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May 2008

Dear Colleagues

The School of Medicine has long been committed to exporting its best practices in healthcare delivery and biomedical research to the rest of the world through collaborations with other medical centers and research institutions through our state-of-the-art telehealth and telemedicine technologies.

We have a large group of internationally recognized clinicians and scientists who do groundbreaking research in basic, clinical and translational science, and we believe strongly in sharing their expertise with the rest of the world. Our faculty carry out epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory research, and work with local public health officials in many countries around the world.

Indeed, the school has a long history of significant contributions to global health, through research, healthcare delivery, outreach and public policy. Some of our initiatives are well-known, such as the Center for Vaccine Development’s (CVD) work in creating and testing vaccines for some of the world’s most vexing infectious diseases, such as malaria and avian flu. Likewise, the work of our Institute of Human Virology in treating and preventing AIDS is recognized the world over. Read More

Beth Barnet, MD

Beth Barnet, MD, associate professor, Departments of Family & Community Medicine and Pediatrics, co-authored an article entitled “Double Jeopardy: Depressive Symptoms and Rapid Subsequent Pregnancy in Adolescent Mothers” in Archives of Pediatriacs & Adolescent Medicine, March 2008;162(3):246-252.

Brian Berman, MD

Brian Berman, MD, professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, and director of the Center for Integrative Medicine, co-published a chapter entitled “Acupuncture for Pediatric Pain and Symptom Management” in the Carla Holloway edition of Pediatric Clinics of North America, December 2007, Volume 54, Number 6.

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored an article entitled “Charac-terization of Paralogous Protein Families in Rice” in BMC Plant Biology, 2008, 8:18.

Timm-Michael Dickfeld, MD, PhD

Timm-Michael L. Dickfeld, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, published an article entitled “Integration of Three-Dimensional Scar Maps for Ven-tricular Tachycardia Ablation Using Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT)” in the first edition of JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, 2008; 1:73-82.

Hervé Tettelin, PhD

Hervé Tettelin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, co-published an article entitled “Variation in the Group B Streptococcus CsrRS Regulon and Effects on Pathogenicity” in the Journal of Bacteriology, 190, March 2008, edition.

Eric Toth, PhD and
Gerald Wilson, PhD

Eric Toth, PhD (left), assistant professor and Gerald Wilson, PhD, assistant professor, along with Jade Bernstein, graduate research assistant, and Dimeka Patterson, research specialist, all from the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, published the article “Characterization of the Essential Activities of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mtr4p, A 3’g5’ Helicase Partner of the Nuclear Exosome” in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, 283(8), 4930-4942.

Cinthia Drachenberg, MD; Stephen Bartlett, MD; David Klassen, MD; John Papadimitriou, MD, PhD

Cinthia Drachenberg, MD, professor, Department of Pathology, led a consensus group with experts from 24 transplant centers world- wide, towards the de-velopment of a schema to grade acute and chronic rejection of pancreas allografts. The paper, “Banff Schema for Grading Pancreas Allograft Rejection: Working Proposal by a Multidisciplinary International Consensus Panel,” will be published in the American Journal of Transplantation in June 2008. In addition to Dr. Drachenberg, the effort also involved Stephen Bartlett, MD, professor and chair, Department of Surgery, David Klassen, MD, professor, Department of Medicine and John Papadimitriou, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Pathology.

Lalji K. Gediya, PhD; Aakanksha Khandelwal, PhD; Puranik Purushottamachar, PhD; and Vincent C.O. Njar, PhD

Lalji K. Gediya, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Aakanksha Khandelwal, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Puranik Purushottamachar, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, and Vincent C.O. Njar, PhD (above), associate professor, all from the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, co-published an article entitled “Improved Synthesis of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (HDI’s) (MS-275 and CI-994) and Inhibitory Effects of HDI’s alone or in Combination with RAMBAs or Retinoids on Growth of Human LNCaP Prostate Cancer Cells and Tumor Xenografts” in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, December 8, 2007, [Epub ahead of print].

