Hans Kehr

Johannes Otto Kehr (April 27, 1862 – May 20, 1916) was a German surgeon and professor of surgery born in Waltershausen, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
He practiced surgery at a private clinic in Halberstädt, and from 1910 worked in Berlin. He is known for the development of operative procedures for the treatment of gall bladder and bile duct diseases.
In the late 19th century, Kehr popularized the cholecystectomy for the treatment of gallstones. He is credited with performing 2600 operations of the biliary tract during his career.
Eponyms.
His name is lent to Kehr's sign, which is in an indication of acute pain in the left shoulder associated with a ruptured spleen. Also, he popularized a device for biliary drainage that today is known as "Kehr's T-tube".


Antigenes

Antigenes () was the name of a number of people of ancient Greece:


John Melcher

John David Melcher (September 6, 1924 – April 12, 2018) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Montana as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and as a United States Senator from 1977 until 1989.
Early life.
Melcher was born in Sioux City, Iowa; his paternal grandparents were from Germany. He attended the University of Minnesota before joining the military. He served in the United States Army during World War II, and participated in the D-Day Invasion of Normandy with the 76th Infantry Division in Europe during World War II. He was wounded in action in Germany and awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman's Badge and the Bronze Star.
Melcher married Ruth Klein in 1945. They had six children.
He graduated from Iowa State University in 1950. Later he moved to Forsyth, Montana, and established a veterinary clinic.
Political career.
Melcher served on the Forsyth City Council. He then served as mayor of Forsyth in 1955, for three terms. In 1960, he was elected to the Montana House of Representatives for Rosebud County.
In 1962 he was elected to the Montana Senate. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives by special election on June 24, 1969, to fill a vacancy created when the incumbent, Republican James F. Battin, resigned to accept an appointment to the Federal bench. Melcher was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses and served from June 24, 1969, to January 3, 1977.
In 1976, he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed retiring Democratic Senator Mike Mansfield.
Melcher was re-elected in 1982 against Republican Larry R. Williams. Melcher had been targeted by National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) as potentially vulnerable, and he was subjected to attack ads depicting him as "too liberal for Montana". Melcher's response became a classic of campaign advertising, featuring a shot of an "out-of-stater" carrying a briefcase full of money, followed by a conversation among several cows deploring their intervention in the race.
His campaign for re-election in 1988 was unsuccessful; he was defeated by Republican Conrad Burns. Melcher attributed the loss to a lack of time spent campaigning. A wilderness management bill he co-sponsored was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan only days before the 1988 election.
Melcher was a candidate in the 1994 Senate election, but lost to Jack Mudd in the primary.
Political positions and legislative contributions.
Melcher had generally liberal views on environmental issues, but was pro-life and supported prayer in public schools. He was a co-sponsor of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which regulated coal strip mining.
Melcher was responsible in 1984 for an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act that required psychological well-being to be protected in primate research. This legislation was praised by Jane Goodall, and in 1987 he was the presenter to her of the Schweitzer Medal of the Animal Welfare Institute.
Later life.
After serving in the Senate, Melcher worked as a lobbyist for multiple organizations, including the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Melcher died on April 12, 2018, in Missoula, Montana, at the age of 93.


Diseases of the foot

Diseases of the foot generally are not limited, that is they are related to or manifest elsewhere in the body. However, the foot is often the first place some of these diseases or a sign or symptom of others appear. This is because of the foot's distance from the central circulation, the heart and its constant exposure to pressures from the ground and the weight of the body.
The foot may look simple but is a complex structure with 26 bones, 33 joints, numerous muscles, nerves and different ligament types. Any part of the foot can be affected. Some foot disorders may present with just a mild ache, but other foot disorders can be very serious and limit ability to walk or bear weight. Most minor cases of foot pain respond to home care treatments except when severe pain is present as it is a disabling condition and usually needs some type of medical attention. If foot pain is not treated in time, it can lead to long term disability and continuing damage to the foot.
Causes.
The most common cause of foot pain is wearing ill fitting shoes. Women often wear tight shoes that are narrow and constrictive, and thus are most prone to foot problems. Tight shoes often cause overcrowding of toes and result in a variety of structural defects. The next most common cause of foot disease is overuse or traumatic injuries.
Diagnosis.
Besides a physical examination, an x-ray MRI or an ultrasound study may be obtained to assess the soft tissues and blood vessels. Standardized questionnaires and scoring systems, like the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) foot and ankle questionnaires, can help elicit the history and physical exam necessary to make and accurate diagnosis of foot and ankle conditions.
Skin and nails.
Often there is a distinction made between conditions of the dorsal skin and plantar skin. Common examples include callus thickened skin, fungal infections of the skin (athlete's foot) or nails (onychomycosis), viral infection of verrucae, and ingrowing toenails that may cause bacterial nail infections (paronychia).
Corns and calluses are chunky tough layers of skin that develop on the foot to protect underlying skin from pressure and friction. Corns and calluses are very common and do not look pleasant. Corns and calluses generally need treatment only if they cause problems. For most people, the best treatment of corns and calluses is to eliminate the source of friction or pressure.
Ingrown toe nail is a disorder where the nail starts to grow into the soft fleshy area of the toe. It causes intense redness, pain and swelling. Ingrown toe nails often affect the big toe. The best treatment for ingrown toe nails is to get the nail partially or completely removed.
Arthritic foot conditions.
Arthritic foot conditions often present differently from arthritis other areas of the body. Achilles tendinitis results from stress on calf muscles and Achilles tendon. This strong tendon often gets inflamed while playing sports like basketball. The tendon gets irritated and does cause moderate pain . When treated promptly, the tendinitis is relieved. Sometimes, the Achilles tendon can rupture if it is overstretched. When the Achilles tendon ruptures, one may feel a sudden pop followed by sharp pain. Rupture of the Achilles tendon makes it impossible to walk.
Bunion is an abnormal bony mass that forms on the big toe and points outwards. This deformity is unsightly and painful. When the big toe enlarges at the base, it can force the other toes to crowd against each other. Over time, the big toe pushes outwards and alters the normal outline of the foot. Bunions occur for many reasons but the most common is not wearing proper shoes, arthritis and different inherited structural defects.
Flat feet (Pes planus foot) essentially means that the arch inside the foot is flat. This very common painless disorder may occur at birth or after pregnancy. Flat feet generally do not cause problems but may sometimes cause the foot to rotate inwards (pronation). There are orthotic shoe insoles (foot orthotics) that help correct flat feet. Surgery does not correct flat feet and should be avoided.
Hammer toes are unsightly and reveal a toe that is curled due to a bend in the middle joint of the toe. A hammer toe occur chiefly because the shoe is too tight at the front or the heels are too high. In such situations, the toe is strained against the front of the shoe and results in an abnormal twist. Relieving pain, pressure, changing shoe wear or wearing a type of shoe insert is adequate for most people.
Gout often presents with pain and tenderness at the base of the big toe. Generally women are more prone to gout after menopause. An acute attack of gout is intensely painful and walking on the foot is impossible. Gout is essentially a disorder caused by precipitation of uric acid crystals in the joint.
Plantar fasciitis is a very common cause of heel pain. The thick fibrous bands at the bottom of the heel get inflamed and cause excruciating pain. The pain occurs the moment you step out of bed. After a few hours, the pain does subside but can return after prolonged periods of standing. Plantar fasciitis is most common in runners, obese individuals, women who are pregnant and those who wear shoes with inadequate heel support. The treatment of this agonizing disorder involves pain control, steroid injections, proper foot wear and rest.
Pain relief.
In some cases, foot diseases and painful conditions can be treated. Synovium hydrates the cartilage in the heel and can bring pain relief quickly. Synovium gel looks as well as strongly smells like urine, straying some consumers away. However this only occurs after expiration. Blood thinners can also work however are deemed as bad relievers by medical practitioners due to the fact that they can contribute to headaches and in some cases increase foot pain afterwards.
Vascular disorders.
Atherosclerotic restriction to the arterial supply in peripheral artery occlusive disease may result in painful arterial ulcers of the ankle and foot, or give rise of gangrene of the toes and foot. Immobility of a person may result in prolonged pressure applied to the heels causing pressure sores.
Impaired venous drainage from the foot in varicose veins may sequentially result in brown haemosiderin discolouration to the ankle and foot, varicose stasis dermatitis and finally venous ulcers.
Other disorders of the foot include osteoarthritis of the joints, peripheral neuropathy and plantar warts.


Splenial

The splenial is a small bone in the lower jaw of reptiles, amphibians and birds, usually located on the lingual side (closest to the tongue) between the angular and suprangular.


