STEM CELL
continued from page 1
to purify extracted stem cells and use
them for clinical trials. The GMP facility
consists of a large “clean room” and six
manufacturing rooms.
The IRC will encourage integration
of basic science, translational research
and clinical medicine, thereby expediting
pathways to clinical trials and leading
to breakthroughs in “bench-to-bedside”
research. The IRC is one of only seven
facilities in California designated as
a “CIRM Institute.” The first phase of
renovations should be finished in fall 2009,
with remaining construction scheduled for
completion the following summer.
Upon certification of the laboratory
facilities, clinical trials using stem cells
extracted from participants’ bone marrow
will begin in four areas of concentration:
Huntington’s disease, retinal occlusion,
tissue damage from heart attacks, and
peripheral vascular disease. Initial
activity will revolve around 14 diseasespecific teams: bladder disorders; blood
cell disorders; cancer; cartilage and
bone abnormalities; diabetes; vision
degeneration and blindness; hearing loss
and inner ear cilia repair; HIV/AIDS;
immunology and immunotherapeutics
for cancer; kidney and lung diseases;
liver disease; neurological diseases; skin
disorders; and vascular disease.
“We have formatted the laboratory
space to foster an open and welcoming
society of scientists,” explained Jan A.
Nolta, Ph.D., who is director of the UC
Davis IRC as well as the scientific director
for the GMP facility. “One of my principal
functions is to identify ways in which
faculty members throughout the university
can work together synergistically.”
Nolta welcomes the involvement of
Primary Care Network physicians and
volunteer clinical faculty members whose
patients may include potential clinical trial
participants.
The IRC will benefit from the presence
of the M.I.N.D. Institute, the UC Davis
Cancer Center, the Institute for Pediatric
Regenerative Medicine at Shriners
Hospital, and the NIH Center of Excellence
in Translational Human Stem Cell Research
and the Translational Human Embryonic
Stem Cell Shared Research Facility (TSRF),
both located in Davis.
Those complementary programs
and facilities, in combination with the
California National Primate Research
Center, will distinguish the IRC, in the
view of one of its associate directors
– David Pleasure, professor of neurology
and pediatrics.
Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D.
“The capacity to readily investigate
cell transplants in an animal whose
physiology resembles that of humans
is a big advantage for researchers at UC
Davis,” said Pleasure, director of the UC
Davis Institute for Pediatric Regenerative
Medicine. “We have really superb
imaging technology available through
our biomedical engineering group. And
our biophotonics faculty can perform
nondestructive high-tech imaging focused
on stem cell behaviors. I’m not sure that
any other institution can claim such a
finely integrated complement of closely
affiliated resources.”
Alice Tarantal, Ph.D., a professor of
pediatrics and cell biology and human
anatomy who serves as the IRC’s other
associate director, underscores Pleasure’s
assessment.
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
UC Davis Health System
“The primate center, along with
opportunities in the School of Veterinary
Medicine and our strong mouse biology
program, enable UC Davis researchers
to conduct translational studies that
benefit animals and humans,” said
Tarantal, director of the NIH Center of
Excellence and TSRF. In addition, she
noted that the capabilities for clinical
and translational research at UC Davis
provided through the CTSC ensure that
research findings can be rapidly moved
into human clinical trials, once safety
and efficacy have been shown in relevant
animal models.
UC Davis also has a Stem Cell
Training Program for graduate students,
postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows.
“The distinguishing feature that
ties our stem cell research center and
our training program together is a
commitment to clinical translational
research with the goal of improving
quality of care,” said Frederick J. Meyers,
administrative director and principal
investigator of the UC Davis Stem Cell
Training Program. “I am most struck
by the willingness of our investigators,
and in particular our junior scholars, to
work in teams on innovative approaches
to stem cell research and regenerative
medicine in ways not evident at other
institutions.”
Meyers, who is a professor and chair
of the Department of Internal Medicine,
added, “The strong senior investigators,
including and especially Alice, Jan
and David, are superb mentors. So we
expect our trainees to be successful
in their careers not only because of
teamwork but also because the research
mentorship experience combined with a
curriculum will produce an outstanding
generation of new faculty.”
To date, CIRM has authorized more
than $20 million in renovation and
equipment funding for the IRC, in
addition to $25 million in UC Davis
construction funds. The total budget for
the institute when it is fully built out is
estimated at $102 million.
Faculty Development Office
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
Published by the Faculty Development Office
DECEMBER 2008 – JANUARY 2009
Workshops and other activities
You are invited! We encourage you to
enroll in one of the various workshops,
programs and events sponsored by the
Faculty Development Office. For more
event details and to register, visit www.
ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/ and click
Register Online. (Event co-sponsors are
indicated within parentheses.)
(Calendar from page 1)
January
facultyNewsletter
Published by the Faculty Development
Office, which administers and coordinates
programs that respond to the professional and
career development needs of UC Davis Health
System faculty members.
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
(916) 734-2464
www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/
Edward Callahan, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Personnel
Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S.
Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Life
Gregg Servis, M.Div.
Director, Faculty Development
gregg.servis@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Cheryl Busman
Program Representative, Faculty Development
cheryl.busman@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
EditPros LLC
Editorial Services
www.editpros.com
5
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
7
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
13
Department Directors of Faculty Development annual meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
14
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
15
Teaching Workshop: Giving a Dynamic Lecture (OME)
16
Women in Medicine Founding Women event
December
1 Work-Life Balance Group meeting
1 Teaching Workshop: Improving Your
Exams Part 2 (OME)
1 Workshop: How to Do Effective
Student-Centered Clinical Teaching
(OME)
February
2
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
4
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
5
Breakfast with the Dean
11
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
2 Teaching Workshop: Leading a Small
Group Discussion (OME)
3 Office of Diversity Advisory Team
meeting
10 Community Engagement and
Partnerships Committee meeting
10 Faculty Development Advisory Team
meeting
Event co-sponsor
11 Breakfast with the Dean
OME: Office of Medical Education
17 Workshop: Using the Audience
Response System (OME)
January continues on page 6
5
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
6
CATALYST FOR STEM CELL EMINENCE
Institute for Regenerative Cures will foster bench-to-bedside research
Construction workers are busily
dissecting the interior of a decadesold building that they and research
teams will transform during the next
two years into a facility to dramatically
advance the frontiers of medical
knowledge. Drawing upon UC Davis’
exceptional complement of basic,
translational, and clinical research
expertise, the new stem cell research
facility under construction will position
the Health System as a vertex for
innovation in the field of regenerative
medicine.
The 109,000-square-foot building,
which also houses the Clinical and
Translational Science Center (CTSC),
once had been part of the old State
Fair complex and for years served as
a Health System warehouse and bulk
mail processing center. It is being
renovated to incorporate the new UC
Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures
(IRC), a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM).
The IRC is intended to function as a
catalyst linking basic and translational
investigations with clinical trials, and
will serve as an intellectual home for
stem cell research. In symmetry with
other eminent Health System and
Davis campus resources, the IRC will
infuse UC Davis with stem cell research
capabilities that will be unparalleled in
California.
