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
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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
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Memo:
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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 <Sf brain
injuries from other trauma, or per
haps of diseases such as mild cog
nitive impairment and Alzheimer's
which have been linked to recur
rent concussion in professional
players.
Using special accelerometers
embedded in helmets, researchers
were able to measure in real time
the amount of g-force players'
heads experienced at impact,
where on the head the players were
hit and the directional force of the
hits - linear (straight) or rotational
(twisted). The system is called
HITS, or Head Impact Telemetry
System.
Moses Cone
endows
professorship
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
GREENSBORO - A
$333,000 gift from Moses Cone
Health System will endow a
nursing professorship at The
University of North Carolina at
Greensboro.
And UNCG plans to give
Cone a gift in return - more
nurses.
The endowment for the
Moses Cone Distinguished
Professorship in Nursing will
d e
received
over
three
years, in
$111,000
install
ments.
The uni
versity
will
apply to
t h e
Karb
state's Distinguished Professors
Endowment Trust Fund for
matching funds to bring the
total endowment to $500,000.
"What's motivating Cone is
the shortage of nurses," said Dr.
Virginia Karb. associate dean
of the nursing school. "They
would like us to graduate more
nurses and we woilitd like to do
that, too. but our facilities and
staff are at capacity. This
endowment will help us recruit
a senior professor for the nurs
ing school, which is tough
because there's also a severe
shortage of nursing faculty. It's
a real challenge to recruit and
keep faculty."
The Cone Distinguished
Professor will work with under
graduate nursing students in
UNCG's pre-licensure pro
gram.
A 2006 survey found at
least 637 open faculty positions
nationally at schools offering
BSN and graduate nursing
degrees, a vacancy rate estimat
ed at nearly eight percent.
"We are pleased to be able
to support UNCG in its efforts
to recruit highly qualified fac
ulty for the undergraduate pro
gram in nursing," said Joan
Wessman, Cone's chief nursing
officer. "The collaboration
between Moses Cone Health
System and the UNCG School
of Nursing is important to help
us meet our nursing manpower
needs. The community is fortu
nate to have this strong partner
ship."
Cone is a multi-hospital
system serving Guilford,
Randolph. Rockingham and
Alamance counties and the city
of Kemersville.