Member Institution(s) Archives - Page 8 of 8

Memorial Sculpture to Honor John E. Friedlander

July 17, 2012 by BNMCin Campus-wide, Community, Health care, Homepage, Member Institution(s), VolunteersLeave a Comment

As one of the community leaders and visionaries who helped to lay the foundation for the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) in 2001, the late John E. Friedlander will be honored with an art sculpture to memorialize his leadership. The BNMC came to be after visionaries in the health care industry came together to help promote wellness and economic development in the Buffalo-Niagara region. It is now a leading biomedical, research, education, business, and clinical consortium helping to fuel economic growth in the area.
He was the first President and CEO of Kaleida Health, serving from October 1996 until June 2005. Friedlander is also the former Buffalo General Medical Center President and CEO. For more than 20 years, Friedlander contributed his skills and experience to build a strong health care delivery system in Western New York and now his former colleagues, friends and family are partnering with the BNMC to honor him.

He was a dynamic visionary and respected health care leader who was loved by the community, striving to make a difference. For members of the community who would like to support the campaign efforts to actualize the John E. Friedlander Memorial Art Sculpture and recognize his deep commitment to the health of Western New York residents, click here.

Real-life Spider Men Using Protein Found in Venom to Develop Muscular Dystrophy Treatment

July 16, 2012 by BNMCin Member Institution(s), News, Research, WellnessLeave a Comment

News Release

Real-life Spider Men Using Protein Found in Venom to Develop Muscular Dystrophy Treatment

A grandfather is working with UB scientists in an attempt to save grandson’s life

JB, Jeff Harvey’s grandson. When Harvey discovered JB had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the grandfather started a company with UB researchers to develop a treatment.

UB researchers Frederick Sachs, Tom Suchyna and Philip Gottlieb are working to develop a treatment for muscular dystrophy using a peptide found in tarantula venom.

UB researchers are developing a treatment for muscular dystrophy using a peptide found in the venom of a Chilean rose tarantula.

Contact

Charlotte Hsu

chsu22@buffalo.edu

716-645-4655

Release Date: July 16, 2012

BUFFALO, N.Y. — While Spider-Man is capturing the imagination of theatergoers, real-life spider men in Upstate New York are working intently to save a young boy’s life.

It all began in 2009, when Jeff Harvey, a stockbroker from the Buffalo suburbs, discovered that his grandson, JB, had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The disease is fatal. It strikes only boys, causing their muscles to waste away.

Hoping to help his grandson, Harvey searched Google for promising muscular dystrophy treatments and, in a moment of serendipity, stumbled upon University at Buffalo scientist Frederick Sachs, PhD.

Sachs was a professor of physiology and biophysics who had been studying the medical benefits of venom. In the venom of the Chilean rose tarantula, he and his colleagues discovered a protein that held promise for keeping muscular dystrophy at bay. Specifically, the protein helped stop muscle cells from deteriorating.

Within months of getting in touch, Harvey and Sachs co-founded Tonus Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company devoted to developing the protein as a drug. Though the treatment has yet to be tested in humans, it has helped dystrophic mice gain strength in preliminary experiments.

The therapy is not a cure. But if it works in humans, it could extend the lives of children like JB for years — maybe even decades.

Success can’t come quickly enough.

JB, now four, can’t walk down the stairs alone. When he runs, he waddles. He receives physical therapy and takes steroids as a treatment. While playing tee ball one recent day, he confided to his grandfather, “When I grow up, I want to be a baseball player.”

It was a heartbreaking moment.

“Oh, I would be thrilled if you could be a baseball player,” Harvey remembers replying. He’s doing everything he can to make sure that JB — and other boys like him — can live out their dreams.

For the complete story and multimedia, visit http://www.buffalo.edu/home/feature_story/good-venom.html.

UB Medical School Names Dubocovich Senior Associate Dean for Inclusion and Cultural Enhancement

July 13, 2012 by BNMCin Member Institution(s), NewsLeave a Comment

News Release

UB Medical School Names Dubocovich Senior Associate Dean for Inclusion and Cultural Enhancement

New post reflects UB medical school’s emphasis on attracting — and serving — culturally diverse populations

UB’s Dubocovich is the new senior associate dean for inclusion and cultural enhancement in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Contact

Ellen Goldbaum

goldbaum@buffalo.edu

716-645-4605
twitter @egoldbaum

Release Date: July 13, 2012

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, chair of the University at Buffalo’s Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, has been named the inaugural senior associate dean for inclusion and cultural enhancement in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She will continue to serve as chair of the UB Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

In making the announcement, Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences at UB and dean of the medical school, said: “In addition to being an outstanding scientist in molecular pharmacology and drug discovery, Dr. Dubocovich has the expertise, administrative leadership and visionary skills needed to develop and implement through the new Office of Inclusion and Cultural Enhancement innovative programs that insure the school and the university are enriched through cultural enhancement.”

Cain explains that the new post was established in line with the school’s diversity policy, which seeks inclusion and cultural enhancement as a means toward achieving excellence for students and faculty, enriching the learning environment, strengthening the school’s ties to nearby communities and contributing in measurable ways to improving the health of the community.

“Diversity within medical school classes enhances the educational environment,” he said, “by helping students to break down stereotypes and racial biases and challenge assumptions; broadening students’ understanding of how language and culture affect medical care; teaching how embracing differences in race, ethnicity and other cultural experiences can enhance interactions between doctors, patients and their families; increasing students’ awareness of health and health care disparities in nearby populations; and increasing students’ interest in service to underserved communities and overall civic commitment.”

In 2008, Dubocovich was recruited to UB from Northwestern University, where she had founded and directed a highly successful professional development program for a diverse group of doctoral students in the biosciences.

In her first full year in Buffalo, she established a similar series of programs at UB, called Collaborative Learning and Integrated Mentoring in the Biosciences (CLIMB), which provides mentoring experiences for biosciences students at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels. The goal is to provide students from diverse populations the support they need to adapt and thrive in the biosciences, in college, graduate school and beyond.

This year, the program for graduate students, led by Dubocovich, was awarded a $1.9 million National Institutes of Health Initiative for Maximizing Student Development grant.

Cain said that the CLIMB programs complement the medical school’s other innovative Post-Baccalaureate Program and Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) initiatives.

UB Medical School Names Chair of Gynecology and Obstetrics

July 10, 2012 by BNMCin Member Institution(s), News, ResearchLeave a Comment

News Release

UB Medical School Names Chair of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Barnabei has conducted research on postmenopausal women through the Women’s Health Initiative and other federally funded studies

Dr. Barnabei will join UB’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences on Oct. 1.

Download JPEG

Contact

Ellen Goldbaum

goldbaum@buffalo.edu

716-645-4605
twitter @egoldbaum

Release Date: July 10, 2012

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Vanessa M. Barnabei, MD, PhD, the Patrick and Margaret McMahon Endowed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and director of General Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, has been named the

new chair of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Barnabei (pronounced Barnaby), who also will serve as medical director of Women’s Health Services at Kaleida Health, will join UB on October 1.

The hiring of Barnabei brings to eight the number of new chairs recruited by Michael E. Cain, MD, UB vice president for health sciences and dean of the UB medical school, in the past four years. These national hires, Cain says, are a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical school’s future.

According to Cain, Barnabei rapidly emerged as the top candidate following a comprehensive national search, possessing all the skills needed to advance the UB department and expand its basic and clinical research programs in service of UB’s 2020 strategic goals. Under Barnabei, Cain says, the department will enhance the excellence of its graduate medical education and mentored research training programs. She will help develop and align a comprehensive clinical program at Great Lakes Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and the community.

Barnabei has been an investigator on some of the most important clinical trials examining the effects of hormone therapy on postmenopausal women, including the Women’s Health Initiative, the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) and the Postmenopausal Estrogen/Progestin Interventions (PEPI) trial. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and industry. Her early research focused on the genetics of the X chromosome as well as perinatal genetics.

Certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Barnabei also is a certified menopause clinician. She provides obstetrical care in the low-risk setting and manages the gynecological care of women of all ages, with expertise in the care of the midlife woman and vulvar disorders.

Barnabei has held leadership positions at both George Washington University and The Medical College of Wisconsin in areas of women’s health and menopause. In recent years, she has been involved in hospital- and community-based activities aimed at lowering the infant mortality rate in inner-city African American children.

