The University of Michigan has named James R. Baker, M.D., as the Distinguished University Innovator for 2008. Baker’s work with synthetic lipid and polymeric nanostructures has resulted in the development of nanoemulsions as a new class of antimicrobial agents with activity against bacteria, spores, fungi and viruses. Baker’s nanoemulsion technology became the basis for NanoBio Corporation, founded in 2000. A second startup, Avidimer Therapeutics, was launched in 2003 to develop pharmaceuticals formed from dendrimers, nanometer-sized polymers that serve as an inert bio-scaffolding. Baker is the Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Biologic Nanotechnology.

 

Arul Chinnaiyan (M.D./Ph.D. 1999), director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology and the S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology, received the American Association for Cancer Research Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. The award is one in a series given annually by the association, which is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization representing cancer scientists from the U.S. and nearly 70 other countries. The award honors outstanding accomplishments in basic cancer research, clinical care, therapeutics and prevention.

 

Paul Gauger, M.D. (Residency 1998), associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Surgery, and associate professor of medical education, has been honored with the Association for Surgical Education’s Outstanding Teacher Award. Gauger was recognized in part for helping to establish the Clinical Simulation Center. The association’s mission is to promote, recognize and reward excellence, innovation and scholarship in surgical education. Its 850 members represent more than 190 medical schools in the U.S. and Canada.

 

The American Geriatrics Society has named Jeffrey B. Halter, M.D., as the 2008 Nascher/Manning Award recipient. The premier honor of the society is given to an individual with distinguished, lifelong achievement in clinical geriatrics. Halter, who is the director of the U-M Geriatrics Center and Institute of Gerontology and professor of internal medicine, was cited as a leader in the field of geriatrics, and as an educator and author. A renowned geriatrician who specializes in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in older adults, Halter is the founding director of the Geriatrics Center, established in 1987.

 

Awori Hayanga, M.D., a fourth-year general surgery resident, has been named a recipient of the American Medical Association Foundation’s 2008 Leadership Award. The award provides medical students, residents/fellows, and physicians with special training to develop skills as future leaders in organized medicine and community affairs. Hayanga was the 2007 recipient of the American College of Surgeons Resident Leadership Award.

 

The Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, representing academic obstetrician-gynecologists in the U.S. and Canada, has named Timothy R.B. Johnson, M.D. (Residency 1979), as its new president for a one-year term. Johnson is the Bates Professor of the Diseases of Women and Children, and chairs the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He initiated the U-M Women’s Health Program, which was designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health.

Anna Lok, M.D., professor of internal medicine and director of clinical hepatology, was honored by the Hepatitis B Foundation as its Distinguished Scientist for 2008 for her outstanding contributions to advancing the science and medicine of hepatitis B. Lok is a world renowned hepatologist and one of the premier leaders in hepatitis B research. Lok and Juanita Merchant, M.D., Ph.D., professor of internal medicine and of molecular and integrative physiology, were named Outstanding Women in Science for 2008 by the American Gastroenterological Association Foundation for Digestive Health and Nutrition. Merchant’s recent studies involve animal and cell culture models to dissect the pathways through which bacterial colonization leads to ulcer development and subsequent cancer. Lok and Merchant were honored for exemplary contributions to digestive disease science.

 

Geriatrics Center Associate Director for Research Richard A. Miller, M.D., Ph.D., is the recipient of the Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction for 2007 from the American Federation for Aging Research. The award recognizes Miller’s exceptional leadership contributions to research in the field of aging. Miller, a professor of pathology and research scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, is widely recognized for his research into the genetic and biological aspects of aging.

 

John V. Moran, Ph.D., associate professor of human genetics and of internal medicine, is among 56 top national scientists who have been appointed the newest Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators. Moran is a pioneer in understanding the biology of common repetitive DNA elements in the human genome often dismissed as “junk DNA.” He leads a group of U-M researchers who examine how these repetitive elements impact the evolution of the human genome. One of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations, the institute has invested more than $8.3 billion to support the most promising and creative scientists in the U.S.

 

Jayesh Thawani, a member of the Medical School Class of 2009 and an Edsel B. Ford Scholar, has been awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute/National Institutes of Health Research Scholars Program Fellowship for 2008-09. Established in 1985, the fellowships provide 42 outstanding students at U.S. medical, dental, osteopathic and veterinary schools an opportunity to receive research training at the NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.

 

Edward M. Wojtys (M.D. 1979, Residency 1984), professor of orthopaedic surgery, chief of the Sports Medicine Service, and medical director of MedSport, has been selected as editor-in-chief of Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach, a bi-monthly publication to be launched in January 2009 aimed at physicians and allied health professionals who work with athletes. The journal is a collaborative publication by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, American Medical Society of Sports Medicine, National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the Sports Physical Therapy Section, and will be published by Sage Publications.

 

 

Lewis Morgenstern: Closing the Gaps

When Lewis Morgenstern was 5 years old, his mother’s mother came to live with him and his parents in their Manhattan apartment.

“She was a wonderful woman who played a pivotal role in raising me,” he says. “When I was 12, she had a large stroke. I remember that as if it happened yesterday. She survived for a couple of months with all the ravages of disease, then had another stroke and died. As I grew older and became more interested in the brain, I decided to be a neurologist. It was then I realized that stroke was an unbelievably common disease that nobody studied or took as a specialty.”

As the director of the U-M Stroke Program, a collaboration among neurology, emergency medicine, neurosurgery, radiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and cardiology since its inception in 2002, Morgenstern (M.D. 1990) has been doing as much as one person can to change that.

“Stroke is the No. 1 cause of adult disability in this country, the No. 1 reason people end up in nursing homes, and the third-leading cause of death. It’s a very complicated disease of the body’s most complicated organ,” he says. “To treat it appropriately and aggressively requires people from a lot of different backgrounds working together.”

Given its significance, and an aging population, the fact that it’s such a small blip on the medical radar is both alarming and all but incomprehensible. Morgenstern points out that in Texas, where he worked for seven years before returning to his alma mater, “There are more than 1,000 board-certified cardiologists, but only 12 stroke doctors.”

Such a state of affairs makes outreach, prevention and education as vital as helping patients get better. “We have a fantastic stroke fellowship program here,” he says, “and we recruit and train only the best individuals who we think will be leaders in the country.”

A major focus of Morgenstern’s research has been disparities in stroke rates and outcomes between Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic whites in the U.S. What he and his colleagues have learned is that Mexican-Americans have a much higher incidence of stroke, and their strokes are just as severe, but they’re less likely to die than non-Hispanic whites.

“As a researcher,” he says, “I have two questions that follow: What can I do to lower the stroke rate in Mexican-Americans, and what can I learn from Mexican-Americans that would reduce the death rate in non-Hispanic whites?”

While health disparities research yields information ultimately useful for all populations, Morgenstern’s motivation is rooted in social justice. “One group should not suffer more than others,” Morgenstern says. “It’s incumbent upon all of us to reduce disease in minority populations for clear ethical reasons.”

And what might he have done if he hadn’t become a physician? “I would have enjoyed being a commercial airplane pilot,” he says. “I’ve always had this incredible love of airplanes and of travel, and I think that would be really cool.”

Instead, Morgenstern keeps the Stroke Program flying. —Jeff Mortimer