News Around the State

Reeves Appointed School of Dentistry Dean

After more than two years of service as interim dean, Dr. Gary Reeves of Brandon has been appointed dean of the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry. 

Reeves took over as the school’s leader after Interim Dean Dr. Butch Gilbert stepped down in February 2010. He first came to the School of Dentistry as a student in 1980, after serving four years in the U.S. Army. Upon graduation and the completion of a general practice residency, Reeves joined the faculty as an instructor in restorative dentistry in 1985. 

He has served as professor of Care Planning and Restorative Sciences since 1996. Reeves served in Iraq in 2004 with the Mississippi Army National Guard, Dental Corps, and more recently has overseen renovations for a state-of-the-art clinical laboratory on the fourth floor of the school.

CMMC Hires JPD Veteran to Lead Security Department

Wendell Watts recently joined Central Mississippi Medical Center as the new Director of Security. Watts comes to CMMC from the Jackson Police Department (JPD), where he served with honor for 20 years, most recently as Commander for Precinct Four, which includes north Jackson and the thriving Fondren district. 

During his tenure at JPD, Watts led multiple divisions within the department, including Jackson Police Departments Gun Unit, Narcotics Division, Burglary Division, Auto Theft and Forgery Division. After being promoted to commander, he was instrumental in decreasing crime rates in his precinct as part of the city’s revitalization efforts.

In his new role at CMMC, Watts will oversee a team of security officers and support staff. His main objective will be to keep CMMC’s campus safe while allowing patients and visitors to easily access the facility and maintain an open campus feel within a secure environment.

“I am looking forward to implementing at CMMC the proven security measures I learned during my years with the Jackson Police Department,” Watts said. “CMMC’s patients and visitors grounds deserve a pleasant, safe experience at all times. Making sure this is accomplished 24 hours a day, seven days a week, will be my main goal.”

Charlotte Dupré, CMMC’s CEO, said finding someone with Watts experience to lead the security department was an area of focus as soon as she joined the hospital.

"Wendell has a very strong background in law enforcement with the City of Jackson that made him the ideal person to lead our security department,” Dupré said. “We share a common goal of desiring to keep our campus and facilities secure for everyone who enters our grounds. I anticipate great things from his leadership in this vital area.”

St. Dominic's Pioneering Surgeon Performs Two Firsts in State Just Days Apart

On May 3, John Baten, M.D. performed the first known procedure combining three innovative minimally invasive technologies to remove an ovarian cyst.

While robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery continues to grow in popularity, the procedure was performed through a single incision – instead of the normal three or four incisions used in robotic assisted operations – and enhanced by the addition of a breakthrough CO2 laser device from OmniGuide, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.

Based on proprietary technology invented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the OmniGuide BeamPath® flexible laser system provides Baten a level of precision, access and control unmatched by other surgical energy devices.

"CO2 lasers have been used for some time in fertility surgery, providing a precise cutting tool that enables surgeons to remove disease with minimal risk of damage to healthy tissues," Baten said.

"OmniGuide has developed a low-profile, flexible delivery system that allows CO2 laser energy to be delivered through the robotic surgical platform for the first time. The combination of this novel technology with the improved visualization and anatomical access of the da Vinci robot will allow patients to have a better chance of symptom relief through a minimally invasive approach."

Baten's second first occurred on May 11, when Baten used the EndoWrist One™ Vessel Sealer in a single port approach. "This instrument combines two tools and results in a much faster surgery," Baten said. "This means better outcomes for patients by using a more efficient tool."

The EndoWrist One can be used in General Surgery, Colorectal Surgery, and, in Baten's case, gynecological surgery. This tool, developed by da Vinci, adds one more benefit to robotic assisted surgeries for women and men.

OmniGuide's BeamPath® flexible laser system can be used in the fields of Otolaryngology (Otology, Head & Neck Oncology, Laryngology & Airway) and Neurosurgery as well as gynecology where reproductive specialists apply the high-precision energy through laparoscopic and robot-assisted platforms for the treatment of endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids and intra-abdominal adhesions – all of which can lead to chronic pain and infertility.

Barry Senate confirmation hearing held at Capitol

Pictured (l to r) Merritt Barry, East Mississippi State Hospital Nursing Home Administrator in training; Charles Carlisle, Director of East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian; Sen. Videt Carmichael; Hon. J. Richard Barry of Meridian; Grenaye Sullivan, Mississippi Department of Mental Health; Ed LeGrand, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health; and Thad Williams, Mississippi Department of Mental Health.

