Repligen Award for Chemistry: Dr. Christianson

Dr. David Christianson, Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences, has been named a recipient of the 2013 Repligen Award for Chemistry of Biological Processes. The award consists of a silver medal and honorarium. Its purpose is to acknowledge and encourage outstanding contributions to the understanding of the chemistry of biological processes. The award is administered by the Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society. The award symposium will take place at the Fall 2013 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Indianapolis.

Public Citizen of the Year: Dr. Gelles

The National Association of Social Workers, Pennsylvania Chapter, named Dr. Richard J. Gelles its 2012 Citizen of the Year.

Dr. Gelles is dean of Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice and holds The Joanne and Raymond Welsh Chair of Child Welfare and Family Violence in the School. He is a co-faculty director of the Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, and Research. In addition, he was the founding director of the Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with 145,000 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.

Asthma Prevention Efforts: Dr. George

The US Ambassador to Greece, Daniel Bennett Smith, honored Dr. Maureen George and colleagues from the Penn Nursing Center for Global Women’s Health (CGWH) for their health education and training among the isolated Roma gypsy community in rural Greece. The US State Department has funded Dr. George for asthma prevention and management efforts at a rural women’s health clinic in Chalkidiki. As part of the Greece Health Promotion Program, Dr. George, Dr. Lynn Sommers, Dr. Kathleen Brown and Dr. Ellen Volpe of the CGWH are assisting with screening for orphaned or trafficked children and providing education and training to community health workers in areas of critical importance to the local population, including asthma.

CAREER Award: Dr. Petersson

Dr. E. James Petersson, assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. The NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of the early career development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. 

The NSF said of Dr. Petersson’s research, “Understanding concerted changes resulting from large numbers of non-covalent interactions is a problem not only for biochemistry, but for nearly all scientific study at the nanometer scale. In the course of developing thioamides for motional studies, a greater understanding of this relatively unexplored functional group will be obtained.”

IOM Chair Committee: Dr. Strom

Dr. Brian L. Strom, executive vice dean for Institutional Affairs at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, has been selected to chair the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on the Consequences of Sodium Reduction in Populations.

The committee will work to evaluate the results, study design and methodologies that have been used to assess the relationship between sodium and health outcomes in literature published since the IOM Dietary Reference Intakes report.

Dr. Strom is also the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, professor of medicine, and professor of pharmacology.

Packard Fellowship: Dr. Subotnik

Dr. Joseph Subotnik, assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been awarded a 2012 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. The Fellowship provides $875,000 over five years. He was one of 16 researchers chosen from 98 nominees representing 50 universities.
Dr. Subotnik’s work involves the dynamics of electron and energy transfer, particularly in the case of solar energy.

David Packard established the Fellowship in 1988 to allow the nation’s most promising professors to pursue science and engineering research early in their careers.

“Joe is exemplary of the brilliant young faculty Penn Chemistry has been able to attract within the last few years,” said Dr. Gary Molander, Hirschmann-Makineni Professor of Chemistry and chair of Penn’s department of chemistry.