Showing results for Summer 2017

The newly established Brown Center for Immunotherapy at Indiana University School of Medicine will discover innovative ways to deploy immune-based therapies to treat cancers and pioneer the use of this powerful technology in other diseases. “Immunology is the right place for a big investment. It is clear to me that this is the most exciting area in all of science,” said Don Brown, MD, a 1985 graduate of IU School of Medicine who made a $30 million gift to establish […]

SHAYNA GAMM is hesitant but honest. “Do you think you have ever had a concussion?” I ask. It’s a balmy Thursday in August. She’s fidgeting near a turn of an indoor track in Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Indiana. Gamm plays softball. A catcher, the California native transferred to Indiana University from a junior college outside Chicago. “Yes, I have had a concussion,” she answers. “I had one in the fifth grade.” Sure, her head—encased in a plastic shell—has taken […]

IN APRIL 1954, David Nahrwold, then a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis, sat across from his academic advisor—“an English professor with long hair down to his shoulders”—and had a frank conversation about his likelihood of getting into medical school. The advisor did not seem impressed by his smattering of As and Bs. “He evidently thought I could do a lot better than I was doing,” Nahrwold says. “He said I probably wouldn’t get into med school at Wash […]

INSIDE A cramped meeting room, the squeak of a felt tip on a white board cracked the silence. Standing before 10 future physicians, Bob Ehresman, MD, explained how to craft a note on a patient’s chart, detailing how he would document symptoms for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The medical students from Indiana University School of Medicine–Terre Haute nodded slowly and furiously wrote down his advice. They had plenty of questions about other topics, too. What if a patient needs a […]

DAVE ROBERTS is all about speed. The North Carolina-based businessman cultivated a love of racing at an early age and has amassed a collection of autos that would make any fan jealous. There’s the 1978 Indy car that ran in the 500. A coveted ’16 Porsche and an ’08 Corvette. And the ’69 yellow-and-blue Camaro he partnered with Indy Car driver Alex Lloyd to race in the 2016 pro-am Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The multinational […]

SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently announced plans to fly two space tourists on a trip around the moon, but one Indiana University School of Medicine researcher won’t have to wait for her chance to soar above the Earth. Melissa Kacena, PhD, who will be promoted to professor of orthopaedic surgery effective July 1, has already launched into space aboard one of Musk’s rockets—or at least one of her experiments has. In partnership with NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense, […]

SHERRY PERCIFUL was in the throes of planning her daughter’s wedding in fall 2015 when she noticed that her right breast felt sore. Life was hectic, and she couldn’t find a lump, so she held off seeing a doctor until after the Christmas holidays. By then, the nagging sore had turned into something more: Her breast was inflamed and hot to the touch. “As soon as I saw the doctor and he looked at it, his face sort of scrunched […]

JAY L. HESS, MD, PhD, MHSA, the 10th dean of Indiana University School of Medicine, the largest medical school in the country. He sat down to discuss research, medical education and where patient care is headed. What do you see as the greatest opportunity in medicine? It is now possible to have all the genetic information for many diseases—in particular, cancer—and we are beginning to understand how to use that information. Taken together with some remarkable advances in immunotherapy, I […]