case, it changes the structure of the axons through sprouting and elongation.”

This axon sprouting may be helpful, but too much of it can be harmful. In normal adult cells, this growth creates new connections and can lead to improved functionality after an injury or stroke. However, if the axons sprout uncontrollably, the result can be exacerbated epilepsy, blood pressure spikes or neuropathic pain. The researchers hope this new understanding of the nerve growth process will lead to therapies that can improve healing and recovery of function following nerve damage while minimizing excessive growth.

“Through targeting this molecule, we could help the body’s natural healing process to coordinate the appropriate growth,” Harrison said.

The research team, based in the lab of Jeffrey Petruska, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and the Department of Neurological Surgery and the article’s corresponding author, identified CD2AP as a player in the neurological system via a screen to detect genes associated with neuron growth. Their research examined how CD2AP interacts with various molecules in controlling the neural sprouting process, in particular they studied its relationship with nerve growth factor (NGF).

“People have been studying nerve growth factor and the responses it induces for a while, but this protein (CD2AP) forms a nice link between NGF and the response in the cell,” Harrison said.

Previous research also has associated CD2AP with genetic changes among individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and it may be helpful in understanding the mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease and spinal cord injuries.

Petruska says this work relates closely to other research being conducted at UofL’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC). He says that understanding these molecular processes could one day be used to amplify the activity-based therapies such as locomotor training now being done with spinal cord injury patients by UofL faculty at Frazier Rehab Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health. Locomotor training helps spinal cord injury patients achieve functional recovery through standing and stepping activity.

“We are starting to discover that there are different modes of nerve growth and different sets of genes that control different kinds of growth,” Petruska said. “This is particularly important as it relates to locomotor training. When you train, you enhance the growth factor environment of the injured spinal cord, and those growth factors are involved in the axon plasticity. This mode that we study is dependent on the growth factors.”

Harrison, who also is part of the Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (KBRIN), plans to pursue research aimed at developing a drug to provide appropriate nerve growth for spinal cord injury patients.

“My dream,” Harrison said, “is to one day do a clinical trial with a drug that targets this protein and can enhance the ability of the patients to respond to the activity-based rehabilitation (locomotor training) that they are doing at Frazier Rehab Center.”

High school student Cassa Drury earned co-authorship on publication of original research

One member of the research team and a co-author on the publication that first described the role of CD2AP in the nervous system is Cassa Drury, a junior at Louisville’s duPont Manual High School. Drury has worked in the lab of Jeffrey Petruska, Ph.D., associate professor in UofL’s Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, since he mentored her during middle school science fair competitions. As a middle schooler, Drury competed in science fairs at the national and international level with her research on the neurological systems of planaria worms under Petruska’s guidance.

In the team’s research into CD2AP, Drury recorded and analyzed changes in the nerve cells for the publication’s primary author, Ben Harrison, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and the article’s lead author. Drury, a high school sophomore at the time, was working in the lab as part of a self-directed learning program offered by her high school.

Drury recorded the length and number of branches in images of neural cells that had been treated with different amounts of CD2AP and those that were not treated to determine the protein’s effect on nerve growth.

“I put them into a program and I was able to trace them. The tracing allowed us to see whether they were growing more than they would normally,” Drury said.

“Cassie was the one who did measurements in the cultured neurons to determine that the protein was a positive regulator of growth,” Harrison said.

That work earned Drury a listing as fifth author on the publication, released in the April 13 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. A total of 14 authors are credited on the article.

“It was not a gift,” Petruska said. “She did important work for this research and she understands what the work is about.”

Drury is eager to follow the research to which she has contributed.

“I am really interested to see where this research goes,” Drury said. “This connection is a really strong one and I am excited to see what comes out of it and what Ben ends up doing. I hope he can hand them a drug. That would be wonderful.”

This summer, Drury will be attending a science ethics leadership seminar at the University of Notre Dame on the ethical considerations of scientific research. After high school, she plans to study science in college, perhaps along with communications.

“One of the things that allowed Cassie to have such success in the science fair is that she is very good at communicating her results and her experiment design. She is good at answering questions,” Petruska said.

This work was supported by the CDRF International Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury Research, Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust Grant 09-12A, Paralyzed Veterans of America Fellowship, National Institutes of Health Grants P20RR016481, 3P20RR016481-09S1, P20GM103436, P30GM103507, R21NS080091, R21NS071299 and R01NS094741.

