VP, general counsel takes leave; Savage to serve in her absence

Kumiki Gibson, vice president and general counsel, has requested a leave of absence for family health reasons, and the university has granted the leave. Frederick Savage will serve as acting vice president and general counsel.

 

Academic health care systems to study electronic data exchange

A coalition of the Baltimore-Washington region's major academic health care systems--Johns Hopkins Medicine, University of Maryland Medicine and MedStar Health--in collaboration with private practice physicians and community hospitals has been awarded a $100,000 planning grant to develop a local electronic health data exchange to improve the quality of health care delivery and reduce health care costs through the use of information technology.

The Foundation for eHealth Initiative made the announcement July 21 in Washington. The Maryland/D.C. Collaborative for Healthcare Information Technology was one of nine communities nationwide culled from a pool of 134 applicants to receive more than $2 million in funding through the Connecting Communities for Better Health program and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The coalition intends to undertake a five-year pilot project in Howard County, Md., to establish a community data exchange that will serve as a "learning laboratory" for physicians, health-care providers and hospitals who are given protected electronic access to patient records.

For more information, go to http://www.collaborativeforhit.org.

 

NSBRI funds two biomedical projects at Applied Physics Lab

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston has approved funding for two biomedical projects at APL that will continue the institute's research to resolve the health and medical challenges related to long-duration space missions.

One is a Ground-Based Clinical System using Advanced Multiple Projection Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry principles to go beyond bone densitometry to measure the structural mechanics of bones and muscles. By providing high-precision scans of astronauts before and after space flights, the system will be able to monitor musculoskeletal strength and the effectiveness of countermeasures.

According to project director Harry K. Charles, who heads APL's Technical Services Department, this research also could have an impact on clinical medicine, "especially in monitoring and assessing the efficacy of treatments for the millions of people who suffer from osteoporosis and other disorders that degrade bone strength."

The second project, a prototype Combined Ion and Neutron Spectrometer, is intended to improve on existing charged particle species and energy spectrometers. It will provide a single and complete ionizing radiation environment monitor for application in space habitats and transport vehicles. Researchers expect that the instrument will be the ultimate radiation environment monitor for manned space missions. Richard H. Maurer heads the project.

 

'Gazette' archives president's column, resource stories online

Two features that run regularly in The Gazette have been archived online in order to provide readers with easy access. Links to both can be found on The Gazette's home page www.jhu.edu/~gazette under the heading Departments.

An occasional series on university resources and services available to faculty, staff and students is linked under the word Resources. A column by President William R. Brody, which runs in the first issue of every month, is archived under President's Column.

 

Summer Internship Program plans Aug. 5 poster session

The Summer Internship Program brings about 70 talented underrepresented and underserved college students to the East Baltimore campus, where they spend 10 weeks engaged in research in one of Johns Hopkins' clinical, public health or basic science laboratories.

This year's students, whose institutions include the University of Puerto Rico, Xavier University of Louisiana, Morehouse College, Howard University and University of California, Davis, will present their work at a poster session from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 5, in Turner Concourse.

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