Two University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences faculty members have been elected 2023 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Deborah Polk, visiting associate professor of dental public health, School of Dental Medicine, and Bennett Van Houten, Richard M. Cyert Professor of Molecular Oncology and professor of pharmacology and chemical biology, School of Medicine, are among the 502 scientists, engineers and innovators recognized by AAAS for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.
A tradition dating back to 1874, election as an AAAS fellow is a lifetime honor. Distinguished past honorees include W.E.B. DuBois, Ellen Ochoa, Steven Chu, Grace Hopper, Alan Alda, Mae Jemison and Ayanna Howard. Polk and Van Houten join 214 fellows from the University of Pittsburgh who have received the prestigious award since its inception.
AAAS noted Polk’s “distinguished contributions in the fields of clinical psychology and oral health sciences, particularly in deepening our understanding of behavioral factors of patients and practitioners in improving oral health.” Polk, also a faculty member in the School of Public Health’s Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, and lab members evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to help providers follow guidelines.
AAAS honored Van Houten as a fellow for “outstanding contributions to the field of DNA damage and repair, particularly the development of several novel methods for understanding the choreography of the DNA repair processes.” Van Houten and his lab study the formation and repair of DNA damage in nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, paying particular interest to the structure and function of proteins that mediate nucleotide excision repair and the role of oxidative stress in human disease.