SOMnews

November 2011 Test

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:35:12 +0000

What's on My Mind

The Clinical and Translation Science Institute

What’s on my mind this month is the School of Medicine’s newest research institute—the Clinical and Translation Science Institute (CTSI). The CTSI is a unique umbrella organization that creates an infrastructure to facilitate the translation of fundamental science to patient care and to the community. Through expanded collaboration across the University of Maryland and the University System of Maryland, the CTSI will transform the research and clinical enterprise at the University of Maryland, and allow us to make a quantum leap in our ability to conduct translational science.

The CTSI will harvest the richness of our university centers, institutes, and hospitals to create a multidimensional, multidisciplinary research infrastructure that will traverse and integrate clinical and translational science. Under the CTSI, basic science research will develop rapidly into novel therapies that can prevent the occurrence of common chronic diseases prevalent in our region, our country, and around the world.

The institute is led by co-directors Alan R. Shuldiner, MD, and Stephen Davis, MBBS. Dr. Shuldiner is the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine, and Associate Dean for Personalized and Genomic Medicine. Dr. Davis is the Dr. Theodore E. Woodward Professor and Chair in the Department of Medicine. Both are experienced clinical and translational investigators whose combined expertise spans from basic discovery at the level of DNA to clinical research and community engagement. Both have a long track-record of continuous NIH funding and extensive experience in the administration of large multidisciplinary research programs and infrastructure grants, and in the mentoring and training of young investigators.

Under the CTSI, our basic science and clinical researchers will focus on chronic preventable diseases and diseases with high morbidity, high mortality, and high disability—areas where we can make an impact and transform lives for the better. These signature research areas include cancer, heart disease, infectious and inflammatory diseases, diabetes, schizophrenia and head injury. These illnesses have disproportionately higher morbidity and mortality in urban and rural underserved populations, and affect people across the entire lifespan.

Our CTSI partners will come together in an unprecedented and transformative way. Participating institutions include the professional schools of the University of Maryland, the University System of Maryland, the University of Maryland Medical System, the Baltimore VA Medical Center, the University of Maryland Medical System, and others. We will also partner with key institutions to strengthen our existing capabilities.

The CTSI will align with the newly emerging NIH NCATS and CTSA network, which embraces a reengineering of the clinical research enterprise. The institute will promote team science among investigators by providing an infrastructure to serve and support multidisciplinary research teams across the full spectrum of clinical and translational research. Such an infrastructure brings about efficiency and economies of scale, enhances the quality of research execution, and makes monitoring and compliance more effective.

In addition to conducting translational research, the institute will help advance interdisciplinary education of students in medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, social work, law, public health, biomedical engineering, and graduate studies. The CTSI will provide improved forums for setting priorities and enhancing communications with state and local agencies, community organizations and healthcare practitioners outside academia to help further provide evidence based interventions designed to reduce healthcare disparities.

The CTSI will enhance our stature within the local community as well as our leadership in state and federal biomedical research and economic development arenas. It will give us a competitive edge in the pursuit of NIH funding, create jobs, promote technology transfer, and advance public health opportunities. In the months and years ahead, we will be providing you with more information on how you can participate and help contribute to the CTSI’s mission to transform the research and clinical enterprise at the University of Maryland and across the nation.

In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am Sincerely yours,

E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Grants and Contracts

Congratulations to our very productive faculty on their recent grants and contracts! Sergei P. Atamas, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, received a two-year, $422,000 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for his project entitled “A Novel Model of, and Pre-clinical Therapy for, Scleroderma Lung Disease

Shane Ceraul, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a two-year, $269,214 K22 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Limiting Effects of a Tick Kunitz Protease Inhibitor on Rickettsial Infection.”

Matt Frieman, PhD, assistant professor, Department Microbiology & Immunology, received a five-year, $1,875,000 RO1 award from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Role of Epithelial Growth Factor Receptor in SARS Coronavirus Pathogenesis.”

Alfredo Garzino-Demo, PhD, associate professor, Institute of Human Virology and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a one-year, $57,150 Research Supplement to Promote Diversity from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for his work entitled “A Novel Anti-HIV Activity of CCR6 via APOBEC3G: Relevance to CNS Infection.”

Ronna P. Hertzano, MD, PhD, instructor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, received a one-year, $40,000 career development grant from the Triologic Society for Otorhinolaryngology for her work entitled “Cell Type-Specific Genome-Wide Mapping of Protein-DNA Interactions in the Ear.”

Myron Levine, MD, DTPH, Grollman Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicine and Director, Center for Vaccine Development, has received a two-year $10,347,537 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a new project entitled “Diarrheal Disease in Infants and Young Children in Developing Countries (GEMS1a).” The purpose of this grant is to conduct two multi-country case-control studies using standardized methods to measure, in parallel, the etiology and burden of moderate and severe diarrhea and of clinically less severe diarrhea among children in developing countries. The results of these studies will guide development of broadly effective vaccines and other interventions against enteric infections in developing countries. Additionally, Dr. Levine received a second grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for his work on the Global Environment Monitoring Systems, or GEMS, International Scientific Committee. That grant is for $96,000.

