Alpha Docs

Date: May 20, 2011

John Bartlett, professor of medicine and former chief of the division of infectious diseases, has been appointed to the newly established Scientific Advisory Board for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The 48-member board, which also includes Chris Beyer, professor of epidemiology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, will advise Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the State Department, on developments in HIV/AIDS research.

Frederick Brancati, professor and director of the Division of General Internal Medicine, has won the 2011 Kelly West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology from the American Diabetes Association.

Peter Burger, professor of pathology, neurosurgery, and oncology and director of surgical neuropathology, has received the NeuroOncology Lifetime Achievement Award from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University.

Michael Choti, professor of surgery and oncology, vice director of the Department of Surgery, and director of the Johns Hopkins Colorectal Center, has become president of the 950-member International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology. It is the first global educational organization committed to GI oncology and the only society dedicated to the multidisciplinary management of GI cancer.

E. Gene Deune, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, co-director of the Hand Surgery Division at Hopkins Hospital, and director of the hand surgery microsurgery section, has been elected secretary of the American Society of Reconstructive Mircrosurgery for 2011-2012.

Andrew Ewald, assistant professor of cell biology and oncology, who studies how cells build organs and how these same cellular processes can contribute to breast cancer metastasis, will receive the American Association of Anatomists Morphological Sciences Award for his significant advances in understanding the cellular and molecular basis of the development of epithelial tissues.

John Groopman, professor and associate director of cancer prevention and control at the Kimmel Cancer Center, has received the Award for Excellence in Cancer Prevention Research from the American Association for Cancer Research and the Prevention of Cancer Foundation. Also the director of the Department of Enviromental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Groopman is renowned for his discovery, validation, and application of molecular biomarkers to probe the causes of liver cancer and his efforts to prevent it in undeveloped countries.

Steven Goodman, professor of oncology, epidemiology, pediatrics, and biostatistics, has been appointed to the 15-member methodology committee of the new federal Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).  Established under the federal health reform act, PCORI facilitates the use of current outcomes research to compare accurately the effectiveness of various medical treatments.

Se-Jin Lee, professor of molecular biology and genetics, and Mark Mattson, professor of neuroscience, have been elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lee was elected for his discovery of the protein hormone myostatin, a master regulator of skeletal muscle mass and homeostasis, which could lead to therapies for muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy and AIDS, as well as treatments for elderly patients who are losing muscle mass. Mattson, chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging, was elected for his discoveries that revealed the cellular mechanisms involved in the ability of neurons to adapt during processes such as learning or injury, as well as his findings on the development of neurodegenerative disorders.

Jun Liu, professor of pharmacology, molecular sciences, and oncology and director
of the Johns Hopkins Drug Library, has received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for his internationally recognized creativity in pharmacological research and discovery. He has specialized in finding new uses for often-forgotten drugs.

Stephen Meltzer, professor of gastroenterology, an internationally renowned leader in the molecular pathobiology of gastrointestinal malignancy and premalignancy, has been elected to the Association of American Physicians. Meltzer, GI Divisional Director of Basic Research, invented molecular methods that have triggered an avalanche of research on precancerous lesions and also conducted a comprehensive study that led to the identification of several important tumor suppressor genes.