David Crossman

David Christopher Crossman (born 20 July 1957) is a physician who has been the Dean of the University of St Andrews School of Medicine since 2014 and the Chief Scientist (Health) within the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government since 2017.
Early life and education.
Crossman was born in 1957 to William George and Charmian Jeanette Crossman. He has attributed his interest in cardiology to Christiaan Barnard doing the first heart transplant in 1967 while he was having his tonsils removed. Following this ambition of being a cardiologist, Crossman studied medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and in 1979 with a first class BSc in Physiology and in 1982 with an MBBS degree.
Career.
From university Crossman trained in clinical pharmacology and worked at Hammersmith Hospital in London from 1985 under Celia Oakley and Attilio Maseri before becoming Professor of Clinical Cardiology at the University of Sheffield in 1994. While in this role, Crossman was director of a National Institute for Health Research research unit. In 2011, Crossman became the Dean of Medicine at the University of East Anglia. In 2014 Crossman then moved to be the Dean and Bute Chair of Medicine at the University of St Andrews School of Medicine and also does a cardiology clinic in Kirkcaldy.
During his tenure at St. Andrews, Crossman has overseen the proposed return of degree awarding powers to the medical school as part of the Scottish Government's 'Programme for Government'.
Crossman was Chairman of the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Board within the National Institute for Health Research from 2016 to 2019, succeeding Rajesh Thakker in the role.
Chief Scientist for Health.
In November 2017 Crossman was appointed as the Chief Scientist (Health) within the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government, succeeding Professor Andrew Morris who in turn had succeeded Professor Sir John Savill. The role primarily concerns itself with managing the Scottish Govvernment's affairs within medical research in Scotland, something which Crossman has expressed enthusiasm for, describing Scotland as "best clinical research laboratory in the world" in an interview.
In this role, Crossman is one of the fifteen members of the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR).
Covid-19 Pandemic.
During the Covid-19 pandemic Crossman has served as Vice-Chairman of the Scottish Government Covid-19 advisory group and as Chair of the Scottish Government COVID-19 Test Strategy Group.


Stanislav Emelianov

Stanislav (Stas) Emelianov is a former professor of biomedical engineering at University of Texas at Austin. He is also the founder of Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Laboratory. Since August 2015, he moved to Georgia Institute of Technology, where he has been appointed as the Joseph M. Pettit Chair in Microelectronics and as a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. He is based in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering with a joint appointment in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University.


Healthcare at Home

Healthcare at Home is a pharmaceutical supplier established in 1992 by founder and former chairman Charles Walsh based in Burton on Trent.
The company supplies a wide range of pharmaceuticals and home healthcare with around 1,000 employees dealing with more than 150,000 patients a year.
In Spring 2015, Healthcare at Home reverted to using in house logistics rather than working with a third party for all deliveries.
In Autumn 2015, the company went through a full corporate rebranding, including new logos, literature, strap line and website in an attempt to re-establish the company's status in the market.
History.
In 2013 Healthcare at Home took over almost 3,000 patients from another drug delivery company, Medco Health Solutions which pulled out of the UK market. Subsequently the company struggled to maintain services. In March 2014 Healthcare at Home said that it was no longer accepting new ‘high risk’ patients such as those suffering from haemophilia or respiratory diseases like cystic fibrosis because it could not guarantee getting their drugs to them on time or in full. The company blamed IT issues and a ‘system failure’ relating to the firm’s outsourcing of its logistics and warehousing departments. Dave Roberts, chief executive of the National Clinical Homecare Association, says there are questions about whether the rapid growth and low profit margins in the sector have contributed to the situation. ‘There’s been 20% growth in this sector year on year for several years now in terms of numbers of patients – that’s a very rapid expansion. But profits in this sector are just 2-4%. That is a poor return given the extent of capital investment needed and the governance and logistics issues. As NHS budgets have fallen, all the slack has been cut out of contracts,’ Roberts added.
In its 2014 accounts Healthcare at Home, which is majority-owned by private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, reported a turnover of £1bn, with pretax profits of just £15m.
The chief executive Mike Gordon stepped down in June 2014 after the revelation that seven per cent of the firm’s 150,000 patients had not received their medication on time or in full during the last six months.
In May 2021 it was reported that the firm had missed almost 10,000 medicine deliveries when it introduced a new IT system in October 2020 and it was put in special measures by the Care Quality Commission. The inspectors found they failed to properly investigate some health and safety incidents and "did not always learn lessons when things went wrong".


Judith Kurland

Judith Kurland was a Regional Director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services during the second Clinton administration. She was appointed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala in 1997.
Kurland received her B.A. in political science from Mount Holyoke College in 1967. She served as the first Female Commissioner of the Boston Department of Health and Hospitals, Massachusetts from 1988 to 1993 and served on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, Simmons College, and the medical schools of Boston University and Tufts University. From 1983 to 1988, she was vice president of strategic planning at the New England Medical Center.
Kurland began her public career in 1967 as legislative director for Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and later served as chief of staff for former Congressman Michael J. Harrington of Massachusetts in 1973. She was on the board of trustees of Mount Holyoke College until 2000.
She served as Chief of Staff to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino from 2006 until January 2009, when she stepped down to take a job as Menino's chief of programs and partnerships. She currently is Executive Director Center for Community Democracy and Democratic Literacy McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies UMass Boston.


John Dillingham Dodson

John Dillingham Dodson (1879 in Allen County Ky – 1955 in Warren County Ky), together with Robert Yerkes proposed the Yerkes–Dodson Law relating motivation and habit. He obtained a master's degree from Harvard University and was the first PhD graduate of the psychology department of the University of Minnesota. His fate after the publication of his seminal paper with Yerkes became a mystery with inquiries first raised in 1921 and continuing through 2001. Research published in 2012 finds he spent much of his academic life teaching at the Bowling Green College of Commerce. Which became part of Western Kentucky University.


Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer

Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer (February 16, 1837 – June 16, 1914) was a German gynecologist who was a native of Guntersblum in Rhenish Hesse. He was the father of neurologist Ferdinand Adalbert Kehrer (1883–1966).
He studied medicine at the University of Giessen under Ferdinand von Ritgen (1787–1867), at Munich with Karl von Hecker (1827–1882) and in Vienna under Karl von Braun-Fernwald (1822–1891). From 1872 to 1881, he was a "full professor" of obstetrics at the University of Giessen, where he also served as director of the "Frauenklinik". In 1881 he relocated to the University of Heidelberg as chair of gynecology.
Kehrer is remembered for performing the first modern Caesarean section. It involved a transverse incision of the lower segment of the uterus, a procedure that minimizes bleeding, and is still widely used today, typically in form of the Pfannenstiel incision, a modification made by Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel in 1900.
On September 25, 1881, in the town of Meckesheim, he performed the first modern C-section. The patient was a 26-year-old woman, and the operation proved to be a success. Prior to Kehrer's operation, Caesarean sections were seldom performed, and when they were, the mortality rate of mothers was very high. The following year, Max Sanger (1853–1903), introduced the practice of suturing the uterus' Caesarean wound.
He died in Heidelberg.


Guillaume Ferrus

Guillaume-Marie-André Ferrus (2 September 1784 – 23 March 1861) was a French psychiatrist born in Château-Queyras, near Briançon, Hautes-Alpes.
He was a student of Philippe Pinel (1745–1826), and for much of his career was associated with the Bicêtre Hospital in a suburb of Paris. He was one of the founders of Société Médico-Psychologique, and was its first president (1852–53). In 1835 he was appointed inspector-general of mental institutions.
With Pinel and Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840), Ferrus was a major force regarding reform of insane asylums in early and mid-19th century France. He founded "La Ferme Sainte-Anne", which was an innovative agricultural project designed as work therapy for mental patients.
Ferrus believed that the vast majority of mental illnesses were due to a physical disorder, even if the problem was not anatomically apparent. This viewpoint led to bitter disputes with physicians such as François Leuret (1797–1851), who maintained that somatic disorders were only occasionally the cause of mental illness.


Davida Coady

Davida Coady (April 15, 1938 - May 3, 2018) was a U.S. pediatrician and international health activist. She was "devoted to the care of disadvantaged children, refugees, addicts, and lifers".
Early life and education.
Davida Coady was born Davida Taylor in Berkeley, California as an only child to Catholic parents. Her Scottish father had been a coal miner before immigrating to the US and became a shipping clerk for the University of California, Berkeley. Her mother Elizabeth Perry was a legal secretary and had grewn up in San Francisco's Mission District. Coady attended Berkeley High School, and later the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California to study music. Working in a summer diabetes camp as a counselor, she was inspired by the two female pediatricians and switched to medicine. She graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1965.
She completed her pediatric residency back on the West Coast at UCLA. To learn more about the role of nutrition in child health, Harold Brown (parasitologist) advised her to get a certificate in international nutrition at the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama in Guatemala.
Advised by Thomas Weller she also obtained a master's degree in public health at Harvard University in 1969.
Career.
After the 1967 Biafra War Coady worked as field director for Aid to Biafran Children, a non-governmental organisation to help amidst the famine, which threatened as many as 1 million people.
During the 1970s Coady worked in India with the WHO Programme on smallpox eradication.
In the 1980s, she spent time in Latin America working with refugees. She worked for the Peace Corps, including a stint as acting medical director.
In 1993, Coady became president of the Hesperian Foundation after founder David Werner was forced to resign due to allegations of sexual relationships with underage boys in Mexico.
In 1998, Catholic Charities named her the "Bay Area Catholic Woman of the Year". Mother Teresa asked her to consider become a nun and medical director in Kolkata.
In the mid-1990s, Coady was working as an emergency room physician at Oakland Children's Hospital, in California. When she realized that physical abuse in children was tightly linked to alcohol or drugs, she founded a rehabilitation program in 1996 for alcoholics and drug users which worked closely with Californian courts. The group has helped more than 10 000 men and women in the Californian prison system.
Coady participated in the annual protest against the School of Americas where US military trains soldiers from Central America; she walked alongside Dan Berrigan, Pete Seeger and Martin Sheen. She helped Cesar Chavez set up a health program for migrant workers. She joined political protests in support of migrant workers and against nuclear weapons. She was arrested about 50 times.
Personal life.
Coady married former priest Patrick Coady and divorced.
Coady struggled with alcoholism, drinking heavily until the 1990s.
She founded substance abuse centers.
In 2002, she married Tom Gorham, a recovering alcoholic, former criminal and homeless man, after they had met in prison. Gorham became the executive director of Options Recovery Services. He has said Coady was "driven by an intense desire to help people see past perceived obstacles". Coady died of ovarian cancer in a hospice in Alamo, California near her home in Berkeley.


