July People Notes

Eric Albright will join Tufts this summer as the new director of the Health Sciences Library on the Boston campus. He has 12 years of library experience at the University of Chicago John Crerar Library, Northwestern University Galter Health Sciences Library and most recently at Duke University Medical Center Library. Albright's appointment resulted from a national search to replace former director Elizabeth K. Eaton, who left Tufts last fall to become executive director of the Houston Academy of Medicine, Texas Medical Center, Jesse Jones Library. Albright will be responsible for overall leadership, administration and program development during a time of rapid and exciting change in the role of libraries in medical education, research and practice. The Health Sciences Library serves the schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences, the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts-New England Medical Center and Tufts' affiliated teaching hospitals. top

Lynne Ausman, professor and dean of students at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, has been serving on a National Academy of Sciences committee that is in the process of producing its final publication, Nutrient Requirements of Non-human Primates. This past spring, she traveled to Washington, D.C., to give a synopsis of the report at a conference on "International Perspectives: The Future of Non-Human Primate Resources." The publication itself is now out in pre-publication form in paperback. top

Dr. Lisa Barber will join the School of Veterinary Medicine's department of clinical sciences as an assistant professor of medical oncology in July. She received her D.V.M. from Ohio State in 1992 and completed a residency in veterinary oncology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. In 2001, she became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. top

Bruce Boghosian has been promoted to associate professor of mathematics and awarded tenure by the Board of Trustees, effective September 1. top

Eric Chaisson, director of the Wright Center, was recently honored on each coast. In California, he gave the Moore Lectures at the University of California on "Evolution and the Nature of Science," and in Boston, he was elected to the Board of Overseers to Boston's Museum of Science. top

Pollyanna R. Chavez, a nutrition doctoral student working with Dr. Xiang-Dong Wang, associate professor of nutrition, has received 2002 Student Merit Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism. She presented their work on retinoids and liver cancer at the society's 25th annual meeting June 28-July 3 in San Francisco. top

Benjamin Dane, professor of biology, has been appointed professor of biology emeritus, effective September 1. The appointment was approved by the Board of Trustees in May. top

Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes, professor of medicine and chief of the Calcium and Bone Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA), was named president of the National Osteoporosis Foundation's Board of Trustees on June 6 for a three-year term. A member of the Board of Trustees since 1995, Dawson-Hughes also directs the Metabolic Bone Disease Clinic at Tufts-New England Medical Center. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health's Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases Resource Center in Washington, D.C. The National Osteoporosis Foundation is the leading nonprofit health organization dedicated to promoting lifelong bone health to reduce the prevalence of osteoporosis. top

Dr. Jose Garcia-Lopez will join the veterinary school faculty in mid-July as an assistant professor of large animal surgery. He received his V.M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, completed an internship at the Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center in 1997 and a residency in large animal surgery at Tufts in 2000. He is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgery. top

Dr. David J. Greenblatt, professor and chairman of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics and the Louis Lasagna, M.D., Chair in the department of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, will receive the Distinguished Investigator Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacology at its 31st annual meeting September 21-22 in San Francisco. The annual award recognizes superior scientific expertise and accomplishments by a senior investigator, usually involving a distinct area of research in basic or clinical pharmacology for which the individual is internationally known. top

John Kauer, professor of neuroscience, received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Chemical Senses from the Association of Chemoreception Sciences. He also wrote a review article, "On the Scent of Smell in the Salamander," which appeared in the May issue of Nature. top

Erin Kelly has been promoted to associate professor of philosophy and awarded tenure by the Board of Trustees. The appointment becomes effective on September 1. top

Zella H. Luria, professor of psychology, has been appointed professor of psychology emerita by the Board of Trustees. The appointment takes effect on September 1. top

Jen Mackey, A02, an all-star shortstop on the Tufts softball team, was named to the 2002 Verizon Academic All-America College Division Softball First Team. Eleven players from across the nation were picked to the First Team, and all have grade point averages of 3.2 or better. Mackey is the only player from the Northeast on the First Team. She also was named to the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) All-Academic Team. Mackey led NESCAC in hitting this past spring, finishing at .451. Her 51 hits were a Tufts single-season record, and she scored 38 runs in 38 games. Tufts earned its sixth straight NCAA Tournament berth and finished 29-9 overall for the season. A Dean's List student all eight semesters, Mackey will attend pharmacy school at Northeastern University in September. top

Dr. Nicolaos Madias, executive academic dean at the School of Medicine, received an honorary degree from the School of Medicine of the University of Ioannina in Greece. top

Dr. Simin Nikbin Meydani, professor of nutrition and chief of the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the HNRCA, will give a talk on "Nutrition and Immunity in the Geriatric Animal" at the 139th annual convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association, to be held in Nashville, Tenn., in mid-July. top

Jo-Ann Michalak, director of the Tisch Library, is the new president of the Boston Library Consortium, a cooperative association of 17 academic and research libraries in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that provides students, faculty and staff of member libraries access to more than 25 million items. top

Dr. Mary Rose Paradis, associate professor of large animal medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine, has been elected vice president of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM), the umbrella organization for the specialties of cardiology, oncology, neurology, large animal internal medicine and small animal internal medicine. It is the largest veterinary specialty group in the United States. After her year as vice president, Paradis will become the president-elect, then president and finally in her fourth year, she will be the chair of the Board of Regents of the organization. top

