Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) Dean James Curran congratulates Paula Morgan, the school's 2,000th graduate. RSPH is also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

hen the Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) branched off on its own in 1990, it was the first new such school established in a private institution in 50 years. Ten years later and quite fittingly for the bimillennium, Paula Morgan became the 2,000th RSPH graduate. Morgan, one of this year's 273 public health grads (including nine PhDs, three masters of science in clinical investigation, and 13 dual degrees), began a two-year presidential management intern fellowship this July at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where she works in the division of adolescence and school health. Originally from Santiago, Chile, Morgan had planned to go to medical school at the University of Southern California. But after working in a women and children's health clinic immediately after graduation, she decided to pursue an MPH at Emory, where she majored in international health. Founding Dean Ray Greenberg, now president of the Medical University of South Carolina, returned to help celebrate RSPH's 10th anniversary. "It's a strange feeling to be introduced at a ceremony for this school," said Greenberg, "I return to find the school larger and stronger than when I left. It's overwhelming to see our wildest dreams and expectations realized." Nursing Dean Marla Salmon led her first Emory graduation, presenting 58 bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) and 66 masters (MSN) degrees. Among the BSN recipients was Sheryl Glassburn, Emory's oldest undergrad ever - at age 48 - and vice president of the senior class. The nursing graduates were charged by Linda Aiken, vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and an influential leader in health care for more than 20 years, with restoring the public's confidence in health care. The newly reaccredited School of Medicine awarded its first MD/PhD degree in the collaborative Emory/Georgia Tech biomedical engineering program. The recipient, Andreas Kogelnik, has started a residency program in internal medicine at Stanford University and works for y-DNA Inc., an informatics company with offices in Atlanta and Silicon Valley. Now that the human genome project is complete, Kogelnik is taking a look at the next generation of the project -- developing databases that can process the vast amounts of information discovered. He hopes to eventually marry a patient's DNA information with the patient's clinical information in one system, creating a useful and powerful clinical tool. One year after receiving NIH funding, the schools of medicine and public health awarded their first master of science in clinical research degrees to physicians Stefan Tigges and Dominique Musselman. Both faculty members enrolled in the MSCR program to enhance their clinical research skills. Nine of the 118 School of Medicine graduates received dual degrees (four MD/PhDs and five MD/MPHs). In the allied health ceremony, the medical school awarded degrees to 138 students: 86 masters of medical science, 35 masters of physical therapy, five bachelors of medical science, and 12 associates in medical science. Almost 80 years after being denied admission to Emory because of her gender, Leila Denmark received an honorary degree. At age 102, she is the oldest practicing physician in the United States. In his commencement address, J. Willis Hurst, former chair of the department of medicine and this year's recipient of that department's House Staff Teaching Award at Emory Hospital, pondered the difference between studying disease and doctoring. As is tradition, faculty also were honored at commencement: Epidemiologist David Kleinbaum and Deborah Ryan, clinical nursing, were recognized by the university with its highest award -- the Emory Williams Award for distinguished teaching. RSPH students selected Azhar Nizam, department of biostatistics, as the professor of the year. Deborah McFarland, international health, received the Thomas F. Sellers Jr. Award. The RSPH Special Recognition Award went to Mary DeLong, environmental and occupational health. Virginia Secor, adult and elder health, received the school of nursing's Graduate Teaching Award. Poet-in-residence John Stone, associate dean and cardiologist, received the Evangeline T. Papageorge Distinguished Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. Joel Felner, associate dean for clinical education and cardiologist, was named honorary class member for the sixth time.

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phthalmology chair Thomas Aaberg is president of the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology. Backed by a two-year, $448,000 grant, Kathleen Adams, health policy and management, Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH), is studying how major policy changes have affected cancer screening rates among Americans, especially those of lower socioeconomic status. Susan Boteler, Emory University Hospital, was recently honored as the diabetes educator of the year by the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Patricia Clark, nursing, attended the National Institute on Aging/Brookdale Foundation Summer Institute on Aging Research in Airlie, Virginia, this summer. Annette Frauman, interim associate dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, received the National Guard and Reserve Certificate of Appreciation for her support of reserve officers employed at Emory. As 2000-2001 Emory Medical Care Foundation faculty scholars, pediatricians Theresa Gauthier and Lisa Kobrynsk will use their two-year, $50,000-per-year awards to focus on their research. The award goes to clinical faculty who spend 60% or more of their time at Grady. Mary Gullate, Emory Hospitals director of nursing, oncology, and transplant services, received the Oncology Nursing Society Foundation's Linda Arenth Excellence in Cancer Nursing Management Award. Leon Haley, Grady Hospital's chief of emergency medicine, was selected for the 2000 Physician Leadership Institute for the National Association of Public Hospitals. In Teaching Medicine: Process, Habits, and Actions (Scholars Press, 1999), cardiologist J. Willis Hurst explores how medicine is taught and learned. Arthur Kellermann, RSPH director of the Center for Injury Control and chair of the medical school's department of emergency medicine, will receive the excellence in science award this fall from the injury control and emergency health services section of the American Public Health Association. Rehan Khan, the medical school's first assistant dean for information services, will collaborate with the university and Emory Healthcare information technology divisions to ensure that the medical school's needs are met and help develop and implement an information technology strategic plan.

Ronnie Jowers

Ronnie Jowers, associate vice president for health affairs since 1991 and chief financial officer for Emory Healthcare since 1995, is now vice president for health affairs. The new title, approved in June by the Board of Trustees, reflects his expanding strategic responsibilities for the rapidly growing and complex $2 billion Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory Healthcare enterprises. Surgeon Christian Larsen is the founding director of the Emory Transplant Center, an umbrella organization to oversee and integrate all Emory's academic, clinical care, and research resources in organ transplantation. Jeffrey Linzer is on the editorial board of Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine. James Madara, who heads the department of pathology, chairs the NIH General Medicine A Study Section (2), Center for Scientific Review. Peggy Maloney, nursing school, attended the NIH-NINR's orientation to federal research in Bethesda, Maryland, this summer. Fray Marshall is the 2000 recipient of the distinguished contribution award by the American Urological Association for his work in treating prostate cancer. Robert Morris is director of the newly consolidated pastoral services department of Emory Hospitals. Charles Nemeroff, psychiatry chair, received the William C. Menninger Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine. Kathy Parker, nursing, presented a session on sleep issues at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference on women in New York City. Robert Rich, the School of Medicine's executive associate dean for research and strategic initiatives, is on the new NIH advisory committee reviewing regulations on universities and scientists who receive federal funding.

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Harriet Robinson, chief of microbiology and immunology, was featured on the cover of Nature Medicine's five-year anniversary issue. Richard Rothenberg, family and preventive medicine, is a member of the NIH AIDS Related Research Study Section (6), Center for Scientific Review. In her keynote address to the WHO Ministerial Conference on Nursing and Midwifery in Munich, nursing school Dean Marla Salmon discussed nurses and midwives implementing the public health agenda. Sandra Sexson, psychiatry, received the 2000 E.B. Bowis Award from the American College of Psychiatrists. Villanova University's College of Nursing recently awarded Alice Vautier, chief nursing officer of Emory Hospitals and associate administrator for patient services, the Distinguished Leadership in Nursing and Health Care Delivery Medallion. Gerald Vogel, professor emeritus, psychiatry, received the Sleep Research Society's 2000 Distinguished Scientist Award. Sharon Weiss, vice chair of pathology and laboratory medicine, has been named a Johns Hopkins University Society Scholar. Nanette Wenger received the 2000 James D. Bruce Memorial Award from the American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine.