University Times

Joseph C. Maroon, vice chair of UPMC’s Department of Neurosurgery, will compete in the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon Oct. 18 in Kona, Hawaii. This 140.6-mile world championship event consists of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike race through Kona’s lava fields and a 26.2-mile run.

Maroon has participated in numerous marathons over the last 20 years and more than 50 Olympic distance triathlon events. This event will mark his fifth race of Ironman distance — the most recent being the European Ironman Race in 2000, in which Maroon finished in the top 10 in his age category. He has competed in previous Ironman competitions in Hawaii, Canada, New Zealand and Germany.

Maroon qualified for the Hawaiian Ironman race by completing the Muncie, Ind., Endurathon Half Ironman Race. His finishing time of six hours and five minutes designates him as an All-American Triathlete by the United States National Triathlon Association, which sanctions triathlon events in the United States.

Maroon has served as the team neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1981, and was a consulting physician to the Pitt Panthers from 1972 to 1983.

In addition to his athletic endeavors, Maroon is a professor of neurosurgery and a Heindl Scholar in Neuroscience at UPMC.

Maroon’s current research and clinical activity concerns treating diseases and injuries to the brain and spine with an emphasis on minimally invasive treatment procedures. He is the author of eight books.

With his colleagues, neuropsychologists Mark Lovell and Mickey Collins, he has developed a neurocognitive testing method to evaluate concussions in sports-related injuries. The Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) technique is the first completely automated system that allows athletic trainers to determine more accurately the severity of a concussion and the safety of a player’s return to play after injury. This neurocognitive test is now widely used throughout the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing and hundreds of colleges and high schools across the country.

Lovell oversees the neuropsychological testing programs for the NFL and the NHL and directs concussion testing for championship auto racing teams and the Indianapolis Racing League.

Lovell, a neuropsychologist and director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, this month received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Northern Michigan University.

He graduated from Northern Michigan University in 1977 with a B.S. in psychology. He then completed his doctorate in clinical psychology/neuropsychology at the Finch University of Health Sciences, the Chicago Medical School, in 1984. He also completed a clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical School in 1985.

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Linda M. Siminerio, executive director of the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute, has been elected vice president for the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). As vice president she will lead worldwide education efforts in the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

The IDF, headquartered in Brussels, is a non-governmental organization that works with the World Health Organization and IDF member associations to enhance the lives of people with diabetes. It is the only global advocate for people with diabetes and their health care providers. The federation has 181 member associations in more than 132 countries.

Siminerio, who is assistant professor in the schools of medicine and nursing at Pitt, has been executive director of the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute since 1999.

Siminerio is a past senior vice president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and has served on numerous ADA committees and its local and national boards of directors. She serves as editor of the ADA’s leading patient publication, Diabetes Forecast. She also is a member of the board of management of the IDF.

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1. Katherine Shear, professor of psychiatry and director of the panic, anxiety and traumatic grief program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, has been selected one of 45 women from medical and dental schools in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico as a 2003-2004 fellow by the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.

ELAM’s mission is to increase the number, success rate and retention of women leaders at academic health centers. Currently, only 10 of the 126 U.S. allopathic medical schools and 10 of the 55 U.S. dental schools are headed by women deans (including interim positions). Of these, five (25 percent) are ELAM alumnae.

The ELAM curriculum is focused on leadership development, career placement, communication and the use of new information/learning technologies. It combines traditional MBA training oriented toward issues and strategies pertinent to academic health management, with personal and professional development.

Fellows meet with national leaders in academic medicine, health care, government and industry and interact with peers from other institutions.

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Adolf Grünbaum, Andrew Mellow Professor of Philosophy of Science, research professor of psychiatry and chairman of the Center for Philosophy of Science, has been elected 2004-2005 president of the Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. DLMPS is one of two divisions of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS), the world’s umbrella organization of national associations and societies in the philosophy of science and in the history of science.

During his four-year tenure as president of DLMPS, Grünbaum will serve as president of IUHPS for 2006-2007.

Grünbaum also delivered a plenary lecture at the International Wittgenstein Conference in Kirchberg, Austria, in August, and three Leibniz lectures at the University of Hannover, Germany, in June.