News & Events

Pediatrics Research, Education, and Scholarship Symposium (PRESS)

The Fourth Annual PRESS is scheduled for Friday, April 23, 2010.
Look for updates here.

The New England Journal of Medicine Book Review on Kyriakie Sarafoglou, M.D.'s Pediatric Endocrinology and Inborn Errors in Metabolism

Edited by Kyriakie Sarafoglou, Georg F. Hoffmann, and Karl S.
Roth. 949 pp., illustrated. New York, McGraw-Hill, 2009. $99.
ISBN 978-0-07-143915-2.

Pediatric Endocrinology and Inborn Errors of Metabolism was designed for visual learners and features many tables and schematic presentations that are easy to consult. Its structure resembles the central intersection of a Venn diagram. The large circles include pediatric endocrinology, genetics, and metabolism, and the smaller circles are occupied by reproductive medicine, clinical chemistry, pediatric neurology, and radiology, as well as other fields. The result is an inspiring learning tool. Editor Kyriakie Sarafoglou and associate editors Georg Hoffmann and Karl Roth fulfill the promise they make in the preface of their book— to explain and not to simplify. They have assembled a book of 50 well-integrated chapters-instead of three (or more) separate textbooks within one book — on pediatric endocrinology, pediatric diabetes (historically often separated from endocrinology), and inborn errors of metabolism. A good example of the integrated discussion of different fields is the section on disorders of fuel metabolism, which includes a chapter on pyruvate metabolism and the tricarboxylic acid cycle followed by chapters on diabetes mellitus and obesity. The idea of providing readers with a reference guide to basic metabolism as they learn about the clinical differential diagnosis of hypoglycemia, for example, is very appealing. With this book in hand, it is unnecessary to refer to a biochemistry textbook. The many schematic presentations of biochemical pathways assist readers in understanding the underlying disorders. A special feature called “At-A-Glance,” which appears at the beginning of each chapter and illustrates the main points of a particular topic in a page or two, is most helpful. These summary tables contain brief definitions of the various disorders, associated genotypes, clinical presentations, and laboratory findings, if applicable. Detailed discussions of individual disorders follow, and they are frequently accompanied by excellent photographs. Another original feature is the section “Endocrine and Metabolic Laboratory and Radiology Tests.” The three chapters in this section include discussions of imaging and laboratory tests, with special attention to the evaluation of newborns. The color coding of the different sections adds to the ease of using this textbook. Sarafoglou and colleagues have combined their expertise to create an informative and timely textbook in which the explanations of underlying mechanisms guide the structure of each chapter. It is a unique book that is pleasing to the eye, nurturing for the mind, and instructive for a broad readership.

Kristina I. Rother, M.D., M.H.Sc.
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892
kr58q@nih.gov

The National Institutes of Health Awards $9.5 million to Bruce Blazar, M.D.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a five-year, $9.5 million project grant to Bruce Blazar, M.D., of the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center, and Joseph Antin, M.D., and Jerome Ritz, M.D., both with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The grant will be used to further their research on Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD), a complication that can occur after a patient undergoes a stem cell transplant for treatment of hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. GVHD occurs when the transplanted donor cells perceive the patient’s body as foreign and attack the patient’s organs and tissue.

Blazar is a Regents Professor in the Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation, and a leading scientist in the Masonic Cancer Center’s Transplant Biology and Therapy Research Program.

The NIH award renews grant funding the team initially received more than five years ago that resulted in more than 40 research publications. More importantly, this initial research established a new paradigm for the cause of acute of GVHD and suggested new mechanisms to treat it.

During the next five years, Blazar and his Dana-Farber colleagues will use the NIH program project grant for research that advances the scientific understanding of chronic GVHD, its prevention and treatment.

Pediatric Recognition Banquet

When: Wednesday, June 17, 2009, 5.30pm

Where: McNamara Alumni Center

Who is invited: Pediatric and Medicine/Pediatric residents and fellows, University and Affiliate Faculty, graduating resident Continuity Clinic preceptors

What: This event honors our graduating residents and fellows, Department of Pediatrics Awards and the Gold-Headed Cane Award. Dinner will be provided.  A formal invitation will be circulating later this spring with a request for an RSVP.

More information here

Children’s Golf Classic

June 8  http://www.mmf.umn.edu/events/other/090608_champs4kids.cfm

Topics and Advances in Pediatrics

June 4-5, 2009 at the Radisson University Hotel 

More information here

Winefest

May 5-6   https://www2.mmf.umn.edu/gifts/winefest/ticket1.cfm

Medical School Graduation

May 2nd  Academic Line-up at Coffman Union at 12:35, Procession at 1:00 and Ceremony at Northrup at 1:30

April 17, 2009 - Medical School Honors and Awards Program

The department would like to congratulate Mathew Ambrose as 1 of 6 residents who received the Arnold P Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award. The Department of Pediatrics would also like to congratulate Dr. Lisa Schimmenti who received The Herz Faculty Teaching Development award.

Department of Pediatrics and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital recipient of $550,000 Gift

The Department of Pediatrics and the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital have received a gift of $550,000 from Allan Schuman the Chairman Emeritus of Ecolab Inc. These funds will be used by the Division of Nephrology with Dr. Cliff Kashtan as Principal Investigator for the study of new therapies for Alport's syndrome and to set up a national network for clinical research.

University Receives $40 Million for Type 1 Diabetes Research

Late December, 2008 the University of Minnesota received a generous $40 million gift from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. This donation is the second largest in University history, as well as the second largest gift by a family for Type 1 diabetes research in the country. In recognition of the donation and the future research it will ensure, the University's Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation will be renamed the Schulze Diabetes Institute.

Type 1 diabetes is a devastating disease that most commonly afflicts children and young adults. The $40 million contribution from the Schulze family will allow a collaboration between the Schulze Diabetes Institute, the Stem Cell Institute, the Center for Translational Medicine (directed by Pediatric BMT specialist Bruce Blazar, M.D.) and many other University and community resources to investigate possible cures for the disease.