“It’s changing the game on how we do research in structural biology,” says Ken Greis, PhD (pictured, right), associate dean for research core facilities, speaking about cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) technology, which started to emerge about five to 10 years ago. “The technology has had such an impact that you can’t recruit faculty who are structural biologists without being invested in Cryo-EM.”

Greis, in collaboration with Michael Lieberman, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, and the structural biology faculty along with the financial and recruitment support from the college’s dean’s office and the UC Office of Research, have been recruiting people with experience and expertise in the Cryo-EM field, such as Desiree Benefield, PhD (pictured, left), who will be the lab manager for the facility.

One of the people who helped recruit Hou to UC is Rhett Kovall, PhD (pictured, second from left), professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology. He, along with Tom Thompson, PhD (pictured, second from right), professor, Tom Seegar, PhD (pictured, center), assistant professor, and Greis have spent the last five years getting the funding and laying out the plan to establish the Cryo-EM facility in the CASB.

At its June 28 meeting, the UC Board of Trustees approved the naming of the Osher Center for Integrative Health at the University of Cincinnati. The center, based in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, late last year received a $5.5 million gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation. The center had been known as the UC Center for Integrative Health and Wellness since its inception in 2009.

“This incredible gift endows key leadership positions and programs and is an investment in center administration to increase capacity and ensure the long-term sustainability of the center’s transformational work,” says Sian Cotton, PhD, center director and Turner Farm Foundation Chair. “The gift supports two new endowed leadership positions, including center medical director and education program leaders. Additionally, the funding will be used to increase access for under-resourced patient clinical care and community education.”

The center also joins the Osher Collaborative, a group of nine academic integrative health centers in the country funded by the Osher Foundation.

Cotton says that with the endowment one of the center’s goals is to establish a longitudinal course thread that embeds integrative and lifestyle medicine education into the College of Medicine’s required curriculum for first- and second-year medical students. The center has already established three certificate programs: a recently approved graduate certificate for integrative health and wellness, which will begin enrolling students this fall; an undergraduate certificate for integrative health and wellness; and a yoga certificate. A new Medical Student Scholar Program also will begin this fall for medical students to receive specialized training in integrative and lifestyle medicine. The Center also offers lifestyle medicine and wellness complimentary virtual programs to UC and the Cincinnati community. 

Catherine Stefaniuk, DO, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, has been selected by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) as one of the 40 “brightest emerging leaders and innovators of pathology, laboratory medicine and ASCP.”

Each year, ASCP selects 40 pathologists, pathology residents and laboratory professionals under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to the profession and stand out as leaders who will help shape the future of pathology and laboratory medicine. Public voting and committee selection then determine the top five, who will be honored at the ASCP 2022 Annual Meeting, Sept. 7-9 in Chicago. Votes can be cast for Stefaniuk online daily through 12:59 a.m., Wednesday, July 20.

“Dr. Stefaniuk’s laboratory directorships contribute significantly to the laboratory services provided by UC Health. She also plays a key role in teaching laboratory medicine to our residents and students,” says Dani Zander, MD, MacKenzie Professor and chair of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Teresa Reyes, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology, and Timothy Pritts, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Surgery, have been named recipients of the College of Medicine’s 2022 Faculty-to-Faculty Mentoring Awards.

Mentoring among faculty at the College of Medicine is a crucial element in sustaining a vital faculty community, promoting faculty development and increasing faculty retention. The purpose of the Faculty-to-Faculty Mentoring Award is to recognize the outstanding efforts of one clinical and one basic science faculty member for their mentorship of other faculty. These prestigious awards acknowledge the time sacrifice and dedication faculty mentors devote to foster the career development and academic success of colleagues in the areas of research, education, service and clinical practice.

Reyes (pictured, left) received the Basic Science Faculty-to-Faculty Mentoring Award. “My dedication to mentoring comes from a deep appreciation for the many mentors that have supported me in my career development by providing essential advice and training. I hope that by sharing my own experiences, I can help ‘demystify’ aspects of a scientific career. There is great joy in celebrating the success of fellow faculty and trainees, as each individual finds their own path,” she says.

Pritts (pictured, right) received the Clinical Faculty-to-Faculty Mentoring Award. “It’s a great honor to be nominated for and selected for this award. Mentoring is a key element of academic medical practice. We each have the opportunity to help others grow and succeed. Mentoring is essential to help grow the next generation of physicians, scholars and leaders. The process of mentoring is very rewarding. I feel like I always receive more than I give. Some of my greatest professional joys have been to see my mentees succeed in so many areas,” he says.

Silvi Shah, MD, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, has been invited to serve a three-year term on the Fellow of the American Society of Transplantation (FAST) selection committee.

Arun Jose, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, has received the 2022 PHenomenal Impact Fund for Global PH Research Award, for his project on the gut microbiome and circulating metabolome in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

The award is one of two programs funded by the charitable organization Team PHenomenal Hope. Through this award, Team PHenomenal Hope provides investigators with grant funding for medical research that aims to improve treatments or find a cure for pulmonary hypertension, a rare disease that causes high blood pressure in the vessels that supply the lungs, which strains the heart as well as the lungs. The PHenomenal Impact Fund for Global PH Research Award is given to investigators who are implementing novel concepts in PH and have the potential to change the field.

The contest is open to all students, staff, trainees, faculty and deans. Participants must register by Wednesday, Sept. 14 to submit an art piece. Participants may register as an individual or group.

