Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD; Jennifer Wortman, MS,
Owen White, PhD and
Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD

Joana Carneiro da Silva, PhD (pictured), assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology and Institute for Genome Sciences; Sam Angiuoli, programming manager; Amy Egan, database engineer; and Joshua Orvis, lead applications development analyst, all from the Institute for Genome Sciences; Owen White, PhD, professor, Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine and Institute of Genome Sciences, Jennifer Wortman, MS, assistant professor, Department of Medicine and Institute for Genome Sciences, and Claire Fraser-Liggett, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine and director, Institute for Genome Sciences, co-authored an article entitled “Genomic Islands in the Pathogenic Filamentous Fungus Aspergillus fumigate” in PLoS Genetics, 4(4):e1000046.

John Kastor, MD

James Russell, MD

James Russell, MD, associate professor, Department of Neurology published “Standing Balance and Trunk Position Sense in Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT)-Related Peripheral Neuropathy” in the April 23, 2008, edition of the Journal of Neurological Sciences.

Stephen B. Liggett, MD

Stephen B. Liggett, MD, professor, Departments of Medicine and Physiology, co-published an article entitled “A G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase-5 Polymorphism that Inhibits ß-Adrenergic Receptor Signaling is Protective in Heart Failure” in Nature Medicine in May 2008.

Tapas Makar, PhD; David Trisler, PhD; Christopher Bever, Jr., MD

Tapas Makar, PhD, assistant professor, David Trisler, PhD (pictured), assistant professor, and Christopher Bever, Jr., MD, professor, all from the Department of Neurology, co-published an article entitled “Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor Treatment Reduces Inflammation and Apoptosis in Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis” in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 270 (2008) 70-76.

Ricardo A. Feldman, PhD

Laure Aurelian, PhD

Laure Aurelian, PhD, professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Jennifer M. Laing, BS, graduate student in Dr. Aurelian’s laboratory, and Ling Chen, a Class of 2009 medical student who did a rotation in Dr. Aurelian’s laboratory, published an article entitled “ICP10PK Inhibits Calpain-dependent Release of Apoptosis-inducing Factor and Programmed Cell Death in Response to the Toxin MPP+” in Gene Therapy, May 22, 2008.

Pablo Rabinowicz, PhD

Pablo Rabinowicz, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Institute for Genome Sciences, and Kimberly O’Brien, lab specialist, Institute for Genome Sciences, published an article entitled “The Highest-copy Repeats Are Methylated in the Small Genome of the Early Divergent Vascular Plant Selaginella moellendorffii” in BMC Genomics June 2008, 9:282.

Abdu Azad, PhD

Abdu Azad, PhD, professor, Magda Beier-Sexton, MSC, research supervisor, and Joseph Gillespie, PhD, research associate, all from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, co-published a chapter entitled “The Family of Rickettsiaceae” in the Practical Handbook of Microbiology.

Mark Oram, PhD and Lindsay Black, PhD

Correction

The name of Brian Berman, MD, professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine and director of the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Medicine was inadvertently put as the headline for a publication notice for Robert Buchanan, MD, and other faculty from the Department of Psychiatry. The item should have read:

Robert W. Buchanan, MD;
James M. Gold, PhD; Robert P. McMahon, PhD; and William T. Carpenter, Jr., MD

Stephen Bartlett, MD, professor and chair, Department of Surgery, received a one-and-a-half year $2.9 million grant from the Office of Naval Research for his work entitled “Composite Tissue Transplantation for Civilian and Combat Casualties.”

Edson X. Albuquerque, MD, PhD

Edson X. Albuquerque, MD, PhD, professor and chair, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, received the following grants: a one-year $223,892 National Institutes of Health Program Training Grant entitled “Training in Molecular and Mechanistic Toxicology,” a one-year $333,333 U.S. Army Department of Defense renewal grant entitled “A Novel Countermeasure Against Nerve Agents’ Toxicity and Lethality in Guinea Pigs: A Comparison with Cholinesterase Inhibitors,” a one-year $715,247 U01 grant renewal from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke entitled “Age & Sex Effects on Nerve Agent Damage to the Brain and Antidotal Therapies” (this grant also has a $199,350 supplement), and a one-year $328,125 R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his work entitled “Nicotinic receptors: Role in hippocampal synaptic function.”

Margaret M. McCarthy, PhD

Margaret M. McCarthy, PhD, assistant dean for Graduate Studies and professor, Department of Physiology, received a five-year $1,024,519 Pre-Doctoral Training Grant/T-32 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The grant will allow the Training Program in Neuroscience, under Dr. McCarthy’s leadership, to support six pre-doctoral students per year over the award period.

William Stanley, PhD

William Stanley, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, received a two-year $312,000 R21 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute entitled “Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Heart Failure.”

Leonid Medved, PhD

Leonid Medved, PhD, professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a four-year $1.5 million R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for his work entitled “Fibrin(ogen) Structure and Interactions.”

Andrei E. Medvedev, PhD

Andrei Medvedev, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, received a one-year $32,573 intramural University of Maryland Statewide Health Network Field Outreach Project grant entitled “TLRs and NLRs in Macrophage and NK Cell Activation and Melanoma Apoptosis.”

