L E T T E R F R O M T H E D E A N Dear Colleague, major anniversary such as the 50th is truly a golden opportunity. We honor the events and people who shaped Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. More important, the celebration spurs us to look forward. Our new five-year strategic plan will guide innovation and advancement in each of our four mission areas—education, research, patient care, and community health. The topics featured in this issue of Robert Wood Johnson Medicine paint a remarkable portrait of our medical school at the half-century mark, ready to educate the next generation of physicians as future leaders. “Robert Wood Johnson Medical School: Celebrating 50 Years” provides a timeline of each major milestone in our history, from the birth of a new medical school to the enormous opportunities brought about by our integration with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. This issue profiles three giant figures in the school’s history: Michael Lewis, PhD, university distinguished professor of pediatrics and psychiatry and director, Institute for the Study of Child Development; Avedis K. Khachadurian, MD, emeritus professor of medicine; and Roger Duvoisin, MD, former chair, Department of Neurology, and former executive director, William Dow Lovett Center for Neurogenetics. Dr. Lewis’s work, focusing on a child’s environment and personal characteristics, deepens our understanding of early emotional development. Dr. Khachadurian’s studies on familial hypercholesterolemia were the foundation for breakthrough research on statins. Dr. Duvoisin’s early studies on Parkinson’s disease revealed its single-gene inheritance factor; later, he was part of the group that identified the mutation in the alpha-syneuclein gene found in families with Parkinson’s disease. The leading-edge care provided by our physicians, their teams, and our technological resources is the subject of “Stroke Center Team Saves Amelia Bedelia Author Herman Parish.” In collaboration with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, we have developed a stroke center that is second to none. In “Lifesaving Procedure Puts Somerset Man Back in the Driver’s Seat,” we learn about the knowledge and skills of our cardiac catheterization team. Cardiac electrophysiologist William J. Kostis, PhD, MD ’07, performed an ablation that corrected the dual electrical abnormalities in the patient’s heart and completely restored his active lifestyle. The research profile of Huaye Zhang, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience and cell biology, introduces a young scientist balancing her passion for elucidating how brain cells communicate and applying that knowledge to an understanding of related disorders and diseases, with her love of parenthood. The highly popular “BootCamps,” described in “Basic Training for Medical Students,” use a specially programmed patient simulator to prepare students for the fields they will soon enter as residents. I hope you will enjoy this issue of Robert Wood Johnson Medicine and the stories it tells, as we enter our second half century of excellence in medical education. JOHN EMERSON A Sincerely, Sherine E. Gabriel, MD, MSc Dean Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE 1