Stories This Week At Wake Forest
HEART DISEASE: HOW EMOTIONS MAY AFFECT FUTURE HEALTH — The April 28 cover story in Time magazine alerts readers to increasing numbers of women dying of heart disease and the millions more living with the condition. Wayne Sotile, director of psychological services at Wake Forest University’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program and author of the new book “Thriving with Heart Disease,” says the fate of those living with heart disease depends in large part on how they manage the emotional side of the illness. Sotile, a nationally known expert in the field, has worked with heart patients for more than 25 years and pioneered much of his work in the psychological counseling of heart patients at Wake Forest’s Cardiac Rehab Program. Wake Forest’s program, which has included a psychological component to treatment since the program opened in 1975, is recognized as the world’s first comprehensive mind-body cardiac rehabilitation center and programs across the country have used it as a model. Approximately 200 heart patients currently participate in the program, which recently moved to a new facility featuring weight machines, stationary bicycles, an indoor walking track and several meeting and counseling rooms. For more information, contact Sarah Mansell at manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
THE ART OF CHEMISTRY — Wake Forest seniors Nazila Alimohammadi and Anna Clark have left their mark on campus — a picnic table in the shape of the Periodic Table of Elements. The two women students created the sculpture as part of a public art course taught in the fall by David Finn, associate professor of art. Students in the class were paired up and assigned to work with campus organizations in creating works for public display. “We wanted our project to be fun and functional without a lot of emotional or political content,” Clark says. An aspiring dentist, Alimohammadi had taken several chemistry classes and suggested working with that department. They devised their “Periodic Table” concept — a pun of the familiar Periodic Table of Elements configuration — and the department responded enthusiastically. Alimohammadi did the structural steel work and Clark hand-painted the surface tiles. The piece, which was dedicated in an informal picnic ceremony on April 15, is accurate in every detail, right down to the auxiliary lanthanides and actinides tables that constitute the table’s bench. To arrange a photograph of the table or interview with the students, contact Sarah Mansell at manselss@wfu.edu or 336-758-5237.
MEMBER OF PRESIDENT’S BIOETHICS COUNCIL TO SPEAK — Rebecca Dresser, member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and a distinguished professor of law and medicine at Washington University, will speak at Wake Forest May 8. Dresser’s address, “Special Respect and Public Deliberation: Two Neglected Elements of the Cell Debate,” will discuss the moral status of embryos as either persons or property and its effect on stem cell research. She will also discuss the pros and cons of the public discussion of stem cell research ethics and policy. The event will be free and open to the public. Dresser is available for interviews prior to her Wake Forest visit. Contact the News Service to arrange an interview.
BLOOMBERG WILL GIVE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will address more than 1,400 graduates at Wake Forest’s May 19 commencement ceremony on University Plaza (the Quad). The ceremony begins at 9 a.m. Media parking and seating will be reserved. Contact Sarah Mansell in the News Service to request parking passes and media credentials for your organization.
Categories: Happening at Wake, Research & Discovery
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