Michael S. Donnenberg, MD, professor and associate chair for research in the department of medicine, has been elected to the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM). This is the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology. The AAM is the only group of its kind devoted entirely to microbiologists and the science of microbiology. Members of the AAM are elected through an annual, highly selective, peer-reviewed process based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. The mission of the AAM is to recognize scientists for outstanding contributions to microbiology and provide microbiological expertise in the service of science and the public.

Lindsey Grossman, MD, professor in the department of pediatrics, was appointed to a three-year term on the Pediatrics in Review editorial board, effective July 1, 2007. Selected by the board of directors of the American Academy of Pediatrics, members are chosen by their role in the development and success of the journal, and their commitment to serve the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Renee Ellen Fox, MD, associate professor in the department of pediatrics, has been selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow for 2007-2010. She is one of eight mid-career health professionals chosen to spend a year in Washington, DC, beginning in September 2007. The fellows were chosen on a competitive basis from nominations submitted by academic institutions, nonprofit health care organizations and other community-based providers. Fox is the first faculty member of the medical school selected for this fellowship. The fellows spend a year in Washington, DC, working in a congressional office or the executive branch. During that time, they will enrich their understanding of public policy practices and the ways government health research relates to the mission of their home institutions and local communities. Afterward, the fellows will return to their communities to apply their experiences to improving health policy and management locally. The fellows also receive additional funds for up to two years so that they may continue their development as health policy leaders. The Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program is the nation’s most prestigious learning experience at the nexus of health science, policy and politics.

Amy M. Fulton, PhD, professor in the department of pathology and program in oncology, was appointed to the editorial board of the journal Cancer Research.

Stephen B. Liggett, MD, professor in the departments of medicine and physiology, was appointed co-chair of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Lung Microbiome Initiative and led a workshop on the topic in July 2007. He was also appointed to the editorial boards of the journals Clinical Medicine: Respiratory and Pulmonary Medicine and Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy.

Stephen G. Reich, MD, professor in the department of neurology and co-director of the Maryland Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, was appointed to the editorial board of the Movement Disorders journal.

Andrew P. Goldberg, MD, professor in the department of medicine, was awarded the 2007 Joseph T. Freeman Award from the Gerontological Society of America. This lectureship award in geriatrics is given to a prominent physician in the field of aging—both in research and practice—who is a member of the Society’s Health Sciences section. Goldberg received the award for his contributions to research in exercise physiology, obesity and metabolism research in aging, mentoring of young investigators and leadership in academic gerontology. The Freeman Lecture is one of the highlights of the Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, associate professor in the department of emergency medicine, was named an outstanding reviewer for 2006 by Academic Emergency Medicine. The award is bestowed on reviewers who provide excellent service to the journal by delivering high quality, timely reviews in their specific areas of interest and expertise. Hirshon reviewed manuscripts on a number of topics related to the interface of emergency medicine and public health, including injury prevention, infectious disease and health policy.

Nancy Ryan Lowitt, MD, EdM, FACP, associate dean for faculty affairs and professional development and assistant professor in the department of medicine, was selected to be a Harvard Macy Scholar in Comprehensive Assessment in Health Science Education in March 2007. Lowitt also served as a reviewer of faculty development grants in April 2007 for the Health Resources and Services Administration Objective Review Committee.

Eliot L. Siegel, ’82, professor in the department of diagnostic radiology & nuclear medicine, was chosen as one of the top radiologists, and Paul G. Nagy, PhD, associate professor, was chosen as one of the top imaging informaticists, in the second annual Medical Imaging magazine Top 10 Awards, published in April. Siegel and Nagy were chosen by readers from across the country.

Ashraf Badros, MD, associate professor in the department of medicine and program in oncology, presented “Dysregulation of Parathyroid Hormone (PTH), 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (vit-D) and Calcium/phosphorus Homeostasis in Multiple Myeloma (MM) Patients (pts): What are the risks?” at the XIth International Workshop on Multiple Myeloma & IVth International Workshop on Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia on Kos Island in Greece in June.