Fumiko Obata, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a one-year, $375,000 R56 Bridge Funding from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases to pursue her project entitled “Molecular Mechanisms of Shiga Toxin Action in the Mammal Central Nervous System.”

William Stanley, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, received a two-year, $422,000 R21 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for “Docosahexaenoic Acid, Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Cardiac Reperfusion Injury.”

Tonya Webb, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a three-year, $60,000 award from the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center for her research entitled “NKT Cell Based Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Mantel Cell Lymphoma.”

Norann Zaghloul, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, received a three-year, $344,000 K01 award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for her work on “Ciliary Regulation of Notch-based Phenotypes.”

Honors and Awards

Charles Cangro, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, received the 2011 Ambulatory Medical Director of the Year award from the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Ambulatory Services in June 2011. This award is in recognition of extraordinary efforts and commitment to the outpatient experience.

Aric Colunga, BS, graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics under the mentorship of professor Laure Aurelian, PhD, received the first prize award of $7,000 in reagents in the Life Technologies Poster Contest. His was chosen out of 5,900 posters at the 2011 American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Orlando, Florida, in April 2011. Aric received the most votes for his poster on “HSV-2 Oncolytic Virus Delta PK Induces Multiple Death and Inflammatory Programs Associated with Inhibition of Melanoma Tumor Growth.”

Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, has been inducted into the Rensselaer Alumni Hall of Fame. Dr. Fraser-Liggett has made outstanding contributions to the fields of genome science and academic medicine.

Nicolas Johnson Dorsey, a fourth-year MD/PhD candidate working in the laboratory of Achsah D. Keegan, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received the highly competitive 2011 United Negro College Fund/Merck Graduate Science Research Dissertation Fellowship for her research project entitled “Lung Inflammation: The Role of STAT6 Modulation of Inducible Regulatory T-cells (iTregs).” Nicolas will receive a fellowship stipend up to $43,500 for the 2011–2012 and the 2012–2013 academic years. In addition, she will receive a $10,000 research grant.

Leandra Figueroa, BSc, MSc, graduate student, Department of Medical & Research Technology, who works in the lab of Andrei Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a FASEB MARC Program travel award to attend the American Association of Immunologists 98th Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May 2011. The FASEB MARC Travel Award Program is a component of a federal grant from the Minority Access to Research Careers Program of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Ram Karan, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, has been awarded the prestigious American Society for Microbiology (ASM) International Fellowship for Asia. He is one of four recipients of the ASM award, recognizing promising young investigators for outstanding contributions to the advancement of microbiological research. Dr. Ram Karan will work with Shiladitya DasSarma, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology, on a research project to study the genomics and proteomics of halophilic Archaea. Dr. Ram Karan is from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India, where he completed his PhD under the supervision of Professor S.K. Khare in the Department of Chemistry. His research was focused on haloalkaliphilic bacteria.

Andrei E. Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a Junior Faculty Travel award from the American Association of Immunologists to attend its 2011 98th Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May 2011.

Jessica Shiu, a third-year Medical Scientist Training Program (aka the MD/PhD Program) graduate student working in the lab of Thomas Blanchard, PhD, JD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, received the 2011 GPILS Outstanding PhD Scholar Award. Jessica also received a two-year $70,000 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a Doctoral Foreign Student Award. These awards are intended to provide special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field abroad and are expected to have an exceptionally high potential for future research achievement and productivity.

Rodney J. Taylor, MD, MSPH, FACS, associate professor, and Jeffrey Wolf, MD, associate professor, both from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, were named 2011 Super Doctors of Washington, DC, Baltimore, and Northern Virginia. Super Doctors is a listing of outstanding physicians from more than 30 medical specialties who have attained a high degree of peer recognition or professional achievement. Super Doctors is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine and its Program in Comparative Medicine, Veterinary Resources Service, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and Office of Animal Welfare Assurance (OAWA) have successfully passed a September 2011 site visit from the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International. At the September 15 exit briefing, the site visitors noted that it was exceptional to find such a well operated large and complex facility, and they will recommend to the AAALAC Council continued full accreditation. This accomplishment included excellent institutional support from the Dean’s Office, excellent Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and Office of Animal Welfare Assurance offices and directors, excellent veterinary and husbandry care and a dedicated faculty. The Baltimore VA Medical Center, Institute of Human Virology and Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology are included as well in the accreditation.

New Appointments

We applaud our colleagues on their recent appointments!

Sania Amr, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, has been appointed director of the Division of Preventive Medicine. The new Division of Preventive Medicine was formed to retain the department’s historical roots in preventive medicine and provide an academic home for faculty members whose research addresses questions related primarily to prevention and preventive medicine. In her new role, Dr. Amr will lead a cohesive preventive medicine group that brings together public health researchers and practitioners from the department to strengthen the division’s research portfolio and educational offerings within the School of Medicine. Since 2005, Dr. Amr has directed the accredited preventive medicine residency program. From 2005 to 2008, she served as the first Capstone Director for the MPH program. In this capacity she provided academic support to students from diverse educational and professional backgrounds who shared the goal of learning how to identify and address public health issues. Dr. Amr received the EPH Outstanding Teacher Award in 2007 and the Faculty Mentor Award in 2011, both of which reflect the students’ appreciation of her work as an educator.