Buehler test

The Buehler test is an "in vivo" test to screen for substances that cause human skin sensitisation (i.e. allergens). It was first proposed by Edwin Vernon Buehler in 1965 and further explained in 1980.
It is a non-adjuvant test. In the test, Guinea pigs are exposed to a high dose of the substance. They are then given a challenge dose, which is the highest dose that does not cause irritation.
The test has been largely superseded by the murine local lymph node assay.


Heinrich Adolf Gottron

Heinrich Adolf Gottron (10 March 1890 – 23 June 1974) was a German dermatologist remembered for Gottron's papules and Gottron's syndrome.


Annie Clark (physician)

Dr Ann Elizabeth Clark (1844–1925) . , which included Dr Sophia L. Jex-Blake, Isabel Thorne, Edith Pechey, Matilda Chaplin, Helen Evans and later Mary Anderson and Emily Bovell.
Life.
Clark was fifth of the 12 children of Eleanor and James Clark of Street, Somerset. She travelled to the University of Bern with Jex-Blake and Pechey to study medicine. Her graduation thesis was titled "The Ankle Joint in Man". She was licensed in medicine and midwifery by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland on 27 May 1878.
Committed to a career in medicine, Clark settled in Birmingham dedicating time to clinical work. She worked in the fields of gynaecology and anaesthesiology and became the assistant to Lawson Tait. She was entrusted with the care of Dr Jex-Blake in her later years, travelling from Birmingham to administer a treatment of anaesthetic.


NHS Constitution for England

The NHS Constitution for England is a document that sets out the objectives of the National Health Service, the rights and responsibilities of the various parties involved in health care, (patients, staff, trust boards) and the guiding principles which govern the service. First published on 21 January 2009, it was one of a number of recommendations in Lord Darzi’s report "High Quality Care for All" as part of a ten-year plan to provide the highest quality of care and service for patients in England. Previously, these rights and responsibilities had evolved in common law or through English or EU law, or were policy pledges by the NHS and UK government that have been written into the document. It can be seen as a development of the ideas that began with the introduction of the Patient's Charter in 1991.
Unlike a real constitution, the document is not itself legally enforceable, though it purports to set out the rights of patients and staff. It is fairly brief and written in plain terms. Accompanying is a handbook which gives more information to patients and staff about the document, and also provides detail on the legislation that underpins the rights. A statement of NHS accountability also gives a clear account of the NHS system of accountability, transparency and responsibility.


Faculty of Medicine, Burapha University

The Faculty of Medicine, Burapha University () is the first medical school in Eastern Thailand, located in Mueang Chonburi District, Chonburi Province. It is part of the group of Health Science Faculties of Bangsaen Campus.
History.
Funding was allocated in 1994 in a proposal to expand the 'Burapha University Health Sciences Center' into a university hospital, along with setting up a new faculty for Medicine specifically. The faculty was set up on 2 September 2002 and the Doctor of Medicine degree was approved by the group of universities on 10 February 2003 and the first cohort of 32 medical students were admitted for the 2007 academic year, following approval from the Medical Council of Thailand. The first group of students consisted only of students completing high school education in 12 provinces: Samut Prakan, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao, Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat, Prachinburi, Lopburi, Saraburi and Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, with the expectation to provide future medical personnel particularly in Eastern Thailand.


Alec Bangham

Alec Douglas Bangham FRS (10 November 1921 Manchester – 9 March 2010 Great Shelford) was a British biophysicist who first studied blood clotting mechanisms but became well known for his research on liposomes and his invention of clinically useful artificial lung surfactants.
Life.
He was the son of Donald Bangham, and Edith Kerby. He studied at the Downs School, and then Bryanston School, and proceeded to earn an MB MS in medicine from University College London.
He was appointed to Addenbrooke's Hospital, where he served as a pathologist, in the Royal Army Medical Corps, becoming a captain in 1948.
Bangham worked at the Babraham Institute in Cambridge from 1952 to 1982.
He is best known for his research on liposomes.
Family.
He was married to Rosalind; they had four children and eleven grandchildren.
His brother was Derek Bangham.


University Hospitals Association

The University Hospital Association, formerly the Association of UK University Hospitals, is a leadership body for university hospitals in the UK established in 1998. Its main focus is in teaching and research. It has offices at Woburn House, Tavistock Square, London the headquarters of Universities UK. Katie Petty-Saphon is its Chief Executive.
Membership.
The association is a membership organisation made up of 47 UK university hospitals represented by their hospital Chief Executives. It also incorporates five affiliate groups and an informal group made up of the Chairs of each member hospital. The affiliate groups look at issues surrounding hospitals from the perspective of their specific role. They are:
It also hosts the National Clinical Academic Roles Development Group for Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals, an expert advisory group that works to promote clinical academia among nurses, midwives and allied health professionals.
Previous work.
The association has produced an ‘acuity/dependency’ tool for use in assessing nurse to patient ratios in hospital wards.
The association wrote to Monitor on behalf of its English members to object to the NHS tariff proposals for 2015/6. What is proposed includes a 3.8% efficiency target and a new marginal rate rule restricting payments for specialised services to 50% of normal rates for all activity above an agreed baseline.
See also Shelford Group.


Uniting for Health Innovation

UFHI (Uniting for Health Innovation), formerly the PAHO Foundation, is a non-government organization whose purpose is to respond to existing and emerging health threats in the Americas.
UFHI was established by the Pan American Health Organization on September 5, 1968 under the name Pan American Health and Education Foundation (PAHEF). It is based in Atlanta, Georgia. As of 2020 PAHO had severed ties with the Foundation and "commenced an arbitration proceeding seeking an injunction against the Foundation's ongoing unauthorized use of PAHO's name."
UFHI works with its partners to identify and engage relevant stakeholders to develop programs, mobilize public and private sector resources, share knowledge, and convene and collaborate to improve the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age. The goal is building healthier, more secure futures for families, communities, and countries across the Americas.


