Christine Grady, PhD, has been named Chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center. Dr. Grady has served as deputy director of the department since 1996 and as acting chief since September 2011. Her research focuses on clinical research subject recruitment, incentives, vulnerability, consents, and international research ethics. She is currently a member of President Obama’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues and serves as a senior research fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.
Dr. Grady joined the NIH Clinical Center in 1996, prior to which she served as assistant director for clinical science at the National Institute of Nursing Research. She has previously served as a consultant to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS (1996, 1998), and the Pan American Health Organization (1999), and served for two years in Brazil with Project Hope. She earned her undergraduate degree in nursing and biology from Georgetown University, where she also completed her PhD in philosophy and bioethics. She earned a master’s degree in community health nursing from Boston College. Dr. Grady is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and of the Hastings Center.
EVMS Installs New Dean
Richard V. Homan, MD, officially became the 12th Dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in February this year. He joins EVMS from Drexel University College of Medicine, where he was President and Dean. Dr. Homan succeeds Gerald J. Pepe, PhD, who had served as dean since 2004. Dr. Homan is also slated to assume the role of president within the next couple of years as part of the school’s plan to merge the roles of president and dean. He will succeed Harry Lester, who has served as president since 2005.
At EVMS, Dr. Homan will prepare the school for its upcoming accreditation visits and will work to enhance area partnerships with regional hospitals and health agencies. He will provide leadership for the school’s plan to increase enrollment and to retain physicians and researchers in the local area. Dr. Homan was previously dean of the School of Medicine at Texas Tech University, where he served for 16-years.
Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center Names Director
Stephen G. Emerson, MD, PhD, has been named director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Emerson, a leading hematologist/oncologist, is former president of Haverford College. His new appointment was effective April 1 this year, and he will also hold the Clyde ’56 and Helen Wu Professorship in Immunology at the Columbia University of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Emerson previously served as chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the University of Pennsylvania faculty for more than two decades, having joined Penn in 1994. He earned his MS in molecular biophysics, PhD in cell biology and immunology, and his MD at Yale University. He completed his baccalaureate education in chemistry and philosophy at Haverford College, where he returned as the school’s 13th President in 2007. Dr. Emerson’s research has focused on bone marrow stem cell differentiation and cell transplantation.
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center Names Deputy Director
Michael B. Atkins, MD, has been named deputy director of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. His appointment was effective April 1. An internationally recognized leader in cancer immunotherapy, angiogenesis, kidney cancer and melanoma, Dr. Atkins will work to promote clinical and translational research efforts at Georgetown-Lombardi. He will also provide leadership for the expansion of clinical and research activities at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and across the MedStar Health Network.
Dr. Atkins joined Georgetown Lombardi from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston and Harvard Medical School, where he served as professor of medicine and deputy chief of the division of hematology/oncology and associate director for clinical research at the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center. At BIDMC, Dr. Atkins established the cutaneous oncology and biologic therapy programs as well as the cancer clinical trials office. He directed the Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DFHCC) Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in kidney cancer, and served as co-principal investigator of the Harvard skin cancer SPORE. He also established the kidney cancer program at DFHCC.
Dr. Atkins has served on the advisory boards of the Melanoma Foundation of New England, the Melanoma Research Foundation Breakthrough Consortium and the Kidney Cancer Association. He is a founding member and longtime co-leader of the Cytokine Working Group and is past president of the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer.
USC Names Inaugural W.M. Keck Professorship of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Andrew P. McMahon, PhD, has been named as a Provost Professor and the inaugural holder of the W.M. Keck Professorship of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine. He will also serve as director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC and chair of the Keck School’s newly created Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He will hold an appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Dr. McMahon joins USC from Harvard University, where he served as the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, on July 1. Dr. McMahon began his tenure at Harvard University as a full professor in 1993. During his tenure, he served as chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and as professor in the Departments of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, for which he also served as principal faculty member.
Dr. McMahon’s research team, several members of which join him in his move to USC, has focused on the underlying genetic mechanisms leading to the formation of complex tissue structures, such as the limb, kidney and brain. His basic research has contributed to the development of the first FDA-approved hedgehog pathway inhibitor, vismodegib. At USC, he will work closely with clinicians to develop novel stem cell therapies and will conduct pioneering regenerative medicine research.
Dr. McMahon earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University and his doctorate from University College in London. He completed postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Harvard, he was head of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology in Nutley, NJ. He also previously served as staff scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, where he initiated his independent research program. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Society (London), and is an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization.
