Director Of Division Research Articles

Through a Gender Lens: A View of Gender and Leadership Positions in a Department of Medicine.

Despite increasing numbers in academic medicine, women remain underrepresented in top leadership positions. The objectives of this study were to characterize leadership positions held by department of medicine (DOM) faculty at all ranks at one Academic Health Center and to compare leadership positions held by male and female faculty. This was a cross-sectional survey to collect information on all leadership positions from 16 divisions in the DOM at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in early 2012, including type of position, method used to fill the position, and financial compensation. Chi-square testing was used to compare leadership position characteristics by rank and gender. The study included 474 DOM faculty at the rank of instructor or higher; 38% were women. Of the 258 leadership positions identified, 35% were held by women. More leadership positions among assistant professors were held by women compared with men (56% of positions vs. 44%), with women assistant professors more likely to hold a leadership position than men (p=0.03). Numbers of women faculty declined at higher ranks, with leadership positions remaining proportionate to faculty representation. Most division director positions (88%) were held by men, and most leadership positions were compensated (89%) and appointed by the DOM chair or a division director (80%). Leadership positions held by women and men were proportionate to faculty representation, although the top leadership positions were held almost exclusively by men. While female assistant professors were more likely to hold leadership positions than male assistant professors, these positions appear to be low status positions and it is not clear that they contribute to professional advancement, as few women hold the rank of full professor. Effective interventions are needed to address the gender disparity in top leadership positions.

Meet Our Editorial Board Member:

I was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union in 1951, and have received my B.Sc. in Biology/Biophysics (1971) and M.Sc. in Biochemistry (1973) from the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the Leningrad State University. After receiving my Ph.D. Degree in Molecular Biology and Cancer Biology (1979) from the Petrov Cancer Research Institute, I was continuing my research as a research scientist there. In 1983, I was accepted as a senior research scientist into a newly organized Department of Genetic Engineering at the Institute of Cytology, Leningrad, USSR. In 1990, I immigrated to Israel and started working as an Instructor at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, where I studied the interferon type I receptor signaling at the Department of Molecular Virology under the supervision of Prof. Michel Revel, the leader in cytokine signaling. During my tenure at Weizmann, I was awarded a British Council Award to study in ICI/Zeneca Pharmaceuticals (Alderley Park, UK) allowing me to extend my expertise in yeast genetic engineering. In 1994, I was invited to join the Johns Hopkins University School of (Baltimore, Maryland, USA), as an Assistant Professor of Pathology, where I have developed a strong long-lasting interest in protein-protein interaction studies in cardiovascular and cancer diseases. This approach helped me to discover a novel midkine-dependent signaling pathway, the regulatory proteins affecting the NOS2 activity/dimerization/ degradation, and finally, I have focused on the p63 transcriptional factor implicated in head and neck cancer and ectodermal dysplasia. In 2000, I was promoted to the rank of an Associate Professor of Dermatology/Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery/Oncology and then later to the rank of Professor. Since then my laboratory was able to discover a molecular mechanism underlying ectodermal dysplasia via p63-dependent regulation of RNA splicing for fibroblast growth factor receptor 2, which functions as a key regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Since 2004, I have become an Associate Director of Head and Neck Cancer Research Division at the Johns Hopkins. In the same year I have become a member of the Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular at JHMI. In 2008, I have joined the Wilmer Glia Research Laboratory Collaborative Network and Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Johns Hopkins Neurofibromatosis Research Center. In 2013, I have also become an Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University (GWIN, SEAS), Washington-DC, USA. To the present date, my collaborative efforts with Drs. David Sidransky and Barry Trink (the researchers who first discovered p53 homologue p63) led to more than 40 international publications, reviews, book chapters and patents on p63 function alone. My name was included in the books 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 21st Century, Great Minds of the 21st Century and is Who in Medicine (since 2005). I am a Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, International Society on Interferon and Cytokine Research, American Society for Cell Biology, American Association for Cancer Research, International Society for Cell Biology, Society for Investigative Dermatology, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, International Society for Stem Cell Research. I am a Member of the Executive Advlsory Board, Biotech/Medical Board, and Sustainability Board of Lifeboat Foundation, and Task Force: Getting to know Cancer. Halifax Project. In 2014-2015, I was awarded a Distinguished Visiting Professorship by an Ecuador Prometeo Foundation and served in the Department of Human Genetics at the La Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (UTPL), Loja, Ecuador.

Setting Budgets and Priorities at State Health Agencies

State health departments across the country are responsible for assuring and improving the health of the public, and yet financial constraints grow only more acute, and resource allocation decisions become even more challenging. Little empirical evidence exists regarding how officials working in state health departments make these tough allocation decisions. Through a mixed-methods process, we attempted to address this gap in knowledge and characterize issues of resource allocation at state health agencies (SHAs). First, we conducted 45 semistructured interviews across 6 states. Next, a Web-based survey was sent to 355 public health leaders within all states and District of Columbia. In total, 207 leaders responded to the survey (66% response rate). Leaders of SHAs. The data suggest that state public health leaders are highly consultative internally while making resource allocation decisions, but they also frequently engage with the governor's office and the legislature-much more so at the executive level than at the division director level. Respondents reported that increasing and decreasing funding for certain activities occur frequently and have a moderate impact on the agency or division budget. Agencies continue to "thin the soup," or prefer cutting broadly to cutting deeply. Public health leaders report facing significant tradeoffs in the course of priority-setting. The authorizing environment continues to force public health leaders to make challenging tradeoffs between unmet need and political considerations, and among vulnerable groups.

TU‐CD‐303‐00: In Memoriam of Warren Sinclair: Physics Applications for New Radiobiology

The Medical Physics and Radiation Protection communities lost one of their true pioneers in May, 2014 with the passing of Warren K. Sinclair, Ph.D. He received his Doctorate in Physics at the University of London, U.K. He was a fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Certified Health Physicist. After a number of posts at Hospitals and Universities in the U.K. and New Zealand, he became the Head, Physics Department at the M.D. Anderson Hospital, Houston, TX. He held a number of academic physics positions with the University of Texas, Austin at the main campus and at the Postgraduate School of Medicine, Houston. He later served as a Senior Biophysicist, Division Director, and then Associate Laboratory Director for Biomedical Division Director, and then Associate Laboratory Director for Biomedical and Environmental Research at the Argonne National Laboratory, IL. He had additional academic appointments at the University of California, Berkeley; Northern Illinois University; the University of Illinois (Chicago Circle Campus); and the University of Chicago.Warren was a charter member of the AAPM and a leader in many communities: President of the AAPM from 1960 to 1961 and the Journal Editor from 1964 to 1969, the 2nd President of the NCRP from 1977 to 1991, and the President of the Radiation Research Society from 1978 to 1979. His many awards included the William D. Coolidge Award in 1986. Even this barely scratches the surface of the many other organizations he served with and influenced including the ICRP, IOP, RSNA, SNM, and UNSCEAR. His research interests resulted in publications from 1948 to the 1990s in many aspects (physical and biological) of radiotherapy and the effects of ionizing radiation in general, leading to early definitions of RBE values for megavoltage radiotherapy as well as contributing to the development of the modern framework for radiation protection worldwide.Warren was not a retiring person and even after moving to NCRP President Emeritus status continued to provide advice and comments on publications and to mentor others until the time of his passing. Sadly, Warren's long‐time wife Joy passed away in December, 2014 but he is survived by his son Bruce and daughter Roslyn, 2 grandchildren and 4 great‐grandchildren.

TU‐CD‐303‐01: Memorial to Warren Sinclair ‐ Memorial Lecturer

The Medical Physics and Radiation Protection communities lost one of their true pioneers in May, 2014 with the passing of Warren K. Sinclair, Ph.D. He received his Doctorate in Physics at the University of London, U.K. He was a fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Certified Health Physicist. After a number of posts at Hospitals and Universities in the U.K. and New Zealand, he became the Head, Physics Department at the M.D. Anderson Hospital, Houston, TX. He held a number of academic physics positions with the University of Texas, Austin at the main campus and at the Postgraduate School of Medicine, Houston. He later served as a Senior Biophysicist, Division Director, and then Associate Laboratory Director for Biomedical Division Director, and then Associate Laboratory Director for Biomedical and Environmental Research at the Argonne National Laboratory, IL. He had additional academic appointments at the University of California, Berkeley; Northern Illinois University; the University of Illinois (Chicago Circle Campus); and the University of Chicago.Warren was a charter member of the AAPM and a leader in many communities: President of the AAPM from 1960 to 1961 and the Journal Editor from 1964 to 1969, the 2nd President of the NCRP from 1977 to 1991, and the President of the Radiation Research Society from 1978 to 1979. His many awards included the William D. Coolidge Award in 1986. Even this barely scratches the surface of the many other organizations he served with and influenced including the ICRP, IOP, RSNA, SNM, and UNSCEAR. His research interests resulted in publications from 1948 to the 1990s in many aspects (physical and biological) of radiotherapy and the effects of ionizing radiation in general, leading to early definitions of RBE values for megavoltage radiotherapy as well as contributing to the development of the modern framework for radiation protection worldwide.Warren was not a retiring person and even after moving to NCRP President Emeritus status continued to provide advice and comments on publications and to mentor others until the time of his passing. Sadly, Warren's long‐time wife Joy passed away in December, 2014 but he is survived by his son Bruce and daughter Roslyn, 2 grandchildren and 4 great‐grandchildren.

The Legacy of Tübingen I (1964)

People who do not remember are like trees with their roots cut and rivers with their feeders dried up. While there may still be water and foliage, neither river nor tree can sustain life for much longer; soon both will be gone. Humans need to remember--at least now and then--where they come from and what their calling is so to be able to stay human and act accordingly. While the day-to-day demands tend to swallow us up until nothing distinctive is left, remembrance makes us reconnect with the roots of our being and with what we have set out for to accomplish. Once we forget who we are and what we stand for, we not only lose focus and orientation, we lose ourselves. The consultation known as "Tubingen I" was held fifty years ago on account of a joint invitation by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and hosted by the German Institute for Medical Missions at Tubingen, Germany. Tubingen I was neither the first nor the biggest get-together of people working in medical missions concerned about the future of such engagement and something more. Tubingen I, rather, was a consultation of experts tasked to advise the LWF and the WCC on how best to grapple with the challenges faced by church-related hospitals and health-care programs notably in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Yet, despite the secluded week-long deliberations of 19 (1) consultants, Tubingen I turned out to blaze the trail of a new understanding of the churches' involvement in health-care and healing, leading over time to significant practical changes. While the then-acting secretary of the World Council's Division of World Mission and Evangelism Charles H. Germany was confident that the "statements of the Tubingen Consultation will surely find an echo in the thought of Christian medical people throughout the world," (2) this came as a total surprise to most of the other participants. As Lesslie Newbigin stated in the Preface of the consultation report, In the course of the week spent together, certain common convictions were given to the group, and they felt bound to express them in a statement. Although this statement was not immediately published, the offices in Geneva began to receive very large numbers of enquiries about it. Many thousands of copies have been distributed in response to requests.... In a way which was not expected [the statement] seems to have spoken to the condition of many who were wrestling with the problems of medical missions, and ... with the healing ministry in one form or another. (3) In order to better understand the impact of and the legacy left by that very event, I will first situate Tubingen I within its historical and institutional context; second, analyze its finding; and conclude by looking at what happened to the insights gained in those days during the half century passed since. Tubingen I within the context of its time As previously stated, Tubingen I was not the first nor was it the biggest consultation addressing the challenges faced by medical missions and church-sponsored medical programs in the middle of the 20th century. Already in 1948, that is three years after World War II, the Church Missionary Society in London (CMS) published an elaborate statement on its medical policy (4) calling for the realignment of medical missions: "Realignment is designed to meet recurring need as circumstances alter.... Realignment may involve the use of new methods and the abandonment or subordination of old ones." (5) The new methods the statement envisioned were recognized as being "of great simplicity and of outmost importance." (6) They anticipated nearly everything of what some thirty years later would become known as Primary Health Care (PHC), namely: to focus on "preventive medicine," on "proper ... sanitation, working, and housing conditions," on "food supply, (7) on child welfare, (8) on the training of nurses, midwives, and auxiliaries, (9) on refresher courses for lay workers,1" on intersectoral and interdenominational cooperation, (11) on hospital outreach, (12) and, last but not least, on "the compilation of regional statistics and reports. …

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

In Memoriam: M. Colin Jordan, MD

M. Colin Jordan, former Infectious Diseases Division Director and Professor of Medicine at both the University of Minnesota and the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), died April 8, 2015. Colin lived an exceptional life, touching patients and colleagues with his excellence and high expectations as a physician and scientist and his rare combination of warmth and nurturing with cutting, yet understated, humor. He did not talk much about his past, so few may know he was born in a bomb shelter in England in 1941, came to the United States aboard the Queen Elizabeth at age 6, and was signed by Walt Disney studios as a dancer at the age of 12. Colin was an accomplished college baseball player, and after graduation from Loyola Marymount he was offered a contract with the Los Angeles Angels; however, instead of becoming a baseball player, he decided to go into medicine. After medical school at Creighton, he trained at the University of Washington (UW), where he worked with many outstanding clinicians, including their stellar Infectious Diseases group and Bill Kirby, with whom he wrote one of his first papers. His time at UW helped inspire his career, including his becoming an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer from 1970 to 1972. An early indication of both his talent and humor was his publication in the American Journal of Public Health, from an EIS investigation, entitled “Salmonellosis among restaurant patrons: the incisive role of a meat slicer”. After stints as a faculty member at UCLA and Davis, he became Division Chief at the University of Minnesota, serving from 1984 to 1998. At Minnesota, where I had the pleasure of working with him, he developed a strong multi-institution Division into a warm and collegial group. From 1998 to 2005, he served as Chief of ID and the first E.H. Cooley Professor of Medicine at OHSU. A staunch believer that scientifically well trained clinicians can provide important insights and have a major role in research, he made many contributions to the understanding of cytomegalovirus infection including, particularly, its transmissibility through sexual contact, murine models of disease, the biology of latency, resistance to antivirals, and molecular detection for diagnostic and research uses. Everywhere he served or led, he influenced students, other trainees, patients, and peers with not only his critical thinking as a scientist and clinician, but also his decency, fairness and compassion, and his low tolerance for puffery and pretension, the latter remarkable for an accomplished academician and almost as rare then as now. He helped motivate and propel many students and trainees into successful careers as physicians and scientists. As he watched medicine and science becoming a business, rather than the calling and commitment which he advocated for and lived by example, it's impossible to know whether Colin ever dreamed of again standing on a major league baseball field. In any case, to all whose lives he touched, he will always be seen as a Major League physician, scientist, and, most important, friend. He leaves his wife, Pamela Lahrs, his previous spouses, Bonnie Baskin and Patricia Jordan, daughters Teresa and Angela, son Colin Jr., and 4 grandchildren. Many fascinating aspects of his life and work, from that bomb shelter to academia, and of his generous personality are captured in his enjoyable book, “Briefings from a Doctor's Foxhole”. If desired, donations in his honor can be made to OSHU or the charity of your choice.

Antiobiotics stewardship for Laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Purpose: In order to improve the rational use of antibiotics, we utilized the hospital computer network to manage the using of antibiotics. Methods: Software was designed to obtain the accurate data of the perioperative use of antibiotics from hospital information system (HIS) .After statistical analysis of monitoring data, feedback was given to the Division Director in 2007.Limiting and reminding system about perioperative antibiotics was designed to intervene the perioperative use of prophylactic antibiotics including the level and days of medication in 2008.The requirements of antibiotics use, the problems in using the antibiosis drugs and the monitoring results were presented online for clinical staff in 2009.Application and checking system of special level antibiotics was online in 2010. Dedicated software was designed to manage departments where intervention was not carried out well in 2014. Results: From 2005 to 2007 when the computer network was not enabled, the median of the shortened days in perioperative use of prophylactic antibiotics was 1 day. After the computer network management system was enabled, the median of the shortened days was 2 days. Comparing the perioperative antibiotics using days of 2006 and 2008, there were significant differences, T value was 6.612, p < 0.0001. Significant differences were also found when comparing 2008 and 2014, T value was 20.226, p < 0.0001. Statistic data demonstrated that the computer network in managing antibiotics using was effective.

The Last and Next Decades of the Asian Core Program on Cutting‐Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia

The Last and Next Decades of the Asian Core Program on Cutting‐Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia

Subspecialty and gender of obstetrics and gynecology faculty in department-based leadership roles.

To characterize the cohort who may become senior leaders in obstetrics and gynecology by examining the gender and subspecialty of faculty in academic department administrative and educational leadership roles. This is an observational study conducted through web sites of U.S. obstetrics and gynecology residency programs accredited in 2012-2013. In obstetrics and gynecology departmental administrative leadership roles, women comprised 20.4% of chairs, 36.1% of vice chairs, and 29.6% of division directors. Among educational leaders, women comprised 31.9% of fellowship directors, 47.3% of residency directors, and 66.1% of medical student clerkship directors. Chairs were most likely to be maternal-fetal medicine faculty (38.2%) followed by specialists in general obstetrics and gynecology (21.8%), reproductive endocrinologists (15.6%), and gynecologic oncologists (14.7%). Among chairs, 32.9% are male maternal-fetal medicine specialists. Family planning had the highest representation of women (80.0%) among division directors, whereas reproductive endocrinology and infertility had the lowest (15.8%). The largest proportion of women chairs, vice chairs, residency program directors, and medical student clerkship directors were specialists in general obstetrics and gynecology. Women remained underrepresented in the departmental leadership roles of chair, vice chair, division director, and fellowship director. Representation of women was closer to parity among residency program directors, in which women held just under half of positions. Nearly one in three department chairs was a male maternal-fetal medicine specialist. Compared with subspecialist leaders, specialist leaders in general obstetrics and gynecology were more likely to be women.

Perceptions of division directors in general internal medicine about the importance of and support for scholarly work done by clinician-educators.

To determine perceptions of general internal medicine (GIM) division directors of the importance of and support for clinician-educators' (CEs') scholarship. In 2010, the authors identified 127 accredited U.S. MD-granting medical schools with a GIM division, identified 144 GIM directors, and were able to survey 129 of them. Directors were asked to rate the importance of specific CE scholarly accomplishments for promotion from assistant to associate professor, to describe current research support for CEs, and to state how they would support the scholarly work of CEs if they had funding. Fifty-five directors (42.6%) from 52 institutions responded; there were no significant differences between responding and nonresponding schools. Curriculum development, presentations at national meetings and other institutions, review articles, and book chapters were rated as "most/very important" or "important/somewhat important" by over 90%. Approximately half rated published original peer-reviewed articles as "most/very important"; slightly less than half rated these "not important," a difference associated with having a specific CE track. If $100,000 per year were available to enhance the scholarly productivity of CEs, directors suggested spending it on faculty development, project coordination, protected time for CEs, and methodological and statistical support. This nationwide survey of GIM division directors confirms that academic CEs in GIM are judged on a wide variety of scholarly activities, many of which are consistent across institutions. However, academic GIM CEs need to understand their institutions' specific criteria, especially regarding the value placed on original, peer-reviewed publications.