CIRM (www.cirm.ca.gov) was
established in 2005 in response to the
November 2004 passage of Proposition
71, the California Stem Cell Research
and Cures Initiative, which authorized
$3 billion in funding for stem cell
research at California universities and
research institutions. CIRM is one of the
world’s largest sources of funding for
stem cell research.
The building housing the Institute for Regenerative
Cures and Clinical and Translational Science
Center
In addition to laboratories and
support space, the IRC building will
contain California’s largest federally
certified academic Good Manufacturing
Practice (GMP) facility — a highly
specialized research and testing
laboratory that will enable researchers
continued on page 5
officevisit
M E E T V O L U N T E E R M E D I C A L D I R E C TO R
R ONA LD J A N
Ronald Jan makes his living as a
vascular surgeon in his private practice
in Sacramento. But he derives his life’s
pleasure through the volunteer work he
has performed at the Paul Hom Asian
Clinic for two decades.
“I live for those Saturdays at the Paul
Hom clinic,” Jan said.
Throughout the 37-years since
the Paul Hom Clinic was founded,
only two physicians have served as its
medical director. The late UC Davis
endocrinologist Lindy Kumagai was
medical director from the clinic’s inception
until March 2006. Ron Jan has filled that
role since then.
The free, student-run clinic, which
operates on Saturdays, is staffed by UC
Davis medical students, undergraduate
patient advocates, and other physicians
who volunteer their services.
Jan first signed on as a volunteer
clinical faculty member with the Health
System’s Department of Surgery in the
1980s. He felt drawn, however, to the
Paul Hom clinic, which he had visited
during his surgical residency. Jan, who
operates his practice alone, shifted
Saturday morning rounds for his surgical
patients to 6:30 a.m. to enable him to
increase his involvement at the Paul Hom
clinic. He arrives there by 8 a.m. and stays
until all patients – 40 to 65 on a typical
Saturday – have been seen. “That’s my
Saturday routine,” said Jan, who has an
unblemished attendance record there.
“As medical director, I review results of
some of the lab work, which is generously
performed by UC Davis Health System
pathology services. Other physicians and
I serve attending roles for patients, who
are first seen by medical students. And I
fulfill administrative functions, including
facultyrounds
viewpoint
A welcome to new
faculty colleagues
By Claire Pomeroy, DEAN
Larry-Stuart Deutsch
Ronald Jan, M.D. (Photo by Jose Luis Villegas,
UC Davis Health System)
interaction with county health facilities
and other agencies,” Jan explained.
He derives his greatest sense of
satisfaction from serving as a mentor
and teacher for medical students and
undergraduate patient advocates at the
Paul Hom clinic.
“I have not yet married, and never had
my own family, so the student volunteers
have become my surrogate children,” Jan
said. “As they grow, I take great pride in
them as if they were my family members. I
get pure joy out of seeing them graduate.”
Jan also serves as a medical consultant
for the Sacramento division of the Asian
American Network for Cancer Awareness
Research and Training (AANCART), which
is administered in Sacramento under a
cooperative agreement between UC Davis
and the National Cancer Institute.
KVIE television channel 6 and
Union Bank of California, N.A.,
recognized Jan’s dedication by
presenting him with an “Asian Pacific
American Heritage Local Hero Award”
in May 2007. KVIE broadcast profiles
of Jan and four other recipients
throughout the month.
Jan, who grew up in Sacramento,
obtained his bachelor’s degree at UC
Berkeley, completed graduate studies
at San Francisco State University, and
obtained his medical degree from George
Washington University in Washington,
D.C. In his private practice, he specializes
in treating patients with arterial occlusive
disease and aneurismal disease.
Jan does spend some of his time away
from medical offices. For 14 years, he
sang with the Sacramento Symphony
Chorus. He stepped away from the
stage, however, to devote time to the
Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation,
the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco,
the Chinese Cultural Center of San
Francisco and the Chinese Historical
Society of America. Jan no longer sings
in public. “Not even karaoke,” he joked.
“After all, when I was with the chorus,
people paid good money to hear my voice
drowned out by hundreds of voices in the
chorus.”
When the KVIE award was
announced, Lindy Kumagai praised Jan’s
devotion to the Paul Hon clinic.
“Ron is a very special person,
committed to helping medical students
as well as to serving patients, particularly
those lacking ready access to adequate
health service,” Kumagai said. “Students
frequently told me how much they
appreciate the time he consistently
devotes to them.”
When students sing Jan’s praises, as
they frequently do, that’s music to his
ears.
advisoryteams
Activities of the Faculty Development
Office are guided by the recommendations
of two advisory teams:
Zhe-Xiong Lian
Faculty Development
Advisory Team
Each edition of the Faculty Newsletter introduces faculty colleagues who recently joined the UC Davis
Health System family. Watch for more new clinical and research staff members in the next issue.
Larry-Stuart Deutsch specializes
in interventional oncology
Other new colleagues
• Shelly L. Henderson, Ph.D., an
assistant clinical professor, is director
• David K. Barnes, M.D., an assistant
of behavioral medicine and director of
Larry-Stuart Deutsch, M.D., C.M.,
clinical professor of emergency
psychology training in the Department
FRCPC, FACR, FSIR, a professor of
medicine who treats patients in the
of Family and Community Medicine.
vascular and interventional radiology,
UC Davis Medical Center Emergency
A specialist in addiction disorders and
specializes in minimally invasive imageDepartment, is studying decay in chest
primary-care residency education who
guided therapies for peripheral vascular
compressions as part of his research in
sees patients for psychotherapy in
disease, liver and biliary tract disease,
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Certified
uterine fibroids, and cancer care. He has
the outpatient Family Practice Clinic,
by the American Board of Emergency
clinical and research expertise in the rapidly
Henderson is collaborating on a Health
Medicine, he is preparing a simulation
emerging subspecialty of interventional
Resources and Services Administration
curriculum for the Emergency Medicine
oncology. He applies the imaged-guided
residency education grant to teach and
residency program.
therapies of interventional radiology to
implement the concept of the “medical
the treatment of cancer, especially primary
• Marc Dall’Era, M.D., an assistant
home,” a model for multifaceted,
and metastatic tumors of the liver. Deutsch
professor of urologic oncology,
patient-centered primary health care.
additionally is the director of the UC Davis
encourages use of robotics and minimally
Selective Intraarterial Radiation Therapy
invasive approaches to urologic cancers • Trauma, acute care surgery and surgical
(SIRT) program.
critical care constitute the academic
in his clinical practice. He plans to
practice of Ho Hoang Phan, M.D.,
initiate clinical and basic science
Zhe-Xiong Lian sheds light on
an assistant professor in the Division
research
in
prostate
cancer
and
in
active
primary biliary cirrhosis
of Trauma and Emergency Surgery
surveillance techniques.
