hen a Houston woman recently became the first successful islet cell transplant recipient in the state of Texas, the impact of the procedure was felt thousands of miles away in Miami, Florida. That’s because the insulin-producing cells that allowed the woman to produce the life-saving hormone on her own for the first time in 30 years came from the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute (DRI).

The clinical trial, carried out at Baylor College of Medicine and Methodist Hospital, demonstrates the clinical benefits of the newest cellular isolation and preservation technologies developed at the DRI. These techniques allow donor organs from any state in the country to be processed in Miami and the resulting fragile cells preserved and successfully returned for use in transplantation in that state. Patients with diabetes need no longer reside close to an islet isolation facility to be candidates for this procedure.

“I’m delighted that we have been the first in the United States to demonstrate that islets processed at one center can be safely preserved, transported, and transplanted at another institution across the country,” explains Camillo Ricordi, scientific director of the DRI and professor of surgery and medicine at the School of Medicine.

“On a larger scale, this will be very important for regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health to take into consideration as planning for future trials at other institutions gets under way,” adds Ricordi. “It’s a win-win for everyone and an advance that will make islet transplantation more available to all patients who can benefit from it.”

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic debilitating disease that affects more than one million people in the United States, the overwhelming majority of whom are diagnosed in childhood. In addition to requiring self-administered insulin several times a day, patients typically suffer many complications, such as kidney failure, nerve damage, heart disease, and blindness.

While whole organ transplant is an effective treatment, it is associated with much higher peri-operative risks. Islet transplantation, a minimally invasive procedure, is currently performed under local anesthesia on an outpatient basis and typically can be completed in less than one hour.

“Although the perpetual shortage of organ donors remains an obstacle for more widespread use of the islet transplantation procedure,” says John Goss, principal investigator of the study and an associate professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, “islet cell transplantation can clearly lead to a significant improvement in the care of patients with diabetes.”

The DRI is one of the most comprehensive centers dedicated to curing diabetes and a recognized world leader in islet cell transplantation. The first true fast-track center for diabetes research, the institute leads other facilities around the globe in developing ways to speed significant findings from the lab to patients now living with the disease.

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s China’s bulked-up military capability a threat to neighboring countries? Or is the country merely a defensive power with bona fide security interests? How should the United States respond if China continues to increase its spending on arms and weapons technology at a time when the military budgets of most other nations are decreasing?

Those are just some of the critical questions and issues that June Teufel Dreyer, professor of political science in the School of Business Administration, will help answer and discuss as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations’ new independent task force on Chinese military power.

Dreyer is one of the world’s foremost experts on Chinese military modernization. For the past two decades she has followed closely the People’s Liberation Army’s transition from a land-based, low-technology military to its current high-tech makeup.

The new independent task force on which Dreyer now serves is expected to aid United States foreign policy strategy toward China. One of the task force’s key goals is to define guidelines that the United States can use to assess the rate of change and capability in Chinese military development.

“Since 1989 China has been on a trajectory of mounting nationalism,” says Dreyer, “and the main objective of this nationalism has been the United States, which they feel is attempting to keep China in a position of subordination. This shows in China’s marked military buildup that began around 1989 and has continued since with double-digit increases in military spending every year.”

Dreyer says the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has already passed military milestones that warrant shifts in U.S. security strategy. “The shooting of missiles in the Taiwan Strait in 1996 was one very clear signal,” says Dreyer.

Another goal of the task force is to identify political and military factors that are likely to shape China’s long-term defense planning. Dreyer says China’s growing nationalism movement is one of the major political factors that will impact the future of the country’s military.

“Nationalism is a real two-edged sword,” says Dreyer. “The leadership can whip it up to take people’s minds off other domestic problems, such as declining economic performance, but it can also get out of hand.”

She called President Bush’s recent visit to China a success. “From the United States’ point of view, it was a very successful trip. Previously when U.S. presidents have gone to China, they expect to make some type of concession. There’s a lot of sightseeing and a lot of ceremonial occasions, and then there’s the concession,” says Dreyer. “But in Bush’s case, he said, ‘I’m going to be there for 30 hours, and I want this to be a maximum working visit.’ He refused to stay in the state guest house. He insisted on staying at a hotel instead. He was symbolizing his independence there.”

The task force will meet six times, with one meeting chaired in Washington, D.C. A final report on its findings will be published in pamphlet form and on the council’s Web site.

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The University of Miami won 11 awards at the annual Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III competition.

