September People Notes

Dr. Naomi Balaban has been appointed assistant professor of biomedical sciences, specializing in infectious diseases, at the School of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on the study of bacterial pathogenesis and vaccine development.

Jeffrey B. Blumberg, professor of nutrition, associate director of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) and chief of the HNRCA's Antioxidants Research Laboratory, and Diane McKay, nutrition alumna and instructor in nutrition, received the Best Review Paper Award from the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Their piece was titled "The Role of Tea in Human Health: An Update" and appeared in the February 2002 issue of the journal.

Dr. Robert Cefalo, M59, was honored by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology for serving on the organization's board for 30 years. Dr. Philip DiSaia, M63, was elected president of the board, and Dr. Kenneth Noller, professor and chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the School of Medicine, was elected vice president.

Bobbi Cohen, who worked in the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations on behalf of the nutrition and medical schools, left Tufts in August to relocate to the Philadelphia area.

Sally M. Dungan has been appointed to the newly created position of chief investment officer. She will lead the Investment Office of the university and work with the Trustee Investment Committee to set investment strategy and asset allocation guidelines for Tufts' $680 million endowment and other assets. In partnership with the trustee committee, she will retain and monitor Tufts' investment managers. Prior to coming to Tufts, Dungan was director of pension fund management for Siemens North America, where, investing more than $5 billion in assets, she had a very successful investment track record. Prior to Siemens, she worked for the $24 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserve's Investment Management Board, rising to the position of deputy chief management officer. Earlier in her career, she worked for Lehman Brothers and other firms in the securities industry. She holds a B.A. in French literature from Pomona College and a M.A. in intercultural communication from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Kathleen Dunlap, professor of neuroscience, has been awarded the $8,000 Milton O. and Natalie V. Zucker Prize, and Thomas Linsenmayer, professor of anatomy and cellular biology, received the $8,000 Zucker Family Prize. The faculty development prizes were created through the generosity of Natalie and the late Milton Zucker, a 1930 graduate of the School of Medicine.

Betsy Farnham, associate dean for administration at the School of Medicine, has retired. She worked at the medical school for 16 years under four different deans. At a farewell reception, Dean John T. Harrington noted she had an "extraordinary institutional memory" and "always made sure what was lost was found."

Dr. Marshal F. Folstein, professor and chairman of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, is the principal investigator for a $6.65 million, multidisciplinary study funded by the National Institutes of Health to examine how vitamins and homocysteine levels affect memory, mood and the brain of 1,600 homebound elderly. The grant, awarded both to Tufts-New England Medical Center and the HNRCA at Tufts, will involve work with three home care agencies in Boston.

Kevin Gallagher, economist and research associate at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), took part in the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, August 25 to September 6. He presented a paper on "Environmental Goods and Services Liberalization and the WTO: What's in It for Developing Countries?" Gallagher is also a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and a steering committee member of the Group on Environment, Trade and Investment (GETI). GETI met in Johannesburg to chart an agenda to assess environmental issues in the Doha Round of World Trade Negotiations.

Dr. Michael Goldberg, professor and chairman of orthopedic surgery at the School of Medicine, received the Arthritis Foundation's annual award for care and leadership.

The published research of Dr. David J. Greenblatt and Dr. Richard I. Shader, both professors of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, ranks among work by pharmacologists most cited between 1981 and 1999, according to the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, which recently published a list of the 55 most cited authors in the field. The research of Greenblatt and Shader includes studies of age- and gender-dependent variations in drug metabolism and response, mechanisms of regulation of the benzodiazepine receptor complex and molecular models for predicting drug interactions in patients.

Toshi Hanada, research assistant professor of medicine, was one of five faculty members to be awarded a 2002 Charlton Faculty Research Award of $8,000. Handa's project is on the biogenesis of the immunological synapse.

Jonathan Harris, director of the theory and education program at GDAE, led a workshop on "New Approaches to Teaching Environmental and Ecological Economics" at the North American Association for Environmental Education in Boston on August 10. The conference was chaired by Julian Agyeman, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and planning. Harris presented his new textbook, Environmental and Natural Resources Economics, A Contemporary Approach (Houghton Mifflin, 2002), as well as modular teaching materials developed at GDAE.