American Society of Radiologic Technologists

The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT), located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a professional membership association for medical imaging technologists, radiation therapists and radiologic science students.
ASRT members may specialize in a specific area of radiologic technology, such as computed tomography, mammography, magnetic resonance imaging or nuclear medicine. ASRT provides members with continuing educational opportunities, promotes radiologic technology as a career, and monitors state and federal legislation that affects the profession. It also works with other organizations to establish standards of practice for the profession and developing educational curricula.
The ASRT is governed by an elected Board of Directors and a House of Delegates and has affiliate relationships with 54 state or local societies. Local affiliated societies operate independently of the national organization, but ASRT provides them with assistance and guidance upon request.
The ASRT provides radiologic technologists with the knowledge, resources and support they need to provide quality patient care. It achieves this mission through:
Meetings.
The ASRT conducts three educational meetings annually. Each June, it hosts an Educational Symposium that offers multiple tracks. Each fall, ASRT conducts a Radiation Therapy Conference in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology. Educational courses at this conference focus on radiation therapy and medical dosimetry. In late November or early December, it conducts the ASRT@RSNA meeting, which offers educational courses for technologists who attend the Radiological Society of North America meeting.
Publications.
 The ASRT publishes two peer-reviewed research journals. The bimonthly journal "Radiologic Technology" keeps readers informed about advances in technology and patient care. It also offers ASRT members the opportunity to earn continuing education credit through its Directed Reading program. "Radiation Therapist", published twice a year, focuses on technical advances in radiation oncology. It, too, features a Directed Reading program. "ASRT Scanner" is the society's member magazine. In addition, the ASRT operates a website, www.asrt.org, which contains news, information about the profession, educational material for patients and a variety of professional resources for radiologic technologists.
• Career Resources. The Society tracks members’ continuing education activities and maintains a CE record for each member that can be submitted as proof of continuing education. It conducts regular salary surveys of the profession, providing valuable information about income levels and trends.
• Advocacy and Representation. The ASRT monitors and responds to all legislation that affects the profession and coordinates with other organizations to establish legal minimum standards to ensure high quality patient care. The ASRT also works to educate the public about the role of radiographers in providing quality patient care and patient safety in diagnostic imaging.
• Professional Issues. The ASRT works with volunteers to develop and revise educational curricula, professional standards and practice guidelines for radiologic technologists and radiation therapists. The ASRT represents the profession in the governmental, educational and research arenas and was recently instrumental in the development of the registered radiologist assistant (R.R.A.), an advanced scope of practice for radiologic technologists.
Early history.
Within six months of Röntgen's discovery of the x-ray in 1895, physicians were using x-rays to diagnose and treat illness by physicians. However, it didn't take long for physicians to realize that to make the most effective use of their x-ray equipment, someone else had to handle the time-consuming tasks of performing x-ray examinations and developing films.2
The first x-ray technicians had a heavy load to bear. The vast majority were women, and they were expected not only to operate the x-ray equipment, but also to perform routine machine maintenance.3 These first technicians also worked in a climate indifferent to radiation protection, and the death toll among them was high. It wasn't until nearly 20 years after Roentgen's discovery that precautions such as lead aprons and film badges came into widespread use.4
Because instructional manuals were rare, the first technicians learned positioning and exposure techniques via the "hunch method."5 Despite this, many x-ray technicians were able to achieve what were then considered to be remarkable radiographic images. With no written rules, however, they found it difficult to explain their successes and could not formulate a technique that others could follow.
The plight of the x-ray technician was largely ignored until the 1920s, when the persistent work of one man — Eddy C. Jerman — finally brought education, organization and legitimacy to the x-ray technician.
In October 1920, Jerman and 13 technician acquaintances — half of whom were women — met in Chicago to establish the first national technicians society, the American Association of Radiological Technicians. The society was created "for the purpose of affording technicians an opportunity for the interchange of thoughts and ideas concerned with radiologic technique."6
The new society offered knowledge-hungry technologists the opportunity to meet and share technical advice. This process was formalized in 1929 with the debut of the society's journal, "The X-Ray Technician".
By 1932, when the association changed its name to the American Society of X-Ray Technicians, membership had reached nearly 400. Membership figures remained stable through the Depression, but surged following World War II when hundreds of military-trained radiographers returned home from the war to find jobs in civilian hospitals. The rapid increase in membership prompted the society to hire its first full-time staff person, Genevieve Eilert. In 1946, the ASXT established its headquarters in the basement of Mrs. Eilert's home in Fond du Lac, Wis. ASXT membership climbed to 2,500 in 1948 and reached 4,000 in 1952.
In the early 1950s, the ASXT made its first foray into establishing formal educational standards for the profession. Until then, training programs varied greatly in length and in the subjects covered. The ASXT presented its first standardized curriculum in 1952. It described a one-year course in x-ray technology and recommended the number of hours that should be devoted to each subject, ranging from physics and anatomy to positioning and darkroom technique. The 1952 curriculum was the first of many that the society would publish over the years as it consistently pushed for uniform educational standards for radiologic technologists.
In 1964, the association changed its name from the American Society of X-Ray Technicians to the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. The change was spurred because more and more of the society's members were nuclear medicine technologists and radiation therapists, so the term “x-ray technician” no longer accurately reflected the membership. In addition, members believed the shift from “technician” to “technologist” placed a stronger emphasis on professionalism and education. The same year, the society also changed the name of its journal to "Radiologic Technology".
The ASRT continued to grow, and by 1968 membership had reached 14,000. The organization's leaders realized it was time to move the burgeoning society from Fond du Lac, the ASRT's headquarters for more than two decades. They chose Chicago, home to nearly 100 other health care associations.
Recent history.
The late 1960s and early 1970s were a tumultuous time for the profession and for ASRT. The explosion in new technology caused a severe shortage of radiologic technologists nationwide. Once-exotic procedures such as computed tomography, mammography and sonography were becoming commonplace, and demand soared for personnel qualified to operate the equipment. Fearing that the shortage would lead to “diploma mills” that churned out technologists with little formal training, the ASRT began promoting more rigorous educational requirements and minimum national standards for medical imaging and radiation therapy personnel.
In 1968, ASRT asked the federal government to establish standards regulating the licensure of radiologic technologists. At the time, the U.S. Public Health Service estimated that there were more than 100,000 operators of x-ray equipment in the country, but only about 55,000 were certified. The ASRT supported a bill that proposed standards for the licensure of radiologic technologists. Following the issuance of the standards, states would have two years either to adopt them or to enact their own, more stringent, standards. In 1970, only four states licensed radiologic technologists.
The Consumer-Patient Radiation Health and Safety bill, as the proposed legislation was titled, had strong opponents who exerted significant political pressure. The bill was reintroduced year after year in Congress but never made it out of committee. As the ASRT continued to fight for passage of the federal bill, it also worked with the states to enact licensure laws. By 1979, nine states licensed radiologic technologists.
Finally, in 1981, Congress passed the Consumer-Patient Radiation Health and Safety Act. The Secretary of Health and Human Services was ordered to develop federal standards for the certification of radiologic technologists and the accreditation of educational programs in the radiologic sciences. The Act also required the federal government to provide the states with a model statute for licensure. However, the Act made compliance voluntary and did not impose penalties for states that ignored the standards.
The ASRT regarded enactment of the law a partial victory. In the years following its passage, increasing numbers of states began licensing radiologic technologists. By 1995, 33 states had enacted licensure laws for radiographers, 28 licensed radiation therapists and 21 licensed nuclear medicine technologists. By 2010, 39 states licensed radiographers, 34 licensed radiation therapists and 28 licensed nuclear medicine technologists.
While ASRT was working in the 1970s for regulatory standards on the governmental level, it also was introducing the profession to the concept of continuing education. In 1975, the ASRT designed a voluntary continuing education program in which technologists could earn CE points by participating in professional meetings, in-service education and self-study programs. Although voluntary, response to the CE program was strong. Within a year of its launch, more than 5,000 radiologic technologists had enrolled – a testament to their eagerness for continuing education.
By the early 1980s, the ASRT was focused on ensuring long-term financial stability for the organization while expanding its range of benefits and services to members. To do so, the organization recognized that it needed to leave Chicago. The ASRT's downtown Chicago office was the organization's single largest expense, leaving no money for investments or for future expansion of the society.
After a nationwide search, the ASRT chose Albuquerque, N.M., as its new home. Estimating that the society would be able to operate for nearly half the cost as in Chicago, it opened its office in Albuquerque in August 1983. Within four years of relocating, the ASRT went from having almost no savings to having more than $2.5 million in securities and investments.
In 1995, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) made continuing education mandatory as a condition for the annual renewal of technologists’ certification. The CE requirement had a broad impact on ASRT and its members. Although the society had offered educational materials through its annual meeting and journals since its inception in 1920, the CE mandate put the society under additional pressure to help R.T.s satisfy the ARRT requirement to earn 24 CE credits every two years. It responded by becoming one of the few organizations approved by the ARRT to perform all four CE responsibilities: developing, sponsoring and evaluating CE activities and recording technologists’ accumulated CE credits.
ASRT membership climbed from 28,500 in 1994 to 56,000 in 1996 and 70,000 in 1998. One of the efforts that benefited from ASRT's increasing size and strength was the battle for federal minimum standards. This effort was reinvigorated in 1998, when the ASRT sought to amend the 1981 Consumer-Patient Radiation Health and Safety Act to make compliance by the states mandatory. The ASRT formed a Government Relations Department, launched an exhaustive grass-roots lobbying effort and built a coalition with other radiologic science organizations to gain support for the issue on Capitol Hill.
The coalition's work led to the introduction of the Consumer Assurance of Radiologic Excellence bill (CARE bill) eight times in the House of Representatives – in 2000 by Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y.; in 2001 and 2003 by Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.; in 2005 by Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss.; in 2007 by Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; in 2009 and 2011 by Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga.; and in 2013 by Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky. The bill also was introduced in the Senate in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013 by Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo. It passed the Senate unanimously in December 2006, but the House adjourned before it could take action on the bill.
When it was reintroduced in both houses of Congress during 2007, the bill had a slightly different name. Although the acronym was still CARE, it stood for Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy. In 2014, the ASRT shifted its efforts to establish educational and certification standards from the federal level to the state level. By 2015, only five states remained that did not have any standards for personnel performing medical imaging or delivering radiation therapy.
In response to increased concern by the public over patient radiation dose, the ASRT along with The American College of Radiology, The American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the Society for Pediatric Radiology developed and launched the Image Gently Campaign which is designed to maintain high quality imaging studies while using the lowest doses and best radiation safety practices available on pediatric patients. This initiative has been endorsed and applied by a growing list of various Professional Medical organizations around the world and has received support and assistance from companies that manufacture equipment used in radiology.
Following upon the success of the Image Gently campaign, the ASRT, the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine have launched a similar campaign to address this issue in the adult population called Image Wisely.


Peter Calabresi

Peter Calabresi is an American neurology researcher, director of the Johns Hopkins Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Center and a Professor of Neurology.
Calabresi was awarded a five-year MS center grant from the National MS Society for the study of mechanisms of neurodegeneration and strategies for neuroprotection in MS.
Education.
His education includes a B.S. from Yale College in 1984 and an M.D. from Brown University in 1988.


American Asthma Foundation

The American Asthma Foundation (AAF) was a non-profit grant program that funds basic research focused on asthma. Its stated mission is to improve treatments for, prevent, and find a cure for asthma. Established in 1999, it is the largest private funder of asthma research, having awarded over $110,000,000 in grant funds to 182 scientists. It suspended its operations in 2019.
Funding Strategy.
The American Asthma Foundation employed an unusual strategy to advance basic research in asthma: nearly all AAF grant funding has supported scientists who never before studied asthma. The concept was to recruit outstanding investigators from other fields in order to bring fresh perspectives and research advances other fields to the study of asthma.
Scientific Review Board.
The AAF is guided by a scientific review board, which selects the research projects that are funded by the AAF. The board represents a broad range of scientific disciplines and is composed largely of scientists outside the field of asthma research.
Grant Program.
After 20 years of funding basic research in asthma, the American Asthma Foundation suspended funding for new grants in 2019.


