Evaluation of an Educational Scholarship Fellowship Program for Health Professions Educators.

Introduction: Historically, the requirement to produce scholarship for advancement has challenged health professions educators heavily engaged in teaching. As biomedical scientists or healthcare practitioners, few are trained in educational scholarship, and related faculty development varies in scope and quality across institutions. Currently, there is a need for faculty development and mentoring programs to support the development of these skills.

Professional Identity Formation of Basic Science Medical Educators: A Qualitative Study of Identity Supports and Threats.

Purpose: Basic science medical educators (BSME) play a vital role in the training of medical students, yet little is known about the factors that shape their professional identities. This multi-institutional qualitative study investigated factors that support and threaten the professional identity formation (PIF) of these medical educators.

Method: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted with a purposive sample of 58 BSME from 7 allopathic medical schools in the U.

The importance of collaboratively designing pharmacology education programs.

A grounded knowledge of pharmacology is essential for healthcare providers to improve the quality of patients' lives, avoid medical errors, and circumvent potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions. One of the greatest tools to achieve this foundational knowledge of pharmacology is the dedicated pharmacology educators who teach in health sciences programs. Too often, the pharmacology educators responsible for teaching this material are left siloed at their own institutions with little room for dialog and collaboration.

Design of a foundational sciences curriculum: Applying the ICAP framework to pharmacology education in integrated medical curricula.

Expectations for physicians are rapidly changing, as is the environment in which they will practice. In response, preclerkship medical education curricula are adapting to meet these demands, often by reducing the time for foundational sciences. This descriptive study compares preclerkship pharmacology education curricular practices from seven allopathic medical schools across the United States.

PDE4 subtypes in cancer.

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDE) break down cyclic nucleotides such as cAMP and cGMP, reducing the signaling of these important intracellular second messengers. Several unique families of phosphodiesterases exist, and certain families are clinically important modulators of vasodilation. In the current work, we have summarized the body of literature that describes an emerging role for the PDE4 subfamily of phosphodiesterases in malignancy.

A Multi-Institutional Study Demonstrating Undergraduate Medical Student Engagement with Question-Type Facebook Posts.

Facebook is the social media platform used most by both medical educators and students, but there is scant literature investigating effective ways to use the platform across multiple institutions. This multi-institutional study compared student engagement between an official curricular Facebook page and a supplemental Facebook page. While a greater proportion of students were reached by the official course page, greater post engagement was achieved with the supplemental page.

Interprofessional education through a telehealth team based learning exercise focused on pharmacogenomics.

Background: Traditional interprofessional educational (IPE) exercises are those where learning exists "about, from, and with" trainees in two or more professions in order to prepare health sciences professionals to work on interprofessional teams. One emerging difficulty with IPE is the paucity of health profession students at single institutions, and the geographic and financial constraints of multi-institutional collaboration.

Interprofessional Education Activity: To circumvent these barriers, we developed a multi-institution telehealth team-based learning (TBL) event between medical and pharmacy students on the topic of pharmacogenomics (PGx).

Selectins in Liver Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury.

Liver ischemia reperfusion injury is mediated by a complex system of signaling cascades and inflammatory response resulting in organ damage. Selectins are a group of cell adhesion glycoproteins that play a key role in the initial immunological response. L-selectins, found on leukocytes, initiate the original adhesion and rolling phase of leukocyte extravasation upon liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs).

Molecular responses to ischemia and reperfusion in the liver.

Ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury occurs when oxygen is rapidly reintroduced into ischemic tissue, resulting in cell death and necrotic tissue damage. This is a major concern during liver transplantation procedures since there is an inevitable interruption and subsequent restoration of circulation. IR injury in liver tissue is initiated through reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are generated by hepatocytes during IR insult.

c-Src activation mediates erlotinib resistance in head and neck cancer by stimulating c-Met.

Purpose: Strategies to inhibit the EGF receptor (EGFR) using the tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib have been associated with limited clinical efficacy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Co-activation of alternative kinases may contribute to erlotinib resistance.

Experimental Design: We generated HNSCC cells expressing dominant-active c-Src (DA-Src) to determine the contribution of c-Src activation to erlotinib response.

Preclinical modeling of EGFR inhibitor resistance in head and neck cancer.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is widely expressed in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and can activate many growth and survival pathways within tumor cells. Despite ubiquitous EGFR expression, therapies targeting the receptor are only modestly effective in the treatment of HNSCC. A consistent mechanism of resistance to EGFR targeting agents has not yet been identified in HNSCC likely due, in part, to the paucity of preclinical models.

Dual kinase inhibition of EGFR and HER2 overcomes resistance to cetuximab in a novel in vivo model of acquired cetuximab resistance.

Purpose: Acquired resistance to cetuximab, a chimeric epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting monoclonal antibody, is a widespread problem in the treatment of solid tumors. The paucity of preclinical models has limited investigations to determine the mechanism of acquired therapeutic resistance, thereby limiting the development of effective treatments. The purpose of this study was to generate cetuximab-resistant tumors in vivo to characterize mechanisms of acquired resistance.

Quantitative proteomics analysis reveals molecular networks regulated by epidermal growth factor receptor level in head and neck cancer.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in up to 90% of head and neck cancer (HNC), where increased expression levels of EGFR correlate with poor prognosis. To date, EGFR expression levels have not predicted the clinical response to the EGFR-targeting therapies. Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying anti-EGFR-induced antitumor effects may shed some light on the mechanisms of HNC resistance to EGFR-targeting therapeutics and provide novel targets for improving the treatment of HNC.

HGF and c-Met participate in paracrine tumorigenic pathways in head and neck squamous cell cancer.

Purpose: We determined hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and c-Met expression and signaling in human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells and primary tissues and tested the ability of c-Met tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) to block HGF-induced biological signaling.

Experimental Design: Expression and signaling were determined using immunoblotting, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. Biological end points included wound healing, cell proliferation, and invasion.

Characterization CSMD1 in a large set of primary lung, head and neck, breast and skin cancer tissues.

The Cub and Sushi Multiple Domains-1 (CSMD1) is a tumor suppressor gene on 8p23.2, where allelic loss is both frequent and associated with poor prognosis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). To understand the extent of CSMD1 aberrations in vivo, we characterized 184 primary tumors from the head and neck, lung, breast and skin for gene copy number and analyzed expression in our HNSCCs and lung squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs).

STAT-mediated EGFR signaling in cancer.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) are commonly expressed and activated in many malignancies. EGFR is an upstream activator of several pathways involved in tumor progression, and STATs activate selected genes involved in oncogenesis. There are several different mechanisms by which STAT proteins can mediate intracellular EGFR signaling, including direct activation of STATs by EGFR binding and indirect activation of STATs through Src-mediated EGFR signaling.

Genome-wide profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma by array-based comparative genomic hybridization.

Objectives: Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) was used to develop a genome-wide molecular profile of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Copy number alterations (CNAs) were identified by chromosomal region, mapped to specific genes, and compared with several previously documented CNAs associated with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The status of 512 commonly altered cancer genes was assessed and evaluated as potential correlates of tumor behavior.