Claudia R. Baquet, MD, MPH, associate dean for policy & planning and professor in the department of medicine, was invited by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to present her research during the NIH’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS), which is organized by the NIH Office of the Director. The WALS is the NIH’s most visible and prestigious lecture series; nomination and selection of the lecturers is extremely competitive. Baquet presented her lecture on November 14, 2007. Each lecture is broadcast live on the internet, and is made available for download afterward at http://videocast.nih.gov/.

Stephen T. Bartlett, MD, Barbara Baur Dunlap Professor and Chair in the department of surgery, was invited to the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London, England, in June 2007 to speak at one of their specialty section meetings. His presentation was entitled “The Transplantation of the Highly Sensitized Patient.” Bartlett’s invitation to speak was based not only on his superior professional knowledge but also because he is recommended as one of the best speakers in the United States regarding transplantation.

The RSM is an independent, apolitical organization founded 200 years ago. It is one of the largest providers of continuing medical education in the United Kingdom. The society provides accredited courses for continuing professional development which is so vital in allowing doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons and other healthcare professionals their continuing freedom to practice. The aim is to provide a broad range of educational activities and opportunities for doctors, dentists and veterinary surgeons, including students of these disciplines, and for allied healthcare professionals. The RSM promotes an exchange of information and ideas on the science, practice and organization of medicine, both within the health professions and with responsible and informed public opinion.

Maureen Black, PhD, John A. Scholl Professor in the department of pediatrics, was invited to address the delegation from The Knesset, the legislature of Israel. Her presentation, “Food Security: Links to Child Health and Development” was presented in Washington, DC, on September 6, 2007. Additionally, Black was invited to give the inaugural address and serve as a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina’s Mead Johnson Center for Excellence in Pediatric Nutrition Seminar Series in September. She presented “Healthy Beginnings: Overweight Prevention for Infants and Toddlers.”

Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor in the department of medicine and director of the institute for genome sciences, delivered the commencement address for the 2007 graduating class of Johns Hopkins University’s Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Stephen G. Reich, MD, professor, and Paul S. Fishman, MD, PhD, professor, both from the department of neurology, represented the medical school at the American Academy of Neurology 59th Annual Meeting in Boston in May. Reich presented two seminars entitled “The Top Ten Pitfalls in the Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease” and “Clinical Pearls in Bedside Neurology,” while Fishman presented a seminar entitled “Developing Neuroprotective Therapies.”

Mary Rodgers, PT, PhD, George R. Hepburn Dynasplint Professor and chair in the department of physical therapy & rehabilitation science, presented a keynote talk entitled “Rehabilitation Biomechanics in Wheelchair Propulsion and Hemiparetic Gait” at the International Society of Biomechanics XXIst Congress in Taipei, Taiwan, in July.

Bill Romani, PT, PhD, associate professor in the department of physical therapy & rehabilitation science, presented “Gender Differences in Type 1 and Type 3 Collagen mRNA Expression in the Rat Anterior Cruciate Ligament” at the World Confederation of Physical Therapy Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June.

Jordan E. Warnick, PhD, assistant dean for student education & research and professor, department of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics, co-chaired a symposium entitled “Integrated Strategies in Pharmacology Education: Simulation, Case- & Team-Based Approaches” at the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology/American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) in Washington, DC, in April. His talk was entitled “Lecture-based Approach to Pulmonary Pharmacology.” Warnick is the chair of the division of pharmacology education for ASPET.

Laure Aurelian, PhD, professor in the department of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics, was awarded a five-year $1,856,249 grant from the National Institutes of Health for her work entitled “Apoptosis of Skin Melanoma by the New HSP H11.” This research will elucidate a novel paradigm for HSP, or heat shock protein, function in cancer cell fate determination, develop a much-needed novel chemogene therapy for melanoma and identify targets for future H11-based therapies. Aurelian’s laboratory’s newly cloned novel heat shock protein, H11, is a promising target for chemogene therapy.