A native of Vineland, New Jersey, Barnabei received her PhD in biology and her MD from the University of Virginia. She did her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago. She served as an assistant professor and associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University in Washington, DC. In 2010, Barnabei received the Outstanding Faculty Award from The Medical College of Wisconsin. She holds leadership positions in the North American Menopause Society and the Central Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

RPCI Launches New Applications

June 25, 2012 by BNMCin Homepage, Member Institution(s), NewsLeave a Comment

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) launched its new digital edition of Roswellness, a consumer magazine dedicated to sharing advancements in cancer research and care. The magazine’s first digital issue, “Redefining Survivorship” is available to all iPad users. The free digital issues can be downloaded from the Apple Store. Users can go to library and click on the cover graphics to launch the interactive publication. The RPCI mobile website for smartphones will be up and running on June 25th.
“Taking advantage of new technology tools is attractive because they enable significant cost savings, along with broader reach, thus enhancing our ability to share information,” said Roswell Park President and CEO Donald L. Trump, MD. “These web- and wp-contentlication-based tools are interactive and more engaging than conventional print communications, and they give us even better ways to tell our story, share with the reader what we do and recommend to them resource links they should know about.”

RPCI is one of the first healthcare organizations to create an interactive digital publication. Roswellness has been created using the same technology major publications like Time and Sports Illustrated use to craft their digital editions.

“Going digital with the magazine allowed us to create a fuller, more dynamic user experience,” said Julie Wesolowski, Roswellness editor, who will be demonstrating the publication in the Survivorship Tent at The Ride For Roswell June 22nd–23rd at the University at Buffalo. “We incorporated lots of interactive elements into this first digital edition — an animated cover design, slide shows, video, maps and social media feeds. With all those elements at our disposal, we were able to include incredible resources for Ride For Roswell participants and volunteers.”

“Our trending over the years has shown an increase in our customers moving to our web-based wp-contentlications, and now we’re seeing more than 10,000 users a month accessing RoswellPark.org from mobile phones,” says Laurel DiBrog, Vice President of Marketing, Planning and Public Affairs, “so our goal will be to continue to enable users to get all the functionality of our main site — information and navigational tools for our patients and our other audiences, job listings and wp-contentlication forms, clinical trials — in a format that’s more convenient and easier to read from those devices.”

Architecture Firms Design State of the Art Buildings for BNMC Member Institutions

June 14, 2012 by BNMCin Campus-wide, Construction, Homepage, Member Institution(s), News, RenovationsLeave a Comment

After much anticipation about where the new University at Buffalo‘s (UB) School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences would be and the firm that would design it, it is evident that the new buildings being built on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) are setting the standard for creative submissions by many globally competitive design firms to design innovative facilities within the Buffalo-Niagara region.
UB’s announcement to have HOK design its $375 million medical school came after holding a second-round architectural ideas competition to decide which firm could present the best creative design for the project. Although the actual design has yet to be revealed, what can be said is that the plan will go down in the books as one of Buffalo’s most sustainable structures to be built. The HOK planning goal is to aim for a LEED Gold certification for the facility.

The medical school will be located on the corner of Main and High Streets and will either incorporate the NFTA Metro Rail Station into the design or be built alongside it. The groundbreaking is set to take place in the fall of 2013 with the goal of completing construction by 2016. The facility will bring 1,200 students, faculty and staff to the BNMC.

HOK model that won the architectural competition to design the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Continue reading “Architecture Firms Design State of the Art Buildings for BNMC Member Institutions”

High School Students Participate in Apprenticeship Program Through Hauptman-Woodward Institute

June 5, 2012 by BNMCin Community, Homepage, Member Institution(s), Outreach, ResearchLeave a Comment

The Hauptman-Woodward Institute (HWI) offers the opportunity for high school students to gain a tremendous experience researching evolution and bioinformatics through the High School Apprenticeship Program. The program is led by Dr. William L. Duax, HWI’s H.A. Hauptman Distinguished Scientist. Dr. Duax is also a biology professor at the University at Buffalo, with a highly extensive research background, especially involving genetic coding. Spinning off of a City Honors School program in place since 2006 that was created to introduce students to medical research, Dr. Duax’s Apprentice Program reached an enrollment peak as 30 students from various schools in Buffalo took a course learning how to use state-of-the-art computer programs heavily used for biological analysis, as well as unique programs developed at HWI.
Since 2006, Dr. Duax has had students spend a great deal of time in his lab, developing their research skills as they unlocked the intricacies of molecular biology through experiments. Not only did the students get to identify research goals and perform the research, they also have been given the opportunity to present their findings at science research fairs. The students can be qualified to be coauthors of abstracts published in national and international leading scientific journals. Many of Dr. Duax’s students have attained scholarships and have gone on to choose career paths involving medical research.

