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Dear Colleagues:
| What's on My Mind Podcast |
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What’s on my mind this month is student research. One-half of our students engage in research at some point during their medical education. It is imperative that we provide our students with a realistic understanding of the research environment, contact with appropriate role models and mentors, and collaborative arrangements with the faculty, in order to give our students an understanding of the ethical and responsible conduct of research and to nurture in them a growing interest in research careers.
The Office of Student Research (OSR), led by Jordan Warnick, PhD, exists to provide medical, K-12, undergraduate and graduate students - as well as K-12 science and math teachers - with research experience and improve their scientific background. The programs offered by the OSR provide prospective trainees with primary or advanced experiences in biomedical and behavioral research at the School of Medicine and at our foreign research sites.
Dr. Warnick, a professor of pharmacology & experimental therapeutics, has headed the OSR since 1982, and has been assistant dean for Student Research since 1998. He has done a fantastic job of ensuring that his office serves the needs of our students. Dr. Warnick and his staff work with students to focus their research ideas, choose a direction, find a mentor, and identify external funding. The OSR Website lists nearly 100 sources of external funding, which is a phenomenal resource.
Our student research office has a long history of attracting National Institutes of Health (NIH) training grants for medical, high school and college students and science teachers. I am very pleased that over the past 20 years, the OSR has provided over $6 million in training funds for student research experiences through internal dean’s office funding and the NIH, among other sources.
The most recent NIH application to be funded is the National Institute on Aging pre-doctoral professional student summer research program. This grant will enable 20 students to conduct aging-related research with 45 faculty mentors for 10–12 weeks this summer. Research topics include epidemiology, exercise, rehabilitation, cardiovascular, pharma-coeconomics, neurology and robotics and how they can be applied to gerontology and geriatric research. The mentoring aspect to this grant will continue throughout the students’ tenure here to encourage them to continue their pursuit of aging research or clinical practice.
Over the past 10–20 years students’ interests have become more diverse. Students want to specialize early, and the opportunity to engage in research while in medical school allows them to hone their skills and their focus. Research enables students to look at a problem from a different point of view and question the approach and the treatment of a particular disease. Research opportunities also help students clarify their future direction and their potential involvement as future academic scientists/clinicians. As you know, there is a great need for more clinicians who are able to conduct basic, translational and clinical research to improve the overall health of our citizenry.
Students who are interested in combining a research career with a clinical career, and ensuring their placement in a residency program of their choice, may decide to apply for a “year-off” fellowship. Katherine Bever, MSIII, received a one-year $27,000 Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship, and she is currently at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine working on a clinical trial of a pancreatic cancer vaccine. Mussadiq Awan, MSII, received a one-year $27,000 award from the NIH, where he is spending the year as a Cloisters Fellow and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar. He is working on a project involving brain and bone metastasis in genetically-defined prostate cancer mouse cell lines.
Our students do not conduct research only here in Baltimore. We also provide our students with international research experience. Elizabeth Gillenwater, MSII, and Elizabeth Gilliams, MSII, both received a Doris Duke Translational Malaria Research Fellowship, and under the mentorship of Miriam Laufer, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, traveled to Malawi to conduct an observational study of the molecular epidemiology of malaria in pregnancy.
I am very proud of Katherine, Mussadiq, Elizabeth and Elizabeth, and of all their student colleagues who take the initiative to conduct research in addition to all of their other medical school priorities. My thanks go to Dr. Warnick and his staff for providing our students with these priceless opportunities, and our committed faculty who take the time to mentor our students and make their research dreams a reality.
In the relentless pursuit of excellence and more student research opportunities, 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 &
Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine |
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Maureen Black, MD;
Sarah Overlander; &
Howard Dubowitz, MD
Maureen Black, MD, the John A. Scholl, MD & Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor of Pediatrics; Sarah Overlander, fellow; and Howard Dubowitz, MD, all from the Department of Pediatrics, were among the authors of “Sexual Intercourse Among Adolescents Maltreated Before Age 12: A Prospective Investigation,” published in Pediatrics, 2009; 124: 941-949.
Hugo Gonzalez-Serratos, PhD
Hugo Gonzalez-Serratos, PhD, professor, Department of Physiology, is the principal author of chapter 49, entitled “Skeletal Muscle,” in the latest edition of the Best & Taylor textbook The Physiological Basis of Medical Practice.