Robert J. Bloch, PhD, professor in the department of physiology, received a five-year $1,233,755 competing renewal for his Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for pre-doctoral fellowships training grant from the National Institutes of Health entitled “Training Program in Integrative Membrane Biology.”

Angelika Burger, PhD, associate professor in the department of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics and program in oncology, received a five-year $1,028,076 R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute for her work entitled “The BCA2 Ubiquitin E3 Ligase as a Target in Breast Cancer.”

Y. Christy Chang, PhD, assistant professor in the department of medicine, received a four-year $1,494,000 R01 research grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for her work entitled “Genetic & Functional Analyses of Chromosome 1 Hypertension Susceptibility Genes.”

Patricia C. Dischinger, PhD, professor in the department of epidemiology & preventive medicine, and Jon Mark Hirshon, MD, MPH, associate professor in the department of emergency medicine, have been awarded a 5-year $1,137,951 T-32 Fellowship Training Grant on injury control and trauma response from the National Institute of General Medical Science. This prestigious award will be used to train post-doctoral fellows in research related to injuries. It is one of only a small number of T-32 training grants at the university.

Susan Fried, PhD, professor in the department of medicine, received a four-year $1,177,000 competing renewal R01 research grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases entitled “Nutritional Regulation of Leptin Production.”

Stephen B. Liggett, MD, professor in the departments of medicine and physiology, received a five-year $1,875,000 National Institutes of Health Method to Extend Research in Time R01 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute entitled “Molecular Properties of B-adrenergic Receptors in Asthma.”

Stuart S. Martin, PhD, assistant professor in the department of physiology and program in oncology, received a five-year $1,410,750 RO1 National Cancer Institute grant for his work entitled “Stabilized Microtubule Protrusions in Detached Mammary Epithelial Cells.” Additionally, Martin received a three-year $445,500 Department of Defense Idea Award entitled “Targeting Detyrosinated Microtubule Protrusions to Reduce Breast Cancer Metastasis.”

Braxton Mitchell, PhD, professor in the department of medicine, received a four-year $2,807,763 R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for his work entitled “Genetic Influences on Coronary Artery Calcification.”

James Nataro, ’87, MD, PhD, professor in the department of pediatrics and center for vaccine development, has received a three-year $5,621,367 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a new project entitled “New Technologies in Diagnosis of Enteric Disease.” The overall goal of the project is to adapt novel molecular methods for comprehensive diagnosis of enteric disease in developing countries. The project will evaluate three new technologies that promise rapid, agile detection of enteric pathogens, which will greatly facilitate long term strategies to control child mortality.

Martin Schneider, PhD, professor in the department of biochemistry & molecular biology, has been awarded a five-year $1.48 million renewal of a research grant from the National Institutes of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to study the “Control of Calcium Release in Skeletal Muscle.” In addition, the grant has been awarded a two-year $175,000 Minority Supplement to support Rotimi Olojo, PhD, who has joined Schneider’s lab group as a postdoctoral fellow to work on this project. These studies will provide new information regarding the initiation and control of release of calcium ions into the myoplasm of skeletal muscle fibers, which triggers the chain of events leading to muscle contraction and the subsequent reversal of the process, leading to muscle relaxation in both normal and diseased muscle.

Geoffrey Schoenbaum, PhD, assistant professor in the department of anatomy & neurobiology, received a five-year $1,104,468 grant from the National Institute of Aging for his work entitled “Flexibility, Prefrontal Function, and Normal Aging.” The goal of this project is to identify neural correlates of aging-related declines in reversal-learning and set-shifting in orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortex and ask whether it might be possible to prevent or reverse these effects with practice that engages these areas.

Michael T. Shipley, PhD, Donald E. Wilson Distinguished Professor and chair in the department of anatomy & neurobiology, and director of the program in neuroscience, received a five-year $1,875,000 grant entitled “Olfactory Glomeruli: Cellular and Network Mechanisms” from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Soren Snitker, PhD, assistant professor in the department of medicine, received a five-year $2,554,082 R01 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for his work entitled “Pharmacogenomics of Thiazolidinedione Response.”
*Grants and contracts of $1 million and above