Archive for

June, 2022

Happy first day of the new academic year! And Happy Fourth of July weekend! Yesterday marked the end of the 2022 academic (and fiscal) year (AY) for UND and the SMHS. The school’s budget for AY23 has been approved by President Armacost and the North Dakota University System (NDUS), and has been successfully uploaded into […]

Here’s a round-up of some of the latest faculty- and staff-related news from the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences: Terry Nelson has seen a recalssification in his position title. The former Associate Director of Budget and Facility Management will now be known as the Director of Budget and Facility Management. Congratulations, Terry! The […]

The Summer 2022 issue of North Dakota Medicine magazine is now available in both online and paper formats. This issue features stories on: Our new Master of Athletic Training degree Third-year medical student Judge Muskrat’s journey to UND Dr. Kumi Nagamoto-Combs on the connection between the gut and anxiety/depression The Dr. Ross and DonnaLee Pettit Medical Scholarship […]

Dane Breker, M.D., will present “Recurrent Optic Neuritis” for the next Neurology Grand Rounds from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The presentation will be held in the Brain & Spine Clinic, 2301 25th Street South in Fargo, Conference Rooms 1 and SMCF 6A. It will also be broadcast onlibne via […]

Department of Biomedical Sciences researcher Kumi Nagamoto-Combs discusses depression, diet, and dairy in the animal model. A researcher with her doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Rochester in New York, Kumi Nagamoto-Combs has been with the SMHS in a variety of capacities—neuroanatomy instructor, research associate, biomedical technology transfer officer, assistant professor—since 2005. Fresh off […]

Oklahoma native Judge Muskrat turns a desire to help his community into medical training in North Dakota. In her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich tells the story of Thomas Wazhashk, a night watchman for a jewel-bearing plant on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Based on Erdrich’s grandfather, the title character’s […]

UND fires the starting pistol on bold new Master of Athletic Training program. “It’s so different than what Dave and I did,” explained Jeremy Glaser as he and David Allard surveyed the helmeted players wrapping up a spring practice for UND Fighting Hawks Football at the Fritz Pollard Athletic Center. “The big shift is that […]

Retired neurologist and alumnus Dr. Ross Pettit chats with North Dakota Medicine on retirement, giving, and his namesake scholarship for UND medical students. The last time I saw Dr. Ross Pettit, he gave me a box full of anatomical models. “Oh, those belonged to my father-in-law,” laughs Ross (BS Med ’70) over coffee recently, referencing […]

Earlier this week I received my copy of the summer edition of North Dakota Physician, the quarterly publication of the North Dakota Medical Association (NDMA) for its members. Because it contained several articles that may be of interest to the entire SMHS family, I thought I would summarize some of the pieces, especially for the […]

Geoffrey Glidewell, M.D., will present “An Introduction to Opioid Use Disorder and Opioid Withdrawal” for the next Psychiatry Grand Rounds from 12:10 p.m. to 1:10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6, 2022. This broadcast will be held via Zoom/video conferencing. Dr. Glidewell is a fourth-year resident in the SMHS Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Rishi Seth, M.D., […]

Jim Roerig, Pharm.D., a longtime professor in the SMHS Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, will retire at the end of the month. To celebrate, a virtual reception in Jim’s honor will be held on Wednesday, June 29, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. at: https://und.zoom.us/j/93651114668. Jim has had an illustrious career, including 21 years […]

In recognition of outstanding performance in the encouragement, enrichment, and education of tomorrow’s physicians, the UND medical student Class of 2025 has recognized four faculty for Outstanding Unit Instructor Awards in Unit V of the 2021-22 academic year. The Class of 2025 (Phase 1) Unit V awardees are the following individuals: Kumi Nagamoto-Combs, Ph.D., Assistant […]

Dr. Paul D. Olson, a critical care and family physician in Minot, N.D., and clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences, has been named assistant dean for the School’s Northwest Campus. In taking the new position, Olson is assuming the role of Dr. Scott Knutson, who was […]

I begin this week’s column again on a sad note. Last week, Dr. Richard Vari passed away after a valiant but brief battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terrible progressive neurodegenerative disease that also is called Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous baseball player who also succumbed to it. Rick was one of the […]

As this academic and fiscal year winds down and the new one begins on July 1, we are finalizing our budget for the upcoming second year of the biennium. Per North Dakota University System (NDUS) requirements, we need to electronically submit our final budget package to the NDUS and embed it in their system soon. […]