We are now three weeks into the new year, and thanks to the work of our faculty and staff to strengthen our school, it promises to be a year of significant events at our school.

Topping the list will be the hiring of a new dean. The search committee has narrowed the list of candidates, and more about its work is below. With the strides our faculty, staff and students have made to improve the financial status, structure and culture during the past year, our school is in a position to attract quality candidates.

We also expect to open ECU’s component of the East Carolina Heart Institute this year. This new building will house clinical space, research labs, education areas and offices. Together with PCMH’s inpatient bed tower, the institute will bring an unprecedented level of care and expertise to those in our region with cardiovascular disease. It’s already proving to be a drawing card for top-flight faculty. In addition, the new Department of Cardiovascular Sciences will continue to take shape this year.

ECU will break ground on another building project, the home of the new School of Dentistry, in April. We will also make securing funds for a new Family Medicine Center, which recently received a $1 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, a top priority.

In the fall, we will welcome 76 new students, our largest class ever. Our short-term goal is to increase class size to 80 students. A planning committee will deliberate the possibility of a major expansion of the medical school class size in partnership with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Our cultural assessment team tells us communication is improving in the Brody School of Medicine. Better communication helps us celebrate our accomplishments, respect our differences and understand our challenges. As we interview dean candidates, communication will be vital to making sure faculty, staff and students participate fully in selecting the best person to lead our school. The team also encourages faculty and staff to value and support each other so we can better educate, serve and conduct research.

(back to top)

Practice plan finances are ahead of last year’s pace but still show a deficit. Through November, year-to-date operating revenues were $50 million, compared to $48.2 million through November 2006. Operating expenses were $55.3 million, compared to $55.2 million through November 2006. Non-operating revenues and expenses cancel each other out, for an overall deficit of $5.3 million. That’s nearly $2 million better than last fiscal year, when the overall deficit through November was $7 million.

We have also finished our budget for this fiscal year. The budget calls for operating revenues of $137 million and expenses of $139.7 million. Other funds, including unused salary expenses, reduce the budget deficit to $2.3 million. While these numbers are in the red, they are realistic projections and a sign of progress over recent budgets.

Thanks for your hard work to increase revenues, and let’s keep looking for ways to trim expenses.

(back to top)

The Dean Search Committee reviewed C.V.s from 40 applicants Jan. 9. The committee decided to proceed with one-on-one interviews between the search firm and 17 of the candidates. After these are completed, the committee will again narrow the field and begin interviewing candidates itself.

Committee members are pleased with the number of applications received so far. They expect several more applications and will keep the process open until the best candidate fills the position. Committee members are happy to hear your comments on the process.

(back to top)

We have several new faculty members to welcome. Among them are Dr. Sergio Arce, a physician and cellular immunologist, who is working as a scientist in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine. Also in that division is Dr. Pete Pancoast. An associate professor, he is the division fellowship director. His interests are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary rehabilitation, and curriculum development and education. Dr. Moahad Dar is a new assistant professor in the division of endocrinology. Dr. Leandro A. Lobo has joined the Department of Microbiology as a research associate. Be sure to give these new faculty members a warm Brody welcome.

(back to top)

Dr. Kenneth Steinweg has been named the interim chairman of the Department of Family Medicine. He has been a faculty member at ECU since 1996 and brings strong leadership skills to the position. Steinweg is also director of the geriatrics division. He takes the reins from Dr. Valerie Gilchrist, who moved to the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin.


Dr. Maria Clay has been named interim chair of the Department of Medical Humanities. A professor of family medicine, director of clinical skills assessment and education, and co-director of the Office of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Education, Clay has been at ECU since 1991. She takes the place of Dr. Robert Martensen, who took a position with the National Institutes of Health. Clay will continue with her other roles as she serves as interim chair of medical humanities.

(back to top)

State officials have approved our certificate of need application to buy and install a CyberKnife for the treatment of malignancies and other conditions. The CyberKnife is similar to the Gamma Knife we have used since 2005, but it can be used on all parts of the body, whereas the Gamma Knife is limited to the head and neck.

Officials originally denied our request, but we successfully appealed. Thanks to all those who spent long hours on the original CON application and subsequent appeal.

(back to top)

At the Nov. 28 faculty meeting, we voted to send the proposed amendment to establish a new Department of Public Health to a committee of faculty senators for their consideration and recommendation. They will make that recommendation at an upcoming faculty meeting. At that point, tenured and tenure-track faculty members will vote by written ballot. Two-thirds of faculty members must vote for approval for the amendment to pass. Those who are eligible to vote but do not will be counted as “no” votes.

(back to top)

Drs. Wayne Cascio and Joseph Chalovich chaired a committee that studied our research enterprise and concluded that while Brody is doing better at attracting extramural grant support, we need further improvements to continue building a strong research program. One conclusion of the committee is that we need more research faculty and staff since our basic scientists involved in research are already at or near their limit, and practice demands often limit the research clinical faculty members can conduct. The committee also calls for better laboratory facilities, a new clinical research center, better accountability among administrators, scientists and clinicians for research resources, and investing where we have a high likelihood of success in developing research programs. A final copy of the committee report will be available soon.

