Seattle writer Wendy Call has been immersing herself in the topic of grief and loss — her own and others. From the beginning of June until last Friday, July 16, she was the writer-in-residence at Harborview Medical Center. There she helped patients navigate challenging medical conditions and end-of-life experiences through writing and storytelling.

“I’m interested in how people create meaning from their lives and how people create a coherent narrative from what seems to be a bunch of random events in their lives,” Call said.

“One of the things that’s struck me as I’ve been following around spiritual care and palliative care staff at Harborview is that over and over you see the patients and the patients’ family members trying to construct a narrative out of really bad luck. You see people going back and pulling out the details of a life to try to create some sense out of horrible things that have happened.”

Call said that people often turn to writing and storytelling when they are in grief or are enduring an upheaval in their lives.

One such person was Michelle Alfonso-Buske, a patient at Harborview since June 9. Alfonso-Buske struggles to come to terms with where she is in her life’s journey.

“One day, I woke up like this: I was paralyzed. Out of the blue. Now, I’m paralyzed from the waist down,” Alfonso-Buske said. “It hits me sometimes real hard; I know it’s going to shorten my life. I thought I was going to last a bit longer…I never envisioned being like this, not with what I’ve been through in this life.

“I signed up for palliative care. But, my No. 1 goal is to get home. If I’m going to die, let me die at home and not in pain.”

Alfonso-Buske’s husband Bob recalled the accident that changed his wife’s life.

“Michelle has osteoporosis and uses a little electric cart to ride around in the store. We were in the pharmacy department at a local retailer reading the backs of vitamin bottles. This gentleman had loaded a cart up full of cases of bottled water stacked so high he couldn’t see where he was going. He bumped the back of Michelle’s cart and all the cases of water started falling one at a time and peppered her from her head all the way down and knocked her all the way out. Ever since then, her bones were so bad anyway, that they just starting to dissolve from the osteoporosis she’s had over the years. She actually shrunk from 5’3″ to 4’10”. And, now her ribcage is sitting on her hips and it really bothers her. That’s how this all came about. It’s been a slow process. It’s been three and a half years and now we’re into this part of it now.”

Over the course of days and hours, Call heard many of Alfonso-Burke’s stories, some coherent, others not because of the confusion caused by the morphine she was given for pain. Stories of losing her dad; of riding horses in her youth; of going on a small-vessel cruise with her husband Bob Buske and swimming in the frigid waters of Admiralty Inlet; and of her home and horses in “God’s country”—Ravensdale, Wash.

Alfonso-Buske said Call was a wonderful and welcome presence during the long days and nights of her hospitalization. “Wendy is someone to talk to; she listens to me; she hears my frustrations and it’s helpful for me to get those out.

“Wendy’s a very giving person. And, she’s quiet when she needs to be. Wendy just sat there with her computer. There were times when you wouldn’t know she was there except I could hear the keyboard going.”

During the course of her residency, Call used the practice of just sitting and listening, one she deftly cultivated while caring for her mother, whom she lost to pancreatic cancer in 2007. She plans to include parts of some of the patient stories in a series of essays to be published in the future.

“If you spend time, you hear the person’s life narrative…and that’s a gift,” Call said.

“As my mother got sicker and life kind of slowed down more and more and more, one thing that was interesting to me was that it didn’t get boring, even repetitive tasks. There was something quite lovely about just sitting…with my mom…all day. When people choose to try and avoid the most poignant and sharp parts of grief by not spending time with people who are dying, they lose that gift.”

In addition to spending time with patients one on one, Call also met with patient support groups and with therapy groups andconducted writing workshops to help patients express themselves more fully as they worked to return to health. Her hope is that patients find healing power through expression of their own stories.

“I hope this will be useful to them in finding a way to figure out what their story is…and help them process complex and contradictory emotions.”

Call’s residency was supported by grants from 4Culture and the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

A group of researchers led by Dr. Charles “Chuck” Murry, 91̽»¨professor of pathology and bioengineering, has received a $12.6 million grant to fund research in stem cells and cardiovascular repair. The grant will be funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.

“We’ve mounted an ambitious program to regenerate the heart and to get to clinical trials,” said Murry, principal investigator in the study. Murry is director of the Center for Cardiovascular Biology at 91̽»¨and co-director of 91̽»¨Medicine’s Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine.

