UTHSC Graduates 672 Healthcare Professionals
Last month the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) graduated 672 healthcare professionals. UTHSC Chancellor Steve J. Schwab, MD, presided over the ceremony. UT System President Joe DiPietro conferred the degrees and gave the charge to the graduates.
The 672 graduates are from all six of the UT Health Science Center’s colleges.
185 from the College of Allied Health Sciences; 74 from the College of Dentistry; 23 from the College of Graduate Health Sciences; 157 from the College of Medicine; 107 from the College of Nursing; 126 from the College of Pharmacy.
This year’s graduating class included 75 African-Americans, 12 Latino-Americans, and 147 graduates who came from out of state to study at UTHSC. In addition, this graduating class was comprised of 411 women and 261 men. Sixteen of the out-of-state dentistry graduates were Arkansans who earned their doctoral degrees from the UT College of Dentistry. Arkansas students come to Tennessee to train as dentists because their state has no dental college.
Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis Receives 5th Consecutive “A”
For the fifth time, Saint Francis Hospital-Memphis received the top grade from one of the nation’s leading patient safety advocacy organizations. The hospital received an “A” in The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2014 Hospital Safety Score The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Score rating system is designed to give consumers information they can use to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves or a loved one.
Health Choice Announces New Hires
Health Choice, LLC, has announced that Ellen Abisch, RN, has joined Health Choice in the newly created position of senior director of Population Health Services, and LaTasha Jones has been named director of Provider Engagement.
As director of Population Health, Abisch will be responsible for designing, implementing and managing population health and wellness programs for the Health Choice network. Health Choice will use the overarching data from the network of providers and payors to identify and prioritize the healthcare needs of the population to work with patients and physicians to improve patients’ health and the quality of care, while also reducing costs.
Abisch brings more than 24 years of experience to Health Choice, having served most recently as manager of Benefits and Wellness for ServiceMaster. Prior to that, she was Global Health Promotion manager for General Electric in Schenectady, NY. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Russell Sage College in Troy, NY, and a Master of Science degree in Nursing from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.
In her new role as director of Provider Engagement, Jones will direct the implementation of Health Choice’s Valence Healthcare Vision database for the independent MetroCare physician practices. Post-implementation, she will lead the training efforts for physicians and practice staff on the database tools. She and her staff will train and coach the physician practice staff on improving the quality of the data and improving quality of care. She will also work closely with the MetroCare staff, leadership, and governance board on identifying and prioritizing opportunities in quality improvement.
Jones has more than 17 years of experience in health information management and managed care. She has worked for Health Choice since 2012, serving most recently as the director of Operations. She has also served in a variety of managed care positions with companies including Accredo Health Group, Memphis Managed Care Corporation, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Information Management from the University of Tennessee, Memphis.
Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Celebrates Newly Expanded, Renovated ER
Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital celebrated the completion of the expansion and renovations of the hospital’s emergency room in May.
The entire space within the emergency room has been redesigned to provide a more patient- and family-centered approach to care. The waiting room allows for direct patient access, making emergency staff available to answer any questions. The nurses’ stations in the ER is also open and accessible for patients and family members to walk up to discuss any questions or concerns, or request general information.
Additionally, the new space creates a more efficient emergency room by changing patient flow. Nurses and physicians now use direct bedding, which involves taking patients back to a treatment room soon after they check in, so diagnosing and treating patients can begin sooner.
The hospital broke ground last April to add 5,050 square feet to the existing facility and renovate the existing space. The new emergency room has an additional six new treatment rooms along with three triage rooms. A second floor above the emergency room will allow for future growth, as the hospital develops and advances the services it offers to meet the community needs.
Campbell Clinic Opens Surgery Center in Midtown
Campbell Clinic opened the doors to its midtown surgery center in April.
The center, previously known as Midtown Surgery Center, was purchased by Campbell Clinic in October 2013. Located at 255 S. Pauline Street, this 18,000-square-foot, ambulatory surgery center allows Campbell Clinic, the largest provider of orthopaedic and sports medicine services in the region, to double the size of its outpatient orthopaedic surgery space, adding four new operating rooms under its management and making surgical and block scheduling more convenient for its patients.
The clinic has owned and operated Campbell Surgery Center on its Germantown campus since 2002. The Midtown facility operates as Campbell Clinic Surgery Center – Midtown, with the former becoming Campbell Clinic Surgery Center – Germantown.
Campbell Clinic currently performs more than 7,400 surgical or block procedures on its Germantown campus annually, in addition to surgical capabilities the company’s surgeons utilize at numerous other area hospitals and medical facilities.
The new outpatient surgery center will also further enhance the clinic’s training and research programs and complement other local partner facilities that include The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, Methodist Le Bonheur Hospital, and the Memphis VA Medical Center.
SVMIC Declares $7.5 M Dividend
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company’s Board of Directors has declared a dividend of $7.5 million to be returned to all policyholders renewing in the twelve-month period following May 15, 2014.
This is the seventh consecutive year SVMIC has declared dividends for its physician policyholders. Policyholders will receive the dividend in the form of a credit on the renewal premium. Additionally, rates will remain unchanged for 2014.
Since SVMIC’s inception, a total of $335.5 million has been returned to physician policyholders.
Prime Urgent Medical Clinic Joins MedPost
Prime Urgent Medical Clinic, located in Cordova, now has a new name: MedPost Urgent Care. The center becomes part of a new and growing national network of urgent care centers launched by Tenet Healthcare, the parent company of Saint Francis Hospital- Bartlett, to provide high-quality, efficient and convenient health services. The MedPost network currently consists of 23 urgent care centers in eight states.
