Noteworthy


 


NBA Hall-of Famer Julius Erving was known as Dr. J for the near-surgical precision of his famous fingertip rolls and slam dunks. Alec Kessler, a former University of Georgia basketball standout and five-year pro with the Miami Heat, has done Erving one better. In May he earned the sheepskin and the right to call himself Dr. K when he graduated cum laude from Emory School of Medicine.

You could say the 6'11'' Kessler graduated head and shoulders above everyone else in his class. Vertically, to be sure, but academically that wouldn't be too far off, as Kessler finished with a 3.97 GPA.

Kessler was accepted into Emory's medical school in 1990 while still an undergraduate at UGA but deferred his entrance here to play professional basketball. He graduated magna cum laude from UGA with a bachelor of science in microbiology and the distinction of being the school's second all-time leading scorer (1,788 career points) and third all-time leading rebounder (893 career rebounds) in basketball.

Kessler played with the Heat until 1994, when he came to Emory and again shined academically. His 4.0 grade point average for three of his four years at Emory put him in the top academic echelon of this year's graduating class. He's now doing an an orthopaedic surgery residency at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.

Kessler was one of 108 Emory students to graduate in May with the doctor of medicine degree. Five graduated with dual MD/PhD honors, and 202 earned allied health degrees.

The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing graduated 51 BSN students and 70 MSN students. Seven students received dual master's degrees in nursing and public health. The Rollins School of Public Health graduated 239. Of those, 206 earned an MPH, 17 the MSPH, 4 the MD/MPH, 4 the MBA/MPH, and 3 the PhD.

Several faculty were recognized in the various school and university ceremonies:

  • Joel Felner, cardiology, received the Evangeline T. Papageorge Faculty Teaching Award in the medical school and was further honored by the Class of 1999 when they selected him as an honorary member of their class.
  • Claire Sterk, behavioral science and health education, received the Rollins School of Public Health's Thomas F. Sellers Award. William Dudley, behavioral science and health education, and William McClellan, epidemiology, were selected by public health students as faculty of the year. Eugene Gangarosa, professor emeritus of international health, received special recognition for his years of outstanding teaching and service to the school.
  • Nursing Teaching Scholar Awards went to Darla Ura and Patricia Clark.

Slam Dunk






Thomas Abshire has been appointed director of Emory School of Medicine's comprehensive hemophilia program. He is also medical director of Hemophilia of Georgia, Inc.

John Altman was one of 20 young scholars nationwide chosen by the Pew Charitable Trusts to be a 1999 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. As one of America's most promising biomedical researchers, Altman focuses on rational approaches to producing and evaluating effective vaccines and has a three-year, $2.4 million subcontract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to establish a national tetramer core facility at Emory which will ship out customized tetramers to NIH-approved investigators conducting cellular immunology studies for vaccine research.

Ron Braithwaite, behavioral sciences and health education, Rollins School of Public Health, has received a criminal justice fellowship from the Center on Crime, Communities, and Culture to study condom use in correctional facilities.

For his AIDS work spanning two decades at the CDC and more recently at Emory, James Curran, dean of the Rollins School of Public Health, won the 1999 Health Care Heroes Award for lifetime achievement from the Atlanta Business Chronicle. In the health care innovation category, the editors tapped Emory neurosurgeon Roy Bakay and neurologist Philip Kennedy, whose cortical control device helps quadriplegics communicate via a computer. Urologist Niall Galloway was an innovation finalist for his work with electromagnetic technology to treat incontinence. Associate nursing professor and adult nurse practitioner James Pace also was named a Health Care Hero for his dedication to treating AIDS patients.

Ray Dingledine, chair of pharmacology, received the 1999 Career Award of Excellence from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Epidemiologist Bill Eley, who directs the Cancer Prevention and Control Program, is co-author of a consumer guide, The Water We Drink: Water Quality and Its Effects on Health.

Joyce Essien, director of the Center for Public Health Practice, was among 10 women in the nation to receive the Women in Government Award from Good Housekeeping magazine. She was recognized for her role in initiating and implementing Atlanta's innovative Zap Asthma program.

Don Giddens, chair of the Georgia Tech/Emory department of biomedical engineering, was recognized by the National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to the understanding of the ultrasound and fluid mechanics of arteriosclerosis, and enhancing bioengineering education.

Carl Hug, deputy chairman for academic affairs in the department of anesthesiology, is president of the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research.


