By Caitlin Dineen Staff writer

BUIES CREEK - Campbell University officials have until Sept. 19 to raise $1 million in a donation-matching program that will support its new School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Dr. P.K. Vyas, founder of the Eastern Carolina Medical Center in Benson, started the challenge and will match donated funds up to $1 million, said Campbell President Jerry M. Wallace in a statement Thursday.

The new medical school is scheduled to open this August with a charter class of 162 students, school officials said. About 4,000 applications were submitted to the school, which, when fully operational in four years, will have about 600 students enrolled.

It's the first new medical school to open in North Carolina in more than 35 years, school officials said.

Vyas, who has been practicing medicine since 1986, said he started the challenge to encourage Campbell alumni to help him in advancing the new school's efforts to meet the healthcare needs of state residents.

"As the opening of Campbell University's School of Osteopathic Medicine approaches, it's imperative that the medical school continues to receive financial support to ensure that faculty and students get the resources they need to fulfill the university's vision to address the shortage of primary care physicians in North Carolina," said Vyas in a news release.

The school will train students in primary care and family medicine, general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry and other services. The school's emphasis is to have graduates working in rural areas or regions with little or no health care options.

Vyas' challenge, if successful, will get the school to its $30 million fundraising goal, Wallace said. So far, about $28 million has been raised for the school, a news release said.

Donations made now will fund final purchases, including new equipment and technology, for the 96,5000-square-foot building that will be called the Leon Levine Hall of Medical Science. The school's anatomy lab will be named for Vyas.

Read more:
Campbell officials pushing to meet Sept. 19 fundraising deadline for new School of Osteopathic Medicine

Martha Barnette, host of public radios A Way With Words, interviews best-selling author and UCSD graduate Khaled Hosseini at the Museum of Contemporary Art on June 26.

By Pat Sherman

Khaled Hosseini, author of the best-selling novel, The Kite Runner (basis for the 2007 film of the same name) was in La Jolla June 26 for a discussion and book signing at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Prospect Street.

During the sold-out event, hosted by Warwicks bookstore and moderated by radio host Martha Barnette, the 1993 UC San Diego School of Medicine graduate spoke of returning to his former stomping grounds.

Its great to be back, Hosseini said. I really loved my time here at UC San Diego. I made some amazing friends and had four really unforgettable years here. I ended up practicing (medicine) for a good eight-and-a-half years.

Asked if he wrote during his time at UCSD, Hosseini chided Barnette, Your even asking that question shows me that you know very little about medical school. I took a seven-year sabbatical from writing during medical school and my three years of residency training, but I was writing pretty much my whole time in the U.S. outside of those seven years, he said.

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan Hosseini came to California with his family at age 15, as part of an initial wave of immigrants seeking asylum in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He spoke almost no English though curiously, he said, he knew the word gluttony.

Khaled Hosseini signs copies of his new book, And the Mountains Echoed for attendees at Warwicks sold-out author event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla.

Its sort of the very by-the-book immigrant story, he said. My family arrived in the U.S. essentially stripped of all belongings and possessions and title. Like any other firstborn son of an immigrant family, I had my choice of three careers and I couldnt imagine being an engineer or a lawyer.

Before signing copies of his new book, And the Mountains Echoed, Hosseini fielded questions from the audience.

See more here:
‘Kite Runner’ author, UCSD alumni returns to La Jolla for talk

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Vigilant Biosciences, Inc., developer of the rinse and spit screening test for the early detection of oral cancer, today announced the appointment of Jonathan Jack Lord, M.D. to its Board of Directors. Dr. Lord is nationally recognized for his role in improving healthcare through innovation in medical practice, business leadership, government and higher education.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Lord to our Board of Directors and look forward to his counsel as we bring our innovative product to market, said Vigilant Biosciences founder and Chairman Matthew H.J. Kim, J.D. His experience and leadership across the spectrum of healthcare organizations will help the company to positively impact lives through the successful commercialization of our products.

