For immediate release: May 1, 2007
Contact: Mark N. Levine
Senior Director, Health Science Communication
702-671-6455
University of Nevada School of Medicine physicians receive trust fund grants for pediatric immunodeficiencies and diabetes research
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The State of Nevada awarded more than $372,000 in trust fund grant awards to two University of Nevada School of Medicine physicians.
Echezona Ezenolue, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and an infectious disease specialist, received a grant of nearly $100,000 to help the Center for Pediatric Immunodeficiencies. The grant will provide comprehensive evaluations for children with suspected immunodeficiency, medical care for patients and education for patients and families with immune deficiency diseases.
“Presently there isn’t a comprehensive pediatric program in Nevada to address the needs of children and adolescents with primary and acquired immune deficiency diseases,” notes Ezeanolue.
While some infectious diseases, such as ear or sinus infections are common and self limiting, immune deficiency diseases are extremely rare including life-threatening reactions from tissue/organ transplantation. Acquired immunodeficiency includes HIV/AIDS, which continues to seriously affect infants in Nevada born to HIV positive mothers. Ezeanolue will be working with Dr. Sean McKnight, a pediatric immunologist, and Dr. Caroline Barangan on this project.
Donald Roberts, M.D., assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, received more than $272,000 to fund the Nevada pregnancy and diabetes education research study. “This project will enable us to advance our professional knowledge in caring for pregnant women with diabetes,” Roberts says.
“University of Nevada School of Medicine clinical physicians deliver more than 5,000 babies annually for a primarily indigent population. Up to thirty percent of these patients have diabetes or may become diabetic during pregnancy,” he adds. Roberts will work with doctors Ambika Rao and Ezeanolue on this project.
The study will compare pregnancy and birth outcomes in a random sample of 200 pregnant women with diabetes. These women will receive a structured early intervention program incorporating diabetes management education beginning in the first trimester. The outcome will be evaluated with a comparable population of pregnant diabetic women receiving standard prenatal care, which currently does not address diabetes until 28 weeks of gestation.
As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been meeting statewide healthcare, educational and clinical needs since 1969. The School of Medicine encompasses sixteen clinical medical education departments including Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Internal Medicine and Surgery as well as ten nationally recognized departments within basic sciences including microbiology and biomedical engineering. As the largest multi-specialty healthcare focus within the state, the School of Medicine employs more than 185 doctors who both teach and practice medicine throughout Nevada. The school’s statewide faculty physician practice groups have a combined 25 different medical specialties with seven physician practice offices located in the Reno-Sparks area and five physician offices in Las Vegas.
The University of Nevada School of Medicine utilizes a best-practice approach to medicine and is committed to addressing the health needs of Nevada now and in the future. For more information, please visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.
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