The University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Wall of Scholarship was established to highlight biomedical research by acknowledging a distinct group of current UI Carver College of Medicine faculty members whose published research articles have made a significant impact on a particular field of science or medicine.
The articles were selected for having been cited more than 1,000 times in subsequent published research articles, based on at least two of three recognized academic citation indices: Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science. As additional first- or senior-authored research papers by Carver College of Medicine faculty achieve the distinction of 1,000 citations, these scholarly works will be commemorated with plaques on the Wall of Scholarship.
E. Dale Abel, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Internal Medicine
John B. Stokes III Chair in Diabetes Research
Director, Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center
Diabetic cardiomyopathy revisited
Circulation. 2007 June 26;115(25):3213-23
Research article summary
Heart failure is now recognized as an important complication of diabetes mellitus. Men and women with diabetes are two times to four times as likely to develop heart failure compared to the general population. The increased vulnerability of the heart in diabetes has been termed diabetic cardiomyopathy and describes the increased risk of heart failure that is independent of underlying coronary artery disease. The mechanisms that confer this risk are partially understood and have been a focus of the Abel laboratory for the past two decades.
At the time of its writing, this state-of-the-art review provided a comprehensive update on the state of knowledge regarding the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy, and it remains one of the most highly cited articles in the field. Several factors may contribute to the development of cardiac dysfunction in the absence of coronary artery disease in diabetes mellitus. This review article discusses the latest findings in diabetic humans and in animal models and reviews emerging new mechanisms that may be involved in the development and progression of cardiac dysfunction in diabetes, many of which have now been confirmed.
Abel’s research interests focus on molecular mechanisms leading to cardiac dysfunction in diabetes and the regulation of myocardial growth and metabolism by insulin signaling. Recent studies by Abel and colleagues have underscored the importance of mitochondrial oxidative stress as a major mechanism leading to cardiac dysfunction in obesity and diabetes.
In addition to serving as professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and director of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center, Abel holds secondary appointments in the Department of Biochemistry in the UI Carver College of Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the UI College of Engineering.
Nancy Andreasen, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Andrew H. Woods Chair of Pyschiatry
Director, Iowa Neuroimaging Consortium
The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms (CASH). An instrument for assessing diagnosis and psychopathology
Archives of General Psychiatry. 1992 Aug;49(8):615-23
Research abstract
The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History was developed for research studies of schizophrenia spectrum conditions and affective spectrum conditions. It is designed to provide a comprehensive information base concerning current and past signs and symptoms, premorbid functioning, cognitive functioning, sociodemographic status, treatment, and course of illness. Because the information base is broad, it is not wedded to a specific diagnostic system but rather permits clinicians and investigators to make diagnoses using a wide range of systems, including Research Diagnostic Criteria, DSM-III, DSM-III-R, and the International Classification of Diseases.
Given the fact that disorders in psychiatry are not defined at the etiological or pathophysiological level, diagnostic criteria are prone to ongoing revision as our knowledge base changes. Research strategies suggest that investigators should maintain a flexible database to permit them to adapt to changes in diagnostic systems, to do comparative nosological studies, and, ultimately, to develop new diagnostic systems based on knowledge concerning the underlying neurobiological nature of disorders. Because it provides a comprehensive information base, the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History facilitates research of this type.
Andreasen is internationally recognized for her research programs in cognitive and affective neuroscience, the genetics and brain mechanisms of psychoses, and the classification of mood disorders. She was a pioneer in the use of neuroimaging techniques; when magnetic resonance imaging became available in the 1980s, she published the first quantitative MR study of brain abnormalities in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Among her numerous awards, Andreasen received the National Medal of Science in 2000 and the National Alliance of Mental Illness Scientific Research Award in 2012. She also is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Daniel Diekema, MD, MS
Clinical Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine
Survey of infections due to Staphylococcus species: frequency of occurrence and antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates collected in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Western Pacific region for the SENTRY Antimicrobial Surveillance Program, 1997-1999
Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2001 May 15;32 Suppl 2:S114-32
Research article summary
Staphylococcus spp (several species) are among the most devastating human bacterial pathogens, and a leading cause of bloodstream infection. During the 1970s and 1980s, a particularly difficult-to-treat form of S. aureus—methicillin-resistant S. aureus, or MRSA—emerged in hospitals around the world. By the 1990s, it was also beginning to spread in the community and was becoming even more resistant to available antibiotics.
In the Clinical Infectious Diseases paper, Diekema and colleagues report results from a large global surveillance study of bloodstream infection due to staphylococci. They described how rates of antibiotic resistance among staphylococci varied across geographic regions and how antibiotic resistance was increasing in U.S. hospitals over the three-year study period (1997-1999). They also documented an increase in multiple-drug resistance among staphylococci, and the emergence of MRSA strains in the community. This work helped drive efforts to develop broader strategies to control the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance among these common bacterial pathogens.
Diekema’s areas of expertise include several aspects of health care epidemiology, including the epidemiology of invasive fungal infections in hospitalized patients and the role of the laboratory in preventing infections and controlling antibiotic resistance. He completed fellowships in infectious diseases and medical microbiology, as well as a Master of Science in preventive medicine, at the University of Iowa. He is a past president of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, and he is the past chair of the CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.
Edward Filardo, MD
Research Professor, Department of Surgery
Estrogen-induced activation of Erk-1 and Erk-2 requires the G protein-coupled receptor homolog, GPR30, and occurs via trans-activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor through release of HB-EGF
Molecular Endocrinology. 2000 Oct;14(10):1649-60
Research article summary
Estrogens induce diverse effects that are observed in multiple physiological responses, including but not limited to: the reproductive, cardiovascular, skeletal, metabolic, integumentary and immune systems. In general, its actions are ascribed to nuclear steroid hormone receptors, ERa and ERb, that function as ligand-inducible transcription factors and whose biochemical actions are measured over the course of hours. However, estrogens promote rapid biochemical actions that occur in seconds and minutes, which long suggested an alternative mechanism of estrogen action.
In the Molecular Endocrinology paper, Filardo and colleagues Jeff Quinn, PhD, and Ray Frackelton, PhD, are the first to unveil and characterize a plasma membrane receptor that belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily that could promote rapid estrogen action. While this receptor (now known as G-protein coupled estrogen receptor, GPER) had been previously identified based on its structural homology to GPCRs, its cognate ligand was unknown. They show that estrogens as well as antiestrogens specifically act through GPER to trigger the release of membrane-tethered epidermal growth factor from the surface of human breast cancer cells. This discovery alters the binary categorization schema that describe breast cancer as either estrogen- or growth factor-dependent and is used to assign endocrine therapy. Subsequently, work by others (notably Peter Thomas, PhD) led to the identity of similar GPCRs for androgens and progestins that are evolutionarily conserved in man, mouse and fish.
Filardo is an American Cancer Society Research Scholar. He holds an honorary degree from Brown University. Based on the broad influence of estrogen in multiple physiological and pathological responses, he serves as an ad hoc reviewer for more than 30 medical journals. In addition, he has served on numerous foreign and domestic scientific study sections relating to endocrine action and cancer. He has recently developed a promising cancer therapeutic that targets ERs and GPER in collaboration with Ali Salem, PhD, from the UI College of Pharmacy.