SUMC in the News (10/16/06)

Press release

Online diabetes self-management program being studied at Stanford
People with type-2 diabetes can learn life skills for daily management of their disease during a free online workshop and study. The workshop -"Self-Management @ Stanford: Healthier Living with Diabetes" - will last for six weeks.

Print media coverage

Chicago Tribune, 10/16/06
Obsessive shopping may be disorder
This Washington Post article mentions a Stanford study on compulsive buying disorder, a condition marked by binge buying and subsequent financial hardship. Lead author Lorrin Koran, emeritus professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is referenced in this story, which also appears in the Albany Times-Union (Albany, N.Y.), Arizona Republic, Canton Repository (Canton, Ohio), Denver Post, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.), Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Neb.), Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, N.H.), San Diego Union-Tribune, San Mateo County Times, Tacoma News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) and Tri-Valley Herald. Koran is also quoted in the Gary Post-Tribune (Gary, Ind.) and Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.); a Newsday (New York) article appears in the Los Angeles Times.

San Jose Mercury News, 10/16/06
Going abroad for health care
Alain Enthoven, a senior fellow at the Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, is quoted in this article on the rising popularity of medical tourism.

Oakland Tribune, 10/16/06
Digital mammography: Better picture, but same old squeeze (No online version available)
This article discusses digital mammography and mentions that the technology is being used at Stanford..

Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/16/06
Speaker coming to Reno to advocate stem cell research
Christopher Scott, executive director of the Program on Stem Cells and Society in the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, will discuss stem cell research as part of Aging and Ethics Week at the University of Nevada, Reno. Scott is quoted in this article.

International Herald Tribune, 10/15/06
Nobel prize winner criticizes Israeli government funding for sciences
This article discusses how Roger Kornberg, the Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor in Medicine and 2006 Nobel laureate in Chemistry, has criticized the Israeli government for cutting support to universities for sciences.

Daytona Beach News-Journal (Daytona Beach, Fla.), 10/15/06
A Nobel extra: There's justice in this world
William Nylen, a professor in Florida, attended elementary school in Sunnyvale with Andrew Fire, professor of pathology and of genetics. In this piece, he shares his reaction to the news that Fire was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

San Francisco Chronicle, 10/15/06
Pandemic seen at top threat
A group of Stanford experts discussed major crises facing the U.S. during a panel Saturday , and a threat of a pandemic tops the list. Lucy Shapiro, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor, provides comment in this article. Shapiro is also quoted in the Stanford Daily.

Seattle Times, 10/15/06
Behave or else
Many workplaces have programs aimed at getting employees healthier and reducing medical costs. This article references a Stanford study that found obese workers are paid less than their counterparts when they have employer-sponsored health insurance.

Palo Alto Daily News, 10/14/06
Stanford out-patient clinics in home stretch
Stanford Hospital plans to relocate its outpatient services to a vacant office complex in Redwood City; the facility's environmental impact report recently received unanimous approval. Larry Carr, director of government relations at the hospital, is quoted here.

Monterey County Herald, 10/14/06
Even women can go bald
Alexander Lewis, adjunct associate professor of dermatology, provides comment in this article on women and hair loss.

San Francisco Business Times, 10/13/06
Stanford woos Hopkins scientist to bolster cancer stem cell lineup (No online version available)
With the addition of Philip Beachy, Stanford's medical school has taken another step toward cementing its position as a leader in cancer stem cell research. Beachy, who is quoted here, is a professor of developmental biology who came here this month from Johns Hopkins University. Irving Weissman, the Virginia and DK Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine; Michael Clarke, the Karel H. and Avice N. Beekhuis Professor in Cancer Biology; and Matthew Scott, professor of developmental biology and genetics and bioengineering, are all mentioned in this article, which also appears in the San Jose/Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Bella Online, 10/13/06
Do cats and dogs dream?
The work of Emmanuel Mignot, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is mentioned in this article about animals and sleep.

Broadcast media coverage

WDAF-TV (Kansas City, Mo.), 10/16/06
Wallace Sampson, adjunct professor of medicine, emeritus, was interviewed for this segment on alternative medicine. Similar segments aired on KVCT-TV (Victoria, Texas) and KESQ-TV (Palm Springs, Calif.).

KCBS-AM, 10/15/06
Thanks to funding available through the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, some stem cell researchers have moved to California to do their work. Stefan Heller, an associate professor of otolaryngology who came to Stanford from Harvard in 2005, and Robert Jackler, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in Otorhinolaryngology, were interviewed for this segment.

KNX-AM (Los Angeles), 10/13/06
This segment discussed the recent Stanford study on compulsive buying. A similar segment also aired on WDRC-AM (Hartford, Conn.).