Oklahoma City News Bureau

OU to launch transplant center
MEDICAL CENTER IS ALREADY WORKING WITH KIDNEYS, WILL NOW ADD LIVER, PANCREAS surgeries
BY SUSAN SIMPSON
Oklahoman
April 30, 2010

OU Medical Center announced Thursday it is starting a comprehensive transplant center, with several surgeons coming from the rival transplant program at Integris Baptist Medical Center.

The teaching hospital already is doing adult and pediatric kidney transplants, but now can expand into liver and pancreas transplants.

The Oklahoma Transplant Center at OU Medical Center will be led by Dr. Anthony Sebastian. He came from Integris’ Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Center, along with Dr. Harlan Wright, who will direct liver transplantation, and liver transplant surgeon Dr. Rajesh Kanagala and surgeon Shi-Feng Li.

The OU team also includes kidney surgeon Dr. Puneet Sindhwani and nephrologists Dr. Ben Cowley and Dr. Martin Turman.

OU Medical Center will spend $7 million in equipment and remodel costs to locate the new transplant center at 940 NE 13, which is near Children’s Hospital.

Sebastian said he was attracted to OU Medical Center because of the hospital’s many children’s specialists and OU’s investment in research centers for diabetes and cancer.

He said the OU transplant center will focus first on abdominal organ transplants but could one day compete with Integris on heart and lung transplants as well.

"Competition is always good. Patients get the best in that scenario.”

Wright said he, too, was attracted at research opportunities available at OU, not only in transplants, but in disease management and treatment innovations as well.

While most transplant centers in the nation are affiliated with a university, Integris Baptist Medical Center has been the Oklahoma leader for 25 years, performing the state’s first heart transplant in 1985.

Dr. Nicolas Jabbour, medical director of the Integris center, said the loss of four doctors won’t affect operations there. The Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute has about 20 transplant physicians and is recruiting several more.

But, starting a competing program in a small market will not be beneficial to Oklahomans, Jabbour said.

"In a small state, where you already have an established program, this is putting resources at the detriment of Oklahomans,” he said.

He said the Integris center has performed more than 2,500 heart, kidney, liver, lung and pancreas transplants since 1985.

"When you have a history and knowledge base accumulated over the years, it seems hard to duplicate,” Jabbour said. "The best way for the community is a partnership or complement, not a competitor.”

OU and Integris competed to be the first to open a proton therapy center in Oklahoma.

The Integris site, ProCure, opened last year. OU’s facility is under construction as part of the OU Cancer Institute.

Tommy Hughes, a Norman man who underwent a liver transplant at Integris in 2004, said he’s loyal to Sebastian no matter where he works.

"He’s got a great big heart,” Hughes said. "He’s the true meaning of doctor in my opinion.”

State delegates to attend biotechnology conference
The Journal Record
April 29, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – Nearly 70 delegates from Oklahoma’s bioscience industry will attend the BIO 2010 International Convention Monday through May 6 in Chicago.

The delegation of scientists, business leaders, educators and economic development officers will promote the accomplishments of Oklahoma’s bioscience sector. The Oklahoma bioscience industry has more than 44,000 employees, according to a regional bioscience plan completed by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.

The BIO International Convention is expecting 15,000 participants.

The Oklahoma delegation will include representatives from Oklahoma City, Stillwater, Ponca City, Edmond, Ardmore, Tulsa and Norman. They will help staff a 1,200-square-foot Oklahoma Bioscience Pavilion.

“Oklahoma’s bioscience industry is growing by leaps and bounds,” said Roy H. Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, which is organizing the trip. “We have more than a dozen new facilities under construction, and thanks to our commitment to fostering entrepreneurship, we have new companies developing every year. The BIO International Convention is our chance to get these new developments in front of key players in the industry.”

All of the delegates’ efforts will be marketed under the banner of the Oklahoma Bioscience Association, an organization formed in 2008 to promote the growth of the Oklahoma bioscience industry through partnerships between Oklahoma’s bioscience companies, research institutions, scientists, economic development organizations and the larger business community. – Staff report

Project 180 starts in Myriad Gardens
The Oklahoman
BY STEVE LACKMEYER
April 29, 2010

Allan Storjohann’s office is about to disappear. Things are being torn up all around him. And he’s happy.

Oklahoma City, get ready — Project 180 has officially gotten under way. And Storjohann, manager at the Myriad Gardens, is only the first of thousands of downtown workers who will find themselves inconvenienced during the ensuing three-year-long downtown makeover. After hosting the Festival of the Arts last week, the gardens and the Crystal Bridge were shut down for a $38 million makeover.

"We accept change in gardening,” Storjohann said Wednesday. "We’re all about change. We have seasonal changes every year. To have a major change like this in the garden is something we welcome. We embrace it.”

In just the past three days, workers with Downey Construction have started removing the panels from the landmark Botanical bridge for a complete replacement of the acrylic panels.

Inside the Crystal Bridge, one can see the pirate ship where children once played has disappeared. Several large trees are missing, and it won’t be long before much of the tube-shaped botanical garden is removed altogether.

Crews with Lippert Brothers, meanwhile, have started tagging trees that will be saved, those that will be transplanted and those that will be removed as part of a first phase of demolition that must be complete by July 12.

More work will start up in July once bids are received for the second phase. Assistant City Engineer Laura Story acknowledges the turnaround time for awarding bids and starting work is "extremely tight,” but adds that contractors are working well with the city on moving forward.

Much of the Myriad Gardens makeover is being funded by Project 180 — a $141 million transformation of downtown parks, streets and sidewalks funded through a tax increment finance district established as part of the construction of the $750 million Devon tower.

As work starts up at the Myriad Gardens, bids are set to go out this summer on several street reconstruction packages that will alter workers’ driving routines and make gaining access to some businesses challenging.

Story said the first bid will be for Reno Avenue between E.K. Gaylord Boulevard and Walker Avenue. Others to follow will include stretches of Robinson Avenue and Main Street.

Story said engineers will be watching closely to see what can be learned from the first street reconstruction package.

Project 180, scheduled to be complete by 2014, calls for the addition of bike lanes, street furniture, lighting, landscaping and public art throughout the district.