Immunological mechanisms leading
within the Department of Surgery.
to liver autoimmunity are of primary
• Molecular mechanisms of signal
Board-certified by the American
interest to Zhe-Xiong Lian, M.D., Ph.D.,
transduction are of primary interest
Board of Surgery in general surgery
an associate adjunct professor in the
to Aldrin V. Gomes, Ph.D., an
and board-eligible in surgical critical
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and
assistant professor of neurobiology,
care, he conducts research in systemic
Clinical Immunology. He is investigating
physiology and behavior, who also has
inflammatory response to injury.
the pathogenesis of primary biliary
a joint appointment in physiology and
cirrhosis (PBC), an autoimmune disease of
membrane biology. He is particularly
• Sandhya Venugopal, M.D., an
unknown origin that is characterized by
interested in the role of the proteasome
assistant clinical professor in the
progressive destruction of small bile ducts.
complex in normal, protected and
Department of Internal medicine’s
He uses various mouse models of PBC,
diseased cardiac and skeletal muscle,
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine,
in conjunction with clinical studies, to
and the role of troponin in calcium
specializes in non-invasive and general
explore genetic susceptibility, autoimmune
regulation of muscle contraction in
cardiology. Board certified in Internal
development and targeted immunotherapy,
hypertrophic, dilated and restrictive
Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine,
and to identify key cellular players within
cardiomyopathies.
The
technique
of
she is conducting research evaluating
this disease. He expects many of his
inhibiting
the
proteasome
has
been
the progression of aortic valve disease in
findings to help illuminate the enigma
successful
in
treating
cancer,
and
may
women and echocardiographic indexes
behind the pathogenesis of PBC while
be
useful
in
treating
cardiac
and
skeletal
of successful cardiac resynchronization
providing a better understanding of basic
muscle
diseases.
therapy.
immune functions in the liver.
A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO
ADVANCE HEALTH
By this time next year, a significant portion
of our new Institute for Regenerative
Cures, a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM), will be completed. We
will have gone from our groundbreaking
ceremony to scheduling clinical trials in
about a year’s time. Such is the pace of
stem cell research at UC Davis.
There are two reasons for this rapid
advance: the talent and expertise of our
faculty and the research support California
voters approved when they passed the $3
billion stem cell initiative, Proposition 71,
in 2004.
Proposition 71 created CIRM, which is
governed by the 29-member Independent
Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC).
I’ve had the honor of serving on the
ICOC since its inception. My role on the
committee is quite independent from
my jobs as vice chancellor and dean. As
a board member, I represent the people
of California and as such am responsible
for the wise use of taxpayer money and
meeting the promise embodied in this new
field of research.
In the 18 months after the courts
rejected legal challenges to the stem cell
initiative, the committee has approved 229
research and facility grants totaling more
than $614 million. That makes California’s
stem cell agency the largest source of
funding for embryonic and pluripotent
stem cell research in the world.
While I recuse myself from votes
on UC Davis grants, my fellow board
members have repeatedly recognized
the skill and vision of our faculty. With
advice from independent reviewers, CIRM
has awarded our campus more than $34
million for research, training and major
facilities, including the new Institute for
Regenerative Cures building.
This success is a testament to the
talent, expertise and hard work of you,
our faculty. You are the heart of our
research achievements, and I thank you
for your talent, passion and dedication to
advancing health.
We are all part of a community
of patients and families dedicated to
advancing medical therapy. That spirit is
reinforced at every CIRM meeting, where
we hear from patients whose struggles
help put a human face on the diseases
for which we hope to find cures. So we
were honored that patients and their
families joined us for our new institute’s
groundbreaking ceremony last September.
Their stories were an inspiring plea for
continued focus on stem cell research.
These families remind us of why our work
is so important and why regenerative
medicine provides us with such a historic
opportunity to advance health.
On behalf of our patients and all of
us at UC Davis, thank you for the many
ways in which you advance our academic
missions, including our leadership in stem
cell research.
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Chuck Bevins, M.D., Ph.D., Medical
Microbiology and Immunology
Kathy DeRiemer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Public Health
Sciences
Tonya Fancher, M.D., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
Jeff Gauvin, M.D., Surgery
Estella Geraghty, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
W. Ladson Hinton, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Keith Lau, M.D., Pediatrics
Jamie Ross, M.D., Internal Medicine
Mark Sutter, M.D., Emergency Medicine
Vicki Wheelock, M.D., Neurology
Office of Diversity
Advisory Team
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Elizabeth Abad, Alumni and Development
Officer, Health Sciences Advancement
Susan DeMarois, Government and
Community Relations
James Forkin, Postbaccalaureate Program
Coordinator, Office of Medical Education
Darin Latimore, M.D., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Russell Lim, M.D., Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences
José Morfin, M.D., Internal Medicine
Marbella Sala, Executive Operations Manager,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Andreea Seritan, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Daniel Steinhart, CLAS Project Coordinator,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Pam Stotlar-McAuliffe, Manager, Continuing
Medical Education
Hendry Ton, M.D., Psychiatry
*Team coordinator
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
2
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
3
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
4
officevisit
M E E T V O L U N T E E R M E D I C A L D I R E C TO R
R ONA LD J A N
Ronald Jan makes his living as a
vascular surgeon in his private practice
in Sacramento. But he derives his life’s
pleasure through the volunteer work he
has performed at the Paul Hom Asian
Clinic for two decades.
“I live for those Saturdays at the Paul
Hom clinic,” Jan said.
Throughout the 37-years since
the Paul Hom Clinic was founded,
only two physicians have served as its
medical director. The late UC Davis
endocrinologist Lindy Kumagai was
medical director from the clinic’s inception
until March 2006. Ron Jan has filled that
role since then.
The free, student-run clinic, which
operates on Saturdays, is staffed by UC
Davis medical students, undergraduate
patient advocates, and other physicians
who volunteer their services.
Jan first signed on as a volunteer
clinical faculty member with the Health
System’s Department of Surgery in the
1980s. He felt drawn, however, to the
Paul Hom clinic, which he had visited
during his surgical residency. Jan, who
operates his practice alone, shifted
Saturday morning rounds for his surgical
patients to 6:30 a.m. to enable him to
increase his involvement at the Paul Hom
clinic. He arrives there by 8 a.m. and stays
until all patients – 40 to 65 on a typical
Saturday – have been seen. “That’s my
Saturday routine,” said Jan, who has an
unblemished attendance record there.
“As medical director, I review results of
some of the lab work, which is generously
performed by UC Davis Health System
pathology services. Other physicians and
I serve attending roles for patients, who
are first seen by medical students. And I
fulfill administrative functions, including
facultyrounds
viewpoint
A welcome to new
faculty colleagues
By Claire Pomeroy, DEAN
Larry-Stuart Deutsch
Ronald Jan, M.D. (Photo by Jose Luis Villegas,
UC Davis Health System)
interaction with county health facilities
and other agencies,” Jan explained.
He derives his greatest sense of
satisfaction from serving as a mentor
and teacher for medical students and
undergraduate patient advocates at the
Paul Hom clinic.
“I have not yet married, and never had
my own family, so the student volunteers
have become my surrogate children,” Jan
said. “As they grow, I take great pride in
them as if they were my family members. I
get pure joy out of seeing them graduate.”
Jan also serves as a medical consultant
for the Sacramento division of the Asian
American Network for Cancer Awareness
Research and Training (AANCART), which
is administered in Sacramento under a
cooperative agreement between UC Davis
and the National Cancer Institute.
KVIE television channel 6 and
Union Bank of California, N.A.,
recognized Jan’s dedication by
presenting him with an “Asian Pacific
American Heritage Local Hero Award”
in May 2007. KVIE broadcast profiles
of Jan and four other recipients
throughout the month.