Peter Gorman, MD
Peter Gorman, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, co-authored “Prophylactic Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) Filter Placement May Increase the Relative Risk of Deep Venous Thrombosis after Acute Spinal Cord Injury” in the Journal of Trauma 66(3): 707-712 (2009).
Shay-Whey Koh, PhD
Shay-Whey Koh, PhD, associate professor, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, authored a chapter entitled “Vasoactive intestinal peptide acting in concert with ciliary neurotrophic factor to promote the survival of corneal endothelium under oxidative stress” in Neuropeptides in the Eye, 2009. In addition, Dr. Koh co-published “Restoration of functional CNTF receptor a subunit (CNTFRa) in corneal endothelial cells in stored human donor corneas by recombinant CNTFRa: connexin-43 upregulation” in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, 2009;50:1801-7. She also co-published an article entitled “VIP down-regulates the inflammatory potential and promotes survival of dying (neural crest-derived) corneal endothelial cells ex vivo: necrosis to apoptosis switch and up-regulation of Bcl-2 and N-cadherin in the Journal of Neurochemistry, 2009:109:792-806.
Richard Lichenstein, MD
Richard Lichenstein, MD, associate professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, co-authored “Identification of children at very low risk of clinically important brain injuries after head trauma: a prospective cohort study” in The Lancet, 2009, Volume 374, 9696:1160-1170. The complete text can be found here.
Robert Koos, PhD; Armina Kazi, PhD; & Kristin Happ Molitoris
Robert Koos, PhD, professor (pictured); Armina Kazi, PhD, post-doctoral fellow; and Kristin Happ Molitoris, BA, doctoral student, all from the Department of Physiology, co-authored a paper entitled “Estrogen Rapidly Activates the PI3K/AKT Pathway and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 and Induces Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A Expression in Luminal Epithelial Cells of the Rat Uterus” in the journal Biology of Reproduction, August 2009, 81 (2) 378-387. Additionally, the trio co-authored a paper entitled “Inhibition of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1a Degradation with Cobalt Chloride Unmasks 17b-Estradiol Induction of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Endometrial Cancer Cells in Vitro” that was published in the December 2009 issue of Endocrinology.
Michael Makley, MD
Michael Makley, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, published “Return of memory and sleep efficiency following moderate to severe closed head injury” in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 23(4): 320-6 (2009)
David Rasko, PhD
David Rasko, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, co-published articles entitled “Outbreak Caused by Cad-Negative Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli O111, Oklahoma” in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, September 2009 and “The QseC adrenergic signaling cascade in Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC)” in PLoS Pathogens, August 2009. |
Patricia Langenberg, PhD; Laura Hungerford, DVM, MPH, PhD; Manhattan Charurat, PhD, MS; & William Blattner, MD
Patricia Langenberg, PhD, professor (pictured), and Laura Hungerford, DVM, MPH, PhD, professor, both of the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, in conjunction with Manhattan Charurat, PhD, MS, assistant professor, and William Blattner, MD, professor, both of the Department of Medicine, co-authored, “The use of supplementary techniques to increase recall of sex partners in a network-based research study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” in Sexually Transmitted Diseases 35(7):674-8. In addition, Dr. Hungerford co-authored “Association between Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection among offspring and their dams in nondomestic ruminant species housed in a zoo” in the Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation 21(1):40-7. Also, she and David Smith, PhD, adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, co-authored “Optimally timing primaquine treatment to reduce Plasmodium falciparum transmission in low endemicity Thai-Myanmar border populations” in Malaria Journal 8:159.
Judy LaKind, PhD
Judy LaKind, PhD, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, published several papers recently, including “Perspective on serum dioxin levels in the United States: An evaluation of the NHANES data” in the May 2009 issue of Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 2009;19:435-441; and “Public health interpretation of trihalomethane blood levels in the U.S.: NHANES 1999-2004” in the June issue of the same journal. Dr. LaKind also had published letters to the editor in Breastfeeding Medicine—“Response to Geraghty et al.” 4(2):127—and the August 2009 issue of Environment International—“Human milk biomonitoring of phthalates: Expanding our understanding of infant exposure is compatible with supporting breastfeeding.” 35:994-995. In addition, Dr. LaKind co-published an article entitled, “Conclusions and key research recommendations from the Workshop on Advancing the Science: Childhood Asthma and Environmental Exposures at Swimming Pools” in Environmental Health Perspectives 2009;117:500-507; and “Science Selections: Widening the Pool of Factors Studies Needed to Assess Asthma” in Swimming, p. A162.
