Medical symposium honors USA professor

MOBILE, Ala. - Six South Alabama Medical School graduates were in Mobile Monday, honoring one of their professors. Dr. Robert Lausch has been teaching medical students at USA for 31 years, and even now, students claim he is the best.

The six doctors who came to the university planned a medical symposium, where they shared research data from their respected fields.

Dr. Terry Tumpey studied under Dr. Lausch, and is now the senior microbiologist and team leader of influenza research for the Centers for Disease Control.

"The fun thing about him, was I would come to work in the morning and he had done an experiment the day before. He would have it all typed up and a graph made, and put it in my mailbox. So, each morning was like a Christmas present seeing what new data we had," said Dr. Lausch.

After the six doctors were introduced, which took quite a long time due to their lengthy resumes, they each thanked Dr. Lausch for his dedication to them in the lab.

Dr. Lausch said, "It's tremendously rewarding. It's really like having children who have gone out and been very successful. You just want to brag about them all the time."

Each of the six doctors gave a 30 minute presentation on their area of specialization. Dr. Lausch said it was a nice change, having his students do all the teaching.

Dr. Tumpey's presentation hit on issues dealing with the swine flu. "We are really concerned about this fall. I mean, this is a virus that is still circulating in the summer months, which is a typical for flu. Usually seasonal flu strains really wind down in the summer months," he said.

He also said his division of the CDC is working diligently on developing a marketable version of a swine flu vaccine. Dr. Tumpey has been studying influenza in ferrets and his findings reveal the ability of the virus to spread rapidly.

"It's a real concern to us that in the fall time this virus is going to adapt towards humans even more than it is now and possibly cause more disease and even transmit better from human-to-human."

The doctor said hand washing is the best way to prevent getting the swine flu.