Honors & Other Things |
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February 4, 2014, Volume 60, No. 21 |
2014 Thouron Award Winners
CAREER Award: Dr. Fakhraai
Honorary Citizen and Nursing Award: Dr. Meleis
Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center Celebrates 40 Years, Bestows Inaugural Abramson Award
MRS Awards: Mr. Schneider
Graduate School of Education Alumni Association Awards
2014 Thouron Award Winners
Four University of Pennsylvania students have received Thouron Awards to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. The award winners are:
Christi Economy, C’14, majoring in economics and international relations, is applying to the University of Oxford for an MPP.
Sonya Davey, C’14, majoring in health and societies, South Asian studies and biology, is applying to the University of Oxford for an MSc in medical anthropology.
Allison Pearce, EAS’14, majoring in computer science, is applying to the University of Cambridge for an MPhil in advanced computer science.
Carson Woodbury, C’14, majoring in classical studies and biology, is applying to the University of Cambridge for an MPhil in biological science (genetics).
The Thouron Award, a graduate exchange program between Penn and British universities, exists to improve relations between the United States and the United Kingdom. Thouron Award winners receive tuition and stipends for one or two years depending on the time required to earn their graduate degrees. The Thouron Award was established and is supported by gifts from Sir John Thouron and the late Esther du Pont, Lady Thouron, of Unionville, PA.
Graduating Penn seniors, current Penn graduate or professional students and recent Penn graduates who are US citizens are eligible to apply. Additional information about the Thouron Award is available at www.thouronaward.org
CAREER Award: Dr. Fakhraai
Assistant Professor of Chemistry Zahra Fakhraai has received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. The CAREER awards are the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.
Dr. Fakhraai studies the effect of nano-confinement on structure, dynamics and other properties of materials. Materials behave differently on surfaces, interfaces or small-length scales compared to their bulk properties. Understanding such differences is crucial in many technological applications where materials are constrained in nanometer-size spaces, such as organic electronics, polymer applications and drug delivery.
Biological systems are most dynamic within a nanometer of surfaces and interfaces and understanding the properties in confinement is a key in predicting function. Dr. Fakhraai’s lab works to understand the origins of such modified properties on a fundamental level, as well as possible applications of such phenomena in producing novel materials or experimental tools. These might include exceptionally stable glasses or harvest light for various applications. Dr. Fakhraai has received a 2014 grant from the NIH-funded Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center to study the effect of surface interactions on the early stages of A-Beta growth; the A-Beta peptide is the main component of plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
Honorary Citizen and Nursing Award: Dr. Meleis
The city of Oporto, Portugal, named Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, an honorary citizen. Oporto is known as the City of Knowledge for its famous libraries.
Members of the faculty of the Oporto School of Nursing and nurses from the Nurses’ Union nominated Dr. Meleis for her work in transition theory which defines many issues in nursing and in human development. Her book on the topic, Transitions Theory: Middle Range and Situation Specific Theories in Nursing Research and Practice, is in its fifth edition.
The Pennsylvania State Nurses Association (PSNA) honored Dr. Meleis with the Distinguished Nurse Award at its 110-year Anniversary Celebration.
“We are proud to award Dr. Meleis, a long-time member of PSNA with our 2013 Distinguished Nurse Award,” said PSNA CEO Betsy M. Snook. “Her leadership characteristics and contributions are undeniably significant to the nursing profession.”
The PSNA works toward advancing, promoting and supporting the profession of nursing to improve health in Pennsylvania. |
Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center Celebrates 40 Years, Bestows Inaugural Abramson Award
This past December marked the 40th anniversary of the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) of the University of Pennsylvania being designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. To celebrate this milestone, over 400 people gathered recognizing the center’s vast achievements in cancer research, patient care and education during the last four decades.
Leaders from the ACC, including its director Dr. Chi V. Dang, also bestowed Dr. Bert Vogelstein, C’70, a world-renowned geneticist from the Johns Hopkins University, with the inaugural Abramson Award. The award recognizes key achievements made by the world’s most innovative contributors in the field of oncology—those whose work has changed the paradigm of modern cancer research and clinical care.
Dr. Vogelstein’s pioneering studies of the genetic causes of human cancer have placed him among the most influential biomedical scientists in the world, and his work has helped provide the conceptual basis for what is now called “personalized medicine.” He and his team were the first to map cancer genomes and use genome-wide sequencing to identify the basis of a hereditary form of cancer.
Dr. Vogelstein and his colleagues have demonstrated that colorectal tumors result from the gradual accumulation of genetic alterations in specific oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. A recent recipient of the inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, his work on colorectal cancers forms the foundation for much of modern cancer research, with profound implications for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in the future.