Maureen Black, PhD, John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, was selected to serve on the Committee on Policy and Communications for the Society for Research in Child Development for the term 2011 to 2014. The committee is charged with linking research on children’s development with national policies and practice. In addition, Dr. Black was invited to serve on the Advisory Committee of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program of the Maternal and Child Health Program for the Department of Health and Human Services, for the term 2011 to 2012. The committee is charged with advising the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) on the plans for conducting a national evaluation of home visiting programs to promote the health and well-being of vulnerable children.

Charlene Hafer-Macko, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, was elected to the Executive Board of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) and was the keynote speaker at the MGFA 2011 National Conference held in Baltimore in May 2011.

Andrew N. Pollak, MD, professor, Department of Orthopaedics, was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley to serve as a member of the Governor’s Emergency Management Advisory Council (GEMAC), for a term of two years from January 1, 2010. The GEMAC was created by statute and is charged with advising Governor O’Malley on all matters that relate to emergency management in Maryland. The GEMAC serves as an independent advisory body, comprised of persons with special expertise in areas critical to homeland security and emergency management, as well as persons broadly representative of business interests, public utilities, and other communities.

Alan R. Shuldiner, MD, the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine, associate dean and director, Program in Personalized and Genomic Medicine, was appointed to the Council of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases in July 2011. Dudley Strickland, PhD, professor, Departments of Surgery and Physiology and director, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, was appointed chair of the Hemostasis and Thrombosis Study Section.

Events, Lectures, and Workshops

Kudos to our colleagues who are experts in their fields and give their all to represent the School of Medicine!

John Biedlingmaier, MD, associate professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, was invited to speak at the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Otolaryngology Grand Rounds as a visiting professor, where he presented “Otolaryngologic Jeopardy.”

William T. Carpenter, MD, professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, presented a keynote lecture, “Schizophrenia: The Beginning, The Change, The Future” at the 15th World Congress of Psychiatry in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September 2011. Additionally at the same convention, Dr. Carpenter, presented two lectures “Anticipating DSM-5: Innovations and Field Trials for Psychotic Disorders” during the symposium “Cross-Cutting Dimensional Measures in the DSM-5” and “Diagnostic Symptoms Versus Core Psychopathology” during the symposium “Rethinking Psychosis: Concepts and Core Psychopathological Features.”

Matthew Cooper, MD, associate professor, Department of Surgery, presented “Live Donor Nephrectomy” at the American Foundation for Donation and Transplantation in Bal Hourbor, Florida, in May 2011. The lecture provided a historic overview of the procedures developed for living donor nephrectomy for transplantation and both the short and long-term complications associated with the procedure. Also in May, Dr. Cooper delivered “Choosing an Appropriate MPA Agent” to the Korean Society of Transplantation in Seoul, Korea. The lecture compared and contrasted the two mycophenolic acid agents available for solid organ transplantation.

Leandra Figueroa, BSc, MSc, graduate student, Department of Medical & Research Technology, gave an oral presentation entitled “Asp299Gly Polymorphism Decreases TLR4-Elicited Activation of MyD88- and TRIF-Dependent Signaling Pathways” at the 2011 American Association of Immunologists Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May 2011. Ms. Figueroa’s mentor is Andrei Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Andrew Goldberg, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, and head, Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, was a visiting professor at Wake Forest University from May 31 to June 1, 2011. He was asked to suggest ways in which the Wake Forest Geriatrics Program can develop research initiatives with the Winston Salem VA Hospital and delivered grand rounds entitled “Etiology and Role of Exercise in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes and the Metabolic Syndrome.”

Les Katzel, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, presented a lecture on issues of research in decisionally-impaired populations at the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs National Conference in Washington, DC, in April 2011.

Achsah D. Keegan, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, presented a lecture entitled “Th2 cells and Type II Inflammation” as an invited faculty member for the American Association of Immunologists Introductory Course at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in July 2011.

Mimi Lu, MD, MS, clinical assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, won the short-lecture competition held during the August 2011 session of the Teaching Fellowship sponsored by the American College of Emergency Physicians. The title of her presentation was “How to Grow Old...Gracefully.”

Terrence M. Mulligan, DO, MPH, assistant professor, Brian J. Browne, MD, professor, Amal Mattu, MD, professor, Michael E. Winters, MD, assistant professor, and Stephen M. Schenkel, MD, MPP, assistant professor, all from the Department of Emergency Medicine, traveled to Sweden in April 2011 to present the two-day course, “Administration and Management in Emergency Medicine.” The course, hosted by Karolinska Institute and the Swedish Society of Emergency Medicine, was attended by 26 physicians, nurses and paramedics from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland. During the trip, the American delegation met with Dr. Finn Bengtsson, a member of the Swedish Parliament, to discuss emergency medical services in Scandinavia.