The Office of Alumni Relations received two Grand Awards, one for its Bold Beginnings, Bright Tomorrows entry in the Overall Alumni Relations Programs category, and another for Alumni Weekend 2001 in the Alumni Relations Projects category. Alumni Relations also won three Special Merit Awards: for the “Congratulations Class of 2001” CD-ROM in the Other Electronic Communications category, for “Your Generations Shaped UM” solicitation mail piece in the Educational Fundraising category, and for National Outreach-Athletic Support Programming.

University Relations received four Awards of Excellence: Total Publications Programs; Veritas, in the Internal Newsletters category; 75th Anniversary events in the Institutional Relations category; and Inauguration of President Donna E. Shalala, also in the Institutional Relations category. University Relations also won a Special Merit Award for Miami Magazine in the Alumni Magazines category.

Meanwhile, the Office of Medical Communications picked up an Award of Excellence for Miami Medicine, the School of Medicine’s alumni magazine.

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Twelve years ago, the first national commission, also chaired by Volcker, declared a “quiet crisis” in federal public service. The new commission, created in the wake of the events of September 11, will focus on the need for comprehensive reform in federal public service to meet the challenges of the war on terrorism and homeland defense. Among the key issues to be addressed are government reorganization, performance, service, compensation, and recruitment.

The commission is headquartered at the Washington, D.C.- based Brookings as a project of the Center for Public Service. It will seek formal input from such organizations as RAND, the Council for Excellence in Government, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Partnership for Public Service.

Among those taking part in the ten-member commission are former Senator Bill Bradley, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, former White House Chief of Staff Kenneth M. Duberstein, and former U.S. Representative Vin Weber.

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Daniel Pearl, like any seasoned reporter, was only pursuing a good journalistic story and did nothing wrong when he was kidnapped and later killed by Islamic extremists in Pakistan.

That was the consensus of a panel on Covering the War in Afghanistan that was held at the School of Communication as part of its third annual Communication Week. “Pearl went into a dangerous region and was only doing his job,” said Mike Kirsch, a reporter for South Florida CBS affiliate WFOR-TV, who spent nine weeks in Afghanistan. “But he didn’t make any mistakes.”

The panel, moderated by Sam Roberts, the Frances L. Wolfson Chair in Communications Studies at the School of Communication, also included CBS news producer Larry Doyle and chief news executive for CNN Eason Jordan.

Panelists described the difficulties and dangers that exist not only in covering the war in Afghanistan but in reporting news from any area of the world under conflict. “Being a war zone journalist is like being a firefighter,” said Jordan. “While everyone is running away from a scene, you’re running toward it.”

Communication Week featured a variety of workshops, presentations, panels, and screenings. This year’s week of events was held during the University’s 75th Anniversary, and a special emphasis was placed on bringing alumni back to the school, says Associate Dean Robert Hosmon. “We’re very proud of the accomplishments of our alumni and wanted to put a special focus on them at this year’s celebration of Communication Week,” he says. “After all, they are what we are really all about.”

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In memory of two nurses in his family, philanthropist R. Kirk Landon has committed $1 million to the School of Nursing for two areas in the planned M. Christine Schwartz Center for Nursing Education.

“We need this building to improve education programs at the University of Miami School of Nursing and to alleviate the nursing shortage in our community,” says Landon, the retired chairman and CEO of American Bankers Insurance Group.

Named for Landon’s sister, the Eileen Guilmartin, R.N. Clinical Nursing Laboratory on the Schwartz Center’s second floor is where student nurses will learn traditional basic and advanced nursing procedures, from bed-bath and vital signs to tracheotomy care and EKG monitoring. The lab will simulate the equipment and conditions of a basic medical-surgical patient room and an intensive care unit suite.

In memory of Landon’s father and his second wife, the Dorothy P. and Kirk A. Landon Nursing Research Suite will feature offices of the nursing research faculty and staff, Internet research center, and resources for developing and writing research grant proposals.

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When Pansy Ferron visits Hawaii for the first time in more than 20 years, she plans to take up where she left off: lots of sightseeing and shopping. One thing she won’t have to worry about is getting there. Ferron is the recipient of two roundtrip airline tickets to any destination in the United States as the latest winner of the Perfect Attendance Award.

The award recognizes full-time staff members who do not use any sick days over a six-month span. Ferron, a physician assistant in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine, did not miss a single day of work from June to November of last year. She was one of six finalists who qualified for the award. Her name was selected in a random drawing.

Ferron is planning a trip to Hawaii. It will be her second visit to the 50th state; she last traveled there in 1981, but this time she intends to take a cruise from Hawaii to the Pacific Islands.

On her UM job, Ferron assists physicians in caring for HIV/AIDS patients and takes pride in the fact that she’s helping people who carry a disease that “has had such a negative social stigma attached to it for so many years. “I enjoy caring for our patients and have learned that no one should consider themselves being far removed from getting this disease.”

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