University Times

Nancy E. Davidson, an internationally renowned expert in breast cancer research and treatment, has been named director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI).

Davidson will have overall responsibility and authority for all aspects of cancer research, care and education within the integrated UPCI and UPMC Cancer Centers organization.

Her appointment is effective March 1. She also will serve as associate vice chancellor for cancer research and as chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Medicine.

Davidson currently is director of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center’s breast cancer program and professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she also holds the Breast Cancer Research Chair in Oncology. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at John Hopkins.

Davidson is a recipient of the Brinker International Award for Breast Cancer Research, the Avon Foundation Medical Advancement Award, the American Association for Cancer Research-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Award, the Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Award and the National Cancer Institute Rosalind E. Franklin Award.

She recently served as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is a member of the scientific advisory board of numerous foundations.

At Johns Hopkins, Davidson integrated basic scientific investigation of the biology of breast cancer with a nationally renowned clinical program focused on new therapies for the disease. She has published key findings on the role of hormones, particularly estrogen, on gene expression and cell growth in breast cancer. She also has guided several national clinical trials of potential new therapies, including the use of chemo-endocrine therapy for pre-menopausal breast cancer and anti-angiogenesis therapy for advanced disease.

Founded in 1985, UPCI became a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in only five years, a record time, and it is the only cancer center in western Pennsylvania with this elite designation. Currently, UPCI receives a total of $174 million in research grants and is ranked 10th nationally in funding from NCI.

Davidson will succeed Ronald B. Herberman, founding director of UPCI and director of the UPMC Cancer Centers. Herberman will devote more time to his research interests.

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The American Historical Association has selected Marcus Rediker’s book, “The Slave Ship: A Human History,” as the winner of the 2008 James A. Rawley Prize in Atlantic History. The award recognizes outstanding historical writing that explores aspects of integration of Atlantic worlds before the 20th century.

The prize was established with a gift from James A. Rawley, Carl Adolph Happold Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rediker, professor and chair of Pitt’s Department of History, will receive the prize at the association’s annual meeting in January.

Rediker has garnered a number of awards for his publications, including the George Washington Book Prize (2008), the Organization of American Historians (OAH) Merle Curti Award (2008) the International Labor History Book Prize (2001), the OAH Merle Curti Social History Book Award (1988) and the American Studies Association John Hope Franklin Book Prize (1988).

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Gregory Reed has been appointed director of the Power and Energy Initiative in the Swanson School of Engineering and associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

As its first director, Reed will provide leadership for the multidisciplinary activities of the new Power and Energy Initiative’s educational, research and outreach components. He will work with industry partners, federal and state agencies, foundations and other constituents in collaboration with the Swanson school’s faculty and staff and the University’s Center for Energy on various funding and research-oriented efforts.

Reed’s research interests include power transmission and distribution and energy systems; power electronics and control technologies and applications; energy storage technologies, and power generation and renewable energy resources.

Prior to his appointment at Pitt, Reed served as senior vice president of the Power System Planning and Management Group at KEMA, an international company providing power and energy consulting, technology implementation and market knowledge expertise. He will continue to serve as a consultant for KEMA.

Reed has 23 years of industry and academic experience in the power and energy arena. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 papers and technical articles in the areas of electric power system analysis and the applications of power systems technologies.

Reed is an member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power Engineering Society, as well as a member of the American Society for Engineering Education.

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Four School of Nursing faculty members have been inducted as fellows in the American Academy of Nursing.

Helen K. Burns, associate dean for clinical education and associate professor in the Department of Health and Community Systems; Denise Charron-Prochownik, associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Development; Mary Beth Happ, associate professor in the Department of Acute and Tertiary Care, and Ann Mitchell, associate professor in the Department of Health and Community Systems, were selected by the academy for their outstanding achievements in the nursing profession.

Burns, Charron-Prochownik, Happ and Mitchell also are members of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, District 6, and were inducted as fellows with 89 other nurse leaders during the American Academy of Nursing’s annual awards ceremony.

The academy’s mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Invitation to fellowship is recognition of one’s accomplishments within the nursing profession and provides the opportunity to work with other leaders in health care to address current issues.

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Bernard D. Goldstein, professor of environmental and occupational health at the Graduate School of Public Health, has won the 2008 Ramazzini Award. The award is bestowed annually by the Collegium Ramazzini, an international academic society based in Carpi, Italy, dedicated to understanding and preventing occupational and environmental disease.

Goldstein was presented with the award last month in the former Convent of San Rocco in Carpi for his lifetime achievements in improving environmental and occupational health policy nationally and globally.

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Goldstein has made major contributions to understanding the toxicity of air pollutants, the effect of benzene and other chemicals on human blood and how cancer-causing substances are formed after exposure to chemical inhalants. He has written extensively on the interface between environmental science, public policy and the law.

Goldstein is former dean of GSPH and founding director of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in New Jersey.

As a member of the Institute of Medicine, he has chaired more than a dozen committees evaluating issues central to environmental and occupational health.

The Ramazzini Award was named for Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714), an Italian physician considered the father of occupational medicine.

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The Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE) this month announced its first annual Leadership Awards. Patricia Kolar, director of field education at the School of Social Work, is one of four award winners nationally named by HPPAE.

HPPAE is a 12-year nationwide initiative to recruit and train the next generation of social workers who specialize in aging care by transforming how geriatric education is taught at master’s level social work programs.

Funded with support from the John A. Hartford Foundation, the program is anchored by local partnerships between universities and community-based agencies that serve older adults.

The award recipients were drawn from educators, students and community agencies who have demonstrated leadership qualities through their engagement with HPPAE.

Kolar was honored with the 2008 Outstanding Field Director Award.

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The People of the Times column features recent news on faculty and staff, including awards and other honors, accomplishments and administrative appointments.

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