Health sciences to suspend liver transplant services

The Arizona Health Sciences Center announced Monday that it will temporarily suspend its liver transplant program until it recruits more transplant surgeons.

The program, which started in 1992 and is based at University Medical Center, had been functioning with a single transplant surgeon - Dr. Paul Nakazato.

"Although we've been functioning with just one surgeon for several months, we feel it is unfair to our patients and to Dr. Nakazato for this situation to continue as we relaunch a recruitment process that, unfortunately, may take months," Medical College Dean Dr. Bill Dalton said in a press release.

Patients will be transferred to transplant programs at other hospitals and will not lose their place on the national waiting list.

Although there are no other liver transplant programs in Tucson, two Phoenix hospitals - Mayo Clinic and Good Samaritan - perform liver transplants, as does the University of Utah and several California hospitals.

College of Public Health gets associate deans

Three associate deans were appointed to the newly formed Arizona College of Public Health - a Tucson-based program that will be offered to all three state universities.

Public Health Dean G. Marie Swanson appointed them in part to create an administration like other colleges at the University of Arizona.

Denise Roe, associate professor of public health, was appointed to associate dean for academic affairs.

Jill Guernsey de Zapien, director of the service division for the Rural Health Office, was appointed to associate dean for community programs.

Phyllis Krause Primas, associate professor in the college of nursing at Arizona State University, was appointed to associate dean for ASU, where her responsibilities include the development of programs and liaison relations.

Swanson was appointed in September to take a program offered at the university and turn it into a college that offers classes to all three state universities.

"I am delighted that these three candidates have accepted these positions at the Arizona College of Public Health," Swanson said.

"They will be a strong asset to this college and all of our students, faculty and staff."

Students protest baseball cap maker

Students at UA and 29 other colleges and universities nationwide protested a baseball cap maker they said failed to protect workers from injuries on the job.

United Students against Sweatshops, a 175-campus federation of anti-sweatshop groups, including one at UA, sponsored a National Day of Action Monday, calling on university officials to suspend the license of New Era Cap Co. of Buffalo, N.Y.

Last August, the Worker Rights Consortium conducted an investigation of the hat company and found it failed to protect workers from severe repetitive stress injuries, needle punctures and exposure to blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and HIV associated with on-the-job-related accidents and injuries.