Jan, who grew up in Sacramento,
obtained his bachelor’s degree at UC
Berkeley, completed graduate studies
at San Francisco State University, and
obtained his medical degree from George
Washington University in Washington,
D.C. In his private practice, he specializes
in treating patients with arterial occlusive
disease and aneurismal disease.
Jan does spend some of his time away
from medical offices. For 14 years, he
sang with the Sacramento Symphony
Chorus. He stepped away from the
stage, however, to devote time to the
Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation,
the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco,
the Chinese Cultural Center of San
Francisco and the Chinese Historical
Society of America. Jan no longer sings
in public. “Not even karaoke,” he joked.
“After all, when I was with the chorus,
people paid good money to hear my voice
drowned out by hundreds of voices in the
chorus.”
When the KVIE award was
announced, Lindy Kumagai praised Jan’s
devotion to the Paul Hon clinic.
“Ron is a very special person,
committed to helping medical students
as well as to serving patients, particularly
those lacking ready access to adequate
health service,” Kumagai said. “Students
frequently told me how much they
appreciate the time he consistently
devotes to them.”
When students sing Jan’s praises, as
they frequently do, that’s music to his
ears.
advisoryteams
Activities of the Faculty Development
Office are guided by the recommendations
of two advisory teams:
Zhe-Xiong Lian
Faculty Development
Advisory Team
Each edition of the Faculty Newsletter introduces faculty colleagues who recently joined the UC Davis
Health System family. Watch for more new clinical and research staff members in the next issue.
Larry-Stuart Deutsch specializes
in interventional oncology
Other new colleagues
• Shelly L. Henderson, Ph.D., an
assistant clinical professor, is director
• David K. Barnes, M.D., an assistant
of behavioral medicine and director of
Larry-Stuart Deutsch, M.D., C.M.,
clinical professor of emergency
psychology training in the Department
FRCPC, FACR, FSIR, a professor of
medicine who treats patients in the
of Family and Community Medicine.
vascular and interventional radiology,
UC Davis Medical Center Emergency
A specialist in addiction disorders and
specializes in minimally invasive imageDepartment, is studying decay in chest
primary-care residency education who
guided therapies for peripheral vascular
compressions as part of his research in
sees patients for psychotherapy in
disease, liver and biliary tract disease,
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Certified
uterine fibroids, and cancer care. He has
the outpatient Family Practice Clinic,
by the American Board of Emergency
clinical and research expertise in the rapidly
Henderson is collaborating on a Health
Medicine, he is preparing a simulation
emerging subspecialty of interventional
Resources and Services Administration
curriculum for the Emergency Medicine
oncology. He applies the imaged-guided
residency education grant to teach and
residency program.
therapies of interventional radiology to
implement the concept of the “medical
the treatment of cancer, especially primary
• Marc Dall’Era, M.D., an assistant
home,” a model for multifaceted,
and metastatic tumors of the liver. Deutsch
professor of urologic oncology,
patient-centered primary health care.
additionally is the director of the UC Davis
encourages use of robotics and minimally
Selective Intraarterial Radiation Therapy
invasive approaches to urologic cancers • Trauma, acute care surgery and surgical
(SIRT) program.
critical care constitute the academic
in his clinical practice. He plans to
practice of Ho Hoang Phan, M.D.,
initiate clinical and basic science
Zhe-Xiong Lian sheds light on
an assistant professor in the Division
research
in
prostate
cancer
and
in
active
primary biliary cirrhosis
of Trauma and Emergency Surgery
surveillance techniques.
Immunological mechanisms leading
within the Department of Surgery.
to liver autoimmunity are of primary
• Molecular mechanisms of signal
Board-certified by the American
interest to Zhe-Xiong Lian, M.D., Ph.D.,
transduction are of primary interest
Board of Surgery in general surgery
an associate adjunct professor in the
to Aldrin V. Gomes, Ph.D., an
and board-eligible in surgical critical
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and
assistant professor of neurobiology,
care, he conducts research in systemic
Clinical Immunology. He is investigating
physiology and behavior, who also has
inflammatory response to injury.
the pathogenesis of primary biliary
a joint appointment in physiology and
cirrhosis (PBC), an autoimmune disease of
membrane biology. He is particularly
• Sandhya Venugopal, M.D., an
unknown origin that is characterized by
interested in the role of the proteasome
assistant clinical professor in the
progressive destruction of small bile ducts.
complex in normal, protected and
Department of Internal medicine’s
He uses various mouse models of PBC,
diseased cardiac and skeletal muscle,
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine,
in conjunction with clinical studies, to
and the role of troponin in calcium
specializes in non-invasive and general
explore genetic susceptibility, autoimmune
regulation of muscle contraction in
cardiology. Board certified in Internal
development and targeted immunotherapy,
hypertrophic, dilated and restrictive
Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine,
and to identify key cellular players within
cardiomyopathies.
The
technique
of
she is conducting research evaluating
this disease. He expects many of his
inhibiting
the
proteasome
has
been
the progression of aortic valve disease in
findings to help illuminate the enigma
successful
in
treating
cancer,
and
may
women and echocardiographic indexes
behind the pathogenesis of PBC while
be
useful
in
treating
cardiac
and
skeletal
of successful cardiac resynchronization
providing a better understanding of basic
muscle
diseases.
therapy.
immune functions in the liver.
A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO
ADVANCE HEALTH
By this time next year, a significant portion
of our new Institute for Regenerative
Cures, a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM), will be completed. We
will have gone from our groundbreaking
ceremony to scheduling clinical trials in
about a year’s time. Such is the pace of
stem cell research at UC Davis.
There are two reasons for this rapid
advance: the talent and expertise of our
faculty and the research support California
voters approved when they passed the $3
billion stem cell initiative, Proposition 71,
in 2004.
Proposition 71 created CIRM, which is
governed by the 29-member Independent
Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC).
I’ve had the honor of serving on the
ICOC since its inception. My role on the
committee is quite independent from
my jobs as vice chancellor and dean. As
a board member, I represent the people
of California and as such am responsible
for the wise use of taxpayer money and
meeting the promise embodied in this new
field of research.
In the 18 months after the courts
rejected legal challenges to the stem cell
initiative, the committee has approved 229
research and facility grants totaling more
than $614 million. That makes California’s
stem cell agency the largest source of
funding for embryonic and pluripotent
stem cell research in the world.
While I recuse myself from votes
on UC Davis grants, my fellow board
members have repeatedly recognized
the skill and vision of our faculty. With
advice from independent reviewers, CIRM
has awarded our campus more than $34
million for research, training and major
facilities, including the new Institute for
Regenerative Cures building.
This success is a testament to the
talent, expertise and hard work of you,
our faculty. You are the heart of our
research achievements, and I thank you
for your talent, passion and dedication to
advancing health.
We are all part of a community
of patients and families dedicated to
advancing medical therapy. That spirit is
reinforced at every CIRM meeting, where
we hear from patients whose struggles
help put a human face on the diseases
for which we hope to find cures. So we
were honored that patients and their
families joined us for our new institute’s
groundbreaking ceremony last September.
