Prof. Howard Koh Nominated Assistant Secretary For Health In HHS

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Dr. Howard Koh , the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), to be assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Koh is also Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Director of the Division of Public Health Practice at HSPH.

The assistant secretary for health is responsible for the major health agencies, including the CDC, FDA and NIH, and is the leading health advisor to the Secretary of HHS.

Sebelius, DeParle Discuss Health Care Reform With Congressional Lawmakers

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama’s nominee for HHS secretary, and Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office for Health Reform, each met with congressional lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss plans for health care overhaul, CQ Today reports. Sebelius said she met with nearly 40 senators who expressed “a lot of interest in health reform.”

DeParle at a meeting of House Democrats said that health care reform is a top priority for the Obama administration and the White House is looking to work with Congress on efforts, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) said after the meeting. According to Schwartz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democrats at the meeting that the budget resolution is an important “first step” in health care reform; however, Pelosi declined to address whether to use the budget reconciliation process to enact an overhaul. “Using reconciliation would give Democrats a much better chance to pass a health overhaul that includes a provision important to liberals and labor groups: creation of a government-run health plan that would compete with private insurers,” an idea most Republicans opposed, CQ Today reports.

Latin American HIV/AIDS Advocacy Group Launches Magazine For Women

The Inter Press Service on Monday examined a new magazine published by the Latin American branch of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS. The magazine — called “No Estas Sola,” or “You Are Not Alone” — focuses on providing HIV-positive women in Latin America with information about the virus, stigma, their rights and empowerment. Maria Mansilla, the editor in charge of the publication, said, “What we are trying to do through the magazine is to break with the weepy approach, where there is only room for complaints or for the scientific-medical perspective.” The magazine is a quarterly publication that is distributed in the 20 Latin American countries where ICW Latina has national chapters. Daniel Barberis, media officer for ICW Latina, said the magazine could be published more frequently in the future.

Mark G. Watson Named Executive Director Of Radiological Society Of North America

The Board of Directors of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) is pleased to announce that Mark G. Watson will become the Society’s executive director on April 1, 2009. Watson comes to the position with nearly 20 years of experience working in key capacities at RSNA and has served as the Society’s interim executive director since September 2008.

Assistant executive director for finance and administration at RSNA for the past 15 years, Watson was selected after a thorough candidate search by Korn/Ferry International in conjunction with RSNA’s board of directors and executive director search committee.

Prof. Howard Koh Nominated Assistant Secretary For Health In HHS

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Dr. Howard Koh , the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), to be assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Koh is also Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Director of the Division of Public Health Practice at HSPH.

The assistant secretary for health is responsible for the major health agencies, including the CDC, FDA and NIH, and is the leading health advisor to the Secretary of HHS.

Sebelius, DeParle Discuss Health Care Reform With Congressional Lawmakers

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D), President Obama’s nominee for HHS secretary, and Nancy-Ann DeParle, the director of the White House Office for Health Reform, each met with congressional lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss plans for health care overhaul, CQ Today reports. Sebelius said she met with nearly 40 senators who expressed “a lot of interest in health reform.”

DeParle at a meeting of House Democrats said that health care reform is a top priority for the Obama administration and the White House is looking to work with Congress on efforts, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) said after the meeting. According to Schwartz, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democrats at the meeting that the budget resolution is an important “first step” in health care reform; however, Pelosi declined to address whether to use the budget reconciliation process to enact an overhaul. “Using reconciliation would give Democrats a much better chance to pass a health overhaul that includes a provision important to liberals and labor groups: creation of a government-run health plan that would compete with private insurers,” an idea most Republicans opposed, CQ Today reports.

Bad News For Insomniacs: ‘Hunger Hormones’ Affected By Poor Sleep

Insomnia has long been associated with poor health, including weight gain and even obesity. Now researchers at UCLA have found out why.

In a study to be published in the May issue of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology and currently available online by subscription, Sarosh Motivala, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and colleagues looked at two hormones that are primarily responsible for regulating the body’s energy balance, telling the body when it is hungry and when it is full. The study found that chronic insomnia disrupts one of these two hormones.

Is Consensus In Anti-aging Medical Intervention An Elusive Expectation

In the May-June 2009 issue of the prestigious Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, an international journal published by Elsevier, Prof. Dr. Imre Zs.-Nagy, of the University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center (Hungary), and founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/archger), presents numerous studies documenting a diverse array of anti-aging medical therapeutics that currently exist and are being applied in the clinical setting today, as well as interventions that are in the laboratory stage, to slow, prevent, and perhaps even reverse the degenerative diseases of aging and the degenerative biological processes which lead to premature disease, disability, dependence, and death.

Fructose Metabolism By The Brain Increases Food Intake And Obesity

The journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ybbrc) (BBRC), published by Elsevier, will publish an important review this week online, by M. Daniel Lane and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, building on the suggested link between the consumption of fructose and increased food intake, which may contribute to a high incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Over the past four decades life-styles have gravitated toward the excessive consumption of ‘high energy’ foods and sedentary behavior that has resulted in a high incidence of obesity and its pathological consequences. This scenario has led to the increased occurrence of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. At present, approximately thirty percent of adult Americans can be classified as obese. Moreover, these changes now extend into the younger age group.

Trial Begins In Case Of Kansas Abortion Provider Tiller

Opening arguments began on Monday in the criminal case of Kansas abortion provider George Tiller, who is charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of failing to follow a Kansas law regarding later abortion, which requires approval of a second, independent doctor who practices in Kansas and has no financial or legal affiliations with the first doctor, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The doctor must certify that the mother will suffer permanent and irreversible harm, which can include psychological harm, if she carries the baby to term,” according to the Times.