U of L researcher gets $3.4 million to replicate studies of stem cells for heart treatment

Dr. Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test the validity of several recent studies by replicating them. The studies examine whether certain types of stem cells are safe and effective in treating heart failure, heart attacks and other cardiovascular disorders.

"Replicating studies in several locations with a large number of patients is necessary for researchers to ultimately determine which ones can be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval," Jill Scoggins reports in a U of L press release.

Bolli has received more than $100 million in grants for basic research for NIH. This is the first grant he has been awarded for clinical research. (Read more)

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Dean of U of L medical school resigns to take New York job

The dean of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Edward C. Halperin, is stepping down from his post to become chief executive officer and chancellor for health affairs of New York Medical College and provost for biomedical affairs at Touro College and University System.

His new job starts May 1. During his tenure at U of L, which started in 2006, he recruited nine department chairs; applications for admissions rose 67 percent; research funding in the school of medicine increased 28.3 percent to $111.4 million; a post-baccalaureate program was established; and three dual-degree programs were created.

"Dr. Halperin has been instrumental in moving our School of Medicine to a different level in terms of our missions of education, research and clinical care," said Dr. James R. Ramsey, U of L president. "He has raised the standards we now hold ourselves to in terms of the students we accept and graduate from the School of Medicine, as well as the faculty we recruit."

U of L said it will name an interim dean and start a national search to replace Halperin in the coming weeks. (Read more)

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Smile Kentucky! celebrates 10 years and more than 100,000 children helped

Smile Kentucky! celebrates its 10-year anniversary tomorrow, representing $1 million in free dentistry and benefiting more than 100,000 students.

"It's a wonderful program," said Arleta Watkins of Bullitt County Schools. "I've had children who've never had a dental exam before. They get that service for free."

The program serves children in Louisville and nearby counties. Since it began, more than 127,000 students in 143 schools and 11 counties have received classroom dental education, 35,000 kids have gotten free dental screenings at school and nearly 3,000 children have received free treatment.

Smile Kentucky! works with 30 elementary schools in Jefferson and surrounding counties each fall. Students receive dental education, and children in grades 3 to 6 get a free dental screening. Children without dental insurance or medical care get free treatments by going to the University of Louisville's School of Dentistry or private dental offices in February.

"Dental pain and infection is one of the leading causes of missed days at school and affects a child's ability to concentrate," said John Sauk, dean of U of L's School of Dentistry.

U of L is one of 30 agencies on the steering committee. Other founding partners include the Louisville Water Co.,  the Louisville Dental Society, Colgate, Sullivan Schein Dental, Northwest Area Health Education Center and the Bullitt County Health Department.

For more information about Smile Kentucky!, click here.

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Republican leader and former U of L trustee says university made poor argument that hospital isn't public

The University of Louisville made a “terribly flawed argument” when it claimed that University Hospital was not a public entity, former U of L Trustee Bill Stone told cable channel cn|2's "Pure Politics" program yesterday. "That argument has been central as university leaders try to finalize a merger with two private hospital groups, Jewish Hospital and Catholic Health Initiatives," Ryan Alessi notes.

Stone, a former Jefferson County Republican chairman, said he agreed with Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway's ruling in an open-records case that the hospital is a public entity, and “I don’t know of any lawyer of merit who wouldn’t agree with Jack Conway’s assessment. That has been the weakness in U of L’s selling point. The University of Louisville Hospital is part of the university.”

Alessi reports, "Stone said the university should be highlighting the positives of the merger." Stone told him, “I think this merger can be sold to the public on the basis of how much it will mean to this community economically, what it will mean from a prestige point of view, where it will be an incubator for Nobel Prize-winning scientists.” For the story and video, click here; for the video only, on the image above.

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State senator says U of L doctors used Medicaid funds to pay themselves $4.8 million in bonuses, seeks more oversight

State Sen. Tim Shaughnessy has questioned a $30 million transfer of surplus Medicaid funds to Passport Health Plan board members in 2008 and 2009. Shaughnessy, a Louisville Democrat, says doctors at the University of Louisville medical school paid bonuses to themselves using about $4.8 million intended for indigent care and used another $5.2 million to purchase an electronic records system, making them eligible for more bonuses from the federal government, Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal reported.

Since Attorney General Jack Conway ruled the transfer illegal, some groups have elected to repay. University Physicians Associates will repay $9 million over five years; U of L, University Medical Center and local hospitals that provided capital to start Passport have agreed to repay, but on different terms. Conway did not indicate whether the $4.8 million in compensation was bonuses or salaries, Conway spokeswoman Shelley Johnson told Yetter.

Shaughnessy said repayment is not sufficient to address the real problem — "that U of L's board wasn't involved in major financial transactions involving groups with which it is affiliated, including Passport, University Physicians Associates and the U of L medical center," Yetter reports. "We need to know how this happened, and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again," Shaughnessy said in an interview.

Shaughnessy is working on legislation for the 2012 General Assembly requiring public university boards to apply more oversight to groups like Passport. He has also written letters to Passport chairman Dr. Gerard Rabalais and U of L President James Ramsey. (Read more) To read Shaughnessy's letter to The Courier-Journal, click here.

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Is University Hospital public? Attorney general will decide; merger proposal raises question of church-state separation

Attorney General Jack Conway has been asked to decide "whether University Hospital is a public institution — an issue in the controversial plan to merge the University of Louisville’s main teaching hospital with two other health-care systems," Patrick Howington of The Courier-Journal reports.

ACLU of Kentucky and The Courier-Journal have appealed denials of of open-records requests they made to University Medical Center Inc., which does business as University Hospital. "UMC turned down both requests on grounds that it is a nonprofit corporation rather than a public agency and therefore isn’t subject to the act," Howington writes. An attorney general’s opinion on open records or open meetings has the force of law unless overturned in court.

Meanwhile, Howington also writes that "Some legal advocates and constitutional scholars say," citing court cases, that the hospital's "plan to follow Catholic health-care directives under a pending merger could violate the U.S. Constitution’s provision to keep state and religious matters separate." (Read more)

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