March 05, 2010 — Dr. David Gerber, Division Chief of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, will be co-instructing Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences, this fall on Mondays from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM. The course, which is sponsored by the Department of Surgery, is part of UNC’s Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship, directed by the Kenan-Flagler Business School.
March 03, 2010 — On Saturday March 6th, the Health Policy and Advocacy Group will be hosting a conference, lead by Dr. Michael Johns, Chancellor at Emory University, in Washington D.C. to discuss health care reform. Dr. George Sheldon will present at the conference on behalf of the Health Sciences Advisory of the American College of Surgeons. His presentation, Comparison of Workforce Provisions in the House and Senate Health Reform Bill, will concentrate on the workforce shortage for surgeons.
February 17, 2010 — George F. Sheldon, MD, has authored his second book, Hugh Williamson: Physician, Patriot, and Founding Father. The biography recounts the extraordinary life and many achievements of Williamson (1735-1819), who was an influencing force behind the Boston Tea Party, spy for Benjamin Franklin, surgeon general of the N.C. militia, congressman in the first U.S. House of Representatives, signer of the Constitution, and member of the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. Read reviews in The Carolina Curator and at the Department of Social Medicine.
February 23, 2010 — Dr. Anthony Meyer, Chair of the Dept. of Surgery, was appointed President of the Southeastern Surgical Congress at the annual meeting conducted Feb. 20 through 23 in Savannah, GA. While the Congress is comprised predominantly of members from the mid-Atlantic and southeastern states, it is open to all practicing surgeons as well as those currently in training. Dr. Meyer will preside over the 2011 annual meeting scheduled for Feb. 12 through 15 in Chattanooga, TN.
February 4, 2010 — Courtney Sommer, currently a fourth year General Surgery Resident, was awarded one of five TraCS $2K grants by the North Carolina Transitional and Clinical Sciences Institute (TraCS) for clinical and transitional research projects. Karyn Stitzenberg, UNC Surgical Oncology, will be Dr. Sommer’s mentor for the Project.
February 22, 2010 — Drs. Robert Mendes and Houman Tamaddon are featured in the October-December 2009 volume of Health U for their efforts to educate people about vascular disease. In August, 2009, both physicians joined University Hospital, a 581 bed, not-for-profit community facility in Augusta, GA, where Mendes serves as the Medical Director of Vascular Services and Tamaddon as Medical Director of the University’s Peripheral Vascular Lab. (See University Health Care System’s press release.)
February 20, 2010 — David Ollila, UNC Surgical Oncology, joins the “Here’s to Your Health” radio show to discuss melanoma. You can tune in to WCHL 1360 AM either Saturday at 9 a.m., Sunday at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., or Monday at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m to listen to the Dr. Ollila’s discussion.
February 19, 2010 — The SECU Family House is a home away from home for patients at UNC Hospitals. Some of the most inspiring stories and unyielding spirits at the Family House are featured in the “Family House Diaries,” and Jack Newmann is certainly one of those spirits. Although Newmann has been living with severe Type I diabetes and dealing with the resulting consequences, such as being legally blind, for nearly 54 of his 58 years. Nonetheless, he still lives “every day as if its his last.” Not only that, as a retired rehabilitation counselor for the blind, he has the patience and the care to give other patients what they sometime need the most – a friend. Despite his own medical problems and complexities, he makes himself available as a counselor or a friendly ear to other patients and attempts to instill a life of his own at the House.
