Howard University College Of Medicine Research Articles

An Educational Intervention to Enhance Palliative Care Training at HBCUs.

Primary palliative care training is important for clinicians at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) given the decreased access to specialty palliative care among Black patients and patients' preferences for race concordant care. To describe the impact of a palliative care educational intervention at two HBCUs. We administered a palliative care educational intervention in family and internal medicine residency programs at Morehouse School of Medicine and Howard University College of Medicine. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were sent to residents assessing attitudes toward their palliative care education and their perceived competency in specific palliative care domains. The results were analyzed using Chi-squared analysis. A total of 105 of 191 (response rate 55%) residents completed pre-intervention surveys and 101 of 240 (42%) completed post-intervention surveys. Prior to the intervention, 50% of residents rated their overall preparedness in palliative care as a 7 or above (0-10 Likert scale); 78% (P < .01) of respondents reported ≥7/10 after the educational intervention. While post-intervention residents did not feel better prepared to treat symptoms, a higher percentage reported feeling well prepared to deliver bad news (41% post-intervention vs. 23% pre-intervention) and conduct a family meeting (44% post-intervention vs. 27% pre-intervention) (P < .05). Pre-intervention, 14% of residents felt their overall palliative care education was very good or excellent, while post-intervention ratings increased to 30% (P < .01). Residents' confidence in their preparedness to provide palliative care, particularly in their communication skills increased after an intervention at two HBCUs.

Importance of Community Engagement in Data Decision Making.

Importance of Community Engagement in Data Decision Making.

Invited Commentary: From Unacceptable to Intolerable

Invited Commentary: From Unacceptable to Intolerable

Did court dismiss student’s breach‐of‐contract claim?

Howard University College of Medicine expelled a student after an honor council determined she improperly adjusted an exam answer during a post‐exam process.

A track record of diversity: Medical schools ranked by successful black applicants to orthopaedic residencies

BackgroundOrthopaedic surgery is the least diverse surgical subspecialty in medicine. However, to date, there is no literature that shows which medical schools have successfully contributed to improving orthopaedic surgeon diversity. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to identify the top U.S. medical schools that have successfully matched black applicants into orthopaedic surgery residencies and juxtapose this ranking to the current top medical schools as ranked by the U.S. News and World Report (USNWR). MethodsThe J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society (JRGOS) database was queried for all orthopaedic surgeons, fellows, and residents who identified as black or multi-racial with black being one of the included races, yielding 938 physicians, of which 672 met our inclusion criteria. From this list, a ranking of the top 20 medical schools was generated. ResultsThe top five medical schools ranked in the JRGOS database are Howard University College of Medicine (HUCOM), Meharry Medical College, Harvard Medical School (HMS), the University of Pennsylvania, and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). In addition, 10 (50%) of the medical schools ranked in the top 20 by the JRGOS database were also ranked by the USNWR. When ranking medical schools for black female applicants, HUCOM, MSM, HMS are the top three programs. Lastly, a ranking by region identified that the northeast contained the highest number of ranked medical schools. ConclusionThere are both historically black and non-historically black medical schools which have a proven track record of producing a significant number of future black orthopaedic surgery residents.

To Increase Diversity, Medicine Should Rethink USMLE Scores, Psychiatrists Say

To Increase Diversity, Medicine Should Rethink USMLE Scores, Psychiatrists Say

Howard University College of Medicine.

Howard University College of Medicine.

Factors that Influence Underrepresented in Medicine (UIM) Medical Students to Pursue a Career in Academic Pediatrics

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of medical students who are underrepresented in medicine (UIM) from two urban medical centers with an interest in pursuing academic pediatrics. MethodsFocus groups were conducted at Children's National Hospital (CN) at three different times with UIM medical students from two urban medical centers. The investigator team was comprised of both junior and senior UIM and non-UIM pediatric academic faculty with experience in qualitative research. Twenty medical students UIM from Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM) and George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (GWSMHS) participated in the focus groups. The medical students targeted were first, second and fourth years to review experiences pre-and post-third year clerkships. ResultsEighteen of the 20 students completed the demographic data of which 16 identified as Black/African-American. Fifteen of the participants were female and 3 were male. Findings indicated that mentorship, serving as role models, working with children and seeing UIM academic pediatricians positively influenced the students to pursue academic pediatrics. Family had a major influence on students’ interest to pursue medicine. A barrier to pursuing academic pediatrics for UIM medical students included educational debt and lack of knowledge about the field. The students felt that there were fewer expectations of them during secondary school years which affected them throughout their journey to medical school. ConclusionsEarly mentorship for UIM medical students is important to increase exposure to academic pediatrics. Future study on the experience of UIM medical students and their pursuit of academic roles could help produce a more diverse workforce. Also, pipeline programs for students to be exposed to academic pediatrics early in their education career would be beneficial.