J. Willis Hurst's most recent literary offering is a collaboration with his grandson, Stuart Hurst. The Heart: The Kids' Question & Answer Book is published by McGraw-Hill.

Lewis Hsu, pediatrics, and Thomas Aaberg, Emory Eye Center, have received the first annual Health Advancement Research Awards from the Georgia chapter of Community Health Charities.

Virginia Joslin received the 1999 PA Educator of the Year Paragon Award at the conference of the American Academy of Physician Assistants.

Ophthalmology researcher Judith Kapp chairs the new Animal Resources Advisory Committee of the medical school. Members will work closely with Bob Rich, executive associate dean for research, and Division of Animal Resources Director Noel Lehner.

Andrzej Kosinski, biostatistics, Rollins School of Public Health, was one of only three researchers in the Southeast to receive a $300,000 grant from the American Heart Association to study methods for evaluating noninvasive diagnostics tests.

Bernadette Leite, community outreach coordinator at the Institute for Minority Health of the Rollins School of Public Health, won the Turner Broadcasting Community Service Award for Kids Alive and Loved. The World Health Organization has invited her to Kobo, Japan, to talk about this program, which supports youth survivors of violence.

Richard Levinson received the Crystal Apple Award for graduate teaching in the Rollins School of Public Health.

Glen Maberly, international health, Rollins School of Public Health, is the 1999 winner of the Charles Hatcher, Jr. Award for Excellence in Public Health.

Reynaldo Martorell, chair of international health, Rollins School of Public Health, received the E.V. McCollum Award in International Nutrition at the annual Experimental Biology meeting for his efforts to improve nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood.

Charles Nemeroff has received the 1999 Bowis Award of the American College of Psychiatrists.

Joseph Ouslander is president of the American Geriatrics Society and serves on the board of directors of the society's new Foundation for Health in Aging.

Sampath Parthasarathy is principal investigator of a study of macrophages, oxidation, and endometriosis. The study is funded by a five-year, $3.9 million NIH award.

Kyle Peterson was named Instructor of the Year by the Colorado Symposium on Emergency Care. Emory's 1999 School of Medicine graduating class also honored him as Basic Science Professor for the First Year.

Lawrence Phillips, medicine, has received a $3.3 million grant from the Agency for Health Care Policy to study primary care of African Americans with nonÐinsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The study also involves the Rollins School of Public Health, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Grady Hospital, Georgia State University, and the CDC.

Danny Reines, biochemistry, has been appointed to the editorial board of the international journal, Gene Expression.

Critical Challenges for Health Care Reform in Europe, co-authored by health policy and management professor Richard Saltman and his colleagues at the World Health Organization, was selected by the European Healthcare Management Association as the best work on European health policy in the past year.


Elizabeth Sharp was honored by the School of Medicine's department of obstetrics/gynecology and the School of Nursing for her lifetime contributions to nurse midwifery. She established the nurse midwifery services at Grady Hospital and the only nurse midwifery education program in Georgia. In May, she received the Hattie Hemschemeyer Award, the highest honor given by the American College of Nurse Midwives.

Sharri Siegmund, education program coordinator for international health in the Rollins School of Public Health, won the University Award of Distinction.

Behavioral scientist and health educator Claire Sterk looks at prostitutes and drugs in her new book, Fast Lives: Women Who Use Crack Cocaine, published by Temple University Press.

Barbara Stoll is now vice chair of research in the department of pediatrics.

The medical school's associate dean of admissions, John Stone, has written Where Water Begins - a collection of poems and essays published by LSU Press.

Neil Shulman, medicine, co-author of Your Body's Red Light Warning Signals: Medical Tips That May Save Your Life, outlines more than 400 signs of some 250 life-threatening diseases in this book.

Kenneth Thorpe (below) was appointed Robert W. Woodruff Professor and chair of the department of health policy and management, Rollins School of Public Health.

William Wood is president-elect of the Society of Surgical Oncology and editor-in-chief of Oncology.

In this Issue


From the Director  /  Letters

Regenesis: Renewing Medical
Education at Emory


What makes Joel Felner so good?

Virtual Doc

A New Voice for Nursing

Moving Forward  /  Noteworthy

Youth, Firearms, and Violence

Finding the Papa of the Mummies

 

 


Copyright © Emory University, 1999. All Rights Reserved.
Send comments to the Editors.
Web version by Jaime Henriquez.