Terrence M. Mulligan, DO, MPH, assistant professor, Y. Veronica Pei, MD, MEd, MPH, assistant professor, Michael A. Rolnick, MD, clinical assistant professor, and Jennifer Reifel Saltzberg, MD, MPH, clinical instructor, all from the Department of Emergency Medicine, organized, wrote and taught the first medical school course in emergency medicine in The Netherlands. The 50-hour, five-week elective course, presented at University Medical Center Utrecht from May 31 through July 1, was attended by 30 second-year medical students. In addition, Dr. Mulligan presented a one-day course entitled “International Emergency Medicine” in Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands, in June 2011. The course was offered during The 5th Dutch North Sea Emergency Medicine Conference, sponsored by the Nederlandse Vereniging Van Spoedeisende Hulp Artsen (NVSHA) (the Dutch Society for Emergency Physicians). Dr. Mulligan, a fellow of the NVSHA, was a co-organizer of the conference and the designer and moderator of the course as well as its main speaker. Michael A. Rolnick, MD, clinical assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, also lectured at the conference on the topic of “Emergency Medicine Networks,” based on his experiences in creating the Maryland ExpressCare patient transfer network.

Toni Pollin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, presented an invited talk, “A Genetic Primer for the Practicing Physician,” as part of a symposium entitled “A Physician’s Guide to the Genetics of Personalized Medicine in Diabetes—The Impact of Genetic Forms of Diabetes on Clinical Practice” at the 2011 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in San Diego in June 2011.

Alice Ryan, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, presented an abstract poster presentation, “Predictors of Metabolic Flexibility in Obese Postmenopausal Women,” at the American Diabetes Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco in June 2011.

Monica Serra, PhD, T32 fellow, Department of Medicine, presented an abstract poster presentation, “Ectopic Fat Accumulation and Metabolic Syndrome (MSYN) Are Associated with Reduced Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue (SAT) Lipid Storage in Obese Postmenopausal Women (OPW)” at the American Diabetes Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco in June 2011.

LaGuinn Sherlock, AuD, director of Clinical Audiology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, presented a case report, “Misophonia (A Variant of Reduced Sound Tolerance)” to the American Academy of Audiology Adult Diagnostic Grand Rounds on-line seminars.

Alan R. Shuldiner, MD, John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine, and associate dean and director, Program in Personalized and Genomic Medicine, presented “The Genetic Interface between Gestational Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes at the 4th Nanjing University Forum on Endocrinology and Metabolic Disorders in Nanjing, China, in May 2011.

Carole Sztalryd, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, gave an oral presentation at the 2011 Gorden Conference on “Cellular Energetics: Interactions between the Warehouse (Lipid Droplets) and the Furnace (Mitochondria)” in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, in July 2011.

Yanbao Xiong, PhD, research fellow, and Andrei Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, presented a poster entitled “Induction of Endotoxin Tolerance in vivo Inhibits LPS-Inducible Activation of IRAK4, p38 and NF-kappaB, Decreases Expression of Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines and Induces Negative Regulators of TLR4 Signaling” at the 2011 American Association of Immunologist Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May 2011.

In the News

A job well done to all who have kept us in the media spotlight!

The following physicians in the Department of Medicine were listed in the July 2011 issue of U.S. News & World Report in its “Top Doctors” list: Cardiology: John Gottdiener, MD, FACC, professor, Stephen Gottlieb, MD, professor, Michael Miller, MD, professor, Elijah Saunders, MD, clinical professor, and Stephen Shorofsky, MD, PhD, professor; Endocrinology: Alan Shuldiner, MD, professor, Kristi Silver, MD, associate professor; Gastroenterology: Bruce Greenwald, MD, professor; Hematology-Oncology: Maria Baer, MD, professor, Aaron Rapoport, MD, professor, and Saul Yanovich, MD, professor; and Rheumatology: Marc Hochberg, MD, MPH, professor.

Toni Pollin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, was featured on Fox 45 News on May 23, 2011, where she was interviewed by reporter Melinda Roeder about direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

New Faculty

We welcome our new faculty!

Ronna P. Hertzano, MD, PhD, joined the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery as an instructor in July 2011. She received her MD and PhD degrees from Tel Aviv University, where she studied the molecular basis of hearing impairment and was the recipient of a Foulkes Foundation Fellowship physician-scientist award. She then completed her internship and residency in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Hertzano’s clinical practice is focused on diseases of the ear and lateral skull base, with a particular interest in hearing restoration and genetic hearing loss. As part of her clinical practice, she is developing a comprehensive interdisciplinary genetic hearing loss service at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on genetic hearing and balance impairment, and the molecular cascades essential for inner ear development.

Institute for Genome Sciences Director Claire Fraser-Littett Elected ot the Institute of Medicine

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:31:35 +0000

Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Dr. Fraser-Liggett is one of 65 new members and five foreign associates named to its membership this year.

Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. New members are elected by current active members through a highly selective process that recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health.

Dr. Fraser-Liggett is a world-renowned scientist, who through her pioneering research, her extensive peer-reviewed scientific publications, and her leadership of several preeminent research institutions, has contributed significantly to the development of scientific progress of genomic medicine.

