Former IU basketball star Victor Oladipo was born a long way from Indiana. But during this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, the Maryland native said the Hoosier state will always be near his heart. A local charity was the recent beneficiary of that closeness.
Holly Goe, a registered nurse, has been named vice president of Indiana University Health Cancer Centers, a large group of oncologists that is part of the IU Health hospital network. Goe has been serving as interim vice president since October after being named the program’s executive director for clinical operations last April. Goe will work with Dr. Doug Schwartzentruber, the medical director for cancer services at IU Health, to retool how the entire IU Health system manages cancer patients. Before coming to IU Health last year, Goe worked at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pa., and before that, worked at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne.
Dr. Douglas Wallace, a cardiothoracic surgeon, has joined St. Vincent Medical Group in Lafayette. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of California,Davis, and his medical degree from Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.
The Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center has added six new researchers: Dr. Gary Dunnington, who studies surgery outcomes for breast cancer patients; Reginald Hill, a researcher who studies how inflammation contributes to pancreatic cancer; Janaiah Kota, who studies the role of micro RNAs (ribonucleic acids) in cancers and develops microRNA-based cancer drugs; Dr. Sophie Paczesny, who studies complications from bone marrow transplants; Jenifer Prosperi, who studies breast cancer development; and Dr. Chandru Sundaram, whose research focuses on the outcomes of laparoscopic and robotic surgery for kidney and prostate cancers.
The departure of Dr. George Sledge likely will sap the breast cancer research program at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center of about $500,000 in annual funding. But the program Sledge built over the past three decades mostly will remain intact.
Dr. Gary Dunnington, a surgical oncologist, has been named chairman of the Indiana University School of Medicine department of surgery. Dunnington comes to IU after 15 years at the Southern Illinois University. Previously, he was an associate professor of surgery at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. Dunnington graduated from Chrysler High School in New Castle, Ball State University and the IU School of Medicine.
The School of Science at IUPUI hired Lisa Jones as an assistant professor of chemistry, specializing in bioanalytical chemistry. Before coming to IUPUI, Jones taught at Missouri College. Jones earned her doctorate in biochemistry from Georgia State University and her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Syracuse University.
David Delaney has been appointed director of business development for Franciscan St. Francis Health. He most recently served as a community and business development consultant for Indianapolis-based Advantage Health Solutions Inc. Delaney holds a degree from Purdue University.
The Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center has added the following researchers: Jill Fehrenbacher, who studies how cancer therapies cause numbness and burning pain; Dr. Emma Rossi, who studies minimally invasive and computer-assisted surgical techniques for gynecologic cancer; Dr. Peter Schwartz, who conducts research on patient understanding and decision-making; Dr. Rebecca Silbermann, who studies multiple myeloma bone disease; and David Waning, who studies musculoskeletal complications in cancer and cancer therapy.
It took the identification of 19 different genes for researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine to develop a test for a rare form of cancer. But their gene-hunting has paid off, as a Texas-based company announced Monday the test is available for doctors to use.
Rivienne Shedd-Steele, director of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center’s Office of Health Disparities and Outreach, also has been named director of Cervical Cancer-Free Indiana, an advocacy organization for screenings and vaccinations to prevent humillopapillomavirus, the prime cause of cervical cancer.
Indianapolis-based Indiana Health Centers Inc. has hired Dr. Stephen Sauer, a family physician, to serve in the Community Health Center of Miami County in Peru. Sauer completed medical school at Saba University SOM in the Dutch Caribbean.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana hired Jon Mills as director of marketing and communications. Mills worked on mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy’s 2011 campaign as communications director. Early in his career, he was a legislative aide for congresswoman Julia Carson. Mills has also been director of corporate communications for WellPoint Inc. and Indiana University Health.
The achievements of Bryan Schneider, 38, in breast cancer research continue to build on each other.
Dr. David Roodman has been named director of hematology oncology at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. He also will begin Nov. 15 as a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Four researchers from his bone disease lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine will move with him. Over the past 10 years, Roodman has received significant financial support for his research, including more than $13.2 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. He was recruited to IU through a physician scientist initiative funded by a $60 million grant from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.
Dr. Justin Smith has joined the St. Vincent Physician Network in Fishers. He offers primary care to all ages and has a special interest in sports medicine and preventive care. Smith has a bachelor’s degree from Butler University and did his medical training at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Krystal L. Cole, a certified physician’s assistant, has joined Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons with St. Francis Medical Group. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University and did her physician assistant studies at Western University of Health Sciences in California.
Nicole G. Barnes, a registered dietitian, has been appointed clinical nutrition manager for Franciscan St. Francis Health. Since 2006, she has served as a clinical dietitian for the hospital system. Barnes received a master’s degree in dietetics at D’Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. caught the attention of employers and health benefits brokers with its agreement to buy a stake in Bloom Health, a private health-insurance exchange that would compete for employers with the state-run marketplaces set to open in 2014 as part of the health reform overhaul. According to Bloomberg News, WellPoint and two not-for-profit health insurers will acquire a 78-percent stake in Minneapolis-based Bloom. It is an online marketplace offering a variety of health plans to about 20,000 workers at almost 50 companies. WellPoint officials think a private exchange could offer more consistency for multi-state employers than the state-run exchanges. Under the Bloom model, companies pay employees a fixed amount to cover a portion of their health-care coverage and workers provide the rest based on the plans they select. The idea of the private health-care exchange and its defined contribution model is similar to the trend in retirement benefits in which employers have been abandoning defined benefit pension plans for the relative financial safety of a 401(k) that allows companies to control how much they spend.
