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NATIONAL NEWS LOCAL DOCS IN Joseph McShannic, MD, a surgeon with Summa Physicians Inc. – Vascular Surgery, is the principal investigator of an international Phase II multicenter clinical trial through Summa Cardiovascular Institute of the drug JVS-100 by Juventas Therapeutics. The study is designed to determine if a one-time set of needle injections can repair damaged tissue through activation of the patient's natural stem-cell repair pathways and prevent ongoing tissue death. Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS, Leukemia Program Director, Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, is the new chair of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Committee reviews and evaluates data concerning the safety and effectiveness of marketed and investigational human drug products for use in the treatment of cancer and makes appropriate recommendations to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs. Dr. Sekeres has been a voting member of this Committee for the past three years. Vivian von Gruenigen, MD, chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Summa's Akron City and St. Thomas Hospitals and medical director of Women's Health Services for Summa Health System, is the recipient of the first annual Richard Ireland Award for Excellence and Innovation. This award, named for a longtime proponent of women's health issues and founder of The Snowmass Institute, recognizes an individual that has advanced the business of women's health services locally, regionally or nation-wide. It was presented in April to Dr. von Gruenigen at the third annual World Congress Leadership Summit on Business of Women's Health in Boston. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2012 ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ MD NEWS Cleveland-Akron-Canton | 7 Victoria Van Fossen, MD, a surgeon with Summa Physicians Inc. – General Surgery, was accepted into the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, which is limited to surgeons who are Fellows of the American College of Surgeons and who have a major interest and devote significant portions of their practice or research to endocrine surgery. ■