The Board of Mental Health Senate Confirmation Hearing for Hon. J. Richard Barry of Meridian was held at the State Capitol on May 2, 2012.

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with Mr. Barry again,” said Ed LeGrand, Mississippi Department of Mental Health Executive Director. “We appreciate the Governor reappointing such a talented and upstanding individual to the Board. Mr. Barry will continue to bring his unique experiences and vast knowledge to the Board.”

Barry is partner in the law firm of Hammock, Barry, Thaggard and May, LLP in Meridian. Barry received his law degree from the University of Mississippi. He is a member of the American Bar Association, Mississippi Bar Association, Lauderdale County Bar Association and the American Health Lawyers Association. Barry was appointed to the State Board of Mental Health by Governor Haley Barbour in June 2005. In 2010, he was appointed Chair of the Board of Mental Health.

The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is dedicated to supporting a better tomorrow by making a difference in the lives of Mississippians with mental illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, and substance abuse problems.

Multi-state Research Consortium Convenes at UMMC to Fight Cancer

A two day conference at the University of Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Institute is bringing together scientists and physicians from nine Southeastern U.S. centers to improve cancer research by designing population studies and drug clinical trials that include minorities and by building tissue banks that better represent the region’s diversity.

The GMaP/BMaP Region 3 conference, scheduled for April 23-24 at the Jackson Medical Mall, is attracting an expert consortium of 50-60 physicians and scientists from nine institutions – Tulane University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Moffitt Cancer Center, Emory University, Tuskegee University, Moorehouse College, Ponce School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Xavier University and UMMC. “Overall we are working together to study the environmental, cultural, clinical and biological aspects of health disparities in cancer,” said Dr. Lucio Miele, director of the UMMC Cancer Institute.

The group addresses health disparities in cancer through two main avenues: GMaP – or Geographic Management Program – and BMaP – or Biospecimen Management Program. GMaP’s purpose is to find ways the institutions can collaborate on population studies and clinical trials. By identifying regional and ethnicity-based differences in cancer outcomes, the consortium can design population research and clinical trials that include statistically significant numbers of minorities.

“There is no such thing as a single cancer. Cancers happen in the same place – breast, lung, bones – but there are many different types. Environmental, behavioral, genetic and epi-genetic risk factors affect cancer incidence and outcome, and these are in part influenced by an individual’s ethnicity,” Miele said.

“A majority of cancer drugs have been developed and approved based on studies that did not include a significant number of minorities. So we don’t know if these drugs are optimal for minorities.

“The South has a heavier burden of cancer than other U.S. regions, and minorities are disproportionately affected. But ultimately, the cost of cancer health-care disparities affects everyone nationwide. The best way to reduce this burden is to find effective strategies to prevent cancer, to diagnose it earlier and to treat it more effectively. This cannot be accomplished without understanding cancer risk factors and biology in all Americans, irrespective of ethnicity and socioeconomic status.”

BMaP is an effort to create a regionally shared bio-repository system that will allow researchers throughout the Mid-South to study novel biomarkers of disease.

Understanding differences in cancer subtypes may help explain why certain ethnic groups experience different incidence of cancer and different outcomes in treatment. “Gene expression and molecular profiling data do not exist on many minorities’ cancers. So we don’t know if we are dealing with different disease subtypes. It’s why we need biospecimen repositories,” Miele said.

“We want to ensure we build tissue banks that are as broad and diverse as the U.S. population.”

The GMaP/BMap Region 3 consortium formed in 2009 with funding from the National Cancer Institute’s Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities. The members meet quarterly and hold monthly teleconferences. This gathering marks the consortium’s first meeting in Jackson. Dr. Mary Ann Van Duyn, program director at the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, is also scheduled to attend.

“To my knowledge there hasn’t been such a gathering of cancer centers in Jackson ever,” Miele said.

The Region 3 consortium members represent five states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia – and Puerto Rico. Those areas share various demographic, cultural and socioeconomic features including large minority populations, urban and rural poverty, poor education track records, and inadequate access to health care. Miele said African-Americans and Latinos have been just as willing as any other races to donate cancer tissue samples and to participate in population studies and clinical trials.

“But the infrastructure to do those things has not been strong enough. All these things cost money - handling, banking and human costs of tissue storage, and the immense costs of conducting long-term population research,” Miele said.

