The MACHE Bowl is a student healthcare competition where students from several disciplines from Appalachian State University, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Wake Forest University and Winston Salem State University, collaborate to solve a healthcare case in front of a live audience.

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Janelle Leuthaeuser (left) and Jacque Fetrow, Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics and Dean of the College

Janelle Leuthaeuser is on the cutting edge of biophysics. A molecular genetics and genomics Ph.D. student, she is part of a nationwide effort to create a more efficient generation of protein-based drugs.

She is working with Jacquelyn Fetrow, Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics and Dean of the College, and a national team of researchers to develop an automated program that classifies different proteins by their active site, the location where chemical reactions occur. Contemporary technologies predict protein function based on the full sequence or structure of protein molecules. The Wake Forest led team found this method often vaguely or incorrectly classifies proteins. Leuthaeuser said that proteins can be grouped together by function more accurately when using the sequence and structure directly surrounding the active site rather than the overall structure of a protein molecule.

Read the full story in the Wake Forest News Center.

Wagonmasters, is a documentary which offers glimpses into the lives of wagon enthusiasts, and tells the story of the station wagon as it represents a changing America over the last one hundred years. The car that was once the quintessential image of the American Dream is all but dead – at least for most people.

The film has also been nominated for a College Television Award (a student Emmy) in a competition sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation.  The winner will be determined at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles later this month.  

Check out their website:  www.wagonmastersthemovie.com.

The MACHE Bowl featured three interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from the various schools who will attempt to address a complex health disparities case focused on obesity and diabetes developed by a group of faculty members representing different academic fields. The core of the case was presented to the teams at a pre-event orientation session. During the event, the teams received additional information about the case and responded to a set of pre-determined questions in front of a live audience.

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“Diabetes is a devastating disease, especially in under served and minority communities,” said Ronny Bell, professor of epidemiology and prevention at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and director of the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity, the event’s organizing sponsor. “The goal of the MACHE Bowl is to demonstrate the importance of interdisciplinary thinking with regard to health issues like diabetes. The participating students should benefit from the experience of collaborating with peers from other fields of study and different schools, and they should have some fun, too.  We also hope that the audience will be stimulated to think about ways to address health disparities in their communities.”

White Team

Each team included a representative from Appalachian State University’s Department of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Public Health Education, Winston-Salem State University’s Division of Nursing and Department of Health Administration, Wake Forest University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, School of Law, School of Business, School of Divinity, and Wake Forest School of Medicine , Department of Physician Assistant Studies and Center for Bioethics, Health and Society.

The faculty members who developed the case judged the teams on the quality and clarity of their responses and their use of interdisciplinary approaches.

The White Team won first place and each team member was awarded a crystal vase and a $100 gift card. Bryan Wilson, a graduate student in the Molecular Medicine and Translational Science PhD program at the WFU Graduate School was a member of the winning team. Congratuations to Bryan, his fellow team members, and all the students for their hard work and dedication to this important event.

Kathryn Mobley, producer and award winning news reporter of public radio station 88.5 WFDD, hosted the event. The Second MACHE Bowl was made possible through funding support from Johnson & Johnson.  In addition to the partner institutions, The Maya Angelou Center partnered with the Northwest Area Health Education Center (Northwest AHEC).

http://www.nursecredentialing.org/PsychMentalHealthManual.aspx

Dr. Hutchinson is employed at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and is active in helping nurses locally and nationally accomplish this distinction.

Winners were announced later that evening during an awards gala at Biotech Place in downtown Winston-Salem.

1st Place:  Johns Hopkins University won first place and a $10,000 prize. Students on the team included Nicolae Done, Robin Kabir, Kalyan Kanakamedala, Kyungmin Song and Michelle Zwernemann.

2nd Place:  Second place and a $5,000 prize went to Wake Forest University. Team members were Lawrence Blume, Katarina Kesty, Venkata Raman Perivela, Swapnil Shewale and Dipen Viyas. 

3rd Place: University of Florida placed third, receiving a $2,000 check, and was represented by students Matthew Alvin, Kayley Fordham, Todd Hales, Stephanie Newton and Sherif El-Refai.

WFU Team

Read the full story.

This event is presented by the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity.

• Predoctoral/Systems: Chris Schaich (Diz lab)
• Predoctoral/Behavioral: Erin Calipari (Jones lab)
• Predoctoral/Cellular: Andrew Rau (Weiner lab)
• Postdoctoral: Jinghong Xu (Stein lab)

Thanks to all who presented and attended, to the poster judges, and to those who provided financial support: the Western NC Chapter of SfN, the Neuroscience Program, and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy.

David Riddle
President, Western NC Chapter SfN