Over the past 16 years, Dr. Fraser-Liggett’s research team has applied large-scale DNA sequencing and analysis to the study of the microbial world and how it impacts human health. With the groundbreaking 1995 publication of the first complete genome sequence of a free-living organism, the bacterium, Haemophilus influenzae, she and her team launched the field of microbial genomics, creating a paradigm shift in the study of microorganisms, and laying the foundation for new approaches to personalized medicine. Today, she is one of the most highly cited investigators in the field of microbiology microbial genomics. The completion of more than 1,000 microbial genome sequences today is a direct result of her team’s pioneering work in the developing new experimental and computational approaches to analyzing large quantities of genetic information.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Dr. Fraser-Liggett to the Institute of Medicine,” said Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA. “This membership is recognition of Claire’s impressive body of research and her overall contributions to science and biomedicine, which are many. It’s also an affirmation of the growing recognition of the potential of genomics to improve human health. Since we launched the Institute for Genome Sciences here on our campus in 2007, it has had a positive impact on countless peoples’ lives worldwide.”

“It is a tremendous honor to be elected a member of The Institute of Medicine. I look forward to contributing to my new colleagues’ efforts to aid those in government and in the private sector in dealing with our most pressing health care issues,” said Dr. Fraser-Liggett. “IOM’s inclusion of genomic scientists demonstrates how integral this new interdisciplinary and innovative field has become to making breakthroughs in medical treatments and to developing new approaches to address the important biomedical challenges facing our nation.”

Clinical and Translation Science Institute (CTSI)

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:21:58 +0000

In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am

Sincerely yours,

E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine

November 2011

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:52:47 +0000

What’s on my mind

Clinical and Translation Science Institute (CTSI)

In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am

Sincerely yours,

E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Walter Royal, MD, professor, Department of Neurology, was appointed to the Neuro-AIDS and Other End-Organ Diseases Study Section for the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review.

Kevin Sheth, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, was invited to serve as one of 10 to12 members of the American Heart Association’s Stroke Council Profession Education Committee for a two-year period starting July 1, 2011.

Devinder Singh, MD, assistant professor, Department of Surgery, was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley to the Maryland State Board of Physicians for a four-year term, beginning July 1, 2011.

Thelma Wright, MD, assistant professor, Department of Anesthesiology, was appointed to the Advisory Board on Prescription Drug Monitoring by Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary Joshua Sharfstein, MD.

Seminars & Workshops

Fermin Barrueto, Jr., MD, clinical associate professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, presented a poster entitled “Intraperitoneal Elemental Mercury Exposure from a Mercury Weighted Bougie: It Can Still Happen!” at the North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology, which was held in Washington, DC, in September 2011.

Maureen Black, PhD, John A. Scholl, MD, and Mary Louise Scholl, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, and Howard Dubowitz, MD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, were invited to serve as faculty members in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Summer Institute on Applied Research in Child and Adolescent Interventions, which was held at the Bolger Conference Center in Potomac, Maryland, in June 2011. The summer institute is designed to accelerate and promote the transition of early career investigators into independent intervention research careers.

Brian Browne, MD, professor and chair, Kenneth H. Butler, DO, associate professor, Benjamin J. Lawner, DO, EMT-P, assistant professor, Mimi Lu, MD, MS, clinical assistant professor, and Joseph P. Martinez, MD, assistant professor, all from the Department of Emergency Medicine, were invited faculty members for the board-preparation course sponsored by the Ohio chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The course, held in Columbus in September 2011, was attended by 300 emergency physicians from across the nation.

Carolyn Cronin, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, gave Grand Rounds at Chester River Hospital Center on May 25, 2011. Dr. Cronin discussed “Recent Advances in Thrombolytic Therapy.”

Alan Faden, MD, Davis S. Brown Professor in Trauma, professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurosurgery, and Neurology, and director, Center for Shock, Trauma & Anesthesiology Organized Research Center, was a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico in June 2011. In addition to lecturing, he judged the university’s annual research competition for neurology and neurosurgery residents and fellows.
Alessio Fasano, MD, professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Physiology and Medicine, and director, Center for Celiac Research, presented “Gluten, Leaky Gut, and the Autism Spectrum Disorder: How to Connect the Dots” at “When the Belly is the Beast,” an event sponsored by The Gotschall Autism Center in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, in April 2011. In addition, Dr. Fasano presented “Role of Altered Gut Barrier Function in Autoimmune Pathogenesis: The Celiac Disease Paradigm” as part of Digestive Diseases Week in Chicago in May 2011, and, at the 14th International Celiac Disease Symposium in Oslo, Norway, on June 19, 2011, he presented “The Spectrum of Gluten Intolerance Disorders: Please Welcome Gluten Sensitivity: The New Kid on the Block” along with a case presentation on the diagnosis of gluten sensitivity.

Peter Gaskin, MBBS, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, presented “Left Ventricular Non-Compaction Cardiomyopathy in Childhood” at the International Academy of Cardiology’s 16th World Congress on Heart Disease Annual Scientific Session 2011 in Vancouver, Canada, in July 2011. Dr. Gaskin was among 150 distinguished cardiologists and scientists from 59 countries invited to participate this year. The international conference highlighted the latest research developments in cardiovascular medicine.