Eric Manheimer, MS, &
Brian Berman, MD
Eric Manheimer, MS (pictured), research associate, Center for Integrative Medicine and director, Cochrane CAM Field Database, and Brian Berman, MD, professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine and director, Center for Integrative Medicine, published “Evidence from the Cochrane Collaboration for traditional Chinese medicine therapies” in the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. 2009 Sep;15(9):1001-14.
Cecelia Melendres, MD
Cecelia Melendres, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, co-authored “Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults with Down Syndrome,” published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Istvan Merchenthaler, MD, PhD, ScD & Eugene Albrecht, PhD
Istvan Merchenthaler, MD, PhD, ScD (pictured), professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, and Eugene Albrecht, PhD, professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, co-authored “Estrogen Promotes of Germ Cell and Seminiferous Tubule Development in the Baboon Fetal Testis” in the August 2009 issue of Biology of Reproduction, 81(2):406-14. Dr. Merchenthaler was also co-author of “Catecholaminergic input to the oxytocin neurosecretory system in the human Hypothalamus,” published in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy, 37:229-233, 2009. In addition, he co-authored “Temporal profile of estrogen-dependent gene expression in LHRH-producing GT1-7 cells” in the February 2009 issue of Neurochemistry International, 54:119-134, 2009, and authored a chapter and was co-editor of the book, “Neuropeptides and Peptide Analogs,” published in 2009 by Research Signpost in Kerala, India. |
Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine Faculty
Ram Miller, MD, CM, assistant professor (pictured); Michelle Shardell, PhD, assistant professor; Gregory Hicks, PT, PhD, adjunct assistant professor; William Hawkes, PhD, assistant professor, and Jay Magaziner, PhD, professor and chair, all from the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, co-published, “Repeat falls and the recovery of social participation in the year post-hip fracture” in Age and Ageing 2009;38(5):570-575. The faculty above, along with Gordon Smith, MB, ChB, MPH, professor; Colin Stine, PhD, associate professor; and Anthony Harris, MD, MPH, associate professor, all from the Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, also co-published, “The Role of Patient-to-Patient Transmission in the Acquisition of Imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Colonization in the Intensive Care Unit” in the Journal of Infectious Disease 200:900-5 2009.
Luis Rubio, PhD; Joel Pinczewski, MD; Cinthia Drachenberg, MD, PhD; & Richard Zhao, PhD
Luis Rubio, PhD, postdoctoral fellow; Joel Pinczewski, MD, resident; and Cinthia Drachenberg, MD, PhD (pictured), professor, all from the Department of Pathology, and Richard Zhao, PhD, associate professor, Departments of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology and Institute of Human Virology, co-published “A multiplex real-time PCR method for quantification of BK and JC polyomaviruses in renal transplant patients” in Diagnostic Molecular Pathology. The method they discussed in this article is now offered at the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the University of Maryland Medical Center for use in monitoring renal transplantation.
Lynn Schriml, PhD
Lynn Schriml, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine and Institute for Genome Sciences, was lead author of “GeMInA, Genomic Metadata for Infectious Agents, a geospatial surveillance pathogen database,” published in an advanced online version of Nucleic Acids Research (2009:1-11) on October 22, 2009 and in NAR’s January Database Issue. Other contributors included Owen White, PhD, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, and director of Bioinformatics, Institute for Genome Sciences; and Cesar Arze, Suvarna Nadendla, Anu Ganapathy, Victor Felix, Anup Mahurkar, Aaron Gussman and Sam Angiuoli, all staff at the Institute for Genome Sciences.
Lisa Shulman, MD
Lisa Shulman, MD, the Eugenia Brin Professor of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in the Department of Neurology, co-published “Determinants of the Timing of Symptomatic Treatment in Early Parkinson’s Disease: The National Institutes of Health Exploratory Trials in Parkinson Disease (NET-PD) Experience” in Archives of Neurology, 2009;66 (9): 1099-1104.
Colin Stine, PhD
Colin Stine, PhD, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, co-published “Relation of Candidate Genes that Encode for Endothelial Function to Migraine and Stroke: The Stroke Prevention in Young Women Study” in Stroke, Aug 6, 2009.
