Administration– Dean's Office

The Dean's Newsletter:
November 20, 2006

Table of Contents

v Stanford Becomes a Ludwig Cancer Center
v Lane Library in the 21st Century: LaneConnex 2006
v AAALAC Site Visit Offers Praise for Stanford
v Thanking Those Who Help Make Stanford Great
v HHMI Opens National Competition for Physician-Scientists
v The Goodman Simulation Center Opens
v Transitions in Pediatrics
v Dr. Ken Cox Will Serve as Interim Chair of Pediatrics
v LIVERight Takes 5K Steps to Convey its Message
v Luncheon for Long-Term and Emeritus Faculty
v Upcoming Events:
 
v Endangered Childhood: Disease, Conflict and Displacement
v McCormick Lectureship: Dr. Linda Buck
v Awards and Honors
v Happy Thanksgiving

Stanford Becomes a Ludwig Cancer Center

Shortly after my arrival at Stanford in 2001, I asked a faculty task force to explore whether the School of Medicine should seek to become a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center and/or a Ludwig Cancer Center. As you know, the School committed itself to apply to the NCI for designation. Thanks to the enormous efforts of many faculty our application was submitted this past February; it was critically reviewed in the spring and presented to the Council of the NCI this past summer. We achieved an excellent score and are awaiting notification once the NCI budget has been passed. In parallel we also pursued the possibility of becoming a Ludwig Cancer Center. On November 14th the Ludwig Foundation announced that Sanford is one of six centers in the United States that will receive approximately $2 million of support annually in perpetuity as a Ludwig Cancer Center. This is certainly wonderful news.

Each of the Ludwig Centers will have a different focus and all will collaborate as part of a novel network of centers of excellence. The six newly named Ludwig Centers and their Directors are:

Thanks to the support from the Ludwig Foundation, these excellent investigators and centers will further advance the fundamental understanding of cancer. We are pleased and proud to be among the newly named Ludwig Cancer Centers.

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Lane Library in the 21st Century: LaneConnex 2006

Three years ago Debbie Ketchell joined the School of Medicine as our Associate Dean of Knowledge Management and Director of the Lane Medical Library. Since her arrival, Ms Ketchell has led a transformation of the Lane Medical Library and has made it one of the most digital and accessible medical libraries in the nation. Indeed, when the LCME visited Stanford a year ago they were enormously complimentary of the tremendous changes that had occurred in Lane Library under Ms. Ketchell's leadership. I certainly share those accolades and am only sorry that a number of personal issues have led Debbie to decide to return to Seattle on a permanent basis (she has been commuting since she arrived at Stanford). I want to thank Debbie for the tremendous work she has done at Stanford -- which has certainly moved Lane Library into the 21st Century. On November 8th Debbie gave an update on the LaneConnex to the Dean's Staff meeting, and I asked her to summarize her presentation so I could share it with you. Here is what she wrote:

«The mission of the Lane Library is to get the right knowledge, to the right person, at the right time, in the right context in support of translational research, innovative education and advances in patient care at SUMC. Our strategic initiatives are to create the digital library, develop smart interfaces, develop a learning connection, and re-envision the library as place.

The library celebrated its 100th anniversary this year in partnership with the alumni association. Alumni from the class of 1939 to 1982 talked about their memories of Lane during the April 2006 celebration of the Lane Centennial. You can view these videos on our "Celebrating 100 Years" website (see: http://lane.stanford.edu/100years/). In 1906, Lane was the largest medical library west of Chicago. In 2006, Lane provides a ubiquitous connection to a broad spectrum of information anytime, anywhere, information management training for clinical evidence, research data management and scholarly productivity, and has become a recognized leader nationally for innovation. The school's accreditation report stated: "The medical school, through the leadership of the library staff, has created a "library without walls" allowing students and faculty to have access to information from any location."

During the past three years our current journal titles have jumped from to 1700 to 3700, of which 95% are online and of which over 1500 are back to volume 1. These articles are linked from PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Citation Index and other search systems. DocXpress, our digital article delivery service, became an instant hit with students and faculty. An article is requested online, we obtain a digital copy, and you "pick it up" online at your convenience. The request button is built into our website and linked from PubMed and Google Scholar. Much of Lane's core reference, texts, atlases, protocols, images and videos -- across both clinical and basic sciences -- are online. Just a few of the titles are UpToDate, eMedicine, AccessMedicine, Anatomy.tv, Images.MD, MD Consult, Ovid, Proteome Knowledge Library, Protein Lounge, Methods in Enzymology, Current Protocols, ExamMaster, USMLEasy and Faculty of 1000. Faculty on sabbatical in Paris or waiting in the airport, residents at the VA or on vacation in Mexico, students on rotation at Santa Clara or at home can access this digital library through a simple SUNetID authentication.

