George Hemstreet, M.D., Ph.D., and Gloria Borgstahl, Ph.D. are two of five researchers recruited with tobacco settlement funds to bring their expertise to UNMC.

Nationally known experts recruited
with help from tobacco settlement funds

By Vicky Cerino and Bill O'Neill

Their scientific interests are vast, ranging from degenerative eye disease to pancreatic cancer, from urology to crystallography.

The means by which these scientific stars were recruited to UNMC, however, was a single source: tobacco settlement money.

UNMC uses the money, officially called the Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Fund, to recruit and retain faculty; boost infrastructure, including modernizing research facilities; and provide minority health research grants to study health-related issues specific to minority communities.

Each year, the state of Nebraska distributes nearly $50 million in tobacco settlement money, as part of a distribution formula approved in 2001 by the Nebraska Legislature. Of that amount, UNMC and three other biomedical research institutions - the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Creighton University and Boys Town National Research Hospital – receive $10 million.

Thus far, UNMC has recruited five nationally recognized scientists, retained a prominent researcher, and established a team to study disparities in minority health. They are:

• Toshimichi Shinohara, Ph.D., an internationally known expert in the molecular basis of disorders of
  the retina, was recruited from Harvard University. Shinohara is looking for ways to postpone the onset and effects of cataracts, as well as to find non-surgical treatment alternatives.
• George Hemstreet, M.D., Ph.D., a urologic surgeon, is a physician-scientist who has an illustrious research history of finding cell markers that will allow for early detection and prevention of bladder and prostate cancer. Hemstreet was recruited from the University of Oklahoma Medical Center to bring strength to clinical urology while attracting younger scientists to UNMC.
• William Rizzo, M.D., a clinical doctor and a basic researcher in pediatrics, was recruited from the Medical College of Virginia. Rizzo unlocked the molecular basis of a number of metabolic diseases
  that afflict children and adults. He attracts patients from all over the world.
• Gloria Borgstahl, Ph.D., is one of the few X-ray crystallographers in the world with the ability to
  solve problems related to the interaction of cancer cells with anti-cancer agents. Borgstahl was recruited from the University of Toledo for the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center Structural Biology program, a new program that applies 21st century science to cancer treatment research.
• Dr. Jean Grem was the head gastrointestinal cancer researcher/clinician at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., before joining the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center. Grem directs the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program and the Oncology Drug Development Program, and is involved in developing a multi-institutional clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of new drugs to treat colon and rectum cancers.
• Dr. Richard Rigmaiden, director of UNMC's minority health education research office, is leading a team of UNMC researchers looking into health disparities in minorities. The team hopes to increase minority participation in health-related research and ultimately eliminate racial, ethnic and economic disparities in health-care outcomes.

Surinder Batra, Ph.D., a prominent young UNMC researcher with NIH research grant funding, was retained at UNMC using the tobacco settlement monies. Batra is a leader in the UNMC Prostate Cancer Research Initiative. Because of his success, he has been offered positions at other medical centers.