Children’s ranks third

Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center has been ranked third among the best children’s hospitals in the nation by Child magazine, using its own survey. Results of the survey are featured in the February 2001 issue. In the accompanying article, the magazine cited Children’s affiliation with the UW School of Medicine, which has one for the top four pediatric training programs in the country; its partnership with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; its role as the site for many cystic fibrosis trials, and enlargement of rooms to accomodate families of sick children. A sidebar to the story featured the work of Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, professor of pediatrics and director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Children’s Hospital Boston ranked first and second, in that order. Expanded survey results are available at http://www.child.com

Associate chair named

Dr. Clarence Braddock III has been named the second associate chair of the Department of Medicine, joining Associate Chair Henry Rosen. Braddock is an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine and in the Department of Medical History and Ethics. He is also associate chief of staff for education at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and director of the UW Bioethics Education Project. His primary areas of responsibility as associate chair are clinical services and education, with particular emphasis on the interaction between these missions. Braddock will also represent the department on curriculum review committees. He earned his medical degree at the University of Chicago and came to the UW in 1993 from the University of California, San Francisco. He completed a fellowship in ambulatory care medicine and a master’s degree in public health at the UW before joining the faculty. The Department of Medicine, with 14 divisions, is chaired by Dr. William Bremner.

Lambright donation

The Lambright Medical Research Foundation, represented by Jim and Lynne Lambright, last week presented a check for $200,000 to the School of Medicine to support research on Niemann-Pick Type C disease. Jim Lambright is a former Husky football coach; two grown sons of his wife Lynne have the rare disease. Niemann-Pick C disease is an inherited neurological disorder caused by a recessive gene. Individuals with the disease are unable to metabolize cholesterol, which accumulates in liver, spleen and brain, causing progressive deterioration of the nervous system. Among the speakers at last week’s event was Dr. Leo Pallanck, assistant professor of genetics, who received the first Lambright Foundation Pilot Project Research Grant last year to work on the disease. Dr. Tom Bird, head of the Department of Neurology’s new Division of Neurogenetics, is a member of the Lambright Foundation Board.

RPB award

Research to Prevent Blindness, the leading voluntary organization supporting eye research, has awarded a grant of $110,000 to the School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology for research into the causes, treatment and prevention of blinding diseases. The work will be directed by Dr. Steven Wilson, chair of the department, who notes that the funds provide critical support for investigators studying the cause and new treatments for diseases such as macular degeneration, retinal degeneration, corneal healing problems, tumors of the eye and glaucoma. In total, RPB has awarded grants of more than $2 million to the UW.