Sustainable solutions for rainwater capture

Scenes of catastrophic flooding from around the world are never far from our TV screens. Both industrialised and non-industrialised countries are bearing the burden of repeated storms, floods, droughts and temperature extremes. Alex Stephenson, operations director of Hydro International's UK Stormwater Division, looks at sustainable solutions being developed for flood control and surface water treatment.

Pharmacist input into statewide treatment protocols for emergency medical services.

A pharmacist's role in helping Vermont health officials standardize pharmacotherapy-related protocols used by emergency medical services (EMS) personnel across the state is described. Pharmacists with expertise in emergency medicine (EM) or critical care are ideally positioned to provide guidance on optimizing and standardizing medication-use aspects of state and local EMS protocols. In 2012, the medical director of the EMS division of the Vermont Department of Health requested that an EM pharmacist at a Burlington academic medical center review draft EMS protocols designed to replace the existing patchwork of local protocols with statewide standards of care; among the 92 draft protocols reviewed, 62 pertained to medication use. The pharmacist provided a wide range of suggestions on 33 protocols, including (1) evidence-based recommendations on use of vasopressor agents for septic shock, (2) recommendations to optimize medication ordering and preparation in the prehospital setting, (3) recommendations on prehospital management of pediatric shock and appropriate use of chemical restraints, and (4) recommendations to promote use of smart infusion pumps by EMS personnel. All of the pharmacist's suggestions were incorporated into the final protocols, which took effect in March 2014. The protocols have helped standardize care for patients receiving EMS services throughout Vermont while reducing the potential for medication errors. An EM pharmacist participated in the review and development of statewide EMS treatment protocols that focused on choice of medication therapy, dosage, administration, and identification and minimization of potential risks of medication errors.

Qarassa North Tell, Southern Syria: The Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic sequence. A few lights against a dark background

L’absence de sites fouillés représentant les périodes néolithique céramique et chalcolithique en Syrie du sud a rendu difficile jusqu’à présent la mise en relation des mondes de la Syrie centrale et du Levant sud. Les niveaux les plus récents du tell nord du site de Qarassa (province de Suweida, Syrie méridionale), fouillés de 2007 à 2010, fournissent une séquence d’occupations représentant ces périodes entre le dernier quart du vie millénaire et la première moitié du ive millénaire av. notre ère. Cette séquence est présentée par phases architecturales et horizons céramiques, avec l’analyse des structures qui marquent certaines de ces occupations. Le matériel céramique, principal témoin chrono-culturel, est décrit en détail dans une étude techno-typologique et inséré dans le contexte global du Levant.

Music Education at the New York Institution for the Blind, 1832–1863

The purpose of this study was to document the history of music education at the New York Institution for the Blind (NYIB) from the opening of the school in 1832 through the tenure of the facility’s first music director, Anthony Reiff. Research questions pertained to the school’s origin and operation and to its music curriculum, pedagogy, faculty, ensembles, and resources. The NYIB provided a home and education for students ages eight to twenty-five. The music program served as recreation and vocational training and as a means of promoting the school. Reiff joined the faculty in 1835 and established a band and choir that performed throughout the city and surrounding states. In 1847, the board of managers hired George F. Root as head of vocal music and named Reiff director of the instrumental division. Sigismund Laser replaced Root in 1855 and remained at the NYIB until 1863, when both he and Reiff left the school. The faculty at the NYIB developed and promoted effective methods for teaching music to people with blindness and prepared graduates to serve as church musicians, piano tuners, and music educators. Findings from this study might serve to remind music educators of past pedagogical methods and principles applicable in teaching students who are blind today.

An Enterovirus D68 Outbreak Highlights the Value of Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialists.

