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Two UT Medical School Researchers Honored
for Advancing Science
Two faculty members at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston have been named 2004 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). This prestigious honor is awarded for work and contributions deemed scientifically or socially distinguished by a panel of peers.
Frank G. Moody, M.D., professor of surgery, and Bruce C. Kone, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, are among 308 new AAAS Fellows in Medical Sciences announced in the Oct. 28 "AAAS News & Notes" section of the journal, Science.
Frank G. Moody, M.D.
New AAAS fellows will be honored Feb. 19 at a ceremony during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Moody, 76, was recognized for "distinguished contributions to the understanding of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of inflammatory diseases of the gallbladder, biliary tract and pancreas." He has spent his career as a general surgeon with a primary interest in the treatment of digestive disorders. He joined the UT Medical School faculty in 1982 as the Denton A. Cooley Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery.
In 1988, Moody founded the Trauma Research Center, aimed at physicians (primarily surgeons) interested in pursuing an academic career in trauma. The center is now in its 16th year of funding by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
"Stepping down from the chairmanship in 1995 has allowed me to pursue my academic interests with renewed vigor," Moody said. "I'm grateful to have had an opportunity to work with a large number of outstanding students and surgical colleagues, many of whom have gone on to assume major leadership roles in American surgery." His research has focused on the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis and obstruction of the intestine in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of basic scientists and clinical investigators.
Bruce C. Kone, M.D., was elected as an AAAS fellow for distinguished contributions to the fields of cell signaling, ion transport and gene regulation, particularly for studies of nitric oxide syntheses and ion motive ATPases.
"I am honored the AAAS has designated me a fellow. and I look forward to sharing this honor with my department," Kone said.
Bruce C. Kone, M.D.
Kone also is director of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension and has been a clinical associate professor in the nephrology section at UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center since 2000. He holds the James T. and Nancy B. Willerson Chair, and is an adjunct member of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM).
He is committed to promoting preventative programs for and treatment of kidney disease. "It's not well recognized that kidney disease increases a person's risk for other chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and hypertension," he said.
Kone is principal investigator for several grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and mentors more than two dozen postdoctoral fellows. "We on this faculty are dedicated to teaching and leading by example the next generation of doctors and clinical scientists, hopefully inspiring some into academic investigative careers,” Kone said.
Kone earned his medical degree in 1983 from the University of Florida College of Medicine and performed his residency in internal medicine at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is nationally board-certi- fied in both internal medicine and nephrology.
Moody attended Dartmouth College before graduating from the Cornell University Medical College in 1956. He completed a seven-year training program in general surgery at the New York Hospital- Cornell Medical School.
Kone and Moody are the seventh and eighth members of the current UT Health Science Center faculty to be elected AAAS fellows. Others are:
- L. Maximilian Buja, M.D., executive vice president for academic affairs, the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences and holder of the Distinguished Chair in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine;
- John H. Byrne, Ph.D., the June and Virgil Waggoner Distinguished Professor and chairman of the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the UT Medical School at Houston;
- Kathleen Gibson, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy and in the UT Dental Branch at Houston Department of Orthodontics;
- Irma Gigli, M.D., deputy director of the IMM and the Walter and Mary Mischer Distinguished Professor in Molecular Medicine.
- Nobel laureate Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., director of the IMM, chairman of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology at the Medical School, and holder of the John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology and Medicine;
- Jerry Wolinsky, M.D., the Bartels Family Professor in Neurology at the Medical School.
All eight scientists also hold faculty appointments at the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston.
The non-profit American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal, Science.
By David R. Bates, Public Affairs