With the support of several South Florida legislators, the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center has launched a campaign to bring attention to the critical need for a second National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Florida. W. Jarrard Goodwin, M.D., chief medical officer of Sylvester, led the effort to kick off the "We Tackle Cancer" campaign in Tallahassee on Thursday, March 11. (www.wetacklecancer.com)

A contingent of lawmakers backed the effort in the capital, speaking about the importance of supporting Sylvester's effort to gain an NCI designation. The state representatives who came from South Florida to back the initiative included Esteban Bovo Jr. (R-Hialeah), Ronald Brisé (D-North Miami), Anitere Flores (R-Miami), Erik Fresen (R-Miami), Luis R. Garcia Jr. (D-Miami), Marcelo Llorente (R-Miami), Juan-Carlos "J.C." Planas (R-Miami), Richard Steinberg (D-Miami Beach) and Juan C. Zapata (R-Miami).

The Miller School's Developmental Center for AIDS Research (D-CFAR) hosted one of the world's foremost scientists engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Ph.D., co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of HIV, presented an hour-long lecture, "What Can We Learn from the Diverse Spectrum of HIV/SIV Infections?" to faculty and students at the Lois Pope LIFE Center auditorium on March 11.

To celebrate last week's National Patient Safety Awareness Week, the Center for Patient Safety partnered with UHealth to demonstrate what the center is doing to keep our patients safe. Medical personnel manned information stations in the hospital lobbies and staffed a mock hospital room designed to illustrate common medical errors.

UHealth leaders also weighed in on the value of this weeklong event. "We know how important it is to protect our patients, and at the University of Miami we mean it when we say that patient safety comes first," said Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D.

NFL Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti and his son Marc Buoniconti, president of The Miami Project and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, joined Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat on Friday, March 12, as they took on the Chicago Bulls. At the game, Nick and Marc made a special halftime presentation to NBA star Alonso Mourning to thank the Miami Heat family for their support of The Buoniconti Fund and The Miami Project.

Nuevo Hospital Bocagrande, a 150-bed private hospital in Cartagena, Colombia, signed an affiliation agreement with UM's International Medicine Institute to provide education, training and research. The signing ceremony was attended by Francisco Quijano M.D., hospital administrator, and Eduardo de Marchena, M.D., associate dean for international medicine, who was presented the keys to the City of Cartagena by Mayor Judith Pinedo Florez.

Mark your calendar and join us as Miller School students host a benefit for the UM Haiti relief effort tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5 p.m. on the Schoninger Research Quadrangle.

The event will include a presentation by Seth Thaller, M.D., professor of surgery and chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and long-time medical volunteer in Haiti. He will share his experiences as one of the first on the ground after the January 12 earthquake. The Music Ensemble for the Enrichment of Medicine (MEEM) and the Medical Organization Valuing the Expression of Dance (MOVED) will perform. Original art and photographs by members of the Photo Club and Art Club will be available for purchase, along with food, drinks and baked goods.