Entries must contain 100% recycled, recovered or found content from research laboratories with the exception of paints, dyes, adhesives, canvas and mounting hardware. ​Entries may contain any clean, non-biohazardous, non-radioactive recycled material and cannot include food matter or living organisms. Pictures of such things as bacteria and fungus can be included.​

Entry dimension may be no larger than 72 inches high by 36 inches wide and 24 inches deep and must be ready to display by wall mount or plinth or be free standing.

Hoxworth Blood Center celebrated the opening Thursday, July 7 of its renovated Apheresis Center. Located on the fourth floor of the center, the Apheresis Center collects different types of white blood cells from donors for transplantation, therapeutic infusions and emerging cellular therapies.

The newly renovated Apheresis Center features four pods to accommodate more donors and offers greater comfort and care as the donation process is longer than a typical whole blood or platelet donation.

At Hoxworth’s Apheresis Center, several kinds of white cell collections can take place seven days a week. Granulocyte cells are one such product collected by Hoxworth medical personnel when the urgent need arises.

“These (white blood cells) are for patients who have undergone chemotherapy and have no white blood cells of their own to help fight off infections,” says Krystol Weidner, RN, manager of Hoxworth’s Apheresis Department.

The entire process for granulocyte collection and infusion begins with a hospital need and a subsequent call to Hoxworth to find a suitable donor. Hoxworth’s recruitment team then identifies lists of potential donors who are a blood type match for the patient and begins the recruiting process. Once a donor commits, they undergo a three-hour donation process. The collected granulocytes are then whisked to the patient’s bedside and quickly infused, as these precious white cells expire within 24 hours. Most often they are transfused to immunocompromised pediatric patients at Cincinnati Children’s.

For stem cell donations, Hoxworth partners with Be The Match, an organization operated by the National Marrow Donor Program that manages the most diverse marrow registry in the world. People from all over the country are matched as stem cell and lymphocyte donors for patients throughout the world. This type of donation takes about four to eight hours.

“These donors are giving so much to get to this point, blood work, injections, physicals, so we wanted to provide a comfortable environment for them as they spend up to eight hours donating stem cells to someone they’ve never met,” Weidner says.

In 2021, Hoxworth collected more than 100 products from donors for the National Marrow Donor Program for patients across the world. Hoxworth expects to surpass these numbers in 2022.

“We look forward to helping more patients across the globe as our apheresis collection capacity grows,” said Caroline Alquist, MD, associate professor and medical director of the apheresis program.

The Apheresis Center also provides white cell collections for various established and emerging immunotherapy indications. Whole blood, red blood cells, platelets and plasma are also collected by this team and used for Hoxworth’s internal research studies in partnership with Cincinnati Children’s.

The College of Medicine’s Center for Addiction Research virtual Summer Speaker Series continues Wednesday, July 20. The presentations highlight UC addiction research and UC-community collaborations related to prevention and treatment. The series, which began in June, is hosted by the Urban Health Pathway of Next Lives Here. The final presentation in the series will be held Wednesday, Aug. 17.

“Development of a Recombinant Humanized Anti-cocaine Monoclonal Antibody” presented by Andrew Norman, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology, Center for Addiction Research Core Leader, Addiction Treatment Development and Testing.

“Understanding and Impact of Medical Marijuana in Ohio” presented by LaTrice Montgomery, PhD, associate professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, and Brian Higgins, managing associate, Frost Brown Todd Attorneys, LLC.

Voting continues for the 2023 Cincinnati Magazine “Top Doctors.” Votes will be accepted through midnight Saturday, Aug. 13.

An invitation to vote was emailed last month to physicians with active licenses in the region. Physicians also can visit CincinnatiTopDocs.com to vote. Voters can name three physicians in each specialty. Votes are confidential. Please direct questions on voting to Professional Research Services via email or by phone at 248-691-1800, ext. 134.

Everyone is encouraged to take this opportunity to recognize the region’s best physicians by voting for “Top Doctors 2023.” 

James Tweddell, MD, professor in the Department of Surgery and executive co-director of the Heart Institute and director of cardiothoracic Surgery at Cincinnati Children’s, died Friday, July 1 after a battle with cancer. He was 62.

Tweddell, a member of the College of Medicine’s Class of 1985, was a world-renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and academic with an extensive list of research and clinical contributions vital to advancing the care and outcomes of congenital heart surgery patients.

Upon completion of his training, Tweddell joined the Medical College of Wisconsin where he began working at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. There, he held the S. Bert Litwin Chair for Cardiothoracic Surgery and became director of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2001. In 2015, Tweddell joined Cincinnati Children’s where he expanded the Cardiothoracic Surgery Program’s international caliber while providing unparalleled surgical care and innovation for patients and families. His leadership helped the program achieve surgical outcomes that rank among the top in the nation. He also established an ACGME-approved fellowship in congenital cardiac surgery.

Cincinnati Children’s will honor Tweddell by hosting a Celebration of Life on Monday, July 18. For details on this event, contact Tiffany Whatley.

July 13, 1831: The first meeting of the Medical College of Ohio faculty is held after the faculties of the Medical Department of Miami University, which had been formed by Daniel Drake, MD, earlier in the year and was scheduled to begin instruction in the fall of 1831, combined with the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio. In addition to Drake, who is returning to the college after leaving in 1822, new Medical College of Ohio faculty are John Eberle, MD, John Henry, MD, Thomas Mitchell, MD, and James Staughton, MD. 

July 17, 1871: George Blackman, MD (pictured), professor of surgery at the Medical College of Ohio since 1855 and one of the country's leading surgeons, dies at his Avondale residence. He was 72. Born in 1819, Blackman was honored in 1847 by election to the Fellowship of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. He was editor of the journal Western Lancet and coauthor of the text “Hand-book on Military Surgery.”