Pitch in for Baseball and Softball

Pitch in for Baseball and Softball (PIFBS) is a non-profit, 501c3 charity which focuses on the collection and distribution of new and gently used baseball and softball equipment. The collected equipment is then given to youth leagues in underserved communities around the world. Since its inception in the summer of 2005, PIFBS has donated more than $9 million worth of equipment to 800,000+ children in every state in the U.S. and 100 countries internationally. PIFBS has helped leagues in the Dominican Republic, Poland, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ghana, Israel, the Ukraine, India, China and the hurricane affected Gulf Coast region of the United States.
History.
PIFBS was founded shortly after Hurricane Katrina. The organization sent donated equipment to the devastated areas to help revive their local youth baseball leagues. PIFBS continues to help communities affected by natural disasters. In June 2011, they donated a great deal of equipment to those in Joplin, Missouri after the horrific string of tornados. The organization also works will under privileged communities including those in the Philadelphia area.
Internationally, PIFBS has sent equipment to Europe and is credited with helping raise the popularity of baseball in Europe. The Uganda little league team competing in the 2012 Little League World Series received its equipment from PIFBS. This is being captured by filmmaker Jay Shapiro for the upcoming documentary Opposite Field. Shapiro spent two years in Uganda filming baseball players, and documenting the country's baseball community.
References.
10. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130702&content_id=52439232&c_id=mlb


Intensive care medicine

Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes providing life support, invasive monitoring techniques, resuscitation, and end-of-life care. Doctors in this specialty are often called intensive care physicians, critical care physicians or intensivists.
Intensive care relies on multidisciplinary teams composed of many different health professionals. Such teams often include doctors, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists, among others. They usually work together in intensive care units (ICUs) within a hospital.
Scope.
Patients are admitted to the intensive care unit if their medical needs are greater than what the general hospital ward can provide. Indications for the ICU include blood pressure support for cardiovascular instability (hypertension/hypotension), sepsis, or certain cardiac arrhythmias. Other ICU needs include airway or ventilator support due to respiratory compromise. The cumulative effects of multiple organ failure, more commonly referred to as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, also requires advanced care. Patients may also be admitted to the ICU for close monitoring or intensive needs following a major surgery.
There are two common ICU structures: closed and open. In a closed unit, the intensivist takes on the primary role for all patients in the unit. In an open ICU, the primary physician, who may or may not be an intensivist, can differ for each patient. There is increasingly strong evidence that closed units provide better patient outcomes. Patient management in intensive care differs between countries. Open units are the most common structure in the United States, but closed units are often found at large academic centers. Intermediate structures that fall between open and closed units also exist.
Types of intensive care units.
Intensive care is usually provided in a specialized unit of a hospital called the intensive care unit (ICU) or critical care unit (CCU). Many hospitals also have designated intensive care areas for certain specialities of medicine. The naming is not rigidly standardized, and types of units are dictated by the needs and available resources of each hospital. These include:
Medical studies suggest a relation between ICU volume and quality of care for mechanically ventilated patients. After adjustment for severity of illness, demographic variables, and characteristics of the ICUs (including staffing by intensivists), higher ICU volume was significantly associated with lower ICU and hospital mortality rates. For example, adjusted ICU mortality (for a patient at average predicted risk for ICU death) was 21.2% in hospitals with 87 to 150 mechanically ventilated patients annually, and 14.5% in hospitals with 401 to 617 mechanically ventilated patients annually. Hospitals with intermediate numbers of patients had outcomes between these extremes. ICU delirium, formerly and inaccurately referred to as ICU psychosis, is a syndrome common in intensive care and cardiac units where patients who are in unfamiliar, monotonous surroundings develop symptoms of delirium (Maxmen & Ward, 1995). This may include interpreting machine noises as human voices, seeing walls quiver, or hallucinating that someone is tapping them on the shoulder. There exists systematic reviews in which interventions of sleep promotion related outcomes in the ICU have proven impactful in the overall health of patients in the ICU.
History.
The English nurse Florence Nightingale pioneered efforts to use a separate hospital area for critically injured patients. During the Crimean War in the 1850s, she introduced the practice of moving the sickest patients to the beds directly opposite the nursing station on each ward so that they could be monitored more closely. In 1923, the American neurosurgeon Walter Dandy created a three-bed unit at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In these units, specially trained nurses cared for critically ill postoperative neurosurgical patients.
The Danish anaesthesiologist Bjørn Aage Ibsen became involved in the 1952 poliomyelitis epidemic in Copenhagen, where 2722 patients developed the illness in a six-month period, with 316 of those suffering some form of respiratory or airway paralysis. Some of these patients had been treated using the few available negative pressure ventilators, but these devices (while helpful) were limited in number and did not protect the patient's lungs from aspiration of secretions. Ibsen changed the management directly by instituting long-term positive pressure ventilation using tracheal intubation, and he enlisted 200 medical students to manually pump oxygen and air into the patients' lungs round the clock. At this time, Carl-Gunnar Engström had developed one of the first artificial positive-pressure volume-controlled ventilators, which eventually replaced the medical students. With the change in care, mortality during the epidemic declined from 90% to around 25%. Patients were managed in three special 35-bed areas, which aided charting medications and other management.
In 1953, Ibsen set up what became the world's first intensive care unit in a converted student nurse classroom in Copenhagen Municipal Hospital. He provided one of the first accounts of the management of tetanus using neuromuscular-blocking drugs and controlled ventilation. The following year, Ibsen was elected head of the department of anaesthesiology at that institution. He jointly authored the first known account of intensive care management principles in the journal "Nordisk Medicin", with Tone Dahl Kvittingen from Norway.
For a time in the early 1960s, it was not clear that specialized intensive care units were needed, so intensive care resources were brought to the room of the patient that needed the additional monitoring, care, and resources. It became rapidly evident, however, that a fixed location where intensive care resources and dedicated personnel were available provided better care than "ad hoc" provision of intensive care services spread throughout a hospital. In 1962, in the University of Pittsburgh, the first critical care residency was established in the United States. In 1970, the Society of Critical Care Medicine was formed.
Monitoring.
Monitoring refers to various tools and technologies used to obtain information about a patient's condition. These can include tests to evaluate blood flow and gas exchange in the body, or to assess the function of organs such as the heart and lungs. Broadly, there are two common types of monitoring in the ICU: noninvasive and invasive.
Noninvasive monitoring.
Noninvasive monitoring does not require puncturing the skin and usually does not cause pain. These tools are more inexpensive, easier to perform, and faster to result.
Invasive monitoring.
Invasive monitoring generally provides more accurate measurements, but these tests may require blood draws, puncturing the skin, and can be painful or uncomfortable.
Procedures and treatments.
Intensive care usually takes a system-by-system approach to treatment. In alphabetical order, the nine key systems considered in the intensive care setting are: cardiovascular system, central nervous system, endocrine system, gastro-intestinal tract (and nutritional condition), hematology, integumentary system, microbiology (including sepsis status), renal (and metabolic), and respiratory system. As such, the nine key systems are each considered on an observation-intervention-impression basis to produce a daily plan.
Drugs.
A wide array of drugs including but not limited to: inotropes, sedatives, broad spectrum antibiotics and analgesics.
Physiotherapy and mobilization.
Interventions such as early mobilization or exercises to improve muscle strength are sometimes suggested.
Common complications in the ICU.
Intensive care units are associated with increased risk of various complications that may lengthen a patient's hospitalization. Common complications in the ICU include:
Training.
ICU care requires more specialized patient care; this need has led to the use of a multidisciplinary team to provide care for patients. Staffing between Intensive care units by country, hospital, unit, or institution.
Medicine.
Critical care medicine is an increasingly important medical specialty. Physicians with training in critical care medicine are referred to as intensivists.
Most medical research has demonstrated that ICU care provided by intensivists produces better outcomes and more cost-effective care. This has led the Leapfrog Group to make a primary recommendation that all ICU patients be managed or co-managed by a dedicated intensivist who is exclusively responsible for patients in one ICU.
In Australia.
In Australia, the training in intensive care medicine is through College of Intensive Care Medicine.
In the United Kingdom.
In the UK, doctors can only enter intensive care medicine training after completing two foundation years and core training in either emergency medicine, anaesthetics, acute medicine or core medicine. Most trainees dual train with one of these specialties; however, it has recently become possible to train purely in intensive care medicine. It has also possible to train in sub-specialties of intensive care medicine including pre-hospital emergency medicine.
In the United States.
In the United States, the specialty requires additional fellowship training for physicians having completed their primary residency training in internal medicine, pediatrics, anesthesiology, surgery or emergency medicine. US board certification in critical care medicine is available through all five specialty boards. Intensivists with a primary training in internal medicine sometimes pursue combined fellowship training in another subspecialty such as pulmonary medicine, cardiology, infectious disease, or nephrology. The American Society of Critical Care Medicine is a well-established multi professional society for practitioners working in the ICU including nurses, respiratory therapists, and physicians.
Intensive care physicians have some of the highest percentages of physician burnout among all medical specialties, at 48 percent.
Nursing.
Nurses that work in the critical care setting are typically registered nurses. Nurses may pursue additional education and training in critical care medicine leading to certification as a CCRN by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses a standard that was begun in 1975. These certifications became more specialized to the patient population in 1997 by the American Association of Critical care Nurses, to include pediatrics, neonatal and adult.
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are other types of non-physician providers that care for patients in ICUs. These providers have fewer years of in-school training, typically receive further clinical on the job education, and work as part of the team under the supervision of physicians.
Pharmacists.
Critical care pharmacists work with the medical team in many aspects, but some include, monitoring serum concentrations of medication, past medication use, current medication use, and medication allergies. Their typically round with the team, but it may differ by institution. Some pharmacist after attaining their doctorate or pharmacy may pursue additional training in a postgraduate residency and become certified as critical care pharmacists. Pharmacists help manage all aspects of drug therapy and may pursue additional credentialing in critical care medicine as BCCCP by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties. Many critical care pharmacists are a part of the multi-professional Society of Critical Care Medicine. Inclusion of pharmacist decreases drug reactions and poor outcomes for patients.
Registered dietitians.
Nutrition in intensive care units presents unique challenges due to changes in patient metabolism and physiology while critically ill. Critical care nutrition is rapidly becoming a subspecialty for dieticians who can pursue additional training and achieve certification in enteral and parenteral nutrition through the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN).
Respiratory therapists.
Respiratory therapists often work in intensive care units to monitor how well a patient is breathing. Respiratory therapists may pursue additional education and training leading to credentialing in adult critical care (ACCS) and neonatal and pediatric (NPS) specialties. These therapists have been trained to monitor a patient's breathing, provide treatments to help their breathing and evaluate for respiratory improvement. They may be involved in emergency care like managing an airway, humidification of oxygen, administering diagnostic test, invasive or non-invasive mechanical ventilation management, training patients weaning the ventilator, aerosol therapy, inhaled Nitric oxide therapy, artery blood gas analysis and providing physiotherapy.
Ethical and medicolegal issues.
Economics.
In general, it is the most expensive, technologically advanced and resource-intensive area of medical care. In the United States, estimates of the 2000 expenditure for critical care medicine ranged from US$19–55 billion. During that year, critical care medicine accounted for 0.56% of GDP, 4.2% of national health expenditure and about 13% of hospital costs.
In 2011, hospital stays with ICU services accounted for just over one-quarter of all discharges (29.9%) but nearly one-half of aggregate total hospital charges (47.5%) in the United States. The mean hospital charge was 2.5 times higher for discharges with ICU services than for those without.


