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2007

2007 A YEAR IN REVIEW

A Year of Achievements for the University of Miami

Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine

or the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, 2007 was a year will be able to track in a timely manner how patients use certain medications and docu-
filled with achievements that continue to elevate the medical school toward the ment emerging patterns of adverse impacts.
Fnation’s highest ranks. From groundbreaking research to excellence in clinical care, UM’s presence in Palm Beach County continued to grow during 2007. In August 32
the Miller School’s impact extends throughout South Florida and beyond. medical students began their four years of education at the University of Miami Miller
In the field of research, Margaret Pericak-Vance, Ph.D., director of the Miami Institute School of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Up until now, students
for Human Genomics, led a multi-center team of researchers who uncovered a gene only attended the first two years of medical school on the Boca campus and completed
linked to multiple sclerosis. The discovery was the first of its kind in more than 30 years their final two years in Miami. But the class of 2011 will spend all four years on the Boca
and could pave the way for future research and treatment options for the disease. UM sci- Raton campus while doing their clinical rotations at Boca Raton Community Hospital
entists collaborated with researchers from Vanderbilt University, Duke University, the and other nearby hospitals.
University of California at San Francisco and the University of Cambridge. Just a couple of months later, UM announced the approval of the first allopathic resi-
During 2007 a number of the Miller School’s centers marked noteworthy milestones dency program in Palm Beach County. The internal medicine residency program begins
and received high accolades. The UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center reached in July 2008 at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis and the VA Medical Center in West Palm
its 15th anniversary as South Florida’s only university-based cancer center. The celebra- Beach.
tion was bittersweet as Harcourt Sylvester, Jr., whose generous donation founded Perhaps one of the biggest announcements to come from the University of Miami was
UM/Sylvester, died in August. His legacy and vision continue to drive the cancer center made in late October. The University’s Executive Committee and full Board of Trustees
toward excellence in care and research. voted to give UM senior officers the authority to buy Cedars Medical Center. The pur-
UM’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute did not settle for anything but the best. For the chase of the 560-bed hospital was called “an exciting milestone in the University’s quest
fourth year in a row, the Institute was ranked the Number One hospital in the country to bring academic medicine to as many patients as possible” by Pascal J. Goldschmidt,
for ophthalmology by U.S. News & World Report in its annual Best Hospitals survey. M.D., senior vice president for medical affairs and dean of the Miller School. The sale is
Bascom Palmer physicians have made great strides in their use of drugs to prevent wet expected to be finalized in early December. UM physicians and trainees have conducted
age-related macular degeneration , among other ophthalmic treatments. Three other UM work at the hospital for many years. Dr. Goldschmidt called the purchase a logical evo-
specialties were also ranked among the best: ear, nose and throat at No. 17, reaching the lution of the relationship between the two, “creating a university hospital environment
top 20 in only five years since being ranked No. 36 in 2002; digestive disorders and kid- to serve the people of South Florida and beyond.”
ney disease both at No. 32. Linking up with Humana, the University and the health At the same time, UM Miller School faculty physicians will continue to serve as the
insurer launched a groundbreaking Pharmacovigilance Initiative. The new program will medical staff of Jackson Memorial Hospital. Plans are currently in the works with Jackson
focus on prescription drug safety – in particular, the science of detecting and understand- leadership to develop a number of new strategic clinical programs and enhance already
ing adverse drug events. Using Humana’s 11 million-member database the researchers existing services, such as trauma, transplant and neonatal intensive care.

South Florida Hospital News hospitalnews.org December 2007 29