Kudos

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Awards and Honors

Irma Gigli, M.D., deputy director of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM), has been appointed to membership in the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) Board of Directors. CRDF is a nonprofit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress and established by the National Science Foundation in 1995. This public-private partnership promotes scientific and technical collaboration between the United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union through grants, technical resources and training. One of the CRDF’s primary objectives is to support U.S. nonproliferation goals by engaging former weapons researchers in civilian research. Gigli also is director of the IMM Research Center for Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases, the Walter and Mary Mischer Distinguished Professor in Molecular Medicine, and a faculty member at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS).

Arthur H. Jeske, Ph.D., professor of integrative biology, Dental Branch (DB), was elected chair of the American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs. The council addresses scientific matters of concern to dentistry and oversees the ADA Seal of Acceptance Program for professional and consumer products, such as toothbrushes and toothpastes.

Ponnada Narayana, Ph.D., professor and director of Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, MS and GSBS, has been invited to serve as a member of the Developmental Brain Disorders Study Section, Center for Scientific Review, of the National Institutes of Health beginning immediately and ending June 30, 2005.

Sena Narendran, B.D.S., associate professor of dental public health and dental hygiene, DB, has received the 2003 National Dental Association Foundation/Colgate-Palmolive Faculty Recognition Award. This award, which has a $750 honorarium, highlights the achievements of minority faculty who have demonstrated excellence in professional development in teaching, research or service. Narendran’s award was given in recognition of her teaching.

Michael W. Ross, Ph.D., professor of behavioral sciences, School of Public Health (SPH), won the 2003 Kinsey Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Ross was cited for his groundbreaking work on sexual orientation and culture and his subsequent work on prevention of HIV/sexually transmitted diseases in minority populations. Named for Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the award is given annually for outstanding research achievements in the field of sexuality. This year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Kinsey’s famous second volume Sexual Behavior in the Human Female.

John Valenza, D.D.S., associate dean for patient care and acting chair of the Department of Diagnostic Sciences, DB, and Scott R. Makins, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor of endodontics and periodontics, DB, were awarded fellowships in the American College of Dentists during the group’s annual meeting and convocation in San Francisco. The American College of Dentists was founded in 1920 to recognize dentists who have made significant contributions to the advancement of dentistry. Fellowship is by invitation only, and fewer than 4 percent of all dentists are awarded this honor.

Jiajie Zhang, Ph.D., associate dean for research, School of Health Information Sciences (SHIS), has been elected as a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), the highest honor society in medical informatics in recognition of substantial accomplishments and significant contributions to the field. He was inducted Nov. 9 at an ACMI dinner in Washington, D.C., and will participate Feb. 12-15 in the Annual ACMI Symposium in San Diego. The UT Health Science Center at Houston (HSC) faculty now includes two distinguished ACMI fellows. The first is Jack W. Smith M.D., Ph.D., professor and interim dean of SHIS and a GSBS faculty member.

Presentations

H. Vernon Anderson, M.D., professor of medicine-cardiology,MS, was a panelist on “How to Read and Write a Scientific Paper” in November at the American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Fla. Anderson is an associate editor of Circulation, the flagship journal of the American Heart Association, and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

At the AHA sessions, a study by Jianwei Feng, M.D., cardiology fellow, MS, reported a sharp increase in the number of heart attack cases at a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital in the two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The study, conducted while Feng was on the staff of the New York Methodist Hospital, suggests that psychological stress can trigger serious heart problems.

Also at the AHA sessions, Austin Stack, M.B.B.Ch., assistant professor, and B.V.R. Murthy, M.B.B.S., M.D., D.M., assistant professor, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension, MS, presented “Increased Mortality among New ESRD Patients with Peripheral Vascular Disease Treated with Peritoneal Dialysis in the United States.”

Kathleen Becan-McBride, Ed.D., director of community outreach and education, HSC, and Paul Villas, Ph.D., executive director of the UT-Pan American Border Health Office and a commissioner on the U.S. Mexico Border Health Commission, presented an invited abstract on “UT-Houston Telehealth, Dentists Who Care and WIC Mobile Units along the Texas-Mexico Border” Nov. 1 at the International Mobile Health Association conference in Las Vegas.

Publications

Jung-Wei Chen, D.D.S., assistant professor of pediatric dentistry, DB, and student at SHIS, and Catherine M. Flaitz, D.D.S., interim dean, DB, and co-authors published “Association of Dental Health Parameters with Oral Lesion Prevalence in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Romanian Children” in the September/October issue of Pediatric Dentistry.

John Hicks, M.D., D.D.S., Ph.D., research collaborator, Department of Pediatrics, DB; Catherine M. Flaitz, D.D.S., interim dean, DB; Randall Ellis, D.D.S., clinical assistant professor of orthodontics, DB; and co authors published “Primary Tooth Enamel Surface Topography with In Vitro Argon Laser Irradiation Alone and Combined Fluoride and Argon Laser Treatment: Scanning Electron Microscopic Study” in the September/October issue of Pediatric Dentistry.