T. Sean Vasaitis, PhD and
Vincent C.O. Njar, PhD

T. Sean Vasaitis, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, and Vincent C.O. Njar, PhD, associate professor, both from the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, co-published an article entitled “Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel 17-indazole Androstene Derivatives Designed as CYP17 Inhibitors” in Steroids, 2007 Dec;72(14):939-48 (Epub ahead of print on August 15, 2007). Dr. Vasaitis works in the lab of Angela Brodie, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics.

Jennifer Russo Wortman, MS

Jennifer Russo Wortman, MS, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and Institute for Genome Sciences, co-published an article entitled “Automated Eukaryotic Gene Structure Annotation Using EVidenceModeler and the Program to Assemble Spliced Alignments” in Genome Biology, 2008, 9(1):R7, January 11, 2008.

Michael Miller, MD

Michael Miller, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, co-authored The American Medical Association Guide to Preventing and Treating Heart Disease.

Achsah D. Keegan, PhD; Irina Mikhailenko, PhD; and Jose Moreno, PhD

Achsah D. Keegan, PhD (left) , professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, Irina Mikhailenko, PhD, research associate, Department of Physiology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, and Jose Moreno, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Orthopeadics, co-published an article entitled “IL-4 Promotes the Formation of Functional Multinucleated Giant Cells from Macrophage Precursors by a STAT6-dependent Mechanism” in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 82: 1542-1553, 2007.

Gregory Carey, PhD and
Achsah D. Keegan, PhD

Gregory Carey, PhD (left) , assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, and Achsah D. Keegan, PhD, professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, along with Xiulan Qi, research assistant, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, co-published “IL-4 Protects the B-cell Lymphoma Cell Line CH31 from Anti-IgM-induced Growth Arrest and Apoptosis: Contribution of the PI-3’kinase/Akt Pathway” in Cell Research, 17: 942-955, 2007. Additionally, Dr. Keegan, Ms. Qi and Nicola Heller, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, co-published “Molecular Basis of Cytokine Receptor Pleiotropy in the Interleukin-4/13 system” in Cell, 132: 259-272, 2008.

A-Lien Lu-Chang, PhD

A-Lien Lu-Chang, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, published two articles in the same journal. “The Human Checkpoint Sensor Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 Interacts with and Stimulates NEIL1 Glycosylase” was published in Nucleic Acids Research, 35: 2463-2472, 2007. The second article, “The Human Checkpoint Sensor Rad9-Rad1-Hus1 Interacts with and Stimulates DNA Repair Enzyme TDG Glycosylase,” was published in Nucleic Acids Research, 35, 6207-6218, 2007.

Sylvain Huard, PhD; Robert Elder, PhD; Ge Li, PhD; Dong Liang, MS; and Richard Y. Zhao, PhD, MD

Sylvain Huard, PhD, post-doctoral fellow; Robert T. Elder, PhD, senior scientist; Ge Li, PhD, post-doctoral fellow; Dong Liang, MS, research assistant; and Richard Y. Zhao, PhD (above), associate professor, all from the Department of Pathology, published an article entitled “HIV-1 Vpr Induces Cell Cycle G2 Arrest through Srk1/MK2-mediated Phosphorylation of Cdc25” in the December 6, 2007, issue of the Journal of Virology.

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, was an invited speaker at the Genome Informatics Meeting at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York in November 2007. In her talk, entitled “IDEA—The Sugarcoat for PAML,” she described IDEA, Interactive Display for Evolutionary Analysis, a computer program developed in her research group.

Rudolph J. Castellani, Jr., MD

Rudolph J. Castellani, Jr., MD, professor, Department of Pathology, gave a platform presentation, and was senior author on two other platform presentations, at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences meeting held in Washington, DC, in February 2008. The presentations included “Cocaine-induced Intracerebral Hemorrhage in a Patient with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy,” “Stairway Related Deaths: An Analysis of Autopsy Findings in Individuals Found Dead at the Bottom of a Stairway,” and “Lymphocytic Hypophysitis Associated with Sudden Unexpected Death in a Young Woman.”

