The University of Toledo Medical Center will recognize three individuals for their contributions to the field of emergency medical services at the Emergency Medicine Wall of Honor Ceremony.

A reception will start at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 in the Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center on the Health Science Campus. The program begins at noon with remarks from UT President Sharon L. Gaber, Dr. Christopher Cooper, executive vice president for Clinical Affairs and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, and Dr. Kristopher Brickman, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine.

“This is the sixth year we have honored those who have made a significant contribution to the field of emergency medicine,” Brickman said. “The individuals recognized are the trailblazers in their field and they have set the gold standard for what it means to be an emergency medicine professional.”

The Emergency Medicine Wall of Honor, made possible through funding from The Blade, was established in 2011 to celebrate the achievements of those who have lived a life of self-sacrifice in committed service to the emergency medicine community.

Each year, nominations are submitted by a committee of community stakeholders and reviewed by a multidisciplinary selection committee.

This year’s honorees are:

• Carl W. Neeb, retired Toledo Fire Chief. After serving 30 years with the Toledo Department of Fire and Rescue, Neeb retired as chief of the department in 1980. He was known as the “Father of Paramedics” in Toledo due to his invaluable contributions in establishing emergency medical services within the Toledo Fire Department. His expertise and involvement helped develop and implement Lucas County’s Advanced Life Support System and was instrumental in its success as one of the first and finest systems in the country.

• Bruce D. Janiak, professor of emergency medicine, Medical College of Georgia. Janiak was the first resident in emergency medicine in the United States and is recognized as one of the fathers of the specialty. He is considered a true visionary in the field, having explored and implemented concepts such as telemedicine well before it became standard practice. He served as president of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Emergency Department Benchmarking Alliance, an organization that defines the best clinical and administrative practices. He is a lecturer, instructor and author and consultant specializing in medical malpractice.

• Judith A. Ruple, registered nurse. Ruple was chair of the National Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee Education Subcommittee for the American Heart Association and president of the National Association of EMS Educators. She was the director of the Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic program in the UT Department of Health and Human Services. Ruple served as a content level leader of the National EMS Education Standards Project and was the principal investigator for the State of EMS Education Research Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. She has written more than 35 publications and received numerous grants for research and development in the area of Emergency Medicine Services Education.

It is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States and the third leading cause of death for people ages 10-24, yet suicide remains a difficult topic for many people to address.

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and a University of Toledo psychiatrist wants to change the conversation surrounding mental illness and suicide to move toward a culture of acceptance and tolerance.

Dr. Tanvir Singh, medical director of Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry at the UT Kobacker Center, says mental illnesses should be treated the same way physical ailments are treated.

“We have shown that there are physical changes that occur with mental illness, but we don’t look at it with the same lens,” Singh said. “There

Dr. Tanvir Singh

are different, personalized treatments for someone who is experiencing chest pain. We need to do the same for patients who are experiencing emotional pain.”

He says mental illnesses are a made up of a delicate balance of biological, psychological and social components, and there is not a one-size-fits-all method to treatment.

“Medications can work for some people, while others need more intensive treatment,” Singh said. “There have been improvements in the way we treat mental illness, but we need to focus more directly on evidence-based therapies to help each individual patient.”

Singh said patients having suicidal thoughts are in a state of dilemma. They make a conscious effort to try to stay positive and strong, but it isn’t long before they revert to old habits of thinking. He said it is this self-talk that can push people into isolation and put them at risk for suicide.

“These individuals struggle with their own thoughts,” Singh said. “They can begin to feel like they are a burden to their families or that they are not needed. These thoughts keep them from wanting to reach out to others, and they begin to pull away from friends and family.”

Maintaining a close relationship with those who are struggling mentally and emotionally is key, but Singh advises a careful approach to conversation.

“We always want to get to the bottom of a problem. We push for answers and can appear aggressive when we only want to help,” he said. “It’s best to just talk with the individual in a non-judgmental way. If they are having suicidal thoughts, it will likely come to the surface naturally.”

Singh advised not every person will open up immediately, but they will know you care. He said engaging in regular conversation can reveal someone may be struggling emotionally.

“If an individual exhibits personality changes, is increasingly more irritable, begins to lose function or spends more and more time alone, it’s time to seek help,” he said. “The key is avoiding isolation. Everyone needs someone to talk to.”

If a loved one is experiencing mental health issues or having suicidal thoughts, Singh said an assessment by a mental health professional at a crisis center or hospital is the best place to start, but quality, on-going care is critical.

“Every person is so important,” Singh said. “Mental health is just as important as physical health, and we need to support those struggling with mental illness and see that they continue to receive the individualized, client-centered care they need.”

A research team in The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences is taking an in depth look at Lake Erie algal bloom toxins and the impact they can have on your liver.

“No one knows what safe limits are for a large segment of the public,” said David Kennedy, assistant professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. “Previous studies only focused on healthy animals.”

During the heart of this algal bloom season, researchers are using mice as a model to study the impact of microcystin exposure on patients who have the most common and often undiagnosed form of liver disease that is tightly linked to obesity.

“Microcystin is a toxin that specifically targets the liver, a vital organ that needs to be healthy in order to process the food you eat,” Kennedy said. “And non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the most prevalent type of liver disease nationally – particularly in northwest Ohio. Whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, a third of northwest Ohioans have this disease that is silent at first, but predisposes you to big problems down the road, such as the liver becoming scarred and inflamed.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity is a major risk factor for the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which causes the organ to swell with fat. Unchecked, the disease can lead to liver failure and the need for a transplant.

“There is a large population of people who may be susceptible to the effects of microcystin exposure, whether it’s swallowed while swimming at the beach or through the tap should toxic algae once again contaminate the public water supply,” said Steven Haller, assistant professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and co-leader of the project that began in the spring. “The Toledo water crisis inspired us to reevaluate what levels we’re calling safe.”

Two years ago this month the city of Toledo issued a Do Not Drink advisory for half a million water customers due to the level of microcystin detected in the drinking water.

The state awarded UT researchers a $45,000 grant, which is matched by UT, for the project to discover if a pre-existing liver disease makes a person more susceptible to damage from the toxin released by algal blooms.

The goal is to help inform local, state and international health organizations as they form guidelines for safe limits of exposure.

“By focusing on people who may be at risk, we feel we are doing something beneficial to protect them if, in fact, we detect a damaging connection where microcystin causes the liver disease to progress,” Haller said.

“A healthy animal wouldn’t produce symptoms of liver failure at this level of exposure,” Kennedy said.

Haller and Kennedy have enlisted the help of several UT students in their experiments that use a breed of mouse predisposed to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Second year medical student Aaron Tipton helped develop the standards to measure liver function after injecting mice with low doses of microcystin through a tube in their stomachs over the course of a month.

“We developed that from scratch because a big issue that came to light during the water crisis is that the only validated way to measure microcystin is expensive and takes a long time,” Tipton said. “Our work is one of the many ways that University of Toledo researchers are attacking the water quality issue to protect our community.”

“I’m honored to be involved in water quality research that is so important for the health and safety of families not only in our community, but in other places across the world also affected by toxic algal blooms,” said Dalal Mahmoud, a UT junior majoring in biology. “It’s a great opportunity to expand my studies and what I want to do in the future.”

Mahmoud and Tipton were the inaugural beneficiaries of a recent philanthropic gift to the lab, the David and Helen Boone Research Award, which helped fund their summer research.

The toxicity project is expected to be completed next June, but Kennedy and Haller hope this is only the first phase.

“Over the long term, we want to come up with a better diagnostic test that patients can take at the emergency room or doctor’s office – such as a simple blood test – to measure the microcystin levels in the body, for example, if you get sick after swimming in the water during algal bloom season,” Haller said. “Even further, we want to find out if there is a preventative or therapeutic strategy where someone can be treated so they don’t keep going down the road of liver disease progression.”

Media Coverage
13 ABC (August 18, 2016)

It’s a night when UT Health physicians trade their white coats for aprons and their stethoscopes for sombreros. And instead of giving advice, they take orders from their patients.

The 6^th annual “From the Heart” Celebrity Wait Night and fundraiser dinner will be 5:30-9 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15 at Loma Linda Restaurant, 10400 Airport Hwy. in Swanton.

Dr. Thomas Schwann, UTMC chief of staff and professor and interim chair of surgery, has participated in the event from the start and is known for his creative costuming.

“The food and drinks are great, the people are great and the costumes are great,” he said. “They are a

UT Health cardiologists Dr. Mark Burket, Dr. George Moukarbel, Dr. Thomas Schwann and Dr. Samer Khouri

fun way to make the night memorable as we celebrate and raise money for a great cause.”

Al Mundt, whose family owns Loma Linda, initiated the event as a way to give back to the hospital he credits with saving his life. Mundt had a heart transplant in 1998 at the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.