Numerous other awards and honors were given to recognize the ACC’s most promising investigators, compassionate clinicians and distinguished teachers. The list is below:
Abramson Research Fellowship—Dr. Gregory L. Beatty, assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology-oncology
Alan Steinberg Scholars in Cancer Research—Dr. Ravi K. Amaravadi, assistant professor of medicine in the division of hematology-oncology
Alavi Award for Cancer Research Excellence—Dr. Marlise Luskin, chief fellow in the division of hematology-oncology
Carole P. & F. Otto Haas Junior Faculty Award in Clinical Oncology—Dr. Ursina R. Teitelbaum, assistant professor of clinical medicine
DuPont Guerry Award for Outstanding Mentorship—Dr. Charles Abrams, director of the Penn-CHOP Blood Center for Patient Care and Discovery and associate chief of the division of hematology-oncology; Dr. Edward Stadtmauer, chief of the Hematologic Malignancies Program
Elizabeth Kendall Award in Radiation Oncology Nursing Excellence—Amy Avellino, director of ambulatory nursing in the department of radiation oncology
John Glick Prize for Teaching Excellence in Oncology—Dr. Elizabeth Olson Hexner, assistant professor of medicine and attending physician on the Liquid Tumor Service
The Marlene Shlomchik Fellowship in Cancer Research—Dr. Brandon E. Kremer, fellow in the division of hematology-oncology
Morton M. Kligerman, MD, Award in Radiation Oncology—Dr. Justin E. Bekelman, assistant professor of radiation oncology and senior fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics
Patel Family Graduate Student Award—Sara Small, M’17, Gr’17; Amy DeMicco, Gr’17; Vera Mucaj, Gr’17
Peter C. Nowell Award in Pathology—Dr. Jennifer Morrissette, clinical director of the Center for Personalized Diagnostics and scientific director of the Cancer Cytogenetics Laboratory
Stone Family Award in BRCA Prevention Research—Dr. Robert Vonderheide, Hanna Wise Professor in Cancer Research, investigator at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and associate cancer center director for translational research at the Abramson Cancer Center; Dr. David B. Weiner, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, co-program leader of Tumor Virology and chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccines Graduate Program
Young Friends of the Abramson Cancer Center Award—Dr. Ildiko Csiki, assistant professor of radiation oncology and a member of the Lung Cancer Program
MRS Awards: Mr. Schneider
Nicholas Schneider, SEAS doctoral student in the laboratory of Dr. Haim Bau, professor in the department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics, is the recipient of two awards from the Materials Research Society (MRS): the 2013 Silver Award and the 2013 Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award.
Mr. Schneider is a recipient of the Silver Award for the presentation of his project, “Visualizing In Situ Electrochemical Deposition and Dendrite Growth with the Nanoaquarium.”
MRS Graduate Student Awards are intended to honor and encourage graduate students whose academic achievements and current materials science research display a high level of excellence and distinction.
Mr. Schneider is also the sole recipient of the 2013 Arthur Nowick Graduate Student Award which is presented to a Graduate Student Awards finalist who shows particular promise as a future teacher and mentor.
Graduate School of Education Alumni Association Awards
The Penn GSE Education Alumni Association (EAA) presented the 2013 EAA Awards in the fall. The awards honor the accomplishments of GSE alumni and other education professionals, recognizing outstanding contributions to Penn GSE and the field of education.
The 2013 awardees are:
William B. Castetter Alumni Award of Merit—Lionel A. Anderson, C’04, GEd’07. This award recognizes an alumnus or alumna of the Graduate School of Education for significant service to the School. Service to the school may include serving on the Alumni Advisory Board, the Penn Alumni Board or the Penn GSE Mentoring program.
Helen C. Bailey Award—Dr. Ann Martin Dapice, N’74, G’80. This award recognizes an outstanding education alumnus or alumna of the University of Pennsylvania who has brought recognition and status to the Graduate School of Education or the University of Pennsylvania and who has made a distinctive contribution to the field of education and to the Graduate School of Education.
Ethel and Allen “Buddy” Carruth Sustained Leadership in Education Award—Dr. Scott H. Reikofski, GrEd’08. Established in 2004, this award recognizes significant service to the education community by an esteemed alumnus/a or friend of the Penn Graduate School of Education.
Penn GSE Alumni Recent Alumni/Early Career Award of Merit—Dr. Tryan McMickens, GrEd’11. This award recognizes a Penn GSE alumnus or alumna who has shown outstanding service to the University of Pennsylvania and Graduate School of Education prior to their 10th reunion year and is setting an inspirational example for future alumni of Penn GSE.
Penn GSE Educator of the Year Award—Dr. Janine Remillard, GSE associate professor of education. This award recognizes an individual who demonstrates unusual involvement in and commitment to identifying and helping to resolve school problems and current issues in education.
Related: 2014 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Involvement Awards |