Dr. Spicer receives Wiltse Excellence in Medical Education Award
Rob Spicer, M.D., professor, pediatric cardiology, last month received the Hobart E. Wiltse, M.D., Ph.D. Excellence in Medical Education Award. The award was created in 2007 to recognize Dr. Wiltse, a longtime UNMC pediatrician who died that year. Dr. Wiltse was considered one of the outstanding educators on campus.
Faculty are nominated for the award and then write a narrative summarizing their teaching, research and patient care activities. Residents and students submit letters of support, and a committee then reviews applications.
Money for Cancer Trials
To the Editor:
Stan Collender shared one of the experiences of the true heroes of cancer research: the patients. He also described how low participation in clinical trials threatens our continued progress against cancer. Only 3 percent of adult patients participate in trials, the rest discouraged for many reasons, including excessive administrative and regulatory burden and sharply decreased federal funding for clinical trials.
Federally funded research through the National Institutes of Health has played a critical role in every major advance in cancer treatment over the last 50 years. But this funding has remained flat for more than a decade, leaving N.I.H. federal research funds with a 23 percent loss when adjusted for biomedical inflation. Promising research is now going unfunded, and new studies are being scaled back, leaving fewer patients with the opportunity to participate in clinical trials.
We commend Mr. Collender for his article and his courage. Congress owes it to him and the millions of people living with cancer, now and tomorrow, to right this wrong when it funds N.I.H. for the next fiscal year.
Dr. Vose’s response in New York Times
Clinical trials are a vital key to finding new treatments and drugs for a plethora of diseases and illnesses. But sometimes, the term can be considered a negative connotation associated with lab rats, placebos and more uncomplimentary terms.
Recently, oncologist Julie Vose, M.D., submitted a letter to the editor that appeared in the June 25 New York Times. Dr. Vose serves as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. In the letter, Dr. Vose responded to an earlier New York Times editorial singing the praises of clinical trials, as written by Stan Collender, a current cancer patient and participant in a clinical trial. See the sidebar for a reprint of Dr. Vose’s letter.
Dr. Eilers to be inducted as American Academy of Nursing fellow
UNMC College of Nursing Research Associated Professor June Eilers, Ph.D., is one of 163 nurse leaders chosen for induction as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing. The induction ceremony will take place during the academy’s annual policy conference in October. The academy fellows, with the addition of this newest class, represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 24 countries. Selection criteria include evidence of significant contributions to nursing and health care, and sponsorship by two current academy fellows.
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Beth Culross, Ph.D. |
UNMC College of Nursing Assistant Professor Beth Culross, Ph.D., called a champion for evidenced-based care of the geriatric population, will be inducted as a fellow in the National Gerontological Nurses Association in October. Fellow status is an honor that recognizes outstanding leadership in gerontological nursing and distinguished contributions to the field. Contributions to the field include participation/leadership in the association and contributions made through practice, teaching, research, administration, consultation, and/or other public service.