Three levels of participation are available to the students who have gone through the wp-contentlication process, afterward being accepted:

-Students at City Honors Schools can attend the program all day every Friday throughout the school year.

-Students from any Buffalo area school can attend the program one or two afternoons after school throughout the school year

-Students can choose the summer internship option which takes place 5 days a week for up to 12 weeks.

Students from 15 schools in Buffalo worked on projects last summer analyzing proteins. As the program grows in its popularity, the need to accommodate the demand continues to increase. Dr. Duax opened the program to an 8th grader last year, and this year he is expected to have 3 more middle school students participate. The efforts to expose students to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields continues to excite interest in students at an early age, increasing their opportunities to become the next generation of doctors and researchers that help advance the medical industry. Applicants are interviewed, given a tour of HWI research facilities, and receive an overview of the goals of the research project, and learn how they will help reach those goals.

Because of the number of wp-contentlicants into the summer program, more than 40 students are expected to participate with the help of donated computers and printers for the summer of 2012 group. As the students learn to wp-contently the learned research skills, present complex research in layman terms to various audiences, and continue to explore ways to break down the genome structure, they also get the opportunity to work in the midst of a cutting-edge Medical Campus full of experts, entrepreneurs, and researchers with a world of knowledge. To-date, there has not been one student who has been turned away from the program. Although increased demand and limited computer resources may change the acceptance standards, the support of donors could change the number of students the program services dramatically. For more information on how to donate resources to enable the program to increase or to find out more about the program, please contact Dr. Duax at 716.898.8616 or duax@hwi.buffalo.edu.

Roswell Park Graduate Student Earns Research Scholar Award from Nicolay Foundation

May 7, 2012 by BNMCin Member Institution(s)Leave a Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 7, 2012
Contact: Annie Deck-Miller, Senior Media Relations Manager
716-845-8593; annie.deck-miller@roswellpark.org

Roswell Park Graduate Student Earns Research Scholar Award from Nicolay Foundation

BUFFALO, NY — Maryann Mikucki, a pre-doctoral trainee in the Department of Immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), has received a Research Scholar Award from the Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation (JMNMF). As part of the JMNMF’s ongoing support for promising graduate students at major academic cancer centers, the competitive award includes a $10,000 grant toward Mikucki’s research on melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

Mikucki is working toward a joint MD/PhD degree from the University at Buffalo (UB) and the Roswell Park Graduate Division of UB. One of nine graduate students to receive the awards this year, she works under the direction of Sharon S. Evans, PhD, whose internationally recognized laboratory investigates checkpoints controlling mobilization of blood-borne T cells to tissues during immune responses.

“The work I’ll be performing with the Nicolay grant aims to understand the mechanism by which tumor cells interfere with delivery of toxic T cells to melanoma tumor tissues, allowing them to evade destruction,” noted Mikucki, a native of Danbury, CT, who now lives in Amherst, NY. “These proof-of-concept studies are expected to uncover a novel mechanism of melanoma resistance to T cell-based immunotherapy and also lay the foundations for translational research.”

“Our Foundation’s Research Scholar Awards are invaluable at the grassroots level, to specifically grow interest in melanoma research at qualified cancer centers across the country,” said Robert E. Nicolay, JMNMF Chairman. “If we can attract the brightest minds that are considering, or already within, the nation’s cancer research pipelines, to pursue a career in melanoma research, we’re that much closer to better understanding the disease, identifying the means for effective treatments and, most importantly, finding a cure for this deadly and very prevalent disease.”

The Joanna M. Nicolay Melanoma Foundation is a nonprofit public charity founded in January 2004 to foster melanoma education, advocacy and research. In just eight years, the Foundation has grown dramatically to become an influential voice in the melanoma community and is now established as a national, and international, “voice for melanoma prevention, detection, care and cure.”