So what is happening to print? Our pre-1960 and foreign language journals are into a high-density, preservation storage facility -- over 67,000 volumes in the past year. Collaboration with Google allowed the scanning of all of our pre-1923 books and government documents (30,000 volumes) that are now downloadable as PDF files through Google Books. Our Rare Books were evaluated to both describe our rich, unique collection and determine their current worth. It is an amazing collection. These books will remain on campus.

LaneConnex, our new web interface, is designed to find and retrieve information with a single search. More Stanford content (e.g., Medicine Grand Rounds videos) is included. Search results are displayed by relevance and designed for easy scanning. If you search for "Science", the journal link will be at the top of the list. If you search for "proteome" some of the results are an FAQ on how you can search the data generated by a laboratory kit, a link to the Cold Spring Harbor protocols and ongoing clinical trial in ClinicalTrials.gov. We encourage you to make the Clinical or Bioresearch Portal your homepage with their custom "inside the digital covers" search. If you search on the Clinical Portal for "Kawasaki" you get links to the topic in eMedicine and a calculator in MedCalc3000.

LaneConnexion is our successful liaison and training program. The liaison program matches a librarian or informationist with departments. We have strong partnerships with the Practice of Medicine course, Office of Postdoc Affairs, SUMC Research Council, SPCTRM and others to provide information management skills training. The breadth and depth of our workshops are increasing each year. We are developing methods to integrate our best clinical information into clerkships and the electronic health record. We began a bioresearch information program with the recruitment of Yannick Pouliot PhD. Dr. Pouliot is solving the problem of finding the right bioresearch tool and learning how to use it effectively. The revamped Bioresearch Portal and a series of new research data workshops are already making a difference in the lives of our post-docs.

Cosmetic updates to the facility over the past three years such as wireless access, electrified tables, comfortable furniture, up-to-date equipment, gate-less entrance, art and plants, plasma event board, and exhibits have all contributed to a more functional, friendly and useful place for collaboration and study.

So what's next? Ripe areas for knowledge development are components of a virtual translational research hub; embedded clinical reference in the EHRs; bioinformatics data management support; clinical evidence built into training; and planning for an extended stay in the Lane building while looking forward to the future LKC2.»

A visual update is available at http://lane.stanford.edu/services/about/lane2006update.pdf. Clearly enormous progress has been made under Debbie Ketchell's leadership and she has set the stage for great things to come. Please join me in thanking Debbie for all that she has done for Stanford and in wishing her well in all her future endeavors.

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AAALAC Site Visit Offers Praise for Stanford

The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) was founded in 1965 as a voluntary, not-for-profit organization to promote higher standards of laboratory animal welfare. Since its founding it has grown significantly and is now comprised of 66 member organizations and over 700 accredited laboratory programs; there is an increasing involvement of programs in Europe and Asia. AAALAC is organized around representatives of its member organizations along with a small staff located in Frederick, Maryland and a Council on Accreditation that includes broad expertise in science and laboratory medicine. AAALAC is not a regulatory organization, and it carries out its work by site visits rather than inspections. It is very much a peer review process, and it offers guidance to universities and organizations on how well they are meeting quality standards in laboratory animal care. At the conclusion of a site visit the visiting team issues a written report that delineates either mandatory items, which must be fixed to remain accredited, and/or suggestions for improvement, which are meant to serve as guideposts to the organization being reviewed.

On November 13-14th, a four person AAALAC site visit team reviewed Stanford's animal laboratory program in considerable detail. They met with faculty and staff and toured the Research Animal Facilities (RAF) as well as dozens of research laboratories. The site visit team will issue a report based on their observations to the Council of Accreditation, which will, in turn, prepare the official comments to Stanford regarding this assessment. The site visit team had an exit interview with a number of university leaders and shared their preliminary observations. They indicated that these preliminary observations could be shared more broadly -- so I am taking the liberty of doing so.