Posted April 13, 2016

Two scientists at the University of Louisville, together with German researchers, have discovered a method unknown up to this time by which the biological process of allostery occurs, a finding that has implications for better focused therapeutic treatments with fewer side effects.

Donghan Lee, Ph.D. and David Ban, Ph.D., both with the Department of Medicine and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center at UofL, joined with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, in looking at allostery, the process in which biological macromolecules such as proteins transmit the effect of binding at one site to another, often distant, functional site.

“This important study documents the significance of very basic cancer research and will likely lead to the identification and development of novel targeted treatments which otherwise would not have been discovered,” said Donald M. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health.

At the atomic level, the UofL and German research group found a previously unidentified way for allostery to occur through the collective motion of an entire protein structure.

“Much drug development focuses on targeting a protein,” Lee said. “The thinking is that if you block a certain action of a certain protein, then you can cure or at least, delay progression of a disease.

“However, in order to understand what to block, you must understand the function of the protein structure. That is the direction we took.”

The group used ubiquitin, a small protein that is highly abundant in cells of higher organisms. With newly developed computational algorithms, the research team was able to determine atomic structures representing what was the previously invisible allosteric motion within ubiquitin.

That motion was fast, said the researchers. “There have been limitations in the ability to observe fast protein motions,” Ban said. “However, we developed a technique that overcame the previous experimental limitations. Having a better, more precise and more accurate ability to measure the movement, we can now build an atomic model that enables us to visualize what the motion actually looks like.”

Lee likens the process to stopping a wide receiver on the football field. The wide receiver has to catch the ball with his arms and hands while also running with his legs and feet. The speed of his legs is affected by the action of catching the ball with his arms.

“So if we just block one leg, his ability to run and actually catch the ball will be impaired,” Lee said.  “That’s what we did in the lab: We saw we could block one thing to affect others.”

A single peptide bond was key, Ban said. “In looking at the functional aspect of this protein, it all boiled down to a single peptide bond that flipped in or out. That is amazing: we could affect a distant region by manipulating a single peptide bond.

“We were able to make mutants of this certain protein that would lock it in one state or another.”

The potential therapeutic benefit of the findings could result in more focused treatments with fewer side effects.

“Chemotherapy, for example, attacks multiple, different proteins and there are a lot of side effects,” Lee said. “But conceivably, we need only one protein blocked – just like we only need to block one leg of the wide receiver to stop him. Our study begins to help us target that one correct protein without impairing others.”

“Our findings give us, for the first time, the tools to look at many different systems,” Ban said. “We can apply this to other medically and biologically relevant systems.”

Other members of the research team are Colin A. Smith, Supriya Pratihar, Karin Giller, Maria Paulat, Stefan Becker, Christian Griesinger and Bert L. de Groot. The group’s study, “Allosteric switch regulates protein-protein binding through collective motion,” was published in March in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

University of Louisville Physicians’ Movement Disorders Clinic has been named a national Center of Excellence in treating Huntington’s disease and received a $10,000 grant from the Huntington’s Disease Society of America.

The designation recognizes work at UofL Physicians to help improve the lives of people affected by the disease. HDSA Centers of Excellence provide an elite multidisciplinary approach to care and research. There are currently 39 across the United States, including UofL Physicians.

“We are proud to be the first center in Kentucky to be recognized as a HD Center of Excellence,” said Dr. Kathrin LaFaver, a neurologist who leads the Huntington’s disease program at UofL Physicians. “We are planning to expand our involvement with the HD community and offer participation in future research studies.”

Patients at the Centers of Excellence benefit from expert neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists, counselors and other professionals who have deep experience working with patients and families affected by Huntington’s disease, and who work collaboratively to help them plan the best program of care throughout the disease’s course.

Debbie Holloway, who is affected by Huntington’s disease, is currently enrolled in a clinical trial at UofL Physicians. She had in the past regularly traveled four hours round trip to a center in Indiana for treatment because of its designation as a Center of Excellence.

“We feel so thankful and blessed to now have a Center of Excellence here in Louisville,” she said.  “My family is affected and we definitely want to do anything we can to help find a cure. Now when a new research program comes in, someone in my family may be able to participate. And it is wonderful to have my doctor here.”

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It deteriorates a person’s physical and mental abilities during their prime working years and to date has no cure. Patients affected by the disease develop chorea (involuntary movements), difficulties with cognition and often psychiatric manifestations such as depression and irritability.