Over the next five years, an interdisciplinary team of scientists will work on three “pre-clinical” research projects that will move scientists closer to conducting clinical trials. The first project will focus on the biology of graft vascularization.

“To grow active heart muscle, we need to grow a rich blood supply with both capillaries and large arteries that feed the muscle. So we must remuscularize the heart by simultaneously revascularizing it,” Murry said. “We hypothesize that by enhancing both microvascular growth such as capillaries and the formation of conducting arteries we will be more successful in complete cardiac repair,” Murry said.

The second project will explore the electrophysiology of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and their integration and electrical effects after transplantation into the damaged heart.

“We will look at the electrical aspects of repairing the heart by introducing new cells that will generate pacemaker and working muscle cells. We need to know how to electrically coordinate the mechanics of our new tissue and the heart without disturbing its rhythm.”

The third project will investigate the role played by adult stem cells (marrow stromal cells) in promoting the survival of transplanted heart muscle cells, the prevention of their rejection and the growth of new blood vessels into the transplanted area.

Other researchers on the project are Daniel Bowen-Pope, professor of pathology; Michael LaFlamme, assistant professor of pathology; William Mahoney, assistant professor of pathology; Stephen Schwartz, professor of pathology; Elina Minami, assistant professor of medicine/cardiology, L. Fernando Santana, associate professor of physiology and biophysics, and Beverly Torok-Storb, member and associate program head of the Transplantation Biology Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

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Dr. John T. Slattery, vice dean for research and graduate education in the School of Medicine, has been selected chair-elect of the pharmaceutical sciences section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was selected at this year’s annual meeting this past February in San Diego. He will become chair of the section at the association’s annual meeting, Feb. 17-21, 2011, in Washington, DC.

Slattery has been in his current position at the 91̽»¨School of Medicine since October 2005. Prior to that he was the associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School at the University of Indiana. He was also a professor of medicine, biology, pharmacology and toxicology, in addition to his administrative position.

Before moving to Indiana in 2003, Slattery was a professor of pharmaceutics in the 91̽»¨School of Pharmacy and a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in addition to his role in the Graduate School. From 1997 to 2002, he directed the UW’s Office of Scholarly Integrity. He was a member of numerous university-wide committees and chaired the Animal Care Committee in 1985-86.

Slattery came to the 91̽»¨in 1978 as an assistant professor of pharmaceutics. From 1982 until 2002, he also held an adjunct appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin and his doctoral degree in pharmaceutics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association. AAAS publishes the journal Science.

Six health sciences students have been named 2010 Magnuson Scholars, one of the highest awards given by the University. This year’s awardees are: Elizabeth K. Babler, School of Nursing; John D. Chapman, School of Pharmacy; Gregory P. Levin, School of Public Health; Carrie A. Moylan, School of Social Wok; Amir Seifi, School of Dentistry; and Tyler L. Quest, School of Medicine.

Each year the University names six Magnuson Scholars, one from each of the six 91̽»¨health sciences schools. The scholars are selected on the basis of their academic performance and their potential contributions to research in the health sciences.

The Magnuson Scholars program was established in the name of the late Sen. Warren G. Magnuson. The senator was committed to improving the nation’s health through biomedical research and was instrumental in establishing the National Institutes of Health, Medicare and Medicaid during his long career in the United States Senate.

This years Magnuson Scholars are:

Elizabeth K. Babler, (Nursing)

Elizabeth earned a master of nursing degree from the 91̽»¨in 1998 and began the doctoral in nursing science program in 2008. A long-time Washington state resident and an accomplished nurse practitioner, Elizabeth has provided specialty care in endocrinology and diabetes to countless patients at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, Wash. for over a decade. Her current research is on the development of a theoretical paradigm regarding needle anxiety in patients with pediatric diabetes. Upon completion of her degree, she will seek a tenure-track faculty position in a university setting where she can educate the next generation of nurses to generate and disseminate new knowledge related to pediatric diabetes. Elizabeth was born in Milwaukee, Wisc. She is married and has four sons and two grandchildren. She is an avid quilter, loves to read, and enjoys the outdoors.