George Wittenberg, MD
George Wittenberg, MD, PhD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, published “Experience, Cortical Remapping, and Recovery in Brain Disease,” in Neurobiology of Disease, 2009 Sep 18; “Motor mapping in cerebral palsy,” in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2009 Oct;51 Suppl 4:134-9; “Neural plasticity and treatment across the lifespan for motor deficits in cerebral palsy” in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 2009 Oct;51 Suppl 4:130-3; “The neural basis of constraint-induced movement therapy” in Current Opinion in Neurology, 2009 Sep 5; and co-published with Christopher Bever, Jr., MD, MBA, professor, Department of Neurology, “Multicenter Randomized Trial of Robot-Assisted Rehabilitation for Chronic Stroke: Methods and Entry Characteristics for VA ROBOTICS” in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 2009 Oct;23(8):775-83. |
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Institute for Genome Sciences
Scientists at the Institute for Genome Sciences held three-day Genomics Training Workshops in July, September and November 2009. Multiple institutes at the National Institutes of Health fund the workshops, which are held four times a year at IGS. The workshops include detailed instruction on genome sequencing, annotation and analysis. The workshops are organized and in part taught by Michelle Giglio, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine. Additional instructors are all from the Institute for Genome Sciences and include Jennifer Wortman, MS (pictured), assistant professor, Department of Medicine; Marcus Chibucos, PhD, Heather Huot-Creasy, Sean Daugherty and Brandi Cantarel, PhD, all bioinformatics analysts; Luke Tallon, scientific director and Lisa Sadzewicz, PhD, administrative director, Genomics Resource Center; Joshua Orvis and Kevin Galens, bioinformatics engineers.
Maureen Black, PhD
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD & Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor of Pediatrics, chaired a session on Nutrition and Cognition and was invited to give two talks at the International Congress of Nutrition in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2009. She presented “Nutrition and Cognition in Children: Possible Mechanisms of Action, Impact on Public Health: Will Insights Lead to More Children Reaching Their Developmental Potential?” and “Development of Responsive Feeding Indicators for Young Children.” Dr. Black was also one of only 12 conference delegates invited to have lunch with Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorm of Thailand’s royal family.
Brian Browne, MD &
Amal Mattu, MD
Brian Browne, MD (pictured), professor and chair, and Amal Mattu, MD, associate professor, both of the Department of Emergency Medicine, were invited speakers at the Second Administration and Management Fellowship at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in May 2009. The Third Dutch North Sea Emergency Medicine Conference was held in Egmond aan Zee in tandem with the fellowship in early June. Emergency Medicine faculty attending that meeting included Dr. Mattu; Siamak Moayedi, MD, assistant professor; Stephen Schenkel, MD, assistant professor and Robert Rogers, MD, assistant professor. Terry Mulligan, DO, part-time clinical assistant professor, was the course organizer for the fellowship and a speaker at the conference. |
Kevin Chen, PhD, MPH
Kevin Chen, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine and Center for Integrative Medicine, gave a lecture at NIH-NCCAM on October 5, 2009, titled “Introduction to Medical Qigong—Mysteries & Wonders of Chinese Medicine.”
Samba Sow, MD
Samba Sow, MD, adjunct professor, Department of Medicine and Center for Vaccine Development (Mali), hosted and served as Course Director for the Second International Course on Training Techniques at the Hotel Salam in Mali in October 2009. The course brought together 16 participants from France, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Madagascar and Mali and focused on improving the quality of immunization activities. The five-day course supported the Expanded Program on Immunization of the various countries concerned and was organized in collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Center for Vaccine Development and the Merck Foundation.
John Cole, MD, MS
John Cole, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Neurology, was an invited speaker at the 12th Annual Force Health Protection Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, held from August 1–14, 2009, at the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. His presentation was entitled “Cigarette Smoking and the Risk of Cerebrovascular Disease: New Insights Across the Age Spectrum.” Dr. Cole also gave a talk at the Delaware Stroke Initiative’s 9th Annual Stroke Education Conference on October 3, 2009, entitled “Stroke in the Young.”
Steven Czinn, MD
Steven Czinn, MD, professor and chair, Department of Pediatrics, was invited to present “Vaccine development to prevent or eradicate H.pylori infection: an update” at the 15th International Workshop on Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Related Organism (CHRO), which was held in Niigata, Japan, from September 2–5, 2009.
