Congratulations to CURE Award Winner Cato Laurencin

December 11, 2014

Dr. Cato T. Laurencin has received the 2014 CURE Academic Entrepreneur of the Year award for his pioneering work in regenerative medicine. Laurencin’s research has focused on the application of resorbable polymer scaffold technology suitable for treatment of tendon, ligament, and other soft tissue injuries.

A distinguished professor and surgeon, Laurencin has received numerous recognitions. He received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Mentor Award.

He served as the dean of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and the vice president for health affairs at UConn Health from 2008 – 2011.

Currently, as the chief executive officer of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, the director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, and the director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical, and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut, Laurencin enthusiastically leads the charge at UConn to encourage innovation and creativity in the diverse and rapidly evolving area of tissue regeneration.

CURE (Connecticut United for Research Excellence) is the bioscience cluster of Connecticut, a diverse network of small and large life and health care sciences companies, universities, scientists, educators, students, entrepreneurs, mentors, business experts, service providers and investors.

Anne Diamond Named CEO of UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital

December 9, 2014

The UConn Health Board of Directors has named Anne Diamond the chief executive officer of UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital. Diamond has been serving as interim CEO since August 2013.

Since joining UConn Health four years ago, Diamond has been instrumental in improving the hospital’s performance in several key areas including quality, service, and patient satisfaction scores. The Joint Commission in 2013 rated UConn Health in the top third of hospitals nationally on key quality metrics. Patient satisfaction has improved in almost all hospital areas, and key measures of service, such as emergency department wait times, have improved dramatically.

Financial and operational performance has also improved as UConn Health has recorded over $50 million in cost savings over the past two years and hospital admissions and operating room cases are now at the highest levels they’ve been in the past four years.

Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, UConn Health’s interim executive vice president for health affairs, cited Diamond’s strong focus on safety and quality and also praised her for her leadership and ability to work collaboratively.

“Anne is an inspirational leader with a strong focus on quality and safety,” Agwunobi said, adding that she will lead a major transition in 2016 as construction is completed on UConn Health’s new hospital tower.

Diamond joined UConn Health in 2010 as associate vice president of clinical operations and became chief operating officer a year later. Following the resignation of Dr. Mike Summerer, Diamond was named interim CEO in August 2013.

Prior to arriving at UConn, Diamond worked for Salem Health, the parent organization for Salem Hospital and West Valley Hospital in Salem, Ore., where she served as vice president for service lines and operations.

Diamond also worked for 10 years at the Electric Power Research Institute, an international not-for-profit organization based in Palo Alto, Calif., where she served in multiple roles including leading the health care research division.

Earlier in her career, Diamond worked at Maimonides Medical Center in New York, as director of the Safety/Radiation Safety Office. She also worked at the University Hospitals of Cleveland as a nuclear medicine technologist and research technologist.

Diamond earned her undergraduate degree in nuclear medicine technology from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., and is a graduate of Concord School of Law, where she was awarded the Executive Juris Doctor Award for Academic Excellence.

New Physicians Join UConn Health

December 4, 2014

Dr. Andrew Chen, chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery, offers patients a full range of plastic surgery services, both reconstructive and cosmetic. Services include both surgical and nonsurgical facial rejuvenation, breast and body reshaping, and hand and wrist surgery. He is seeing patients in Farmington.

Chen is a graduate of Harvard Medical School. He performed a plastic surgery residency at the Washington University School of Medicine, and a fellowship in hand and upper extremity surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.

Chen lives in Avon.

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Dr. Madina Falcone, a board-certified ophthalmologist, is now seeing patients at UConn Health in Farmington and West Hartford. She offers personalized care for all disorders of the eyelids; tear drainage system; and the orbit such as droopy eyelid, thyroid eye disease, and tumors affecting the eyes. Falcone is also trained in rejuvenation procedures such as BOTOX®, fillers, and cosmetic eyelid surgery.

Falcone is a graduate of Chicago Medical School’s Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. She completed an ophthalmology residency at Boston University Medical Center and fellowship at Tufts University School of Medicine.

She lives in Farmington.

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Dr. Todd Falcone, a general otolaryngologist or ear, nose, and throat specialist (ENT), is now seeing patients at UConn Health in Farmington and Southington. Falcone treats patients suffering from nasal/sinus disease and allergies; salivary gland and swallowing disorders; thyroid and parathyroid disorders; and snoring and sleep apnea.

Falcone is a graduate of the UConn School of Medicine. He completed a residency on Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at Boston University Medical Center. Falcone lives in Farmington.

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Dr. Omar Ibrahim is the director of interventional pulmonary at UConn Health. He is one of a few physicians in the region offering the latest, minimally invasive procedure to diagnose and stage lung cancer, detect infections and identify lung diseases.

