Thomas A. Blanpied, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Physiology, received a one-year $500,000 National Institutes of Health Shared Instrumentation Grant entitled "A Zeiss Duo Confocal Microscope for Shared Imaging Facility."

Martin J. Edelman, MD

Martin J. Edelman, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and Program in Oncology, received a two-year $80,000 grant from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer to supervise M. Naomi Horiba, MD, MPH, assistant instructor, Department of Medicine, during a project entitled "Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Influence of Tumor Bulk and COX-2."

Wendy Lane, MD, MPH

Wendy Lane, MD, MPH, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a five-year $650,000 Patient-Oriented Career Development Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for her work entitled "Epidemiology and Prevention of Abusive Abdominal Trauma in Children." The goals of the research are to estimate the incidence of overt and occult abusive abdominal trauma, compare clinical outcomes of children with abusive abdominal trauma to those with non-abusive abdominal trauma, identify factors that are associated with a positive screen for occult abdominal trauma among children with suspected abuse and determine the cost-effectiveness of a child maltreatment prevention program.

Ronald B. Gartenhaus, MD

Ronald B. Gartenhaus, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine and the Program in Oncology, received a three-year $325,500 Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute Clinical Innovator Award entitled "Translational Control and Breast Cancer Development."

Andrei E. Medvedev, PhD

Andrei E. Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a one-year $50,000 intramural University of Maryland Other Tobacco-Related Diseases grant entitled "Smoking and NOD-Like Receptor Microbial Sensing."

Jon Furuno, PhD

Jon Furuno, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a five-year $650,000 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award from the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases for his work entitled "Epidemiology of Resistant Bacteria in Acute-Care and Long-Term Care Facilities." The research will utilize epidemiologic data and mathematical models to assess relative contributions of inter-facility patient movement on Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) prevalence, as well as the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of infection control interventions targeting recently transferred patients in reducing the transmission of MRSA.

Edward Sausville, MD, PhD

Edward Sausville, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine and Program in Oncology, received a one-year $75,000 grant from the Mary-land affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization for his work entitled "Improving Support and Accrual to NCI-Sponsored Breast Cancer Clinical Trials."

Ann L. Gruber-Baldini, PhD

Lashauna C. Evans, BS

Lashauna C. Evans, BS, graduate student, Department of Physiology, received a three-year $85,7465 F31 National Institutes of Health Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award for Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research entitled "Intrauterine Hypoxia Induces Cytokine Gene Expression in Fetal Cardiac Ventricles."

Patricia Langenberg, PhD

Patricia Langenberg, PhD, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a one-year $5,000 R13 conference grant from the National Cancer Institute for her work entitled "Recent Advances in Breast Cancer." This award supported the Twelfth Annual Interdisciplinary Women’s Health Research Symposium, which was held in Baltimore in March 2008, where Angela Brodie, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, was honored for her groundbreaking work in developing aromatase inhibitors, the first new pharmacologic approach in a generation to treat breast cancer.

Geoffrey Girnun, PhD

Geoffrey Girnun, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Program in Oncology, received a three-year $450,000 Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Award for his work entitled "Bioenergetic Control of Breast Cancer Growth by the Transcriptional Coactivator PGC1alpha."

Jay Magaziner, PhD, MSHyg

Jay Magaziner, PhD, MSHyg, professor and chair, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a five-year $1.5 million re-newal from the National Institutes of Health’s Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Training Grant program for his work entitled "Research Training in the Epidemiology of Aging." This program, now in its 11th year, supports five pre-doctoral and two post-doctoral trainees annually. The objective of this program is to train students to conduct independent and original research in the epidemiology of aging, with an emphasis on the prevention of late-life disability and functional decline. The program consists of four broad substantive areas including: musculoskeletal epidemiology, neuroepidemiology, genetic epidemiology and the epidemiologic study of long-term care for chronic diseases.

Ram Miller, MD

Ram Miller, MD, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, received a five-year $808,000 Patient-Oriented Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging for his work entitled "Consequences of Inflammation on Muscle Following Hip Fracture." The specific aims of the research are to determine the difference in mean inflammatory cytokine levels attributable to hip fracture in older adults, to prospectively examine the effects of inflammation on muscle in older adults post hip fracture and to prospectively examine the effect of a general exercise intervention on adults following hip fracture.

Claudia R. Baquet, MD, MPH

Claudia R. Baquet, MD, MBA, associate dean for Policy & Planning, professor, Department of Medicine, and director, Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities Education and Research, was selected by the Prevent Cancer Foundation to receive the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation’s Cancer Prevention Laurel for National Leadership Award. The award was presented to Dr. Baquet during the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s April 2008 Dialogue for Action in Colorectal Cancer Screening Conference for her demonstrated leadership in cancer prevention and early detection at the national level. The Laurel awards also recognize individuals who have personal passion for im-proving cancer prevention and early detection and have brought about positive change in the public, professional or political arena.

Wilbur Chen, MD

Wilbur Chen, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and the Center for Vaccine Development, was named a 2008 Passano Physician Scientist at the Passano Foundation Awards Ceremony in April 2008. Based upon the ideals and vision of the late Edward Boetler Passano, the Passano Foundation is committed to the support and encouragement of young clinicians striving to improve patient outcomes.