Paul F. Jacques, associate professor of nutrition and chief of the Nutritional Epidemiology Program at the HNRCA, gave a presentation on "Cataracts: Review of Eye Health Epidemiology and Clinical Research" at the 105th annual American Optometric Association Congress, held June 29 in New Orleans.

John Kauer, professor of neuroscience, and Joel White, research assistant professor of neuroscience, traveled to the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., on July 10, to demonstrate their landmine-sniffing artificial nose as part of an exhibit of research supported by the Department of Defense's Science and Technology Program. Kauer says the artificial nose's sensitivity to certain chemical compounds associated with landmines is about five times greater than the sensitivity of canine noses to the same compounds.

Dr. David L. Keefe, adjunct associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the Reproductive Medicine Unit at Tufts-New England Medical Center and of reproductive medicine and infertility at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, was named by The Ladies Home Journal as one of the best family doctors in the Northeast.

Dr. Irwin Leav, Distinguished Professor and professor of biomedical sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, was one of six alumni honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award during Ohio State's College of Veterinary Medicine 2002 Oath and Hooding Ceremony. His award citation notes that "Dr. Leav contributed significantly to the field of veterinary medicine during the formative years of the establishment of Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine and has served the school in various roles, including assistant to the dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, associate dean for basic science, associate dean for academic affairs and associate dean for research. He is involved in an active teaching program of pathology to both veterinary and medical students in the Tufts program. Dr. Leav has published more than 60 papers and has received continuous EPA and NIH funding for the past 19 years."

Allan Leino has joined the Development Systems and Support group as a programmer/analyst. He has extensive programming experience in the health care field, most recently with Partners Health Care System. His primary responsibilities will be to support Raiser's Edge and several other sub-systems.

Matthew MacGregor, a senior majoring in international relations and history, was one of five college students from Rhode Island to receive support from the Michael P. Metcalf Memorial Fund at the Rhode Island Foundation to promote personal growth through travel. Metcalf was chairman and publisher of The Providence Journal before he died in a bicycling accident in 1987. The travel experiences—all expenses paid, self-designed adventures outside the regular college classwork—have taken 35 students from Appalachia to Zaire. MacGregor's fellowship took him this summer to El Salvador, where, through the Center for Exchange and Solidarity, he taught English to the Spanish-speaking population. MacGregor said his $1,900 award provided him with an "opportunity to do my part in the struggle for social justice and dignity throughout the world and to gain first-hand experience of Latin America and its people." He hopes to earn a Ph.D. in Latin American studies and teach at the university level.

Vincent P. Manno, associate dean of engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, presented an invited keynote paper, "A Perspective on the Role of Modeling in Thermal-Fluid Characterization of Electronics," at the 20th UIT National Heat Transfer Conference, held in Maratea, Italy, June 27-30.

Misty McCarty has joined the Development Systems and Support group as a training and documentation specialist. She came to Tufts from the Dartmouth College Development Office, where she provided training, documentation and systems analysis for its Advance C/S system. She will be the primary contact for training on the various development systems.

Joan C. Mecsas, assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology, was one of five faculty members to be awarded a 2002 Charlton Faculty Research Award of $8,000 for her project on the role of granulocytes in combating yersinia infections.

Paula Menzel has joined the Development Records staff as gift and biographical records assistant and is responsible for gift and biographical entry to the ADV database. She also has worked in the Development Office for Arts, Science & Engineering, Facilities and Human Resources at Tufts.

Kathleen A. Merrigan, director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, participated on a panel of eight scientists advising the European Commission (EC) on research priorities in the area of food quality and safety. In March, the EC invited the European research community to submit proposals for collaborative research projects and consortia. More than 1,100 submissions were received and channeled to eight review panels. Merrigan's panel focused on low-input agricultural farming systems, improved food quality through innovative technology and food traceability systems. After individually evaluating proposals from remote locations, the panel convened for two days in Brussels to develop a consensus report to the EC on priorities for funding in the 6th Framework Programme, a 700 million Euro effort to be launched this fall.

