University of California, Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake got a nod from peers recently when he was elected chairman of the Association of Academic Medical Centers’ board.
The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit says it’s “dedicated to advancing the nation’s health and well-being by mobilizing and enhancing the strengths and resources of the academic health center enterprise in health professions education, patient care and research.”
Academic medicine is deep in Drake’s blood. Before he took over the chancellor’s job in 2005, he was vice president for health affairs for the University of California system.
Drake oversaw education and research activities at 15 health sciences schools across seven campuses.
UC Irvine has proven eventful for Drake.
In his first year, he was pulled beyond his early focus on general campus issues to confront turmoil at UCI Medical Center.
Drake had to stare down a liver transplant scandal that led to Ralph Cygan’s decision in January to step down as the Orange-based hospital’s chief executive.
UC Irvine officials shuttered that program after charges of poor care,including the deaths of more than 30 patients who were awaiting transplants.
Drake also is searching for a vice chancellor of health sciences to oversee the university’s hospital and medical program.
The School of Medicine is about to undergo its own change. Next month, longtime Dean Thomas Cesario is stepping down after 12 years.
UCI Cancer Research
In other UC Irvine news, the school’s Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute is leading a program that’s focused on cancer in children, teens and young adults. The project’s called Kids, Adolescents and Young Adults Cancer.
The study’s goal is to improve the health and well-being of children, teens and young adults up to age of 30 with cancer by “advancing innovated research aimed at curing, preventing and better treating the disease.”
Study participants are coming from Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties. UCI said the study would work on determining the aggressiveness of cancer in kids, teens and young adults.
Nursing Homes, Wall Street
Shortly before Foothill Ranch-based SHG Holding Solutions Inc.’s plans to raise $175 million through an initial public offering became public, several other nursing home companies took a bit of a beating on Wall Street.
There was one exception: Sun Healthcare Group Inc. in Irvine.
Investors dropped shares of Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare Inc., Toledo, Ohio-based Manor Care Inc., Brookdale Senior Living Inc. of Chicago and Sunrise Senior Living Inc. of McLean, Va., in late September.
The sell-offs came after MetLife Inc. released a market survey saying that the average cost of semiprivate rooms in nursing homes rose nearly 4% from a year ago, while private room costs remained relatively stable.
Sun’s shares rose slightly on the news. They’ve been up more than 60% this year, largely on a turnaround at the company.
As for MetLife, its survey showed that the average daily cost of a semiprivate room in the U.S. rose to $183 a month, or $66,795 annually. For a private room in a nursing home, rates were up 1.5% to $206, or a yearly expense of $75,190.
Regulators OK Cortex Trial
Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine-based drug hopeful, got a reprieve from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this month.
Regulators lifted a seven-month hold they placed on clinical trials for Cortex’s Ampakine CX717 drug for possible memory enhancement.
Cortex’s shares got a boost, rising 9% on Oct. 9, the day the news broke. Cortex counted a market value of about $115 million at recent check.
The decision means Cortex now can restart clinical trials that were under way at the time regulators stepped in, citing concerns over animal test data.
Cortex said it committed to a FDA-specified dose for the trial. Cortex also said any testing at a higher dosage only would be done based on safety data from a three-month animal trial the drug maker expects to complete by the end of 2006.
Bits and Pieces:
Masimo Corp. and Nihon Kohden America Inc., both of Irvine, said they signed a deal that allows Nihon Kohden to integrate Masimo’s signal extraction technology into its bedside and patient monitoring devices Robert Grant, president of Allergan Medical, a new unit of Irvine-based Allergan Inc., (see story, page 1), took part in a forum during the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ annual conference in San Francisco.
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