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New center to focus on neuroscience
and brain disorders
European group elects cell biologist
as foreign member
NOTES
Notes
Pietro De Camilli
Stephen Strittmatter
Ira Mellman
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New
center to focus on neuroscience and brain disorders
The School of Medicine has launched a new interdepartmental program,
Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair (CNNR), to be led
by Pietro de Camilli, M.D., FW ’79, the Eugene Higgins Professor
of Cell Biology, and Stephen M. Strittmatter, M.D., Ph.D., the
Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and professor of neurobiology.
The CNNR will build on Yale’s tradition of excellence in the neurosciences
through the departments of neurobiology, molecular and cellular physiology,
pharmacology, cell biology, psychiatry, neurosurgery, neurology and others,
and the Child Study Center. Its goal is to foster cutting-edge basic research
in cellular and molecular neuroscience, promote research on neurodegeneration
and repair, translate scientific insights into therapeutic strategies
to prevent or delay neuronal loss, and facilitate neural repair and restoration
of function. This interdisciplinary program could have a significant impact
on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, as well as diseases related
to polyglutamine expansion, such as Huntington’s.
De Camilli’s pioneering work on synaptic vesicles, the intracellular
packets that deliver neurotransmitters into the synapse, could advance
the understanding of brain function, as well as the causes of Alzheimer’s,
Parkinson’s and other diseases.
Strittmatter’s identification of Nogo, a protein that blocks the
regeneration of axons, has opened promising avenues in the search for
therapies to repair the adult nervous system after injury, and has given
new hope to those who suffer from spinal cord injuries, stroke and neurodegenerative
disorders such as Alzheimer’s.
De Camilli and Strittmatter, who will retain their appointments in cell
biology and neurology, respectively, will recruit up to seven new scientists
for the CNNR. The searches will be carried out in collaboration with colleagues
in the basic-science and clinical departments who work in the neurosciences,
and the new recruits will have primary appointments in existing departments.
In addition, the CNNR will provide a scientific home for more than 100
neuroscientists who now work across the Yale campus, sparking greater
interactions and enhancing the scientific environment.
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European group elects
cell biologist as foreign member
Ira Mellman, Ph.D. ’78, chair and Sterling Professor of
Cell Biology, is one of three American scientists elected as foreign members
of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) at its annual meeting
in Warsaw, Poland, last October. EMBO membership is a lifelong honor,
and scientists are elected on the basis of proven excellence in research.
Among its members are some of Europe’s leading researchers, including
38 Nobel laureates. EMBO was established in 1964 to create a central molecular
biology laboratory and a network that would enhance interactions among
European laboratories. Currently there are more than 1,200 EMBO members
in Europe, and only 100 investigators out-side of Europe have been named
as associate members.
“It is a real honor to be one of the very few U.S. scientists
to be recognized by our most distinguished European colleagues by election
to EMBO membership,” said Mellman. “Science is truly an international
endeavor, and I certainly plan to use this connection to further scientific
exchange at all levels.”
Mellman uses a combination of biochemical, genetic and imaging methods
to understand complex functions of cell biology. His work has revealed
basic biological mechanisms that regulate immune responses, particularly
how dendritic cells initiate and control all antigen-specific immune responses.
Another area of his research involves cell polarity and asymmetry and
the molecular mechanisms that sort, target and transport cell membrane
components to appropriate membrane locations in different types of cells.
Mellman joined the Yale faculty in 1981 after completing his undergraduate
training at Oberlin College, receiving his doctorate in human genetics
from Yale in 1978 and beginning his academic career at Rockefeller University.
From 1997 to 2001 he served as founding director of the Combined Graduate
Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences.
Mellman, who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Immunobiology,
is an affiliate member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. He
was named scientific director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center
in 2004. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and he has received a Swebilius Award,
the President’s Research Development Award (Leukemia & Lymphoma
Society) and the Yale Science and Engineering Society Medal.
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Margaret Bia |
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Margaret J. Bia, M.D., professor of
medicine, received the George F. Thornton Award at the annual meeting
of the Connecticut chapter of the American College of Physicians in October.
The award is given annually for outstanding contributions to medical education.
