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September 16, 2010

People of the Times

Adrian V. Lee, an expert in the molecular and cellular biology of breast cancer, has been appointed director of the newly formed Women’s Cancer Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Magee-Womens Research Institute (MWRI). His appointment was effective Aug. 1.lee_adrian

Before joining UPCI, Lee was an associate professor of medicine and molecular and cellular biology at Baylor College of Medicine.

Lee is especially well-known for his work targeting growth factor pathways as a potential new approach to breast cancer treatment. He has reported his work in nearly 100 publications and his studies have been funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and multiple foundations.

Lee serves as the section or associate editor of the journals Breast Cancer Research; Hormones and Cancer, and Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation.

He recently was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Council of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and has served on numerous scientific review panels. He is a permanent member of the molecular oncogenesis section for the National Institutes of Health.

Pitt has named Ernest Sosa, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers, as the inaugural awardee of the recently established Nicholas Rescher Prize for Contributions to Systematic Philosophy.

Named in honor of Rescher, Pitt Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, the award recognizes an individual “for distinguished contributions to philosophical systematization” and includes a gold medal, a $25,000 award and an invitation to deliver a lecture at the University.

A Cuban native, Sosa earned his doctorate at Pitt in 1964. Prior to assuming his position at Rutgers, he was on the faculty at Brown University for more than 40 years.

Sosa has served as a president of the American Philosophical Association (eastern division) and as editor of the journals Nous, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, he delivered the John Locke Lectures at Oxford in 2005 and the Paul Carus Lectures at the American Philosophical Association in 2010. His contributions to epistemology — and in particular to virtue epistemology, which stresses intellectual virtues — are widely seen as a groundbreaking unification of ideas from epistemology, value theory and ethics.

Melissa McGivney, a faculty member in pharmacy and therapeutics at the School of Pharmacy, was invited to be an expert advisory panel member for the Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Curricular Project undertaken by the American Pharmacists Association and the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The goal of the project is to research “best practices” of teaching MTM and creating a framework for MTM curriculum across schools of pharmacy nationally.McGivney

McGivney, who also is director of the community pharmacy residency program, focuses on the development of pharmacist patient care practices in the community.

Joanne Kowiatek, an adjunct faculty member in pharmacy and therapeutics and pharmacy manager of medication patient safety at UPMC Presbyterian, has been chosen as director-at-large-elect for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists section of inpatient care practitioners. She will assume the director-at-large responsibilities in June 2011.Kowiatek

Kowiatek’s hospital pharmacy experience involves pharmacy operations management, including managing centralized and decentralized pharmacy services and operating room pharmacy satellites.

In the School of Pharmacy, Kowiatek teaches medication safety and regulatory compliance and serves as a preceptor for pharmacy students and residents. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters contributing to medication safety literature.

As part of interdisciplinary teams, Kowiatek has received national awards, including the Circle of Excellence in Patient Safety Award and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Medication Safety Alert! Cheers Subscriber Award, as well as being an individual recipient of the ISMP Cheers Award.

Chemistry department faculty member Toby Chapman has been named a distinguished member of the Pitt chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars for the academic year 2010-11. Chapman was said to model the mission of the society — honoring and inspiring academic excellence and engaged citizenship over a lifetime. Chapman

The honor society recognizes outstanding scholastic achievement of first- and second-year students and promotes a national integrity initiative.

Giuseppina Mecchia, a faculty member in the Department of French and Italian Languages and Literatures, has begun a three-year appointment as director of the cultural studies program, an interdisciplinary certificate program concerned with the dynamics of culture on a global scale.

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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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