2012 Brought New Leadership, Major Awards and Collaborations to AHC

As 2012 closes, we look back at a few of the highlights at the Academic Health Center and reflect on how these accomplishments and changes are helping to further advance UC in 2013 and beyond.

Ono Becomes President

Santa Jeremy Ono, PhD, was named president of the University of Cincinnati in October. Ono had been appointed interim president at the University of Cincinnati on Aug. 21, following the resignation of Gregory H. Williams.

"I am honored to serve as the 28th president of the University of Cincinnati." Ono said. "I am not a new face on campus, but in many ways, the fact that I have been a part of the UC family for two years now makes today even more special for me. I am so very fortunate to be asked to serve in this capacity."

Ono also serves as professor of pediatrics within UC’s College of Medicine and professor of biology in UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. His principal research interests focus on transcriptional regulation in the human immune system, mechanisms of mast cell dependent inflammation on the ocular surface and the immune component of age-related macular degeneration. 

>>Read about Ono’s appointment.

>>Read about Ono being named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

>>Read about Ono’s grant from the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Program to advance women in science.

Glazer and Fant Begin New Roles

On Jan. 3, the UC College of Nursing welcomed Greer Glazer, PhD, as its new dean. Glazer made the move to Procter Hall from the University of Massachusetts Boston where she had served as dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences since 2004. "I’m thrilled to be coming to a place with such a rich history of success and serving the community,” she said. "I’m excited to join the faculty, staff and students at the University of Cincinnati and am especially pleased to be part of an Academic Health Center because I am very interested in professional education and interdisciplinary research."

>>Read about Glazer’s leadership role in the Academic Health Center’s participation in the Urban Universities for Health learning collaborative.

On Jan. 12, William Fant, PharmD, was welcomed to his new role as interim dean of UC’s James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy. Fant has been on faculty at the college for over 25 years and served as the associate dean of academic affairs. He followed former dean Daniel Acosta, PhD, who served as dean for 15 years and remains on faculty. "The college has an excellent faculty dedicated to the education, training and professional development of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, capable of meeting the health care needs of our increasingly diverse population,” said Fant, whose first official day as interim dean was Jan. 1, 2012. Fant has implemented a new strategic plan for the college and will oversee accreditation in 2013 as well as facilitate the search for a new dean.  

>>Read about Fant’s appointment. 

>>Read about Fant’s "Vision 2016” address to the college.

School of Social Work Gets New Director

An expert on child welfare and forensic mental health, James Clark, PhD, joined UC’s School of Social Work at the College of Allied Health Sciences as its director in fall 2012. Clark arrived from the University of Kentucky, where he served as the Constance Wilson Professor of Mental Health. During his time there, he led the UK College of Social Work as the director of its PhD program and, more recently, as the associate dean for research.

>>Read more about Clark

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In a Nov. 15 announcement, President Ono named William Ball, MD, as the vice president for research effective Jan. 1, 2013. Ball has served as interim vice president for research since August 2011. 

"Dr. Ball has demonstrated the strategic and innovative leadership that our research portfolio needs to achieve greater diversity and remain competitive into the future,” said Ono. Ball has implemented a reorganization plan for the Office of Research, secured UC2019 funding and played a large role in conceptualizing the UC Research Institute.

Ball is a professor of radiology, biomedical engineering and pediatrics as well as the former chair of the department of biomedical engineering at the College of Medicine. 

UC Joins Case Western and OSU in Statewide Research Collaboration

The three Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions in Ohio—UC, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio State University—and their partnering institutions established a statewide collaborative agreement allowing a single organization’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to assume IRB responsibilities on behalf of multiple institutions when conducting multicenter studies. This collaborative effort will serve to accelerate research by streamlining human subject protection processes when participating institutions are partnering on research projects requiring IRB approvals.

This is the first reciprocity agreement among multiple CTSA organizations in Ohio and encompasses eight legally separate Ohio institutions. 

>>Read more about the research collaboration.

Major Awards Distributed to Researchers, Clinicians

Frank McCormack, MD, Gordon & Helen Hughes Taylor Chair and professor in the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, was honored for one of the "Top 10” clinical research projects in the country and received a Clinical Research Forum Clinical Research Achievement Award at the forum’s annual meeting and awards dinner April 18, 2012, in Washington, D.C. The award is given to projects that exemplify scientific innovation that results from U.S. investment in clinical research that can benefit human health and welfare.

