January 18, 2007
Health Sciences news briefs
Wylie Burke, professor and chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics, became president of the American Society of Human Genetics on Jan. 1 and will serve in the position through 2007. The society, representing more than 8,000 researchers, clinicians, and other professionals involved in human genetics, is the pre-eminent research and public education society in the field. Burke is also an adjunct professor of epidemiology and an associate member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her research addresses the social, ethical, and policy implications of genetic information.
Aaron Katz, senior lecturer in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, received the 2006 American Public Health Association Award for Excellence. The award recognizes those who have made meritorious contributions to the improvement of people’s health. Katz was honored for his contributions to higher education in public health and health policy and his work with Seattle’s community organizations and the Washington state government. Katz is the director of the Packard-Gates Population Leadership Program, a network of international leaders working to improve community health in countries in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. He teaches core health policy courses for master’s of public health and master’s of health administration students and has published numerous articles on health policy.
David J. Pierson, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and medical director of respiratory care at Harborview Medical Center, has been selected to receive the American Thoracic Society’s 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care, or advocacy. It will be presented at the society’s international conference at San Francisco in May. Pierson has published widely on aspects of mechanical ventilation and ICU care and other areas of respiratory care. He is editor-in-chief of Respiratory Care Journal.
Michael Schwartz, professor of medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, is the recipient of the Columbia University Medical Center’s 2006 Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diabetes Research. The award recognizes senior researchers in the field of diabetes and supports collaborations that help early-career researchers. The award includes a two-year, $100,000 grant to support a research fellow in Schwartz’s lab. His research has shown how the malfunction of certain neurons in the hypothalamus can cause dysfunctions of body weight and blood glucose. He is the section head of clinical nutrition at Harborview medical Center and co-director of the new UW Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center.
Rainer Storb, professor of medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology, received the 2006 award for research in hematological malignancies from the Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research in Israel. He was honored for development of the nonmyeloablative or “mini” stem cell transplant for malignant and non-malignant blood diseases.