“The idea is that between these nine members, we can share each other’s strengths and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. We’re trying to provide the infrastructure so people who have not been able to participate in research, tissue specimen banking and clinical trials can participate.”

UMMC's Congenital Heart Surgery Team Bests National Averages in Two Years

Salazar, left, and DiBardino, right

As it marks its two-year anniversary this month, the congenital heart surgery team at Batson Children’s Hospital has reason to celebrate.

Not only is the program thriving with more than 550 operations completed, but the outcomes of those procedures are better than the national average in patients expected to do worse.

In the first of two separate analyses of outcomes from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database (STS-CHSD), Dr. Daniel DiBardino, assistant professor of surgery and congenital heart surgeon, found that outcomes for seven benchmark procedures performed between April 2010 and November 2011 were better than the national average for hospital discharge mortality and within the expected norms for lengths of stay. 

“When we look at the data over the 18 months, we’ve excelled in every major category in the STS database,” DiBardino said.

Those major categories include some of the most complex operations to repair congenital heart defects. Before the recruitment of Dr. Jorge Salazar, associate professor of surgery and chief of congenital heart surgery, and DiBardino, patients needing a repair for a complex congenital heart defect were sent out of state for these procedures.

With the establishment of the multidisciplinary team of specialists, the program has achieved great strides in its first two years, including the first Norwood procedure ever done in the state and the first heart transplant at Batson in eight years. The team expects to complete more than 400 operations in 2012.

DiBardino said the most exciting and dramatic outcomes were those for Norwood procedures, a series of operations most often used to repair hypoplastic left heart syndrome on babies born with only half of a heart. 

“These are the sickest children in the hospital,” DiBardino said. “For the 19 babies evaluated in the last 22 months, we’ve had to do 63 procedures with a discharge mortality rate of seven percent. The national average for this operation is between 17 and 19 percent.”

In a second separate analysis of outcome data, DiBardino looked at outcomes for more than 20,000 patients in the STS-CHSD and found that African-American patients had significantly higher mortality rates, complications and a longer length of stay than other races. The analysis also found that females had a significantly shorter hospital stay than males. 

Considering males make up the largest percentage of patients that have undergone congenital heart surgery at Batson and that many of their patients are African-American, the team knows the odds are already stacked against them.

“As a program, we know that the majority of our patient population, based on STS data, can be expected to have higher mortality and complication rates and longer hospital stays,” DiBardino said.

“Despite the fact that the national statistics show that these things affect outcomes, we are demonstrating that the very best outcomes can be achieved independent of race and gender,” Salazar said. 

“We are overcoming these challenges and achieving outcomes that are equal to or better than the very best programs in the country,” he said. “It’s something Mississippi can be proud of.”

DiBardino presented the findings of his second analysis at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ annual meeting, where it was chosen as a 2011 Richard E. Clark Paper, an honor given to papers representing high quality research using the STS-CHSD. 

He acknowledges that the numbers are good, but says they represent a national standard. “The bar is set so high for a new program or a new surgeon that if you’re not achieving these results, people are going to start wondering why.”

DiBardino is also quick to point out that the importance of the STS-CHSD is to provide realistic expectations of what can be achieved.

“No other specialty has this type of data so readily available. All of us, like it or not, are benchmarked against that database.” 

The STS-CHSD was established in 1989 to advance quality improvement and patient safety in cardiothoracic surgeries. Ninety-eight congenital heart surgery programs currently report outcomes to the database, representing approximately 80 percent of all programs in the U.S. The data is maintained by the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

 

St. Dominic's 4 West ICU Unit Reaches One Year of No Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections

St. Dominic's 4 West ICU unit reached a significant milestone at the beginning of April — one year without a central line associated blood stream infection (CLABSI). 

Since January 2011, St. Dominic's 4 West ICU has been involved in a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to improve the safety culture of the unit. This CUSP is modeled after the approach used by the team from Johns Hopkins University, led by Peter Pronovost, in what is widely known as the Keystone Project. 

St. Dominic's is the first hospital in the Jackson-metro area participating in the CUSP CLABSI project to reach the one-year milestone.

CLABSI continues to be one of the most deadly and costly hospital-associated infections in the U.S., with an estimated 250,000 CLABSIs occurring in hospitals each year. 

