SUMC in the News (09/18/06)

Print media coverage

San Jose Mercury News, 09/18/06
Banishing doctors' conflict of interest
This editorial expresses support for a new Stanford 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, is mentioned. Similar editorials appear in the Los Angeles Times and Galveston County Daily News (Galveston, Texas). Pizzo, along with Harry Greenberg, the Joseph D. Grant Professor and senior associate dean of research, and Lawrence Shuer, professor of neurosurgery and chief-of-staff at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, are also featured in an Oakland Tribune story on the policy. That article also appears in the Alameda Times-Star, Hayward Daily Review, Oroville Mercury-Register (Oroville, Calif.) and San Mateo County Times. David Magnus, director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (SCBE), is also quoted in a Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) article.

Several letters to the Los Angeles Times editor also focused on the new policy.

Orange County Register, 09/18/06
In California, a new gold rush in under way
This article, which appears on the websites of numerous newspapers, discusses how California universities, researchers and companies are all investing in stem cell research. Christopher Scott, executive director of the Program on Stem Cells and Society in the SCBE, provides comment.

San Francisco Chronicle, 09/17/06
Stanford's odd couples: model for innovation
This article on interdisciplinary research discusses work being done in Stanford's Bio-X program. Jacques Van Dam, professor of medicine, and Harvey Cohen, the Arline and Pete Harman Professor for the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, are featured here. John Hennessy, university president, is also quoted.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 09/17/06
Lack of eggs stymies labs
Stem cell researchers are grappling with a shortage of eggs that they say is crippling their work. Irving Weissman, the Virginia and DK Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation and director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, provides comment in this article, which originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

The Oregonian (Portland), 09/17/06
Waiting... and waiting for a chance to live
This lengthy article tells the story of two Oregon children waiting for heart transplants at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. David Rosenthal, associate professor of pediatrics and director of the pediatric heart failure program at Packard, and social worker Mary Burge, are quoted. A second article quoting Rosenthal and Kapil Sharma, clinical instructor of cardiothoracic surgery, discusses how waiting for a donor heart also affects physicians.

San Mateo County Times, 09/16/06
Chronic disease
This article discusses a local self-management workshop for patients with arthritis and diabetes. The workshops were developed by the Stanford Patient Education Research Center.

Danbury News-Times (Danbury, Conn.), 09/16/06
Woman going prime time for 'Extreme' donations
Medical student Jennifer Staple appeared on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Staple is the founder and CEO of Unite For Sight, a nonprofit organization that addresses preventable blindness.

South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Ind.), 09/16/06
Find first-aid fast with handy kit (scroll down)
This brief item discusses a first-aid kit designed by a Stanford emergency room physician.

San Francisco Business Times, 09/15/06
Stanford pediatric brain tumor center scores $2 million in gifts (No online version available)
The Center for Children's Brain Tumors at Packard has received $2 million in gifts from two philanthropic groups to help research a devastating central nervous system disorder in children.

Broadcast media coverage

KNBC-TV (Los Angeles), 09/15/06
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.