University Times

Hans-Christoph Pape, chief of the Division of Orthopaedic Trauma in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Pitt School of Medicine and chief of orthopaedic trauma surgery at UPMC Presbyterian, has received the annual award of the Swiss AO Foundation. The foundation is Switzerland’s leading teaching organization dedicated to improving the care of patients with musculoskeletal injuries and orthopaedic fractures through research, development, education and quality assurance. Pape is the first non-Swiss citizen ever to be honored with the award.

Pape is world-renowned for his research and clinical work in developing optimal treatments for those with serious multiple traumatic injuries.

He won the Swiss award specifically for a research publication on early assessment of the degree of hemorrhage in patients with blunt trauma, and for his “outstanding endeavors in the field of diagnosis of severely injured patients,” according to the AO Foundation.

AO founder, Martin Allgower, and Roland Jacob, president of the Swiss AO chapter, presented the award to Pape at a special ceremony during a scientific symposium in Berne, Switzerland, on May 6.

Pape, who joined UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 2005, previously was professor and vice chairman of trauma surgery at Hannover Medical School in Germany. He is known as a pioneer in “damage-control orthopaedics,” a concept mandating that seriously injured patients be stabilized and organ and system functions be restored as fully as possible before surgical repair of orthopaedic injuries.

Damage-control orthopaedics, along with a staged orthopaedic surgical approach, have been instituted in trauma centers around the world, including UPMC, over the last decade, changing the way multiple-injury patients are treated from admission through discharge, and improving their outcomes.

Pape and colleagues have published research findings suggesting that the approach of surgically repairing multiple orthopaedic injuries simultaneously with severe organ and system traumatic injuries immediately upon admission may be unessential and cause additional unnecessary stress.

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Sandra J. Quinn, associate professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences and associate dean for student affairs and education at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), has been accepted as a fellow into the 2006-2007 class of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program for women from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia.

ELAM is a program designed for senior women faculty at the associate or full professor level at U.S. and Canadian medical, dental and public health schools who want to assume higher levels of responsibility within their institutions and advance to positions of leadership. ELAM offers an intensive one-year program of leadership training with coaching, networking and mentoring opportunities aimed at expanding the national pool of women candidates who qualify for leadership positions in academic medicine, dentistry and public health.

Quinn, who holds a doctorate in health education, serves in multiple roles with national organizations such as the Society for Public Health Education and the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH).

Locally, she serves on the advisory committee for the Pennsylvania-Ohio Public Health Training Center and a steering committee for the GSPH/Allegheny County Health Department. She also is the chair and co-convener of the Sullivan Commission task force on racial and ethnic diversity within Pitt’s Schools of the Health Sciences. Currently, she is an invited member of the ASPH/Kellogg task force on addressing health disparities and will chair the national retreat of ASPH associate deans in June.

She has been a selected fellow of the National Public Health Education Leadership Institute from the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Health Promotion and Public Health Education.

Quinn’s research interests include public health interventions in the African-American community, public health history and risk communication, particularly with regard to bioterrorism and other forms of terrorist activity. She recently completed a CDC-funded, qualitative study of risk communication between postal workers and public health professionals focused on the anthrax attack in 2001.

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Bernard Goldstein, professor of environmental and occupational health and former dean of the Graduate School of Public Health, has been named to two committees of the National Academies of Science.

He also has been named chairman of the newly formed National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), a group dedicated to credentialing public health graduates.

Goldstein has been appointed by Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Science to membership on the U.S. National Committee for the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE).

SCOPE is a 40 member-nation organization headquartered in Paris that analyzes and synthesizes scientific information related to environmental processes and effects. Goldstein is editor-in-chief of SCOPE and previously was its vice president.

Goldstein also has been appointed by Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), to the newly formed Committee on Evaluation of the Veteran Administration’s Presumptive Disability Decision-Making Process. Goldstein is an elected member of IOM who also currently serves on its Board of Health Sciences Policy, and chairs the IOM committee to review the NIOSH hearing loss prevention program.