Their stories were an inspiring plea for
continued focus on stem cell research.
These families remind us of why our work
is so important and why regenerative
medicine provides us with such a historic
opportunity to advance health.
On behalf of our patients and all of
us at UC Davis, thank you for the many
ways in which you advance our academic
missions, including our leadership in stem
cell research.
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Chuck Bevins, M.D., Ph.D., Medical
Microbiology and Immunology
Kathy DeRiemer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Public Health
Sciences
Tonya Fancher, M.D., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
Jeff Gauvin, M.D., Surgery
Estella Geraghty, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
W. Ladson Hinton, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Keith Lau, M.D., Pediatrics
Jamie Ross, M.D., Internal Medicine
Mark Sutter, M.D., Emergency Medicine
Vicki Wheelock, M.D., Neurology
Office of Diversity
Advisory Team
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Elizabeth Abad, Alumni and Development
Officer, Health Sciences Advancement
Susan DeMarois, Government and
Community Relations
James Forkin, Postbaccalaureate Program
Coordinator, Office of Medical Education
Darin Latimore, M.D., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Russell Lim, M.D., Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences
José Morfin, M.D., Internal Medicine
Marbella Sala, Executive Operations Manager,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Andreea Seritan, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Daniel Steinhart, CLAS Project Coordinator,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Pam Stotlar-McAuliffe, Manager, Continuing
Medical Education
Hendry Ton, M.D., Psychiatry
*Team coordinator
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
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facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
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officevisit
M E E T V O L U N T E E R M E D I C A L D I R E C TO R
R ONA LD J A N
Ronald Jan makes his living as a
vascular surgeon in his private practice
in Sacramento. But he derives his life’s
pleasure through the volunteer work he
has performed at the Paul Hom Asian
Clinic for two decades.
“I live for those Saturdays at the Paul
Hom clinic,” Jan said.
Throughout the 37-years since
the Paul Hom Clinic was founded,
only two physicians have served as its
medical director. The late UC Davis
endocrinologist Lindy Kumagai was
medical director from the clinic’s inception
until March 2006. Ron Jan has filled that
role since then.
The free, student-run clinic, which
operates on Saturdays, is staffed by UC
Davis medical students, undergraduate
patient advocates, and other physicians
who volunteer their services.
Jan first signed on as a volunteer
clinical faculty member with the Health
System’s Department of Surgery in the
1980s. He felt drawn, however, to the
Paul Hom clinic, which he had visited
during his surgical residency. Jan, who
operates his practice alone, shifted
Saturday morning rounds for his surgical
patients to 6:30 a.m. to enable him to
increase his involvement at the Paul Hom
clinic. He arrives there by 8 a.m. and stays
until all patients – 40 to 65 on a typical
Saturday – have been seen. “That’s my
Saturday routine,” said Jan, who has an
unblemished attendance record there.
“As medical director, I review results of
some of the lab work, which is generously
performed by UC Davis Health System
pathology services. Other physicians and
I serve attending roles for patients, who
are first seen by medical students. And I
fulfill administrative functions, including
facultyrounds
viewpoint
A welcome to new
faculty colleagues
By Claire Pomeroy, DEAN
Larry-Stuart Deutsch
Ronald Jan, M.D. (Photo by Jose Luis Villegas,
UC Davis Health System)
interaction with county health facilities
and other agencies,” Jan explained.
He derives his greatest sense of
satisfaction from serving as a mentor
and teacher for medical students and
undergraduate patient advocates at the
Paul Hom clinic.
“I have not yet married, and never had
my own family, so the student volunteers
have become my surrogate children,” Jan
said. “As they grow, I take great pride in
them as if they were my family members. I
get pure joy out of seeing them graduate.”
Jan also serves as a medical consultant
for the Sacramento division of the Asian
American Network for Cancer Awareness
Research and Training (AANCART), which
is administered in Sacramento under a
cooperative agreement between UC Davis
and the National Cancer Institute.
KVIE television channel 6 and
Union Bank of California, N.A.,
recognized Jan’s dedication by
presenting him with an “Asian Pacific
American Heritage Local Hero Award”
in May 2007. KVIE broadcast profiles
of Jan and four other recipients
throughout the month.
Jan, who grew up in Sacramento,
obtained his bachelor’s degree at UC
Berkeley, completed graduate studies
at San Francisco State University, and
obtained his medical degree from George
Washington University in Washington,
D.C. In his private practice, he specializes
in treating patients with arterial occlusive
disease and aneurismal disease.
Jan does spend some of his time away
from medical offices. For 14 years, he
sang with the Sacramento Symphony
Chorus. He stepped away from the
stage, however, to devote time to the
Sacramento Chinese Culture Foundation,
the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco,
the Chinese Cultural Center of San
Francisco and the Chinese Historical
Society of America. Jan no longer sings
in public. “Not even karaoke,” he joked.
“After all, when I was with the chorus,
people paid good money to hear my voice
drowned out by hundreds of voices in the
chorus.”
When the KVIE award was
announced, Lindy Kumagai praised Jan’s
devotion to the Paul Hon clinic.
“Ron is a very special person,
committed to helping medical students
as well as to serving patients, particularly
those lacking ready access to adequate
health service,” Kumagai said. “Students
frequently told me how much they
appreciate the time he consistently
devotes to them.”
When students sing Jan’s praises, as
they frequently do, that’s music to his
ears.
advisoryteams
Activities of the Faculty Development
Office are guided by the recommendations
of two advisory teams:
Zhe-Xiong Lian
Faculty Development
Advisory Team
Each edition of the Faculty Newsletter introduces faculty colleagues who recently joined the UC Davis
Health System family. Watch for more new clinical and research staff members in the next issue.
Larry-Stuart Deutsch specializes
in interventional oncology
Other new colleagues
• Shelly L. Henderson, Ph.D., an
assistant clinical professor, is director
• David K. Barnes, M.D., an assistant
of behavioral medicine and director of
Larry-Stuart Deutsch, M.D., C.M.,
clinical professor of emergency
psychology training in the Department
FRCPC, FACR, FSIR, a professor of
medicine who treats patients in the
of Family and Community Medicine.
vascular and interventional radiology,
UC Davis Medical Center Emergency
A specialist in addiction disorders and
specializes in minimally invasive imageDepartment, is studying decay in chest
primary-care residency education who
guided therapies for peripheral vascular
compressions as part of his research in
sees patients for psychotherapy in
disease, liver and biliary tract disease,
cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Certified
uterine fibroids, and cancer care. He has
the outpatient Family Practice Clinic,
by the American Board of Emergency
clinical and research expertise in the rapidly
Henderson is collaborating on a Health
Medicine, he is preparing a simulation
emerging subspecialty of interventional
Resources and Services Administration
curriculum for the Emergency Medicine
oncology. He applies the imaged-guided
residency education grant to teach and
residency program.
therapies of interventional radiology to
implement the concept of the “medical
the treatment of cancer, especially primary
• Marc Dall’Era, M.D., an assistant
home,” a model for multifaceted,
and metastatic tumors of the liver. Deutsch
professor of urologic oncology,
patient-centered primary health care.
additionally is the director of the UC Davis
encourages use of robotics and minimally
Selective Intraarterial Radiation Therapy
invasive approaches to urologic cancers • Trauma, acute care surgery and surgical
(SIRT) program.
critical care constitute the academic
in his clinical practice. He plans to
practice of Ho Hoang Phan, M.D.,
initiate clinical and basic science
Zhe-Xiong Lian sheds light on
an assistant professor in the Division
research
in
prostate
cancer
and
in
active
primary biliary cirrhosis
of Trauma and Emergency Surgery
surveillance techniques.
