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Spirit of collaboration is convocation focus  Creating Collaboration is the theme of this year’s faculty convocation, which will take place at 4: 30 p.m. Aug. 21 in the Basic Science Building Auditorium.   Ten faculty members will be recognized for achievements in teaching, research and patient care. The four teaching honorees were recognized in the May 18 issue of The Catalyst.   Because the spirit of collaboration often spans the globe, the convocation will have as its keynote speaker John Gilbert, Ph.D., who is spearheading nationwide efforts in Canada to establish and improve inter-professional education.   Gilbert, Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia (UBC), is project lead for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHP). CIHP is a pan-Canadian collaborative of partners advancing  improved health education, improved health services, and improved health for Canadians. Its focus is on building a representative collaborative, identifying and sharing best practices in interprofessional education and collaborative practice, and translating this knowledge to people who can use it to transform health care.   A former Fulbright scholar, Gilbert is a speech scientist and expert in experimental phonetics. He was UBC’s College of Health Disciplines’ first appointed principal in December 2001, and held this position until his retirement from UBC in June 2006. He continues to be a leader in projects and initiatives across Canada and internationally in pursuit of advancing interprofessional education.   After the ceremony, refreshments will be served in the lobby of the Education Center/Library  Building and MUSC faculty will present posters that highlight  collaborative education, research and clinical initiatives. Outstanding Clinician Gary Steven Gilkeson, M.D. Gilkeson has devoted his career to the study and treatment of rheumatology and immunology, specializing in lupus research. For reasons unknown, African-Americans living in South Carolina’s coastal and sea island communities include an unusually high concentration of lupus sufferers, often with outcomes more debilitating than the national average. He has embraced this embattled community, taking his fight against lupus beyond the laboratories and clinics of MUSC and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center to the churches and community centers of the Lowcountry, spreading knowledge and compassion to his patients and others in the community.   A graduate of Baylor University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Gilkeson performed an internship and residency in internal medicine at North Carolina Memorial Hospital at the University of North Carolina— Chapel Hill. From there he served as a major in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps, receiving an honorable discharge in 1986. A fellowship in rheumatology and immunology at Duke University Medical School followed, at the conclusion of which Gilkeson joined the faculty, eventually becoming associate professor of medicine and chief of rheumatology at the Durham VA Medical Center. In 1996, he joined MUSC as an associate professor of medicine and was appointed chief of rheumatology at the Johnson VA Medical Center. He serves as professor of medicine and microbiology and immunology, and is vice chair for research in MUSC’s Department of Medicine. Named Physician of the Year in 2001 at the Johnson VA Medical Center, he was cited as one of the Best Doctors in America for the last four years. Outstanding Clinician Cynthia L. Murphy, M.D. While the state and nation’s ethnic makeup may be in flux, at least one constant in all of this is that South Carolina citizens, regardless of national origin, need health  care. In its mission statement, MUSC pledges “to provide excellence in patient care, in an environment that is respectful of others, adaptive to change, accountable for outcomes, and attentive to the needs of underserved populations….”   While this statement was not written specifically with Murphy in mind, no one associated with this university embodies it more.   In 1999, MUSC’s Department of Pediatrics, under the direction of its then-chairman, Charles P. Darby Jr., M.D., opened a clinic to better serve children of minority and low-income families. In response to the Lowcountry’s growing Hispanic population, an effort was made to operate the clinic with a bilingual staff. Darby chose Murphy, who speaks fluent Spanish, as the program’s first attending physician. The program now serves about 6,500 low-income children through two clinics in North Charleston and Moncks Corner. Murphy’s contact with children and their families does not end with the office visit. She routinely calls families at home to check on their children, an effort at once comforting and reassuring. An office colleague, Martha Gomez, noted that Murphy’s practice now spans three generations, as grandparents, whose children she once cared for, now ask her to care for their grandchildren. Developing Scholar Jeffrey Borckardt, Ph.D. Although his primary academic appointment is in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Borckardt holds a joint appointment in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. Borckardt, an extraordinary junior faculty member, has the ability “to work very well across traditional boundaries and perform pioneering research in new areas building collaborative teams,” said Mark George, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology and Neurology and director of the Center for Advanced Imaging Research and the Brain Stimulation Laboratory.   