Linda K. Bockenstedt, M.D., the Harold
W. Jockers Associate Professor of Medicine, has been named director for
professional development and equity at the medical school. In this new
position Bockenstedt will be responsible for creating programs to support
the academic development of all faculty members and to encourage the growth
of a diverse faculty body at the school. A special focus will be on the
needs of women and underrepresented minorities. |
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Rosemarie L. Fisher, M.D., HS ’75,
associate dean for graduate medical education, has won the 2006 Courage
to Lead Award from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The award honors designated institutional officials who have demonstrated
excellence in overseeing residency programs at their sponsoring institutions.
Designated institutional officials are responsible for all graduate medical
education programs in a teaching hospital, community hospital or other
type of institution that sponsors residency programs. Fisher oversees
residency programs at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
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Rosemarie Fisher |
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Nora Groce |
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Nora E. Groce, Ph.D., associate professor
of public health (global health) and anthropology, chaired UNICEF’s
Thematic Group on Violence Against Disabled Children, which in November
issued a report that is part of a larger report on violence against children.
The study is a collaborative effort by the United Nations Secretary General’s
Office, the World Health Organization and UNICEF and is a follow-up to
a 1999 U.N. study on children and armed conflict. The new report is intended
to bring the issue of violence against children to the attention of policy-makers,
governments and civil society around the globe. Corrie E. Paeglow, a graduate
student in the Global Health Division at the School of Public Health,
served as research associate on the project.
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Sharon L. Kagan, D.Ed., professor
(adjunct) in the Child Study Center, has become the first woman to win
three of the nation’s most prestigious education awards. Kagan,
a leader in early childhood education, won the 2005 Harold W. McGraw Jr.
Prize in Education, the 2005 James Bryant Conant Award from the Education
Commission of the States and the 2004 Distinguished Service Award from
the Council of Chief State School Officers.
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Zeev Kain |
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Zeev N. Kain, M.D., M.B.A., HS ’92,
FW ’93, professor of anesthesiology, pediatrics and child psychiatry
and vice chair of anesthesiology, has been appointed to the editorial
board of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, the first anesthesiologist
to hold this honor. Kain, who is also a member of the editorial boards
of Anesthesiology and Pediatrics, is an international expert
in the area of perioperative behavioral and physiological stress.
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Each year the graduating class honors its
teacher of the year with the Francis Gilman Blake Award, but this year
the other three classes chose their own teachers of the year. The Class
of 2006 honored Laura R. Ment, M.D., professor of pediatrics and
neurology, and I. George Miller, M.D., the John F. Enders Professor
of Pediatrics and professor of epidemiology and of molecular biophysics
and biochemistry. The Class of 2007 selected Margaret J. Bia, M.D.,
professor of medicine, and the Class of 2008 named James D. Jamieson,
M.D., Ph.D., professor of cell biology and biology, and Shanta E. Kapadia,
M.D., lecturer in surgery (gross anatomy).
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Jennifer P. Ruger, Ph.D., M.Sc., assistant
professor in the Global Health Division of the Department of Epidemiology
and Public Health, was awarded the 2005 Labelle Lectureship in Health
Services Research, given annually by McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
The lectureship is given to a young investigator who has a background
in health economics and research that spans disciplines, and who challenges
existing methods or accepted ideas in the health services community. Ruger’s
lecture, “Health and Global Governance: What’s Justice Got
to Do With It?,” was presented on October 19.
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Christopher van Dyck |
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Christopher H. van Dyck, M.D., FW
’91, associate professor of psychiatry and neurobiology and director
of the Alzheimer’s Research Unit at the School of Medicine, was
among six honorees at the “Removing the Mask” gala celebration
held in October at the Omni New Haven Hotel. The mask motif is a metaphor
for the devastating loss of identity and cognition caused by Alzheimer’s
disease. Gov. M. Jodi Rell was the event’s honorary chair.
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Agnès Vignery |
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Agnès M. Vignery, Ph.D., D.D.S.,
associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation, has been named
Yale-Pfizer Global Discovery Visiting Professor for 2005. Vignery, whose
research focuses on the developmental and reconstructive processes of
bone, will serve as a consultant at Pfizer’s Groton (Conn.) laboratories.
She will conduct collaborative research while gaining practical knowledge
of the drug discovery and development process through interactions with
the project teams. The program, which offers a 12-week position for one
Yale faculty member to consult and do research on-site at Pfizer Global
Research and Development, strengthens Yale-Pfizer alliances and provides
Yale faculty with new collaborations and a better understanding of the
pharmaceutical industry.
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