American Association for Anatomy

The American Association for Anatomy (AAA), based in Rockville, MD, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1888 as the Association of American Anatomists for the "advancement of anatomical science." AAA later changed its name to the American Association of Anatomists, and became the American Association for Anatomy in 2019. AAA is an international membership organization of biomedical researchers and educators specializing in the structural foundation of health and disease.
In addition to being the primary educators of healthcare profession students in their first year of training, AAA members work in imaging, cell biology, genetics, molecular development, endocrinology, histology, neuroscience, forensics, microscopy, physical anthropology, and numerous other developing areas.
AAA holds an annual meeting (part of Experimental Biology); offers a wide range or awards, grants, scholarships, and fellowships; provides a variety of professional development programs and resources; and publishes three peer-reviewed journals: "Anatomical Sciences Education", "Developmental Dynamics" and "The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology".
The rank of Fellow of the American Association of Anatomists (FAAA) is designed to honor distinguished members who have demonstrated excellence in science and in their overall contributions to the anatomical sciences.


Lisa Cuddy

Lisa Cuddy, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama "House". She is portrayed by Lisa Edelstein. Cuddy was the Dean of Medicine of the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Cuddy quit her job after the events of season seven's finale "Moving On".
Storylines.
Cuddy's job title in "House" is Dean of Medicine and Hospital Administrator. She is Jewish, and has a mother and one sister; her father is dead. She began dreaming of becoming a doctor when she was 12, graduated from medical school at age 25 as second best in her class, and became the first female and second youngest Dean of Medicine at the age of 32 (she was actually 29 but she added three years to her age in order to seem more mature to the Selection Committee). Cuddy attended the University of Michigan, where she first met Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), and with whom she shared a one-night stand.
After hiring House to run the hospital's Diagnostics Department, Cuddy began setting aside $50,000 a year from the hospital's budget for potential legal expenses. When, during Season 1, the new Chairman of the Board Edward Vogler (Chi McBride) tries to have House fired for refusing to kowtow to his demands, Cuddy urges the board to save House and remove Vogler instead, losing the $100 million donation he had made to the hospital. In Season 2, it is revealed that Cuddy is trying to conceive a child. House agrees to administer the twice-daily injections necessary for her to undergo in-vitro fertilization and to keep the matter secret. In Season 3, Cuddy confesses to the hospital's Head of Oncology and House's best friend Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) that she has made a total of three attempts at impregnation, one of which was miscarried. She is hurt when House, who was going through Vicodin withdrawal, tells her it is a good thing she has failed to become a mother, as she would suck at it. When House's career is threatened by Detective Michael Tritter (David Morse), Cuddy falsifies documents and perjures herself in court to cover up his wrongdoing.
Cuddy questions whether House has a romantic interest in her when he interrupts her repeatedly during a blind date. When Wilson takes Cuddy to the theatre and later to an art exhibition, House intervenes in an attempt to prevent Cuddy from becoming Wilson's fourth wife. In Season 5, Cuddy reveals that she is adopting a baby girl, to be named Joy, and then is devastated when the birth-mother decides to keep the baby. House consoles her, and the two share a passionate kiss. Cuddy professes not to want a relationship with House but is touched when he has her old desk from medical school brought out of storage for her when her office is renovated. In episode "Joy to the World", Cuddy becomes a foster mother and potential adoptive mother to a baby girl she names Rachel. She initially struggles with motherhood, revealing to Wilson that she feels nothing for Rachel but soon begins to bond with her. In episode "Under My Skin", Cuddy helps House detox from Vicodin; and the two sleep together. In the following episode, the Season 5 finale "Both Sides Now", this is revealed to have been a hallucination on House's part: in reality, he spent the evening alone and is suffering from psychiatric problems as a result of Vicodin and emotional trauma.
Throughout Season 6, Cuddy is busy with her adopted daughter and is in a relationship with a private investigator, Lucas, who was hired by House to spy on Wilson at the start of Season 5. She cared for House after he goes through rehab for Vicodin. After sensing romantic feelings from House, Cuddy tells House that she would like to be friends; but he refuses, quoting that is the "last thing he wants". In the Season 6 finale "Help Me", House gives Cuddy an antique medical text written by her great-grandfather, which prompts her to confess that she and Lucas were engaged. Cuddy, House and House's team go to Trenton to help victims where a crane collapsed on a building. House finds a woman named Hannah who is trapped under a mountain of rubble. The first responders and Cuddy both tell House that Hannah's leg needs to be amputated for a chance of survival. House and the girl refuse for this to happen. House and Cuddy later get in an argument over it. Cuddy claims that the reason why he is refusing is because he is bitter over her engagement and what he went through with his leg years ago. During their argument, Cuddy tells him that she doesn't love him and to move on. House then decides to amputate Hannah's leg. Afterwards she is sent to the hospital but on the way she dies due to a fat embolism, caused by the amputation. With the pain he is dealing with, Hannah's death, and what Cuddy said to him earlier, when House arrives home he rips the bathroom mirror off the wall to get his stash of Vicodin. As he gets ready to take the pills, Cuddy arrives just in time. She reveals to him that even though she was moving on with her life she can't stop thinking about him. She broke off her engagement to Lucas and tells House that she loves him and they kiss. He asks her if he is hallucinating this and she asks if he took the Vicodin. He says no and drops the pills on the floor. They smile and kiss again.
Cuddy's relationship with House progressed throughout most of Season 7. In Episode 15, "Bombshells", Cuddy discovers blood in her urine. After several tests, Wilson finds a mass in Cuddy's kidney and schedules a biopsy to take place later in the episode. Further "imaging shows enhancing masses across multiple lobes of Cuddy's lungs", of which Foreman points out "That's what kidney cancer looks like when it metastasizes". Finally, just before surgery to have the tumor removed, House shows up to support his girlfriend through this tough time. Cuddy realizes at the end of the episode that the only reason House was able to overcome his selfishness was because he had taken Vicodin before visiting her in the hospital. It is here that Cuddy breaks off the relationship with House after confronting him regarding her suspicion of his relapse.
In the Season 7 finale, an angry House rams his car into her house. She resigns as Dean of Medicine after this event with Eric Foreman eventually replacing her.
Characterization.
Cuddy was created by executive producer Bryan Singer, who had enjoyed Lisa Edelstein's portrayal of a high-priced call girl putting herself through law school on "The West Wing", and sent her a copy of the pilot script. Edelstein was attracted to the program's "smart writing", and was cast in the role. The character has been described as "tough-as-nails" by "Salon"'s Lily Burana, a woman who "clicks through the halls of the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital in low-cut sweaters and pencil skirts, bringing incredible Jewy glamour to prime time". "The New York Times"'s Alessandra Stanley has similarly referred to her as the hospital's "comely but by-the-book chief administrator [...] who, like all heads of prestigious teaching hospitals, wears plunging necklines to work." Edelstein, questioned on whether she felt Cuddy's typical attire of tight-fitting, low-cut outfits was appropriate for her position, responded: "She doesn't care what people say [...] She's a television character, and I'm an actress playing a hospital administrator, and I don't want to be in frumpy clothes. I want to be a "hot" hospital administrator." "TV Guide"'s Nina Hämmerling Smith calls Cuddy a foil for House, who "doesn't take [his] nonsense and knows how to keep him in check — more or less." "The Washington Post"'s Tom Shales has deemed Cuddy House's "nagging nemesis", whose role is "to make House miserable". Discussing Cuddy's characterization in terms of her relationship with House, Edelstein has opined:
Co-executive producer Garrett Lerner has praised Edelstein's versatility in the role when asked to summarize Cuddy, stating:
Development.
During the early fourth season of "House", Cuddy received reduced screen time as the show focused on House's new fellows. Edelstein revealed that the show would return to its regular format after the season's ninth episode. However, production was halted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which delayed the remainder of the season. Edelstein commented: "Cuddy won't be sleeping with House unless we get the writers back. So I'm out there picketing." As a result of the strike, storylines involving Cuddy had to be pushed back into the show's fifth season, as the fourth season ran for a reduced number of episodes.
When Edelstein heard she had to do a strip scene in the episode "House's Head", she called actress Sheila Kelley, wife of Richard Schiff (with whom Edelstein had worked previously on "The West Wing" and "Relativity"). Kelley had worked on a movie about strippers long ago and Edelstein asked her for her advice on the choreography of the striptease. On the episode itself, Edelstein commented: "It is very interesting what happens in the first half of the finale in terms of learning about how House sees people and getting the world from his point of view entirely". Before the filming of the scene started, Edelstein showed the dance to Hugh Laurie, who, according to Edelstein, was "incredibly supportive, like a cheerleader". Edelstein commented that after the scene was filmed she, "felt beautiful, and it ended up being a really lovely experience".
