The clinic is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Founders Gallery at the Health Science Center. Vaccines will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Vaccines also will be available at UF’s Student Health Care Center Occupational Medicine clinic, in Room D2-49 of the Dental Building. Call 352-392-0627 to make sure vaccines are still available before going to the clinic. Employees must present their ID badges to receive shots.

Please note: Shands HealthCare employees working in UF’s health system hospitals and clinics are receiving instructions from Shands Occupational Health Services about H1N1 vaccination. Additional H1N1 vaccine doses continue to be delivered to the Alachua County Health Department each week. Shands Occupational Health Services will announce expanded employee eligibility for the vaccine as doses become available and per directive of the health department.

For more information, call Kat Lindsey at 352-273-4550 or e-mail katlin@ufl.edu.

According to the Alachua County Health Department that the list of health-care workers eligible to receive the H1N1 injectable vaccine has been extended.

H1N1 vaccines are now available through the University of Florida to the following UF staff:

• Front-line health-care workers who have direct patient care, including general medical personnel, adult and pediatric outpatient clinic staff, surgeons and home care staff.

• Hematology and oncology, bone marrow transplant, OB/GYN, emergency, infectious disease, pediatrics, labor and delivery, mother/baby and oncology department staff as well as those staffing intensive care units.

• Pregnant employees. However, because the multidose influenza vaccines contain thimerosal, pregnant employees should contact their obstetricians or the Alachua County Health Department to determine if they should be vaccinated with thimerosal-containing vaccines.

• Those who are under the age of 50 and care for children age 6 months and younger also may be vaccinated. Shands Occupational Health Services cannot provide H1N1 vaccine to this population at this time because of the limited number of doses in stock.

Vaccines are available while supplies last for UF employees of the specified departments at UF’s Student Health Care Center Occupational Medicine clinic. The clinic is located in room D2-49 of the dental building. Please call 392-0627 to make sure vaccines are still available before going to the clinic. Employees must present their ID badges to receive shots.

Please note: Shands HealthCare employees working in our health system hospitals and clinics are receiving instructions from Shands Occupational Health Services about H1N1 vaccination. It is expected that doses will be limited during November. Additional H1N1 vaccine doses continue to be delivered to the Alachua County Health Department each week. Shands Occupational Health Services will announce expanded employee eligibility for the vaccine as doses become available and per directive of the health department.

Our ultimate goal is to vaccinate all members of the UF and Shands community who wish to be vaccinated. Thank you for your patience.

Judy Mikovits, Ph.D.

A newly identified virus has been found to be linked to chronic fatigue syndrome and might also provide clues about how to prevent prostate cancer, according to a report this month in the journal Science. Called XMRV, the virus is transmitted in blood and body fluids and might be a significant public health threat.

Judy Mikovits, Ph.D., senior author of the paper, described the research during grand rounds at the University of Florida College of Medicine Thursday, Oct. 20. She was a guest of the division of hematology/oncology.

“This discovery opens a new area of medical possibilities for people who have a condition that has baffled doctors and researchers for years, and gives an insight into potential prevention and cures of cancer.”

Chronic fatigue syndrome is a multi-system disorder that is the subject of much controversy surrounding whether it is a true medical condition. Its cause is unknown and there are no diagnostic tests. It affects an estimated 17 million people worldwide.

Mikovits, who is research director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Nevada, and colleagues, found that 67 percent of 101 patients who had chronic fatigue syndrome also had the virus. In contrast, the virus was present in about 4 percent of 218 controls who did not have the syndrome.

XMRV, short for xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, affects the immune system. It exists in blood and body fluids and is readily transmitted.

Chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers’ relatives who had been diagnosed with neuroimmune diseases such as atypical multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and autism also tested positive for the virus, though these data were obtained after the publication and are still preliminary.

Sequences of the virus had previously been found in men who have prostate cancer. Mikovits also showed preliminary data that CFS patients in the study who subsequently developed cancer, primarily lymphoma, all tested positive for the XMRV. That raises the possibility that treating the virus could ultimately prevent many cancers, she said.

“It opens a new path for understanding the pathogenesis of cancer,” said Carmen Allegra, M.D., chief of hematology/oncology at UF College of Medicine.

Researchers say the level of XMRV infection revealed in the study is not just a concern among people who have chronic fatigue syndrome, but is a public health issue as well.

“This is the discovery of a new virus that doesn’t have any treatment, affects 4 percent of the population and has a transmission that seems to be easy,” Allegra said.

Researchers continue to seek answers to many unanswered questions about the virus, including how it got into the human population, how it acts to cause disease and whether the virus alters the risk of cancer development in people who have chronic fatigue syndrome.

“There’s quite a bit of work to do to understand the risk associated with this,” said Nam Dang, M.D., Ph.D., deputy chief of hematology/oncology.

Melanie Fridl Ross, M.S.J., E.L.S.

Melanie Fridl Ross, M.S.J., E.L.S., has been named director of Health Science Center News and Communications. After serving as interim director for the past year, Ross will continue to lead the office’s communication efforts, working in cooperation with Shands HealthCare and UF University Relations.