Howard Dubowitz, MD
Howard Dubowitz, MD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, was an invited lecturer at the plenary sessions of the South American Conference on Child Maltreatment in Bogota, Columbia on September 24-25, 2009. His presentation was “Child Neglect: A Child’s Perspective, a Public Health Approach to Preventing Child Maltreatment.” |
Richard Lichenstein, MD
Richard Lichenstein, MD, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, chaired the Topic Symposia for the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, May 3, 2009. The symposia, “Keeping Teens Safe on the Road—What’s Known, How to Do It and What the Future Holds” focused on the fact that nationwide, motor vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death in teenagers ages 16–20, accounting for more than 5,500 deaths annually. The Checkpoints Parent Teen Driving Agreement has been found to be an effective intervention to prevent accident-related injury, but regular implementation of such contracts is rare. Dr. Lichenstein is a principal investigator on a grant building a school-based and police department program aimed at decreasing teen-related crashes by highlighting the Parent Teen Driving Agreement. Dr. Lichenstein also presented “Teen Driving— Kids at Risk” at the meeting.
Istvan Merchenthaler, MD,
PhD, ScD
Istvan Merchenthaler, MD, PhD, ScD, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, presented at the 20th Annual Meeting of the American Menopause Society in San Diego, CA, on October 2, 2009. His talk was titled “A novel brain-selective prodrug of estradiol alleviates symptoms of menopause (hot flashes and depression) and neuronal cell death in animal models without exhibiting uterotrophic activity.”
Wendy Sanders, MA
Wendy Sanders, MA, Assistant Dean for Research Career Development, gave a grant writing workshop at the Association of American Medical Colleges’ annual conference for minority faculty in Puerto Rico on September 11, 2009, and another at the World Stem Cell Summit in Baltimore on September 21, 2009.
Kevin Sheth, MD
Kevin Sheth, MD, assistant professor, Department of Neurology, was chosen to participate in the NINDS/ANA Career Development Symposium and Junior Faculty Development Course on Oct. 10-11, 2009. These programs immediately preceded the 134th Annual Meeting of the American Neurological Association (ANA) at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel. |
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Anne Reicherter, PT, DPT, PhD
Anne Reicherter, PT, DPT, PhD, associate professor, Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science, was featured in the November 30, 2009, issue of Woman’s Day magazine. She offered her expert advice in an article about getting rid of holiday knee pain.
Thelma Wright, MD
Thelma Wright, MD, assistant professor, Department of Anesthesiology, was featured on the December 30, 2009, broadcast of Fox 45 Baltimore’s “Your Health Matters.” Dr. Wright, who is also director of the University of Maryland Pain Management Center, discussed methods of pain management for chronic pain.
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John Cottrell, MS
John Cottrell, MS, joined the Department of Pediatrics as an instructor in October 2009. Mr. Cottrell received his MS from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Prior to joining the Department of Pediatrics, he was a member of the Department of Pathology and manager of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center’s Tissue Bank. In addition to his role as tissue coordinator with the Department of Pediatrics, Mr. Cottrell will teach human brain anatomy to staff, fellows and technicians.
Christian Lachner, MD
Christian Lachner, MD, joined the Department of Psychiatry in October 2009 as an assistant professor. Previously, Dr. Lachner worked at the Department of Psychiatry at CIMA Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica, where he was a member of the Medical Executive Committee as well as the Ethics Committee. Dr. Lachner was also an honorary professor of psychiatry at the University of Costa Rica School of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1998. Dr. Lachner completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt in Baltimore and then sought fellowship training in Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh/Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh. He is currently a part of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, where he is involved in patient care, research and residency training.
Laide Jinadu, MD
Laide Jinadu, MD, joined the Department of Pediatrics as an assistant professor in September 2009. Dr. Jinadu received her MD from the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine and completed an internship/residency in Pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. Dr. Jinadu also recently completed a Pediatric Nephrology Fellowship at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
Andree Lessard, PhD
Andree Lessard, PhD, joined the Department of Psychiatry in September 2009 as an instructor and as director of the Maryland Brain Collection at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Previously, Dr. Lessard worked at the Department of Neurology and Neurosciences at Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY) as a postdoctoral associate (2003–2006) and instructor in neuroscience (2006–2008). Dr. Lessard completed BSc, MSc and PhD programs at Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Canada, 1993), Université Laval (Québec City, Canada, 1997) and Université de Montréal (Montréal, Canada, 2003). Her main research interests include neurophysiology of stress, neuroanatomy of G protein-coupled receptors using high resolution electron microscopy and psychiatric diseases.
Aimee McCullough, PsyD
Aimee McCullough, PsyD, joined the Department of Pediatrics as an assistant professor in September 2009. Dr. McCullough received her PsyD in clinical psychology from Drexel University in Philadelphia. Her pre- and post doctoral internships were at the Devereux Institute for Clinical Training and Research in Villanova, PA. Prior to her recruitment to Maryland, Dr. McCullough was chief psychologist with Children’s Services of Ireland.