D. Kojo Hamilton, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurosurgery, delivered a keynote guest speaker lecture on “Concussion: Safely Returning an Athlete to Play” at the Maryland Football and Cheerleaders Association 2011 Summit in Frederick, Maryland, in June 2011.

Amal Mattu, MD, professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, served as the keynote speaker at the Emergency Medicine Update—Europe conference, held in Strove, Italy, in September 2011. He presented lectures on the following topics: “Pitfalls in the Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction,” “Infections in the Elderly,” “Teaching on the Run,” and “Deadly Misdiagnoses in ECG Interpretation.”
Emmanuel Mongodin, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, was an invited speaker at the 9th International Workshop on Advanced Genomics in Tokyo, Japan, in July 2011. His lecture was entitled “Exploring the Healthy Oral Microbiota through Community-Wide Metagenomic Sequencing.”

James Russell, MD, professor, Department of Neurology, co-lead the special interest group on “Controversies in Diabetes” at the Peripheral Nerve Society Conference in Potomac, Maryland, in June 2011.
Henry Silverman, MD, MA, professor, Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology & Public Health, was a keynote speaker for the 2nd Annual Salim El-Hoss Bioethics and Professionalism Program at the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, Lebanon, in September 2011. The theme of the conference was “Current Controversies in Research Ethics: Research Integrity, Research Ethics Committees and International Clinical Trials.”
Marcella A. Wozniak, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, presented “Thrombolytic Treatment for Stoke: Yes, No, Tertiary Treatments” during grand rounds at Laurel Regional Medical Center on May 26, 2011.

Honors

John Cole, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Neurology, was selected for membership in the American Neurological Association.

Erin Hager, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, was selected to attend leadership training sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Early Career Women Faculty Professional Development Seminar in Washington, DC, in July 2011. Dr. Hager was selected as a female scientist with leadership potential in academic medicine.

Kevin M. McGehrin, MS-I, received a $3,000 scholarship from the American Academy of Neurology for his proposed project “Within-Session Changes in Ankle Impairment during Ankelbot Training in Hemiparetic Stroke Patients.”

Melita Theyagaraj, MBBS, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, was named Kernan Hospital’s Physician of the Year 2011. Dr. Theyagaraj received this award after a hospital-wide vote from peers and co-workers recognizing her clinical skills and teaching as well as the kindness and compassion she extends to her patients.

In the News

Alan Faden, MD, Davis S. Brown Professor in Trauma, professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Neurosurgery, and Neurology, and director, Center for Shock, Trauma & Anesthesiology Organized Research Center, appeared on Maryland Public Television on August 15, 2011, to discuss traumatic brain injury and answer calls from listeners.

Publications

Karen Anderson, MD, associate professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, co-authored the article “Anxiety and Self-Perceived Health Status in Parkinson’s Disease” in Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 17 (2011).
Cynthia Bearer, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, participated in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Strategic Planning Stakeholder Community Workshop in July 2011. The theme of the meeting was “Moving Environmental Health Forward: Insights and Opportunities.”

Brandi Cantarel, PhD, research associate, Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored an article entitled “From the Cover: Obligate Biotrophy Features Unraveled by the Genomic Analysis of Rust Fungi” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, May 31, 2011, Vol. 108(22):9166-71.

John Cole, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, published “The Relationship between Smoking and Stroke Risk in Women: Breaking the Habit” in Womens Health, (London, England), 2011 May 7(3):261-4.

Howard Dubowitz, MD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, co-authored “Identifying Children at High Risk of Child Maltreatment” in Child Abuse and Neglect, 2011; 35(2)96-104, and “Psychometric Properties of a Youth Self-report Measure of Neglectful Behavior by Parents” Child Abuse and Neglect. 2011;35(6):414-24. In addition, Dr. Dubowitz, along with Wendy Lane, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, co-authored “Outcomes for Children Hospitalized with Abusive vs. Non-inflicted Abdominal Trauma” in Pediatrics, 2011; 127(6):e1400-5.

Daniel Farber, MD, assistant professor, Department of Orthopaedics, co-authored “Tourniquet Application on the Difficult Thigh: Technique Tip” with his father, Jerry S. Farber, MD. The work was published as a peer-reviewed journal article in the July 2011 issue of Foot & Ankle International, 2011;32(7):735736.

Martin Flajnik, PhD, professor, and Yuko Ota, PhD, assistant professor, both from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, co-authored “Comparative Genomic Analysis of the Proteasome b5t Subunit Gene: Implications for the Origin and Evolution of Thymoproteasomes” in Immunogenetics, 2011 Jul 7. In addition, Dr. Flajnik co-authored “Isolation and Characterisation of Ebolavirus-Specific Recombinant Antibody Fragments from Murine and Shark Immune Libraries” in Molecular Immunology, 2011 Jul 11.

W. Florian Fricke, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, and Jacques Ravel, PhD, associate professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and associate director of Genomics, Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored “Genome Sequence of Ruegeria sp. KLH11, a N-Acylhomoserine Lactone-Producing Bacterium Isolated from the Marine Sponge Mycale laxissima” in the Journal of Bacteriology, July 8, 2011.

Peter Gorman, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, authored an article entitled “Review of Systems in Spinal Cord Injury and Dysfunction” for the June 2011 issue of Continuum: Lifelong Learning in Neurology.

