HJLR May/Jun 2019

36 MAY / JUN 2019  I  Healthcare Journal of little rock   Healthcare Briefs of Institutional Advancement has been doing.” Wimmer comes to UAMS from the Texas Tech University System in Lubbock, Tex., where she served as associate vice chancellor for Cen- tral Advancement as part of a leadership team responsible for the advancement operation for two universities and two health science centers. Her previous fundraising experience includes working with international, individual, corporate, and foundation donors. She honed her experi- ence in annual giving and corporate relations in a number of national advancement positions including the Volunteer Center of Orange County and the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Cali- fornia, as well as the Memphis Symphony Orches- tra in Tennessee. Wimmer previously served as senior associ- ate director of development at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom; as director of corporate relations at Auburn University; and as director of corporate and foundation relations at Auburn’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Busi- ness. She received a master’s in adult education and organizational development and a bachelor’s in political science from Auburn. She also partic- ipated in the Advanced Leadership Program at Cambridge and completed the Centro de Len- guas Modernas, Spanish Immersion Program at the Universidad de Granada in Granada, Spain. Nobel Laureate, Cancer Expert Lectures at UAMS The public recently heard Nobel laureate Har- old Varmus, MD, an expert in cancer biology and former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI), at the University of Arkansas for Medical Science. The free lecture, “Cancer Research: Then and Now,” was held in the I. Dodd Wilson Education Building auditorium. Varmus gave the Robert E. McGehee Jr., PhD, Distinguished Lectureship in Biomedical Research as part of the UAMS Gradu- ate School’s annual Student Research Day. Varmus and his colleague J. Michael Bishop received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medi- cine in 1989 for their cancer research, which dem- onstrated that certain cancer genes can arise from normal cellular genes through mutations. Their work deepened the understanding of can- cer development and made way for new types of cancer therapy. In 1993, Varmus was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as director of the NIH, a post he held until 1999. He then served as president of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He returned to public service in 2010 under President Barack Obama as director of the NCI. He left the NCI in 2015 for his current post as the Lewis Thomas University Professor and Senior Adviser to the Dean and Provost at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. He has authored more than 350 scientific papers and five books, including the 2009 mem- oir, “The Art and Politics of Science.” At his Weill Cornell research lab, Varmus continues to study cancer biology and retrovirology. The McGehee Distinguished Lectureship was created in 2011 as an enduring gift from an anon- ymous couple to benefit UAMS and the state by making it possible to invite leading biomedical researchers to share their knowledge and work with students and faculty. “I could not have imagined — only hoped — when this distinguished lectureship began that we would be able to host someone of Dr. Varmus’ stature in the scientific community,” said McGe- hee, namesake for the lecture and dean of the UAMS Graduate School. “I’m delighted for our students and the public to have this opportunity to hear from someone who has so directly shaped medicine and health policy in the United States.” Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Arkansas Department of Health Urge Precautions Against Measles Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) are urging Arkansans to take advantage of safe and proven vaccines to prevent a possible outbreak of mea- sles in the Natural State. The diagnosis of even a single case of mea- sles is a threat to public health because measles is highly contagious. One infected person can easily infect 12-18 others and can remain conta- gious for four days before symptoms develop. An infected person can also remain contagious for four days after they are symptom-free. Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing. It starts with high fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes, and sore throat and progresses to a rash that spreads over the body. Children are most vulnerable, but adults also are at risk. There is no anti-viral treatment for measles. Measles is a serious illness: - Thirty of every 100 people with measles will develop complications that may require inter- vention or even hospitalization, including ear infections, diarrhea, pneumonia, brain damage, or disability. About 25 of every 100 measles patients end up in a hospital. - One person in every 1,000 people with measles experiences brain swelling. - Measles can be deadly and one to two people in every 1,000 with measles will die. Measles was eradicated in the United States in 2000, but the disease has been coming back in recent years, partly due to low vaccination rates in some communities. In 2018, 26 states, including Arkansas, and the District of Columbia reported a total of 349 measles cases to the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention (CDC). Already in 2019, 10 states have reported cases of measles. Washington State has a current out- break of more than 60 cases that has resulted in its governor declaring of a state of emergency. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illi- nois, Kentucky, New York, Oregon, and Texas also had outbreaks this year. No measles cases have been confirmed in Arkansas so far in 2019. The current U.S. resurgence of measles appears to be the result of two trends coming together. Both of these trends have been factors in the Washington state outbreak: - Exposure of international travelers to ongoing outbreaks of measles in other countries. These Angela Wimmer, MEd