Volume 7, Issue 8 • May 7, 2012

www.usuhs.mil

The Official USU Newsletter
On the cover

Army Col. (Dr.) Paul Pasquina, M.D., chief 

of the Department of Orthopaedics and 

Rehabilitation at Walter Reed National 

Military Medical Center and director of USU’s 

Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research, 

was the guest speaker for the 2012 F. Edward 

Hèbert School of Medicine White Coat 

Ceremony. (See story, pages 4-5.)

Photo by Patrice Bolté

Sharon Willis

Deputy Vice President for External 

Affairs and Managing Editor

Christine Creenan-Jones

Contributing Writer

Lori Fields

Layout and Design

Production

Editorial content is edited, prepared 

and provided by the USU Office of 

External Affairs unless otherwise 

indicated. The Pulse staff may 

include or exclude articles based 

upon news value, impact on the 

university and space availability.

Submissions

The Pulse will be published 

bi-weekly on Mondays. The 

deadline for submissions is at 4 p.m. 

Tuesday prior to the publication 

date. Submissions can be sent to 

swillis@usuhs.mil or by calling 

301-295-3578.

2 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

USU Research Days 2012

May 14-15

Save The Date

Visit www.hjf.org to 

submit abstracts by March 23 and register for events.

GSN faculty member wins 

prestigious James Leonard Award

By Christine Creenan-Jones

Diane Seibert, PhD, director of the 

Family Nurse Practitioner Program 

at USU, has been actively engaged 

for several years at local and national 

levels working toward improving the 

genetics competency of nurses, nurse 

practitioners, and non-genetics healthcare professionals. 

Her interest in the genetic disorder 

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) 

began after a discussion with Thomas 

Darling, MD, PhD, a professor in 

the Department of Dermatology and 

one of the nation’s leading experts in 

TSC. Their conversation evolved into 

a research partnership involving Dr. 

Joel Moss, Dr. Darling’s mentor at the 

NIH, along with other members of 

Dr. Darling’s team. This collaboration 

culminated in the Annals of Internal Medicine article, “Recognition of 

tuberous sclerosis in adult women: 

delayed presentation with life-threatening consequences,” and the basis for 

Seibert being awarded the prestigious 

James Leonard Award for Excellence 

in Clinical Research. 

“Publishing our research and receiving the Leonard Award means a lot to 

all of us because this was truly a team 

effort. The honor reinforces the power 

of collaboration,” she said, “because 

neither the research nor the article 

would exist without the involvement 

and intellectual contributions from the 

entire group.” 

The findings challenge conventional thinking about TSC, a disease 

normally diagnosed in childhood, 

since classic symptoms – seizures, 

intellectual disability and skin lesions 

– tend to surface early in life. 

“Everything I read indicated that 

TSC patients were usually cognitively 

impaired. This description did not 

seem to fit this population, because 

Dr. Darling and I were analyzing data 

from a cohort of seemingly normal, 

functional women,” Seibert said. “We 

started reviewing intake histories and 

discovered that while many of these 

women had minimal or no manifestations of TSC in childhood, others had 

classic TSC features but the diagnosis 

was missed until adulthood,” Seibert 

said. “This diagnostic delay impeded 

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Diane Seibert, PhD

Continued to page 7
May 7, 2012 3

Leaders from the American Academy of Pediatrics visit USU

Marion Burton, MD, FAAP, Associate Dean for 

Clinical Affairs and Director of Community 

Pediatrics at the University of South Carolina 

School of Medicine and Past President of the 

American Academy of Pediatrics; Charles L. Rice, 

MD, President of USU; Errol R. Alden, MD, FAAP, 

Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of 

the American Academy of Pediatrics and former 

chair of USU’s Department of Pediatrics; Ildy M. 

Katona, MD, FAAP, chair of USU’s Department 

of Pediatrics; and Jeffrey Longacre, MD, FAAP, 

Vice President of Affiliations and International 

Relations, Interim Vice President of External 

Affairs and former vice chair of USU’s 

Department of Pediatrics met at USU during 

April, the Month of the Military Child. 

Migraine researcher wins coveted James Leonard Award

By Christine Creenan-Jones

Migraine is a common neurovascular disorder with painful – sometimes 

debilitating – symptoms. People who 

get migraine headaches often feel a 

throbbing pain on one side of their head 

and experience symptoms like nausea, 

vomiting and sensitivity to light or 

sound. Sometimes these headaches are 

preceded by temporary neurological 

symptoms including seeing wavy lines, 

stars, partial loss of vision or numbness 

and tingling on one side of the body.

Although a burdensome disorder for some people, serious health 

problems are only rarely associated 

with migraine. Ann Scher, PhD, 

associate professor of epidemiology in the Department of Preventive 

Medicine and Biometrics at USU, 

however, believes that some types of 

migraine are linked with manifestations of vascular disease in later life. 

Her research – done in collaboration with Lenore Launer, PhD, from 

the National Institute on Aging and 

Vilmundur Gudnason, PhD, MD, 

from the Icelandic Heart Association 

– suggests that elderly people with 

a remote history of migraine have 

evidence of small stroke-like lesions 

in parts of their brain. 