Immunological mechanisms leading
within the Department of Surgery.
to liver autoimmunity are of primary
• Molecular mechanisms of signal
Board-certified by the American
interest to Zhe-Xiong Lian, M.D., Ph.D.,
transduction are of primary interest
Board of Surgery in general surgery
an associate adjunct professor in the
to Aldrin V. Gomes, Ph.D., an
and board-eligible in surgical critical
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and
assistant professor of neurobiology,
care, he conducts research in systemic
Clinical Immunology. He is investigating
physiology and behavior, who also has
inflammatory response to injury.
the pathogenesis of primary biliary
a joint appointment in physiology and
cirrhosis (PBC), an autoimmune disease of
membrane biology. He is particularly
• Sandhya Venugopal, M.D., an
unknown origin that is characterized by
interested in the role of the proteasome
assistant clinical professor in the
progressive destruction of small bile ducts.
complex in normal, protected and
Department of Internal medicine’s
He uses various mouse models of PBC,
diseased cardiac and skeletal muscle,
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine,
in conjunction with clinical studies, to
and the role of troponin in calcium
specializes in non-invasive and general
explore genetic susceptibility, autoimmune
regulation of muscle contraction in
cardiology. Board certified in Internal
development and targeted immunotherapy,
hypertrophic, dilated and restrictive
Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine,
and to identify key cellular players within
cardiomyopathies.
The
technique
of
she is conducting research evaluating
this disease. He expects many of his
inhibiting
the
proteasome
has
been
the progression of aortic valve disease in
findings to help illuminate the enigma
successful
in
treating
cancer,
and
may
women and echocardiographic indexes
behind the pathogenesis of PBC while
be
useful
in
treating
cardiac
and
skeletal
of successful cardiac resynchronization
providing a better understanding of basic
muscle
diseases.
therapy.
immune functions in the liver.
A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO
ADVANCE HEALTH
By this time next year, a significant portion
of our new Institute for Regenerative
Cures, a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM), will be completed. We
will have gone from our groundbreaking
ceremony to scheduling clinical trials in
about a year’s time. Such is the pace of
stem cell research at UC Davis.
There are two reasons for this rapid
advance: the talent and expertise of our
faculty and the research support California
voters approved when they passed the $3
billion stem cell initiative, Proposition 71,
in 2004.
Proposition 71 created CIRM, which is
governed by the 29-member Independent
Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC).
I’ve had the honor of serving on the
ICOC since its inception. My role on the
committee is quite independent from
my jobs as vice chancellor and dean. As
a board member, I represent the people
of California and as such am responsible
for the wise use of taxpayer money and
meeting the promise embodied in this new
field of research.
In the 18 months after the courts
rejected legal challenges to the stem cell
initiative, the committee has approved 229
research and facility grants totaling more
than $614 million. That makes California’s
stem cell agency the largest source of
funding for embryonic and pluripotent
stem cell research in the world.
While I recuse myself from votes
on UC Davis grants, my fellow board
members have repeatedly recognized
the skill and vision of our faculty. With
advice from independent reviewers, CIRM
has awarded our campus more than $34
million for research, training and major
facilities, including the new Institute for
Regenerative Cures building.
This success is a testament to the
talent, expertise and hard work of you,
our faculty. You are the heart of our
research achievements, and I thank you
for your talent, passion and dedication to
advancing health.
We are all part of a community
of patients and families dedicated to
advancing medical therapy. That spirit is
reinforced at every CIRM meeting, where
we hear from patients whose struggles
help put a human face on the diseases
for which we hope to find cures. So we
were honored that patients and their
families joined us for our new institute’s
groundbreaking ceremony last September.
Their stories were an inspiring plea for
continued focus on stem cell research.
These families remind us of why our work
is so important and why regenerative
medicine provides us with such a historic
opportunity to advance health.
On behalf of our patients and all of
us at UC Davis, thank you for the many
ways in which you advance our academic
missions, including our leadership in stem
cell research.
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Chuck Bevins, M.D., Ph.D., Medical
Microbiology and Immunology
Kathy DeRiemer, Ph.D., M.P.H., Public Health
Sciences
Tonya Fancher, M.D., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
Jeff Gauvin, M.D., Surgery
Estella Geraghty, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Internal
Medicine
W. Ladson Hinton, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Keith Lau, M.D., Pediatrics
Jamie Ross, M.D., Internal Medicine
Mark Sutter, M.D., Emergency Medicine
Vicki Wheelock, M.D., Neurology
Office of Diversity
Advisory Team
*Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
*Gregg Servis, M.Div., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Elizabeth Abad, Alumni and Development
Officer, Health Sciences Advancement
Susan DeMarois, Government and
Community Relations
James Forkin, Postbaccalaureate Program
Coordinator, Office of Medical Education
Darin Latimore, M.D., Office of Faculty
Development and Diversity
Russell Lim, M.D., Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences
José Morfin, M.D., Internal Medicine
Marbella Sala, Executive Operations Manager,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Andreea Seritan, M.D., Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences
Daniel Steinhart, CLAS Project Coordinator,
Center for Reducing Health Disparities
Pam Stotlar-McAuliffe, Manager, Continuing
Medical Education
Hendry Ton, M.D., Psychiatry
*Team coordinator
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
2
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3
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4
STEM CELL
continued from page 1
to purify extracted stem cells and use
them for clinical trials. The GMP facility
consists of a large “clean room” and six
manufacturing rooms.
The IRC will encourage integration
of basic science, translational research
and clinical medicine, thereby expediting
pathways to clinical trials and leading
to breakthroughs in “bench-to-bedside”
research. The IRC is one of only seven
facilities in California designated as
a “CIRM Institute.” The first phase of
renovations should be finished in fall 2009,
with remaining construction scheduled for
completion the following summer.
Upon certification of the laboratory
facilities, clinical trials using stem cells
extracted from participants’ bone marrow
will begin in four areas of concentration:
Huntington’s disease, retinal occlusion,
tissue damage from heart attacks, and
peripheral vascular disease. Initial
activity will revolve around 14 diseasespecific teams: bladder disorders; blood
cell disorders; cancer; cartilage and
bone abnormalities; diabetes; vision
degeneration and blindness; hearing loss
and inner ear cilia repair; HIV/AIDS;
immunology and immunotherapeutics
for cancer; kidney and lung diseases;
liver disease; neurological diseases; skin
disorders; and vascular disease.
“We have formatted the laboratory
space to foster an open and welcoming
society of scientists,” explained Jan A.
Nolta, Ph.D., who is director of the UC
Davis IRC as well as the scientific director
for the GMP facility. “One of my principal
functions is to identify ways in which
faculty members throughout the university
can work together synergistically.”