Timm-Michael Dickfeld, MD, PhD

Timm-Michael L. Dickfeld, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, chaired the session “MRI and Electrophysiology” at the 2008 meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Los Angeles, California.

Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD

Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, presented the 2008 John H. Erskine Lecture in Infectious Disease Research during the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society Annual Meeting at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis in January 2008. The title of the lecture was “Genomics and Infectious Disease Research in the 21st Century.” Additionally, Dr. Fraser-Liggett presented the Pioneer Lecture, sponsored by the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana’s Institute for Genomic Biology, in March 2008.

John R. Hess, MD, MPH

John R. Hess, MD, MPH, professor, Departments of Pathology and Medicine, consulted with the Ministry of Health of Malaysia as a World Health Organization (WHO) representative in March 2008. Dr. Hess is on the WHO Expert Panel on Blood Transfusion Medicine, and is an expert on blood substitutes.

Young Kwok, MD

Young Kwok, MD, assistant professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was an invited speaker at the White Oak Seminar Series at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health in Silver Spring, Maryland, in March 2008. His lecture was entitled “Recent Technological Advances in Radiation Oncology.”

Sterling A. North

Sterling A. North, director of Continuing Medical Education for the Office of Faculty Affairs & Professional Development, gave a presentation entitled “Delivering Quality CME at the Local Level” at the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education’s 33rd Annual Conference in Orlando in January 2008.

Wendy Sanders, MA

Wendy Sanders, MA, assistant dean for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, gave a grant writing workshop at the annual meeting of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in San Diego in January 2008.

Richard Y. Zhao, PhD

Richard Y. Zhao, PhD, associate professor, Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology, and Institute of Human Virology, gave a plenary lecture entitled “Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a Model Organisim for Apoptosis-induced HIV-1 Viral Protein R” at the 6th International Conference on Yeast Apoptosis in Leuven, Belgium, in April 2008.

Department of Pathology

The Department of Pathology held its Third Annual Symposium on Translational Research in Molecular Pathology in October 2007. The theme of the symposium was “Clinical Applications of Genomics” and was held in Davidge Hall as part of the School of Medicine’s bicentennial celebration. The symposium highlighted the most recent developments and clinical applications of genomic research, from genomic medicine to translational research, in breast cancer. Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, delivered introductory remarks emphasizing the importance of the symposium. J. Craig Venter, PhD, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, gave the keynote lecture entitled “From Humans to the Environment.” Seven other nationally and internationally renowned scientists including Angela Brodie, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, Stephen B. Liggett, MD (pictured above), professor, Department of Medicine, and Alan Shuldiner, MD, professor, Department of Medicine, presented lectures. Over 300 people representing 22 academic institutions, governmental agencies and private sectors participated in this symposium.

Department of
Radiation Oncology

Several members from the Department of Radiation Oncology participated in the 49th Annual American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) conference in Los Angeles in October 2007. ASTRO’s members include physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other scientists who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. Six out of six resident submissions for presentation were accepted, in addition to presentations by faculty and students. Below is a list of faculty, residents, physicists and students from the Department of Radiation Oncology who participated in this national radiation oncology conference:
Faculty included William Regine, MD (above), professor and chair, Anil Dhople, MD, assistant professor, Michael Garofalo, MD, assistant professor, Young Kwok, MD, assistant professor, and Majid Mohiuddin, MD, assistant professor. Residents include Todd Flannery, MD; Matthew Koshy, MD; Ali Mirmiran, MD; Ashish Patel, MD; Susannah Yovino, MD; and Kathleen Settle, MD. Students include Kevin Carter, Grace Tang, Jared Adams and Sarah Han-Oh.

Cheryl Armstrong

Cheryl Armstrong has joined the Office of Development as director of development, working specifically with the Department of Neurology. A career development professional, she brings with her more than 20 years of experience in health, education and human service fundraising, with special emphasis in capital campaigning and endowment building. Prior to joining the School of Medicine, Ms. Armstrong led fundraising initiatives at the American Red Cross, Kennedy Krieger Institute and the INOVA Health System.