Trevor Valentine, MBBS
Trevor Valentine, MBBS, joined the Department of Pediatrics as an assistant professor in September 2009. Dr. Valentine received his MBBS from the University of the West Indies Faculty of Medicine. He completed a pediatric residency and a fellowship in child psychiatry at the University of Miami School of Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Developmental & Behavior Pediatrics at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. Prior to his recruitment, Dr. Valentine was director of Developmental Pediatric Services and medical director of the Lead Clinic at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore.
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Maureen Black, PhD
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD & Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor of Pediatrics, was awarded a $2,000,375 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for “Toddler Feeding Styles.” The grant covers the period September 30, 2009 to August 31, 2011.
Manhattan Charurat, PhD, MHS
Manhattan Charurat, PhD, MHS, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Virology, received a four-year $2,858,656 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Acute HIV Infection and Pregnancy.” The goal of this research is to investigate the impact of HIV acquisition during pregnancy on mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in Nigeria.
Kevin Chen, PhD, MPH
Kevin Chen, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine and Center for Integrative Medicine, received an Independent Investigator Award of $100,000 from NARSAD, The Brain and Behavior Research Fund, for his clinical investigation on “Integrative meditation for the treatment of co-occurring anxiety disorders among heroin dependent patients: a randomized controlled study to establish feasibility and efficacy.”
Jon Furuno, PhD
Jon Furuno, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a two-year $50,000 K01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Epidemiology of resistant bacteria in acute-care and long-term care facilities.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 instituted by the Obama Administration.
Robert Gallo, MD
Robert Gallo, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, and director, Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $936,985 grant from the National Cancer Institute for his work entitled “FLSC Combined with Tat Toxoid as an HIV Prophylactic Vaccine.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to evaluate in a rhesus macaque SHIV model whether a combination of the Full Length Single Chain (FLSC) and Tat toxoid can potentially be preventative vaccine for AIDS and AIDS malignancies.
Alfredo Garzino-Demo, PhD
Alfredo Garzino-Demo, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute of Human Virology, received a five-year $1,687,500 grant 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.” The goal of this research is to investigate the mechanism of inhibition of HIV by a cellular receptor called CCR6. These studies are highly relevant to prevention and treatment of HIV infection because they will contribute knowledge that can be used to develop novel anti-HIV drugs that will target CCR6.
Alonso Heredia, MD
Alonso Heredia, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $150,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled, “Control of HIV Drug Resistance in Older Patients.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to control HIV drug-resistance by targeting cellular components required in the HIV life cycle. The objective is to determine the mechanism by which R5 HIV resistant to CCR5 antagonist regains sensitivity at reduced CCR5 density.
George Lewis, PhD
George Lewis, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $850,866 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Broad Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies from HIV Controllers.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to identify novel monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that broadly recognize the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) and block infection in vitro to guide vaccine development. |
Michaela Mathews, MD
Michaela Mathews, MD, assistant professor, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, received a $170,502 Clinician-Scientist Award from the National Eye Institute for her project entitled “Lipoprotein (a) in Vascular Diseases of the Eye.”
Gregory Melikian, PhD
Gregory Melikian, PhD, professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $375,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “Functional Characterization of the Hepatitis C Virus E1-E2 Glycoproteins.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to examine the rates of HCV uptake and fusion by single-particle tracking and to test the receptor-priming requirement for low pH-induced E1E2 refolding and characterize intermediate stages of HCV fusion.
Istvan Merchenthaler,
MD, PhD, ScD
Istvan Merchenthaler, MD, PhD, ScD, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a two-year $705,517 grant from the National Institute of Aging for “Novel Treatment of Menopausal Hot Flashes with an extradiol Prodrug.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Dave Pauza, PhD
Dave Pauza, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Virology, received a four-year $1,238,776 grant from the National Cancer Institute for his work entitled “Mechanisms for depleting tumor immunity in AIDS.” The goal of this research is to investigate intracellular signaling pathways that control cell functions, to uncover defects associated with HIV infection. Knowledge of these defects and potentially understanding the viral proteins responsible for these defects, is proximal to designing new therapy approaches to recover gd T cells in persons with HIV disease.
Eli Perencevich, MD, MS
Eli Perencevich, MD, MS, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a one-year $75,000 grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges for his work entitled, “Automated Methods for Tracking Compliance with Infection Control Measures.”