Nolta welcomes the involvement of
Primary Care Network physicians and
volunteer clinical faculty members whose
patients may include potential clinical trial
participants.
The IRC will benefit from the presence
of the M.I.N.D. Institute, the UC Davis
Cancer Center, the Institute for Pediatric
Regenerative Medicine at Shriners
Hospital, and the NIH Center of Excellence
in Translational Human Stem Cell Research
and the Translational Human Embryonic
Stem Cell Shared Research Facility (TSRF),
both located in Davis.
Those complementary programs
and facilities, in combination with the
California National Primate Research
Center, will distinguish the IRC, in the
view of one of its associate directors
– David Pleasure, professor of neurology
and pediatrics.
Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D.
“The capacity to readily investigate
cell transplants in an animal whose
physiology resembles that of humans
is a big advantage for researchers at UC
Davis,” said Pleasure, director of the UC
Davis Institute for Pediatric Regenerative
Medicine. “We have really superb
imaging technology available through
our biomedical engineering group. And
our biophotonics faculty can perform
nondestructive high-tech imaging focused
on stem cell behaviors. I’m not sure that
any other institution can claim such a
finely integrated complement of closely
affiliated resources.”
Alice Tarantal, Ph.D., a professor of
pediatrics and cell biology and human
anatomy who serves as the IRC’s other
associate director, underscores Pleasure’s
assessment.
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
UC Davis Health System
“The primate center, along with
opportunities in the School of Veterinary
Medicine and our strong mouse biology
program, enable UC Davis researchers
to conduct translational studies that
benefit animals and humans,” said
Tarantal, director of the NIH Center of
Excellence and TSRF. In addition, she
noted that the capabilities for clinical
and translational research at UC Davis
provided through the CTSC ensure that
research findings can be rapidly moved
into human clinical trials, once safety
and efficacy have been shown in relevant
animal models.
UC Davis also has a Stem Cell
Training Program for graduate students,
postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows.
“The distinguishing feature that
ties our stem cell research center and
our training program together is a
commitment to clinical translational
research with the goal of improving
quality of care,” said Frederick J. Meyers,
administrative director and principal
investigator of the UC Davis Stem Cell
Training Program. “I am most struck
by the willingness of our investigators,
and in particular our junior scholars, to
work in teams on innovative approaches
to stem cell research and regenerative
medicine in ways not evident at other
institutions.”
Meyers, who is a professor and chair
of the Department of Internal Medicine,
added, “The strong senior investigators,
including and especially Alice, Jan
and David, are superb mentors. So we
expect our trainees to be successful
in their careers not only because of
teamwork but also because the research
mentorship experience combined with a
curriculum will produce an outstanding
generation of new faculty.”
To date, CIRM has authorized more
than $20 million in renovation and
equipment funding for the IRC, in
addition to $25 million in UC Davis
construction funds. The total budget for
the institute when it is fully built out is
estimated at $102 million.
Faculty Development Office
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
Published by the Faculty Development Office
DECEMBER 2008 – JANUARY 2009
Workshops and other activities
You are invited! We encourage you to
enroll in one of the various workshops,
programs and events sponsored by the
Faculty Development Office. For more
event details and to register, visit www.
ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/ and click
Register Online. (Event co-sponsors are
indicated within parentheses.)
(Calendar from page 1)
January
facultyNewsletter
Published by the Faculty Development
Office, which administers and coordinates
programs that respond to the professional and
career development needs of UC Davis Health
System faculty members.
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
(916) 734-2464
www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/
Edward Callahan, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Personnel
Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S.
Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Life
Gregg Servis, M.Div.
Director, Faculty Development
gregg.servis@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Cheryl Busman
Program Representative, Faculty Development
cheryl.busman@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
EditPros LLC
Editorial Services
www.editpros.com
5
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
7
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
13
Department Directors of Faculty Development annual meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
14
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
15
Teaching Workshop: Giving a Dynamic Lecture (OME)
16
Women in Medicine Founding Women event
December
1 Work-Life Balance Group meeting
1 Teaching Workshop: Improving Your
Exams Part 2 (OME)
1 Workshop: How to Do Effective
Student-Centered Clinical Teaching
(OME)
February
2
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
4
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
5
Breakfast with the Dean
11
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
2 Teaching Workshop: Leading a Small
Group Discussion (OME)
3 Office of Diversity Advisory Team
meeting
10 Community Engagement and
Partnerships Committee meeting
10 Faculty Development Advisory Team
meeting
Event co-sponsor
11 Breakfast with the Dean
OME: Office of Medical Education
17 Workshop: Using the Audience
Response System (OME)
January continues on page 6
5
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
6
CATALYST FOR STEM CELL EMINENCE
Institute for Regenerative Cures will foster bench-to-bedside research
Construction workers are busily
dissecting the interior of a decadesold building that they and research
teams will transform during the next
two years into a facility to dramatically
advance the frontiers of medical
knowledge. Drawing upon UC Davis’
exceptional complement of basic,
translational, and clinical research
expertise, the new stem cell research
facility under construction will position
the Health System as a vertex for
innovation in the field of regenerative
medicine.
The 109,000-square-foot building,
which also houses the Clinical and
Translational Science Center (CTSC),
once had been part of the old State
Fair complex and for years served as
a Health System warehouse and bulk
mail processing center. It is being
renovated to incorporate the new UC
Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures
(IRC), a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM).
The IRC is intended to function as a
catalyst linking basic and translational
investigations with clinical trials, and
will serve as an intellectual home for
stem cell research. In symmetry with
other eminent Health System and
Davis campus resources, the IRC will
infuse UC Davis with stem cell research
capabilities that will be unparalleled in
California.
CIRM (www.cirm.ca.gov) was
established in 2005 in response to the
November 2004 passage of Proposition
71, the California Stem Cell Research
and Cures Initiative, which authorized
$3 billion in funding for stem cell
research at California universities and
research institutions. CIRM is one of the
world’s largest sources of funding for
stem cell research.
The building housing the Institute for Regenerative
Cures and Clinical and Translational Science
Center
In addition to laboratories and
support space, the IRC building will
contain California’s largest federally
certified academic Good Manufacturing
Practice (GMP) facility — a highly
specialized research and testing
laboratory that will enable researchers
continued on page 5
STEM CELL
continued from page 1
to purify extracted stem cells and use
them for clinical trials. The GMP facility
consists of a large “clean room” and six
manufacturing rooms.
The IRC will encourage integration
of basic science, translational research
and clinical medicine, thereby expediting
pathways to clinical trials and leading
to breakthroughs in “bench-to-bedside”
research. The IRC is one of only seven
facilities in California designated as
a “CIRM Institute.” The first phase of
renovations should be finished in fall 2009,
with remaining construction scheduled for
completion the following summer.
Upon certification of the laboratory
facilities, clinical trials using stem cells
extracted from participants’ bone marrow
will begin in four areas of concentration:
Huntington’s disease, retinal occlusion,
tissue damage from heart attacks, and
peripheral vascular disease. Initial
activity will revolve around 14 diseasespecific teams: bladder disorders; blood
cell disorders; cancer; cartilage and
bone abnormalities; diabetes; vision
degeneration and blindness; hearing loss
and inner ear cilia repair; HIV/AIDS;
immunology and immunotherapeutics
for cancer; kidney and lung diseases;
liver disease; neurological diseases; skin
disorders; and vascular disease.