The mission of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) is to understand, prevent and cure cancer. RPCI, founded in 1898, was one of the first cancer centers in the country to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and remains the only facility with this designation in Upstate New York. The Institute is a member of the prestigious National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of the nation’s leading cancer centers; maintains affiliate sites; and is a partner in national and international collaborative programs. For more information, visit RPCI’s website at http://www.roswellpark.org, call 1-877-ASK-RPCI (1-877-275-7724) or email askrpci@roswellpark.org.

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Editor’s note: Photo caption, from left: Kelvin Lee, MD, Chair of the Department of Immunology, Sharon Evans, PhD, research mentor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Immunology, Nicolay Award winner Maryann Mikucki and Richard Hershberger, PhD, MBA, Chief Academic Officer.

32nd Annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge

April 30, 2012 by BNMCin Community, Homepage, Member Institution(s), NewsLeave a Comment

Employees from various organizations will run and walk the 3.5-mile course in WNY’s largest annual race which will be held this year on Thursday, June 7, with the traditional 6:45 p.m. start at Delaware Park. In its 32nd year, the Buffalo JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge has averaged 12,000 registrants from nearly 400 companies. Teams are being put together and projected finish times are being thrown into the pool. With Kaleida‘s Spring into Fitness 5K orchestrated by the Kaleida Health Foundation and other races like it kicking off the spring push to encourage employees and the community to improve their health by promoting physical activity, the Corporate Challenge is bound to offer a healthy and fun time for those who attend.

After the race, participants will retreat to their company tents and enjoy the customary meal offered as they eat, drink and be merry. The JPMorgan Chase Foundation will make a donation on behalf of all participants to the American Red Cross, Greater Buffalo.

A new feature, a timing chip, will allow for times to be recorded based on when runners cross the start and finish lines. No more collecting and entering finish times after the race. Participants will have to go online to confirm their scoring teams.

Entry Fee: $32 until close-date Thursday, May 24, 2012.

REGISTER HERE

Roswell Park Cancer Institute Unveils New ICU

April 25, 2012 by BNMCin Homepage, Member Institution(s), NewsLeave a Comment

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) unveiled its new Intensive Care Unit (ICU) that fuses state-of-the-art technology with patient-centered design to provide optimal care for patients with the most sensitive medical needs.
The ICU is 8,000 sq. ft. and is located on the eighth floor of RPCI’s main building. It is 40% larger than the already-existing ICU, created for the specific purpose of anticipating future growth. The design of the relocated unit was based on industry best practices and extensive input from RPCI’s clinical-operations team. Laura Shoemaker, a Senior Planner from RPCI’s Facilities and Planning Department, incorporated warm, soothing earth tones, with circle and arc themes in order to help convey connectedness and comfort to the patients and visitors. An included feature in the patient rooms is the large windows which help provide natural lighting in accordance with New York State Department of Health requirements in addition to breathtaking views of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and downtown Buffalo.

The floor plan allows staff to work more efficiently, promoting safety and adaptability as patient monitoring is enhanced through the multifunctional modular boom units, automated lifts and zoned lighting.

For more information, please visit the RPCI’s Web site.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute Receives Grant from Lance Armstrong Foundation

April 10, 2012 by BNMCin Homepage, Member Institution(s), NewsLeave a Comment

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) was recognized for its efforts to fight cancer. As a LIVESTRONG® Community Impact Project finalist and award recipient, RPCI will use the $10, 000 grant that comes with the award for the improvement of its Palliative Care services that the center provides.
RPCI and the University at Buffalo invited Lance Armstrong to be a speaker for the 25th Anniversary University at Buffalo Distinguished Speaker Series. For more information about the event, click here.

Read more about the LIVESTRONG® Community Impact Project and RPCI.

Kaleida’s Gates Vascular Institute and UB's Clinical Translational Research Center Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting

March 20, 2012 by BNMCin Homepage, Member Institution(s)Leave a Comment

The new Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) and the University at Buffalo‘s Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) next to Buffalo General Medical Center grand opening and ribbon cutting will be Thursday, May 24th. Kaleida Health has designed this state-of-the-art facility to be the premier destination for stroke care, cardiac surgery, and vascular services. The brand new emergency department opened in the building in November 2011. Kaleida has consolidated services into one location, increasing its ability to provide world-class care for Western new Yorkers and beyond. Learn more about this new location.

Continue reading “Kaleida’s Gates Vascular Institute and UB's Clinical Translational Research Center Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting”