Bloomfield Hills nurse helps heart attack patients in Hawaii

Bloomfield Hills resident Mary Anne McCoy and a team of Detroit-area advanced practice nurses are helping to provide emergency care for heart attack patients on the Hawaiian island of Maui. McCoy, an assistant professor at Wayne State University's College of Nursing, was contacted by an administrator at Maui Memorial Medical Center to develop an on-site treatment program for heart attack patients with interventional cardiologists and acute care nurse practitioners. "For a person having a heart attack, research has shown if a coronary artery can be opened within 90 minutes, heart damage can be limited," McCoy said.

October 30, 2011

Editorial: Lift lives through reading

An editorial highlighting Reading Works, a nonprofit dedicated to boosting adult literacy in metro Detroit, features commentary from area civic leaders including Debbie Dingell, president of D2 Strategies and vice chair of the Wayne State University Board of Governors. Dingell and others shared their favorite books and thoughts about the importance of reading. A photo of Dingell holding a copy of "The Giving Tree" is included.

October 30, 2011

Experts: Michigan needs to do more to nurture start-ups

TechTown at Wayne State University is cited as one of the examples of a business incubator that is offering mentoring and training classes throughout the state at a time when Michigan needs to ramp up its efforts to promote entrepreneurial activity.

October 28, 2011

Solution to challenge is put to test

In a companion piece about business incubator activity in Michigan, Sense Aide, a venture started by Sri Rao, is profiled as a success story. The company developed a Web-based network of sensors that can tell whether a patient is taking medication on schedule, visiting the refrigerator for meals, and otherwise engaging in necessary activities. Rao has gotten help along the way through TechTown, but he says that Michigan could do a lot more for its entrepreneurs, especially by fostering a better network of investment capital for start-up firms.

October 28, 2011

WSU researcher to learn more about links between stress and drug use

A Wayne State University researcher is using a three-year, $1.55 million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health to learn more about the links between stress and drug use by applying behavioral economics. Mark Greenwald, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in the School of Medicine and director of the Substance Abuse Research Division, will study a group of heroin users to see how pharmacologically induced stress affects their decisions to seek money or drugs when given the choice.

October 27, 2011

The Pre-Motor City

A feature story highlighting Detroit's industrial past takes a look at various buildings, structures and land plots across the city, including the Michigan Central Station. Tom Killion, an archaeologist at Wayne State University, commented extensively about the abandoned edifice and an excavation that he, WSU students and volunteers from the community started in 2006. The team recovered more than 4,000 artifacts from the area.

October 27, 2011

U.S. Commerce's Perez, Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley to speak at Accelerate Michigan Innovation Gala Awards

Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition announced yesterday that U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary of Manufacturing Peter M. Perez, and Michigan\'s Lt. Governor Brian Calley will deliver keynote speeches at its second annual, gala awards dinner Thursday, Nov. 17 at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Joining Perez and Calley as speakers at the event will be Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour, Michael Finney, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Doug Rothwell, CEO of the Business Leaders for Michigan and David Egner, executive director of the New Economy Initiative.

October 27, 2011

Wayne State professor gets $1.55M grant to study links between drug use, stress

A Wayne State University professor was given a $1.55 million grant to explore the links between drug use and stress and the impact of economics on drug users\' choices. The National Institute on Drug Abuse awarded the grant to psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences professor Mark Greenwald, who will study a group of 30 heroin users over the next three years and how drug-induced stress influences their decision to seek money or drugs. A photo of Greenwald is included.

October 27, 2011

Green manufacturing takes center stage at Wayne State conference

Channel 7 reporter JoAnne Purtan provided a noon update on the Sustainable Technologies conference held yesterday at Wayne State University's Danto Engineering Development Center. Co-hosted by Ford Motor, the conference explores ways to improve sustainability in manufacturing. Jim Sears, WSU associate vice president for facilities, planning and management, commented on camera.

October 27, 2011

Birmingham plastic surgeon volunteers overseas to give disfigured people brighter future

Dr. Mehul Mehta, a plastic surgeon and assistant professor of surgery at Wayne State University, along with 19 American doctors and support staff known as the "International Surgical Mission Support team," performed 98 major operations over eight days last February in Kenya. That is more than 10 surgeries a day. \"It is hard, hard work,\" says Mehta. \"But what is incredible is that the amount of disease and pathology we see there, you wouldn\'t see in a whole lifetime here.\" Mehta has been doing medical mission work since 1993, which takes the father of four to Third World countries, sometimes twice a year and for two weeks at a stretch. \"Doctors fund themselves and the supporting staff (like operating room nurses, nurse anesthetists and critical care nurses) on the trips,\" says Mehta. \"We also take all our equipment so that the host country doesn\'t incur any expenses on our behalf.\"

October 26, 2011

Director: Actors are the real story in Hilberry's 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Stage director Matthew Earnest, who is shepherding the graduate student production of \"Much Ado\" at Wayne State University\'s Hilberry Theatre that opens Friday, insists the play is really about the young actors themselves. \"This is an exceptionally bright group of actors here, but while some have been steeped in the classics, others have not. Some find the crazy language a problem. Some are challenged by the candid sexual discussion or the social order and politics of the time." \'Much Ado About Nothing\' begins its run at 8 p.m., Friday, through Nov. 19 at the Hilberry Theatre.