“This study focuses on the less 

common migraine with aura, a 

transient neurological disturbance – 

usually visual – that acts as a warning 

signal migraine is coming,” she said. 

“This research adds to the body of 

evidence linking migraine with aura 

to various manifestations of cardiovascular disease. Migraine headaches 

often remit in later life and stroke 

is uncommon in younger people. 

This 25-year longitudinal study (the 

AGES-Reykjavik Study) was unique in 

that study subjects had been evaluated 

for migraine symptoms when they 

were young enough to be experiencing attacks and then images of their 

brain were taken in later life, at an age 

when stroke is much more common.”

Scher’s study, published in the 

Journal of the American Medical 

Association, was the basis for her 

winning USU’s coveted James Leonard 

Award for Excellence in Clinical 

Research this year as well. Nominated 

for the award by her peers, Scher’s 

findings are shedding light on 

migraine and catalyzing new research 

for understanding the complex 

disorder affecting millions of people 

around the world each year.

“The story of this research is 

still unfolding,” she said. “Through 

follow-on studies, we will further 

examine the clinical implications, if 

any, of these small cerebellar lesions. 

It is hoped that by understanding why 

the migraine aura is linked with these 

lesions, we will better understand the 

pathophysiology of migraine itself. ”

Scher will present her findings 

during Research Days, May 14-15, 

alongside other USU award winners.

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Ann Scher, PhD
4 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

The White Coat Ceremony is a time-honored tradition at USU and a right of passage for medical students everywhere. At 

USU, students receive white coats after completing their first year of medical school. The milestone ceremony also signifies the importance of humanism in medicine—a learning thread continuously woven throughout all four years of medical 

school at USU.

As part of the White Coat Ceremony, each student 

affixes a gold pin onto the jacket. “Gold pins represent humanism in medicine, said Richard MacDonald, M.D., associate dean for student affairs 

and master of ceremony for the event. “Students 

are asked to wear these gold pins on their white 

coats throughout medical school and for the rest 

of their professional careers, because it’s equally 

important to keep up with the fast pace of the science of medicine and always seek to discover the 

full human understanding of the patient.”

Photo by MC1 Chad Hallford

Photo by MC1 Chad Hallford

Photo by Patrice Bolté

“The privilege of the White Coat comes with many 

responsibilities,” said Larry Laughlin, M.D., dean 

of USU’s School of Medicine, to the Class of 2015, 

before they put on their jackets. “Those responsibilities are woven into the cloth of your white coat.” 

Laughlin described some of those responsibilities 

for the group, including the importance of pursuing 

a quest for life-long learning, respect for all patients, 

compassion and altruism, before telling them, 

“Becoming a doctor is not about you. It’s about your 

patients, and you must remember that everyday.” 

2012 White Coat Ceremony

By Christine Creenan-Jones
May 7, 2012 5

The university invites a special guest speaker, usually a 

military physician, to address USU’s newest class of medical 

students at the White Coat Ceremony each year. Army Col. 

(Dr.) Paul Pasquina, chief of the Department of Orthopaedics 

and Rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and a USU graduate himself, offered some helpful 

advice during this year’s ceremony. “I truly think many of you 

will change the world. You’re here at a great school, you’re 

entering medicine at a very exciting time (...),” he said. “But, 

even if you don’t change the world, that’s still okay. What you 

should be emphasizing is changing the world for every patient 

who comes through your door.”

The White Coat Ceremony is a family affair at USU. 

Hundreds of spouses, parents, children, siblings and other 

family members and friends showed support for the Class 

of 2015 by standing by their sides and helping students 

into their white coats.

Near the end of the White Coat Ceremony, students recite 

the Hippocratic Oath, their promise to practice medicine 

ethically and always act in a patient’s best interest.

Photo by MC1 Chad Hallford Photo by MC1 Chad Hallford

Photo by Patrice Bolté
6 The Pulse The Official USU Newsletter

USU 40th Anniversary 

Trivia Contest Winner

Congratulations to John “Tim” 

O’Neill, PhD, associate professor in 

the Department of Pediatrics, for 

being the first person to correctly 

answer last issue’s trivia question:

Who can identify at least four 

building spaces named after 

important figures in USU’s history?

O’Neill responded with the 

following answers: Packard 

Hall, Sanford Auditorium, James 

A. Zimble Learning Resource 

Center and the Faye G. Abdellah 

Center for Military and Federal 

Healthcare Research.

The F. Edward Hébert School of 

Medicine and Everett Alvarez 

Jr. Board of Regents Room were 

acceptable responses as well. 

Like the students they 

teach, most assistant professors are busy learning the 

ropes during their formative years on campus. In 

a sophisticated place like 

USU, navigating through all 

of the rigmarole – managing labs, balancing budgets, 

obtaining funding and 

overseeing personnel – can 

be difficult work, especially 

since many of these important tasks are brand new 

responsibilities for USU’s 

up-and-coming faculty members.

