EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations Dr. Kirsten Brown

SMHS Education Research Team Publishes in Academic Medicine: Kudos to SMHS faculty Kirsten Brown, Anthony Artino, Terry Kind, and GW Med student (Class of 2024) Arianne Prince for their recent Academic Medicine publication entitled, Faculty and Student Perceptions of Unauthorized Collaborations in the Preclinical Curriculum: Student or System Failure? There is a corresponding podcast by the lead author and Terry Kind that awards CME. Be sure to check it out!

Congratulations to Dr. Kirtsen Brown, Dr. Katie DeVeau and Dr. Nicole DeVaul who were authors on an article chosen for the Teaching and Learning in Medicine annual Editors' Choice Award for 2020.

Hoffman, L.A., Lufler, R.S., Kirsten M. Brown, Kathryn DeVeau, Nicole DeVaul, Fatica, L.M., Mussell, J., Byram, J.N., Dunham, S.M. and Wilson, A.B. 2020. A Review of U.S. Medical Schools’ Promotion Standards for Educational Excellence. Teach Learn Med. 32(2): 184-193. PMID: 31746230

Congratulations to Dr. Mary Ann Stepp for publishing these papers.

Tadvalkar G, Pal-Ghosh S, Pajoohesh-Ganji A, Stepp MA. 2020. The impact of euthanasia and enucleation on mouse corneal epithelial axon density and nerve terminal morphology. Submitted to: Ocular Surface, in press.

Pal-Ghosh S, Tadvalkar G, Karpinski BA, Stepp MA. 2020. Diurnal control of sensory axon growth and shedding in the mouse cornea. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, in press.

Stepp MA, Pal-Ghosh S, Tadvalkar G, De Paiva C. 2020. Parity attenuates intraepithelial corneal sensory nerve loss in female mice. International Journal of Molecular Science. 21(5172):1-16.

Research paper published in collaboration with the Menko lab at Thomas Jefferson during pandemic:
DeDreu J, Bowen CJ, Logan CM, Pal-Ghosh S, Parlanti P, Stepp MA, Menko AS. 2020. An immune response to the avascular lens following wounding of the cornea involves ciliary zonule fibrils. May 25. FASEB J.

Stepp Lab review or commentary papers published during the pandemic:
Stepp MA, Pal-Ghosh S, Downie LE, Zhang AC, Chinnery HR, Machet J, Di Girolamo N. 2020. Corneal Epithelial "Neuromas": A Case of Mistaken Identity? July Cornea.39:930-934.

McKay TB, Schlötzer-Schrehardt U, Pal-Ghosh S, Stepp MA. 2020. Integrin: Basement membrane adhesion by corneal epithelial and endothelial cells. Experimental Eye Research, e pub available July, 23.

Dr. Anne Chiaramello's manuscript has been accepted for publication in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports. The title of the study is: "Molecular genetic and mitochondrial metabolic analyses confirm the suspected mitochondrial etiology in a pediatric patient with an atypical form of alternating hemiplegia of childhood" by Andrea Gropman, Martine Uittenbogaard, Christine A Brantner, Yue Wang, Lee-Jun Wong, and Anne Chiaramello. Accomplishments and Recognition to our undergraduate, graduate and medical students

• Sarah Ahsan, undergraduate in Moody lab: GWU Undergraduate Research Award
• Julie Ah, Ph.D. student in Miller lab: NIH F31 individual fellowship from NINDS
• Aparna Baxi, Ph.D. student in Moody lab: NIH F31 individual fellowship from NIDCD
• Benjamin McSweeney, medical student in Shibata lab: Gill fellowship
• Ryan Mortmon, GWU medical student with Virtual Reality/Anatomy project (Drs. Brown, DeVaul, DeVeau, Spencer, Taylor): Health Services Scholarship
• Julie Thomasian, medical student in Stepp lab: Gill fellowship
• Chapman Wei, Dermatology fellow in Efimova lab: LaRoche-Possay Foundation grant
• Julie Weiner, GWU medical student in Efimova lab: Health Services Scholarship

Congratulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramello for being selected to give a talk on the mitochondrial neurodevelopmental disease MELAS at the international annual meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology on April 30, 2020, in Toronto.

Congratulations to Dr. Kirsten Brown for being selected as the recipient of the 2020 Morton A. Bender Teaching Award. The Bender Teaching Award was established to recognize undergraduate, graduate, and professional teaching at GW. It is endowed by Morton Bender and the George Washington University.

As the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs noted in his letter:

"Excellence in teaching is the cornerstone of every successful academic program. The university is proud to honor your work in the classroom. The award is well and truly deserved."