McCormack, who has studied interstitial lung diseases for over 20 years, was nominated for his team’s landmark paper, "Efficacy and Safety of Sirolimus in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis,” published in the March 16, 2011, advance online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, known as the MILES trial, found that the sirolimus stabilized lung function in women with LAM. This was the first randomized, controlled study designed to develop a therapy for this life-threatening disease.

 >>Read more about McCormack’s award.

Bruce Giffin, PhD, was named the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) 2012 Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Teacher Award winner.
 
The award was one of nine individual awards and one medical school award that the AAMC presented during the association’s annual meeting Saturday, Nov. 3.
 
Giffin, who oversees gross anatomy in the integrated curriculum and is block director for the "Fundamentals of Medical Science” and "the Brain, Mind, and Behavior” blocks, and directs the college’s Body Donation Program, has displayed a dedication to medicine and a passion for teaching that is consistently recognized by the medical students he teaches. Year after year he has received a student-selected "Apple” award for teaching, and student, faculty and staff nominations filled a binder when Giffin was nominated for, and won, the university’s A.B. "Dolly” Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching.

 >>Read more about Giffin’s award.

Fred Finkelman, MD, Walter A. & George McDonald Foundation Chair and professor of immunology, allergy and rheumatology, received the William S. Middleton Award, the highest honor awarded annually by the Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development division of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Research to VA biomedical research scientists. The award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions and achievements in biomedical and bio-behavioral research relevant to veterans’ health care.

>>Read more about Finkelman’s award.

University Hospital Renamed to University of Cincinnati Medical Center

On Dec. 10, University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono, PhD, and UC Health President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Kingsbury announced that the name of University Hospital was changed to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. "I am very proud of the University of Cincinnati’s affiliation with UC Health and am excited about this announcement that links us more closely together,” Ono said in a press release.

 >>Read FAQs on the name change.

MSB Project Begins Final Stage; Green Roof Installed on Procter Hall

The Medical Sciences Building (MSB) Rehabilitation Project entered its most ambitious phase since construction of the CARE/Crawley Building began in July 2004. Phase IV, which involves the south half of the MSB, began with move-outs of some occupants in mid-September; move-outs will continue through May 2013. Rehabilitation work is scheduled to begin June 1, 2013.

>>Read more about Phase IV construction.

In addition, Procter Hall installed a "green” roof, the crowning touch in an exterior refurbishing of the home to the College of Nursing.

The roof was installed on the 300 Level terrace using hardy, water-storing plants of the Sedum family. It is accessible from the student commons area on the 300 Level.

"In addition to its visual appeal, the ‘green’ approach will keep the roof cooler and prolong its life by minimizing ultraviolet exposure,” says Mary Beth McGrew, associate vice president of planning, design and construction and university architect.

>>Read more about Procter Hall’s ‘green’ roof.

 Wuest Clinical Skills Center at College of Pharmacy Opened

The UC James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy’s newly installed Pharmacy Practice Skills Center was dedicated during a ceremony Oct. 25. Although the setup is much like a modern pharmacy, a major and somewhat hidden component of the new skills center is the infusion of technology. The college began using electronic and Web-based feedback tools and assessments in 2011, but the technology embedded in the Skills Center takes innovation in the Winkle College of Pharmacy to the next level.

>>Read about the Wuest Clinical Skills Center.

Allied Health Initiated 2 Distance Learning Programs

An online degree program offering working respiratory therapists and new graduates a way to earn a Bachelor of Science in respiratory therapy was created within the College of Allied Health Sciences. The program is a degree completion program targeted to respiratory therapists with an associate’s degree. 

>>Read about the degree completion program.
 

The Master’s in Health Informatics program, a new distance learning degree designed to train students in the management and analysis of health care or biomedical data, is a collaborative distance learning degree between Allied Health Sciences and UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business. The creation of this program was approved by the Ohio Board of Regents in 2012 to start in the 2013-2014 academic year

>>Read about the Master's in Health Informatics program.