Cuddy's desire for a baby paralleled Edelstein's personal life, with the actress explaining: "When the show started, I told the producers that at some point during the run of the show, if it was successful, that I was going to get pregnant one way or another. So they planted that seed in the character's story so it would be possible for me as a woman to experience that." When Cuddy became a mother to Rachel in the show's fifth season, executive producer Katie Jacobs discussed the need for Cuddy to find a balance between her personal and professional life, as well as the impact motherhood would have on her relationship with House: The tension and chemistry are still there. Neither one of them is actively fessing-up to looking for a relationship, but they are drawn to each other. None of the flirtatiousness is going to go away. The stakes are very high for them. The attraction is still there. We are absolutely going to continue that. It's real and it's palpable. And it's who they are.
Cuddy had a difficult relationship with her mother (played by Candice Bergen) after her father passed away. Although they are cordial, they tend to hide things from each other: Cuddy had misgivings about House meeting her mother for a long time; her mother hid an affair she was having for five years.
"Huddy".
The relationship between House and Cuddy is known by the portmanteau term "Huddy". Cuddy has what "USA Today"'s Peter Johnson terms a "cat-and-mouse" relationship with House. Edelstein has described it as "a really complicated, adult relationship", explaining: "These are people who have very full lives and lots of responsibilities that perhaps conflict with their feelings for each other." The actress "would love for them to have a [romantic] relationship, because it could be as complicated as the rest of their relationship", however, she is unsure how it would affect the dynamics of the show. Jacobs commented at the end of the show's third season: "I can't see them pairing them in a permanent fashion. But they are close; they have gone through a lot together. Might there be a moment of weakness in which the two might explore their chemistry? Maybe." Questioned at the end of the fourth season on whether Cuddy and House would ever consummate their relationship on-screen, Jacobs responded: "there is heat and chemistry between them and I never want to see that go away because that is the essence of their relationship. [...] we'll never ignore [their chemistry] because, as I said, it's the very essence of them. She wouldn't forgive him over and over again if he wasn't so brilliant in her eyes, clearly she's got a soft spot for him. And he has one for her. You will continue to see that." Prior to the beginning of the fifth season, series creator David Shore discussed his intention to further the relationship between the two, as: "If House is capable of any relationship with "anyone", it's Cuddy. We can't have them dancing around forever." Following the fifth season revelation that House had hallucinated a physical relationship with Cuddy, Shore commented on the storyline's continuation into the sixth season: "it would be dishonest to just let that disappear. Obviously House has feelings for her. Even though the love affair didn’t happen, in House’s mind it did." Edelstein does not know whether the two characters will eventually end up together, however believes that the combination of frustration and love Cuddy feels for House "makes for a very interesting relationship", as: "there's a great deal of admiration and respect, and also an incredible amount of annoyance and frustration, which is like how most relationships are in your life." As of the very end of the sixth-season finale, "Help Me", House and Cuddy appear to have entered a romantic relationship. In the closing minutes of the episode, House came very close to relapsing and taking Vicodin once again, at which point Cuddy entered to tell him that she had ended her relationship with Lucas. She professed her love for House, which led to them kissing briefly. A close-up shot of their clasped hands was the closing shot of the episode, as well as the season. The relationship later ends in season 7; in the episode "Bombshells".
Reception.
In 2005, Edelstein won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role as Cuddy. Following the show's pilot episode, Tom Shales noted in "The Washington Post" that: "The skirmishes between House and Cuddy could get awfully tired, but by the second episode there are already some provocative wrinkles in what had seemed a simple situation." "TV Guide"'s Nina Hämmerling Smith has deemed the banter between Cuddy and House "one of the best things about the show", while "Salon"'s Lily Burana has declared herself to be on "Team Cuddy" in terms of House's romantic interests. Following the season three episode "Merry Little Christmas", Mary McNamara for the "LA Times" wrote: "The Avid Viewer was also happy to see the seeds of a romantic relationship between House and Cuddy being sown — that had to be part of the show's original bible because really, who else could survive a romantic relationship with House now that Sela Ward's gone?" McNamara has opined that a romantic relationship between the two "makes perfect sense", as "she is the only one who seems able to accept House as he is, to give almost as good as she gets and to let most of his barbs fall where they may. How Edelstein can play this in a believable way is the point where acting moves from skill to art." When the show underwent a change of format at the beginning of the fourth series, McNamara commented positively on the changing dynamic in Cuddy's relationship with House, noting: gone is the increasingly dull and unbelievable tension between him and Cuddy. (As subordinate/boss, that is. The sexual tension, one hopes, is still in there somewhere.) Cuddy is done trying to squelch him; now she is just shooting for managed chaos. Which is so much more fun because it revolves more around the medicine and less around all the personal pathos of the staff.
However, as "USA Today"'s Robert Bianco noted, when Cuddy and House finally began a physical relationship, in what later transpired to be a hallucination sequence, "It started a firestorm among fans who hated the change in the relationship". Following the pair's first screen kiss, IGN reviewer James Chamberlin opined that the event was "kind of awkward" and "just didn't feel right to me". With regards to Cuddy's season five storylines as a whole, Chamberlin commented: "Cuddy's interest in becoming a mother was something I enjoyed. [..] This plot contained some heart-wrenching moments, particularly when Cuddy had to a take on the case as both a doctor and a potential mother in "Joy." "The New York Times"'s Lisa Belkin has also praised Cuddy's motherhood storyline, citing her as one of few examples of good parenting on television.
Discussing the numerous YouTube fan videos dedicated to the "Huddy" relationship, "The New York Times"'s Ginia Bellafante has assessed: "It is not merely the unrelenting push-pull of the show's writing, but the "His Girl Friday" chemistry between the actors Hugh Laurie (House) and Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy) that inspires otherwise reasonable women to bizarre, time-consuming digressions of fantasy." Bellafante considers herself amongst these women, writing: Shamefully, I would have been overjoyed if the season finale had ended with House and Cuddy electing to spend the summer together in Corsica. This would have betrayed the show’s primary covenant—to keep House miserable—and entirely erased its integrity. And yet I would mostly have wondered if House and Cuddy were going to make time for a stop in Sardinia. Following the fifth-season finale's revelation that the consummation of their relationship was a hallucination, Bellafante wrote: "I feel used and manipulated. I feel like a one-night stand who is never going to get calla lilies or a follow-up phone call. I feel hate for the show and I feel begrudging respect." Despite this, it is Bellafante's opinion that: "basically the show went in the obvious right direction, gratifying our base collective urge to finally see House and Cuddy together, not talking about lumbar punctures, in a fake-sex way that didn't ultimately impinge on the show's credibility." She considered: What would we really have done if House and Cuddy had woken up together, if he'd made her waffles, if she had eaten them wearing one of his shirts, if they spent the next day exchanging coy, knowing glances at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital? Then we would have been watching "Grey's Anatomy" and we would have experienced not a jump-the-shark moment, but a bungee-jumping-the-Arctic moment. Her conclusion is that: "House" refuses to buy into the myth that a good woman can save an ornery jerk, and the finale made it clear what a dope you were to even think the show would try. It doesn't want to appease the woman who wants to appease her Harlequin Romance self. It wants to appease anyone who gets ticked off when a romantic comedy shows an accomplished woman in a skirt suit giving it all up for a jobless, slovenly idiot. The House-Cuddy attraction isn't an attraction of opposites. It's an attraction between two highly intelligent workaholics, two people too interesting for anyone else but ultimately unfit for each other—no matter how pathetically we'd like it to be otherwise.
Mike Hale for "The New York Times" has praised Edelstein's performance as Cuddy in comedic situations, writing: Lisa Edelstein may not be the funniest performer around, but she is without a doubt the best sport in American television: every week the writers of "House" find new ways to embarrass her and her character, Dr. Cuddy, who is engaged in an excruciating mating dance with Hugh Laurie's Dr. House. Ms. Edelstein somehow manages to maintain her dignity while playing a 40-something dean of medicine who acts like a teenage girl. The fourth season scene in which Cuddy did a pole dance was very positively received by critics, Mary McNamara stated that these scenes "in three minutes earned back the price of TiVo". James Chamberlin stated that he never expected Edelstein to do a strip tease, although he had hoped it.
Lisa Cuddy was elected TV's Most Crushworthy Female Doctor over Remy "Thirteen" Hadley in a poll held by "Zap2it".


Algerian Volleyball Federation

The Algerian Volleyball Federation (FAVB) (), is the governing body for Volleyball in Algeria since 1962.
History.
The Algerian Federation has been recognised by FIVB from 1962 and is a member of the African Volleyball Confederation.


Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry

The Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) is an American professional organization of psychiatrists dedicated to shaping psychiatric thinking, public programs and clinical practice in mental health. Its 29 committees meet semi-annually and choose their own topics for exploration. They explore issues and ideas on the frontiers of psychiatry and in applying psychiatric insights into general medical, social, and interpersonal problems.
History of GAP.
GAP was part of a larger move toward professionalization of the field. GAP was founded in May 1946 by a group of young psychiatrists who had served in World War II. They returned to the U.S. to find an inadequate system of civilian care and were impatient with the traditionalism of the American Psychiatric Association (which had originally been founded as an association of asylum superintendent). GAP was formed under the leadership of Dr. William C. Menninger and the "young turks" in American psychiatry who were eager to professionalize the field. Menninger wrote:
The organization of GAP was not a revolution. With the deepest sincerity, the founding group was seeking a way in which American psychiatry could give more forceful leadership, both medically and socially. Although the name may sound presumptuous, it was chosen because of the sense of great urgency that psychiatry should advance, and the belief that by hard work, and teamwork, we could help it do so. Those early years of GAP were marked by the feeling on the part of its membership that much needed to be done, and quickly.
Publications.
GAP's first published report (by the Committee on Therapy) was on the "promiscuous and indiscriminate use of electro-shock therapy."
GAP's formulated policy to discuss controversial psychosocial issues was announced in 1950, in the Committee on Social Issues' Report, "The Social Responsibility of Psychiatry, A Statement of Orientation". In that Report, the Committee noted that two factors had been influential in causing diverse social problems in psychiatry: the role of prejudice in determining attitudes towards social problems and the sparse knowledge about the relationship between society and personality. In this pioneering document, the Committee on Social Issues emphasized the social responsibility of psychiatry. It made a number of suggestions for broadening the conceptual framework of psychiatry to include: "redefinition of the concept of mental illness, emphasizing those dynamic principles which pertain to the person's interaction with society ... examination of the social factors which contribute to the causation of mental illness and also influence its course and outcome ... consideration of the specific group psychological phenomena which are relevant, in a positive sense, to community mental health ... the development of criteria for social action, relevant to the promotion of individual and community mental health." By 1955 the group was advocating an "objective critical attitude should orient the field.
GAP continued to produce position statements on relevant and controversial psychiatric issues such as abortion, drug use, sex crimes, school desegregation, loyalty oaths, nuclear energy, and euthanasia. Its "Report on homosexuality with particular emphasis on this problem in governmental agencies" (1955) criticized "witch hunts" against homosexuals working in the U.S. government. and the purging of homosexuals from the government.
Membership.
GAP is composed of over 200 leaders in psychiatry who meet twice a year to debate and think through pertinent issues in psychiatry.
In over 50 years, GAP has shared Presidents with other national psychiatric organizations including: The American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. GAP has researchers recognized nationally and internationally in the areas of addiction, geriatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, terrorism and academics.


Jill Seaman

Jill Seaman is an American doctor who used to work with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She is a native of Moscow, Idaho and a graduate of Middlebury College and the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Life.
Early in her career, she was a public health care provider to the Yup'ik Native American tribe of Alaska. Her most notable work was eight years in the South Sudan fighting an epidemic of visceral leishmaniasis, between 1989 and 1997.
The MSF clinic in Duar, Unity State was destroyed by militia in June 1998 as part of a drive to clear the region of people so the Block 5A oil concession could be developed.
Since that time she has been an advocate for increased aid and research for this and other parasitic diseases.
She is the founder of Sudan Medical Relief (formerly the Sudan TB Project), launched in 2000.
In 2000 Jill Seaman and Sjoukje de Wit, RN, returned to Duar to provide treatment for tuberculosis.
Seaman was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2009.


Helmuth Ehrhardt

Helmuth Ehrhardt was a German psychiatrist.
Life.
Ehrhardt was a student of Werner Villinger. In a biography on Villinger, which Ehrhardt authored, he commended Villinger and Max de Crinis. Ehrhardt downplayed the seriousness of the crimes these men had committed with the Nazi T-4 Euthanasia Program. Ehrhardt later went on to serve on the executive board of the World Federation of Mental Health.


Jenny Waelder Hall

Jenny Waelder Hall (1898–1989) was a pioneer of child psychoanalysis. She was analysed by Sigmund Freud and supervised by Anna Freud.


De Beaumont Foundation

The de Beaumont Foundation is a charitable foundation in Bethesda, Md. It was created in 1998 by Pierre S. (Pete) de Beaumont, the founder of the Brookstone Company, with the broad purpose to relieve human suffering. Mr. de Beaumont chose to make public health the focus of the foundation's work. The foundation was fully funded upon Mr. de Beaumont’s death in December 2010.
The foundation's mission is to advance policy, build partnerships, and strengthen public health to create communities where people can achieve their best possible health.
The foundation is led by Brian C. Castrucci, DrPH, MA, whose previous experience includes the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Philadelphia Department of Health, the Texas Department of State Health, and the Georgia Department of Public Health.


Norman Cliff

Norman Cliff (born September 1, 1930) is an American psychologist. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton in psychometrics in 1957. After research positions in the US Public Health Service and at Educational Testing Service he joined the University of Southern California in 1962. He has had a number of research interests, including quantification of cognitive processes, scaling and measurement theory, computer-interactive psychological measurement, multivariate statistics, and ordinal methods. One of his major contributions to psychometrics was the method for rotation of canonical components. Asserting that much of psychological data have only ordinal justification, Cliff also published various papers and a book on ordinal methods for research. On the one hand this included extensions to the established ordinal methods for correlating data (i.e. Kendall's tau, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient). However, on the other hand, Cliff also suggested that there are viable and robust ordinal alternatives to mean comparisons. He introduced a measure of proportional difference (or "dominance") between two sets of data often referred to as Cliff's delta. He has been president of the Psychometric Society and of the Society for Multivariate Experimental Psychology. Now an Emeritus Professor, he lives in New Mexico.


Ragavendra R. Baliga

Ragavendra R. Baliga, FACC, FACP, FRCP (Edin) is a Professor of Medicine at The Ohio State University School of Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. He is a consulting editor of Heart Failure Clinics of North America, an indexed medical journal along with James B. Young, MD, Executive Dean, Lerner College of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. This is journal is known for editorials championing novel and esoteric mechanisms pertaining to cardiac function including ‘The Heart as the Concertina Pump’ and suggesting that stiffness of the great arteries contribute to cardiorenal syndrome. The most provocative editorial is a recent one that discusses the role of implantable cardiac defibrillators in sudden death. He is also Vice-Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, at The Ohio State University of Medical Center.
Using pioneering positron emission tomography techniques at the MRC Cyclotron Center at Hammersmith Hospital, London along with Prof J.S. Kooner, Dr Stuart Rosen and Prof Paulo Camici, he demonstrated that angina occurring after a meal is due to "intramyocardial steal", wherein blood is redistributed from ischemic areas of the myocardium to the normally supplied myocardial in order to maintain overall myocardial blood flow. This mechanistic paper was published in the journal "Circulation". Another paper published in the" American Journal of Cardiology" investigating the role of meal components showed that the carbohydrates contribute significantly to the pathogenesis of post-prandial angina. He also worked with Professor Christopher Mathias, FRCP, St. Mary’s Medical School and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine and Prof Hans L. Frankel, FRCP, National Spinal Injuries Center, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Ayelsbury.
While at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School he worked with Thomas Woodward Smith, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Ralph A Kelly, MD. At that time he worked as a part of a team to tease out the intracellular cell signaling pathways in response to a paracrine growth factor Neuregulin-1 in the cardiac myocyte. This research shed light on the effects of trastuzumab/Herceptin (a medication used in the treatment of breast cancer) on the heart and was published in the "American Journal of Physiology" and "Journal of Biochemistry".
Baliga has written or edited a number of books but is best known for his book "250 Cases in Clinical Medicine", initially published by Balliere Tindall as 200 Cases in Clinical Medicine in June 1993, and later by W.B. Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier. He wrote this book at the age of 32. The book remains popular among medical students. His subsequent books include "Self-assessment in Clinical Medicine", Saunders, although in its 3rd edition and 500 MCQs for the MRCP Part I, 1997 also by Saunders. A more recent book, "Practical Cardiology", co-edited with Kim A Eagle, MD, and published by Lippincott Wilkins, is more popular.
Early career.
Baliga received an MBBS, from St. John's Medical College, Bangalore in 1984 and post-doctoral degree Doctor of Medicine, from Bangalore Medical College/Bangalore University in 1988. In 1988 along with Prof Anura Kurpad, MD he was founding editor of St. John’s Journal of Medicine which was subsequently edited by Prof Ashley D’Cruz, MBBS, MS, MCH and Prof Sunitha Simon Kurpad, MD. After a hiatus this journal has been resurrected and now rechristened "St. John’s Medical Journal".
He then migrated to the UK in 1988 and worked with Prof Hans Frankel, FRCP and Prof Christopher J Mathias, FRCP at the National Spinal Injuries Center affiliated with Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, Oxford Regional Health Authority and St. Mary’s Medical School, Paddington, London. The research he conducted shed light on the post-prandial cardiovascular hemodynamics in quadriplegics. Between 1990-1992 he worked at Clinical Tutor at University of Aberdeen, and Registrar with Prof James Petrie, FRCP who later on became President of Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Prof Peter Brunt, FRCP, Prof John Webster, FRCP and Prof Nigel Benjamin, FRCP. From Scotland he moved the Hammersmith Hospital and Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London where he worked with Prof J.Kooner, FRCP and Prof Paolo Camici, FRCP at the MRC Cyclotron Center. He was involved with research pertaining to premature coronary artery disease in those hailing from the Indian sub-continent and he also investigated post-prandial hemodynamics.
He subsequently migrated to the US to work at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he was tutor on the New Pathway for Harvard medical students. He also worked with Prof Andrew Selwyn, FRCP, Professor of Harvard Medical School. His subsequent experience included working with Dr Wilson S. Colucci, Professor of Medicine and Chief of Cardiology at Boston University Medical Center and with Dr Clyde Yancy, MD and Dr Mark Drazner, MD at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Metaphrastic works.
Statin Prescribing Guide has been translated into Polish. Management of Heart Failure translated to Italian
Honors and awards.
Honoris Causa