HD is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, meaning every child of a parent with HD has a 50/50 chance of carrying the disease mutation. Today, there are approximately 30,000 symptomatic Americans and more than 200,000 at risk of inheriting the disease.

Many describe the symptoms of HD as though they have ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s simultaneously.

As part of the efforts to help patients with the disease, patients are being recruited for the ENROLL-HD worldwide observational study for HD families. The goal is to track HD progression and create a database that doctors can learn from and use for treatment studies as they emerge.

Patients who are interested in enrolling can find more information at www.enroll-hd.org.

For more information on Huntington’s disease Centers of Excellence, visit the Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s web page at www.hdsa.org/about-hdsa/centers-of-excellence.

Nathan Berger, M.D., the Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine and director of the Center for Science, Health and Diversity at Case Western Reserve University, holds the Louisville Slugger bat he was given as a speaker at the first symposium honoring the late co-division chief of the Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at UofL. The Geoffrey P. Herzig, M.D., Memorial Symposium for Hematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplantation drew a stellar cast of presenters April 8-9 at the Jewish Hospital Rudd Heart & Lung Conference Center. Herzig came to UofL in 2000 as co-division chief with his brother, Roger Herzig, M.D., shown second from left. The symposium was created by current division chief William Tse, M.D., at far left, with another presenter, Hillard Lazarus, M.D., the George & Edith Richman Professor and Distinguished Scientist in Cancer Research at Case Western Reserve, at far right. Twenty-six physicians and other scientists from the United States, Canada and England presented the symposium, covering the latest advances in treating leukemias, myelomas and other blood-borne cancers. (Robert Burge Photography)

Treating children with pneumonia complicated by infected fluid in the chest (called empyema) can take longer than other infectious diseases, and typically requires surgical intervention and intravenous (IV) antibiotics. A study published in the April issue of The American Surgeon by University of Louisville assistant professor of pediatrics Claudia Espinosa, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues, shows that the disease can successfully be treated with a course of broad-spectrum oral antibiotics once the children are released from the hospital, thus making administration of IV antibiotics at home unnecessary.

Espinosa and several colleagues at the UofL School of Medicine conducted a retrospective study of 61 patients treated using a standardized approach of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and IV antibiotics administered in the hospital, with transition to broad-spectrum oral antibiotics about five days after surgery or when the patients were discharged. The study showed a 92 percent rate of recovery without complications using this approach, which is comparable to that achieved with prolonged courses of IV antibiotics continued at home, but avoids potential complications associated with home IVs.

“Given the adverse effects of IV antibiotics and the potential possible complications of PICC lines, transitioning to oral antibiotics and providing a shorter course than previously advised is a good strategy,” Espinosa said. “The outcomes appear to be good even when cultures are negative and the choice of antibiotic is an empiric one.”

The children in the study, all previously healthy children with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and empyema, were admitted to Kosair Children’s Hospital from 2008 to 2012. All of the children were treated with prompt VATS and early transition to oral antibiotics, which continued for an average of two weeks after discharge.

“Many physicians believe that placing a chest tube and giving fibrinolytics is better than VATS for treatment of empyema,” Espinosa said. “In this study, we show good outcomes, short length of stay, minimal complications and short course of antibiotics for pediatric patients with empyema who underwent VATS.”

Former Kentucky First Lady and longtime cancer awareness activist Jane Beshear will join with the Kentucky Cancer Program at the University of Louisville to host Horses and Hope: A Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the Races, Wednesday, April 13, at Keeneland  race track in Lexington.

Doors open at 10:30 a.m. with lunch served at 11:30 a.m. at the Keene Barn and Entertainment Center. First post time for the day’s racing card will be 1:05 p.m.

Breast cancer survivors and guests are invited to enjoy lunch and a Derby Fashion Style Show sponsored by Talbots, The Spa at Griffin Gate, Kroger, Keeneland and WKYT-TV and emceed by WKYT anchor Amber Philpott. Following the program, participants will be escorted to reserved seating in Keeneland’s Grandstand where the day’s racing will feature a Horses and Hope race honoring breast cancer survivors.

Horses andHope™ is a project of Beshear and the Kentucky Cancer Program. The mission is to increase cancer awareness, education, screening and treatment referral among Kentucky’s horse industry workers and other special populations. Screenings and events are held across the state in collaboration with the new Horses and Hope Cancer Screening Van launched earlier this year with KentuckyOne Health.