John D. Chapman (Pharmacy)

John attended the University of Arizona for his undergraduate degree where he studied biochemistry and molecular biophysics, molecular biology, and chemistry. He recently moved to Seattle to join the Department of Medicinal Chemistry as a graduate student. Currently, he is a member of David Goodlett’s Lab where he utilizes proteomic and mass spectrometry techniques to understand clinically relevant research questions. One application of this is to map the protein expression changes observed in the development of Type 1 diabetes in an effort to enhance early patient detection and increase patient awareness. John was born and reared in Gilbert, Az. He is the youngest of three brothers and one sister. In his free time, John enjoys working out, playing basketball, exploring the city of Seattle, and taking advantage of all the amazing outdoor activities right in his own backyard.

Gregory P. Levin (Public Health)

Gregory received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Bowdoin College in Maine. He is a doctoral student in the 91̽»¨Department of Biostatistics and is primarily interested in the design and conduct of clinical trials. He is beginning his dissertation research aimed at expanding the statistical methodology available for the application of adaptive clinical trials. As a member of a nephrology and epidemiology working group at the UW, he is also involved in several research projects aimed at better understanding chronic conditions such as kidney disease and diabetes. Gregory’s long-term goal is to pursue a career in clinical trial research at a national institution such as the National Institutes of Health or the Food and Drug Administration. Gregory grew up in Massachusetts. He plays several sports, including basketball and soccer, and also enjoys hiking and traveling. His brother Michael is a dentist on the East Coast and his girlfriend Priya is a law student in California.

Carrie A. Movlan (Social Work)

Carrie received a bachelor’s degree in sociology and women’s studies from Oberlin College and her master’s in social work from the University of Michigan. She worked with sexual assault and domestic violence survivors for seven years, including providing crisis intervention, counseling, and group facilitation. She also established a teen outreach and education program, trained countless volunteers, and worked on improving services to sexual assault survivors, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) survivors, and teen survivors. Her current research focuses on how communities and organizations can enhance their ability to work inter-professionally in order to respond to victims of violence in a way that reduces the negative consequences associated with such violence. When Carrie is not working on her career, she is knitting, spending time with her partner, or playing with the cutest and sweetest one-year-old boy ever!

Amir Seifi (Dentistry)

Amir received his D.D.S. degree from Tehran School of Dentistry in 2002. He began his doctoral studies in oral biology at the 91̽»¨in 2005. His research is on the biology and pathogenesis of herpes viruses in the oral cavity. He has been studying the infection of the oral epithelium with herpes viruses and the processes through which the virus causes oral diseases and cancers. Amir is also an oral medicine resident. During his residency, Amir will be extending a part of his research on the infection of the oral mucosa with major herpes viruses into clinical settings. He also works in the DECOD (Dental Education in the  Care of Persons with Disabilities) Clinic which provides dental care for patients with disabilities. Amir hopes to pursue his research and clinical goals in an academic environment where he can teach and perform research and collaborate with other scientists in the area of his interest. Amir was born in Tehran, Iran. Swimming, biking, and enjoying a cup of tea with good friends are his hobbies. He attributes his success in receiving the prestigious Magnuson Scholars award to his father, a pediatrician, and mother, a retired biology teacher.

Tyler L. Quest (Medicine)

Tyler completed his first year of medical school at the University of Wyoming WWAMI site and is pursuing a long-held interest in diabetes research. During his undergraduate education at the University of Wyoming, Tyler studied the impacts of diabetes and obesity on fetal development and spent summers working as a dialysis technician with patients at the Wyoming Kidney Center. He is currently pursuing research on diabetes and hopes to develop new prevention methods for diabetes and obesity. Tyler, a member of the Potawatomi nation, is also interested in Native American health issues. He credits his interest in medicine to early exposure by his parents. His mother, a nurse, and his father, a pharmacist, often talked about their work and allowed Tyler and his younger to occasionally visit their workplaces. Tyler enjoys working with children, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. He is looking forward to living in Seattle after enjoying Wyoming for the past 24 years.

The recent passage of federal health care reform legislation begs the question: Will there be enough primary-care physicians and high-need specialists to meet the increased demand?

The 91̽»¨School of Medicine has launched the Targeted Rural-Underserved Track (TRUST) program to recruit and train more medical students for careers in primary care and high-need specialties, such as general surgery and obstetrics and gynecology. 91̽»¨medical students in the track prepare to serve in rural and medically underserved areas in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) region. TRUST connects underserved communities, the 91̽»¨School of Medicine, and residency programs in efforts to meet the health workforce needs of the region.

