San Jose Mercury News. Garnering the biggest slice of media attention last week were the press conference for the first person to receive an LVAD (mechanical heart pump) and the 15th annual heart, heart-lung and lung transplant reunion that followed. Robert St. Laurent, who had an LVAD 20 years ago, was featured in an article in the Merc along with his surgeon, Philip Oyer, MD, the Roy B. Cohn-Theodore A. Falasco Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery; Sharon Hunt, MD, professor of cardiovascular medicine; and Peer Portner, MD, consulting professor of cardiothoraic surgery and inventor of the LVAD.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/8436262.htm

KGO-TV, SF Chronicle, PA Weekly. The reunion, spearheaded each year by clinical social worker Mary Burge, provided an opportunity for KGO-TV, the Chronicle and the Palo Alto Weekly to hear firsthand the moving and life-changing tales told by some of the 76 attending recipients. KGO-TV also interviewed Ramona Doyle, MD, associate professor of medicine, and the Chron quoted Norman Shumway, MD, professor emeritus, who performed the first heart transplant in the United States.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/04/16/BAG3H668451.DTL

http://irt-video.stanford.edu/ramgen/irtvid/heart_transplant_reunion-04-14-200
4.rm

Jeopardy! The reunion wasn't Shumway's only media mention last week. Both he and Paul Berg, PhD, the Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Professor, popped up as answers in the game show "Jeopardy!" Each was listed under the category "Medicine Men." Berg was worth $200 while Shumway was worth a whopping $800.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp., SF Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Science Daily and Telegraph News (UK). They all took the bait. David Kingsley, PhD, professor of developmental biology, hooked them all with a fish called threespine stickleback. Kingsley's research with the stickleback showed that a single gene can bring about evolutionary change.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/8436254.htm

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/15/MNG196596M1.DTL

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040415012031.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/15/wevol15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/04/15/ixworld.html

Boston Globe. Cheri Blauwet, first-year med student, was focused on the Boston Marathon while the Globe focused on her in an April 16 profile. Beyond Boston, Blauwet, who is also founder and public relations director of the International Institute for Disability Advocacy and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Paralympic team, has her sights set on Athens' Olympic Stadium in September for the Paralympic Games wheelchair marathon. By the way, Blauet won her division.

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2004/04/16/wheel_opportunity/