Sarah Netzel-Arnett, PhD

Sarah Netzel-Arnett, PhD, research associate, Department of Physiology and the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a two-year $230,000 grant from the Maryland Stem Cell Fund for her work entitled “Targeting Prosurvival Pathways for Enhanced Stem Cell Based Therapy.”

A. James Mixson, MD

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

Irina Luzina, MD, PhD

Mark A. Rizzo, PhD

Mark A. Rizzo, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Physiology, received a five-year $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for his work entitled “Regulatory Mechanisms of Insulin Secretion.”

Alice Ryan, PhD

Alice Ryan, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, received a five-year $2 million R01 grant from the National Institute on Aging for her work entitled “Aging, Inflammation and Exercise in Chronic Stroke.”

Jeffrey A. Winkles, PhD

Steven Zhan, PhD

Steven Zhan, PhD, professor, Department of Pathology and the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a two-year $230,000 grant from the Maryland Stem Cell Fund for his work entitled “The Role of Cortactin in Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells.”

Robert J. Bloch, PhD

Robert J. Bloch, PhD, professor, Department of Physiology, received a five-year $1,485,000 research grant from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases for his work entitled “Organization of Sarcoplasmic Reticulum in Skeletal Muscle.”

Nicholas Ambulos, Jr., PhD

Nicholas Ambulos, Jr., PhD, associate professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, director, Biopolymer/Genomics Core Facility and associate director for Shared Services at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, has been promoted to executive director of Research Core Facilities. In his new role, Dr. Ambulos will be responsible for unifying and streamlining the business practices of a number of core facilities, which are fundamental to basic science research. His oversight will ensure that the scientific direction of each core facility is meeting the needs of the research faculty.

Jay Magaziner, PhD, MSHyg

Laura Finkelstein, MD

Laura Finkelstein, MD, assistant professor, Department of Pediatrics, has been invited to become a member of the School of Medicine’s Committee on Admissions. Dr. Finkelstein’s three-year term began September 1, 2008.

Toni M. Antalis, PhD

Bruce E. Jarrell, MD

Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, has been promoted to executive vice dean of the School of Medicine. In the absence of an associate dean for research for the past four years, Dr. Jarrell has successfully overseen both the research and academic enterprises at the School of Medicine. Dr. Jarrell will have broad responsibilities in the School of Medicine, although he will continue to emphasize research and academic administration as primary areas of emphasis. Dr. Jarrell’s promotion reflects the increasing complexities and competitiveness of the School of Medicine and its expanding programs locally and nationally, as well as its reach globally, now in 32 countries.

Barney J. Stern, MD

Barney J. Stern, MD, professor, Department of Neurology, was appointed to the Maryland State Advisory Council on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (HDSP) for a term of four years, effective July 1, 2008. The HDSP works through local health departments and statewide partners to address risk factors for heart disease and stroke and awareness.

Linda Keevican

Linda Keevican has accepted the position of senior administrator for Shock Trauma Associates, PA and the Program in Trauma. Ms. Keevican most recently worked as the chief planning and business development officer for University Physicians, Inc., while also providing assistance as the interim administrator for the Program in Trauma.

Richard B. Thompson, PhD

Majid E. Cina, MD

Majid E. Cina, MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, was elected into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Honor Medical Society by the medical students of the AOA’s Beta Chapter at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Alpha Omega Alpha seeks to recognize and perpetuate excellence in the medical profession. Election into AOA is a measure of the enormous respect with which the Beta Chapter holds Dr. Cina as a teacher and clinician.

Margaret Chesney, PhD

Margaret Chesney, PhD, professor, Department of Medicine, and associate director of the Center for Integrative Medicine, received an honorary doctorate of humane letters for invaluable contributions to the fields of psychology and medicine from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, during Whitman College’s commencement ceremonies in May 2008.

Jimmy Reid

Jimmy Reid, director of Technical Operations in the Office of Information Services, received an official citation from the Maryland General Assembly for the work he and his family do for the young citizens of Anne Arundel County. Mr. Reid, his wife Auset and their son Donnie run an after-school program where middle and high school students pursue their interests in theater, visual arts, dance, studio production and recording.

Donna S. Hanes, MD

Donna S. Hanes, MD, associate professor, Department of Medicine, was chosen by the fourth-year medical students to receive the 2008 Faculty Humanism Award. Awardees exhibit the highest qualities of professionalism and humanism, including integrity, sound moral reasoning, respect for others from all walks of life and the ability to establish good communicative relationships. The Humanism Honor Society at the University of Maryland was established in October 2002 by former dean Donald E. Wilson, MD, MACP, to recognize medical students, house officers and faculty members demonstrating meritorious humanistic qualities. In 2007, the Society became a chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society through a grant from The Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

Quan Nhu

Quan Nhu, a fifth-year graduate student in the Program in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, is the eighth annual recipient of the Ollie Eylar Award. This award was established to honor Dr. Ollie Eylar, who was a Department of Microbiology & Immunology faculty member and known for excelling as a teacher. To be eligible for the award a student must have been admitted to PhD candidacy, have published a first author peer-reviewed article, presented their work at at least one national meeting and have a strong academic record, along with being a good citizen of the program. Mr. Nhu works in the laboratory of Stefanie Vogel, PhD, Department of Microbiology & Immunology.