Dr. Gordon Starkebaum has been appointed the new chief medical officer for the Veterans Affairs (VA) Puget Sound Health-Care System. He will also serve as an associate dean for the UW School of Medicine. Starkebaum is a professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology. He graduated from the UW with a degree in chemistry before entering Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He returned to the UW for residency training in medicine and a fellowship in rheumatology. He was a staff physician at the Boise VA Medical Center for one year, and has served at the VA in Seattle for more than 20 years. Known for his work in arthritis care and research, he is among the rheumatologists listed in the 1998 edition of “Best Doctors in America.” Starkebaum can be reached at (206) 764-2905.

Dr. Albert Berger has been named acting chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He is a professor in the department. Berger has coordinated the department’s graduate program and been active in faculty recruitment as a member and chair of several search committees. He holds Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering and physiology. His research focuses on neural and chemical control of respiration. Dr. Wayne Crill was department chair from 1983 to 1999.

The UW Cerebrovascular Laboratory, with locations at Harborview Medical Center and UW Medical Center, has been accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories for the second time. The laboratory performs advanced, unique diagnostic studies to detect abnormalities of brain circulation. It has an international reputation for excellence in developing and applying the newest cerebrovascular ultrasound technology for clinical and research studies. Patients with head injuries, aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations are among those studied, as well as patients at risk for stroke. Dr. David Newell, associate professor of neurological surgery, directs the lab. Colleen Douville, Anne Moore and Andrea Olsen, all registered vascular technologists, staff the lab.

Dr. Gail Anderson, associate professor of pharmacy, has received a pilot grant from the Pediatric Epilepsy Research Center, based in the School of Medicine’s Department of Neurological Surgery. She will study the level of natural neurosteroids in young children who have infantile spasms and epileptic spasms, conditions that are difficult to treat and often have lasting neurological consequences.