Ross, who joined UF in 1992 after working as a reporter for The Tampa Tribune, has served as interim director for the past year. Prior to that, she was associate director of the HSC News and Communications office, helping to manage the Health Science Center’s external news operation and assisting with the development and implementation of public relations strategic planning initiatives and crisis communications efforts. In addition, she is senior producer and managing editor of Health in a Heartbeat, a consumer health series airing on public radio affiliates in 18 states and Washington, D.C. that won a national award of excellence in from the Association of American Medical Colleges in 2008. She also is on the adjunct faculty at UF’s College of Journalism and Communications, where she teaches news reporting. From 1997 to 2004, she held a dual appointment in cardiovascular medicine as an author’s editor, editing and submitting scientific manuscripts, book chapters and grant applications for division faculty members.

“Over the past year as interim director of News and Communications, Ross has led the office to new heights,” said Dr. David Guzick, senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System, in a recent announcement to HSC faculty and staff.

“She has served in a crucial advisory role on my management team, offering a seasoned perspective on public affairs.”

Ross has increased integration and cooperation with her counterparts at Shands HealthCare and UF University Relations and has succeeded in raising the profile of the colleges, centers and institutes that comprise the HSC in national and international media outlets.

Ross holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She is a board-certified editor in the life sciences. This month she will begin a term as president-elect of the American Medical Writers Association. She is a fellow of AMWA and a past president of the organization’s Florida chapter. Melanie also serves on the WUFT-FM/WJUF-FM board of directors, and is a member of the Council of Science Editors, the National Association of Science Writers, the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Board of Editors in the Life Sciences. Ross has won numerous awards for her writing and editing.

David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D. Photo by Sarah Kiewel

Dr. David Guzick, UF’s senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System, has created On the Same Page, a recurring column for the Health Science Center and Shands community.

Click here to read Dr. Guzick’s latest column, “Strategic Planning for the University of Florida Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare,” to faculty, students, residents, fellows and staff. This month’s topic focuses on the pitfalls of written medical records and UF’s move to an electronic medical records system.

Nominate an employee who has contributed outstanding and meritorious service in his or her field or has made exceptional contributions to UF’s efficiency, economy or quality of life. Each division-level winner will receive a cash award of $200 and university-level winners will be eligible for cash awards of $1,000 or $2,000.

For a nomination form or for more information, click here or call 352.392.4777.

Stop! Children’s Cancer Inc., a local nonprofit organization committed to the prevention, control and cure of cancer in children, announced it has awarded $150,000 to three local cancer researchers. The three research studies that will receive funding focus on leukemia, glioblastoma and neuroblastoma.

W. J. Rossi, president of Stop! Children’s Cancer’s board of directors, said, “I’m proud Stop! Children’s Cancer is continuing its mission of funding critical pediatric cancer research here in the heart of Florida. Our goal is to find cures for the cancers that attack our children and raise the quality of life for all who suffer from this devastating disease.”

Since its founding in 1981, Stop! Children’s Cancer has been responsible for donations in excess of $3.5 million to research specifically aimed at the prevention, control and cure of pediatric cancer.

Many previous grants provided essential seed money for beginning research. This gives investigators the basis to apply for substantial, nationally sponsored grants from such entities as the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Stop! Children’s Cancer raises money locally through several “fun-raisers,” including The Fantasy Event at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center every spring, the STOP! Charity Golf Classic and Holiday Traditions, a concert showcasing local youth musical groups performing at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

For more information, please visit www.StopChildrensCancer.org.

COM Interim Dean, Michael L. Good, M.D., presents Rep. Larry Cretul with a framed stethoscope and plaque that read, "Thanks for keeping your ear on the Heart of Florida".

Representative Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, visited the University of Florida on July 30 and heard from deans of Health Science Center colleges about the progress made in patient care and research as a result of state funding. The deans, including Michael L. Good, interim dean of the College of Medicine; Kathleen Long, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., dean of the College of Nursing, and College of Dentistry Dean Teresa Dolan, D.D.S., M.P.H.; thanked Cretul for his ongoing support.

“Your support touched all three of the College of Medicine’s missions; education, patient care and research,” Good said.

The 2009 Florida legislative session was an important one for UF and its medical school. College of Medicine funding from the state has decreased significantly in the last five years, and it falls well behind other Florida medical schools in terms of per-student funding – specifically the two new schools at the University of Central Florida and Florida International University and the recently built Florida State University’s medical school.

Cretul was instrumental in bringing this issue to light and in helping UF find advocates in the legislature to begin to close the funding gap between the UF College of Medicine and other state medical schools.

Last year, UF’s College of Medicine received $4.5 million in recurring funds from the legislature, and this year, another $5 million was added.

At the gathering Cretul spoke about how critical is it for all sides to be “at the table” when it comes to budget and policy discussions.

“You need to be at the table because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” he said. “And in today’s budget climate you better bring a knife and fork with you.”

Dr. Cecil Wilson

Dr. Cecil Wilson, president-elect of the American Medical Association, will participate in the College of Medicine general faculty meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, in Room C1-11 on the Gainesville campus, with simulcast videoconferencing to the Jacksonville campus, according to Dr. Michael Good, interim dean.

The AMA is actively engaged in the health-care reform debates currently taking place in Washington, D.C., and around the country. Dr. Wilson is in a unique position to discuss “The Future of Health System Reform” with UF COM faculty, Good said.

Dr. David Guzick, the senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System will also be on hand.

“With health-care reform so prominent in our discussions locally and nationally, I believe these two speakers will make for a very informative hour,” Good said.

Frequently called upon for his expert analysis by national media, Teitelbaum leads the psychiatry department’s Division of Addiction Medicine, which was recently recognized by the Annenberg Foundation and others as a national leader in medical student education and clerkships in addiction medicine, according to Mark Gold, M.D., psychiatry department chairman.