The oral cancer product under development by Vigilant Biosciences represents todays model for bringing new technologies to market in response to critical, unmet needs, said Dr. Lord. Early detection of cancer is the best tool to fight this debilitating disease, while also eliminating unnecessary and burdensome testing by ruling out false positives.

Dr. Lord currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Dexcom, as a Director at Stericycle, and serves on advisory boards for Serco PLC (UK), Anthelio Health and Third Rock Ventures. He has earned certificates in Governance and Audit from the Harvard Business School. A nationally recognized leader in innovations in health care, Dr. Lord became the University of Miamis Chief Innovation Officer when he returned to his alma mater after three decades in healthcare leadership roles, in September 2011. In March 2012, he was named Chief Operating Officer of the Miller School of Medicine and UHealth-University of Miami Health System. He completed a financial turnaround of the Miller School and continues to serve today as a Professor of Pathology. A board-certified forensic pathologist who began his medical career in the U.S. Navy and later served as Chief Operating Officer of the American Hospital Association and several biotech companies, Dr. Lord served as the CEO for Navigenics, Inc. following his tenure as the former Chief Innovation Officer and senior vice president of Humana. During his time at Humana, he created Humanas Innovation Center, which combines research, technology and consumer experience to promote health and well-being. He also contributed to the field of predictive sciences by using advanced analytics to predict who will become ill in the future and how to prevent disease. Further cementing his ties to UM, he oversaw the creation of the UM/Humana Health Resources Center on the Miller School campus in 2006. Dr. Lord also serves or has served as a member of a number of prestigious boards and organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Advisory Committee to the Director; the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality, which advises the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services; and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. He was a member of the Presidents Council at UM, an advisory group of some of the University's most prominent alumni. His previous academic appointments include Dartmouth Medical School, George Washington University and the Eastern Virginia School of Medicine. More information for the Board of Directors for Vigilant may be found at http://www.vigilantbiosciences.com/people.html.

Vigilants product, which is under development, consists of a low-cost, oral cancer-specific oral rinse test strip that provides an immediate and simple color change in the presence of certain levels of proteins clinically proven to be associated with early-onset of oral cancer typically before a lesion is visually detected with a screening aid. Dental offices and public health screening facilities are seen as primary initial markets for the technology. The test can be applied to everyone, with particular emphasis on tobacco users, people who consume alcohol and people with human papillomavirus (HPV), and initially represents an approximately $600 million U.S. market opportunity and a multibillion dollar opportunity worldwide. The background intellectual property for the test was developed at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine by Elizabeth Franzmann, M.D., Associate Professor of Otolaryngology and under exclusive license to Vigilant.

About 42,000 new cases in the U.S. and 640,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with oral cancer each year with more than half of those patients dying from the disease within 5 years of diagnosis due to late-stage diagnosis and intervention. Oral cancer treatment options include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

About Vigilant Biosciences, Inc.

Vigilant Biosciences, Inc. is a medical technology company enabling early intervention to improve outcomes. The companys initial product development initiatives are aimed at overcoming the oral cancer challenge - identifying more cancers at an earlier stage and thereby improving overall survival rates while minimizing healthcare costs. For more information, visit http://www.vigilantbiosciences.com.

See the original post here:
Jonathan “Jack” Lord, M.D., Named to Vigilant Biosciences Board of Directors

IRVINE, Calif., July 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PRO-DEX, INC. (PDEX), a leading medical device developer and manufacturer of world-class powered surgical devices, has partnered with UC Irvine's The Henry Samueli School of Engineering to offer graduating seniors the opportunity to work alongside industry veterans in the design and manufacture of next-generation medical devices.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111025/LA93174LOGO-c)

Collaborating with the Samueli School's Engineering Design in Industry (EDI) program, Pro-Dex was one of three participating companies in the EDI program this past year. Five senior engineering students worked on a "real-world" engineering challenge as part of Pro-Dex's development of a new proprietary staple delivery device for use in small bone and extremity surgeries.