“Al has been a strong supporter of UT Heart and Vascular Center ever since,” said Dr. Samer Khouri, associate chief of cardiology. “He and his family are very grateful for the care he received and have been very generous in helping to promote cardiac health in our community.”

Funds raised by the celebrity waiter event support the Mundt Cardiology Endowment Fund at the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences. Established in 2008, the endowment supports new and innovative programs to support advanced cardiac care at UTMC.

Dr. Khouri was the 2015 recipient of the Adela and Alfred Mundt Endowed Professorship in Transplantation Cardiology. His expertise is the diagnosis of diastolic heart failure and pulmonary hypertension and the interaction between the kidney and the heart.

“Receiving the endowment from the Mundt family and the University is a great honor,” Khouri said. “It is important to the work we are doing to provide quality medical care to cardiac patients.”

Khouri said he feels every major metro area should have a medical facility that can provide specialized cardiovascular care such as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).

“Every year a half a million people are diagnosed with heart failure and only 3,000 transplants are performed,” he said. “The LVAD can save lives, serve as a bridge to transplant until a donor is found and improve the quality of life for heart failure patients.”

Joining Drs. Schwann and Khouri as celebrity servers will be UTMC Interim Chief Executive Officer Dan Barbee, Dean of the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Dr. Christopher Cooper, Dr. Laura Murphy, professor of medicine, cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Mark Bonnell and cardiologist Dr. Mark Burket. UT Women’s and Men’s Basketball coaches, Tricia Cullop and Tod Kowalczyk, and Michael O’Brien, vice president and director of athletics, also serve patrons that evening.

“We will have a raffle with prizes ranging from suite seats at a UT Rocket football game up to $5,000 cash,” Schwann said. “With only 2,500 tickets available, the odds of winning a prize are really very good.”

Tickets are $10 each and will be available for purchase leading up to and during the event. Prize winners need not be present to win.

“Celebrity Wait Night is something that we really look forward to ever year,” Khouri said. “It’s a fun event with a lot of laughs and the patients enjoy giving their doctors orders for an evening.”

For more information about the event and to purchase raffle tickets, contact Jennifer Schaefer, major gifts officer at 419.383.5071or Jeanie Kunzer, manager of Loma Linda Restaurant at 419.865.5455.

Media Coverage
WTOL 11 (August 16, 2016)

The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences will recognize new students by presenting them with their traditional doctor’s white coats during a welcome ceremony 10 a.m. Thursday, August 4 in Nischke Auditorium.

Dr. Christopher Cooper, executive vice president of clinical affairs and dean of the College of
Medicine and Life Sciences, will officiate the ceremony in which 174 medical students will receive their white coats. More than 75 percent of the new students are Ohio residents; one third of which are from northwest Ohio.

“White Coat ceremonies mark the beginning of a medical student’s journey into the medical profession,” Cooper said. “The coat symbolizes their achievement of being selected to medical school and their commitment to professionalism, continuing education and serving others through medical care.”

The annual ceremony concludes Orientation Week for the medical students.

Researchers from The University of Toledo, in collaboration with chemists from The Scripps Research Institute, have discovered a compound that normalizes glucose levels while increasing the mass and quality of bone.

Body processes that regulate energy metabolism and bone mass are closely intertwined and numerous studies have shown individuals with Type 2 diabetes are at increased risk for bone fractures. Additionally, some current anti-diabetic drugs work well to regulate insulin levels, but can cause further bone damage.

Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik and her lab team.

“Our data demonstrate the regulation of bone mass and energy metabolism share similar mechanisms,” said Dr. Beata Lecka-Czernik, professor in UT’s Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Physiology and Pharmacology and a member of the faculty in the Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Research. “This suggests a new pharmacologic agent could be developed to treat both diabetes and metabolic bone diseases.”

Targeting PPARγ, the protein in the body that regulates energy use and bone cell differentiation and function, Dr. Patrick Griffin and researchers from The Scripps Research Institute developed a series of new insulin sensitizers.

“Our multidisciplinary chemical biology team at Scripps Florida had spent many years developing precise structure activity relationships around many chemical scaffolds that alter the shape and behavior of PPARγ,” Griffin said. “These efforts were then combined with the bone biology expertise of Dr. Lecka-Czernik to explore whether we have compounds that maintain excellent insulin sensitization efficacy but are positive on bone health.

Lecka-Czernik and her team at UT then tested these compounds for bone safety.

