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The VCU community is invited to discuss the VCU Code of Ethics, which, among other things, addresses faculty and staff rights and responsibilities:
Tuesday, January 13
1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
University Student Commons Theater
This is an open forum. Following opening comments and brief presentations the floor will be open for comments, concerns and ideas for the future. The VCU Code of Ethics may be accessed online at http://www.vcu.edu/president/ethics/.
The Gerry Bertier #42 Foundation has presented the Virginia Commonwealth University Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation and Research Center with a gift of $28,000.
This is the third gift that the department has received from the foundation.
The foundation raised the money last year during a golf tournament and radio telethon in memory of Bertier, a Virginia high school athletic star who suffered a spinal cord injury and later became an advocate for people with disabilities.
“You guys are the heroes, you have patients that may never walk again and you are the people that bring back their smiles,” said Buck Sutton, Bertier’s cousin and executive director of the Bertier #42 Foundation. “You’re the miracle workers, you’re the magic. You’re why we do what we do here.”
William McKinley, M.D., professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, accepted the gift on behalf of the center.
Sutton also recognized Bertier’s mother, Jean Agnew, who was unable to attend the presentation due to her ailing health. Agnew had visited VCU Medical Center in 2007 and last year in support of the foundation and VCU’s efforts in spinal cord injury research.
Bertier was portrayed in the 2000 film “Remember the Titans,” which starred Denzel Washington as the coach of the T.C. Williams High School football team in Alexandria following the school’s desegregation.
In the film, Bertier’s character, an all-star player, is in an automobile accident while celebrating one of the team's victories and is sent to the hospital. While Bertier’s character is unable to play in the final game because of his injuries, the team goes on to win the championship and sets an example for the town.
The foundation has been actively involved with the VCU Medical Center in raising awareness for spinal cord injury treatments.
“We have watched and followed the amazing work that you bring to every one of your patients, and we hope that Gerry was surrounded by a facility and staff like yours,” Sutton said. “All of the money this foundation receives goes to VCU. You are our champions, you are who we support.”
VCU is one of just 20 institutions nationwide to achieve federal designation as a Model Systems of Spinal Cord Injury Care. The goal of VCU’s SCI program is to pursue medical and therapeutic advancements in care and outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injuries. For more information, visit http://www.pmr.vcu.edu/programs/sci/default.aspx.
VCU Health Sciences faculty may apply for a one-time small grants program sponsored by the Health Disparities Service Learning Collaborative. Grants of up to $3,000 are available for faculty training, classroom materials, software, etc., that will support service-learning in the health sciences. Application deadline is January 16, 2009.
For more information, or for an application, visit http://www.epidemiology.vcu.edu/MPH_Program/serviceLearning/collaborative.html.
Virginia Commonwealth University Health Sciences has named Quincy Byrdsong as the new director of research administration and compliance.
As the director, Byrdsong will lead the efforts on the MCV Campus to strengthen research administration and increase compliance with federal and industry research standards. He will also assist other University leadership in identifying best practices for research administration and customizing research administration educational programs for faculty and staff on the MCV Campus.
"We are extremely pleased that Mr. Byrdsong is joining VCU Health Sciences,” said Alan D. Johns, assistant vice president for Health Sciences - Financial and Administrative Affairs. “His expertise in research administration and leadership in the profession will serve to be a tremendous asset to the MCV Campus as we continue to expand our research agenda.”
Byrdsong, who was selected based on his extensive qualifications in research administration and clinical trials management, will work with Johns and others to develop the infrastructure needed to support Health Sciences’ growing and increasingly complex research programs. Byrdsong will also work closely with VCU’s School of Medicine as they continue implementing their research strategic plan.
Most recently, Byrdsong served as the administrative program director for clinical and translational research for the School of Medicine and chair of the Institutional Review Board at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. He has served in several capacities in academic medical centers including director of the Meharry Institutional Review Board, department administrator for neurology and fiscal officer for the Meharry Center for Women’s Health Research. Additionally, he served as a research services consultant for Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Byrdsong earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Middle Tennessee State University, and he is currently working towards a doctorate of education at Tennessee State University.
In a second-floor lab overlooking a parking lot and the side of a brick building, a more healthful America might be taking shape.
Researchers are trying to perfect a mass-market version of a test that can identify the presence of a virus believed to cause obesity.
If they can get the $300 blood test down to a more consumer-friendly $30 to $50 pinprick test, they can make a big splash financially and, just as important, they say, improve the general health of people worldwide.
Then again, they could fail.
That's the risk of medical research.
For every hit, there are countless misses.
For more than a decade, an increasing number of researchers have been swinging away at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in downtown Richmond.
"There are wonderful things happening here," said Richard Atkinson, who chose the park as the home for his obesity research firm, Obetech.
While the park originally was envisioned as a home for research on new medicines, the scope has expanded through the years. The work now ranges from the type of science that shows up in best-sellers to organ sharing to cigarette company research.
"If we only depended on companies making new drugs, it would take 50 years to build this park out," said Robert T. Skunda, the president and chief executive officer of the park. "We opted for a more inclusive approach. The mission became life sciences."
The mission included new life for Richmond.
When the park began taking shape in the early 1990s, that swath of the city included the Coliseum, the fringes of Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia and not much else. It wasn't even urban blight; it was just empty, decades after highway construction.
"What I see is a vibrant and growing science park where there wasn't anything here [before that] I'd call workable from an economic standpoint," Skunda said.
An $8 million investment by the state, Skunda said, has led to more than $500 million in development. The bulk of that came in a single project -- $350 million for the Philip Morris research center -- but all of the little pieces have added up, too.
The 34-acre park has nine buildings and more than 1.1 million square feet of space. It also has working agreements with the more space-friendly suburban White Oak Technology Park in Henrico County and the Meadowville Technology Park in Chesterfield County.
In the odd world of science, economic stimulus has been spurred by a project not typically associated with economic growth: human organs.
The ultimate life science -- organ transplantation -- has become the park's face from the interstate.
The United Network for Organ Sharing, which facilitates every organ transplant in the U.S., anchors the west side of the park. Its "Donate Life" logo is what visitors see as they exit Interstate 64/95 onto Third Street.
Walter K. Graham, the executive director of UNOS, said he made "the smartest decision I've ever made as director" six years ago. He accepted an offer to become the research park's first anchor tenant.
"There's great visibility for us," said Graham, who has served on the park's board for the past three years.
The organization also considered an offer from an office park south of the James River.
"We want to be part of a community," he said. "And a community exists in this park."
The community at the BioTech park comes courtesy of Skunda and his staff.
More than 50 companies and other entities call it home. They range from startups working out of cubicles in the park's business incubator to behemoths such as Philip Morris, with its 450,000-square-foot building.
"The most exciting thing is, we have 2,000 people at work," said Skunda, the chief at the park for 12 of its 13 years. "And they are all at work focused on the common mission of life sciences."
To learn more about the comprehensive biomedical database PubMed, register for the fourth in the 15X15X15 series (15 topics X 15 weeks X 15 minutes each) of online library workshops. This workshop will highlight database updates, as well as effective searching techniques.
For more information and to register, visit http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/course_detail.asp?ID=6543.
The VCU Medical Center is the main sponsor of the 7th Annual CBS 6 Healthy Lifestyle Expo on Saturday, Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. All are invited to this event showcasing the many services the medical center offers. Featured guest Mari Winsor, founder of Winsor Pilates, will offer a free workout and Kroger will offer free wine tastings and cooking demos.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Rachel Buhse at 828-4506.