Truth, Reconciliation, and Transformation: Continuing on the Path to Equity

One year ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a landmark policy statement identifying racism as a core social determinant of health and a driver of health inequities.1 Seventy-five years ago, the AAP admitted its first Black members, Drs Alonzo deGrate Smith and Roland Boyd Scott. As the AAP continues to evolve its equity agenda, it is essential that the tortuous experiences of Drs deGrate Smith and Scott on their pathway to AAP membership be truthfully acknowledged and reckoned with.At the time of their initially rejected applications in 1939, both Drs deGrate Smith and Scott were busy clinicians and well-established leaders in the pediatric academic community as faculty at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. Dr deGrate Smith, through the practice pathway, and Dr Scott, via examination, were among the earliest pediatricians to achieve certification under the Advisory Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) when the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) was established in 1933. However, the ABMS required American Medical Association (AMA) membership to honor certification, and the local AMA chapter, the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, was segregated.2 According to the oral history interview of Dr Melvin E. Jenkins Jr, advocacy on the part of the inaugural ABP president, Dr Borden Veeder, was necessary to permanently eliminate this exclusionary barrier and to make certification possible for all eligible candidates regardless of race or ethnicity.3 Drs deGrate Smith and Scott faced other systemic barriers, including the inability to gain admitting privileges to care for even their own patients at local hospitals in the District of Columbia. This was a hurdle that Dr Scott was not able to overcome until 1955, fully 6 years after he had already been appointed Chair of Pediatrics at Howard University.4Although AAP bylaws did not explicitly prohibit physicians of color from membership, and Drs deGrate Smith and Scott were finally admitted in 1945, it is clear that the AAP Executive Board struggled with unbiased consideration of their applications. The characterizations related to Drs deGrate Smith and Scott in the following passages excerpted directly from meeting transcripts of AAP Executive Board meetings in November 1939, November 1944, and June 1945 are elucidating, instructive, and painful to read. The verbatim dialogue and proceedings highlight the racist attitudes and beliefs from which early AAP leaders were clearly not immune.In the United States there is a tendency to be ahistorical when it comes to race. The lack of acknowledgment, or worse, the intentional whitewashing of history and the longitudinal relationship of 400 years of oppression on the present-day expression of racism is not uncommon. As the AAP turns the corner toward the 2030 centennial anniversary of its founding, we cannot do so without authentically acknowledging, owning, and reconciling past discriminatory transgressions like the shameful gauntlet to membership experienced by Drs Alonzo deGrate Smith and Roland Boyd Scott.In honoring the memory of these two trailblazers and their contributions to pediatrics and the AAP,7 be it resolved that, we, the Board of Directors of the AAP:The AAP as an organization is on a firm pathway to broadly establishing an equity agenda through meaningful diversity and inclusion and a societal commitment to combating bias and discrimination in all its forms, including structural and systemic anti-Black racism (Fig 1). This country is already majority represented by children of color when it comes to the pediatric population.Embracing racial and ethnic socialization is critical for all children and families as well as for the pediatricians who care for them. Healing starts at home with truth, reckoning, and honest reconciliation.The AAP is proud to transparently acknowledge, proud to publicly reconcile, and proud to continue to lead on behalf of the best interests of children, adolescents, and young adults and the people who care for them.Sara H. Goza, MD, FAAPLee Savio Beers, MD, FAAPKyle E. Yasuda, MD, FAAPWarren M. Seigel, MD, FAAPMark Del Monte, JDWendy S. Davis, MD, FAAPWarren M. Seigel, MD, FAAPMargaret C. Fisher, MD, FAAPMichelle D. Fiscus, MD, FAAPRichard H. Tuck, MD, FAAPDennis M. Cooley, MD, FAAPGary W. Floyd, MD, FAAPMartha C. Middlemist, MD, FAAPYasuko Fukuda, MD, FAAPLisa A. Cosgrove, MD, FAAPCharles G. Macias, MD, FAAPConstance S. Houck, MD, FAAPJoseph L. Wright, MD, FAAP

Black Psychiatrists Call on White Colleagues To Dismantle Racism in Profession, APA

Black Psychiatrists Call on White Colleagues To Dismantle Racism in Profession, APA

Factors That Influence the Choice of Academic Pediatrics by Underrepresented Minorities.