J. Michael Reed has been promoted to associate professor of biology and awarded tenure by the university's Board of Trustees. The appointment becomes effective on September 1. top

Dr. Gary S. Rogoff, associate clinical professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a board-certified prosthodontist who teaches in the School of Dental Medicine's Implant Center, was installed on May 5 as the 80th president of the Academy of Prosthodontics. Founded in 1918, the academy is the oldest prosthodontic academy in North America and is the original sponsoring organization of the American Board of Prosthodontics as well as a founder of the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry. Tufts is no stranger to the Academy of Prosthodontics, as former Tufts faculty members Drs. I.R. Hardy (1949) and A. Albert Yurkstas (1984) also have served as presidents of the academy. Rogoff will preside over the academy for the 2003 academic year, which culminates with the academy's 85th annual scientific session, to be held in Boston in May 2003. top

L. Michael Romero has been promoted to associate professor of biology and awarded tenure by the university's Board of Trustees. The appointment becomes effective on September 1. top

Dr. Anthony Schwartz, professor of clinical sciences and associate dean for academic and outreach programs at the School of Veterinary Medicine, received a Merit Award for his "leadership in the areas of public relations and colleague development at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine" May 19 from the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association. top

Dr. Nevin S. Scrimshaw, visiting professor of nutrition and senior adviser to the Food and Nutrition Program of United Nations University, received the 2002 International Nutrition Prize of the Society for International Nutrition Research at the Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans. The prize is given for excellence in research on problems of human nutrition in developing countries. At the same time, he was given a congratulatory plaque from the Center for Studies of Sensory Impairment, Aging and Metabolism and the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama in Guatemala. top

Lynda Shaffer, professor of history, has been appointed professor of history emerita by the university's Board of Trustees. The appointment becomes effective on September 1. top

Dr. Sam Telford will join the veterinary school's department of biomedical sciences as an associate professor in July. He received his B.A. in ecology and evolution from Johns Hopkins in 1983, a S.M. in tropical public health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1987 and a Sc.D. in parasitology from Harvard in 1990. Telford's research interests are in epidemiology and the genetic linkage of disease. top

Dr. Flo Tseng, assistant professor of environmental and public health at the School of Veterinary Medicine, has received a $17,225 grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust for her project, "Seabirds as Sentinels of Marine Ecosystems." The funding will help support the collection and analysis of baseline data regarding Massachusetts' threatened and endangered coastal avian populations and their habitats that will help correlate mortality to causes and aid in the development of vulnerability indices of various species to hazardous marine events, such as oil spills. Information and results will be disseminated to agencies and communities to develop regional plans for protecting aquatic birds and their habitats as well as preventing and preparing for future oil spills. top

Janet Walzer, senior health sciences writer in the Office of Publications, has been awarded a Platinum Pencil Citation from the International College of Dentists for her cover story on "The Crisis in Dental Education," which appeared in the winter 2001 issue of Tufts Dental Medicine, the alumni magazine of the School of Dental Medicine. top

Dr. Xiang-Dong Wang, associate professor of nutrition and director of the Nutrition and Cancer Biology Laboratory at the HNRCA, has received two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awards for three years to investigate the effects of retinoids on alcohol-related liver cancer and the effect of lycopene against cigarette smoking-induced lung cancer. As co-principal investigator with Dr. Robert M. Russell, professor of nutrition and director of the HNRCA, he has helped to successfully renew their longstanding NIH grant regarding §-carotene metabolism and function for another four years. As co-investigator with Dr. Janet E.A. Forrester, assistant professor of family medicine and community health at Tufts School of Medicine, he has received a NIH grant for studying micronutrient metabolism in HIV-positive users. top

Patrick Webb, associate professor and director of the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program at the Friedman School, chaired a final review meeting of a UN multi-country study on household food and nutrition security May 29-31 in Yangon, Myanmar. Attended by representatives from six countries, the meeting opened with an address by Major-General Ket Sein, minister of health for Myanmar. Webb and nutrition doctoral student Karen Lapping presented a paper that provided an in-depth review of findings from the studies. Lessons from the research will contribute to improved nutrition and public health policies in the countries involved (China, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Myanmar and South Africa) as well as feed into regional training courses aimed at enhancing the inclusion of household food security issues into health policy and planning. Webb was invited by the World Health Organization's Nutrition for Health and Development Department to represent WHO at an inter-UN agency meeting in Managua, Nicaragua June 5-8. This was a coordination meeting of the group of UN organizations involved in the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems initiative. Webb made two presentations on behalf of WHO and will be involved in a task force that oversees an upcoming external assessment of the initiative. The task force will consider impact at country level, coordination across agencies and effectiveness in monitoring and reporting progress toward World Food Summit goals for 2015. top

Barbara Ehrlich White, adjunct professor of art and art history, has been given emerita status by the university's Board of Trustees, effective September 1. top

Eliot Wilczek has been appointed University Records Manager, succeeding Sheri Alova, who will leave Tufts in mid-July to pursue opportunities in the Far East. Wilczek comes to Tufts from Brandeis University, where he was associate archivist. He has degrees from Kenyon College and Simmons College, where he also earned an MLS. Before Brandeis, he worked at Bowdoin College processing the papers of former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell. top