What’s on my mind this month is the School of Medicine’s research roadmap. In my research vision letter and in my September State of the School address, I outlined my goals and objectives for our outstanding research enterprise. I emphasized that we are not only compelled but indeed obligated to increase the impact of research and discovery on human health. It is not enough to simply increase the amount of research we do, but rather we must increase the impact that research has on human health. We propose to do this in a number of ways:  by increasing new magnet areas, expanding current magnet areas, recruiting and retaining productive faculty, emphasizing translational research, working in a more collaborative environment to enhance interdisciplinary research, and, ultimately, achieving a top-15 ranking within five years. 

Our research roadmap will help us achieve these goals and objectives. The roadmap is unique because it harnesses the individual excellence of the School of Medicine's departments, programs, institutes and centers in achieving institutional goals using tools for measuring organizational success and accountability. It also provides incentives for encouraging and rewarding interdisciplinary collaborations and entrepreneurship. For example, it combines traditional business metrics, such as return on investment, with institutional development objectives, workforce planning and cultural change. Read More

Bradley E. Alger, PhD

Bradley E. Alger, PhD, professor, Department of Physiology, was an invited speaker and session chair for the Gordon Research Conference entitled "Cannabinoid Function in the CNS" held in September 2007 in Les Diablertes, Switzerland. Additionally, Dr. Alger was also an invited speaker and session chair for the 17th Annual Neuropharmacology Conference entitled "Cannabinoid Signaling in the Nervous System" held in October 2007 in San Diego.

Marie R. Baer, MD

Marie R. Baer, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and Program in Oncology, gave two oral presentations, "Disordered Gene Expression in Leukemia" and "Acute Myeloid Leukemias: Therapy, Excluding Transplantation-Results of Clinical Trials," at the 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology held in December 2007 in Atlanta.

Mordecai P. Blaustein, MD

Mordecai P. Blaustein, MD, professor, Departments of Physiology and Medicine, was an invited speaker at the University of Ottawa in September 2007 as part of the Frontiers in Heart Failure Research Distinguished Visiting Seminar series. His lecture was entitled "Salt Licks and Salt Tricks: How Salt Retention Causes Hypertension."

Dr. Blaustein also presented a lecture by the same name at the 2007 Mayerson-Di Luzio Lecture at Tulane University Health Sciences Center, which was co-sponsored by the Hypertension and Renal Center of Excellence at Louisiana State University and Tulane University’s Department of Physiology APS Inspirational Speaker Series. Additionally, in October 2007, Dr. Blaustein presented a seminar entitled "Endogenous Ouabain is Alive and Well (and Living in Baltimore)," at Washington University in St. Louis’ Department of Cell Biology and Physiology.

Ronald B. Gartenhaus, MD

Ronald B. Gartenhaus, MD associate professor, Department of Medicine and Program in Oncology, gave an oral presentation entitled "Disordered Gene Expression in Hematologic Malignancy, including Disordered Epigenetic Regulation" at the 49th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology held in December 2007 in Atlanta.

Stacy E. Smith, MD

Stacy E. Smith, MD, associate professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, presented "Imaging Approach to Soft Tissue Tumors" at Winthrop University’s Department of Radiology’s Grand Rounds in October 2007 in Mineola, Long Island.

Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine
Staff and Trainees

Faculty members, research staff and trainees from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine attended the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in November 2007. The RSNA meeting, called the "world’s largest medical conference," is held each year in Chicago. The University of Maryland School of Medicine was well represented, with more than 80 presentations in scientific and educational sessions, continuing education forums and special lectures and events.