"Having no central line bloodstream infections for over 52 weeks is a significant patient safety accomplishment," said Robert Mobley, M.D., Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs and Quality at St. Dominic Hospital. "St. Dominic's is committed to enhancing safety aspects of central line placement and maintenance processes to prevent infections." 

CLABSIs fall within a category of primary bloodstream infections that are associated with the presence of a central line at the time or before the onset of the infection. Primary bloodstream infections are those in which there is no obvious source and can result in serious complications, prolonged hospital stays and increased cost and risk of mortality. 

"Because of this unit's team work and dedication to patient safety, dangerous and hard-to-treat infections have been prevented," Mobley said. "Providing the highest-quality patient care is a top priority for St. Dominic's." 

Frank Bradshaw, 4 West ICU Nurse Manager at St. Dominic's, said his unit is proud of its accomplishment and collaborative efforts it took to reach it. "Four West ICU's one-year milestone was made possible because of our staff's efforts to look at and work on all the processes from central line insertion to central line maintenance plus consideration of the necessity of these lines." 

 

St. Dominic's New Behavioral Health Facility to Open April 30

The first phase of St. Dominic's new Behavioral Health Services building housing the acute care psychiatric hospital is now complete and will open for patients on April 30. Instead of renovating the existing Behavioral Health Services building which was in need of substantial repairs, St. Dominic's partially razed the building and reconstructed it in the same location. 

While part of the facility will remain under construction, the side of the facility where patients are treated will be operational. The entire project has an expected completion date in 2013. This new facility is uniquely designed, without an equal in the Southeast.

The building was designed after St. Dominic's administrators toured some of the most advanced facilities offering this type of care. “With the opening of the new behavioral health services building, we are 2/3s of the way to the completion of the first new facility for the treatment of the mentally ill that has been built in many, many years,” said William M. Valverde, M.D., Medical Director of St. Dominic's Behavioral Health. "This building is proof of St. Dominic's commitment to living out its mission to bring health care to those who are in need.” 

When fully completed, the 77-bed, two-story, state-of-the-art facility will contain 56,500 square feet on the first level and 21,500 square feet on the second level.  

 

Dr. Myrna Alexander Nickens Joins UMMC

Myrna Ellen Alexander Nickens, the first female interventional cardiologist in Mississippi, has joined the University of Mississippi Medical Center faculty as an associate professor of medicine.

A 1978 graduate of Tougaloo College, Alexander Nickens received the M.D. from Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn., in 1982. She did an internal medicine internship from 1982-83, an internal medicine residency from 1983-85, a cardiology fellowship from 1989-92 and an interventional cardiology fellowship from 1992-93 at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich.

A staff physician in public health services for Samaritan Health Systems in Detroit from 1985-89, Alexander Nickens served on the Henry Ford Hospital staff from 1993-95 as an interventional/clinical cardiologist academic instructor and associate director of the Cardiology Inpatient Unit. She has served as a clinical clerkship mentor for residents and students at UMMC since 1995.

A member of several professional organizations, including the American College of Cardiology, the American Medical Association and the Association of Black Cardiology, Alexander Nickens is the coauthor of four peer-reviewed professional publications.

She has an interest in heart disease in women, valvular heart disease and preventive cardiology for all ages above 15 years of age. All patients are welcomed to her practice at UMMC. 

 

CMMC gains state’s approval for expansion of psychiatric unit

The Mississippi Department of Health granted a Certificate of Need (CON) on March 29 for the addition of 18 new psychiatric beds at Central Mississippi Medical Center (CMMC). “This decision essentially grants permission for the hospital to enlarge its current psychiatric department in order to meet the needs of a growing base of patients seeking these vital services,” said Charlotte W. Dupré, Chief Executive Officer of CMMC.      

CMMC applied for the CON from the Department of Health to add 18 licensed psychiatric beds, which will increase the number of available beds to 47. The hospital presently has 20 male and 9 female psychiatric beds. The additional beds will allow the hospital to flex up and down the male and female beds, based on the current census and need.     

CMMC plans to move the current beds for geriatric patients in need of unique mental health service, such as depression, and relocate them to another floor, Dupré said.  When this move occurs, we will increase our capacity for our geripysch patient population from 11 beds to 20 beds.     

“The approval of the CON will allow for enhancement of our existing programs and most importantly, increase Mississippians’ access to mental health services,” said Dupré.  “In the new medically advanced setting, our physicians, staff and family members will work together to help our patients regain their ability to enjoy an active, productive life.”