As chair of the NBPHE, Goldstein will join an inaugural board that includes members appointed by the American Public Health Association, the Association of Schools of Public Health, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine and the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Goldstein will chair the NBPHE board, which will develop a voluntary credentialing exam for graduates who earn master’s or doctoral degrees from the 37 public health schools and 65 programs accredited by the Council on Education of Public Health.

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Donald J. Plazek, emeritus professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering, has been selected as a 2006 fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE). The purpose of the fellows program is to honor select PMSE members who have made significant contributions to the science and engineering of polymeric, or plastic, materials.

Plazek studies the relationship between polymers’ structure and function. He is known for his work on polymers’ “viscoelastic” behavior. Viscoelastic materials behave like elastic solids (silly putty) at low temperatures and viscous liquids (honey) at high temperatures.

He joined Pitt’s Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (now the Department of Materials Science and Engineering) faculty in 1967; he became an emeritus professor in 1993.

He has served as an associate editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology and as a member of the advisory board of the Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics and has authored more than 150 publications.

Plazek’s honors include the George Stafford Whitby Award from the Rubber Division of the ACS and the Society of Rheology’s Bingham Medal.

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Four Pitt faculty members are recipients of the 2006 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring, an award that recognizes faculty for their mentoring of doctoral students. This is the first year the awards have been granted.

The awardees were selected from approximately 70 nominations made by Pitt graduate students and faculty.

The awardees are: Celia Brownell, associate professor of psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Katheryn Linduff, professor in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture in A&S; Esther Sales, professor in the School of Social Work, and Alan Sved, professor of neuroscience in A&S and co-director of the Center for Neuroscience.

They will be honored along with the other Provost’s award nominees at a May 22 reception in the William Pitt Union. Each of the four awardees also will receive a cash prize of $2,500.

“The mentoring of graduate students by our faculty is key to the training of the next generation of scholars and a vital part of Pitt’s academic mission,” said Provost James V. Maher. “The intellectual leadership provided by mentors helps to support, encourage and promote a student’s professional development and provides a foundation for a student’s career long after the degree has been granted.”

• Brownell has made significant contributions in her 23 years at Pitt as a teacher, mentor and director of graduate studies, a position she has held for the past five years. She has chaired 11 dissertation committees and served on 27 dissertation committees and a number of master’s thesis and specialty papers committees.

Her graduate students have received a number of honors and awards, including two Mellon fellowships and two Sloan fellowships. Brownell also has worked with her students to publish and present papers at conferences, having co-authored with them 14 publications and 45 presentations.

• Linduff, an expert on ancient Chinese art and archeology, also is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and teaches Asian studies courses in the University Center for International Studies. She has chaired 16 doctoral dissertation committees and 28 master’s thesis committees.

Her doctoral students have a record of obtaining fellowships, including Mellon, National Science Foundation and National Gallery of Art fellowships and 10 Chancellor’s fellowships in Chinese studies.

• Sales has served on more than 60 national, University, school and community committees, boards and task forces during her 35 years at Pitt. She has held more than 15 different administrative roles, from director of the social work graduate program to chair of the promotion and tenure committee.

During her tenure at Pitt, Sales chaired 63 dissertation defense committees, including the six doctoral students she is advising currently.

• Sved has mentored more doctoral students than any other faculty member in the neuroscience department’s 19-year history. He served as the department’s director of graduate admissions before becoming director of its graduate program.

Sved developed the neuroscience program into one of only nine (out of 200) nationally to be invited to participate in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). His decision, as leader of CID at Pitt, to focus on mentoring has helped shape the discussions about doctoral education on a national level.

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Michele Klein Fedyshin, UPMC Shadyside manager of library services, has been invited to be a member of the newly formed National Library of Medicine (NML) long-range planning committee. She will serve on a panel for NLM health information for undeserved populations in the 21st century.

As part of the panel, Fedyshin will contribute to two work groups: integrating disaster and emergency response information locally and nationally, and exploring new informatics training models for Europe, Africa and developing nations.

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Siddharth Chandra has been appointed as the director of the Asian Studies Center (ASC), part of the University Center for International Studies (UCIS).