"Forging industry-university relations and the chance for graduating students to meet and work with engineers and program managers from local companies on a weekly basis is the key to this program's success," says Dr. John Garman, EDI manager, recruiter and instructor. "I think it's safe to say no other course offered in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department has a higher rate of student job placement this is our metric for excellence."

Pro-Dex Vice President of Engineering, Sid Desai, commented, "Working with future leaders and innovators in design and manufacturing is key to Pro-Dex's long-term strategy for growth." Desai added, "UCI Engineering is renowned for its talented and innovative engineering alumni. Our team was continually impressed with the students' enthusiasm and insight in solving key challenges through the design improvements they suggested for this device."

The EDI program is a group, project-oriented design class tasked with solving engineering design challenges posed by participating industry partners such as Pro-Dex. Partners participating in the most recent round of projects represented industries ranging from consumer products to medical devices. Each participating company provided its design challenge, and interfaced with faculty and students to develop an improved product. With 10 weeks to complete the project, students worked on-site with the industry partners providing input on key project elements such as material selection, design for manufacturing changes, and 3-D models of the suggested improvements and solutions. More information on the program and recent industry sponsored projects can be found at https://eee.uci.edu/programs/edi/.

About Pro-Dex, Inc.

Pro-Dex, Inc., with operations in California and Oregon, specializes in bringing speed to market in the development and manufacture of technology-based solutions that incorporate powered surgical device drive and embedded motion control systems serving the medical, dental, semi-conductor and scientific research markets. Pro-Dex's products are found in hospitals, dental offices, medical engineering labs, scientific research facilities and high tech manufacturing operations around the world. For more information, visit the Company's website at http://www.pro-dex.com.

Statements herein concerning the Company's plans, growth and strategies may include 'forward-looking statements' within the context of the federal securities laws. Statements regarding the Company's future events, developments and future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of these laws. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those suggested as a result of various factors. Interested parties should refer to the disclosure concerning the operational and business concerns of the Company set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Continue reading here:
Pro-Dex, Inc. Partners with UC Irvine School of Engineering

The Pediatric Physicians Organization at Boston Childrens Hospital presented Longwood Pediatrics Margaret Manion, MD, of Weston, with the 2013 Community Pediatric Award on May 29, the highest honor Boston Childrens bestows on physicians.

Recipients have an ongoing commitment to their patients and families and to the education of young doctors who come after them.

Dr. Manion consistently practices good medicine and does good works without making a big show of it. She is a Mount Holyoke College graduate who went to Mount Sinai for medical school and then the Floating Hospital for her residency and a chief residency year.

She won numerous scholarly awards in college and medical school, including the Louisa Stone Stevenson award at Mount Holyoke College, and the Merck award at Mount Sinai.

She has been in private practice ever since, first at Weston Pediatrics, where she was managing partner for a number of years, and now at Longwood Pediatrics since 2008.

Dr. Manion has been elected Best of Boston Top Docs on three separate occasions, in 2009, 2011 and 2012. Childrens Director of Community Pediatric Programs Julie Dollinger proclaims she is pleased that Boston Childrens has finally caught up with the city of Boston in recognizing our local treasure.

Dr Manion is active in the alumni association for the Floating Hospital, and serves on the Board of Trustees for The Gifford School in Weston. She is also a longstanding member of several important academic committees in the Longwood area, including the Newborn Medicine Credentialing Committee at the Brigham, the Credentialing Committee at Boston Childrens, and the Community Medicine Committee at Boston Childrens.

In addition to serving her community and the hospital community well, she is a terrific doctor whose patients love her. She currently resides in Weston with her husband, Amir Nankali.

Read the original here:
Weston resident wins 2013 Community Pediatric Award

LA JOLLA A summer program that invited UC San Diego alumni and others with ties to the campus to spend four days exploring innovative research and educational programs as well as visiting the beach and taking fitness classes launches next week with fewer participants than expected.

Forty people signed up for the Triton Summer Experience, which will take participants on a guided tour through the protected marine areas off La Jolla in a research vessel and into a robotic surgical lab at the medical school. Participants are set to arrive Wednesday.