The news is excellent: No mandatory items were identified, which means that Stanford's accreditation will be sustained. The team identified nine helpful areas for improvement -- all of which I am sure will be pursued. The site visitors were extremely complementary of Stanford's performance, noting in particular that the support the research animal programs received from the School and University administration was excellent, that the animal facilities are top-notch and well maintained, and that the education and policy information available to investigators and staff is excellent. They also praised the Lab Partner's Program and noted that occupational safety was excellent as were the animal husbandry staff, veterinarians, and technicians. They commented that the animal enrichment programs for subhuman primates were also quite excellent. Overall, they were highly laudatory.

Without question, a visit as successful as this one appears to have been (recognizing that we only have the preliminary report) happens only because of the excellent work of faculty and staff. I want to thank and give praise to the members of the Department of Comparative Medicine for their exemplary efforts and also recognize the leadership of Dr. Linda Cork, Chair of Comparative Medicine. They have much to be proud of -- and we all owe them our gratitude and praise.

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Thanking Those Who Help Make Stanford Great

We are so very fortunate to have wonderful students and faculty at Stanford who advance knowledge on numerous fronts, along with faculty and trainees who bring state-of-the art treatments to adults and children facing the challenge of serious illness. We frequently celebrate their accomplishments and bask in the glory of the accolades they deservedly receive. Despite the remarkable work of these individuals, none of these successes would be fully realized without the dedication, commitment, energy and support of the staff who provide the essential underpinning to the Stanford Medicine community. I had an opportunity to thank some of these important individuals at the Annual Staff Recognition Dinner that was held on Thursday, November 9th in the Faculty Club. This is always a festive event and I feel privileged to meet members of our staff who contribute so much in making Stanford such a great institution. It is also gratifying to observe how much our staff enjoy and value being part of our community -- and that many are willing to serve Stanford for decades. In addition to thanking staff members who have served for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service, we also had the opportunity to celebrate 32 individuals who reached their 25, 30 or 35th anniversaries. While I want to thank and acknowledge every member of the Stanford community I am listing below those individuals celebrating 25, 30 or 35 years of service.

25 Year Employees

Pamela Bernstein

Dermatology

Jutta Bischof

Genetics

Susan W. Bryson

Psychiatry

Marita Reilley Grudzen

Student Affairs

Joan M. Hebert

Genetics

Robin E. Holbrook

Microbiology and Immunology

Stephanie Johnson-Gray

Finance and Administration

Margaret A. Malone

Communications & Public Affairs

Linda McIntyre

Information Resources and Technology

Karen E. Mulkey

Research Management Group

David J. O'Brien

Institutional Planning

David R. Parks

Genetics

Holly A. Schrandt

Pathology

Georgette Stratos

Medicine

James T. Taskett

Visual Art Services

Eva Vasquez

Student Affairs

Claudia B. Weber

Genetics

30 Year Employees

Patricia L.Glennon

Pediatrics

Constance I. Holm

Pathology

Peggy L. Emper

Pediatrics

Barbara R. Meehan

Pathology

Christine A Miller

Genetics

Sherry Moore

Medicine

Wayne A. Moore

Genetics

Hung Minh Pham

Surgery

Diane F. Rapacchietta

Radiation Oncology

Sergio Raygoza

Comparative Medicine

Yin-Gail Yee

Medicine

35 Year Employees

Carolyn L. Hedrick

Pathology

Odell Spikes-Avery

Medicine

Ann N. Varady

Medicine

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HHMI Opens National Competition for Physician-Scientists

We have just been informed that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has opened a national competition for the appointment of outstanding physician-scientists as HHMI investigators. Approximately 15 physician-scientists "who have demonstrated originality and productivity as patient-oriented researchers and who show exceptional promise for future research contributions" will be appointed. The specific eligibility requirements are available at www.hhmi.org/research/competitions/investigator_por/ and include an MD or MD/PhD (or the equivalent), a license to practice medicine in the United States, a tenured or tenured track position at a eligible institution (which of course includes Stanford) and a career as an independent investigator between 4 -- 16 years, with evidence of independence by being a PI on an active NIH RO1 grant or a project leader on an active NIH PO1 grant along with a distinction as a patient-oriented investigator. Moreover, the applicant must be able to commit 75% or more of her or his time to research. Unlike many past HHMI competitions, there is no institutional limit on the number of applications and faculty can apply to HHMI without specific institutional approval. If you feel you meet the basic eligibility requirements and would like to apply for this important award, please review the website noted above. Applications are due by January 18, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. (EST).