Marcy Miller

Marcy Miller joined the Office of Development in October 2007 as an associate director of development. She is responsible for raising funds to support clinical programs. Ms. Miller and her family recently relocated to the Baltimore area from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she worked as a development officer for the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Ms. Miller holds two masters degrees, one in business administration and one in education. Previously, she worked in the banking industry and as a teacher.

Michael Jessup

Michael H. Jessup, Jr. joined the Office of Development in October 2007 as director of major gifts for the Department of Medicine. Originally from Baltimore, Mr. Jessup brings more than 20 years of professional and volunteer medical fundraising with him. Prior to joining the School of Medicine, he oversaw the development efforts for Shands HealthCare, an affiliation of the University of Florida Health Science Center, and its six medical centers and two academic medical centers. There he was also involved in the planning and implementation of a capital campaign for a $400 million cancer hospital in Gainesville. Mr. Jessup has served in leadership board positions for the American Diabetes Association, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, National Kidney Foundation, Towson University Athletic Fund, LifeQuest Organ Recovery, Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Advisory Board’s Philanthropy Leadership Council.

Lauren Jones-Lush, PhD

Lauren Jones-Lush, PhD, joined the Department of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Science in November 2007 as a training grant post-doctoral fellow. She completed her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and her post-doctoral training at Brandeis Unievrsity. She will work in neuromotor rehabilitation research with an emphasis on neuroplasticity measures in transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Maria Cecelia Melendres, PhD

Maria Cecelia Melendres, MD, joined the Department of Pediatrics as an instructor in January 2008. Dr. Melendres received her medical degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, Philippines. She completed a rotating medical internship and a pediatric residency at the Philippine General Hospital, also in Manila, followed by a two-year pediatric residency and a pediatric pulmonary fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. She is a member of the Philippine Pediatric Society, American Thoracic Society, Sleep Research Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her special interest is in pediatric sleep medicine.

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD, joined the Department of Microbiology & Immunology in October 2007 as an assistant professor. She is also a faculty member in the Institute for Genome Sciences. Dr. Carneiro da Silva came to the University of Maryland School of Medicine from The Institute for Genomic Research, where she was an assistant investigator. A graduate of the Classic University of Lisbon, in Portugal, Dr. Carneiro da Silva earned a doctorate in genetics from the University of Arizona in 2000, and did her post-doctoral work at the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health. Her research focuses on evolutionary genetics and comparative genomics of single-celled eukaryotic parasites, including the causative agents of malaria and cryptosporidiosis.

Brian Berman, MD

Brian Berman, MD, professor, Department of Family & Community Medicine, and director of the Center for Integrative Medicine, received $1.5 million from the John W. Kluge Foundation. The gift will allow the center to broaden its investigation of the use of traditional Chinese medicine and mind/body therapies for particularly burdensome health care problems such as pain management in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

A. James Mixson, MD

A. James Mixson, MD, associate professor, Department of Pathology, received a two-year $69,999 Maryland Industrial Partnerships grant for his work “Silencing Scar Formation by Targeting Hoxb13.”

Kristi Silver, PhD

Kristi Silver, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, received a three-year $593,000 grant from the American Diabetes Association entitled “Steroid Challenge and the Prediction of Post-Transplant Diabetes Mellitus.”

Hervé Tettelin, PhD

Hervé Tettelin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences, received a one-year $52,734 grant from the International Livestock Research Institute for his work entitled “Application of Genomics and Proteomics to Camel Streptococcus agalactiae: Development of Vaccines and Diagnostics to Support Camel Milk Marketing through Improved Control of Mastitis.”

Richard L. Eckert, PhD, MS

Richard L. Eckert, PhD, MS, professor and chair, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, was elected to a five-year term as a member of the Board of the Society of Investigative Dermatology, beginning in May 2008

Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD

Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, was appointed as a member of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research for a three-year term effective February 2008.