Ibrahim earned his medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine, Dominica, and internal medicine residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He completed his pulmonary critical care fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania and a fellowship in interventional pulmonary at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Ibrahim lives in Farmington.

Dr. Andrew Arnold Elected AAAS Fellow

December 3, 2014

Dr. Andrew Arnold, a world-renowned physician scientist at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and director of UConn Health’s Center for Molecular Medicine (CMM), has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS Fellows are elected for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. This year’s fellows were formally announced in the current issue of the journal Science.

Arnold holds the Murray-Heilig Endowed Chair in Molecular Medicine at UConn. He is also a professor of medicine and genetics/developmental biology, and serves as chief of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at UConn Health in addition to his leadership of the CMM.

The AAAS elected Arnold “for distinguished contributions to the fields of molecular endocrinology and oncology, particularly for pioneering discoveries in human cancer pathogenesis and parathyroid gland neoplasia.”

“I was delighted and humbled to learn of my election as an AAAS Fellow,” said Arnold. “This is a great honor, which also carries special meaning for me because the first scientific conference I ever attended, during high school, was an AAAS annual meeting – an experience that catalyzed my desire to help advance human health through science. Also, many terrific students and trainees in my lab made key contributions over many years to our research, and they certainly share in this wonderful recognition by the AAAS.”

Arnold is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and has received multiple national and international honors for his research. He also serves as the chair of the Biomedical Research and Healthcare Technical Board of the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal Science. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a rosette pin during the 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Jose, Calif. on Feb. 14.

Free Shoes, Foot Exams for Homeless

November 26, 2014

Dr. Lauren Geaney, UConn Health foot and ankle specialist, provides a foot exam at the Salvation Army shelter in New Britain Nov. 25. Foot care providers volunteered at shelters throughout the country in the days leading up to Thanksgiving as part of the national Our Hearts to Your Soles campaign to provide shoes and foot care to those in need. (Chris DeFrancesco/UConn Health Photo)

The nationwide “Our Hearts to Your Soles” campaign was organized locally for the eighth year by Dr. Michael Aronow, former UConn Health physician who now practices privately. Joining him from UConn Health were cast technician Kathleen York, medical assistant Lori Engengrro, administrative program assistant Carmen Propiescus, and Dr. Lauren Geaney, foot and ankle surgeon.

Retailers donated the footwear and socks. Between the two shelters, the volunteers provided 33 pairs of shoes and left behind 69 additional pairs. They also took information from 10 other would-be recipients whose sizes weren’t immediately available so the proper sizes could be provided in the coming days

Kathleen Coyne Receives 2014 Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award

November 24, 2014

Kathleen Coyne, recipient of the Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award, with Dr. Frank Torti (left) and Dr. Peter Deckers.

Kathleen Coyne, director of critical care for UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital, is the 2014 recipient of the Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award – one of the highest employee honors awarded each year.

“Kathleen promotes positive change at UConn Health with great energy and enthusiasm. For example, she was part of a project to improve patient throughput in the Emergency Department. The team effectively decreased the time it takes for a patient to be seen in the ED, reduced the number of patients who leave the ED without being seen, decreased the time a patient gets admitted to a patient unit, and improved the hand off of a patient from the ED to the admitting floor,” hospital leadership wrote in her nominating letter.

“Kathleen embodies our mission and vision for teaching and education by mentoring staff at work, and pursuing an advanced degree to further her own education,” they added.

This award was named to recognize the legacy of Deckers, who previously served as executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine and continues to see patients in the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Employees were nominated by senior leaders based on three primary criteria:

Commitment and passion to the mission of UConn Health
Leadership skills
Exemplary professional skills and personal attributes

“The spirit of this award embodies Dr. Decker’s legacy and is really at the heart of who we are: a caring, compassionate community,” said Dr. Frank M. Torti, UConn Health’s executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine.

A total of eight employees were nominated for the award:

Kathy Black, administrative officer, Center for Quantitative Medicine, School of Medicine
Kathleen Coyne, director of critical care, John Dempsey Hospital
Barbara Cusati, administrative officer, School of Medicine
Victor Hesselbrock, professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Karen Metersky, nurse practitioner, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center
Michael Petruzzi, technical analyst II, Institutional Support
Joseph Pirog, business systems analyst, Department of Public Safety, Institutional Support
JoAnn Sica, performance improvement project leader, Performance Improvement & Operational Integration, Ambulatory Services

Upon learning that Coyne was the 2014 recipient, Deckers thanked her for taking good care of him when he was a patient in 2005.

All in the Family: UConn Health’s Father-Daughter Ob/Gyn Team

November 20, 2014

It’s a homecoming of sorts for accomplished women’s health experts Dr. Anthony Luciano ’73 MD and Dr. Danielle Luciano ’01 MD. The Lucianos are both graduates of the UConn School of Medicine and have had a rich history with UConn Health, so after several years in private practice both dad and daughter have returned to UConn.