Dr. Mohsen Meydani, professor of nutrition and director of the Vascular Biology Program at the HNRCA, delivered the Max K. Horwitt Memorial Lecture at the 13th annual Saint Louis University School of Medicine Summer Geriatric Institute on June 26. His lecture was titled "Green Tea and Oats: Are They Good for Your Blood Vessels?"

Dr. Simin Nikbin Meydani, professor of nutrition and chief of Nutritional Immunology Laboratory at the HNRCA, delivered the keynote lecture at the joint Nutrition Symposium, held in Antwerp, Belgium, in late August. Her talk focused on nutrition and immune function in the elderly.

Dr. Dana C. Miskulin, assistant professor of medicine, was one of five faculty members to be awarded a 2002 Charlton Faculty Research Award of $8,000. Miskulin's project is on the development and validation of a co-morbidity instrument in a national dialysis population. Miskulin and Dr. Ronald D. Perrone, professor of medicine, will lead the Northeast arm of a six-year, national clinical trial of a particular therapy for polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Working with researchers at Beth-Israel Deaconess, they will recruit 500 of the 2,000 patients in the study to see if interrupting a patient's renin-angiotensin-aldosterone hormonal system can slow the progress of the hereditary disease. Perrone is principal investigator of the $3.7 million grant from the NIH's Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Disease to establish the Northeast effort.

Dr. Ayan R. Patel, assistant professor of medicine, was one of five faculty members to be awarded a 2002 Charlton Faculty Research Award of $8,000. Patel's work is on the effect of niacin on peripheral vascular endothelial function and exercise capacity in heart patients.

Beatrice Lorge Rogers, academic dean of the Friedman School, spent a week in Honduras this summer, assisting CARE/Honduras in developing "exit strategies" for its food security programs. CARE is one of the major development organizations, and many of its programs are based on the distribution of PL 480 Title II food aid. The current focus of those Title II programs is the promotion of community and household food security. Recognizing that these programs cannot stay in the community forever, CARE is working to develop coherent plans to assure that when they leave, the benefits of the program are sustained, and progress toward improved food security is maintained.

Dr. Ronenn Roubenoff, associate professor of nutrition and chief of the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory at the HNRCA, has left Tufts to accept an executive position at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass. Roubenoff, who has been at Tufts since 1990, also was director of human studies at the HNRCA. He will, however, continue on at Tufts with part-time appointments at the HNRCA, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and Tufts-New England Medical Center. Until his replacement is found, Dr. Carmen Castaneda-Sceppa is interim director of Roubenoff's laboratory, and Dr. Bess Dawson-Hughes is interim director of human studies.

Sharan L. Schwartzberg, professor and chair of the Boston School of Occupational Therapy in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, chaired a research session and conducted a workshop along with her colleague from Gothenburg University, Synneve Dahlin-Ivanoff, at the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress in Stockholm on June 22. The workshop was on "Focus Group Methodology: Its Uses and Benefits within Occupational Therapy." Diana Bailey, associate professor; Olga Baloueff, associate professor; and Mary Evenson, fieldwork coordinator, also presented papers and a poster session at the congress.

Dr. Scott Shaw, a 1998 graduate of the School of Veterinary Medicine, will join the veterinary faculty in late September in emergency and critical care medicine. He recently completed the Tufts/Darien residency program in emergency and critical care medicine.

Paul Stanton, director of administration for Arts, Sciences and Engineering, has taken on interim administrative responsibilities for leading the Student Services organization until a new dean is identified by a national search to replace Dean of Academic Services Kristine Dillon, who has left the university. As chair of the Organization and Training Team for the Student Services Project, Stanton has played key roles in the design, articulation of goals, identification of people and contribution to the subsequent success of the Student Services organization project. His current responsibilities include administrative support of the Tisch Library and ITS organizations, management of classrooms and overall involvement in space planning for the Medford/Somerville campus.