Although organizers had hoped up to 200 people would enroll, they later realized they marketed it too late in the year for many families to include it in their summer plans and scaled it back.

The outing costs about $2,000 for a family of four and includes four nights accommodations in university-owned apartments.

Families will have access to a concierge and are encouraged to visit nearby beaches. The program agenda includes a family movie night and a tour of the Stuart Collection, the outdoor public art display on campus. Participants also have the option of seeing a play at the La Jolla Playhouse.

What we were trying to do was create a vehicle to have people come back to the campus and explore the innovative and new projects that are here on campus, said Anita Trevino Neubarth, a business development coordinator with the universitys Housing, Dining and Hospitality Services department.

Although they initially looked to replicate alumni camp programs offered at other UC campuses, organizers opted to create a getaway focused more on providing interactive experiences involving scientists and fellows affiliated with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, the School of Medicine and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

We wanted to do something that was more experiential versus coming in and sitting in a classroom, Neubarth said.

Recruitment is also a goal. Some of the families that signed up have teenage children who are interested in possibly attending UC San Diego in the future.

For the alumni who are older, we are hopeful that they will be able to experience what UCSD has turned into, see where the research is going, she said. For families with children, it could expose them to areas they may want to pursue in college and beyond.

Continued here:
UCSD alumni program turns low key

Rutgers' two-body governance structure came under attack last week when State Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) introduced legislation to eliminate the 59-member board of trustees and absorb its powers into the board of governors, which is expanding to 15 from 11 members.

The trustees serve in a largely advisory capacity, but last year helped block a proposed merger that would have moved Rutgers-Camden into Rowan University and left Rutgers no presence in South Jersey.

One alumna argued that the attempt to abolish the trustee board, which was not voted on by the Legislature, was "a conspiracy, a hijacking" of the school's governance. Others questioned a perceived silence from the board of governors, the administration, and other alumni networks.

But while the issues of funding, governance, and Rutgers-Camden's status are entangled, Scales and Shankman said in an interview after the meeting, the move to remove the trustees should be considered on its own as well.

Don't put down Rowan, the board of governors, or other campuses in the campaign to raise awareness about Rutgers-Camden, Ivory told the group. He told the crowd to leverage the school's alumni network: Put signs up throughout the state, he said, and send as many e-mails to as many people as possible.

"Just call. And over the weekend, you don't even get to talk to anybody. Leave a voice mail," Ivory said of legislators considering the proposal to abolish the board of trustees. "And flood the damn e-mail box with messages from Rutgers alums saying, 'We do not appreciate what you are trying to do. You owe us the respect of an opportunity to respond.' "

Contact Jonathan Lai

at 856-779-3220 or jlai@phillynews.com, or

follow on Twitter @elaijuh.

Read the original here:
Rutgers alumni urged to mobilize once again

Wed, Jul 03, 2013

Parkland College, a community college in Illinois, and defense contractor Riverside Research, based in New York, are in discussions with the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in an effort to continue pilot training at the UI Institute of Aviation.

The UI aviation school is slated to be closed next year. It owns 30 single-engine aircraft and employs 20 people, according to a report appearing in the central Illinois News-Gazette. The university's board of trustees voted in July, 2011 to scrap the aviation program, citing "declining interest" and potential savings of $750,000 per year. The vote came despite a lobbying effort on the part of staff, alumni, and the aviation industry.

There are not yet any firm plans for what the program would look like should the deal go through. Parkland currently has no formal aviation program, but has in the past offered ground school courses on a not-for-credit basis. Kris Young, vice president for academic services at Parkland, said the deal would be "very complicated ... it would be a sizable and different addition to what we do."

Young said the community college might offer an associates degree in science with an aviation focus, with the credits transferrable to a four-year university like UI. The community college offers other such programs, called Parkland Pathways, and Young said she would like to see one that supports aviation students.

Enrollment at the UI Aviation Institute has declined from a peak of 266 in the 2006-2007 school year to 50 this summer. The three parties intend to meet together for the first time this month to discuss their options.

View post:
Partnership Eyed To Keep Illinois Flight School Open