Appointments

Bart Chernow, M.D., vice president for special programs and resource strategy and vice provost for technology advancement at the Miller School, has been named to the board of directors of BioFlorida. Established almost ten years ago, the nonprofit organization was formed to advance Florida’s life sciences industry.
        “BioFlorida is a wonderful organization, and it is an honor to represent the University of Miami on the board,” said Chernow.

Paul Martin, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Hepatology, has been appointed to the American Board of Internal Medicine’s subspecialty board on gastroenterology.  

Allan Levi, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurological surgery, has been appointed director of the Goodman Oral Board Preparation Course by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. The three-day course is given bi-annually and taken by 90 percent of neurosurgeons before their oral board exam for board certification in neurosurgery. Levi will direct the course being offered later this month in Houston.

Claude “Earl” Fox, M.D., M.P.H., research professor of epidemiology and public health, has been invited by Florida Surgeon General Ana M. Viamonte Ros, M.D., M.P.H., to chair an ad hoc advisory committee commissioned by the legislature on the physician workforce initiative. The mission of the group is to assess the state’s future workforce needs, specify information needed, and report findings to the governor and legislature. Dean Pascal J. Goldschmidt, M.D., and Arthur Fournier, M.D., professor of family medicine and president of AHEC, both serve on the committee.

Awards

Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., Olemberg Family Chair in Neuro-logical Disorders, Miller Professor of Neurology, Epidemiology and Human Genetics, and chairman of the Depart-ment of Neurology has been awarded the prestigious Senator Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences. The award provides up to seven years of research funding from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to investigators who have demonstrated exceptional scientific excellence and productivity in research supported by the NINDS.
        The award will support the Northern Manhattan Study, which has been ongoing since 1990 and is the first study of its kind to focus on stroke risk factors in whites, blacks, and Hispanics living in the same community. New research will be funded on the effect of early changes that show up on brain MRI and carotid imaging and how those changes may relate to cognitive decline. The study is now a collaboration between Columbia University, where the participants are enrolled, and Miami, where data, blood, neuropsychological testing, and carotid imaging will be analyzed.

Walter Bradley, D.M., F.R.C.P., professor and chairman emeritus of the Department of Neurology, was honored with the 2008 Association of Indian Neurologists in America Lifetime Achievement Award. Bradley has an international reputation for his contributions to the fields of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, inflammatory myopathies, and muscular dystrophy.

Camillo Ricordi, M.D., scientific director of the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami, received the National Italian American Foundation’s (NIAF) Special Achievement Award in Medicine at the foundation’s Ambassador’s Ball on April 4 in Hollywood, Florida. Italy’s ambassador to the United States H.E. Giovanni Castellaneta and his wife, Lila Castellaneta, hosted the reception and dinner.

The Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education has been recognized by the Florida chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and the Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for its exceptional design. Perkins & Will, the Coral Gables firm that designed the Gordon Center, received the IIDA’s Institutional Forum Award and the AIA’s Award of Merit late last year. Special mention was made of the center’s atrium lobby.

Publications

Teresa Zimmers, Ph.D., research assistant professor and co-director of the Division of Surgical Oncology, published an article on lethal injection in the Fordham Urban Law Journal’s symposium book. On March 7, Zimmers, Leonidas Koniaris, M.D., co-author of the article, and David Lubarsky, M.D., presented at the Fordham Urban Law Journal’s symposium, which fostered discussion on a broad range of issues related to lethal injection, including the role of physicians and science in addressing the issue.