“During the course of our experiments we discovered that a compound called SR10171 normalizes glucose levels in Type 2 diabetes, prevents associated weight gain and increases the mass and quality of bone,” she said. “Remarkably, this experimental drug also maintains its positive effect on bone in non-diabetic conditions and acts as insulin sensitizer only on demand when normal glucose and insulin becomes imbalanced.”

SR10171 supports bone formation by directly regulating bone cells that work together to break down, build and protect bone.

The results also suggest the bone remodeling properties of this compound also could be used to treat osteoporosis, Lecka-Czernik said.

The team’s findings, PPARG Post-Translational Modifications Regulate Bone Formation and Bone Resorption, will be published in the August issue of EBioMedicine. This team science was funded in part on a collaborative grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The full report may be read by clicking here.

The only academic program in the country designed to prepare individuals to coordinate and oversee the organ and tissue donation and transplantation process will graduate its 100^th student in August.

The graduation celebration and awards night will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 26 at Heatherdowns Country Club and earlier that day the senior capstone case studies will be presented 9 a.m. in Collier Building Room 1050 on UT’s Health Science Campus.

The University of Toledo’s Master of Science in Biomedical Science Human Donation Science program prepares individuals to facilitate the organ donation process from beginning to end. They serve as a liaison between the donor’s family, medical staff, organ procurement organization and transplant center.

“It’s the best job in the world,” said Rachel Baczewski, certified procurement transplant coordinator at Life Connection of Ohio and 2013 graduate of the program. “It’s so rewarding to know that I’m providing comfort to families who have lost a loved one and assisting in saving the lives of other patients. Each family gets a piece of my heart.”

Coordinators must pull together a team of medical professionals, facilitate medical testing and ensure all laws are followed while compassionately and diplomatically communicating with the donor’s family.

“It’s a tough job and organ procurement organizations were seeing a high level of turnover among their coordinating staff,” said Linda Miller, assistant professor and director of UT’s Human Donation Science Program. “We wanted to see better training programs and higher retention rates. We developed this program as a result.”

Students enrolled in the Human Donation Science Program receive a multidisciplinary education covering all components of organ donation and complete coursework in medical science, management, human resources and law. They also receive clinical training and complete two internships prior to graduation.

“I wanted the opportunity to advance in the field of organ donation, so I left my job in North Carolina to come to UT for this program. It was the best decision I ever made,” said Lori Rankin, a student in the program. “I feel I have an even better educational foundation and I have received excellent training for every aspect of the job.”

Ali Morgillo, senior coordinator at Life Connection of Ohio agreed. She said students who have graduated from UT’s program are better equipped to handle the challenges of the position.

“The program really prepares students for the realities of the job. They have critical clinical background and relationship-building skills and are flexible and driven to do well. They are more successful as a result,” she said.

Eighty percent of the graduates from the program, now in its 13^th year, remain employed in the field. Many have been promoted to leadership and research positions. There are only 58 organ procurement organizations in the United States, resulting in a small network of coordinators who come to know each other well.

“When an employer sees that someone is a graduate of UT’s program, they take notice. It makes us very marketable,” said Rankin, who is already pursuing new employment leads.

“Half of our coordinators graduated from the Human Donation Science program,” said Kara Steele, director of community services for Life Connection of Ohio. “We are seeing a continual increase in the number of registered donors, which should translate into an increase in transplants, and that ups the demand for highly skilled coordinators to facilitate the donation process.”

Ohioans can make the decision to be an organ donor when obtaining or renewing their driver’s license.

“It’s the best way for someone to make their final wishes known,” Morgillo said. “It makes the donation process easier on families when they know it was part of their loved one’s plan to donate their organs.”

It makes it easier on the coordinators as well who see a lot of sadness as a part of consulting with donor families.

“Before I go to work my daughter tells me to make people happy and fix them,” said Samantha Muir, certified procurement transplant coordinator at Life Connection of Ohio and 2013 graduate. “Getting a letter of appreciation from a donor or recipient family, to hear how you have made an impact on their life, makes the long hours and emotional days worthwhile.”

A University of Toledo microbiologist will receive nearly $2 million in federal research funds to study Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease and develop new therapies for treating patients affected by the condition.

The National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases awarded Dr. Mark Wooten, UT professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology $1,948,415 over five years to identify the mechanisms that allow B. burgdorferi to evade immune clearance in skin and other host tissues.

