Convocation to Honor Three President’s Scholars

Event also recognizes faculty members with national and international awards during past year

Three members of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston faculty will receive 2006 President’s Scholar Awards, two for research and one for teaching.

James T. Willerson, M.D., president, will present the awards, the highest faculty recognition given by the institution, at the Faculty Honors Convocation beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, in the Beth Robertson Auditorium of the Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building. A reception will follow.

The research awards will go to Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM), and Ponnada A. Narayana, Ph.D., director of Magnetic Resonance Research at the UT Medical School at Houston.

The teaching award will go to Henry W. Strobel, Ph.D., associate dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School.

Each President’s Scholar Award carries a $5,000 prize, and the honorees will give brief remarks during the afternoon program.

In addition to the President’s Scholar Awards, individual faculty members receiving national and international awards over the past year will be recognized.

“This is a unique occasion for faculty from across our campus to gather in celebration of academic excellence,” Willerson said.

Research Award to Murad

The impact of Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D., on the advancement of science is felt throughout the world in academe, in health care and in industry.

Ferid Murad, M.D., Ph.D.

Murad received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for his earlier discoveries regarding nitric oxide. Thanks to his work, we know that nitric oxide can widen blood vessels, help regulate blood pressure, battle infections, prevent formation of blood clots and serve as a signal molecule in the nervous system.

“While the Nobel Prize is a wonderful and exciting honor, it also comes with considerable responsibility, as you also become an international diplomat and ambassador, to promote research, education and health care around the world,” Murad said. “However, it is the continual discovery in the laboratory and working with talented young scientists that are personally most rewarding.”

Murad has trained and collaborated with 110 scientists during the past 36 years. His research team uses techniques in biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, cell biology and physiology, and clinical pharmacology. The work is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NASA, the Defense Department, the Veterans Administration, foundations and several companies.

Murad is director of the IMM, holder of the John S. Dunn Sr. Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine, Regental Professor, and professor of integrative biology and pharmacology at the Medical School and the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS).

His current research focuses on cellular signaling and the effects of hormones and drugs on intracellular messenger molecules, primarily nitric oxide, cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP.

Murad lectures frequently in the United States and throughout the world, and he advises many biotechnology companies, foreign governments and officials regarding research, education and drug development. More than 25 biotechnology companies have been developed around his seminal discoveries. Before joining UT in 1997, Murad was president of Molecular Geriatrics, a biotech company focused on diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease.

Murad has received nine honorary degrees and is an honorary professor of many institutions. He has received numerous awards, including the Albert and Mary Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1996, the Association of American Medical Colleges Research Prize in 2000, and the Santiago Grisolía Research Prize in Spain in 2005. He is a member of numerous societies, including the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and several foreign academies. He has about 400 publications and has edited many books and journals.

In his nomination letter, Norman W. Weisbrodt, Ph.D., professor and interim chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, said of Murad, “The extent of his research in terms of productivity, quality and importance is matched by few scientists. He has achieved worldwide recognition not only by his peers but also by many non-scientists.”

Research Award to Narayana

The director of Magnetic Resonance Research at the Medical School, Ponnada A. Narayana, Ph.D., has emerged as “a dominant imaging research scientist, who has catalyzed numerous productive alliances with collaborators from across several disciplines,” Medical School Interim Dean Jerry S. Wolinsky, M.D., said in his nomination letter.

Ponnada A. Narayana, Ph.D.

Narayana is professor of diagnostic and interventional imaging at the Medical School and GSBS. Shortly after his arrival in 1983, Narayana and his team constructed the first 2 Tesla imager for small animal investigations. At that time such scanners were not commercially available.

As magnet field strengths evolved and as the reputation of Narayana’s laboratory grew, he was able to compete successfully for shared instrumentation grants from the NIH to replace the home-built predecessor with a newer, more powerful 7T instrument. Not long after the new instrument began to yield valuable new data, it was irreparably damaged by flooding from Tropical Storm Allison. In the wake of the devastation, a more comprehensive animal and human imaging center emerged that has greatly accelerated the tempo and extent of his research. He received NIH grants for a new 7T scanner for animal studies and a 3T clinical scanner.

Narayana currently is principal investigator on three projects funded by the NIH. In one project, he studies non-invasive techniques to map the progression of neurologic diseases such as multiple sclerosis. This research has provided the tools to determine efficacy of treatments for a multitude of industry- and NIH-sponsored therapeutic trials.

Narayana’s second project uses functional MRI to non-invasively investigate spinal cord injury and adaptive repair in animals and has direct implications for the management of spinal cord-injured patients.

The third project investigates the role of angiogenesis, or growth of new blood vessels, in spinal cord injury repair.

He takes an active role in developing the scientists and doctors of the future. Narayana mentors many undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, research scientists and junior faculty. Wolinsky referred to him as “an outstanding role model for young physicians,” and Narayana has been recognized for teaching excellence.

Narayana serves as an adjunct professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, the Center for Biomedical Engineering at UT Austin, and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the UT Medical Branch at Galveston. He has been an editorial board member of the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging since 1990.

Teaching Award to Strobel

A consistent favorite of students throughout his 34 years at the Medical School, Henry W. Strobel, Ph.D., has shared his passion and enthusiasm for teaching with thousands of students. He has received the prestigious John P. McGovern Outstanding Teaching Award, given by the graduating class to the outstanding teacher in the GSBS, and has routinely received the Dean’s Excellence Award for the GSBS and for the Medical School.

Henry W. Strobel, Ph.D.

Strobel’s teaching method is full of “a joyful enthusiasm that is infectious,” with a “speaking style that is eloquent and charismatic,” said William E. Seifert, Ph.D., director of the Medical Biochemistry Course.

As professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Strobel teaches first-year biochemistry at the Medical School and intermediate and advanced biochemistry at GSBS. In the third-year junior clerkship in family and community medicine, he leads a discussion on grief, illness and death. He also served for many years as assistant dean for student affairs and is currently associate dean for faculty affairs at the Medical School.

More than 20 years ago, Strobel originated a medical student elective in the Peoples Republic of China. In addition to leading the fourth-year China elective, he teaches about medicine in Vietnam, Chile, Malaysia and India.

Strobel’s student influence stretches well beyond the classroom. Sustaining an active research program, he has sponsored nearly 60 students for research tutorials and has been the major advisor for 26 doctoral students. His research interests include drug metabolism, carcinogenesis, cancer chemotherapy and the neurobiology of drug action.

One of the most important contributions Strobel makes to the life of a medical student happens before the first-year students even open a book. More than 25 years ago, he envisioned a welcoming event for first-year students hosted by the second-year students. Medical Professionalism Orientation Retreat, or “Retreat” as it is commonly known, offers new students the opportunity to form relationships with their classmates, as well as the second-year class, that become the foundation for the tough years of medical school that lie ahead.

Strobel’s legacy as a teacher spans more than three decades and thousands of students. “A powerful combination of personal style and exceptional talent consistently earn Henry the highest praise from the students,” said Rodney E. Kellems, Ph.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, in his nomination letter. “Few, if any, individuals have made such extensive and lasting contributions to the educational goals of our schools.”