April 2008

Graduation is Friday, May 9

Graduation for Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences and College of Osteopathic Medicine is at 7 p.m. Friday, May 9, at the Union Performing Arts Center, 6636 S. Mingo Road in Tulsa. Elaine Ramos (photo), president of the Class of 2008, is the speaker. The OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine will award 79 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees. OSU-CHS biological and forensic sciences graduate programs will award degrees in forensic and biomedical sciences. OSU Medicine military commissioning ceremonies take place at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 8, at the DoubleTree Hotel – Warren Place. Army Maj. Gen. Jason K. Kamiya, director of joint training for United States Joint Forces Command - Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, Va., is guest speaker. A social hour is at 6 p. m. and the graduation banquet begins at 7 p.m. Staff Advisory Council Book and Gift sale The popular SAC book and gift sale returns to campus this week o         Hours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. o         Thursday and Friday,  April 17-18, in Founders Hall o         Benefits SAC employee scholarship fund. OSBI Director’s Award to Robert Allen Robert Allen, Ph.D. (photo), chair of the Department of Forensic Sciences at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, has received the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s Director’s Award for providing forensics expertise and service to the bureau. The award is in appreciation for Allen’s volunteer assistance to the bureau in statistical interpretation of certain kinds of criminal DNA test results. Allen said he provides specialized forensic expertise in unusual cases and this assistance aids in prosecuting offenders expeditiously. A letter from the OSBI director acknowledges Allen’s expertise and his voluntary service to the bureau and to law enforcement in Oklahoma.   Nominations for the award can come from anyone within the OSBI, Allen said. The award was officially given in January, but he received it in March because the ice storm prevented him from attending an awards ceremony. Allen is also director of the OSU-CHS graduate program in forensic sciences, director of the Human Identity Testing Laboratory and a professor of forensic sciences. Colby Foundation Endowed Lectureship OSU College of Osteopathic Medicine students learned about organ donation, adult transplant infectious diseases and critical care medicine at the Colby Foundation Endowed Lectureship. Dr. John and Starla Cassani funded the lectureship to educate students and professionals about organ donation and transplantation after the 1993 death of their 14-month old son, Colby, whose organs were donated to three different recipients. Kirby D. Slifer, D.O. (left, with Daniel Cogan, Ed.D.) from the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City was guest lecturer. Dr. Cassani is a 1980 graduate of OSU Medicine.

Scrub Run aids LifeShare

More than 400 participants made this year’s Osteopathic Scrub Run a run-away success. The annual event is a project of the OSU Student Osteopathic Medical Association. Top OSU CHS runners included Shelly Johnson, Gary Slick, D.O., Warren Finn, Ph.D. (photo), Earl Blewett, Ph.D., Kirby Jarolim, Ph.D., Joel Watson, Nicole Mayes and Zach Fowler. Race proceeds benefit LifeShare Transplant Donor Services of Oklahoma.

Student Services staff members Whitney Gwartney, Michelle Bartlett, Lindsey Kirkpatrick and Sarah Quinten helped welcome more than 150 visitors who came to campus for Med-Xtravaganza 2008 on April 4. The event drew prospective students, parents, advisors and undergraduate faculty, who met with OSU medical students, faculty and admissions staff.  Tours, demonstrations and discussions highlighted the event.

Round of Applause

Honored:  Stanley E. Grogg, D.O. awarded the 2008 Harold H. Finkel, DO, Pediatrician of the Year Award at the American College of Osteopathic Pediatrician convention. Also, the OSU Student Chapter of the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians was named 2008 Student Chapter of the Year.

News media/publications: Co-writing chapter on Otalgia with Karen Steele, D.O., for the next Foundations in Osteopathic Medicine edition, Miriam Mills, M.D. Reviewed article for Journal of Travel Medicine, The High Road – Not the Low Road, Children and Travel, Stanley E. Grogg, D.O.

Abstract Published:  “Astrocyte-stimulated migration by human CHME-5 microglia,” 39th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Neurochemistry, San Antonio, Randall Davis, Ph.D. and others.

Book Contributions:  Elsevier Textbook, “Clinical Toxic and Environmental Neurology” (Dr. Michael Dobbs, editor), two chapters: “Clinical Aspects of Mercury Neurotoxicity,” and “Cellular and Molecular Neurotoxicology: Basic Principles,” submitted March 2008, David Wallace, Ph.D. and others.

Collections acquired: Human osteological collection and anthropological cast collection, to be used in teaching, were acquired from OU Health Sciences, Anne Weil, Ph.D. and Kent Smith, Ph.D.

Manuscript Reviews: Journal of Microbiological Methods, Frank Champlin, Ph.D.; Physiology and Behavior, Kathleen Curtis, Ph.D.; Biochemical Pharmacology and Molecular Biology Reports, Randall Davis, Ph.D.; Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, Gerwald Köhler, Ph.D.; Toxicology, David Wallace, Ph.D.

Medical Dictionary consultant: Parasitology consultant for the 31st edition of Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, published in 2008, David John, Ph.D.

Mentors: Selected as mentor for the 2008 IDeA (Institutional Development Award) Network of Biomedical Research Excellence Summer Research Program, Frank Champlin, Ph.D. and Kathleen Curtis, Ph.D.

Publication: “Paleocene palynomorph assemblages from the Nacimiento Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico, and their biostratigraphic significance,” New Mexico Geology 30(1):3-11 Anne Weil Ph.D. and others.

Presentations: “Ethanol Modulation of Astroglial Chemokine Expression: Implications in Neuroaids” 14th Annual Conference for the Society on Neuroimmune Pharmacology, Charleston, S.C., Randall Davis, Ph.D.;  “Disease Transmission by Toothbrushes, Dentures, and Athletic Mouth-guards” and “Dentistry’s Role in Bioterrorism” Star of the South Dental Meeting, Houston, Tom Glass, DDS/Ph.D.; “Weapons of Mass Destruction Precursors” National Improvised Explosives Familiarization (NIEF) Training Workshop in Las Vegas, Jarred Wagner, Ph.D.

 

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