But, novice instructors, and even 

those with extensive experience, don’t 

have to master every job requirement 

on their own. The Assistant Professor’s Group is helping USU faculty 

members traverse the learning curve a 

little more quickly.

Thomas Flagg, PhD, and Markos 

Koutmos, PhD, the group’s founders 

and assistant professors themselves, 

started the club because they knew 

firsthand the complexities of teaching 

at a major university and wanted to 

share their knowledge—gained mostly 

from other professors—with fellow, 

rising instructors.

“Most researchers and physicians 

receive lots of hands-on training in 

classrooms and labs, which is helpful 

for the teaching side of our jobs,” 

Flagg said. “But, knowing the science 

of medicine is only a small part of the 

daily grind for faculty members at USU 

and other universities. We also shoulder a lot of administrative responsibilities, which can be especially taxing 

for assistant professors, since most of 

us are just beginning our professional 

careers in academia.”

Realizing knowledge gaps like the 

ones they experienced could slow 

even the brightest, most ambitious 

minds, Flagg and Koutmos have used 

the Assistant Professor’s Group as a 

medium to bring useful, time-saving 

information to the helm.

“At meetings, we talk about pretty 

much anything and everything affecting our professional lives at USU,” 

Flagg said. “We also have more structured sessions. For example, several 

experienced faculty members have 

shared useful advice at past sessions, 

the director of the Biomedical Instrumentation Center did a presentation 

and Civilian Human Resources even 

hosted a professional development 

seminar for us.”

Topics at group meetings may 

run the gamut, but each of them are 

designed to stimulate interactions 

and collaborations between faculty 

members—something both Flagg and 

Koutmos feel is beneficial for assistant professors and other professionals at USU.

“Why reinvent the wheel when 

there is so much knowledge right 

here on campus?” said Flagg. “The 

Assistant Professor’s Group is all 

about information sharing and 

making these tough, beginning years 

just a little bit easier.”

New Assistant Professor’s Group 

brings knowledge and experience to 

the forefront

by Christine Creenan-Jones

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

While meetings—normally held on 

the second Friday of every month—

are designed with new assistant 

professors in mind, all members of 

USU are invited to join the group. 

For more information about the 

Assistant Professor’s Group, contact 

the pair at Thomas.Flagg@usuhs.edu 

or Markos.Koutmos@usuhs.edu.

Assistant professors, Thomas Flagg, PhD, and 

Markos Koutmos, PhD, created the Assistant 

Professors Club as a forum to share important 

information about teaching at USU.
May 7, 2012 7

access to appropriate screening, emerging therapies and 

opportunities to make informed childbearing decisions.”

The overall goal of the article is to bring greater awareness to 

the changing face of genetic disorders like TSC.

“Many clinicians were taught that TSC manifests in 

children, presenting as seizures, cognitive impairment and 

characteristic skin lesions,” Seibert said. “If a cognitively 

intact, seizure-free adult makes an appointment to discuss 

odd skin lesions, many clinicians may not consider a TSC 

diagnosis, because they are not aware that in many genetic 

conditions, including TSC, manifestations can present along 

a spectrum.”

As one of USU’s Leonard Award winners, Seibert will have 

more opportunities to expand upon her award-recipients 

research during USU’s Research Days, May 14-15. She will 

present a lecture in honor of the award namesake, Dr. James 

Leonard, the founding chair of USU’s Department of Medicine.

Giving back, GSN student reaches out to people in need

By Christine Creenan-Jones

Community service – a strong part 

of the military’s ethos – is alive and 

well at USU, because of people like 

Army Captain Le’Keisha Rodriguez, 

a student in the Family Nurse Practitioner program with a strong will and 

big heart.

After long days on campus, the 

Mississippi native spends countless 

hours each year volunteering for local 

charities, including the National Kidney 

Foundation (NKF), an organization 

with special meaning to Rodriguez.

“My grandmother was on dialysis 

for many years,” she said. “Her struggle inspired me to give back, and also 

helped me realize that prevention and 

early detection is the key to wellness.”

Rodriguez’s passion to help is only 

part of her appeal. She also has extensive health care experience, which 

allows her to take a more hands-on 

role at the NKF, where she draws and 

screens blood as well as provides tips for 

healthy living. 

“Unfortunately, diabetes, hypertension and kidney disease are 

common health problems. Yet, many 

people don’t know they have them. 

These conditions can have some 

pretty serious consequences if left 

untreated,” said Rodriguez. “Being 

involved with this foundation is 

rewarding, because it’s a great way to 

inform people about what’s happening inside their bodies, so they can 

take the necessary steps 

for correction.”

The seasoned nurse is learning even more about health and 

wellness at USU. On course to graduate in May, Rodriguez is excited to 

continue helping people, both as a 

military officer and a volunteer.

“At work, I get to care for America’s 

best. I’m proud to serve my country 

this way,” she said. “I also get a lot 

of satisfaction knowing I’m helping 

out in other ways too, especially with 

causes important to my family.”

Photo by Thomas C. Balfour

Army Captain Le’Keisha Rodriguez

Continued from page 2

Wins prestigious 

James Leonard Award