Among department members whose work was presented at the RSNA meeting were department chair and professor Reuben Mezrich, MD, PhD (left); Tabassum Ahmad, MD, assistant professor; Syed Ali, MD, resident; Uttam Bodanapally, MD, fellow; Joseph Chen, MD, resident; Sendhil Cheran, MD, resident; Deirdre Coll, MB, BCh, assistant professor; Barry Daly, MD, professor; Bahar Dasgeb, MD, fellow; Vasken Dilsizian, MD, professor; Thorsten Fleiter, MD, assistant professor; Julia Flukinger, MD, resident; Thomas Flukinger, MD, resident; Anis Frayha, MD, resident; Aletta Frazier, MD, clinical associate professor; Jeffrey Galvin, MD, professor; Rao Gullapalli, PhD, associate professor; Jeffrey Hirata, MD, resident; Kathleen Hughes, MD, resident; Jean Jeudy, MD, assistant professor; Nancy Knight, PhD, assistant professor; Asef Khwaja, MD, resident; Maria Manning, MD, clinical associate professor; Lisa Miller, MD, assistant professor; Stuart Mirvis, MD, professor; Michael Mulligan, MD, professor; Amy Musk, MD, resident; Paul G. Nagy, PhD, associate professor; William Olmsted, MD; clinical professor; Jigar Patel, MD, resident; Nandini Patel, MD, resident; Robert Pugatch, MD, professor; Andrew Rosenkrantz, MD; resident; Steve Roys, MS, research associate; Nabile Safdar, MD, assistant professor; Priti Shah, MD, resident; Kathirkama Shanmuganathan, MD, professor; Raj Shekhar, PhD, assistant professor; Eliot L. Siegel, MD, professor; Clint Sliker, MD, assistant professor; Stacy Smith, MD, associate professor; Saam Tabar, MD, resident; Fauzia Vandermeer, MD, assistant professor; David Vining, MD, professor; Charles White, MD, professor; Jade Wong-You-Cheong, MD, professor; Bao Zhang, MS, research associate; Gregg Zoarski, MD, associate professor; and Jonah Zwemer, MD, resident.

Paul Fishman, MD, PhD

Paul Fishman, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Neurology, presented "Delivery Vectors Derived from Tetanus Toxin" at a National Institutes of Health workshop called "Delivery of Gene Therapy to the Nervous System."

Andrei Medvedev, PhD

Lixing Lao, PhD

Stephen B. Liggett, MD

Stephen B. Liggett, MD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Physiology, was the featured speaker at the Merck Cardiovascular Research Retreat held in Red Bank, New Jersey, presenting "Polymorphisms within GPCR Pathways in Heart Failure Pathology and Pharmacogenomics."

Martin Schneider, PhD

Martin Schneider, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Program in Neuroscience, gave an invited lecture on "Activity-Dependent Signaling by the Transcriptional Regulators HDAC and NFAT in Skeletal Muscle Plasticity" for the Departments of Biochemistry and Neuroscience at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico, in September 2007.

David Scott, PhD

Rohini George, PhD

Rohini George, PhD, joined the Department of Radiation Oncology as an assistant professor in July 2007. Dr. George joins the department after completing a PhD program and a medical physics residency program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She has extensive clinical and research experience, including patient accrual and training in providing quality care to patients enduring external beam radiation therapy treatment.

Thomas E. Hooven

Thomas E. Hooven, joined the Office of Research & Graduate Studies as executive director, Research Administration. Mr. Hooven is a career federal executive with over 33 years of experience in health and environmental management issues at the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency. For the past eight years, Mr. Hooven was responsible for overseeing the research management infrastructure at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and most recently for the National Cancer Institute. He has extensive experience in information systems management, grants and contracts administration, budget, personnel, pro-gram planning and analysis. Mr. Hooven joined the School of Medicine in January 2008 after a year-long sabbatical in the Dean’s Office under Bruce Jarrell, MD, vice dean for Research and Graduate Affairs. It was in this capacity that Mr. Hooven worked on the School of Medicine’s new strategic plan and research roadmap. Mr. Hooven’s career experience in Washington, DC, along with his understanding of the research enterprise across the US, will be extremely beneficial to the future of the School of Medicine.

Andrew Ford, PhD

Andrew Ford, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Disease, joined the laboratory of Achsah Keegan, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases. Dr. Ford is a recent graduate of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Yan Su, PhD

Yan Su, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, joined the laboratory of David Scott, PhD, professor, Department of Surgery and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases. Dr. Su is a recent graduate of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Due to a submission error, an incorrect statement was run in the Selected Research Projects portion of the Seed Grant Program Created to Spur Collaborative Health Research article in the February 2008 issue of SOMnews. The bulleted paragraph that started with Abdu Azad’s name should have read as follows:

Louis DeTolla, VMD, PhD, associate professor of pathology, Aruna Panda, DVM, PhD, assistant professor of pathology, and Abdu Azad, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, all from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will work with Siba Samal, professor and associate dean, VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, to develop an efficacious and safe vaccine for a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1 Vietnam/1203/04 strain).