Dartmouth Medical School Digest
May 2008

News for our community

In this issue

Killer gene switches
Not all cells are destined to live, and Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have pinpointed terminator controls that regulate a cell's fate to assure development of a healthy animal. Their discovery links two biological processes essential for the vitality and diversity of an organism: asymmetric cell division, which creates daughters that are different, and apoptosis, which prompts unwanted or defective cells to self-destruct. The work, reported April 8 in PLoS Biology and led by Dr. Barbara Conradt, has implications for manipulating stem cells that divide unevenly to self-renew or differentiate and cancer cells that defy their predestined death.

Medicare fix: a major overhaul
Spending for the chronically ill varies widely and Medicare pays many medical institutions more than others to treat chronically ill people, yet gets worse results, says the latest Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. If US health care mirrored the practice patterns of gold-standard health care systems, Medicare could save billions of dollars annually, just in time as retiring baby boomers will put unprecedented pressure on the health care system. The new edition, Tracking the Care of Patients with Severe Chronic Illness, shows that institutions that give better care can do it at a lower cost because they don't over-treat patients.

Cancer society professorship
A DMS physician scientist has been named an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, an honor that recognizes contributions to science and patient care. Dr. Ethan Dmitrovsky is one of three recipients this year of the society's leading grant award. The multi-year grant will support his studies of innovative ways to treat and prevent lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death for men and women in the US, and his work in mentoring future generations of researchers.

Doctor crisis: wrong Rx
Focusing on the physician workforce ignores real problems in health care, say Dartmouth Medical School physicians. Increasing the number of doctors has not led to overall better medical care, greater availability or patient satisfaction, yet some continue to argue that more doctors are critical to address the US health care crisis. Drs. David C. Goodman and Elliott S. Fisher write in the April 17 New England Journal of Medicine that adding physicians would treat the symptoms of an ailing health care system, but ignore the underlying disease and be likely to worsen existing problems.

Clinical associate dean
A prominent Dartmouth children's infectious disease expert has been appointed senior associate dean for clinical affairs at Dartmouth Medical School, effective immediately. Dr. John Modlin, chair of pediatrics, will serve in an advisory role to the dean for all aspects of the school's academic mission involving the clinical faculty and programs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He is recognized for his leadership on vaccine public policy and viral disease prevention and his studies on poliovirus vaccination were instrumental in changing US polio immunization guidelines.

Healing war wounded
Dartmouth joins a national consortium for innovative approaches to help critically injured US soldiers. Plastic surgeon Dr. Joseph Rosen will be part of the interdisciplinary Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The network will focus on developing therapies to repair traumatic and debilitating wounds of military personnel, particularly those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Top ranked fellowship
A postdoctoral fellow in Dartmouth's interdisciplinary Lung Biology and Cystic Fibrosis Research Development programs won a prestigious national fellowship. Tom Scanlon is the third annual Carol Basbaum Memorial Fellow, a distinction awarded each year to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's highest scoring fellowship applicant. The two-year award will support his investigations, based at Thayer School of Engineering, of new therapeutic possibilities for the common inherited chronic disorder.


DMS Communications
1 Rope Ferry Road (HB 7065)
Hanover, NH 03755-1404
Tel: (603) 650-1492
Fax: (603) 650-1730
Email: dms.communications@dartmouth.edu
dms.dartmouth.edu/news

Back to DMS Digest