SUMC in the News (09/14/06)

Press release

Critical blood shortage: Stanford center urges residents to donate
Area blood supplies are critically low, and the Stanford Blood Center is asking potential donors, especially those with type-O blood, to visit their local blood center to donate today.

Print media coverage

San Jose Mercury News, 09/14/06
AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
In this piece, Ruthann Richter, director of media relations in the Office of Communication & Public Affairs, discusses how children are often ignored when it comes to the AIDS epidemic. Richter recently attended the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

With blood supplies running low, plea goes out for donors
This brief news items mentions the Bay Area blood shortage.

CBSNews.com, 09/14/06
Heart transplant patient OK after 28 yrs
An Ohio man is the longest living person with the same transplanted heart; he had his transplant at Stanford. The late Norman Shumway, a Stanford surgeon who performed the first U.S. heart transplant, is referenced in this Associated Press article. The piece also appears on Forbes.com, FOXNews.com and on the websites of numerous newspapers, including the New York Times, San Jose Mercury News and Washington Post.

Wired.com, 09/14/06
Old drug could fix hearts
The NIH is launching a study testing the use of a common hypertension drug to treat Marfan syndrome, a genetic disease that affects the connective tissue. Uta Francke, professor of genetics and pediatrics, is referenced.

Chronicle of Higher Education, 09/13/06
Stanford cracks down on drug-company gifts to physicians
Stanford has joined a small cadre of other major academic medical centers in enacting a policy aimed at limiting the potential influence of pharmaceutical and other biomedical companies in its day-to-day clinical and educational activities. Philip Pizzo, medical school dean, and David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (SCBE), are quoted in this online article. A similar article appears on Palo Alto Online; Pizzo and Harry Greenberg, the Joseph D. Grant Professor and senior associate dean of research, are quoted.

The new policy was also discussed on numerous blogs.

http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/09/stanfords-new-conflict-of-interest.html
http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/2006/09/stanford_yale_and_upenn_cut_fr.html
http://garrettsparks.blogspot.com/2006/09/medicine-stanford-behind-again-gets.html
http://blog.bioethics.net/2006/09/stanford-no-more-small-gifts.html
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/2006/09/no_more_drug_company_payoffs_f.html

San Jose Mercury News, 09/13/06
VC deals: Drug firm gets $21 million in first round
Alvine Pharmaceuticals raised $21 million in a first round of venture funding. Alvine, which is focused on developing drugs to treat celiac sprue, has an intellectual property portfolio licensed from Stanford.

Forbes.com 09/13/06
Health tip: Bathing your baby
This brief item from HealthDay lists tips from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital on how to bathe your baby.

Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 09/13/06
Memorial shuts kidney transplant program (No online version available)
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital is closing its 18-year-old kidney transplant program and redirecting nearly 100 patients awaiting new organs to other area hospitals, including Stanford.

Broadcast media coverage

KTVU-TV, 09/14/06
This segment discussed the critically low blood supplies at the Stanford Blood Center.

KNTV-TV, 09/13/06
Mildred Cho, associate professor of pediatrics and associate director of the SCBE, was featured in this segment on the medical center's new policy on industry gifts. Philip Pizzo discussed the policy on KQED-FM, and David Magnus was interviewed by KCBS-AM. The policy was also mentioned during segments on KFWB-AM (Los Angeles) and WTIC-AM (Hartford, Conn.).