Christopher Plowe, MD
Christopher Plowe, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and chief of the Malaria Section, Center for Vaccine Development, was awarded a three-year $1.5 million contract (and a two-year option of $1 million) from the United States Agency for International Development Regional Development Mission/Asia to support molecular surveillance of drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion-Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and (possibly at a later date) Burma. This award is a collaboration with Mahidol University Faculty of Tropical Medicine in Bangkok, Thailand, and Global Scientific Solutions for Health in Baltimore.
Robert Redfield, MD
Robert Redfield, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and associate director, Institute of Human Virology, received a five-year $8,050,000 President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) grant through the Centers for Disease Control National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention. The grant, entitled “Partnership for Advanced Clinical Education Strengthening Pre-Service and In-Service HIV Training in the Republic of Kenya,” will enable the University of Maryland to work with the government of Kenya to assess and strengthen HIV training for key medical personnel. This unique grant, the first of its kind to be funded through PEPFAR, will integrate pre-service HIV education and in-service HIV training to ensure that the country of Kenya has a sustainable system for educating and continuously developing healthcare providers through the entire continuum of care delivery. The grant is expected to expand within Kenya during the funding time period, and will act as a model for other HIV-affected countries seeking to streamline HIV education by linking education and service delivery.
Shay-Whey Koh, PhD
Shay-Whey Koh, PhD, associate professor, Departments of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences and Physiology, received an award under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for additional funding of grant RP1EY011607 in the amounts of $44,046 & $148,230, to support her project “Neurotrophic Factor Modulation of Corneal Endothelium.” |
Mark Rogers, PT, PhD
Mark Rogers, PT, PhD, professor and acting chair, Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science, has been awarded a two-year $1,156,662 National Institute on Aging R01 grant to study “Lateral Stability and Falls in Aging.” This is the first R01 grant ever awarded to the department.
Fabio Romerio, PhD
Fabio Romerio, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $421,129 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his work entitled “A New Insight into HIV-1 Latency Through a Novel In Vitro System.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to determine the gene expression profile of in vitro-generated latently infected cells isolated by fluorescence activated cell sorting and to test the hypothesis that CCR5- and CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 strains show different propensities to establish and re-emerge from latency.
Maria Salvato, PhD
Maria Salvato, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine and Institute of Human Virology, received a two-year $984,910 grant from the National Institutes of Health for her work entitled “Protection of vaccine immunity by inhibiting Fas/FasL signaling.” The goal of this research is to test inhibitors of cell-death signals that would have short-term effects and highly specific targets, yet would not interfere with the development of strong responses against cancers or infections.
Lynn Schriml, PhD
Lynn Schriml, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a two-year $501,909 R01 grant from National Center for Research Resources, in collaboration with Northwestern University, for her work entitled “DO: An Open Biomedical Ontology for Disease.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Michael Terrin, MD, CM, MPH
Michael Terrin, MD, CM, MPH, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a seven-year $30,729,138 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for the establishment of a Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium Administrative Coordinating Center. The goal of this initiative is to develop a highly interactive and synergistic consortium of investigators who will share ideas, data and resources to move the field of progenitor cell biology forward.
Lai-Xi Wang, PhD
Lai-Xi Wang, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Institute of Human Virology, received a one-year and nine month $525,000 grant sup-plement from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for his work entitled “Convergent Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Glycopeptides and Glycoproteins.” This funding is supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of this research is to develop new methods for the efficient synthesis of glycoproteins for structural and functional studies. The information gained will be valuable for development of glycoprotein-based therapeutics.
H. Ron Zielke, PhD
H. Ron Zielke, PhD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, with strong support from his staff, received a five-year $7,150,000 contract for the continued operation of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Brain and Tissue Bank for Developmental Disorders. Kathleen Currey, MD, clinical assistant professor, and Ling Li, BM, assistant professor, both of the Department of Pediatrics, contributed greatly to this successful competitive renewal. The NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank serves as a human tissue repository for research to benefit individuals with hundreds of different developmental disorders. The Bank has collected brain and systemic tissue from over 3,000 donors throughout the US and Canada; over 710 researchers in 20 countries have received tissue from the Bank, resulting in more than 800 publications. |
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Miriam Blitzer, PhD
Miriam Blitzer, PhD, professor and head of the division of Human Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed the executive director of the American Board of Genetics (ABMG) effective September 1, 2009. As executive director, she will represent the ABMG on the American Board of Medical Specialties, as well as other organizations representing the genetic community. In addition, she will represent the ABMG at appropriate public and governmental venues and work closely with the Board of Directors to coordinate board activities, provide administrative oversight and manage internal committee activities.
