Institute of Medicine Elects Six New Members from Penn |
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November 13, 2012,
Volume 59, No. 12 |
Six professors from the University of Pennsylvania, representing four schools, have been elected members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the nation’s highest honors in biomedicine.
Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, IOM is a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues. With their election, members make a commitment to volunteer their service on IOM committees, boards, and other activities.
The new Penn IOM members are:
Dr. Gustavo D. Aguirre is a professor of medical genetics and ophthalmology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. He has led efforts to develop gene therapy to treat various forms of blindness. Modeling the visual disorders in dogs, he and colleagues have cured retinal degeneration in the animals—breakthroughs that have laid the groundwork for human clinical trials.
Dr. Shelley L. Berger is a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor and Daniel S. Och University Professor in the department of cell and developmental biology and department of genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, and in the department of biology, School of Arts & Sciences. She also serves as director of the Epigenetics Program at the Perelman School. Her work advanced understanding of eukaryotic gene regulation by helping to unify the fields of transcription and chromatin regulation. The major focus of her research is to define the mechanisms by which epigenetic modifications affect chromatin structure (the combination of DNA and proteins found in chromosomes) and gene expression in normal and diseased states.
Dr. Nancy M. Bonini is the Florence R.C. Murray Professor of Biology in the department of biology, School of Arts & Sciences, and is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to gain insight into neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Dr. Carl H. June is the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy, department of pathology and laboratory medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, and the program director of translational research, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. His laboratory studies various mechanisms of lymphocyte activation relating to immune tolerance and adoptive immunotherapy.
Dr. Mitchell D. Schnall is the Eugene P. Pendergrass Professor of Radiology and the chair of the radiology department, Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Schnall has played a critical role in efforts to organize cancer clinical and translational imaging research in the United States and has been the principal investigator of numerous team-science initiatives.
Dr. Kevin G. M. Volpp is the founding director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the Leonard Davis Institute, co-director of the Penn Medicine Center for Innovation, and a professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine and health care management at the Wharton School. He is also the director of the NIH-funded Penn CMU Roybal P30 Center in Behavioral Economics and Health. Dr. Volpp’s research on the impact of financial and organizational incentives on health behavior and health outcomes has been recognized by numerous awards. Dr. Volpp is also a staff physician at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
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