(back to top)

Dr. Everett Pesci, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology, has received a five-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to further his study of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that causes approximately 10 percent of hospital infections and chronic lung infections in approximately 90 percent of people with cystic fibrosis. Such infections are a major problem for hospitals and are the primary source of progressive lung dysfunction for C.F. patients.

Research projects led by Brody faculty, including one that exposes medical students to a summer of investigation, have received grants totaling $253,929 from the Brody Brothers Foundation Endowment Fund. Faculty members receiving grants were Drs. Joseph Cory, Edward Seidel, James deVente, Warren Knudson, Maria Ruis-Echevarria, Mark Mannie, Robert Lust, Jitka Virag, Alexander Murashov, Carlos Campos, Ron Allison and Claudio Sibata.

The seven researchers who received Brody Brothers grants in 2006 have subsequently submitted at least four additional grant applications with outside funding sources, made three presentations and published four articles or abstracts about their research.

(back to top)

Dr. Edward Newton received the third annual Light of Hope Award on Dec. 6, presented to an outstanding health care professional in the ECU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology or PCMH Women’s Center. Newton, professor and chairman of OB/GYN at ECU, was recognized for his work to establish the ante-partum service for women with high-risk pregnancies at the Women’s Center.

Congratulations to the following first- and second-year medical students who were appointed as members of state committees for the North Carolina Medical Society: Wylie Carhartt, Health Care Finance/Reform Committee; Ryan Cooper, Access to Care Committee; Andrea Gregory, Family and Public Health Committee; Jennifer Wilson, Ethical and Judicial Affairs Committee; Megan Barrett, Access to Care Committee; Jennifer King, Family and Public Health Committee; and Akhil Hegde, Committee on Medical Education.

(back to top)

Dr. Jitka Virag is making steady progress as she recovers from injuries she suffered in October when she was hit by a car while bicycling home from work. She plans to return home to Greenville Jan. 23 in time for her birthday two days later.

Dr. Virag was treated for her injuries in the trauma center at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. In November, she transferred to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, which specializes in the rehabilitation of people with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions.

She faces several more weeks of rehabilitation after she returns home. Dr. Virag has a spinal cord injury at the fourth thoracic vertebra level, about mid-chest. The injury has left her with no sensation below that level. Fortunately, she has retained use of her head, neck, shoulder girdle and arms.

Her brother and husband tell us they have been overwhelmed by the support of the neighborhood, town and university and that Dr. Virag cannot wait to get back home. She plans to return to work part-time as soon as she is able.

Her treatment and other expenses, such as making her home wheelchair-accessible, are taking a financial toll even with insurance. If you wish to donate to Dr. Virag, you may do so through the Jitka Virag Recovery Fund Trust at RBC Centura Bank, 2390 Stantonsburg Road. The routing number is 053 100 850, and the account number is 025 5412250. You may keep up with her progress at http://www.jitkavirag.com.

(back to top)

As part of a university-wide security program, we hope to install security cameras on the exterior of the Brody Medical Sciences Building and in the parking lots by June 30. We already have more than 30 cameras inside Brody and the Life Sciences Building, and 18 cameras have been installed outside the Health Sciences Building and its parking lots. We expect funding for these cameras to come from the university but will seek other funding sources if needed to add this extra level of security to our campus.

(back to top)

The Brody School of Medicine and CIGNA Healthcare have reached an agreement that keeps the medical school in the CIGNA participating provider network. The previous contract expired Dec. 31. This agreement means approximately 5,400 patients of ECU Physicians can continue seeing their regular health care providers and receive their normal insurance coverage. ECU and CIGNA negotiated for a year on the new contract. CIGNA enrollees in the area include employees of the city of Greenville, Greenville Utilities and several smaller firms in the region.

(back to top)

The Accreditation Commission on Graduate Medical Education informed us in December that PCMH received full institutional accreditation for GME programs. Thanks to Dr. Lorrie Basnight and her staff for guiding the accreditation process.

(back to top)

In 2007, the ECU Medical & Health Sciences Foundation, working with our Scholarship Committee, awarded 48 scholarships totaling nearly $100,000. That is an increase from 21 scholarships totaling $20,000 in 2006. In addition, 13 Brody Scholars received $235,000 in support from the Brody Foundation. The grand total of these student scholarships, $335,000, is a record. The foundation also made money available to students with emergency situations.

The foundation will soon present two new distinguished professorships for state matching funds. This program offers a match of 50 cents for each dollar raised and will result in a $1 million endowed professorship for the Department of Surgery, the Verneda and Clifford Kiehn Professorship of Pediatric Surgery and a $500,000 endowed professorship for the Department of Emergency Medicine. These professorships join the D.E. Darnell Jones, M.D., Professorship that benefits the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

(back to top)