Health & Wellness Healthbeat School adds medicinal biochemistry PhD The UNCG Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry now offers a doctorate in medicinal biochemistry with the first students to start the program in the fall. Students will develop expertise in the bio chemistry of drug design and function, and will specialize in one of three disciplines: computa tional chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry or drug synthesis. Graduates will be prepared for careers in biochemical research. The program will help provide leaders for North Carolina's growing biotechnology industry. "We're unique in that the medicinal biochem istry is being taught in_a chemistry and biochem istry department with a strong emphasis on the chemistry of drug design and action" said Dr Gregory Raner, the department's director of grad uate studies. Raner predicted that the doctoral program would enroll five or six students in its first year and eventually grow to 30-40 students. The department already has IS students in its chem istry master's program and 15 in its biochemistry master's program. In addition to its economic development bene fits for the state, the program will boost faculty research. "A PhD program provides faculty mem bers with the opportunity to train students and the benefits of 2-3 years of labor from a trained researcher," Raner said. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has 14 faculty members - 11 with research interests in biochemistry and eight have experience in medicinal chemistry or the bio chemistry of drug action. Two more faculty posi tions will be added in the next few years. Nearly 200 Wake Medical doctors make esteemed list The 2007 update of the Best Doctors in America database includes 181 physicians at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The Medical Center also ranks 32nd in the nation for the number of physicians listed in Castle Connolly's new 7th edition of America's Top Doctors. In the Best Doctors list. 85 percent of the doctors listed from Forsyth County are from Wake Forest Baptist. Of the 262 doctors listed from Forsyth and Guilford counties, 70 per cent are from Wake Forest Baptist. These included 41 AppUgate pediatric specialists at Brenner children's Hospital, part of Wake Forest Baptist. This year there were a total of 1.250 doctors listed from North Carolina. "It is an honor to have our physicians achieve such prestigious recognition," said William Applegate, M.D.. M.P.H., F.A.C.P., interim presi dent of Wake Forest University Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. "Our organ ization is known for excellence so it is nice to see this list grow as more of our doctors become renowned for such excellence." Best Doctors has built a database of more than 40,000 of the best physicians in America. It develops the list by a peer survey that asks: "If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your spe cialty, to whom would you refer them?" The survey takes place biennially and is com pleted by physicians included in the Best Doctors database. Specialists complete ballots on other doctors in their own and related specialties. Nursing scholarship established at Forsyth Tech for Dr. Glass A new Nursing Scholarship has been estab lished at Forsyth Technical Community College in memory of Dr. Frederick W. Glass, the first director of the emergency-medicine-residency program at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who passed away on December 2 of this year. His wife, Joyce Glass, and family treat ed the scholarship to honor his professional accomplishments. ,t A graduate of Wake Forest College and Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Dr. Glass joined the faculty at Wake Forest School of Medicine in 1973 and developed the Emergency Medicine program in 1975. It was one of the first five programs in the country. The first Endorsed Chair of Emergency Medicine in the country was named for Dr. Glass, and he was a past president of the N.C. Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians and served as the State Medical Director for 1987-89. He was known as a likeable and caring man who devoted his life to advancing the practice of emergency medicine. The Dr. Frederick W Glass Memorial Nursing Scholarship is available to individuals admitted to the Forsyth Tech Associate Degree Nursing pro gram. Students will be selected to receive the scholarship based on admission scores, prior work in a health care setting, and financial need. It is preferred that the applicant has an interest in Emergency Medicine, but it is not required. Scholarship donations should be designated for the Glass Memorial Scholarship and sent to the Forsyth Tech Foundation. 2100 Silas Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. Contact Dr. Shari Covitz at (336) 734-7520 for more information. ' Maintaining a Lifelong Smile ?ML ? The (H*v? fincEiou fles?fl?cH?IlnTEf? on (Tiinowiy HewHI Wbke Furret University Baptist The teeth are not only for smil ing; they are very important to the human body because they help us to speak properly and help us to^hew the food we consume. Many people consider teeth that have decay (or are perforated) a superficial or "cosmetic" problem, but damaged teeth can have serious health conse quences as well. Infected teeth and gums that are not treated can spread infection to other parts of the body, and in rare cases, cause death. For these reasons we should take care of our teeth to have a healthy smile and mouth for life. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), when teeth are not cleaned and cared for regularly, gums can become irritat ed and begin to eat away at the tooth enamel. When this happens, small spaces are opened that can fill with bacteria and pus, destroying the bone. This condition is known as periodontal disease, and if it is not treated in a timely manner, a person can lose all their teeth and risk infections of the gums, jaw bones and other surrounding bones and tissues. Redness and swelling are usually the first signs of gingivi tis, or gum infection; taking care of our teeth can prevent this discom fort and potential serious conse quences. Let's talk about how to care for our teeth and avoid these dangerous consequences. Caring for your infant's teeth: A healthy set of teeth begins when babies are small. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), parents should follow the following advice: - Babies should not lie down for a nap/to sleep with a bottle. - None or very little milk, juice, soda or other drinks that contain sugar should be given; these drinks can promote bacteria growth and speed decay. - Only use a bottle during feed ing (if not breastfeeding); do not use as a substitute for a pacifier. - Teach infants to drink from a glass within their first year. - Clean babies' teeth with a wet cloth or soft brush made for babies. - Between the ages of one and two years, the child's teeth should be cleaned twice: once after break fast and once before lying down. - Find out if your water has flu oride (most municipal water sup plies do). Fluoride is a nontoxic See Smiles on A8 at&t Date i ?C ' \^0: J Pay to the order of Oaint Uc I U/eril'j-CuZ " ^hufarirj Otwk. u* s Memo: ) Inl-lhfylucaU. t f it I - Xorth Carolina St Augustine's Photo President Dianne Boardley Suber, center, accepts the foundation's donation. Saint Augustine's to create an online medical resource School will use funds from the AT&T Foundation SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE RALEIGH - The AT&T Foundation, the corpo rate philanthropy arm of AT&T Inc., has awarded Saint Augustine's College's ? St, Agnes Health Disparities Institute with $25,000 through the AT&T Excelerator competitive technology grant program. The grant will be used to enhance programs that address medical ailments plaguing the minority com munity 'by providing online access to educational information. "Support from the AT&T Excelerator grant pro gram enables us to refine the technology infrastruc ture in the restoration of the proposed Saint Agnes Center for the Study of Health Disparities," said Dianne Boardley Suber, president of Saint Augustine's College. "Saint Agnes is a historical landmark of local, regional and national significance. Technology is critical to connecting the local com munity to the global society in a strategic and contin uous plan. This grant will allow us to effectively accomplish that goal." The AT&T Excelerator program provides technol ogy access to organizations working to strengthen under-served communities. Helping non-prdfits inte grate technology into their operations and communi ty outreach, AT&T Excelerator grants also place technology tools in the hands of the under-served populations that the non-profits work with in order to provide resources such as eduction programs, Internet access, computer training and job-skills development. Q Nearly $116,000 was awarded to five Raleigh based organizations and 17 regional and local non profit organizations will receive a total of $340,000 through the competitive program. UNC research may help better protect football players SPECIAL TO THK C HRONICLE CHAPEL HILL - In a game thai spawned the term "slobber knocker," is there a limit to the amount of impact a football play er's head can handle before the player suffers a concussion? The answer is yes ... and no. say researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. High-tech helmets worn by some University of North Carolina fool ball players over the 2004 to 2006 seasons yielded new data that chal lenges conventional theories about these mild traumatic brain injuries. The UNC study, in the December issue of Neurosurgery, shows that hits, and heads, are as individual as the' players them selves, and researchers advise against _ establishing a one-size fits-all rule for evaluating concus sions. "People see massive hits and think, 'that's the one!' and ignore more trivial blows," said Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., senior author on the papers and chair of the department of exercise Guskiewicz and sport sci ence in UNO's College of Arts & Sciences. "Now we know that these trivial hits may be just as serious as the harder ones." This new information could lead to better guidelines for evalu ating head injuries and deciding a player's playing status, Guskiewicz said. It might also lead to a better understanding