OHSU School of Medicine Appoints Senior Associate Dean for Research
Mary Stenzel-Poore, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), has been appointed as the University’s Senior Associate Dean for Research. She will also serve as Associate Vice President for Basic Research. In her new post, she will retain responsibility for the basic sciences and will also provide leadership for collaborative research initiatives across the university.
An alumna of OHSU, Dr. Stenzel-Poore earned her PhD in Immunology in 1986. She completed postdoctoral fellowship in neuroendocrinology at the Salk Institute in San Diego before returning to OHSU as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology in 1995. She was appointed chair of the department in 2010. Her research, consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health, has focused on injury, inflammation and neuroprotection in stroke. She has served on the scientific advisory board of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Discovery Institute, and as chair of scientific review of the NIH’s Special Neuroscience Research Program for Under-represented Minorities.
Stanford University Medical Center Names Head of Breast Cancer Program
Mark Pegram, MD, has been named Director of the Breast Oncology Program in the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center and Stanford Cancer Institute. Dr. Pegram joined Stanford in February from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he was Sylvester Chair professor of medicine in the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute and associate director for clinical research in the UM Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Pegram is recognized for his research contributing to the clinical application of trastuzumab (Herceptin) in combination with chemotherapies to treat breast cancer patients. He was also a senior author for a study showing the efficacy of using lapatinib in combination with an estrogen blocker to treat patients with metastatic breast cancer. Dr. Pegram served on the faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles prior to joining the University of Miami. He earned his MD from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
TUSM Names Chair of Department of Medicine
Gerard J. Criner, MD, has been appointed as Chair of the Department of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM). Dr. Criner is the Florence P. Bernheimer Distinguished Service Chair, Department of Medicine; Professor of Medicine; Chief of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine; Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit and Ventilator Rehabilitation Unit, and serves as co-director of the Center for Inflammation, Translational and Clinical Lung Research. His work has focused on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and critical care medicine.
Dr. Criner earned his MD at TUSM, where he also served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. He completed fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Criner serves as principal investigator for multiple grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and has published extensively.
Stony Brook Cancer Center Names Director
Yusuf A. Hannun, MD, has been appointed Director of the Stony Brook Cancer Center, the Joel Kenny Professor of Medicine, and Vice Dean for Cancer Medicine. He joins Stony Brook from the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was Deputy Director of the Hollings Cancer Center.
In addition to overseeing the multidisciplinary management teams of the Center and their supporting research programs in the School of Medicine, Dr. Hannun will continue his own research work funded by the National Institutes of Health. His work has focused on lipid mediators of cancer cell signaling. Along with his colleagues, he discovered the roles of sphingolids in the progression and treatment of cancer, as well as their function in other areas of medicine. Dr. Hannun earned his MD from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, where he also completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine. He subsequently completed fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Duke University, where he then served as Wayne Rundles Professor of Oncology, Director of the Program in Molecular Medicine, and Associate Director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
UAMS Appoints Director of New Office of Global Health
Don Simpson, PhD, MPH, has been named as director of the newly established Office of Global Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). The new Office will serve to centralize resources and global health initiatives already underway across the UAMS. Dr. Simpson has previously served on medical mission trips to Haiti and has contributed to academic development efforts in Africa and Saudi Arabia. In his new post, he will work to coordinate the service efforts of UAMS students and employees in developing countries.
Dr. Simpson serves as chair of the Department of Laboratory Sciences in the UAMS College of Health Related Professions. He began his tenure at the UAMS in 1992, when he joined the faculty as associate director of research for the Department of Emergency Medicine in the UAMS College of Medicine. He is a board-registered cytotechnologist, and was named director of the UAMS cytotechnology program in 2004.
U of L Names Interim Dean
Toni M. Ganzel, MD, MBA, has been named interim dean of the University of Louisville (UofL) School of Medicine. She is stepping in for Edward Halperin, MD, MA, who left UofL to become CEO and Chancellor for Health Affairs of New York Medical College and Provost for Biomedical Affairs of Touro College and University.
Dr. Ganzel has served at UofL since 1983, when she joined the faculty as an assistant professor in otolaryngology. During her tenure, she has served as chief of otolaryngology at Kosair Children’s Hospital, director of the division of otolaryngology at UofL, associate dean of student affairs for the School of Medicine and senior associate dean for students and academic affairs. She is also a fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Dr. Ganzel earned her undergraduate and MD degrees from the University of Nebraska and completed a master’s degree in business administration/medical group management from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN. She completed residency in otolaryngology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and subsequently served on the faculty at the Creighton University School of Medicine before joining UofL.