I also want to point out that HHMI anticipates a separate general competition for HHMI investigators in the spring of 2007, and details about that will be shared as soon as they are available. If you have questions about the Patient-Oriented Physician-Scientists HHMI investigator opportunity that are not answered by the website or would like some additional advice, please feel free to contact my office and we will do the best we can to assist you.

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The Goodman Simulation Center Opens

After nearly a decade of planning by Dr. Tom Krummel, Professor and Chair of Surgery, and his colleagues, the opening of the Goodman Stimulation Center was celebrated on Tuesday evening, November 17th. Martha Marsh, President and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC), and I hosted a festive event to thank the lead donors who provided the critical support to help bring the Goodman Simulation Center to life.

This unique facility is located at SHC near the operating rooms and provides state-of-art simulation of numerous surgical and interventional procedures. It builds on the work of The Center for Immersive and Simulation Learning (CISL) led by Dr. David Gaba, Associate Dean for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning and Professor of Anesthesia, as well as Dr. Krummel's own research. The Goodman Simulation Center, which includes the Dr. Ralph and Marilyn Spiegel Simulation Suite, the Derry and Charlene Kabcenell Simulation Lab and the Dr. Roy M. Frank Skills Training Station, will provide an accessible simulation learning environment for students and trainees as well as experienced clinicians, nurses and other health professionals. It is also part of the School's broad based learning environment that now includes sites at SHC, the VA and LPCH and that will be joined by a central facility at the Learning and Knowledge Center that will open in 2009. But the opening of the Goodman Simulation Center takes a giant step forward in realizing a major transformation of Stanford Medicine and I am grateful to Dr. Krummel for his leadership.

I would also like to thank Dr. Gaba and Ms. Maggie Saunders for their critical efforts and collaboration in bringing this dream to fruition. Finally, I would like to thank the key donors for this project: Professor Emeritus Joe Goodman and his wife Hon Mai Goodman, who provided the naming gift. I also want to thank Skip and Linda Law, Derry and Charlene Kabcenell and Lynne Frank along with Bruce Bingham, John and Jill Freidrenrich, Bob and Chandra Friese, Howard and Martha Girdlestone and Mike Paioni.

I hope you will take time to visit the Goodman Simulation Center -- and most importantly to use it!

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Transitions in Pediatrics

After thirteen years of exemplary leadership, Dr Harvey Cohen, Arline and Pete Harman Professor and Chair of Pediatrics, officially stepped down from his role as chair on November 15th. Following a host of farewells by his colleagues at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, the department and community, we had a final thank you reception on Monday, November 13th. Dr. Cohen will soon begin a sabbatical in the laboratories of Professors Richard Zare, Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science, and Rob Tibshirani, Professor of Health Research and Policy (Biostatistics) and of Statistics, during which he will focus an applying proteomics to the study of various pediatrics illnesses.

During his tenure as chair Dr. Cohen and his colleagues made remarkable progress on transforming the Department of Pediatrics as well as children's services at LPCH. As a consequence LPCH is now viewed as one of the nation's leading pediatric programs, and there is every reason to believe that the trajectory of success and excellence will be sustained -- and hopefully even surpassed -- in the years ahead. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Cohen for his many contributions. And we also wish him well in his new endeavors. I have had the personal pleasure of knowing Harvey Cohen since we served together as new interns at the Children's Hospital, Boston, and it is thrilling to witness the many important contributions he has made throughout his noteworthy career -- and especially those made at LPCH and Stanford. Thanks Harvey.

While we have anticipated Dr. Cohen's departure for some time (he was clear that the best time for transition was while things were still on the curve of upward success rather than at its peak -- a good philosophy) we hadn't anticipated that Dr. Ted Sectish would also be transitioning from his role as Director of the Pediatric Resident Training Programs. Dr. Sectish has done a superb job since he joined Stanford in 1993 and is nationally recognized for his knowledge and leadership. Indeed his prominence has won him two important new positions: first as the Director of Future of Pediatrics sponsored by the Federation of Pediatric Organizations (FOPO) and, second, as the Program Director for the Boston Combined Residency Program at the Children's Hospital, Boston. While I am certainly disappointed that Dr. Sectish will be leaving Stanford, I take some comfort that he will be leading the program at my alma mater, and I am sure that the contributions he will make in Boston and for FOPO will be beneficial to Stanford and LPCH as well. Please join me in congratulating and thanking Dr. Sectish for his many important -- and future -- contributions.