“We decided that we wanted a more academic environment, and we wanted to be more actively involved with teaching and scholarly activity,” says Anthony.

Adds Danielle, “We are very happy to be here working together, and we hope we will make a contribution to the further growth and success of our department and UConn Health.”

Drs. Danielle and Anthony Luciano are a father-daughter Ob/Gyn team at UConn Health. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Anthony Luciano is fellowship-trained and board-certified in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, and is a professor with UConn’s medical school. He has a long and distinguished career with UConn. While doing his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at UConn, he assisted in the delivery of the very first baby born at John Dempsey Hospital in 1975.

After spending several years teaching at the University of Iowa and Tufts University in Boston, he returned to Connecticut and became the director of UConn’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He was instrumental in developing UConn’s IVF program, and in 1987 one of his patients became the first woman in New England to have a baby with a donor egg. Today, he continues to offer couples advanced fertility treatments, including IVF, which is offered in collaboration with the Center for Advanced Reproductive Services.

As a teenager, Danielle Luciano wanted to become a teacher, but changed her mind after volunteering at UConn Health in high school. She is now certified in advanced, minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, and was recently elected to the national fellowship board for minimally invasive gynecologic surgery. She specializes in robotic surgery and has developed expertise in gynecologic ultrasonography.

She has done extensive research into reproductive surgery and issues surrounding sexual function, publishing several articles in peer-reviewed journals.

The Lucianos offer complete care for women including primary and preventive gynecological care; care for conditions such as endometriosis, fibroids, abnormal bleeding, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and menopausal health; and advanced, minimally invasive surgery. They are currently seeing patients at UConn Health’s Southington office. In the spring of 2015, they will move into the new Outpatient Pavilion, which is currently under construction at the Farmington campus.

To schedule an appointment, call 860-224-5467. More information about UConn Health’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is available at http://www.uchc.edu/patients/services/obgyn/

Henderson Awarded Bishop Fellowship

Dr. David Henderson, associate dean of medical student affairs, has been awarded the prestigious Bishop Fellowship. The year-long Bishop Fellowship Program prepares senior family medicine faculty to assume positions of greater responsibility in academic medicine and health care leadership. It was developed because of the vision of F. Marian Bishop, Ph.D., founding member and former president of the Foundation, and is supported by the F. Marian Bishop Charitable Trust.

Urban Service Track Receives Prestigious Nursing Award

UConn’s Urban Service Track (UST) program received the Connecticut Nursing Association’s Public Service Award for 2014. The annual award recognizes an individual or group who has made notable contributions to the advancement of nursing, public health or health care in Connecticut through public service, public education/advocacy, public policy or organizational leadership.

An interprofessional group of faculty and students accepted the award on behalf of the Urban Service Track. UST is a two-year curriculum that teaches students in a variety of health professions to work with at-risk populations in urban areas. Each year approximately 50 students from the UConn schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and social work are accepted into the program.

Touchstone Awards

Blood Bank Group Honored with Touchstone Award

The Touchstone Awards, sponsored by Shared Governance, are to acknowledge and honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the practice and provision of the allied health disciplines at UConn Health. The eligible candidates must be nominated by their colleagues or peers. Nominees must be a UConn Health employee or UConn Health contracted employee in an allied health discipline (non-nurse, non-physician)).

There are three winners in each of the three award categories this year: Service, Innovation and Teamwork.

“Touchstone Service Award”
Nominees should have significantly influenced the process, principles, and/or techniques of provision of service. This can include service to patients, internal and external customers, and the community.

o John C. Dobbins, RPh, BS – Central Pharmacist

o Jaroslaw Dybinski, CAN- Float Pool

o Kimberly H. Silverman, PT, CLT – Inpatient Rehabilitation Supervisor

“Touchstone Innovation Award”
Nominees should have been instrumental in the development or execution of an innovation that positively impacts either their practice area or UConn Health as a whole. This can include; but is not limited to, program development, process improvement, service provision, etc.

o Michael S. Desrosiers, RT, (R)(CT) – Lead Technologist – CAT Scan

o Brittany Gancarz, MS – Certified Genetic Counselor

o Marge Murphy – Clinical Coordinator, UConn Medical Group

“Touchstone Teamwork Award”
Nominees should have demonstrated an exceptional ability to work as a team in a way that serves as an example of the spirit of cooperation to the UConn Health community.

o Materials and Logistics Management – Transportation

o 24 Hour Telecommunications Operators

o John Dempsey Hospital – Blood Bank

The award letter sent to the winners says, “This honor is a testament to your accomplishments, commitment, and tireless efforts to raise the standards of excellence in your profession. It is also a testament to the high regard in which you are held by your colleagues.”