The TRUST co-directors are Dr. Suzanne Allen, 91̽»¨Medicine vice dean of regional affairs, and Dr. Tom Greer, 91̽»¨Medicine professor of family medicine and director of medical student programs, Department of Family Medicine.

“Our goal is to increase the number of medical students who choose residencies in primary care or other needed specialties, and to increase the number of those who want to practice in rural and underserved areas throughout the WWAMI region.” said Greer.

The TRUST program creates an integrated pathway for medical students interested in rural or underserved medicine. The program builds on the successes of the School of Medicine’s existing programs that give students experience working with these populations, including Rural/Underserved Opportunities Program (R/UOP), WWAMI Rural Integrated Training Experience (WRITE) program, and the , which provides a curriculum and training on health issues affecting migrant workers, people who are homeless or improverished, and other populations lacking adequate health care, as well as the chance to do policy research.

The TRUST program creates a continuum that begins by selecting students who desire to practice rural or underserved medicine and then educating and supporting them in this career interest throughout medical school.

Selected students participate in a clinical experience before starting medical school, take specific TRUST courses, and are required to participate in R/UOP and WRITE. During the summer after their first year of medical school, places them one-on-one with a physician practicing in a rural or inner city location. enables students further along in their medical education to train with a rural doctor for five months.

The TRUST students also have at least two faculty mentors — one from their home region and one from the School of Medicine’s . The program then will assist students with placement into rural- and underserved-focused residency programs, with the eventual goal of having new physicians practice in these areas of need.

was the first state to implement the program in 2008; was added as a TRUST site in 2009. About five TRUST students per state are admitted each year.

The program receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under an Academic Administrative Units in Primary Care grant. The funding comes under the Public Health Service Act, Title VII, Section 747.

The program is administered through the and the Montana and the Eastern & Central Washington regional offices of the . For more information, visit the TRUST program .

See also   in the latest issue of 91̽»¨Medicine, a magazine for alumni and friends of the .

A panel discussion on “New Discoveries in Medicine: Implications for the Cost and Quality of American Health Care” will be presented from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 6, in Kane Hall.

The event is free and open to the general public. It is being held in conjunction with the 91̽»¨Department of Genome Sciences’ Ninth Annual Symposium.

The panelists are leading thinkers in health care and medical research:

• Eric Larson, executive director and senior investigator at Group Health Cooperative, Seattle;
  
• Barbara McNeil, professor and head of the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University;
  
• Paul Ramsey, chief executive officer of 91̽»¨Medicine, executive vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, UW; and
  
• Roger Perlmutter, executive vice president of research and development, Amgen Corporation, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The panel will be moderated by Jay Shendure, 91̽»¨assistant professor of genome sciences.

The Genome Sciences Symposium will take place the next day at the 91̽»¨Health Sciences Center.

The theme will be “New Technologies for Early Detection and Diagnosis of Disease.” A series of  scientific talks will be given from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in Hogness Auditorium, A-420 Health Sciences Bldg.

The speakers will be:

• Ruedi Aebersold, Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, Zurich, Switzerland;
  
• Richard Caprioli, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine;
  
• Robert Gerszten, Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Cardiology and Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases;
  
• Joshua LaBaer, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University;
  
• Elaine Mardis, Washington University Genome Sequencing Center;
  
• Amanda G. Paulovich, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and
  
• Stephen Quake, Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

For more information, please contact Carlene Cross at 206-221-5374.

Chris Martin, the new executive director of Airlift Northwest, didn’t hit the ground running when she came on board in March. She took flight!

“I committed to the staff when I first took this job that I would fly with them. It was the only way for me to fully understand what the crew does,” Martin said.

After 23 years overseeing emergent care as the administrative director of emergency services at Harborview Medical Center, Martin was used to being at the receiving end of Airlift Northwest’s transports. Flying with her new team gives her a totally different perspective.

“Although I had always been incredibly impressed with how professional and excellent the critical care nurses were when I was at Harborview, watching them in action speaks volumes,” she said. “Watching the nurses, the pilot and staff work seamlessly in emergent situations in such a tightly confined space, gives new meaning to providing critical care in the air. My goal is to continue to fly at least once a month.”

