In her remarks, parent, alumna, and guest speaker, Dr. Sheila Vacendak, reminded students of the unique skills and abilities that would be required of them as they treat patients in the clinics now, and in practice after graduation. She also reminisced about her years at the school and encouraged students to take advantage of the many learning opportunities.

Read more and view photos.

Tuesday, October 14
9-11am
Biotech 1, Suite 113

Thursday, October 20
12p-1.30p
Sanger B1

For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/training/course_detail.asp?ID=6098.

But through their participation in the 2008 Start! Richmond Heart Walk, VCU employees not only gain the health benefits of a three-mile walk, but they also contribute to research dollars at the university where they work.

The American Heart Association’s awards to VCU researchers total $1.36 million and make VCU the second highest recipient of the AHA’s dollars in the state.

The value of contributing to a large cause motivates employees such as Ike Tucker, assistant director for the VCU Foundation, whose younger sister unexpectedly received a pacemaker during emergency surgery in September 2005.

“If not for organizations like the heart association that are advocating this cause, we wouldn’t have technology such as pacemakers or other advances in heart medicine,” he said.

Tucker and his wife Jessica plan to run the three miles at the Snagajob.com Pavilion in Innsbrook. They will raise funds in honor of his sister, who today enjoys a healthy life.

“It really hits home,” he said. “This has become our family cause and, eventually, when our kids get older, it will serve as a lesson in philanthropy for them as well.”

Read more.

The Start! Richmond Heart Walk takes place on:
Saturday, October 25
10am
Sangajob.com Pavillion

The gala, “An Evening of Celebration & Discovery,” sponsored by the MCV Hospitals Auxiliary of the VCU Medical Center, will be held at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 11, at the new Critical Care Hospital, 1213 E. Clay Street, Richmond.

Media representatives interested in covering the gala should contact Pam Lepley for parking arrangements.

Lambert is being honored for his contributions to the university as a VCU Health System board member and the chief patron of its founding legislation that created the VCU Health System Authority, as well as for being a champion of healthcare for underserved persons.

The 15-level, 367,000 square-foot hospital increases critical care capacity at the medical center with intensive care units for surgical trauma, neonatal, burn center, cardiac, neuroscience, medical respiratory and oncology patients. It also features new operating rooms and expanded emergency care.

The $184 million Critical Care Hospital is the largest capital construction project in the history of the VCU Medical Center. It houses 232 adult patient beds, increasing the medical center’s ratio of private to semi-private beds from 37 percent to 70 percent.

Read release.

For more information, contact ekdumke@vcu.edu.

Some 10 million Americans are living with a cancer diagnosis and many of them seek information on healthy lifestyle practices, especially diet and nutrition, during survivorship. On October 22nd at 7 p.m. at the Science Museum of Virginia, two leading research experts in the field of cancer and nutrition, Rowan Chlebowski, MD, PhD of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Alice Shapiro, PhD, RD, Park Nicollet Cancer Institute, will present “Weighing in on Nutrition and Breast Cancer Recurrence” by reviewing current research on dietary fat, vitamin D and soy products related to breast cancer risk. Drs. Chlebowski and Shapiro are also known for their leadership roles with the National Cancer Institute’s sponsored clinical trial that examined how eating a low-fat diet was related to breast cancer recurrence.

“Diet and nutrition are topics that cancer survivors request more than any other,” said Diane B. Wilson, EdD, co-director of the Cancer Survivors Symposia Series. “We are very pleased to have these national experts sharing their latest research findings on cancer and nutrition. While the research focuses on breast cancer patients, it may be of universal interest to others looking to improve their diets.” The Cancer Survivors Symposia has been recently designated by VCU as one of the top “40 Acts of Caring” among VCU community-based programs reaching the Richmond community.

The Cancer Survivors Symposium is free and open to the public. To register, call (804) 828-8360 or visit www.massey.vcu.edu/symposia.

Peers, previous recipients and award finalists recognized Havasy as the 2008 winner on Tuesday. Havasy, coordinator of the Master in Health Administration program in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Health Administration, has been a member of the VCU Service Awards Committee since 2001. In that time, she has been very involved and a committee member to count on.

Read more.

This is the first term for Duval, who is currently serving a three-year term on the governing council of the American Hospital Association’s section of Maternal and Child Health.

As hospital CEO, Duval is responsible for the overall management of the hospital, including administration, financial operations, patient care services, support services, clinical services and medical affairs.

Duval has a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Irvine.

The ACGME is a private, nonprofit organization that assesses and advances the quality of resident physicians' education.

Read more.

Visit ACGME on-line at: http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/home/home.asp

The 15-level, 367,000 square-foot facility increases critical care capacity at the medical center with intensive care units for surgical trauma, neonatal, burn center, cardiac, neuroscience, medical respiratory and oncology patients. It also features new operating rooms and expanded emergency care.

“The Critical Care Hospital is distinctive in its evidence-based design and architecture that is focused on quality care and patient safety. It is a state-of-the-art facility that combines decades of experience and research of our staff and faculty with the newest technology,” said Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D., VCU president and president and chair of the VCU Health System. “This is an enormous addition to medical and surgical care offered to the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

The $184 million Critical Care Hospital is the largest capital construction project in the history of the VCU Medical Center. It houses 232 adult patient beds, increasing the medical center’s ratio of private to semi-private beds from 37 percent to 70 percent.

The private rooms average 250 square feet – large enough to accommodate patients’ families and multidisciplinary medical teams. The rooms also provide specialized features, such as built-in, ready-access dialysis portals and mobile headwalls, which reduce the need for patient moves, therefore lessening exposure to infection and risk of injury.