Howard M. Eisenberg, MD

Howard M. Eisenberg, MD, R.K. Thompson Professor and chair, Department of Neurosurgery, was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Society of Neurological Surgeons, aka Harvey Cushing’s "Senior Society," at its annual meeting in May 2008. The Society of Neurological Surgeons is the American society of leaders in neurosurgical residency education and is the oldest neurosurgical society in the world. Academic department chairs, residency program directors and other key individuals comprise the active membership of the society. The membership is limited to 200 active members, while senior, inactive and honorary members fill out the remainder of the society. It recognized Dr. Eisenberg’s contributions as society president and vice president, chair and secretary-treasurer of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, vice chair of the Residency Review Committee for Neurosurgery and chair of the Editorial Board for the Journal for Neurosurgery.

Charlene Hafer-Macko, MD

Charlene Hafer-Macko, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, was selected as the 2008 Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) Doctor of the Year. This award confers national recognition to a medical doctor who has made extraordinary efforts to assist individuals and their families affected by myasthenia gravis. The Doctor of the Year has demonstrated his or her commitment to furthering the goals and mission of MGFA by his or her significant efforts in the areas of patient and family services, professional education and lay education.

Kari Ann Shirey, PhD

Kari Ann Shirey, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, has received the Women’s Career Development Grant from the American Society for Microbiology. Women’s Career Development Grants are given to encourage the careers of women of outstanding scientific accomplishment and potential for significant research in the area of microbiology. The fields covered by the award are any of those represented by divisions of the American Society for Microbiology. The grants are to support the career development of the candidate by providing funds to travel to a meeting, to visit another laboratory, to take a course in a geographically distant place or for other purposes to advance the candidate’s career. Dr. Shirey is one of three researchers nationwide selected for this award; she was given $1200 and a commemorative plaque.

Liang Fang, GS-V

Liang Fang, fifth-year graduate student, Department of Physiology, won the Pfizer Predoctoral Excellence in Renal Research Award at the American Physiological Society’s Experimental Biology 2008 meeting in San Diego in April 2008.

Denise Harmening, PhD

Denise Harmening, PhD, professor, Department of Medical & Research Technology, has been awarded the Karen Tiegerman Memorial Lectureship Award by the Massachusetts Association of Blood Banks. Dr. Harmening accepted the award and presented a lecture, "Cord Blood Transplantation: Current Status and Future Prospects," at the Massachusetts Association of Blood Banks meeting in Westford, Massachusetts, in April 2008. Additionally, Dr. Harmening has been awarded the AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) 2008 Sally Frank Memorial Award and Lectureship. This award recognizes an individual who is, or has been, a medical technologist having demonstrated quality research, teaching and/or service abilities in red-cell serology or technical aspects of immunohematology. The award will be presented at the AABB Gala in October 2008 in Montreal, Canada.

Andrea L. Meredith, PhD

Andrea L. Meredith, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Physiology, has received the 2008 Outstanding Young Scientist (OYS) Award from the Maryland Science Center. The OYS award recognizes the extraordinary scientific contributions of Maryland residents under the age of 35. Dr. Meredith focuses on the research of ion channel physiology. Her ultimate goal is to fully understand the contribution of individual ion channels to information encoded at the cellular, circuit and systems levels. She uses a variety of multi-disciplinary techniques, ranging from molecular biology and electrophysiology to whole animal studies, in her pursuit to understand how the brain imparts time to downstream systems on behaviors.

Elizabeth Le, MS-I

Elizabeth Le, MS-I, received a Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship from the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. The award provides summer term support for clinical investigation, basic laboratory research and epidemiology or social science/health services research by a medical student. Funds from the fellowship are expected to be the major source of support for the student and only one candidate from each medical school may be nominated. Only 50 scholarships are approved nationwide, and students need not be Alpha Omega Alpha members. The fellowship honors Carolyn L. Kuckein, long-time administrator of Alpha Omega Alpha and an honorary member of the society, who died in 2004. Ms. Le will conduct her summer research under the guidance of Scott Strome, MD, professor and chair, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. She will also participate in the School of Medicine’s Short Term Research Training Program. The title of her research is "Utilization of a Novel Antibody for Detecting Soluble 4-1BB and Creation of a Humanized IgG with Therapeutic Potential."

Matthew Peters, MS-I

Matthew Peters, MS-I, received honorable mention in the Young Investigators Award for Congenital Heart Disease and Cardiac Surgery competition at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session in Chicago in March 2008. Prior to receiving the award, Mr. Peters was chosen as a finalist and invited to Chicago on an all-expenses-paid trip, where he was the only medical student competing against cardiology fellows and junior faculty. He presented a paper entitled "Heart Failure Patients Have Drops in Intrathoracic Impedance Preceding Ventricular Fibrillation Episodes." Along with the honorable mention, he received a $500 cash award and a commemorative plaque. His father is Bob Peters, MD, a professor in the Department of Medicine.

Andreas de Biasi, MS-I

Andreas de Biasi, MS-I, was accepted into the American Pediatric Society/Society for Pediatric Research Student Research Program. He will spend this summer at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, where he will conduct clinical pediatric research.