Wake Forest Baptist January Awards and Recognitions

January 23, 2014

Wake Forest Baptist Assistant Professor Receives Early Career Award

D. Clark Files, M.D., assistant professor of pulmonary, critical care, allergy and immunology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, has received an Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award from the American Thoracic Society Foundation (ATS Foundation).

Files received $40,000 in bridge funding to support his investigation into the pathology of muscle degeneration that frequently occurs in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), also known as acute lung injury.

In his current project, Files aims to identify mechanisms underlying the reduced muscle function observed in old versus young ARDS mice. The goal of this research is to develop therapies to treat the debilitating muscle weakness that occurs in older ARDS patients.

Wake Forest Baptist Professor Invited to Join Editorial Board of New Medical Newspaper

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jan. 23, 2014 –
Charles L. Branch Jr., M.D., professor and chair of neurosurgery at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, was invited to join the editorial board of the new medical newspaper, Spine Surgery Today. The newspaper will present clinically relevant information on the surgical techniques, products, therapies, procedures and technologies used in spine surgery.

As a member of the editorial board, Branch will provide perspective on stories, offer guest commentary and help choose article topics. He will also attend editorial board meetings during the annual meetings of the North America Spine Society and American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

Wake Forest Baptist Associate Professor To Be Honored at Black History Month Event

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jan. 23, 2014 –
Brenda A. Latham-Sadler, M.D., associate professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and associate dean of student inclusion and diversity at Wake Forest School of Medicine, will be honored at the Salem Lodge No. 139 Black History Month Community Awards Banquet & Robert A. Miller Scholarship Gala in Winston-Salem on February 22, 2014. Latham-Sadler is among several female community leaders that have been selected.

The theme for this year’s event focuses on women’s contributions that help empower, uplift and improve the lives of those within the local community. In choosing to honor leading women and women’s organizations, the Gala Planning Committee recognizes the change agents that women like Latham-Sadler have become in the community.

Wake Forest Baptist’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies Class Raises More Than $17,000 for Childhood Cancer Research

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Jan. 23, 2014 –
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Department of Physician Assistant Studies Class of 2015 hosted a benefit event on January 11 at the Fulton Family YMCA. As of January 22, the event raised $17,129 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps fund childhood cancer research.

Event participants were sponsored to shave their heads as a sign of solidarity with children who lose their hair to cancer. Medical and physician assistant students, a faculty member and community members shaved their heads in honor of two local children who are currently undergoing cancer treatment at Brenner Children’s Hospital.

Media Relations

Shannon Putnam: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587

Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487