Your Weekly UNLV School of Medicine Newsletter is Here, November 28th, 2017

UNLV SCHOOL OF MEDICINE STAFF: PAUL HARASIM, MS

In November Paul Harasim, author of "Standing Tall," joined the communications team at the UNLV School of Medicine after more than a decade at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, much of it spent as a health writer and medical columnist. Harasim's work -- his explanatory reporting was named Best In The West -- includes honors from the Associated Press, Dartmouth College, and press associations in Nevada, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia.

After a bout with Kidney Stones in 2011 Paul Harasim wrote a column about it in the Las Vegas Review Journal. Photo credit: Las Vegas Review Journal (http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/paul-harasim/i-followed-the-rules-and-still-got-stoned).

WHERE WERE YOU BORN/RAISED? I was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, a thriving auto plant town as I came of age in the 50s and 60s. If it wasn't for my eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Vivian Grice, I wouldn't be writing for a living today.

"Hello," she said on the first day of class. "I'm Mrs. Grice. You're going to write and then write some more in this class. You will write compositions until you think your hand is going to fall off. If it does, I'll cry with you, but you'll have to learn how to write with your other hand."

I wrote three lengthy themes a week, got up before dawn to rewrite. When my papers were returned, Mrs. Grice's red markings seemed everywhere. Yet she always found a silver lining.

"People will lose track of what a great mind has to offer if you continue to write run-on sentences," she wrote.

How I wanted to produce for her. She made me believe I could become a writer.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST PROFESSIONAL: REPORTING JOB? Because of Mrs. Grice, I had the courage while in high school to apply for a weekend job writing suburban school sports stories at The Flint Journal. Veteran sportswriters taught me journalistic style. I got my first byline before I had my driver's license. My dad drove me to games. At age 19 I served as a military journalist in Vietnam, where I got my first taste of medical reporting.

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR DEGREES? My bachelor's came from Alma (MI) College. I went there after Vietnam because it was in the middle of nowhere, which made it difficult to party. The master's in criminal justice came from the University of Cincinnati, a degree that helped me as an investigative reporter.

WHERE HAVE YOU WORKED IN JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATIONS? My reporting work includes stops at the Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer, Billings (MT) Gazette, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post. I've been the lead columnist at both the Houston Post and the Las Vegas Review-Journal (RJ). I've also been a health writer and medical columnist at the RJ. I was an on-air feature reporter at both the CBS and NBC affiliates in Houston. While in Houston, I also was director of public affairs at the University of St. Thomas, public affairs officer at the Veterans Hospital and head of communications at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, home of the Texas Heart Institute.

WHAT MADE YOU PURSUE A CAREER IN COMMUNICATIONS? I like to know the who, what, when, where, why and how of things and then share what I know with others.

W HO WAS YOUR GREATEST INFLUENCE IN MEDICINE? The late Dr. Denton Cooley. Founder of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, he still was doing surgery in his 80s. He had the kind of confidence you want in a surgeon. Asked at age 84 why he thought he could carry out a surgery everyone else was sure would end in the patient's death, he replied: "Well, you know I got my first hole-in-one the other day after 68 years of playing golf, so I figure I'm on a role." The patient walked out of the hospital two weeks after the open heart surgery.

MOST MEMORABLE LAS VEGAS MEDICAL STORY? The hepatitis C outbreak of nearly a decade ago that caused more than 60,000 people to be tested both for that disease and HIV. Dr. Dipak Desai, a gastroenterologist, showed what can happen when a physician puts profits before patients. People died and some are still suffering. Desai died a prisoner of the state of Nevada.

YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT HEALTHCARE IN THE LAS VEGAS VALLEY? There are some fine physicians in Las Vegas, but fewer than are needed in an area with more than 2 million people. That's the case with both primary care doctors as well as specialists.

WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC WANT FROM THE UNLV SCHOOL OF MEDICINE? The people I've talked with -- many of whom are from large cities with well known academic medical centers -- want the UNLV School of Medicine to be a center for excellence for medical education, patient care and research.

WHY DID YOU COME TO WORK FOR THE UNLV SCHOOL OF MEDICINE? I am excited about the prospect of being part of the creation of a world class academic medical center in Las Vegas.