Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program
Carlos Rodriguez, M.D., M.P.H., (‘06) released a study, “Left Ventricular Mass and Ventricular Remodeling Among Hispanic Subgroups Compared With Non-Hispanic Blacks and Whites,” in the Journal of American College of Cardiology (January 19, 2010). The study shows key differences in types of heart disease among Hispanic populations that doctors should take into account to stem the risk of cardiovascular disease in this large and growing subset of the U.S. population. Caribbean-origin Hispanics have greater prevalence of hypertension than Mexicans, who, among all the Hispanic subgroups, tended to be more susceptible to diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
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- Clinical Scholars
- Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program
- Health & Society Scholars
- Physician Faculty Scholars
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico
- Scholars in Health Policy Research
Aasim I. Padela, M.D., M.Sc., (‘08) and colleagues discovered adverse health effects of perceived post-September 11 abuse and discrimination in the greater Detroit Arab community, including increased psychological distress, lower levels of happiness and poorer perceptions of health status. The study, “The Association of Perceived Abuse and Discrimination after September 11, 2001, With Psychological Distress, Level of Happiness, and Health Status Among Arab Americans,” was published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study received coverage in The Economic Times, Medical News Today, and USA Today, among others.
Alumni
David M. Krol, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.A.P., (‘01) RWJF Human Capital team director and senior program officer, is co-author of “Oral Health and Pediatricians: Results of a National Survey” and “Educating Pediatricians and Family Physicians in Oral Health,” both published in the January 2010 supplement to Academic Pediatrics. The papers address the role pediatricians can and should play in educating families about preventive oral health and in screening for dental decay and infections. The studies reveal that there are opportunities for collaboration between physicians and dentists, but that barriers exist to fully incorporate preventive oral health activities into physician practices.
Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program
Yonas Geda, M.D., M.Sc., (‘08) released a study, “Physical Exercise, Aging, and Mild Cognitive Impairment,” in the January 2010 online issue of Archives of Neurology. The study found that any frequency of moderate exercise performed in midlife or late life was associated with a reduced chance of having mild cognitive impairment.
Alumni
J. Daryl Thornton, M.D., M.P.H., (‘02) released a study, “Primary Care Physicians’ Attitudes and Practices Regarding Discussing Organ Donation With Their Patients,” in the Journal of the National Medical Association (January 2010). The paper suggests that primary care physicians could increase Americans' willingness to become organ donors by educating their patients on the process during routine office visits and discussions about end-of-life care. "With more than 100,000 Americans waiting for organ transplants, it is crucial that we find new ways to increase donation. New efforts should focus on improving communication on the subject between health care providers and their patients," said Thornton. The study was featured by Medpage Today.
Zoe Donaldson, Ph.D., (‘09), released a study, “Production of Germline Transgenic Prairie Voles (Microtus ochrogaster) Using Lentiviral Vectors,” in the December 2009 issue of Biology of Reproduction. Donaldson and colleagues created a new kind of transgenic prairie vole. These genome-manipulated prairie voles may be the key to “understanding bonding, trust and even decision-making in humans,”according to an article on the study in The Economist.
Alumni
A study by Gina Lovasi, Ph.D., (‘06) entitled “Association of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Childhood With Early Emphysema in Adulthood Among Nonsmokers,” was featured in an L. A. Times article. The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home were more likely to develop early symptoms of emphysema.
Amani Nuru-Jeter, Ph.D., M.P.H., (‘03) co-authored a study published in the December 2009 issue of the Journals of Gerontology. The study found that disability rates among non-institutionalized older Americans increased between 2000 and 2005, a trend that could seriously impact the quality of life of seniors in the coming decades. According to the research, there was a 9 percent increase over the five years of the study in non-institutionalized adults age 65 and over reporting difficulty in basic activities of daily living. “People are living longer, but many are also living sicker,” said study co-author Nuru-Jeter, assistant professor of community health and human development at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health. “This study is providing an early warning sign that the decline in disability rates we've been hearing about might be ending.”
Ray Dorsey, M.D., M.B.A., (‘08) published “Impact of FDA Black Box Advisory on Antipsychotic Medication Use” in the January 11, 2010 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Co-authors included G. Caleb Alexander, M.D., M.S., alumnus of the Physician Faculty Scholars program (‘06) and of the Clinical Scholars program (‘01). The authors determined that the use of atypical antipsychotics to treat elderly patients with dementia appears to have decreased following a 2005 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory regarding the risks of these medications in this population. The findings were covered by U.S. News & World Report online and News-Medical.Net, among others.
Judette Louis, M.D., M.P.H., (‘08) published “Maternal and Neonatal Morbidities Associated With Obstructive Sleep Apnea Complicating Pregnancy” in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (January 2010). Comparing 57 pregnancies complicated by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with 114 normal-weight controls, Louis and colleagues found that pregnancies complicated by OSA are at an increased risk for preeclampsia, medical complications and preterm birth.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico
Senior fellows Sally Cohen, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., and Frank Kessell, Ph.D., M.A., published chapters in the new book The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion. The book contains more than 500 articles on children and childhood by experts. Cohen’s chapter is “Child Care: Legal and Public-Policy Perspectives.” Kessel‘s is “Research on Child Development: Historical Perspectives.”
Scholars in Health Policy Research
Alumni
Wendy Cadge, Ph.D., (‘04) published “Prayers in the Clinic: How Pediatricians Respond” in the Southern Medical Journal (December 2009). Researchers have increasingly examined prayer in physician-patient interactions, focusing on attitudinal questions such as how physicians view the relevance of prayer. Cadge focused on pediatric physicians to investigate how prayer arises in clinical situations and how physicians respond. She found that patients and families are almost always initiators of a request for prayer, and that physicians respond in one of four ways. These four responses allowed researchers to generate hypotheses about the independent variables that influence how pediatricians respond to prayer. Cadge wrote about the study for several prominent blogs, including the Washington Post “On Faith” (December 7, 2009); The New York Times “Prescriptions” (December 12, 2009); and The Los Angeles Times “Booster Shots” (December 16, 2009). The study was also featured on Medical News Today.