D. Kojo Hamilton, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurosurgery, authored a book chapter, “Flatback and Sagittal Plane Deformity of the Spine,” in Youmans Neurological Surgery, 6th Edition; H.R. Winn, editor; Elsevier Publishing, June 2011. In addition, Dr. Hamilton, along with Charles Sansur, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurosurgery, co-published “C-2 Neurectomy During Atlantoaxial Instrumented Fusion in the Elderly: Patient Satisfaction and Surgical Outcome” in the Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2011 Jul;15(1):3-8. Dr. Hamilton also co-published “Safety, Efficacy, and Dosing of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 (rhBMP-2) for Posterior Cervical and Cervico-Thoracic Instrumented Fusion with a Minimum Two-Year Follow-Op” in Neurosurgery, 2011 Feb 26; “Does BMP Increase the Incidence of Perioperative Complications in Spinal Fusion? A Comparison of 55,862 Cases of Spinal Fusion with and without BMP” in Spine, 2011 Mar 9; and “Use of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2 As an Adjunct for Instrumented Posterior Arthrodesis in the Occipital Cervical Region: An Analysis of Safety, Efficacy, and Dosing” in the Journal of Craniovertebral Junction & Spine, 2010 Jul;1(2):107-12.

Kristina Harris, PhD, research associate, Department of Pathology, authored “Monocytes Differentiated with GM-CSF and IL-15 initiate Th17 and Th1 Responses That Are Contact-Dependent and Mediated by IL-15,” in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, October 2011; 90(4):727-34.

Michael Makley, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, co-authored a chapter, “Sleep Disturbance and Fatigue” in the Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd Edition.

James Munro, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, and Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD, assistant professor, both from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and the Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored “Ribonucleotide Reductase as a Target to Control Apicomplexan Diseases” in Current Issues in Molecular Biology, July 26, 2011, Vol. 14(1):9-26.

Andrew Neuwald, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Institute for Genome Sciences, authored “Surveying the Manifold Divergence of an Entire Protein Class for Statistical Clues to Underlying Biochemical Mechanisms” in Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology, August 4, 2011; Vol. 10: Issue 1, Article 36.

Robert O’Toole, MD, assistant professor, and W. Andrew Eglseder, MD, associate professor, Department of Orthopaedics, co-authored “Do Distal Radius Locking Plates Change Articular Contact Pressures?” an original research peer-reviewed journal article that was published in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of Hand Surgery, 2011;36(8):13011309. Additionally, Dr. O’Toole, along with Andrew N. Pollak, MD, professor, Department of Orthopaedics, and chief, Division of Orthopaedic Traumatology, co-authored “Does Supplemental Epidural Anesthesia Improve Outcomes of Acetabular Fracture Surgery?” an original research peer-reviewed journal article published ahead of print in August 2011 by the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

David Rasko, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, and postdoctoral fellows Jason W. Sahl, PhD, Susan R. Stevert, PhD, and Julia C. Redman, all from the Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored an article entitled “Origins of the E. coli Strain Causing an Outbreak of Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome in Germany” in The New England Journal of Medicine, July 27, 2011.

Frank Robb, PhD, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, co-published an article entitled “Identification and Characterization of a Multidomain Hyperthermophilic Cellulase from an Archaeal Enrichment” in Nature Communications; 2:375-377.

Oliver Tannous, MD, resident, Cullen Griffith, MD, resident, and Robert V. O’Toole, MD, assistant professor, all from the Department of Orthopaedics, and Vincent D. Pellegrini Jr., MD, James Lawrence Kernan Professor and Chair of the Department of Orthopaedics, co-authored “Heterotopic Ossification after Extremity Blast Amputation in a Sprague-Dawley Rat Animal Model,” which was published as a Science Focus Forum in the August 2011 issue of the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, 2011;25(8):506510.

Michael Winters, MD, associate professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, is the editor-in-chief of Emergency Department Resuscitation of the Critically Ill, a 250-page book published by the American College of Emergency Physicians in August. Michael C. Bond, MD, assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, served as an associate editor and a chapter contributor. Chapters were also written by Fermin Barrueto, Jr, MD, clinical associate professor, Benjamin J. Lawner, DO, EMT-P, assistant professor, Amal Mattu, MD, professor, Joshua C. Reynolds, MD, third-year resident, Robert L. Rogers, MD, associate professor, and George C. Willis, MD, instructor, all from the Department of Emergency Medicine. The book was copyedited by Linda J. Kesselring, MS, ELS, technical writer, Department of Emergency Medicine.

Jill Whitall, PhD, professor, Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science (PTRS), co-edited a special edition of Research in Developmental Disabilities (2011, Vol 32) with Dr. Jane Clark, professor, Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Thirty-five papers on various aspects of Developmental Coordination Disorder were submitted for this special edition, and fourteen were selected for final submission, along with an editorial, “Developmental Coordination Disorder: Function, Participation and Assessment,” written by the co-editors. This year Dr. Whitall has also published two empirical papers in this area: “Auditory and Visual Information Do Not Affect Self-Paced Bilateral Finger Tapping in Children with DCD” with Renuka Roche, MS, a graduate student in PTRS, and “Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder Benefit from Using Vision in Combination with Touch Information for Quiet Standing” with Woei-Nan Bair, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in PTRS.

