James Ashton-Miller, Ph.D., received the annual Borelli Award from the American Society of Biomechanics. The award recognizes outstanding career accomplishment by investigators who conduct research in biomechanics. Ashton-Miller is a research professor in the Institute of Gerontology in the Department of Internal Medicine, directs the Biomechanics Research Laboratory, and is associate director of the Bone and Joint Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation Center.

Ulysses G.J. Balis, M.D., in October reported to the Hematology and Pathology Devices Panel, which advises the Food and Drug Administration about digital pathology slide imaging. Balis, associate professor and director of pathology informatics in the Medical School, served as an expert witness on operational features essential for accurate interpretation of digital whole-slide imagery. He was appointed by Max Robinowitz, M.D., a senior medical officer at the FDA.

Ariel Barkan, M.D. (Residency 1983), has been elected to a four-year term on the board of directors of the Pituitary Society in the organization’s first election; board members formerly were appointed. The society is dedicated to furthering the understanding of diseases of the pituitary gland. Barkan is professor of internal medicine and director of the fellowship program in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, as well as professor of neurosurgery.

Robert Bartlett (M.D. 1963), professor emeritus of surgery, received the 2009 Pioneer Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Perinatal Pediatrics, and presented the Cone Lecture at the organization’s annual meeting in October. The Pioneer Award honors those who champion the health and well-being of newborns through lifelong accomplishments, thereby contributing to newborn care worldwide. Bartlett is best known for developing the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which oxygenates the blood of patients experiencing acute heart or lung failure. In 1975, Bartlett used the device to successfully treat a newborn infant for the first time.

William Chey, M.D. (Fellowship 1993), is co-editor in chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, which provides practical and professional support for clinicians dealing with gastroenterological disorders seen most often in patients. He is professor of internal medicine and directs the Office of Clinical Research in the Division of Gastroenterology and the Gastrointestinal Physiology Laboratory.

Arul M. Chinnaiyan (M.D. and Ph.D. 1999), the S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology and associate professor of urology and pathology, was among 65 members elected to the Institute of Medicine in November. Election to the IOM is one of the highest honors in health and medicine, and recognizes outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Chinnaiyan also was one of three young investigators to receive this year’s Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, awarded biennially since 2001 to scientists under the age of 46 by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was recognized for his research that discovered chromosome rearrangements that lead to prostate cancer.

Eva Feldman (Ph.D. 1979, M.D. 1983) was named president-elect of the American Neurological Association, a professional society of academic neurologists and neuroscientists, at the organization’s annual meeting in October; she will become president in two years. Feldman is the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology and director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and the U-M Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center.

A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., a professor of internal medicine and co-director of the U-M Center for Value-Based Insurance Design, has been named one of the nation’s top 20 health care leaders by HealthLeaders Media. He was honored for his work on value-based insurance design, which lowers costs on the most beneficial drugs and services for those who need them most, and pays physicians more for their services when they are providing evidence-based care.

Martin Myers Jr., M.D., Ph.D., received the 2009 Lilly Scientific Achievement Award from the Obesity Society for his research into the hormone leptin and the role it plays in obesity. The award is given to researchers who exhibit excellence in an established career and who are within 15 years of receiving the highest degree available in their field. Myers is the Marilyn H. Vincent Professor of Diabetes Research, associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, and associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology. He also presented the lecture, “Mechanisms of Leptin Action,” at the society’s annual meeting last fall.

Massimo T. (Max) Pietropaolo, M.D., was named chair of the Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases B Subcommittee of the Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Initial Review Group. The group is part of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health. Pietropaolo is a professor of internal medicine and pediatrics in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes, director of the immunogenetics laboratory and a Brehm Investigator.

John Tesmer, Ph.D., research associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology, received the Schering-Plough Research Institute Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Tesmer was nominated for being a leader in the structural biology of G protein signaling. The award recognizes research contributions to biochemistry and molecular biology by those who have no more than 15 years of postdoctoral experience.

Wendy Uhlmann (M.S. 1987) received the National Society of Genetic Counselors Outstanding Volunteer Award at the organization’s annual education conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in November, in recognition of achievement and leadership. She is a clinical assistant professor of internal medicine and human genetics and a genetic counselor and clinic coordinator in the Medical Genetics Clinic.

The Younger-Day Relay

In 1996, John Younger was a U-M research fellow in emergency medicine when Sharlene Day, a resident rotating through the department, caught his eye. He called her one night and asked if she wanted to join him for lunch sometime.

“Sure,” she said.

“How about a month from now?” he asked. “I’m pretty much tied up until then.”

That slick move notwithstanding, the pair eventually married and embarked upon careers at Michigan. He’s an associate professor and associate chair for research in the Department of Emergency Medicine and heads a laboratory which focuses on the immunology of acute bacterial pneumonia and bloodstream infections. She’s an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic, one of only 16 such centers in the U.S., which treats patients with a genetic disease of the heart muscle that’s a major cause of sudden death in children and young adults. She also heads a basic science laboratory studying protein turnover in heart failure and cardiac hypertrophy.

Both are also dedicated recreational athletes, and pretty impressive in that arena as well.

Day, who ran cross country and track as an undergraduate at MIT, has competed in the Boston and New York City marathons, played on a couple of state championship amateur tennis teams, finished third in her age group in her first triathlon last summer, and enjoys competing in what are called “dances with dirt” — 100-k relay races among five-person teams. “Everyone runs 12-13 miles through dirt and mud,” she says. “You can’t explain it to people who don’t do it, but it’s really fun. For me, athletics is part of who I am and maintains my mental health.”

While Younger claims “My athletic career is pretty pathetic,” he was on a swim team as a kid, was a cross country runner in high school, swims with the Ann Arbor masters team, and plans to resume competing in triathlons this spring after a lapse of a couple of years.

Last and certainly most, they have two sons, 4-year-old Carson and 2-year-old Christopher. After they became parents, any slack in their schedules vanished. She gave up tennis, they couldn’t do their 50-mile bike rides on Sunday afternoons, and neither could train sufficiently to avoid injuries in the more grueling sports.

“We can balance all the different things we do because we have each other,” says Day. “All of our responsibilities outside work are divided 50-50. John does virtually all the cooking, I probably do a greater share of housekeeping, we split taking time with the kids, and each of us will get a little bit of free time on the weekend to do whatever we need to get done.”

“The basic premise is that our time is of equal value,” says Younger.

Juggling travel is particularly dicey. “We have to plan meetings and conferences many months in advance,” Younger says. “We’re planned out through October in terms of who’s going to be out of town when.”

One thing hasn’t changed much since they had to wait a month for their first date: “That’s about how long it would take us to schedule lunch now,” says Younger. —JEFF MORTIMER