With its bestseller Zyprexa losing patent protection next month, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. is trying to wring every dollar it can out of its other products, including its $2.2 billion-a-year lung cancer drug Alimta. And Lilly got some good news on that front Monday. A committee at the European Medicines Agency issued a positive opinion for the use of Alimta as a "continuation" maintenance therapy, Lilly announced. That makes market approval by the European Commission more likely. Continuation maintenance approval could mean significantly more dollars for Lilly. It would allow doctors to treat lung cancer patients with Alimta during initial treatment and for numerous months afterward to keep the disease in check. Alimta already was approved as a maintenance drug, but only for use after initial treatment of the disease with other drugs. Receiving approval as a maintenance therapy, which Alimta won back in 2009, helped sales soar 66 percent since then. Alimta sales totaled $1.2 billion worldwide in the first half of 2011. According to Lilly, no chemotherapy is currently approved as a continuation maintenance drug. Alimta is designed to treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer who have a certain tumor type called nonsquamous.
The Conquer Cancer Foundation of the American Society of Clinical Oncology gave $450,000 to Dr. Bryan Schneider, a physician-researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Schneider will use the three-year grant to study the neuropathy that some chemotherapy patients develop in hopes of eventually developing treatments to prevent it. Schneider has received three previous awards from the foundation.
Community Health Network opened a Community Spine Center in Greenwood, similar to the original spine center at Community North Hospital in Castleton. The south-side center will be led by Dr. Joshua Salyer, a graduate of Midwestern University-Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Victoria Champion, a registered nurse and professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing, has been named associate director of population science research at the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. Champion has conducted research on behavioral oncology that has helped with earlier discovery of cancer.
Dr. Adam M. Paarlberg has joined Beech Grove Family Medicine of St. Francis Medical Group. He most recently worked in the emergency department at Rushville Memorial Hospital and completed residency training at Franciscan St. Francis Health. Paarlberg holds a bachelor’s in religion from Wabash College and earned his medical degree at the IU School of Medicine.
Dr. Tobi Reidy, a colon and rectal surgeon, has established a practice with Kendrick Colon and Rectal Center, which is owned by Franciscan St. Francis Health. She earned her medical training at Nova Southeastern University-College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Jessica Saberman, a family and pediatric physician, recently joined Indiana University Health Physicians in Fishers. She had been part of the St. Vincent Physician Network in Fishers since 2002.
Dr. Brett Neff, a family physician, will join IU Health Physicians Northside Adult & Pediatric Care, in Carmel, on Aug. 25. Neff also used to be part of the St. Vincent Physician Network in Fishers.
Dr. Jessica Swenberg and Dr. Jama Gail Edwards, both family physicians, are joining IU Health Physicians in Zionsville. Swenberg previously practiced at the Village Doctors in Zionsville. Edwards has been an independent family physician in Zionsville since 2001.
Dr. Laura Calili recently joined IU Health Physicians as a new pediatrician in Greenwood.
Dr. Vijay Udyavar Rao has joined St. Francis Medical Group Indiana Heart Physicians. Rao most recently served as clinical instructor in cardiology at the University of California-San Francisco and has also served as a research fellow with California-based biotech firm Genentech Inc. Rao earned a bachelor’s in biology from DePauw University and his medical degree and doctorate at the Medical University of South Carolina.
The Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center added two new researchers: Amber Mosley uses protein mass spectrometry to study gene expression levels; Pierrick Fournier studies the role of the immune system in bone cancers.
Indianapolis-based Senex Services Corp. has hired Brose McVey as vice president of business development. The former political aide and candidate for Congress had been consulting for Senex before his hiring. Senex buys unpaid hospital debts from patients and tries to collect them.
Visionary Enterprises Inc., a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based Community Health Network, appointed Dr. Larry Monn as chief operating officer. VEI oversees Community’s joint ventures with physicians. Monn, who has been VEI’s chief medical officer since 2007, fills the position left vacant by Kyle Fisher, who was promoted to CEO of VEI. Monn, a plastic surgeon, earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Alliance Home Health Care hired Dr. Charles F. Hasbrook as its medical adviser. Hasbrook currently serves as the medical care provider at Larue Carter Hospital Primary Care Clinic. He earned his medical degree from IU School of Medicine.
The IU Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center has added six research fellows: Dr. Helmut Hanenberg focuses on DNA repair disorders in children; Susan Hickman is developing a research program focused on decision-making in patients with advanced cancer; Yan Liu investigates how stem cells in the blood remain dormant and renew themselves; Brenna McDonald studies leukemia, breast cancer, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury on patients' brains; Kevin Rand studies hope, optimism and life goals among cancer patients, and how they relate to treatment decisions and well-being; and Nathan Stupiansky explores cancer prevention and cancer vaccines, such as the HPV vaccine.
Rick Holigrocki, a clinical psychologist, has been named dean of the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Indianapolis. He has been serving as acting dean since August. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Windsor.
Moniker reflects ownership change years earlier, better description of company's focus.
Previous gifts from the foundation to the cancer center have been used to hire 10 researchers working on breast cancer.
