NORFOLK, VA-Ann E. Campbell, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and molecular cell biology, has won the Dean's Outstanding Faculty Award at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

The coveted award was presented to Campbell for her "continuously demonstrated exemplary contributions as a teacher, scholar and role model," said James E. Etheridge, Jr., M.D., former EVMS dean and provost.

Etheridge and new Dean and Provost Evan R. Farmer, M.D., hosted the awards ceremony at the Town Point Club in Norfolk Thursday night.

Dean's Faculty Achievement Awards also were presented to Nicholas A. D'Amato, M.D., professor, history of medicine, and professor of pathology and anatomy, for Achievement by a Community Faculty Member, and J. D. Ball, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, for Achievement in Teaching or Service in Clinical Medicine.

Etheridge described D'Amato as a community faculty member who is "held in highest esteem and affection by students, residents and faculty because of his dedication to medical education and devotion to people."

Ball, Etheridge said, "has become a highly valued and much sought after resource for the area's most widely respected medical practitioners in sleep medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, neurosurgery, physical medicine, oncology and (even) neurology, as well as for his colleagues in psychology and psychiatry."

Campbell has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1986 and is nationally and internationally recognized for significant scientific contributions.

She previously won four Sir William Osler Awards at the medical school; the Dean's Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching Excellence; and the Outstanding Faculty Award from the Virginia State Council of Higher Education.

D'Amato has been associated with EVMS since 1974 as educator and mentor to both students and faculty. His service to EVMS began when he was chairman of the Laboratory Medicine Department of the U.S. Naval Hospital at Portsmouth.

For the past seven years he has lectured, instructed in laboratory sessions, and advised and assisted EVMS students. He is the author of a three-volume collection entitled "Vignettes, A History of Medicine." He organizes history of medicine seminars and helps faculty members incorporate historical vignettes into their lectures. He has also served on many EVMS committees.

Ball is the EVMS clinical director for the nationally recognized Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. He is an active research investigator in neuropsychology and clinical psychology and makes research presentations at the state and national levels.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA. - The Strelitz Diabetes Institutes at Eastern Virginia Medical School will present a lecture entitled "TIME - A Diabetes Management Program" at the Virginia Beach Central Library on Wednesday, June 20. The hour-long lecture begins at 8 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

The talk will feature John T. O'Brian, M.D., professor of internal medicine at EVMS and endocrinologist at the Leonard R. Strelitz Diabetes Institutes, and Nancy E. Clark, R.N., diabetes nurse educator at Chesapeake General Hospital.

TIME, which stands for Total Individual Management and Education, is a management program designed to give people with diabetes customized instructions on how to control their disease. Dr. O'Brian and Nancy Clark will explain how to adjust insulin, monitor blood sugars, and manage medication and nutrition. The program also covers detailed medical evaluations, laboratory tests, daily consultations with physicians, group seminars, motivational workshops and exercise clinics.

The presentation is the fifth lecture in the Strelitz Diabetes Institute's 2001 series of public lectures.

NORFOLK, VA - Clinical psychologist Joan McRae, Ph.D., and local developer Vincent Napolitano are the newest members of the Board of Visitors, governing body of Eastern Virginia Medical School.

McRae, who grew up in Hampton Roads, has had a longstanding interest in EVMS. She holds a master's degree in women's studies from George Washington University and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University. From 1980 to 1984, she worked at a community mental health center formerly operated by EVMS. As an EVMS faculty member, she participated in teaching courses on the physician-patient relationship and life cycle issues pertaining to medical practice.

McRae said the establishment of EVMS raised the standard of health care in the region and attracted highly qualified specialists. In addition, she said the medical conferences and meetings at the school raise the quality of discussion and education for medical professionals across the region.

McRae entered private practice in 1984, with an emphasis on treating pre-adolescents. She closed her practice in 2000, and currently raises gourmet raspberries at her family farm, Churchland Berry Farm.

Vincent A. Napolitano is president of Napolitano Enterprises, a residential development company that he founded.

Napolitano grew up in Virginia Beach and graduated from First Colonial High School. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in business administration.

He serves in leadership roles in many national and local building associations. He is on the executive committee and board of directors of the National Association of Home Builders. He serves on the board of directors for the Home Builders Association of Virginia, and is a trustee of the organization's scholarship foundation. He is on the board of directors of the Tidewater Builders Association, and chairman of the group's political action committee.

Napolitano is also active in many community organizations, serving as a member of the Virginia Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Birdneck Point Civic League, and Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

Napolitano said he has always been interested in the growth of the region's medical community, and his specific interest in the medical school grew after he became a member of the EVMS Foundation Development Committee in 1999.

NORFOLK, VA- Research at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) has found that a lower dose of estrogen-progestin combination is effective and safe, while minimizing the bleeding side effect hormone replacement therapy causes in some post-menopausal women.

David F. Archer, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at EVMS' Jones Institute of Reproductive Medicine, was among a group of researchers in various parts of the United States who conducted the five-year study, which involved about 2,700 women and was funded by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories.

The Women's Health, Osteoporosis, Progestin, Estrogen Study, known as Women's HOPE Study, was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. The overall study took five years to complete.

"Bleeding is the major reason women stop taking hormone replacement therapy," said Archer, who directs the Clinical Research Center for the EVMS department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Archer is the lead author of an article on the bleeding aspect of the research, scheduled for publication this month in the journal Fertility and Sterility. Articles by other researchers involved in the trials will deal with additional aspects of reducing the dosage of hormone therapy, such as the treatment of vasomotor symptoms.

"Once approved by the FDA, this product will allow physicians flexibility in prescribing dosages of HRT. That's the biggest advantage to women. You can start a newly menopausal woman on the low dose, and if you can't control all her symptoms, you can go up to the standard dose." Archer said.