For more information, please visit the: Morton Bender Teaching Awards

Congratulations to the following faculty who will be representing the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology at this April's upcoming annual meeting for the American Association of Anatomists.

Kirsten Brown

Service: Nominating Committee and Educational Affairs Committee

Posters:

How do medical students utilize Instagram to facilitate their anatomy learning during the preclinical years? (presenter)

• Medical Faculty’s Perception of the Use of Altmetrics (presenter)
• Analysis of the efficacy of various types of preparatory work for the gross anatomy laboratory
• Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses

Kathryn DeVeau

Poster: Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses (presenter)

Nicole DeVaul

Poster: Analysis of the efficacy of various types of preparatory work for the gross anatomy laboratory (presenter)

Symposium Chair: Histology: What is it Good For?

Kurt Johnson

Poster: Analytical Comparison of talc in commercially available baby powder and in pelvic tissues resected from ovarian carcinoma patients

Marc Spencer

Service: Ambassador Committee

Posters:

• New Late Jurassic Dinosaur (Ornithischia) from China Sheds Light on the Early Evolution of the Ornithopod Skeleton (presenter)
• Evaluating the Use of 3D Printed Models in Graduate and Undergraduate Human Neuroanatomy Courses

Victor Taylor

Service: Committee for Early Career Anatomists

GW SMHS hosted Day in the Life of a Medical Student. Kerrie Lashley and junior gross anatomy faculty put together a program, along with a video, for the parents for our medical students.

GW Institute for Neuroscience 2019 Neuroscience Symposium – Wednesday April 24th, 2019
Marvin Center Grand Ballroom
800 21st St, NW, Washington DC contact: sorayas@gwu.edu

Paper published:
Mary Ann Stepp, along with collaborators A. Sue Menko and Janice Walker from Thomas Jefferson University, recently published a paper in Anatomical Records titled “Fibrosis: Shared Lessons From the Lens and Cornea”. The manuscript is open access and is available free online now. It highlights the importance of using multiple tissues and model organisms to better understand how fibrosis occurs and to allow us to develop new treatments to encourage regenerative repair and minimize fibrosis.

Invited Presentations: Dr. Mary Ann Stepp
"Molecular basis for Mitomycin C enhanced corneal sensory nerve repair after debridement wounding" UT Southwestern, Department of Ophthalmology, Dallas, TX January 24, 2019.

“The corneal epithelium and sensory nerve fiber maintenance: the cable business expands into new territory”, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL February 8, 2019.

Congratulations to Dr. Tatiana Efimova and her team for their recent publication, Cell Type-Specific p38δ Targeting Reveals a Context-, Stage-, and Sex-Dependent Regulation of Skin Carcinogenesis in the International Journal of Molecular Science. as part of the Special Issue on "Molecular Aspects of Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma"

Congratulation to our Anatomy MedEd teams for being the recipients of three of the SMHS Education Research Grants

The Impact of Case-based, Interactive, Self-study, Computer-assisted Instructional (CAI) Learning Module on the Ability of Medical Students to Apply Principles of Pathology and Pathophysiology to Clinical Liver Disease. Principal Investigator: Patricia Latham, MD, EdD, Departments of Pathology and of Medicine. Research Team: Tracy Blanchard, MEd and Rosalyn Jurus, MD, PhD.

Using Three Dimensional Printed Models in Embryology Education. Principal Investigator: Victor Taylor II, PhD, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Research Team: Janine Ziermann, PhD and Rosalyn Jurjus, MD, PhD.

Virtual Reality to Enhance Gross Anatomy Education in Graduate and Medical Student Programs. Principal Investigator: Jonathan Sherman, MD, FAANS, FACS, Department of Neurosurgery. Research Team: Kirsten Brown, PhD, MA; Marc Spencer, PhD; Katie DeVeau, PhD; Nicole DeVaul, PhD; Victor Taylor II, PhD; Keith Mortman, MD, FACS, FCCP; Anthony Caputy, MD, FAANS, FACS, and Aalap Herur-Raman.

Congratulations to Drs. Nicole DeVaul, Marc Spencer, and Victor Taylor! All three were accepted into the 2019-2020 Master Teacher and Leadership Development program.

Congratulations to Dr. Anne Chiaramello on the acceptance of her paper, The importance of the nuclear background on the phenotypic signature of the MELAS m.1630 A>G variant. in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports.

Dr. Alex Tzatsos will be honored with the Elaine H. Snyder Cancer Researcher Award - Dec 10, 2018 at 4pm - Ross Hall 227