Elsevier Clinical Skills – New look

Later this year Elsevier will be changing the look of the home page you access through Clinical Skills.  The redesign is aimed at making navigation  and use easier. Click here to get a better idea of what it will look like.

#TBT Spotlight on Dr. Ernest Beutler

This summer marks 40 years since Ernest Beutler, M.D. was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors for a scientist in the United States.

Beutler was born in 1928 to physician parents in Berlin, Germany but the family soon immigrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1935. Beutler went on to complete degrees at the University of Chicago and residency training in internal medicine at the University of Chicago hospitals. During his time at the University of Chicago, under the mentorship of Leon Jacobson, Beutler became interested in clinical hematology.

In 1953, during the Korean War, Beutler volunteered for the U.S. Army Medical Corps where he treated and studied malaria patients. After completing the Malaria Research Project and work on the biological warfare project, Beutler ended up back at the University of Chicago as a faculty member in the hematology division of the department of medicine.

Beutler worked at City of Hope for 20 years (1959-1979) before moving to Scripps Clinical Research Foundation as the chair of the Department of Clinical Research (1979-2008).

Throughout his 54 years of research, Beutler

contributed to improvements in diagnostic tests, treatment, and our understanding of the pathogenesis of hematological disorders, including inherited and acquired anemias; red cell enzyme abnormalities, notably glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency; iron deficiency; inherited iron overload disorders (e.g., hemochromatosis); glycolipid (lysosomal) storage diseases, especially Gaucher disease; and several types of leukemia. (Lichtman, 2012, 1).

References Retrieved from the City of Hope Archives

(1976, June/July). Dr. Ernest Beutler Honored by Nat’l. Academy of Sciences. Scope (14)4, 1.

Lichtman, M. A. (2012).  Ernest Beutler 1928-2008: A biographical memoir. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.

Stem Cell Research News July 18, 2016

The July 18th issue of the Stem Cell Research News has been posted.

My Highlights from MLA Mosaic ’16

by Brian Chambers

In May, I had the honor and pleasure of attending the Medical Library Association (MLA) annual meeting in Toronto, Canada, on a First-Time Conference Attendees grant from the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium.

My goals in attending were to:

• Improve my overall knowledge of library science in the realm of medicine, biomedicine and related sciences
• Learn more about bioinformatical tools, as well as the role a librarian can play for a research institution using bioinformatics
• Attend workshops related to cataloging, acquisitions, interlibrary loan and performance metrics
• Meet with vendors that offer products that would improve services at the Lee Graff Medical and Scientific Library
• Network with other medical librarians and information professionals

I’m happy to say that these expectations were met and exceeded. The plenary sessions offered a deeper understanding of the profession and ample opportunities to network with other medical librarians and information professionals. I was particularly struck and invigorated by Ben Goldacre’s talk on the state of the publishing industry and how scientific outcomes often get distorted as they make their way to the public.

There were several poster presentations that addressed my desire to learn more about bioinformatical tools, as well as how a librarian can help facilitate bioinformatics research. I was very excited to see that Johns Hopkins was using LibGuides for their Bioinformatics Portal. This is very similar to a tool that I am currently working on to support bioinformatics at City of Hope.

I attended several sessions and panels each day that covered my topics of interest (with the exception, sadly, of interlibrary loan). I am particularly interested in performance metrics and was excited about the “Using Assessment Data to Drive the Big Picture” panel discussion. I engaged the group in a discussion about data dashboards and what key performance indicators their library leadership is looking at. This was particularly interesting as our library is currently developing and utilizing metrics to improve service and resources.

Attending MLA Mosaic ’16 was an experience that I am very grateful for and will never forget. I look forward to attending future conferences to share the exciting work of the Library Services team and bring back new knowledge.

The Cancer Letter July 15, 2016

The July 15, 2016 issue of Cancer Letter has been posted.