Medical Geneticist Inducted into Association

Diana Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D., holder of the President George H. W. Bush Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, was inducted into the prestigious Association of American Physicians (AAP) April 30 during the annual business meeting in Chicago.

Founded in 1885 for the advancement of scientific and practical medicine, the AAP Council each year nominates 55 individuals for membership.

Diana Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D.

“The honor is very well deserved, and we are again very proud of Dr. Milewicz,” said UT Health Science Center President James T. Willerson, M.D.

Milewicz, who has been at the UT Health Science Center since 1991, is an internist with a subspecialty in human genetics. Her research focuses on identifying genetic variations that predispose individuals to vascular diseases, such as aortic aneurysms and dissections. Aneurysm is a bulging of the aorta that leads to dissection, a lengthwise separation of tissues in the artery wall. The condition often kills suddenly with no warning symptoms.

Milewicz is professor and director of the Division of Medical Genetics and the M.D./Ph.D. Program in the UT Medical School at Houston and the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS).

She was vice chair of the Department of Internal Medicine for four years. She was named a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist in 2002, was elected a fellow of the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program in 2004, and received the Distinguished Professional Woman Award from the health science center’s Committee on the Status of Women in 2005.

In a note of congratulations on her most recent honor, Michael D. McKinney, M.D., executive vice president and chief operating officer at the health science center, wrote, “This distinction is a wonderful testament to your record of excellence and achievement. You continue to bring honor to the Health Science Center and Medical School.”

Ten others from the UT Health Science Center are members of the AAP:

Frank Arnett, M.D., holder of the Elizabeth Bidgood Chair in Rheumatology;

C. Thomas Caskey, M.D., chief operating officer and director- and CEO-elect, Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM);

Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., the Mary Wilson Kelsey Professor in the Medical Sciences, and professor of infectious diseases, UT School of Public Health and GSBS;

Irma Gigli, M.D., holder of the Hans J. Müller- Eberhard, M.D., Ph.D., Chair in Immunology, the Walter and Mary Mischer Distinguished Professor in Molecular Medicine, deputy director, IMM, and professor, GSBS;

K. Lance Gould, M.D., holder of the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished University Chair in Heart Disease, and director, Weatherhead PET Center for Preventing and Reversing Atherosclerosis;

Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., holder of the John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine, director of the IMM, and professor of integrative biology and pharmacology, Medical School and GSBS;

Barbara Murray, M.D., the J. Ralph Meadows Professor in Internal Medicine, professor of internal medicine, and director, Division of Infectious Diseases, Medical School and GSBS;

Stanley Schultz, M.D., dean of the Medical School, the H. Wayne Hightower Distinguished Professor in the Medical Sciences and holder of the Fondren Chair in Cellular Signaling, is a member emeritus;

James T. Willerson, M.D., president of the UT Health Science Center, holder of the Edward Randall III Chair in Internal Medicine, and the Alkek/Williams Distinguished Professor;

Kenneth K. Wu, M.D., Ph.D., holder of the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Huffington Chair in Gerontology, associate director of the Brown Foundation IMM, and director of the Vascular Biology Research Center and of the Division of Hematology, Medical School and GSBS.

By Ina Fried, Public Affairs