Our objective for this study was to explore the experiences of faculty in academic pediatrics who are underrepresented minorities (URMs) at 2 urban medical centers, in particular, the experiences that influenced their pursuit of academic pediatrics. Three focus groups were conducted in 2016 with URM faculty from Howard University College of Medicine and Children's National Health System to explore how they were influenced to pursue academic pediatrics. Ten 1-on-1 interviews were also conducted in 2017 with URM faculty at Children's National Health System. Focus groups were coded and analyzed by the research team using standard qualitative methods. The 1-on-1 interviews were coded and analyzed by the primary investigator and verified by members of the research team. A total of 25 faculty participated in the study (15 in the focus groups and 10 in individual interviews). Eighteen of the faculty were women and 7 were men. Findings revealed that mentorship, family, and community influenced participants' career choices. Barriers for URMs in academic pediatrics included (1) lack of other URMs in leadership positions, (2) few URMs practicing academic pediatrics, and (3) the impact of racism and gender and implicit bias in the medical field. Mentorship and family are major influences on why URMs become academic pediatricians. Lack of URMs in leadership positions, racism, gender bias, and implicit bias are barriers for URMs in academic pediatrics. More research should be conducted on ways to enhance the experience of URMs and to reduce barriers in academia.

Lionel W. Young, MD

HomeRadiologyVol. 292, No. 2 Previous CommunicationsFree AccessIn MemoriamLionel W. Young, MDTina Young PoussaintTina Young PoussaintTina Young PoussaintPublished Online:Jul 18 2019https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2019190975MoreSectionsPDF ToolsImage ViewerAdd to favoritesCiteTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail Lionel W. Young, MD 1932–2019Download as PowerPointOpen in Image Viewer Dr Lionel W. Young, director of pediatric radiology and professor of radiology, died on April 10, 2019, in Redlands, Calif, at age 87 years.Dr Young was born March 14, 1932, in New Orleans, La. He received his MD degree from Howard University College of Medicine (Washington, DC) in 1957. After an internship at the Detroit Receiving Hospital (Detroit, Mich) and a radiology residency at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester (Rochester, NY) from 1958 to 1961, he served in the U.S. Navy, 1961–1963, as lieutenant Commander at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital.After a pediatric radiology fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital (Cincinnati, Ohio), he established the first pediatric radiology section at the University of Rochester and worked there from 1965 to 1975. His success led to his appointment as director of the pediatric radiology department at Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa) from 1975 to 1986. In 1986, Dr Young left Pittsburgh to direct radiology at Akron Children’s Hospital (Akron, Ohio) and was professor and chairman of radiology at the College of Medicine at Northeastern Ohio Medical University (Rootstown, Ohio). In 1991, he became director of pediatric radiology and professor of radiology and pediatrics at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital (Loma Linda, Calif), retiring in 2018 at age 86 years.Dr Young was a prolific clinician, educator, and scholar. He authored more than 250 publications and held 50 visiting professorships that included Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of California Los Angeles.Dr Young, a dedicated member of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for 45 years, was chairman of the RSNA subcommittee on pediatric radiology (1982–1984) and was the American College of Radiology (ACR) councilor representing RSNA (1984–1990). Dr Young received numerous awards and honors including the first John P. Caffey Award for his study, Pneumonia of Atypical Measles: Residual Nodular Lesions. He was president of the Society for Pediatric Radiology (1984–1985). He was a Diagnostic Radiology National Institutes of Health study section member (1987–1991), Alpha Omega Honor Medical Society member, and Royal Society of Medicine member. He also received the Distinguished Service Award (25 years) Examiner for the American Board of Radiology (2000). Dr Young was a fellow of the ACR and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and he was a member of the John P. Caffey Pediatric Radiology Society. He received distinguished postgraduate achievement awards in medicine from Howard University. An active member of the section on radiology and radiation oncology of the National Medical Association, he was honored by the establishment of the annual Lionel W. Young, MD, FACR, FAAP Symposium on Pediatric Radiology.Dr Young was an internationally recognized leader in pediatric radiology, respected for his teaching and scholarship. He recruited trainees and faculty, including underrepresented minorities and women, and was committed to diversity and inclusion. He was a role model for all and a valued mentor. He was a brilliant and esteemed pediatric radiologist, a giant in his field, and a champion for the health of children. A kind, gentle man, he was a cherished friend and colleague who inspired us. He will be missed by all who knew and loved him.He is survived by his wife, Dr Florence B. Young; daughter, Dr Tina Young Poussaint; sons, Lionel T. Young and Owen C. Young; and six grandchildren.Article HistoryPublished online: July 18 2019Published in print: Aug 2019 FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsRecommended Articles David C. Levin, MDRadiology2020Volume: 295Issue: 1pp. 251-252Atypical Pneumonia: Definition, Causes, and Imaging FeaturesRadioGraphics2021Volume: 41Issue: 3pp. 720-741Guy Morgan Hicks, MDRadiology2017Volume: 285Issue: 2pp. 695Frederick J. Bonte, MDRadiology2017Volume: 286Issue: 1pp. 366Gerald D. Dodd, Jr, MDRadiology2016Volume: 278Issue: 2pp. 638See More RSNA Education Exhibits Atypical Pneumonias: What is Atypical After All?Digital Posters2019“Do It Right”: Tips and Tricks for Successful Implementation of Deep Learning Algorithms in Medical Imaging.Digital Posters2020Perfusion and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of Pediatric Brain TumorsDigital Posters2019 RSNA Case Collection Lipoid PneumoniaRSNA Case Collection2021Pneumocystis Jirovecii Pneumonia RSNA Case Collection2021MesotheliomaRSNA Case Collection2020 Vol. 292, No. 2 Metrics Downloaded 805 times Altmetric Score PDF download