Apart from his clinical, research and teaching skills, Borckardt is a skilled computer programmer and “tinkerer,” said George, who notes that his use of an Apple iPod with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation enabled the department to replace a $60,000 piece of equipment for the $300 media player.   Borckardt received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Akron, and his master’s in psychology and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee. He joined the MUSC staff in 2003 where he completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology in 2004. He has performed revolutionary breakthroughs in several clinical areas, including development of the Behavioral Medicine and Pain Management Clinic of which he is the director. In only four years, Borckardt has published 41 journal articles, 21 of which he is primary author, and has enjoyed great success in obtaining extramural funding. Developing Scholar Dieter Haemmerich, Ph.D. In the developing field of thermal ablation, one name is becoming more prominent in related journals and other publications: Dieter Haemmerich, Ph.D. An assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Haemmerich is uniquely qualified to excel in this field, armed with a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Vienna, Austria, and a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Wisconsin— Madison.   He became a member of MUSC’s faculty in 2004, which accompanied an adjunct faculty appointment at Clemson University. Haemmerich’s diligent research to date has resulted in a total of more than 35 peer-reviewed journal publications, a third of those coming since joining MUSC. Additionally, he has published 47 conference proceedings, five invited papers, three chapters and is a primary or co-inventor of seven patents. Last year, licensure of one of his patents from the University of Wisconsin resulted in a commercial ablation device that allows more effective treatment of large tumors. He also was asked to chair or co-chair several international conferences and to review or edit several leading journals. Distinguished Faculty Service Barbara C. Tilley, Ph.D. Disparities in health care have existed as long as diseases and resources to treat them. While the debate over the causes behind these disparities continues, Tilley will do everything in her power to find the answers and properly identify and alleviate these disparities.   As a Distinguished Professor and chair of MUSC’s Department of Biostatistics, Bioinformatics and Epidemiology (DBBE), Tilley is a shining example of this institution’s mission to serve all of the state’s citizens. She and her team seek to discover the underlying causes of health disparities and ensure that every South Carolinian, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, has access to competent, affordable health care. Under her leadership, the department currently ranks sixth nationwide in the National Institutes of Health’s scale of similar organizations.  DBBE has attained this status through a number of means: training pre-doctoral health sciences students to conduct clinical research, thereby providing the next generation of clinical scientists; fostering the career development of many faculty members, who, under Tilley’s mentorship, conducted exemplary research that led to prominent faculty promotions; and Tilley’s personal contribution to academic scholarship, with more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributions to numerous institutional and professional activities and organizations. Distinguished Faculty Service Arnold W. Karig, Ph.D. Karig has been considered a pioneer, an agent of change and a stabilizing influence. During his 37-year tenure as a faculty member of MUSC, Karig has become one of the most influential and revered figures of the College of Pharmacy.   Since MUSC’s pharmacy school merged with that of the University of South Carolina three years ago, Karig has served as dean of the MUSC component. It was, and continues to be, a major undertaking during this transformation, and nearly unprecedented in the realm of higher education. Karig’s stature and leadership during this crucial period has contributed to its success, according to Joseph T. DiPiro, PharmD, executive dean of the merged schools. When Karig arrived on campus in 1970, pharmacy education was undergoing a transition from a purely didactic experience to one combining it with clinical experience. MUSC was the first institution in the nation to require such an education, but no protocol for academic guidelines had been established. Karig took the challenge and developed a series of courses that not only served as the underpinning for the clinical exposure given to the undergraduate students, but also served as an essential background for the post-graduate PharmD program, said William H. Golod, dean emeritus of the MUSC College of Pharmacy. In 1976, MUSC became one of the nation’s first 13 colleges to have its PharmD program accredited.   Since then, Karig has taught, mentored, researched, and led the college through its many transformations, mirroring pharmacy education and practice nationwide. Meanwhile, Karig has been recognized with academic and professional honors, including the Bowl of Hygiea, the state pharmacy association’s highest award.     Friday, Aug. 17, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.