Veritas, Vol. 50, No. 01, September 2007

              3 Training day: The UM Police Department
tests its readiness during an all-day exercise on the Coral Gables campus.
4Michiko Kitayama’s creative and colorful
costume designs are a big influence behind the success of the Ring Theatre.
5 An academic superstar on the rise, Michelle Maldonado shares her insights into her research and love of teaching.
Volume 50 ■ Number 1 ■ September 2007	For the Faculty and Staff of the University of Miami
www.miami.edu/veritas
Initiative will use a multipronged strategy to combat the disease on a global scale
UM gets NIH-funded center for AIDS research
Collaborative effort: Lisa Metsch, left, Margaret Fischl, Gwendolyn Scott, and Savita Pahwa lead a new NIH-funded research center that will use the Miller School’s existing strengths in HIV/AIDS research to fight the disease on multiple fronts.
QUADRUPLE VISION: BASCOM PALMER MAKES IT FOUR IN ROW
For the fourth year in a row the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute has been ranked the No. 1 hospital in the country for ophthalmology in the 18th annual survey of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report. Three other specialties at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center were also ranked among the nation’s best.
“This honor is testimony to the highest quality of care we provide every day to our patients, our outstanding national medical education programs, and the research advances continually made in our clinics and laboratories,” says Carmen A. Puliafito, chairman of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.
The three other UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center programs that joined Bascom Palmer in the rankings are ear, nose and throat, which climbed to No. 17 this year from No. 22 last year; digestive disorders (32); and kidney disease (32).
The standards for ranking in “Best Hospitals” are rigorous. Out of the 5,462 hospitals evaluated, just 173 scored high enough this year to be ranked in any specialty. To be considered at all, a hospital had to satisfy at least one of three requirements: membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, affiliation with a medical school, or availability of at least six out of nine advanced services, such as image-guided radiation therapy and robotic surgery. For consideration in a specialty, hospitals had to admit and treat a minimum number of patients with complex conditions or have been recommended by at least one physician.
“One of our most important missions is to provide excellent patient care, to always do the right thing for the patient, and these prestigious rankings recognize the superior quality of that care,” says Pascal J. Goldschmidt, senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Miller School. “We are extremely proud to be recognized for the world-class medicine we provide for the residents of South Florida and beyond.”
In a major boost that is sure to aid worldwide efforts in combating a pandemic that has claimed more than 30 million lives, the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine has established a new AIDS research center that will fight the deadly disease on multiple fronts.
The new Developmental Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR) will be multidisciplinary in its structure, employing basic, clinical, epidemiological, behavioral, and translational research strategies to carry out its mission of curbing the transmission of and finding a cure for AIDS.
It is funded by a $3.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and becomes only the 19th NIH-funded AIDS research center in the nation, joining other top academic and research institutions such as Harvard, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Case Western Reserve Universities.
“It’s a milestone for the Miller School,” says Savita Pahwa, a professor of microbiology and immunology, medicine, and pediatrics, and the center’s principal investigator. “This is something that’s been a long time in the making for the University.”
The D-CFAR at UM will serve a
In laboratories where lifesaving research is always the order of the day, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers try to determine the changes that occur in the
unique patient population and is expected to “provide support to all AIDS investigators, including those examining the influence and complications of substance abuse in HIV infection,” says Janet Young, acting chief of the Pathogenesis and Basic Research Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Division of AIDS.
genomes of cancer cells, hoping to uncover information that could ultimately lead to a cure for the disease.
About seven miles to the southeast, meteorologists and oceanographers at
the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science conduct research of a different sort: studying wind, humidity, and temperature fluctuations to aid in hurricane modeling.
And on the University’s Coral Gables campus, biologists and chemists test new theories that could help save the world’s fragile ecosystems, while architectural engineers design new sustainable structures for a coastal environment.
While the scientific efforts of these researchers may seem unrelated, their endeavors are actually connected by a common thread—computational science. “Whether it’s creating Continued on page 3
Designed by a team of HIV/AIDS researchers from the Miller School, the new center includes five cores: an administrative division, which will operate the center; a developmental core that will train, mentor, and support new and young investigators; a clinical sciences section, which will facilitate translational research by providing biostatistical support and develop a repository for clinical samples; a laboratory sciences core that will provide immunovirologic assays for HIV research and translational studies; and a behavioral and social sciences division, which will conduct outreach and education in the local community.
While the Miller School of Medicine is already highly regarded for its strong programs in HIV/AIDS research and for investigating new treatments and prevention strategies, D-CFAR promises to integrate and enhance existing strengths, fostering collaborations between investigators that could accelerate promising new treatments and discoveries in the fight against AIDS.
“We’re bringing our strengths together and making the sum greater than the parts,” says Pahwa, who spearheaded the Miller School’s efforts to obtain a D-CFAR grant.
Ever since the earliest days of the epidemic, the Miller School has been home to some of the world’s pioneers in AIDS care and research. Margaret Fischl, a professor of medicine and associate director of UM’s new D-CFAR, was instrumental in demonstrating that the anti-retroviral drug AZT was well tolerated and could effectively change the
Continued on page 3
Computing power: Nick Tsinoremas directs UM’s new Center for Computational Science.
Fourpeat: Bascom Palmer is tops for the fourth year in row.
New Center for Computational Science provides a boost for faculty research