Martin’s operational and strategic goals were to bring financial stability to the organization in a rough economy and “to do a lot of outreach” to educate the public and providers about the services of Airlift Northwest.

So far, Martin has visited all of Airlift Northwest’s bases (Juneau, Alaska; and Seattle, Arlington, Bellingham and Olympia, Wash.) and many of the pre-hospital providers, such as fire departments and emergency medical services, and hospital providers in the WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) region.

“We’re talking with hospital administrators and emergency directors about the best ways to meet the needs of patients in a timely and affordable fashion. We’re looking at which providers would be natural partners in the WWAMI region. That’s part of our strategic plan.”

One of the services that Airlift Northwest provides is AirCare, a membership service for residents in western Washington and Southeast Alaska.

Airlift Northwest AirCare was developed to provide communities in Alaska and Washington with high-quality air medical service at the most affordable cost. While Medicare and some insurance policies may provide partial coverage for air ambulance transport charges, many do not. Under the AirCare program, when Airlift Northwest is requested by a medical facility or an emergency response team to fly a critically ill or injured patient to appropriate medical care, the portion of the Airlift Northwest bill that isn’t covered by insurance or Medicare is paid through membership.

For outlying areas, AirLift Northwest is a lifeline to complex critical care for trauma, cardiac or stroke. Its services are especially vital in these cases because of the time constraints in delivering definitive care.

“Many people don’t know that we receive no tax-based funding like many fire departments and emergency medical services. We are a not-for-profit. All of our revenues go to cover expenses and go into operations — providing aircraft, pilots, mechanics, nurses and staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Martin said that what she enjoys most about her new job is similar to what she enjoyed about her job at Harborview: the people and the mission.

“At Harborview we provided top-notch medical care to anyone, no matter what. At Airlift Northwest, we fly anyone, no matter what. Both are regional gems, that shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

David Cutler, the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University Department of Economics, will give the 19th Hogness Symposium on Health Care lecture Friday, Nov. 13, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Hogness Auditorium, A-420 Health Sciences Center. The title of his lecture is Health Care Reform: The Real Story.

Cutler has served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration and was senior health care adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. He is the author of Your Money or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America’s Health Care System (Oxford University Press). He was recently named one of the 30 people who could have a powerful impact on health care by Modern Healthcare magazine. Cutler is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic research and a member of the Institute of Medicine.

Cutler’s work in public economics and health economics has earned him academic and public acclaim.

At the beginning of his career, Cutler said he was mostly interested in government spending and public sector economics, but that changed over time.

“When the role of health care became prominent on the public agenda in the ‘80s, I realized that there was an inevitability that the economics of the government sector and the private sector have to be simultaneously embraced in the discussion of health care reform. You can’t embrace one without the other,” he said.

In current health care reform discussions, the debate about the public option has received the most media coverage, but Cutler contends that that’s not the key issue in health care.

“Public options matter, but the real story revolves around two things: One, How are we going to get health care coverage to all Americans and how are we going to pay for it. Two, How do we provide higher quality health care at lower costs. Health care reform must be about those two issues.

“Most experts believe that America’s health care could be made less expensive and of higher quality, simultaneously. We’ve got to talk about incentives for true health care reform.”

Cutler said that the current health care economy in the United States is based on sickness rather than on health.

“Doctors get paid for seeing more patients and performing more procedures, but not for delivering high-quality and cost-effective medicine,” he said. “We should be talking about making keeping people healthy as being more lucrative than keeping them sick. We should be talking about making it more lucrative to work with people for their health, than abandoning them when they are sick.”

Cutler, as an adviser to the Barack Obama presidential campaign, has noted that rewarding hospitals and doctors for patient outcomes; identifying best providers, treatments and patient management strategies; and guaranteeing access to preventive services are among the most cost-effective ways of delivering high quality health care. Ultimately, Cutler said, health care reform will depend on the participation of everyone — patients, health care providers, insurers, and government.

“People have to trust that the system is designed to work for them.”

Cutler said he is optimistic about the progress being made in designing a health care package that makes high-quality cost-effective health care more accessible to more Americans. He added that the Puget Sound area could be a model for the rest of the country.

“Medical care in the Puget Sound area is extremely high quality and a model for the country. There’s an ethic in the area that caring for patients is important and not just making money. That’s not true in all parts of the country. You don’t see that ethic in areas of the country that are poor health care performers.”