Gov. Warner Appoints Five VCU Faculty to Boards and Commissions

By Michael Ford
University News Services

Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has appointed five Virginia Commonwealth University faculty members to serve on state boards and commissions.

Diane M. Langhorst, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work, was appointed to the Board of Pharmacy. She will serve the remainder of a term left vacant by the resignation of a board member. The appointment ends on June 30, 2007. Langhorst is eligible for reappointment.

The pharmacy board is one of 13 health care boards in the Virginia Department of Health Professions that works to assure the safe and competent delivery of health care to the residents of Virginia by examining, licensing and disciplining health care practitioners.

Four of the 19 appointees to the Governor's Task Force on Cervical Cancer are faculty from the VCU Medical Center. They include Olubunmi K. Abayomi, M.D., associate professor of radiation oncology; Cecelia H. Boardman, M.D., assistant professor in obstetrics and gynecology; Richard R. Brookman, M.D., professor and chair of the adolescent medicine division in pediatrics; Wendy S. Klein, M.D., associate professor and head of the women's health section of the general medicine and primary care division in internal medicine.

Abayomi's clinical interests include gynecological malignancies, general radiation oncology and the delayed effects of irradiation. Boardman's professional areas of interest include early detection of ovarian cancer, biological therapies for gynecologic cancer, management of advanced and recurrent cervical and endometrial cancer and palliative care. Brookman's clinical specialties include adolescent gynecology, adolescent sexuality and sexually transmitted diseases.

Klein's clinical interests include women's health issues, with particular emphasis on hormone replacement therapy, menopause and osteoporosis. She is also the senior deputy director of VCU's Institute for Women's Health, which is recognized as a national center of excellence by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The task force is charged with developing strategies to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in the Commonwealth, as well as fostering collaboration toward early detection and for raising public awareness of cervical cancer.

The panel may also make policy recommendations to the governor and general assembly and is required to issue a preliminary report to both branches of government by Nov. 1, 2005. The task force appointments expire when the governor leaves office in January 2006.