A new Institute of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Kentucky will integrate and leverage large data systems across the academic and medical enterprise to improve patient care, research and education. GQ Zhang, Ph.D., will join UK Aug. 1 as director of the institute. He will also serve as chief of the newly established biomedical informatics division in the UK College of Medicine and co-director of the biomedical informatics core of the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

The UK College of Medicine will hold the Class of 2019 White Coat Ceremony on Friday, July 31, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. at the Singletary Center for the Arts located at 405 Rose Street.

The ceremony will include a formal presentation and donning of the incoming students first white coat by faculty and alumni, a universal symbol of compassion and humanism in medicine, in addition to a recitation of the Pledge of Professionalism. 

The UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health (CERH) is among an elite group of organizations who have been named as Gold Fit-Friendly Worksites by the American Heart Association. 

“UK CERH received the gold level award upon meeting key criteria that is set forth by the American Heart Association that demonstrate a strong commitment to providing a healthy workplace for employees,” said Dr. Fran Feltner, director of the UK CERH.

Principal Investigators and Study Teams:

A cardiothoracic surgery resident’s clinical research paper was among the top three finishers at a competition on trauma at the annual meeting of the Association of Veterans Administration Surgeons (AVAS) in Miami Beach last May. As a result, it will be presented as one of the regional finalists in the American College of Surgeons – Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) Region 13-VA clinical research competition later this year.

Michael Bolanos, MD

The Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Society recently named Brad St. Martin, Class of 2017, as a 2015 Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship Award recipient. AOA presents this research fellowship award annually to encourage and support student research.

Regenerative medicine is a relatively new concept in the U.S., although research into the use of stem cells to treat disease is more established in Europe. Since stem cells have the ability to differentiate into any type of cell, they have the potential to foster the repair of damaged tissue. As such, stem cell therapy offers great promise in the development of medical treatments for a wide range of conditions — including heart attacks.

On March 30 and 31st the University of Kentucky hosted a total of 150 students from Oneida and Manchester elementary schools in Clay County Kentucky. These students are participants in a study called The Clay County Clock Study funded by CCTS. The co-PIs of the study, Jody Clasey from Kinesiology and Karyn Esser from Physiology, arranged for the students to get a “hands on” look at science at UK. The students did 4 rotations around campus including Engineering, Cardiology, Human Performance, and Microbiology. Dr. Beth Garvy, with help from Dr.

Congratulations to Animesh Dhara Ph.D.(postdoc) and Elizabeth Watts B.S. (lab manager) from the Sinai Lab for each having been recognized as presenting the best posters at the 13^th International Congress on Toxoplasmosis and T. gondii Biology held in Gettysburg PA.  Animesh and Elizabeth’s posters were selected on the basis of both the quality of the work, its display and presentation.  The top 12 posters out of a total of 221 poster presentations were chosen by the attendees at the conference for this honor.

Dr. Michael Lynch, middle, with Dr. Bruce Mast, Glancy Competition Chair and Dr. Henry Vasconez,
SESPRS President and Chief of UK Plastic Surgery