Ticket packages are $30 per person and include reserved parking, track admission, lunch, covered grandstand seating, racing program and a special Horses and Hope souvenir. Participants are encouraged to wear pink for breast cancer awareness.

Seating is limited so registration by April 11 is advised. To make reservations, call 859-254-3412. For additional information, call toll-free, 877-326-1134.

Health-care professionals often are aware of larger social issues facing their patients in disadvantaged communities but feel powerless as individual practitioners to change these health disparities. The University of Louisville’s new Health and Social Justice Scholars Program is accepting applicants who will be trained to work with other professionals in communities to bring about changes to benefit underserved and disadvantaged populations.

Students in the UofL schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and Information Sciences who are dedicated to social justice are encouraged to apply for the program, where they will learn techniques for working interprofessionally and with community members to improve the overall health of the populations through community engagement and scholarly activities. The students will work with faculty mentors to combat issues such as youth violence, public water safety and depression in adolescents in West Louisville and other disadvantaged communities.

“As a pediatrician, I know that a physician can’t do it alone,” said V. Faye Jones, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.P.H., assistant vice president for health affairs – diversity initiatives at UofL. “You have to have different perspectives and different skills to move that needle. We cannot work in silos; we have to work as a team to accomplish the goal of health equity.”

One second-year student from each of the four schools in the UofL Health Sciences Center will be selected for the first cohort of scholars for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Health and Social Justice Scholars will conduct interprofessional, community-based research along with a faculty mentor, participate in community service projects and attend monthly discussions. In addition, the scholars will receive annual financial support of $10,000 toward their education programs. Scholars are expected to continue in the program for three years.

“We want students who are dedicated to community engagement and who are passionate about making a difference,” said Jones, who oversees the program. “Eventually, these professionals will be leaders in advocating for policy changes to improve the overall health of the community.”

Applicants for the program must be entering their second year of a doctoral program in the school of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing or Public Health and Information Sciences (Au.D., D.M.D., D.N.P., M.D. or Ph.D). They will be required to submit an essay describing a health concern in the community with a proposed path for improvement, a summary of their research experience, letters of recommendation and transcripts.

Applications will be accepted through May 31. For additional information and to apply, visit the Health and Social Justice Scholars web page, or contact the UofL Health Sciences Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion at 502-852-7159 or hscodi@louisville.edu.

About the UofL HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion

The UofL Health Sciences Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion welcomes and embraces the community of students, faculty and staff. The office seeks to encourage and foster all constituents’ growth and development to allow for everyone to be successful at UofL. By augmenting a culture and climate that demonstrate a belief that diversity and inclusion add value to intellectual development, academic enrichment, patient care, research and community engagement, the office intends to place HSC at the forefront of opportunity and innovation. Its mission is to conceptualize, cultivate and coordinate partnerships across the schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health and Information Sciences by building organizational capacity and expanding leadership competency for HSC diversity and inclusion efforts. The office aspires to be a model for innovation for health equity driven by excellence in education, community outreach and research.

You may have heard about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) along with predictions of dire consequences for the planet or claims the technology is necessary to feed the Earth’s growing population. At the April edition of Beer with a Scientist, Paul Vincelli, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, will set the record straight with peer-reviewed science.

Vincelli will make the trip across I64 to share his expertise on the scientific understanding of GMOs based on the substantial body of scientific literature. He will explain exactly what constitutes a genetically engineered crop, whether eating recombinant DNA is safe, and why scientists would want to change a plant’s genes in the first place.

At UK, Vincelli serves as coordinator for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. He provides science-based outreach on risks and benefits of genetically engineered crops in Kentucky, the nation and internationally.

The program begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Apr. 13 at Against the Grain Brewery, 401 E. Main St. A 30-minute presentation will be followed by an informal Q&A session.

The Beer with a Scientist program began in 2014 and is the brainchild of UofL cancer researcher Levi Beverly, Ph.D. Once a month, the public is invited to enjoy exactly what the title promises:  beer and science.

Admission is free. Purchase of beer, other beverages or menu items is not required but is encouraged.

Organizers add that they also encourage Beer with a Scientist patrons to drink responsibly.

For more information and to suggest future Beer with a Scientist topics, follow Louisville Underground Science on Facebook.