Hogan elected
Brigid L.M. Hogan, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and Hortense B. Ingram Professor of Molecular Oncology, was recently elected to the council of the Institute of Medicine.
Hogan two years ago became the third member of the VUMC faculty to be inducted into the prestigious institute, joining Drs. Mildred T. Stahlman, Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, and John A. Oates Jr., Thomas F. Frist Professor and Chair of Medicine.
Election to the Institute of Medicine is granted to only approximately 20 researchers per year and is based on service to the medical community. The institute counts only approximately 550 active members and 580 senior members worldwide.
Quality scholar
Dr. Robert S. Dittus, Joe and Morris Werthan Professor of Investigative Medicine, was recently selected as one the nation's few U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Senior Quality Scholars in VA.
Dittus, one of five such recipients selected nationally from a field of 16 candidates and institutions, will work toward the development of infrastructure for a VA National Quality Scholars Fellowship Program at Nashville's VA Medical Center.
The program, which will recruit two VA Quality Special Fellows per year at each site, is designed to help establish a national quality laboratory that should benefit veteran patients as it expands knowledge for improvement.
Deadline Extended
The deadline for placing 1998 Flexible Reimbursement Account (FRA) and Personal Spending Account (PSA) claims has been extended to 5 p.m. March 31.
Processing of 1999 FRA claims will be made against 1999 accruals for the first three months. Unused FRA funds will be moved to the 1999 accounts on April 1, 1999. Unused PSA funds will be lost if not claimed appropriately by March 31, 1999.
Claim forms may be picked up from the Benefits Office (Room 115 Peabody Administration Building), Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or may be printed from the HR website ( HYPERLINK http://www.vanderbilt.edi/HRS/hrs.htm). Documentation must be provided to claim expenses and must show:
o Description of the service/supply (including name of provider);
o Date that service was received;
o Amount of the expense and any adjustments or insurance payments;
o Name of person who received service.
Claims received without the appropriate documentation will delay processing and could result in the denial of a claim.
Please call the Benefits Office at 322-8330 if you have questions.