I am pleased to announce the selection of Bess Marcus, Ph.D., as our new chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Dr. Marcus was most recently Professor of Community Health and Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Director of The Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital. She joined the UC San Diego Health Sciences faculty on April 1st. Dr. Marcus is a clinical health psychologist, and her primary research interests are in the prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and the promotion of women's health. She earned a B.A. degree in psychology at Washington University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in clinical psychology at Auburn University. She did her internship at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Brown University, specializing in behavioral medicine research.

As a clinical health psychologist, Dr. Marcus has spent the last 25 years conducting research on physical activity behavior. She has published more than 175 articles and book chapters, as well as three books on physical activity. Marcus has developed a series of assessment instruments to measure psychosocial mediators of physical activity behavior, and has also developed low-cost interventions to promote physical activity behavior in community, workplace and primary care settings.

Dr. Marcus has participated in numerous national and international committees and review groups including the American Heart Association, American College of Sports Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health. She has served on panels that have created recommendations regarding the quantity and intensity of physical activity necessary for health benefits. She was a contributing author to the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health and is on the executive committee for the development of a National Strategic Plan for Physical Activity. Dr. Marcus serves or has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Psychology, Sport and Exercise, Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, Research and Sport, and Journal of Mental Health and Physical Activity. Dr. Marcus also serves on the national advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention course on Physical Activity and Public Health.

She has conducted a series of NIH-funded studies on the efficacy of physical activity to enhance smoking cessation and minimize weight gain in women smokers. Dr. Marcus is currently principal or co-investigator on 13 NIH grants on physical activity behavior including trials of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention in adults. These studies involve interdisciplinary teams that include experts in cardiology, primary care, public health, epidemiology, cost-effectiveness, and women's health. Dr. Marcus is currently involved in several studies examining different channels (print, phone, e-mail, Internet) for promoting physical activity in order to determine both efficacy and cost-efficacy, and she looks forward to opportunities for collaborative research across the campus.

I am sure you will join me in warmly welcoming her.

David A. Brenner, M.D.
Vice Chancellor, Health Sciences
Dean, School of Medicine

Faculty Profile

Dr. William Norcross loves older people."I think that's because I had such a wonderful relationship with my grandparents," said the geriatrics specialist, family physician and Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at UC San Diego since 1978. Unfortunately, many doctors don't feel that way. As a result, there's a real shortage of geriatric physicians in the United States. Part of the blame, says Norcross, is the health care system, in which doctors are measured by their productivity. Older patients typically have more problems requiring special attention, but that's how Norcross likes it. "The more complicated people are, the more I enjoy taking care of them," he said. In a nutshell, that's what being a family practitioner is all about - caring. It's a quotient that's enabled Norcross to look deeply into the eyes - and hearts - of many a patient. And maybe even save a life or two. Such was the case three years ago with a 72-year-old former colleague who came to him "not feeling right." He knew she wouldn't come to see him unless something was wrong. Looking into her eyes, he agreed.

A complete history and battery of tests later picked up a large tumor on her pancreas. It was removed and she's doing fine. "I know if I didn't have that relationship with her and know her as well as I did, I wouldn't have thrown myself into that evaluation," said Norcross, whose role model was an old family physician in Toms River, N. J., where he grew up.

"He did the whole thing, taking care of me from the time I was born, taking care of old people, delivering babies and even doing occasional surgery," he said. "That's my idea of what a doctor should be. I just didn't see being a physician as someone who didn't know how to deliver a baby or look into the ear of a child or assess the function of an elderly person," Norcross said. "Being a physician means you can do all of those disciplines."

In the same tradition, Norcross' residency program has delivered babies of mothers he himself delivered 25 years ago, and he is in regular touch with at least 60 percent of the 145 doctors who have gone through the program since he took over. After 26 years, Norcross has lost none of that sense of enthusiasm which he tries to instill in his students. "I tell them you have to give your patient your best. You have to be alert and treat your patient like a puzzle. Don't let yourself fall into routines because they can be dangerous." Norcross decided to heed his own advice last year when he turned over the reigns of the residency program in family medicine to Dr. Tyson Ikeda, who had been a resident under him. It's allowed him to spend more time with his own practice and further his work with PACE (Physician Assessment and Clinical Education), a program he founded four years ago for physicians with problems. "Typically, they have made a mistake," he explained. "It may have been detected through malpractice, or a medical board investigated them, or they may be deficient." The PACE program is a remedial measure to get them back on track. While they don't have direct patient responsibility or write prescriptions, they participate in general procedures, such as making rounds, and are incorporated in educational activities.

"We assess their physical health, a neuropsychological battery of tests, their clinical knowledge and judgment," explained Norcross. After two days, a program that best attacks the specific problem and needs of the physician is adopted. "In most cases, we bring them back into residency education. There's no other program like this in the United States or Canada," he said. Ultimately, what Norcross hopes to do is engender a spark - the same sort of spark that ignited him while still in high school.

"Basically, I thought then that this was the most wonderful thing a person can do with their life, and I still feel that way," he said.