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Dr. Ken Cox Will Serve as Interim Chair of Pediatrics

I am very pleased to announce that Dr. Ken Cox has agreed to serve as the Interim Chair for the Department of Pediatrics beginning November 15th. As noted above, Dr. Harvey Cohen, who has led the department as chair with distinction for the past 13 years, will be stepping down to resume his research and clinical work. I had anticipated that our new chair of Pediatrics would be arriving at Stanford in early December but unfortunately a serious and unanticipated medical illness arose in the candidate's family that led to a change in plans during the past two weeks. I have already actively resumed the search process and am hopeful that we will soon identify another outstanding candidate, but this will certainly delay the time of arrival of the next chair -- likely to next summer. Accordingly, I am most grateful that Dr. Cox has agreed to serve as the Interim Chair.

Dr. Cox, Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology), is well qualified to assume these important responsibilities. He is currently serving as the Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology as well as the Associate Chair of the Department of Pediatrics. In addition Dr. Cox serves in two major institutional roles, as the Senior Associate Dean for Pediatrics and Obstetrics and as the Chief Medical Officer at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH). I have had the privilege and pleasure of working closely with Dr. Cox since my arrival several years ago, and I have the utmost confidence in his knowledge, commitment and dedication to pediatrics, LPCH and Stanford. He is also able to balance a number of important challenges and responsibilities simultaneously and seamlessly -- which is clearly important at this time.

Naturally because of these additional and important responsibilities, Dr. Cox will appreciate the support and assistance from his many colleagues throughout the Department, School and Hospital. The role of the Chair of Pediatrics also includes the position of Chief of Staff at LPCH. However, given the breadth of his current responsibilities, Dr. Cox, Chris Dawes (President and CEO, LPCH) and I have decided that he should not serve that additional role. Thankfully, Dr. Christy Sandborg, Professor Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, has agreed to serve as the Interim Chief-of-Staff at LPCH, and Mr. Dawes will make a formal announcement about her appointment.

I am of course saddened that an illness has prevented our candidate from assuming the Chair of Pediatrics and we offer our best wishes to his family. But I am also grateful that Drs. Cox and Sandborg have agreed to serve as interim leaders, and I am very sure that they will do a wonderful job in supporting the faculty and staff in pediatrics until I work to identify the next chair. And of course I hope I will be able to do that as expeditiously as possible.

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LIVERight Takes Steps to Convey its Message

The Asian Liver Center at Stanford University was established in 1996 by Dr. Sam So, Lui Hac Minh Professor of Surgery. It is the only non-profit organization in the United States that addresses the high incidence of hepatitis B and liver cancer in Asians and Asian-Americans. The Center carries out its mission through outreach, education and research. On Saturday morning, November 11th, the Center partnered with the Answer to Cancer Foundation to host a 5K LIVERight race on the Stanford campus to raise awareness and money to support its missions. I had the pleasure of speaking to the over 500 runners who, despite the rainy morning, used their steps to help improve awareness and prevention of hepatitis B. I was pleased to see a number of Stanford undergraduate and medical student volunteers helping with this event and with the important work of the Asian Liver Center.

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Luncheon for Long-Term and Emeritus Faculty

On Wednesday, November 15th I was honored to host the annual luncheon for long-term and emeritus faculty. Over 75 faculty who have either been on staff at the medical school for more than 20 years or who are 60 years or older joined me in the Fairchild atrium where I spoke on Medical Education: Building on the Past for the Future. Without question, many of the individuals in attendance played seminal roles in helping Stanford to achieve its current level of success -- for which we must all be appreciative. I shared with them some of the changes that are unfolding in the projected workforce for physicians and physician-scientists and my reflections about whether the ways this is being addressed are really sensible. I also commented on some of the changes occurring in the delivery of primary care by other health providers, including the "Walmart model." I then focused on Stanford and on how our special mission truly does build on the past to educate future leaders, physicians and scholars. It is always a pleasure to speak to this group, given their wisdom and many contributions to Stanford past and future.

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Upcoming Events

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Awards and Honors

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Happy Thanksgiving

This week begins the traditional holiday season and I want to wish each of you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving. Of course I would be remiss in not reminding everyone to have a wonderful time while still paying attention to monitoring and regulating personal thermodynamics!

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A downloadable Microsoft Word version of the newsletter is available. If clicking on this following link does not initiate a download, right-click (Windows) or click-and-hold (Mac), then use the command most similar to "Download Link To Disk" or "Save This Link As" and save the Word file to your disk.

Microsoft Word version: DeanNews11-20-06.doc

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