Children’s Hospital ranked sixth in nation
Children’s Hospital of Michigan ranked sixth in the list of top 10 pediatric hospitals in the nation, according to Child magazine. The top 10 hospitals were selected using criteria such as: quality of doctors and nurses, survival rates for common childhood cancers and the amount of government research funding. The University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital ranked ninth.

Chemical Toxicology undergoes name change
The WSU Board of Governors has approved a name change for the Institute for Chemical Toxicology to the Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The new title will not alter the research direction of the institute, but reflects its purpose more clearly.

Toxicology research traditionally focused on high-level exposure to toxicants and the related effects on humans over a short period of time. Today, research has evolved into an examination of low-level chronic exposure to environmental chemicals that people encounter in daily life and the subsequent effects on disease over a longer period of time.

Viruses linked to chronic fatigue syndrome
Martin Lerner, MD, professor of internal medicine, conducted two studies and found that 95 percent of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome had abnormal electrocardiograms, compared to only about a quarter of healthy subjects.

Using a new, ultra-sensitive test, Dr. Lerner was able to detect tiny amounts of the Epstein-Barr and cytomegalo viruses in the study patients. He believes these viruses weakened the heart muscle, giving rise to the symptoms collectively known as chronic fatigue.

Dr. Lerner is particularly interested in this subject, since he was diagnosed with chronic fatigue in 1988.

Grant supports vision research
Raymond Iezzi, MD, a vitreoretinal surgeon at the Kresge Eye Institute and assistant professor of ophthalmology, has been awarded a $200,000 Career Development Award from Research to Prevent Blindness, a leading organization supporting eye research.

Dr. Iezzi is director of the retina implant project at the Ligon Research Center for Vision, the only center in the world working on retinal and cortical implants to restore vision. He has also received a patent for his work in three-dimensional ultrasound.

“Dr. Iezzi is one of the best young investigators in the country working in the area of artificial vision,” said Dr. Gary Abrams, chair of ophthalmology. “I believe that the work to be accomplished with support from Research to Prevent Blindness may well set a new path for research and advancement in this important area.”

Coming Soon: International Conference on Jews and Medicine
Mark your calendars for May 6-7, 2001, when The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies and the WSU School of Medicine will host a conference on “International Conference on Jews and Medicine: Religious Thought, Cultural Patterns and Practical Applications.”

The conference will explore various themes that define the Jews’ historic encounter with medicine and healing: Biblical religion and folk remedies, the emergence of medicine as a distinctive profession, the image of the Jewish doctor, the Jewish medical response to catastrophe, and Jewish approaches to the distribution of health services.

Sunday night’s program at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield will feature a keynote address by David Ruderman, Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History and Director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Monday’s three conference sessions will be hosted at McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the campus of Wayne State University.

For more information or to register, contact Sandy Loeffler, Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies, at (313) 577-2679.

University Psychiatric Centers Achieve CARF Accreditation
Administrators for University Psychiatric Centers (UPC) were recently informed by CARF, The Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission, that their organization was awarded a three-year accreditation for all of its outpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment programs.

This award, which represents the highest possible level of accreditation, is given to organizations that show substantial fulfillment of the standards established by CARF. UPC was found to show outstanding achievement in the areas of clinical care and business operations.

UPC is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences. It has been providing mental health and substance abuse treatment services throughout the Detroit metropolitan area since 1994.

The CARF reviewers said, “The quality of the professionals providing services appears second to none…In the geographic area of service, the organization is recognized as the premier behavioral health provider, and its symbiotic relationship with Wayne State University gives the organization a decided edge over other providers in the region.”

Faculty publications sought for library display
FRIENDS of the WSU School of Medicine is continuing its drive to create a faculty publications display at Shiffman Medical Library. Donations from faculty of textbooks they have written or edited, or peer-reviewed journals of which they were editor-in-chief or co-editor are being sought. Please submit signed textbooks along with a one-paragraph biographical sketch to Freda Giblin, dean’s office, 1213 Scott Hall, or email to fgiblin@med.wayne.edu.

Faculty member awarded grant to study opioid dependence
Dr. Susan Stine of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences was awarded a $30,000 research grant by the Mental Illness Research Association (MIRA).

The grant will fund the HPA Axis Alteration in Opioid Dependence: Methadone Maintenance Versus Abstinence Project -- a study of 10 methadone maintained subjects, 10 drug abstinent heroin dependent subjects and 10 healthy subjects. The purpose of the study is to help researchers understand why long-term abstinence from opioid drugs without the use of drug treatment is not generally successful.

MIRA is an organization that advances medical treatment for mental illness through private sector fundraising and by encouraging researchers through recognition and support. MIRA also works to erase the stigma of mental illnesses by fostering an awareness of their physical basis.

Dr. Stine is the director of psychiatric services for the University Psychiatric Center’s Jefferson Research Clinic and the Addiction Psychiatry Residency Training Program.