Low‐Dose Dihydrotestosterone Lowers Lipogenic Master Regulator in Liver and Adipose Tissue from Female Mice

Hyperandrogenemia (HA) and insulin resistance (IR) are hallmarks of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common endocrine disorder that affects 1 in 10 women. These hallmarks are also integral elements of non‐alcoholic liver disease (NALFD), a disorder that is common in women with PCOS. In lean female mouse models of dihydrotestosterone (DHT)‐induced PCOS, a low dose of (DHT) promotes IR and hepatic lipogenesis via the androgen receptor (AR), thus resulting in NAFLD. However, the molecular mechanism of HA‐induced NAFLD has not been determined. We hypothesized that a low dose of DHT would interrupt hepatic lipid metabolism leading to NAFLD. In this project, we aimed to investigate how androgen and androgen receptor (AR) impact a key player of lipogenesis, SREBP1. We extracted liver tissue, white adipose tissue (WAT), and skeletal muscle from lean, female wild type mice and mice. Next, we analyzed the effect of low dose dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on lipogenic protein and gene expression. We performed Western blot and real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) analysis of lipogenic intermediates on homogenates of energy storage tissues (liver, WAT, and skeletal muscle). Low‐dose DHT lowered the protein expression of the active form of cytosolic SREBP1 in the liver and WAT. Additionally, low‐dose DHT lowered the protein expression of the inactive SREBP1 in the liver. DHT did not alter the levels of the active and inactive forms of SREBP2 in the liver and WAT. Interestingly, the active form of SREBP2 was lowered in skeletal muscle. Further, phospho acetyl co‐A carboxylase (p‐ACC) protein levels were unaltered in liver and WAT. Fatty acid synthase (FAS) levels were unchanged in WAT and skeletal muscle. Taken together, our findings suggest that hepatic and white adipose cytosolic SREBP1 is being decreased due to its translocation to the nucleus, where it regulates lipogenic protein levels.Support or Funding InformationThank you to Howard University College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) for supporting this work.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Researchers Explore Sleep Problems in Veterans

Researchers Explore Sleep Problems in Veterans

Tamera Coyne-Beasley

Tamera Coyne-Beasley

"Academic racism" and the neglected scholarship of the anatomist M. Wharton Young, MD, PhD (1904-1986).

Moses Wharton Young, MD, PhD (1904-1986), was an African American Professor of Neuroanatomy at Howard University College of Medicine from 1934 to 1973, during which time he authored about 100 publications on topics that included baldness, asthma, glaucoma, and, most importantly, the structure and function of the inner ear and the pathophysiology of blast injuries. Much of Young's research was ignored during his lifetime, raising the question whether this professional neglect was an instance of "academic racism."