William F. Morgan, PhD, DSc

William F. Morgan, PhD, DSc, professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was appointed conference chair for the 2009 Gordon Research Conference on Radiation Oncology to be held in January 2010 in Ventura, California. Additionally, Dr. Morgan was elected vice president of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements’ Program Area I, a committee that is responsible for basic criteria, epidemiology radiobiology and risk.

Dennis Narango, MA

Dennis Narango, MA, has been appointed acting associate dean for Development. He has been assistant dean since 2002.

Abdu F. Azad, PhD, PharmD, MPH

Abdu F. Azad, PhD, PharmD, MPH, professor, Department Microbiology & Immunology, has been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-reviewed process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. There are now over 2,000 Fellows representing all subspecialties of microbiology, including basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry and government service.

Lisa Shulman, MD

Lisa Shulman, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology, was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Neurology.

Sanford A. Stass, MD

Sanford A. Stass, MD, professor and chair, Department of Pathology, was named chair of the Collaboration and Publication Subcommittee of the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network (EDRN). He was also elected as the Biomarker Reference Laboratory representative on the EDRN Executive Committee. The EDRN is an initiative of the National Cancer Institute that brings together dozens of institutions to help accelerate the translation of biomarker information into clinical applications and to evaluate new ways of testing cancer in its earliest stages and for cancer risk.

Lai-Xi Wang, PhD

Lai-Xi Wang, PhD, associate professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, has accepted an invitation from the Center for Scientific Review to serve as a member of the Synthetic and Biological Chemistry Study Section. The term will begin July 1, 2008, and end June 30, 2012. Dr. Wang was selected based on his demonstration of competence and achievement in his scientific disciplines of bioorganic chemistry, glycobiology and immunology as evidenced by the quality of his research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors.

Zhiyong Zhao, PhD

Zhiyong Zhao, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, has been granted a secondary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology.

Henry York, MD and Melita Theyagaraj, MBBS

Henry York, MD, assistant professor, and Melita Theyagaraj, MBBS, instructor, both from the Department of Neurology, passed the Spinal Cord Injury Medicine Certification Board Examination. The Spinal Cord Injury Medicine Certification Examination is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education certified examination in the specialty of spinal cord injury medicine. Physicians who have passed this examination are already certified in another specialty and through experience and examination have demonstrated their expertise in taking care of persons with spinal cord injury or disease. This group of patients with paralysis and secondary complications from spinal cord injury often provide some of the most challenging care issues that can be faced in the practice of medicine.

S. Michael Plaut, PhD

S. Michael Plaut, PhD, assistant dean for Student Affairs and associate professor, Department of Psychiatry, was given the inaugural Exemplary Service Award by the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Northeast Group on Student Affairs (NEGSA) at its annual meeting in Baltimore on April 5, 2008. The award reflects Dr. Plaut’s 30 years of membership in NEGSA, during which time he held a number of positions, including chair of the Committee on Counseling and Support Resources, representative to the AAMC Committee on Student Affairs and NEGSA chair.

Andrea Kwong, MD

Andrea Kwong, MD, assistant professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, graduated from the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO)/Solvay Educational Scholars Program at a ceremony held during the APGO/Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology Annual Meeting in March 2008. This program is a 15-month comprehensive educational curriculum designed to help OB/GYN professors teach women’s health more effectively.

Magdi Saba, MB, BCh, MS and Stephen Shorofsky, MD, PhD

Magdi Saba, MB, BCh, MS, assistant professor, and Stephen Shorofsky, MD, PhD, professor, both from the Department of Medicine, filed a patent for “A Novel Method for the Identification of the Site of Origin of Ventricular Tachycardia by Integrating Surface Electrocardiographic and Intracardiac Pace-Mapping Data Using Vector Analysis.”

Sterling A. North

Sterling A. North, director of Continuing Medical Education for the Office of Faculty Affairs & Professional Development, received the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education’s President’s Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and contributions as chair of the State and Regional Organizations Committee (for the term 2004 to 2007) at the Alliance for Continuing Medical Education’s 33rd Annual Conference in Orlando in January 2008.