U pediatrician receives national recognition

J. Michael Dean, professor and vice chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the U, received the 2005 Distinguished Career Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics in November for his achievements in the field of pediatric critical care.

Dean was the sole recipient of the award from the academy’s critical care section at its national conference in Washington, D.C.Dean has also served on the U Medical Group Board and Executive Committee.

University Hospital

Foundation hires new

development directors

The University Hospital Foundation at the U’s Health Sciences Center hired Andrea Barnes and Dennis Jolley as its two new development directors.

Barnes came from the Waterford School in Sandy, where she was the director of development and oversaw the funding of the fine arts complex as well as annual and scholarship funds. Jolley was the head of The Joanne and Richard McGillis School in Salt Lake City. He directed the renovation of the campus and established the school’s first capital campaign.

Health director appointed to chair National Practice

Guidelines Committee

Kurt Hegmann, director of the U’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, was appointed to head the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s Practice Guidelines Committee. The ACOEM practice guidelines were established for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and pinched nerves.

Several other states are also adopting the guidelines, and the committee was recently credited with a 35 percent reduction in worker compensation costs in California.

U doctor revives

National MS Society award

Paul LaStayo, associate professor of physical therapy, was awarded $44,000 to explore the positive effects of exercise on people with multiple sclerosis from the Utah State Chapter of the National MS Society.

LaStayo is one of 300 investigators worldwide whose work is supported by the society.

LaStayo will be developing an exercise program that can improve muscle strength and keep energy levels high.

MS is a chronic neurological disease with symptoms including muscle spasms, numbness in limbs and paralysis.

School of Medicine’s new

research building opens

The $46 million Emma Eccles Jones Medical Research Building opened Nov. 29.

The building includes 21 state-of-the-art laboratories and brings together various U researchers who were previously in separate buildings, including the department of biochemistry and the pathology department’s division of cell biology and immunology.

U researchers and professors Wesley Sundquist and Christopher Hill, who recently published their work on the AIDS virus, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Compiled by Morgan Ratcliffe