Donald W. Drew, M.D.

NORFOLK—An endowed lectureship to honor the late Donald W. Drew, M.D., a pioneering cardiologist and teacher who championed the creation of EVMS, has been established by a gift from his family.

A native Bostonian and graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine, Drew has been synonymous with cardiology training since he came to Norfolk General Hospital in 1960, where he helped run the hospital’s residency training program. When local physicians and civic leaders began discussing the notion of launching a new medical school, Drew became an enthusiastic booster.

“Don Drew was a gifted teacher and superb physician,” recalled Dean and Provost Gerald J. Pepe, Ph.D. “His excitement about creating a medical school in Norfolk was infectious.”

Drew passed away in August 2001 at 79 years old.

Edward M. Johnson, Ph.D.

NORFOLK—Edward M. Johnson, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, received a grant totaling more than $1.8 million over five years to study the molecular mechanics of a brain disease that kills four percent of AIDS patients worldwide.

Johnson's research focuses on the JC virus, discovered in 1971 and named for the initials of a patient who died of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a disease that kills patients by essentially causing their brain's neurons to short-circuit. PML, which afflicts patients with a weakened immune system, is aggressive and incurable. The time between the onset of symptoms and death can be less than a few months. The brain-wasting disease can occur even in patients whose AIDS is kept in check by aggressive antiretroviral drugs. The JC virus, the focus of Johnson's study, causes the brain to lose myelin, the sheath that insulates the passage of nerve signals. Such demyelination is also found in diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

William J. Wasilenko, Ph.D., associate dean for research, said the grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the gold standard of medical research, reflects Johnson's status as a national leader in studying the connection between viruses and cancer.

"This research addresses a very important yet poorly understood component of AIDS pathology," said Wasilenko. "Dr. Johnson's research results have great potential to lead to new clinical treatments for AIDS and many other viral pathologies."

Johnson, who came to EVMS in 2005 from The Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has a long history of NIH funding for his research on AIDS and cancer.

Johnson's research on the JC virus dates back to the 1980s, when he started studying DNA replication of the polyoma virus, whose variants include the JC virus. Present in more than 90 percent of adults, the polyoma resides in the kidneys and was once considered relatively benign, one of many viruses in humans that cause no illnesses. Johnson's research showed that the normally latent virus occasionally begins replicating wildly, and that this is a major risk factor for cancerous tumors in the urinary tract.

While researchers knew that the polyoma infections were present in cancer cells, demonstrating that the virus played a role in causing cancer didn't occur until 2006 when Johnson and a team of researchers examined the records of 3,785 patients and showed that those with polyoma infections were nearly four times more likely to develop bladder cancer. Johnson's group is now examining the connection to related cancers, including prostate cancer.

Although researchers have known for years that the JC virus caused the brain-wasting PML, nobody has figured out exactly how. In fact, researchers don't understand how the JC virus, or even the AIDS virus, gets into the brain through a kind of microscopic cheesecloth that filters from the blood anything that can harm the brain. Johnson speculates that the viruses may infect cells that are able to squeeze through the protective blood-brain barrier. "This remains an important problem to solve," Johnson said.

Johnson's newest five-year grant will help him unravel the mystery of exactly how the JC virus does its damage. While many have theorized that damaged immune systems of AIDS patients leave them vulnerable to otherwise benign viruses, Johnson, going a step further, believes that proteins produced by the AIDS virus, HIV, may actually supercharge the JC virus. To do this, the HIV proteins interact with proteins produced by cells in the brain.

This prompts a molecular cascade that kills brain cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells have long, sticky tendrils that wrap around and insulate wire-like nerve fibers that connect the brain's neurons. Without this insulation, myelin, the brain's neurons misfire and then atrophy, leaving dead tissue scattered through the brain.

Because brain tissues don't divide, Johnson's must conduct his study using oligodendrocytes removed from patients suffering from malignant brain cancer. Ironically, the cancerous cells are taken from patients whose cancer kills by causing massive overproduction of the cells that are destroyed in patients with PML.

If Johnson can decipher the molecular mechanics, the research could help doctors find a way to disrupt the sequences of infection in both PML and AIDS and help stop these diseases.

"The interaction of HIV with other viruses is definitely a target for therapeutic agents," said Johnson.

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Patrick Devine, M.D.

Devine followed in the footsteps of his late father, Charles Devine, and his brother, Charles Devine, Jr., M.D., in specializing in urology. He loved to teach and in 1965, his devotion to sharing knowledge led Patrick to found a urology residency program based at Norfolk General Hospital and DePaul Medical Center. The program, Tidewater’s first urology residency, helped establish the foothold for medical education in Norfolk, and for the establishment of EVMS.

Following the death of Charles Devine, Jr. in 1999, EVMS created the Endowed Devine Family Chair in Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgery at EVMS in memory of Charles and Charles Jr. and in honor of Patrick.

Patrick Devine graduated from Granby High School and Washington and Lee University and received his medical degree from the University of Virginia. He served as a paratrooper in World War II, attaining the rank of second lieutenant. Following his residency training, also at UVA, he returned to Norfolk and joined the practice founded by his father in 1919. Devine’s brother had also previously joined the practice.

Collaborating closely, the brothers achieved remarkable milestones in research, including revolutionary concepts in the field of reconstructive urology that made history.

Devine was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1963 and served as president of the Mid-Atlantic section of the American Urological Association in 1973-74. He was an active member of many national medical associations and held leadership positions at Medical Center Hospitals and DePaul Medical Center, including serving as president of the medical staff of what are now Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center. Devine authored many publications and was frequently invited to lecture about his work around the world.

In recognition of the need for change in health care delivery, Devine helped establish the first health maintenance organization in Hampton Roads. He worked with hospitals, physicians and insurers around Virginia to develop integrated systems for the efficient delivery of health care.

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