Summary and links

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News concerning our web site, events, institutional/SOM policy changes, etc.
NIH news
Recent awards to SOM faculty
School of Medicine seminars

Web site, events, policy changes, etc.

• APRIL 2012:  School of Medicine develops a document providing an overview of life safety issues for new employees, trainees, and volunteers in its research areas. This summary document is recommended for distribution to new participants in research, as a "best practice."  (The document also can be accessed from our Forms and Documents page, under General UVA and SOM Forms.)

• JULY 2012:  School of Medicine activates its "SOM Alerts" emergency notification system. SOM Alerts will allow the school to notify all employees of events affecting one or more of its facilities.  This is an opt-in system, which requires that each employee sign up for UVA Alerts.  Users can request that their alert be sent as an SMS (text) or e-mail message, or both - and to multiple addresses or devices.  (We recommend requesting multiple modalities for receiving your messages, as some systems may be non-functional or overloaded during an emergency.)  The system was scheduled for an initial test on July 2; however, a strong "derecho" storm responsible for widespread power outages in the Charlottesville area caused us to send a SOM Alert on June 30.

• OCTOBER 2012:  Several grant-making associations align their conflict of interest (COI) policies with the new Public Health Service regulations. The American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Alliance for Lupus Research, Arthritis Foundation, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure have announced that they will adopt the PHS requirements.  SOM faculty who are in compliance with the SOM COI policy also will be in compliance with these other policies.

• NOVEMBER 2012:  SOM opens registration for its Faculty Research Retreat. The retreat, which takes place on February 8 - 9, 2013 at the Boar's Head Inn, will feature William N. Hait, MD, PhD as its keynote speaker, several concurrent sessions, faculty-initiated lunch discussion sessions, and poster sessions.  Registration (deadline January 2013) and submission of proposals for lunch discussion sessions (deadline November 28, 2012) are available at the retreat web site.

NIH news

• AUGUST 2012: Public Health Service new conflict of interest (COI) policy goes into effect. The policy includes (1) increased thresholds for disclosure of external financial interests by investigators to the institution; (2) requirement that recipients of PHS funding receive periodic training on COI issues; and (3) additional institutional administrative requirements.  The SOM COI policy has been revised to reflect these additional requirements, which will become effective April 2012 with the annual request for disclosure.  The University also has revised its COI policy, effective August 24, 2012.
  

Awards to SOM faculty

• JANUARY 2012.  Dr. Richard L. Guerrant (Medicine/Infectious Diseases) has been named as one of Virginia's Outstanding Scientists by the Governor, in recognition of his distinguished research program on childhood diarrhea and how infectious disease affects child development.  More...
  
• OCTOBER 2012.  Dr. Shu Man Fu (Medicine/Rheumatology) receives the Distinguished Basic Investigator award from the American College of Rheumatology. Dr. Fu was cited for his many important research findings, including:  the secretion of TNF and lymphotoxin by activated lymphocytes; identification of CD28 and CD40 as important molecules in T- and B-cell activation and CD69 as an early lymphocyte activation marker; for mapping the C2 gene within the MHC complex; and for his contributions in B cell differentiation.  More recently, Dr. Fu has focused his studies on the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with emphasis on mechanisms of autoantibody diversification, roles of T cells in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis and SLE genetics.