The walk-in centers are open seven days a week with extended hours to provide high quality care for residents in their communities.
MedPost Urgent Care centers also provide follow-up care and specialty referrals when needed. They are staffed with physician specialists in primary care, internal medicine and emergency medicine, as well as nurse practitioners and other health professionals. The facilities are equipped with X-ray and laboratory capabilities and provide a comprehensive array of services ranging from flu shots and other immunizations to treatment for such things as upper respiratory infections, sinus problems, allergic reactions, fever, ear aches and orthopedic injuries.
UT Medical Group Welcomes Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Dr. Uzoma Ben Gbulie has joined the department of plastic surgery at UT Medical Group Inc. and been named assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Gbulie earned his medical degree at the University of Lagos in Nigeria and completed a residency in general surgery at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. He furthered his training with a fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery at St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a fellowship in craniofacial surgery at the UT Health Science Center and Hopital Necker-Enfants Malades in Paris, France. Gbulie is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. He is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
He cares for patients at 7945 Wolf River Boulevard in Germantown, where he specializes in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery for the face and body, including facial rejuvenation, body contouring, breast surgery, complex flaps for traumatic wounds, and reconstruction for cancers of the skin, head and neck.
CBU Graduates First Class of Physician Assistants
Christian Brothers University (CBU) claimed the distinction of graduating the first class of physician assistants educated in the city of Memphis — 31 students who were admitted into the first cohort of the city’s first PA program.
Dr. John Mark Scott, director of Physician Assistant Studies at CBU, says that the program is not only groundbreaking, but is also much needed in the city. The fact that this is the first program in Memphis is innovative in itself, but the PA as well as the BSN programs made CBU competitive in the healthcare market he said. There was a known need for a program of this sort after a survey gauging the need for physician assistants went out to 100 Mid-South physicians. Eighty percent of the physicians responded positively to the survey and most expressed a desire to employ these students upon their graduation.
The CBU program, which currently numbers 106 students, is run and taught by Dr. Scott, along with six full-time and six adjunct faculty members. The cohort-based program consists of 110 credit hours offered over 27 months or seven continuous semesters.
West Cancer Center’s Daruka Mahadevan, MD, Presents Findings of Pre-Clinical Study
Dr. Daruka Mahadevan, Director of the New Therapeutics Program at the West Cancer Center, presented findings of a pre-clinical study at the recent American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in San Diego, CA. The study looked at ways of improving response rates and duration of responses in patients with prostate cancer before or after they receive chemotherapy.
Patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) or those who failed hormonal therapy have poor survival rates. Androgen receptor (AR) is a cancer causing protein that binds to the male sex hormone, testosterone, and remains an important cause of CRPC progression. Despite recent phase III trials showing a survival advantage for AR inhibitors (e.g. abiraterone and enzalutamide), responses are often short lived, lasting generally less than one year.
It has been demonstrated that blocking both the AR and a common cancer causing protein network (PI-3K/mTOR pathway in PTEN deficient prostate cancer) can prevent drug resistance. Greater than 50 percent prostate cancer patients have activation of the PI-3K/ PTEN tumor suppressor pathway. We hypothesize that selecting patients based on genetic testing would identify those most likely to benefit and respond to this novel combination therapy. According to Dr. Mahadevan, significantly improving the response rates, duration of responses and overall survival in patients with CRPC with a good quality of life based on mechanistic biology is not incremental but is a big leap in the hope of curing this disease.
Dr. Mahadevan and his team in collaboration with Dr. Bradley Somer conducted lab research on 5 different prostate cancer cell lines demonstrating increased anti-cancer activity of Enzalutamide or Abiraterone when combined with a panel of pan PI-3K/mTor kinase inhibitors. Combination targeting of PI3K/mTOR & AR pathway resulted in significant cell killing. Mouse model studies are currently underway to evaluate the safety & activity of blocking the AR plus PI-3K pathways. This study represents a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with CRPC to be evaluated in clinical trials. It will be the first trial of its kind in the U.S. based on this pre-clinical work.
Regional One Health Foundation Launches ONEpulse Magazine
Regional One Health Foundation has launched a new semi-annual magazine for donors and friends of the Foundation called ONEpulse.
This launch of ONEpulse comes at an exciting time for Regional One Health Foundation. With the February 2014 introduction of the Regional One Health system of health services, (formerly Shelby County Health Care Corporation or The MED), there begins a new vision for an expanded future of healthcare and philanthropy in our region. This new publication will chronicle Regional One Health’s path to becoming a world-class academic medical center through the generosity of the Foundation’s dedicated supporters.
ONEpulse is available semi-annually to numerous donors and friends of Regional One Health Foundation.
OrthoOne Announces D1 Sports Training Facility Ground Breaking
OrthoOne Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics and D1 Training and Therapy are pleased to announce the ground breaking of a 19,275 square foot D1 Sports Training Facility at 85 Market Center Drive in Collierville.
Similar to the 23 other training facilities, this one will be a membership based center that will offer scholastic, adult, family and elite benefits including D1-on-1, bootcamp, rookie (ages 7-11), developmental (ages 12-14), prep (ages 15-18), collegiate and pro training as well as physical therapy.
Professional athletes associated with the D1 facility will be announced closer to the grand opening. Building of the facility has begun and completion is estimated for September. OrthoOne, currently a D1 Medical Partner, offers D1 therapy at both its Collierville and Olive Branch locations.