Thelma Wright, MD, assistant professor, Department of Anesthesiology, co-authored “Interventional Pain Physicians’ Experiences of and Attitudes Toward Surgical Privileging” in Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Volume 36, Number 4, July-August 2011.

Hats off to those who have been published!

Jacob Blumenthal, MD, assistant professor, Alice Ryan, PhD, professor, and Andrew Goldberg, MD, professor, all from the Department of Medicine, co-published “Weight Loss and Low-Intensity Exercise for the Treatment and Prevention of Metabolic Syndrome in Obese Postmenopausal Women” in the June 8, 2011, edition of the Journal of Gerontology.

Nicholas Carbonetti, PhD, associate professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, co-published an article entitled “Bordetella Pertussis Infection Exacerbates Influenza Virus Infection through Pertussis Toxin-Mediated Suppression of Innate Immunity” in PLoS ONE, Vol. 6(4): e19016.

Alina Grigore, MD, associate professor, Department of Anesthesiology, authored “Anesthetic Management of Patients Undergoing Placement of Total Artificial Heart” in the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, (in press) 2011. In addition, Dr. Grigore authored a book chapter entitled “Temperature and Brain Protection in Cardiac Surgery” in Brain Protection in Cardiac Surgery, published by Springer-Verlag, London Limited; pp 141-157, 2011.

Les Katzel, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, co-published an article entitled “Repeatability of Aerobic Capacity Measurements in Parkinson Disease” in Medicine in Science Sports and Exercise, 2011 May 20.

Achsah D. Keegan, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, published an article entitled “NF-hB signaling Participates in Both Receptor Activator of NF-hB Ligand (RANKL) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) Induced Macrophage Fusion: Receptor Cross-Talk Leads to Alterations in NF-hB Pathways” in the Journal of Immunology, August 2011 edition. This paper was highlighted by MDLinx in the Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Allergy/Immunology sections.

Philip A. Mackowiak, MD, MBA, MACP, professor and vice chair, Department of Medicine, published an article entitled “Diagnosing the Disorders of Giants” in the Summer 2011 issue of The Pharos, a publication of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Terrence M. Mulligan, DO, MPH, assistant professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, is the author of the editorial entitled “The Development of Emergency Medicine Systems in Africa,” which was published in the May 2011, and inaugural, issue of African Journal of Emergency Medicine. He is also a co-author of two other articles published in May: “Demographic Analysis of Emergency Department Patients at the Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai,” published in Emergency Medicine International, and “Patient Demographics in Acute Care Surgery at the Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai,” published in International Scholarly Research Network Surgery.

Steven Prior, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, co-published an article entitled “Aerobic Exercise Training Increases Circulating IGFBP-1 Concentration, But Does Not Attenuate the Reduction in Circulating IGFBP-1 after a High-Fat Meal” in Metabolism, 2011.

Roseangela Salerno-Goncalves Mezghanni, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics and Center for Vaccine Development, along with Marcelo B. Sztein, MD, professor, Department of Pediatrics and Center for Vaccine Development, and Alessio Fasano, MD, professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Medicine and Physiology, and director, Center for Celiac Research, co-authored "Engineering of a Multicellular Organotypic Model of the Human Intestinal Mucosa,” in the June 30, 2011, issue of Gastroenterology.

Alan Shuldiner, MD, John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine, and associate dean and director, Program in Personalized and Genomic Medicine, co-published an article entitled “Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium Guidelines for Cytochrome P450-2C19 (CYP2C19) Genotype and Clopidogrel Therapy” in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 90, August 2011 edition.

Toni Pollin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, co-published a research paper entitled “Triglyceride Response to an Intensive Lifestyle Intervention Is Enhanced in Carriers of the GCKR Pro446Leu Polymorphism” in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, [Epub ahead of print] April 27, 2011. Additionally, Dr. Pollin published an invited commentary entitled “Epigenetics and Diabetes Risk: Not Just for Imprinting Anymore?” in Diabetes, 60:1859-1860, July 2011.

Ivan Tatarov, DVM, research associate, Aruna Panda, BVSc, PhD, MPH, assistant professor, and Krishnan Kolappaswamy, BVSc, PhD, DACLAM, research associate, all from the Department of Pathology and Program of Comparative Medicine, and Louis J. DeTolla, VMD, PhD, DACLAM, professor, Departments of Pathology, Medicine and Epidemiology & Public Health, and director, Program of Comparative Medicine, along with Keyata Thompson, research specialist, Program in Oncology, and Stuart S. Martin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Physiology and Program in Oncology, co-published “Effects of Magnetic Fields in Tumor Growth and Viability” in the August 2011 issue of Comparative Medicine, 61(4): 339-345.

Jeff Winkles, PhD, professor, Departments of Surgery and Physiology and the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, was co-senior author on “Development and Characterization of a Potent Immunotoxin Targeting the Fn14 Receptor on Solid Tumor Cells” in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 10:1276-1288 (2011).