For immediate release: April 16, 2008
Contact: Mark N. Levine, Senior Director
Health Science Communications
Office 702-671-6455
Mobile 702-818-9842
mlevine@medicine.nevada.edu

School of Medicine pediatrics faculty earn grant awards

LAS VEGAS, Nev.— Echezona Ezeanolue, M.D., MPH, a University of Nevada School of Medicine assistant professor of pediatrics, an infectious disease specialist and Director of Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Services, received two grants from the State of Nevada, Department of Health and Human Services through the Trust Fund for Public Health. The first grant, for $96,514, will be used for a study of the Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) in pregnant women and their newborns in Las Vegas.

          The second grant, in the amount of $55,075, was awarded to Ezeanolue for Contraceptive Choices, Knowledge and Options among HIV+ women of childbearing age (15-44). This study hopes to reduce the risks for mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection by examining why HIV- positive women chose the type of contraceptives they currently use and if not, the reasons for not using contraception.

          Lopa Shah, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics, has received a $137,565 grant for the Clark County Children’s Lead Screening Study. The University of Nevada School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, in collaboration with the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ Nevada Center for Environmental Health Surveillance, will establish a comprehensive lead screening and public health research pilot program. The objective is to increase screening rates for lead poisoning in at-risk children and examine atypical sources of lead contaminates, including lead-glazed pottery, foods contaminated with lead and lead jewelry.

As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.