October 26, 2011

Wayne State University gets NIH grant for intervention

A team of researchers at Wayne State University's Parent Health Lab in the School of Medicine have received a three-year grant to develop a computer-delivered intervention for pregnant women at risk for alcohol use, which can lead to lifelong negative effects on the fetus. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health funded the "Healthy Pregnancy Study," which will help Steven Ondersma, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and colleagues develop and test a highly practical, high-reaching computer-delivered intervention to reduce alcohol use during pregnancy.

October 26, 2011

Michigan invests in university efforts to build businesses, jobs

The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Wednesday voted to invest $6.8 million in university-business partnerships focused on collaboration, commercialization, economic growth and job creation. The goal: partnerships between Michigan universities, including Wayne State, and the private sector focused on collaboration and commercialization of technologies. The board is investing $1.8 million to build a Corporate Relations Network for Michigan's Research Universities; $2.43 million to launch a Tech Transfer Talent Network; and $2.4 million to fund the Michigan Initiative for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative.

October 26, 2011

Hyperthermia offers novel cancer treatment options

In CBS Detroit's "Spotlight" piece new cancer treatment research is featured looking at nanotechnology as opening new avenues of cancer treatment that have minimal, if any, side effects. Wayne State University's Department of Radiation Oncology, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Department of Physics are working with a Kettering University professor to develop cancer treatments that utilize magnetic hyperthermia therapy to eliminate cancer cells without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.

October 26, 2011

To fix Detroit region, women's voices must be heard

In a column about the need to bring to the table more women leaders in Michigan's efforts to reinvent itself, Rochelle Riley mentions that Forbes magazine convened a roundtable last summer for a major chat called Saving Detroit: The Conversation. Though 15 of the assembled leaders were men, she writes: "I have no quarrel with the Forbes guest list, which included Bing, Techtown Executive Director Randal Charlton, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour, UAW President Bob King, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, United Way Vice President Michael Tenbusch, Detroit Public Schools emergency manager Roy Roberts, Gov. Rick Snyder and GM exec Mark Reuss."

October 25, 2011

10 schools with most cars on campus

Wayne State University ranked no. 2 among schools with the highest percentage of students with cars on campus according to a U.S. News & World Report survey. Of the 1,376 ranked colleges and universities that U.S. News surveyed in 2011, all students were permitted to have cars at 1,074 schools; 272 did not allow every student to have a car on campus; and the remaining 30 institutions did not provide data on whether all students were allowed to have cars.

October 25, 2011

Panel: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Craig Fahle hosted a panel discussion on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder which included Wayne State University Provost Ron Brown, a leading pediatric psychologist who specializes in children and adolescents with chronic illnesses; Sherri Noga, author, psychotherapist and WSU professor of psychiatry and psychology; and Arthur Robin, WSU professor of psychiatry. The discussion focused on the treatment and new drug therapy recommendations for children with ADHD.

October 25, 2011

Wayne State University researchers find way to tailor antibiotics

Members of a Wayne State University research group at a national surgery meeting today described efforts to develop a faster, less expensive method of identifying infections and determining any antibiotic resistance. "This is the way to tailor your antibiotic treatment to the bacteria… so you don't use antibiotics unnecessarily," said Dr. Amy Riley Spencer, a WSU/Detroit Medical Center doctor who presented the findings at the 2011 annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons in San Francisco. The team is working with Dr. Greg Auner, WSU professor of engineering and microchip technology expert, on a miniaturized version of technology called Ramon spectroscopy that has largely been used in the manufacturing industry to study flaws in metals and other objects.

October 25, 2011

Column: 1 percent does most of giving

Nolan Finley, editorial page editor for The Detroit News, wrote about the recent dedication of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University's Law School as an example of how private donors have helped our community. Noting the success of private donors, Finley wrote: "The truth is that their success has helped this community build museums and concert halls, world-class universities, a vast network of charities - and now a center dedicated to protecting the civil liberties of all 100 percent of us." He mentions donors that contributed toward the $5.7 million project, and notes that Eugene Driker, a member of Wayne State's Board of Governors, also makes substantial donations.

October 24, 2011

TechTown transition: Leslie Smith steps up as Randal Charlton steps down

Randal Charlton is stepping down as executive director of Wayne State University's TechTown, and general manager Leslie Smith is stepping up to fill the position. Charlton announced his pending retirement earlier this month before the TechTown Board of Directors, who adopted a resolution to appoint Smith as his successor beginning November 1. Charlton led the non-profit from infancy into an internationally-recognized business incubator. To date, TechTown has trained more than 2,200 entrepreneurs, directly invested $700,000 in early-stage businesses and is currently supporting 250 companies.

October 24, 2011