Elizabeth Stearns has joined the Office of Veterinary Development and Alumni Relations as the director of the Tufts Veterinary Fund, with responsibilities for the overall management of the School of Veterinary Medicine's annual giving and alumni relations programs. She heads the team that includes Susan Prentice, alumni relations coordinator, and Jeanne Cunningham, staff assistant. Stearns has extensive experience in fund-raising and constituency development. Her most recent position was as director of development operations for Clark University. Prior to that, she worked at Wellesley College and the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research/UMass Medical Center, where her responsibilities included management of their annual fund-raising horse show. A resident of Grafton, Stearns brings knowledge of animals to her work at Tufts. She has had the full array of family pets; she enjoys riding and is a "horse show mom" to her accomplished equestrian son, Richard.

B. David Stollar, professor and former chair of biochemistry, is serving as acting dean of the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences following the retirement of Dr. Louis Lasagna as dean this summer. Stollar, a faculty member at the School of Medicine since 1964, served as biochemistry chair for 17 years before stepping down last fall. He also helped raise money for the new Jaharis Family Center for Biomedical and Nutrition Research on the Boston campus and headed the committee that recommended space allocations in the new building, which will be dedicated in November. His 37 years of steadily financed research has focused, among other things, on autoimmune diseases, especially lupus. It was in his lab that catalytic antibodies were first identified.

Natalie Sutkowski, research associate in pathology, was one of five faculty members to be awarded a 2002 Charlton Faculty Research Award of $8,000 for her work on the role of endogenous superantigen in Epstein-Barr virus lymphomagenesis.

Melissa White has been hired as an assistant director in the Tufts Fund for Arts, Sciences and Engineering. White comes to Tufts with an extensive background in nonprofit organizations. She worked several years for the Venture Consortium at Brown University. This collaboration of colleges and universities develops public service programs to complement the liberal arts curriculum. She has also worked as a consultant for BDO Seidman, LLP, an international accounting and consulting firm with a national management consulting practice focused on nonprofits. Most recently, she served as the deputy director of strategic alliance at the Tech Foundation, where she spearheaded all board development issues and associated fund-raising activities. At Tufts, White will manage the Classes of 1943 to 1953 and oversee the 50th, 55th and 60th reunion fund-raising efforts. In addition, she will oversee the Packard Society and work with all members of the development staff to dramatically increase leadership giving in the Tufts Fund.

Timothy Wise, deputy director of the research and policy program at GDAE, hosted a seminar at Tufts August 20 on "Corn and the Erosion of Crop Genetic Diversity." The seminar brought together some of the world's experts on the topic, including biologist Garrison Wilkes of the University of Massachusetts at Boston, economist James Boyce of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and economist Alejandro Nadal from El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. The seminar came at the end of Nadal's two-week residence as a visiting scholar with GDAE, which has been collaborating with his institute for two years under a grant from the Hewlett Foundation.

Joshua Young has returned to Tufts as senior associate director of development and major gifts for the School of Medicine. Most recently, he was director of major and planned gifts at the New England Aquarium. Young served as associate director of development at Tufts School of Medicine from 1996 to 2000 and as acting director of development during a time of transition in the medical school development office. He was instrumental in the success of the medical school during the Tufts Tomorrow campaign. Young holds a B.A. in economics from Harvard and has done graduate work in strategic planning and marketing at Northwestern University, the University of Colorado and the University of Georgia.

Dr. Matthew K. Waldor, associate professor of medicine, will receive the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Squibb Award for achievement by a physician under age 45. The society also is honoring former School of Medicine faculty member Gerry Keusch with its Bristol Award. Keusch is now with the National Institutes of Health.

Patrick Webb, associate professor of nutrition and director of the Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program, participated in an international scientific symposium on "The Measurement and Assessment of Food Deprivation and Undernutrition," which was hosted by the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome June 26-28. Webb presented two papers based on ongoing work in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition. The first, co-authored with doctoral student Jennifer Coates and Robert F. Houser Jr., instructor in nutrition, was on "Challenges in Defining 'Direct Measures' of Hunger and Food Insecurity." The second paper, co-authored with Houser, Mark Nord and others at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was titled, "Comparing Household Survey-Based Measures of Food Insecurity Across Countries: Case Studies from India, Uganda and Bangladesh."