“Traditionally it has been difficult to study this bacterium since it can only survive within animals and not in artificial cultures,” Wooten said. “Our group has been able to develop advanced microscopy models that allow us to directly observe the bacteria

Dr. Mark Wooten

within the skin of living mice over extended periods of time without harming the animal. We will use these methods to continuously monitor how the infection develops, which we believe will identify the key mechanisms that allow the bacteria to evade the host’s immune response.”

Wooten said data gathered from the study could be used to provide new targets for Lyme-disease therapies.

“This is further national recognition for the important research being done at The University of Toledo,” Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur said. “Lyme disease affects 300,000 Americans each year, a number far greater than previously thought and 40 percent of whom end up with long-term, serious health concerns. There are no current tests available to definitively prove if the Lyme organism is eradicated or that the patient is cured. Research such as this will help us to know more about Lyme disease.”

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13 ABC (June 11, 2016)

A University of Toledo researcher seeks to find the answers to how high blood pressure is inherited.

Thanks to a three-year, $231,000 grant from the American Heart Association, Dr. Sivarajan Kumarasamy, assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and a member of UT’s Center for Hypertension and Personalized Medicine, is able to launch a new lab to continue research in identifying genetic biomarkers for hypertension and renal failure.

Dr. Sivarajan Kumarasamy

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. and worldwide. As many as one in three people are hypertensive, whereby they are at an increased risk for heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. While it can be treated with medication, much remains to be learned about the reasons why some individuals are more likely to develop high blood pressure and kidney disease.

“Some lifestyle behaviors such as salt intake, smoking and physical inactivity put individuals at an increased risk of developing hypertension, but high blood pressure can also run in the family,” Kumarasamy said. “If your parents or other close blood relatives have had high blood pressure, you are more likely to develop it too.”

His study explores the role a specific gene called Regulated Endocrine Specific Protein 18 (Resp18) plays in the development of hypertension and kidney failure. The function of this molecule is unknown, but using a cutting-edge genetically engineered rat mutant model of this gene, Kumarasamy has discovered a novel link between this gene and hypertension.

This new funding will allow him to further examine the molecular mechanism connecting this gene to blood pressure regulation and kidney disease.

“Preliminary results are promising that we can identify a biomarker,” he said. “I am grateful for the excellent opportunity provided by my mentor, Dr. Bina Joe to study a piece of this genetic puzzle and begin my research career.”

The results of Kumarasamy’s study could be used to diagnose or predict hypertension or kidney defects. Long term results of his research also could have implications for diabetes and other medical conditions related to renal failure and hypertension.

“Dr. Kumarasamy has been a postdoctoral trainee and a junior faculty member associated with my laboratory since 2009. Securing this Scientist Development Grant is not only a reflection of his training at UT, but an attestation from our peers at large that he is ready for an independent research career,” said Dr. Bina Joe, chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and director of UT’s Hypertension and Personalized Medicine Center. ”This funding will help advance his research and broaden our knowledge of how specific genes function in the context of hypertension.”

The American Heart Association sponsors Scientist Development Grants to support and encourage highly promising beginning scientists in cardiovascular and stroke research. UT’s Center for Hypertension and Personalized Medicine is the only comprehensive multidisciplinary hypertension research center in northwest Ohio. Its goal is to find alternative preventative and therapeutic strategies for hypertension and its associated diseases.

The University of Toledo will mark the 10-year anniversary of the merger of UT and the Medical University of Ohio with a celebration Thursday, June 16.

The event will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Health Education Building Room 100 on Health Science Campus and will recognize the July 1, 2006, date when the two institutions became one and the decade since that has increased interprofessional education and research opportunities for UT students and faculty.

UT President Sharon L. Gaber and Dr. Christopher Cooper, executive vice president of clinical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, will speak at the celebration. Chuck Lehnert, UT vice president of corporate relations, will serve as the emcee for the event that also will feature a video of UT and elected leaders reflecting on the merger.

The Medical College of Ohio was established in 1964 as the 100th medical school in the United States and welcomed its first class of students in 1969. The college grew to include schools of medicine, nursing, allied health, and a graduate school of biomedical sciences, and in 2005 became the Medical University of Ohio to reflect that.

One year later, the college merged with UT, which has served the Toledo community since it was established in 1872. UT has been a member of the state university system since 1967.

Separate for 40 years yet less than four miles apart, UT and MUO have accomplished great things during the past decade as a merged institution that is one of just 27 universities in the nation with its comprehensive breadth of undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

Media Coverage
The Blade (June 13, 2016)