People of the Times
Provost Patricia E. Beeson has named George Huber as interim vice provost for research conduct and compliance and head of the reorganized Research Conduct and Compliance Office effective July 1. The office, which had reported to the Office of the Chancellor, now will report to the Office of the Provost.
Huber is an associate dean for public policy and a professor of health policy and management in the Graduate School of Public Health. He also is the University’s associate research integrity officer. He previously served as UPMC’s senior vice president and general counsel.
He will succeed Vice Chancellor Randy Juhl, who will retire this summer after leading the office for 13 years.
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The Swanson School of Engineering has named Max A. Fedor director of the Coulter translational research partners II program.
Fedor has over 25 years of experience as a business leader and entrepreneur, with a focus on technology commercialization, general management and operations. Most recently, he was president and CEO of BIOSAFE, a manufacturer of patented antimicrobial polymers. Prior to that, he served as executive-in-residence at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, managing a portfolio of companies while mentoring their leadership teams and directors.
Fedor also has held CEO and other senior-level positions in a number of early stage companies, where he developed and launched new medical technology products, raised investment capital and formed partnerships with industry leaders such as Bayer and Alstom.
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Graduate School of Public Health alumni were recognized for their outstanding public health service during a May 29 ceremony at the University Club.
Among the winners were two Pitt faculty members:
• Yvette Conley, Class of 1999, received a Distinguished Alumni Award for Teaching and Dissemination in recognition of her leadership in incorporating genomics into the education of nurses across all levels of education at Pitt and nationally. Conley became the first geneticist in the country to hold a primary appointment within a nursing school when she joined the faculty of the Pitt School of Nursing in 2000. She is an active faculty member for the National Institute of Nursing Research Summer Genetics Institute and is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation nurse faculty scholar national mentor.
• Nancy Glynn, Class of 1994, received the Margaret F. Gloninger Service Award for her significant volunteer contributions. Glynn, a faculty member and director of the master’s degree program in the Department of Epidemiology, founded the community service group “Epi Gives Back,” which bridges epidemiology with community service, such as fundraising for type 1 diabetes research and rabies prevention efforts with the Allegheny County Health Department. She also has played key roles in activities ranging from educating the community on the importance of organ donation to organizing monthly dinners for homeless shelters.
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Five School of Medicine faculty members have been inducted into the Association of American Physicians (AAP) and two have been inducted into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI).
Election to AAP is limited to 60 inductees per year. AAP serves as a forum to create and disseminate knowledge and as a source of role models for upcoming generations of physicians and medical scientists. Pitt’s new AAP inductees are:
• Juan C. Celedón is UPMC Niels Jerne Professor of Pediatrics and chief of pediatric pulmonology, allergy and immunology at Children’s Hospital. His research is centered on identifying genetic factors and early-life environmental exposures that influence the development of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, particularly in ethnic minorities.
• J. Timothy Greenamyre is the Love Family Professor of Neurology and director of the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the American Parkinson Disease Association Advanced Center for Parkinson’s Disease Research at Pitt. His research is focused on the mechanisms that cause nerve cell death in disorders such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
• John Kirkwood is the Sandra and Thomas Usher Professor of Melanoma as well as a faculty member in medicine, dermatology and translational science. His research has focused on developing effective treatment approaches for melanoma.
• George K. Michalopoulos is the Maud L. Menten Professor of Experimental Pathology and chair of the Department of Pathology. His research focuses on new therapies for liver fibrosis and the disease mechanisms in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
• Yoel Sadovsky is the Elsie Hilliard Hillman Professor of Women’s and Infants’ Health Research and scientific director of the Magee-Womens Research Institute. His research focuses on fetoplacental development and placental nutrition, injury and adaptation.
Election to ASCI reflects early career accomplishment as new members must be 50 or younger. ASCI represents physician-scientists who are “at the bedside, at the research bench and at the blackboard.” Up to 80 members are elected annually.
Pitt’s ASCI new members are:
• Pawel Kalinski is a faculty member in surgery and immunology, School of Medicine; faculty member in infectious diseases and microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health, and faculty member in bioengineering at the Swanson School of Engineering, as well as director of the Immunotransplantation Center in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. His research aims to determine the cellular and molecular background of the interactions between tumors and the immune system and to develop effective measures of counteracting tumor-associated immune dysfunction and promoting immune-mediated tumor destruction.
• Jeremy Kahn is a faculty member in critical care medicine in the School of Medicine and in health policy and management in the Graduate School of Public Health. His research focuses on the organization, management and financing of critical care services.
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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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