Metal casts showing the three-dimensional structure of the human inner ear were converted into jewelry.

This article describes a straightforward method for making metal casts of the human inner ear developed in 1937 by M. Wharton Young of Howard University College of Medicine. These casts were used to study anatomy, but there do not appear to be any published photographs of the casts. Inner ear casts converted into jewelry provide the only known images of this work. Later, Young studied the inner ear in living rhesus monkeys by injecting mercury into their membranous labyrinths. Young's investigations indicated a blind-ending perilymphatic sac that was not in continuity with the subarachnoid space.

Teaching Giants and Other Mentors of the Howard University: College of Medicine Class of 1952

During the two decades following World War II, rapid changes occurred in medicine and in society as a whole in the United States including the establishment of the National Institutes of Health and the civil rights movement. This article profiles the teaching faculty of the Howard University College of Medicine that prepared the Class of 1952 for the decades that were to follow.

Harry L June.

Dr Harry L June, a Member of the College since 2004, succumbed to cancer on 7 June 2014. A native of South Carolina, Dr June received his PhD from Howard University in 1990 under Dr Michael Lewis. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in human psychopharmacology at Johns Hopkins University, Dr June held a dual appointment as assistant professor in the Psychology Department at Indiana University–Purdue University in Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the Medical Neurobiology Program at Indiana University School of Medicine. He was promoted to the rank of associate professor in 1998 and full professor in 2003. Dr June left Indiana in 2005 to join the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he held the rank of professor in both the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. In 2011, he was appointed Director of Substance Abuse Research and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Howard University College of Medicine. First, as a student with Michael Lewis, and later with colleagues at IUPUI, the University of Maryland, and finally at Howard University, Harry addressed fundamental questions about how GABAA receptor form and function relate to alcohol-driven behaviors. Harry employed a multidisciplinary approach to address these questions. Both Harry's enthusiasm and outgoing personality enabled him to enlist collaborators in disciplines ranging from organic chemistry (James Cook) in order to synthesize GABAA receptor subtype-selective agents to molecular biology (Laura Aurelian) in order to construct amplicons containing siRNAs that could be delivered to specific brain regions. Throughout his career, Harry always had an eye toward translational research, and one of his last studies demonstrated that amitifadine, a triple reuptake inhibitor, reduced binge drinking as well as some of the negative behaviors associated with withdrawal in rats. NIAAA subsequently replicated these data, and amitifadine, currently in development for depression, is slated for an NIAAA-sponsored clinical study in alcoholism. This study would never have gotten off the ground without Harry's vision of finding better agents to treat alcohol use disorders. Given his enthusiasm for science, it is no surprise that Harry was a gifted teacher and a dedicated, patient mentor. Harry was always grateful to NIAAA for supporting his work, and served on multiple NIH study sections during his distinguished career. Harry is survived by his wife, Terri White, and two sons, Leon and James. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and an extended scientific family of former students and collaborators.

Parallelism between ontogeny and phylogeny ő a case study in amphibians (921.10)

Ernst Haeckel’s idea of “ontogeny is a fast recapitulation of adult phylogenetic stages” was discussed extensively since its publication in 1866 and has been refuted. Authors such as Stephen Jay Gould have re‐defined a theory that stresses that there is a parallelism between ontogeny and phylogeny, but no ontogenetic recapitulation of ancestral adult stages. To test this theory, we studied amphibian cranial muscle development by undertaking dissections, using whole‐mount antibody staining, and doing serial sectioning. The order in which muscles appear during amphibian ontogeny was analyzed with Parsimov. We found 1) general patterns in cranial muscle development, e.g. the differentiation of muscles from anterior to posterior, from lateral to medial, and from origin to insertion; 2) that there is effectively a similarity between the order in which muscles appear in ontogeny and in phylogeny; 3) that there are some heterochronic events but these events cannot be related to a particular lifestyle; and 4) that contrary to the commonly accepted view that ontogeny tends to lead to the differentiation of new muscles, several amphibian larval cranial muscles actually become indistinct during metamorphosis. This latter point can lead to confusion about the homology of several cranial muscles in salamanders, frogs and other vertebrates, which should be resolved in order to understand vertebrate evolutionary history. Grant Funding Source: Faculty Start‐Up Package, Howard University College of Medicine