Carol Carraccio, MD
Carol Carraccio, MD, professor, Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed chair-elect of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Pediatrics for a one-year term beginning January 2010. In 2011, she will serve as chair of the board for one year, and in 2012 she will serve as immediate past-chair for another year. |
Shannan Dixon, MS, CGC
Shannan Dixon, MS, CGC, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, was appointed vice-chair of the National Society of Genetic Counselor’s Annual Education Conference, which was held November 12-15, 2009, in Atlanta, GA.
Jon Furuno, PhD
Jon Furuno, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, has been appointed Associate Editor for the journal, BMC Public Health.
Ann Gruber-Baldini, PhD
Ann Gruber-Baldini, PhD, associate professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, has been appointed a fellow in the Gerontological Society.
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Maureen Black, PhD
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD & Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor of Pediatrics, was awarded the Annual Logan Wright Research Award from the Society of Pediatric Psychology at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Toronto August 6–9, 2009. Recipients of the award are selected in recognition of their excellence in child psychology research.
Homan Mohammadi
Homan Mohammadi, a senior student in the Department of Medical and Research Technology, was awarded first prize in the Biological Sciences Category, Section II, Division H for his poster presentation entitled, “Double and Triple Fusion Peptidoglycan Hydrolases as Novel Antimicrobials” at the 12th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium, held October 10, 2009, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Mohammadi’s classmates, Chun-Yuan Cheng and Christopher Larrimore, also presented posters at the Research Symposium; all three poster abstracts were published in the Symposium proceedings.
Mordecai Blaustein, MD
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, professor, Department of Physiology, will receive the 2010 Distinguished Service Award from the Biophysical Society for his many years serving as Society Treasurer. The award will be presented at the Annual Biophysical Society meeting February 20–24, 2010, in San Francisco. Dr. Blaustein was also featured in the Biophysicist in Profile section of the Biophysical Society Newsletter, September 2009, pages 4–5.
Curt Civin, MD
Curt Civin, MD, associate dean for Research, director, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, and professor, Department of Pediatrics, was recognized for his revolutionary research discoveries, receiving the Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award, and being chosen to give the Landsteiner lecture at the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) Annual Meeting in New Orleans in October 2009. The prestigious Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award and Lectureship was initiated by the AABB in 1955 to honor Karl Landsteiner, MD, whose Nobel Prize-winning discoveries of the ABO and Rh blood group antigens laid the foundation for modern blood transfusion therapy. AABB’s Landsteiner Award recognizes a scientist whose original research resulted in an important contribution to the body of scientific knowledge and who has an international reputation in blood transfusion medicine or a related field. Dr. Civin received the Landsteiner Award for his pioneering research discoveries relating to the cellular and molecular biology of the stem and progenitor cell, including the identification and isolation of the CD34+ blood-forming stem-progenitor cell, which dramatically improved cellular therapies and bone marrow transplantation. |
Virginia Keane, MD
Virginia Keane, MD, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, was awarded the Pediatrician of the Year Award by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) at their annual awards dinner on September 17, 2009. This award is given to a pediatrician who is also a Fellow of the AAP and a member of the Maryland Chapter and whose career has exemplified the ideals of pediatrics in service, advocacy and contribution to organized pediatrics in Maryland.
Misbah Khan, MD, MPH
Misbah Khan, MD, MPH, clinical professor, Department of Pediatrics, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maryland chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics at their annual awards dinner September 17, 2009. This award was voted on by her peers and recognizes Dr. Khan for her lifelong contributions to the health and well-being of Maryland children and to educating medical students and residents.
Wendy Lane, MD, MPH
Wendy Lane, MD, MPH, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a Special Achievement Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics for her work on developing a statewide health care system for foster youth. Dr. Lane’s clinical and research work is focused primarily on child maltreatment, with specific interests in abusive abdominal trauma, child abuse prevention, physician identification and reporting of maltreatment, and race and class differences in the identification and reporting of maltreatment.
Stephen Jacobs, MD
Stephen Jacobs, MD, professor, Department of Surgery, was awarded the 2009 Gold Cane Award by The American Urological Association (AUA). The award is presented annually to a senior urologist who has made outstanding contributions to the profession and to the AUA. Dr. Jacobs was cited for innovation and leadership in the field of laparoscopic donor nephrectomy and in resident education. |
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| Copyright 2010 University of Maryland School of Medicine |
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