An associate professor in Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and an affiliated faculty member of UCIS’s global studies program and ASC, Chandra will begin his five-year term July 1.

“The Asian Studies Center covers one of the most important and dynamic regions in the world today,” said UCIS director William Brustein. “We are certain that Dr. Chandra’s leadership, vision, energy and breadth of regional interests will not only help the center advance its already strong standing, but add new opportunities to build bridges between UCIS and the professional schools.”

Chandra’s scholarly research focuses on health and development economics, applied econometrics and economic history, with a regional emphasis on South and Southeast Asia.

He earned a Ph.D. at Cornell University, his master’s degree at the University of Chicago and his bachelor’s degree at Brandeis University, all in economics.

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Three Pitt School of Pharmacy faculty were honored recently.

• Raman Venkataramanan, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, was appointed as a clinical pharmacology consultant to the Food and Drug Administration cardiovascular and renal drugs advisory committee in the Division of Special Pathogens and Transplant Products for the evaluation of the immunosuppressive drug Everolimus.

• The Bhairavi Fine Arts Society of the United States presented Balwant Dixit, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, and his wife, Vidya, with the Seva Rathna Award (Distinguished Service Award) at the 29th Thyagaraja Music Festival held last month in Cleveland. This is the largest Indian classical music festival held outside India.

The award was given for the promotion of Indian classical music throughout the United States and Canada during the past 25 years through the University’s Center for the Performing Arts of India.

• Sandra Kane-Gill, assistant professor of pharmacy and therapeutics, has been elected as a member of the 2005-2010 United States pharmacopeia therapeutic decision-making expert committee, effective May 1. She also is a member of the Elsevier National Pharmacy Advisory Council.

In addition, Kane-Gill will be a panel member of the Excellence in Quality and Safety in Critical Care Conference in September.

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An essay written by Pat Frantz Cercone, director of communications and marketing at Pitt’s Bradford campus, is included in the upcoming 304-page book by Tim Russert called “Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons.”

The book, published by Random House and set to be released this month, features selections about fathers written by people from throughout the United States. Russert, NBC’s Washington, D.C., bureau chief and moderator of “Meet the Press,” chose the selections for the book from 60,000 e-mails that he received.

Cercone’s essay, titled “The Card,” describes how she buys a Mother’s Day card each year for her father, Richard L. Frantz, who raised her single-handedly after her mother died of a brain tumor in 1974 when Cercone was 11.

“This may seem strange, but it’s perfectly natural to honor the man who’s been the only mother I’ve had for more than 30 years,” Cercone wrote. “He’s the one who taught me how to make homemade stuffing, successfully sew a zipper into a pair of pants and combine just the right amount of flour and egg yolks to make homemade noodles.”

The book also includes a photo of Cercone and her father, one of only a dozen photos in the book.

“I always knew my father was special,” Cercone said. “He was the only father I knew who could sew a pair of curtains, bake bread and make homemade marmalade. But it wasn’t until I had a child of my own that I realized how unique he truly is. He successfully juggled mother and father duties while also working full time, running a household and taking care of a daughter alone.”

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Lynnett Van Slyke, director of Pitt’s Disability Resources and Services, and Carol Larson, assistant director for outreach and management in the Study Abroad Office, were chosen by the National Clearinghouse on Disability and Exchange (NCDE) for its campus collaboration campaign.

The selection was a joint effort of Mobility International USA, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State, the Association of Higher Education and Disability and NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

The pair were selected by NCDE for their commitment to implementing a process that supports the success of students with non-apparent disabilities in education abroad programs at the Pittsburgh campus.

Van Slyke and Larson each will receive $1,000 for travel and incidental expenses to the NAFSA Association of International Educators conference being held this week in Montreal, Canada. The two are invited to present at a conference session titled, “Educating and Accommodating Students with Visible and Non-Apparent Disabilities Abroad.”

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Recipients of this year’s Excellence in Education Awards were announced May 16 at the School of Medicine’s 14th annual curriculum colloquium.

