Recent News

NU-AID Volunteers Serve the Underserved in Nicaragua The Northwestern University Alliance for International Development (NU-AID), a medical school student organization, will bring free health services to the people of Nicaragua this June 22–30. Twenty-one students and four faculty physicians will set up clinics in and near the towns of Matagalpa and Jinotega. Dispensing some $200,000…

June 20, 2002 University Receives Grant to Study Oral Cancer CHICAGO— Oral cancer currently accounts for almost 6 percent of all malignancies, and its incidence is increasing worldwide. At least 90 percent of oral cancers are squamous cell carcinomas that originate from the oral epithelium, a thin lining of cells that covers tissues in the…

Student AMWA Chapter Recognized The student chapter of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) was selected the top graduate student organization at Northwestern on May 30 during the University Honors Day. The group was selected based on the nature and frequency of programs conducted. The chapter’s activities include presenting three guest speakers on topics ranging…

May 15, 2002 AIDS/HIV Education for Jailed Women Could Reduce Epidemic CHICAGO— Providing HIV and AIDS education to female jail detainees could reduce the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the United States and should become a national public health priority, a Northwestern University study recommends. Many women at particular risk for HIV and AIDS—women who…

May 15, 2002 Choline Prevents Liver Damage in Patients on IV Nutrition CHICAGO— Research has shown that fatty liver, a condition associated with obesity, diabetes and heavy alcohol consumption, often leads to cirrhosis of the liver or liver failure. Studies conducted by Alan L. Buchman, MD, associate professor of medicine at The Feinberg School of…

Construction Season Opens on Chicago Campus An often-heard saying is that Chicago has two seasons: winter and construction. If that’s the case, the construction season has begun in earnest on Northwestern’s Chicago campus with two major projects under way. Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Wesley Pavilion, at the northwest corner of Fairbanks Court and Superior Street, is…

1961 Wesley Nursing Grads Plan Reunion All 1961 graduates of the Wesley Memorial Hospital School of Nursing are invited to reunion festivities planned for Chicago in spring 2003. For information, contact Carol Ross Premo at 3710 Ramshorn Drive, Fremont, MI 49412 or cpremo@ncats.net. The Wesley nursing school affiliated with Northwestern University in 1905 and offered…

Dr. David Satcher to Address Northwestern Medical Graduates Fomer U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD, will speak to this year’s graduates of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine during graduation convocation May 24 at Navy Pier. One hundred sixty-nine graduates will receive MD degrees; five of them also will receive PhD degrees, three others…

May 15, 2002 Tau Protein Required for Development of Alzheimer’s Disease CHICAGO— Researchers have argued for years over whether neurofibrillary tau tangles or beta-amyloid plaques are the primary cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Autopsies show that these hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease are often found in the same brain regions—preferentially in areas responsible for learning and memory—but…

May 15, 2002 Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Teen Sleep Deprivation May Affect Behavior, Academics EVANSTON, ILL.— Research has clarified what most parents already know about the sleep patterns of adolescents—they seem to have an unlimited capacity to sleep late on weekends. In a study presented April 18 at the Annual Meeting…

In Memoriam (Joseph Calandra) Joseph C. Calandra, MD ’46, PhD ’51, professor emertus of pathology, died March 3 at age 84. The Chicago native earned PhD and MD degrees from Northwestern and joined the medical faculty in 1938. Dr. Calandra founded Bio Test Labs, one of the nation’s largest independent testing labs during the 1960s…

Campus Construction Moves Forward Within the last month constructon activity picked up on the Chicago campus. Barricades went up around the Wesley Pavilion, signaling the start of demolition that will be completed by year’s end to clear way for the new Prentice Women’s Hospital, slated for completion in 2007. The current Prentice Pavilion will continue…

Children’s Memorial Dedicates Middle School Health Center Thanks to Children’s Memorial Hospital, Arai Middle School in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood has become the first Chicago public middle school to house a school-based health center. Recently dedicated, the center provides a range of services, including mental health screening, counseling, and dental care. Cynthia J. Mears, DO, assistant…

April 12, 2002 Built-in ‘Failsafe’ Blocks Abnormal Growth of New Blood Vessels CHICAGO— Some inhibitors of angiogenesis prevent new blood vessel growth by triggering a built-in “failsafe” device in vessel-forming endothelial cells that marks them for apoptosis, or programmed cell death, according to a study from The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and…

NMH Honored for Patient Care Northwestern Memorial Hospital recently garnered accolades for excellence in patient care. Consumers’ Checkbook, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit consumer education organization, named NMH fifth on the list of “America’s Top Hospitals” in a 2002 national survey. The hospital’s Best Patient Experience (BPE) pilot project received the annual Patient Service Excellence Award…

Reunion Weekend a Big Success Alumni Weekend attracted more than 435 alumni and their guests to the medical school April 19–20. Keen interest in Northwestern’s progress made a state-of-the-school address, presented by Senior Executive Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey C. Miller, a major attraction. Strongly attended, the update generated “lively discussion,” reported Assistant…

Students Recognized with Fellowships Four first-year medical students have been selected to participate in the 2002–03 Chicago Schweitzer Fellowship Program. They are Sara B. Busarow of Racine, Wisconsin; Benjamin Levi of Highland Park, Illinois; Carla A. Morgan, of Valparaiso, Indiana: and Anna E. Ringwelski, of Budd Lake, New Jersey. They and 23 colleagues from other…

Women Faculty Organization Promotes Women in Medicine, Science The Northwestern Medical Women Faculty Organization sponsored its 2002 Distinguished Women in Medicine and Science lecture on April 5. Christina Enroth-Cugell, MD, PhD, Northwestern professor emeritus of biomedical engineering and of neurobiology and physiology, spoke on “What Old Folks See in a Young Person’s World.” Pioneering research…