“The Critical Care Hospital fills a tremendous need in the region for highly specialized care that involves advanced and complex procedures and treatment for seriously ill and injured patients,” said Dr. Sheldon Retchin, VCU Health System CEO and VCU vice president for Health Sciences. “The new hospital is yet another demonstration of the VCU Medical Center’s dedication to practice innovation and ensuring the best patient care possible.”

Read press release.

Read more and view dedication photos.

Read more from the Daily Press.

Read more from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The new facility, which occupies the entire eighth floor of the Critical Care Hospital, will expand from a 12-bed unit to 16, and feature eight, single, general burn-care beds and eight burn-intensive beds, specifically designed for patients who require specialized care.

According to Andrea Pozez, M.D., professor and chair of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the new burn unit facility is unique across the country in planning and architecture.

“The planning for this unit has been going on for about five years and my predecessor, Dr. Austin Mehrhof, spent a great deal of time going to other burn centers throughout the country to be certain that what we designed would be the very best,” Pozez said.

This unit provides the best comprehensive care for anyone injured by a burn in the region, regardless of the patient’s age,” she said.

Features of the new unit include hose reels hung from the ceiling for flushing wounds and specialized lighting for the treatment and examination of burns. Specialized water purification devices installed in each room will help prevent infection in some of the most susceptible patients.

Further, patients will not have to be moved as often, nor will they need to share a single procedure room. Instead, patients who may have infections can be treated from the comfort of their own rooms with hydrotherapy equipment and comprehensive monitors readily available.

The mobile headwall located in each room gives doctors and nurses the flexibility to move strategically around each patient, while still keeping all the tools they need at hand.

In the former burn center, the space was smaller, with patients in double rather than single rooms and just one small area for larger scaled procedures and debridement – the process of removing damaged or infected tissues.

Read more.

Created with input from VCU Medical Center staff and based on years of research into the developmental needs of premature and critically ill newborns, each room of the 40-bed NICU sets the stage for a positive healing environment for patients and their families.

“I call these ‘single-family’ rooms because it is integral in the care of any critically ill newborn to get the family engaged from the start,” said Sharon Cone, RN, nurse manager of the neonatal ICU. “We wanted to create an environment that was not only functionally efficient for medical staff, but also would encourage interaction between parents and their baby in a calm and comforting way.”

Read more

The VCU board of visitors yesterday approved a $10 million architectural and engineering contract with the team of Ballinger, a Philadelphia-based architecture and engineering firm, and I.M. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York.

The new 12-story School of Medicine building will replace the art deco A.D. Williams Clinic at the corner of 12th and Marshall streets.

I.M. Pei Partners is known for its work at the Louvre in Paris and the East Wing of the National Gallery in Washington. It worked with Ballinger on plans for a new building for St. Vincent's Hospital in New York's Greenwich Village.

VCU is signing the contract with Ballinger, but Pei Cobb Freed will primarily be responsible for the architectural look of the building that will replace the A.D. Williams Clinic.

Some historic features from the old building will be integrated into the new design.

The demolition of the nine-story clinic is scheduled to begin in March 2010, with construction expected to be completed by 2013, Brian Ohlinger, associate vice president for facilities management, told the board.

The cost of "decanting" A.D. Williams will come to $21 million. The work includes demolition and transfer of personnel and equipment from the facility, which houses clinics, laboratories and faculty offices.

A 1992 agreement between VCU and the state Department of Historic Resources authorizes the demolition of both A.D. Williams and the 17-story, art-deco West Hospital. A.D. Williams connects to the West Hospital, at 12th and East Broad streets. No timetable has been set for its demolition.

Dr. Sheldon Retchin, vice president for health sciences and CEO of VCU Health System, said the new building will allow the medical school to grow from 750 to 1,000 students and will include instructional labs that will revolutionize training.

"It will change the way we train medical students to become physicians," he said.

Read more from the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Cathy J. Bradley, Ph.D., a health economist at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center, received funding from the American Cancer Society to conduct research on disparities in cancer diagnosis, treatment and cost based on insurance coverage in Virginia.

Bradley’s study spawned from the Institute of Medicine’s report, “Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations,” which highlighted the sub-par health care of the approximately 43 million uninsured persons in the United States and called for a universal health insurance program. Currently, the U.S. relies on a safety net system to treat uninsured patients, including patients with chronic, life-threatening and costly diseases such as cancer.

Bradley’s grant, which awards $350,000 over two years, will use patient data to analyze the performance of the safety net system in caring for individuals with cancer. The analysis is expected to help Virginia policymakers make informed decisions aimed toward covering the uninsured. The commonwealth has nearly one million uninsured residents, with the highest percentage concentrated in Central Virginia.

“In the absence of specific knowledge on the performance of Virginia’s safety net system, policymakers may attribute differences between the uninsured and insured to mean that an expansion of the safety net, instead of comprehensive coverage, can ameliorate differences,” said Bradley. “Our analysis will allow us to make significant strides toward expanding and refining the role that health insurance plays in cancer diagnosis and treatment, and the cost resulting from the absence of health insurance.”

Read more from VCU Massey Cancer Center.

Visit VCU Massey Cancer Center on-line at: http://www.massey.vcu.edu

To register, go to http://www.hr.vcu.edu/training/ and click on "Classroom Sessions."

For more information, contact Gale Davis at gdavis1@mcvh-vcu.edu or 828-0281.