The Kenneth E. Schuit Award, recognizing the dean’s master educators, was presented to James R. Johnston, professor of medicine, and Julie A. DeLoia, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences.

The award recognizes clinical and basic science faculty for education-related contributions (teaching, planning and organization of courses or course sections) to the medical school curriculum.

The Donald S. Fraley Award was presented to Elmer J. Holzinger, professor of medicine.

This award recognizes extended service as a medical student mentor at the School of Medicine and significant mentoring contributions that extend beyond a single student or group of students.

The Sheldon Adler Award was presented to Clifton W. Callaway, associate professor of emergency medicine for significant innovative contributions to medical education at the School of Medicine.

Awards for Excellence in Clinical Precepting, a new award this year, were presented to the following faculty: Franklyn P. Cladis, assistant professor of anesthesiology; Hollis D. Day, assistant professor of medicine; Antoine B. Douaihy, assistant professor of psychiatry; Amber M. Hoffman, assistant professor of pediatrics; Elmer J. Holzinger, professor of medicine; Sanjay Lambore, assistant professor of pediatrics; William R. McIvor, assistant professor of anesthesiology; Paul E. Phrampus, assistant professor of emergency medicine; Samuel A. Tisherman, associate professor of surgery, and Evan L. Waxman, assistant professor of ophthalmology.

This award recognizes clinical preceptors who consistently provide outstanding clinical instruction for students at the School of Medicine. Achievements of individuals receiving this award include significant service as a medical student preceptor and a clinical academic appointment in the medical school.

Arthur S. Levine, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, presented the following faculty teaching awards:

Awards for Teaching Excellence in Clinical Precepting were presented to James R. Jarvis, clinical instructor of medicine; Michael E. Wald, clinical assistant professor of medicine, and the Altoona Family Physicians Medical Group, which includes Donald Beckstead, Sherry Dehaas, Terry Ruhl, Jennifer Good, Kathy Sweeney and Elyssa Palmer.

This award recognizes clinical preceptors who consistently provide outstanding clinical instruction in the setting of the required clerkships for medical students. Individuals receiving this award hold a clinical academic appointment in the School of Medicine.

A special award, the Curriculum Service Award, was presented to Laurel Milberg, adjunct clinical associate professor of family medicine, for her nearly two decades of service as course director of the patient interviewing course for first-year medical students.

A second special award, the Student Award to a Senior Mentor, was presented to Vincent Cuddy, a retired vascular surgeon and now a clinical associate professor of surgery, for his ongoing commitment to excellence in medical student teaching and mentoring throughout the four-year curriculum.

The 2006 Excellence in Education Awards were presented by first- and second-year medical students to honor faculty and recognize their contributions and dedication to teaching in the basic sciences and organ systems courses in the School of Medicine.

Awardees were:

• Course directors John W. Kreit, associate professor of medicine; James R. Johnston, professor of medicine, and Allen L. Humphrey, associate professor of neurobiology;

• Lecturers Gregory J. Naus, professor of pathology, and David L. Paterson, associate professor of medicine;

• Small group facilitators Donald B. Middleton, professor of family medicine, and Georgia K. Duker, assistant professor of cell biology and physiology.

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Donald M. Yealy, professor and vice chair of emergency medicine at the School of Medicine, has been awarded the Hal Jayne Academic Excellence Award from the American Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. The award is presented to a member of the society who has made outstanding contributions to emergency medicine through research, education and scholarly accomplishments.

Yealy has focused much of his academic work on enhancing clinical decision-making in the emergency department, including evaluating patients with community-acquired pneumonia, developing an effective clinical method for identifying low-risk heart failure patients, and teaching and mentoring emergency medicine physicians.

He also has collaborated on several research projects involving best practice guidelines for rapid airway management in the prehospital environment. He is co-investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded study of genetic and inflammatory markers in patients with sepsis, in order to improve understanding of this deadly blood toxin’s pathophysiology.

Yealy served as president of the society in 2003-2004.

In 2001, Yealy received the National Faculty Teaching Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians.

He also has received numerous teaching awards over the years from medical students and residents at the Pitt School of Medicine.