Children’s Mercy Hospital–Kansas City (CMH) sits on the border of 2 states and provides care to children from a 5-state region. On August 15, 2014, the CMH Division Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ID) received an e-mail from a pediatric emergency department (ED) physician. This ED physician noted that in the previous 24 hours, she had seen 6 children who were disproportionately ill with respiratory distress; several of them required admission to the pediatric intensive care unit. The ED physician instinctively sensed that something was different about these children and asked her pediatric ID consultant for diagnostic assistance. Specifically, her e-mailed question to the consultant was, “Is there a ferocious lower respiratory virus in the community?”

Med Check

Med Check

Improving the 510(k) FDA process for cardiac troponin assays: in search of common ground.

We met recently with the leadership of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's)6 Division of Chemistry and Toxicology Devices to discuss concerns about the heterogeneity of analytical and clinical protocols used in studies for clearance of cardiac troponin assays. We, as experts, are frequently asked to help with the evaluation of new cardiac troponin assays and are aware of variability between the specific protocols used, which are difficult to understand, but which likely reflect differences in the various companies' interpretations of what elements are mandated by the FDA. We advocated to the FDA the use of standardized study protocols to reduce complexity and permit better comparisons among methods and provided suggestions to achieve these goals. Attending from the FDA's Division of Chemistry and Toxicology Devices in the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health were the Division Director, the Branch Chief of Cardio-Renal Devices, Medical Officers, and Reviewers. Although the FDA seemed supportive, it must be made clear that the opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not represent those of the FDA. It was our impression that the FDA was in favor of uniform protocols, especially if developed by national organizations; they even expressed a willingness to participate. The FDA indicated, and we concurred, a need to evaluate protocols within the context of the sponsor's specific claims. The FDA leadership stated that it does not mandate the number of participants needed in a study, the specific criteria for diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), or approaches used in reference interval studies. Rather, the FDA emphasized that manufacturers should present properly designed and powered studies to support their claims. The FDA indicated that it will provide feedback on study design before study implementation. Our impression was that once a protocol is finalized, the FDA felt …

In memoriam, Dr. E. Chester Ridgway, 1942-2014.

The Endocrine Society, the world of endocrinology, and the family and innumerable friends and colleagues of Chip Ridgway were immensely saddened to learn of his very untimely death on July 31, 2014. Chip was a graduate of Dartmouth College and an AOA graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, magna cum laude. His internship, medicine residency, and endocrinology fellowship were all at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He served two years in the Navy as Chief of Endocrinology at San Diego prior to returning to Massachusetts General, where he served as Chief of the Thyroid Unit and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, until 1985. He moved back to the University of Colorado in 1985 to become the Frederic C. Hamilton Professor of Medicine and Division Head of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes. Chip received the high honor of Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado in 2011 and remained at the University until his death. Chip relinquished the role of Division Director in 2007 but continued to serve as interim Chair of Medicine and Executive Vice Chair of Medicine. He has been Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for nearly 20 years. Peer recognition of his stellar career led to early election to membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and Mastership in the American College of Physicians. Chip generously shared his professional life as a physician-scientist between his associates at the University of Colorado, numerous international colleagues and collaborators, and his two favorite professional societies, the Endocrine Society and the American Thyroid Association (ATA). He served as member and chairman of many committees in both societies and on the Council of the Endocrine Society and on the Executive Board of the ATA. He was elected President of the ATA in 1996–1997 and President of the Endocrine Society in 2003–2004. His welldeserved honors and awards were many, including the Distinguished Service Award, Paul Starr Award, Stanbury Thyroid Pathophysiology Medal, and Lewis Braverman Lectureship Award from the ATA, and the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award from the Endocrine Society. Chip founded and directed a “Fellows Day” conference dedicated to thyroid disease at the ATA annual meeting for the past 20 years, touching the careers of over 100 fellows each year. Indeed, his dedication to both education and the growth, development, and mentorship of his fellows and junior colleagues was legend-