“We have formatted the laboratory
space to foster an open and welcoming
society of scientists,” explained Jan A.
Nolta, Ph.D., who is director of the UC
Davis IRC as well as the scientific director
for the GMP facility. “One of my principal
functions is to identify ways in which
faculty members throughout the university
can work together synergistically.”
Nolta welcomes the involvement of
Primary Care Network physicians and
volunteer clinical faculty members whose
patients may include potential clinical trial
participants.
The IRC will benefit from the presence
of the M.I.N.D. Institute, the UC Davis
Cancer Center, the Institute for Pediatric
Regenerative Medicine at Shriners
Hospital, and the NIH Center of Excellence
in Translational Human Stem Cell Research
and the Translational Human Embryonic
Stem Cell Shared Research Facility (TSRF),
both located in Davis.
Those complementary programs
and facilities, in combination with the
California National Primate Research
Center, will distinguish the IRC, in the
view of one of its associate directors
– David Pleasure, professor of neurology
and pediatrics.
Jan A. Nolta, Ph.D.
“The capacity to readily investigate
cell transplants in an animal whose
physiology resembles that of humans
is a big advantage for researchers at UC
Davis,” said Pleasure, director of the UC
Davis Institute for Pediatric Regenerative
Medicine. “We have really superb
imaging technology available through
our biomedical engineering group. And
our biophotonics faculty can perform
nondestructive high-tech imaging focused
on stem cell behaviors. I’m not sure that
any other institution can claim such a
finely integrated complement of closely
affiliated resources.”
Alice Tarantal, Ph.D., a professor of
pediatrics and cell biology and human
anatomy who serves as the IRC’s other
associate director, underscores Pleasure’s
assessment.
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
UC Davis Health System
“The primate center, along with
opportunities in the School of Veterinary
Medicine and our strong mouse biology
program, enable UC Davis researchers
to conduct translational studies that
benefit animals and humans,” said
Tarantal, director of the NIH Center of
Excellence and TSRF. In addition, she
noted that the capabilities for clinical
and translational research at UC Davis
provided through the CTSC ensure that
research findings can be rapidly moved
into human clinical trials, once safety
and efficacy have been shown in relevant
animal models.
UC Davis also has a Stem Cell
Training Program for graduate students,
postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows.
“The distinguishing feature that
ties our stem cell research center and
our training program together is a
commitment to clinical translational
research with the goal of improving
quality of care,” said Frederick J. Meyers,
administrative director and principal
investigator of the UC Davis Stem Cell
Training Program. “I am most struck
by the willingness of our investigators,
and in particular our junior scholars, to
work in teams on innovative approaches
to stem cell research and regenerative
medicine in ways not evident at other
institutions.”
Meyers, who is a professor and chair
of the Department of Internal Medicine,
added, “The strong senior investigators,
including and especially Alice, Jan
and David, are superb mentors. So we
expect our trainees to be successful
in their careers not only because of
teamwork but also because the research
mentorship experience combined with a
curriculum will produce an outstanding
generation of new faculty.”
To date, CIRM has authorized more
than $20 million in renovation and
equipment funding for the IRC, in
addition to $25 million in UC Davis
construction funds. The total budget for
the institute when it is fully built out is
estimated at $102 million.
Faculty Development Office
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
Published by the Faculty Development Office
DECEMBER 2008 – JANUARY 2009
Workshops and other activities
You are invited! We encourage you to
enroll in one of the various workshops,
programs and events sponsored by the
Faculty Development Office. For more
event details and to register, visit www.
ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/ and click
Register Online. (Event co-sponsors are
indicated within parentheses.)
(Calendar from page 1)
January
facultyNewsletter
Published by the Faculty Development
Office, which administers and coordinates
programs that respond to the professional and
career development needs of UC Davis Health
System faculty members.
4610 X Street, Suite 4101
Sacramento, CA 95817
(916) 734-2464
www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/
Edward Callahan, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Personnel
Jesse Joad, M.D., M.S.
Associate Dean for Diversity and Faculty Life
Gregg Servis, M.Div.
Director, Faculty Development
gregg.servis@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Cheryl Busman
Program Representative, Faculty Development
cheryl.busman@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
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5
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
7
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
13
Department Directors of Faculty Development annual meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
14
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
15
Teaching Workshop: Giving a Dynamic Lecture (OME)
16
Women in Medicine Founding Women event
December
1 Work-Life Balance Group meeting
1 Teaching Workshop: Improving Your
Exams Part 2 (OME)
1 Workshop: How to Do Effective
Student-Centered Clinical Teaching
(OME)
February
2
Work-Life Balance Work Group meeting
4
Office of Diversity Advisory Team meeting
5
Breakfast with the Dean
11
Faculty Development Advisory Team meeting
14
Community Engagement and Partnerships Committee meeting
2 Teaching Workshop: Leading a Small
Group Discussion (OME)
3 Office of Diversity Advisory Team
meeting
10 Community Engagement and
Partnerships Committee meeting
10 Faculty Development Advisory Team
meeting
Event co-sponsor
11 Breakfast with the Dean
OME: Office of Medical Education
17 Workshop: Using the Audience
Response System (OME)
January continues on page 6
5
facultyNewsletter | December 2008 – January 2009 | www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/facultydev
6
CATALYST FOR STEM CELL EMINENCE
Institute for Regenerative Cures will foster bench-to-bedside research
Construction workers are busily
dissecting the interior of a decadesold building that they and research
teams will transform during the next
two years into a facility to dramatically
advance the frontiers of medical
knowledge. Drawing upon UC Davis’
exceptional complement of basic,
translational, and clinical research
expertise, the new stem cell research
facility under construction will position
the Health System as a vertex for
innovation in the field of regenerative
medicine.
The 109,000-square-foot building,
which also houses the Clinical and
Translational Science Center (CTSC),
once had been part of the old State
Fair complex and for years served as
a Health System warehouse and bulk
mail processing center. It is being
renovated to incorporate the new UC
Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures
(IRC), a facility supported by the
California Institute for Regenerative
Medicine (CIRM).
The IRC is intended to function as a
catalyst linking basic and translational
investigations with clinical trials, and
will serve as an intellectual home for
stem cell research. In symmetry with
other eminent Health System and
Davis campus resources, the IRC will
infuse UC Davis with stem cell research
capabilities that will be unparalleled in
California.
CIRM (www.cirm.ca.gov) was
established in 2005 in response to the
November 2004 passage of Proposition
71, the California Stem Cell Research
and Cures Initiative, which authorized
$3 billion in funding for stem cell
research at California universities and
research institutions. CIRM is one of the
world’s largest sources of funding for
stem cell research.
The building housing the Institute for Regenerative
Cures and Clinical and Translational Science
Center
In addition to laboratories and
support space, the IRC building will
contain California’s largest federally
certified academic Good Manufacturing
Practice (GMP) facility — a highly
specialized research and testing
laboratory that will enable researchers
continued on page 5