July People Notes

Dr. Chieko Azuma, assistant professor of clinical sciences at the School of Veterinary Medicine, has completed the requirements for her Ph.D. from the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. Azuma conducts research in radiation biology, with an emphasis on the relationships between tumor hypoxia, proliferation of tumor cells and their response to radiation therapy.

Seth Barad, a partner with the Bridgespan Group, a San Francisco-based not-for-profit consulting firm focused on the challenges facing nonprofit organizations, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the University College of Citizenship and Public Service.

Kathy Boyd, administrative supervisor and clinical director for oral and maxillofacial surgery at the School of Dental Medicine, has completed advanced clinical medical hypnotherapy training and is registered with the American Board of Hypnotherapy and the National Guild of Hypnotists. She also is certified in medical nursing management.

Dr. Lewis M. Cohen, a member of the Department of Psychiatry at Baystate Medical Center and associate professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, is this year’s recipient of the Ethel Weinberg Family Prize for Academic Excellence and the Coen Family Lecture Award. These Baystate awards honor his research and work on renal palliative care—the integration of palliative medicine into the practice of nephrology. Baystate, located in Springfield, Mass., is a teaching affiliate of Tufts School of Medicine.

Daniel Coleman, associate clinical professor of medicine, is the recipient of the School of Medicine’s 2004 Mark Aisner, M.D., Award for Excellence in Teaching Physical Diagnosis.

David Garman, associate professor of economics, and Michelle Bowdler, director of Health Services, received the Arts & Sciences Faculty/Staff Multicultural Service Award at the Arts, Sciences and Engineering faculty meeting on May 19.

Bernard M. Gordon, a Tufts trustee and an overseer to the School of Engineering, was awarded the Boston Museum of Science’s 2004 Walker Prize for meritorious published scientific investigation and discovery on May 19. Gordon, the founder and chairman of Analogic Corp., has been involved with the development of the world’s first commercial computer and scanners used in modern medical imaging and counter-terrorism technology. He and his research teams have achieved dozens of engineering milestones, earning about 200 patents worldwide. Among his most significant inventions are the modern analog-to-digital signal converter, which is used in everything from computers and televisions to EKG machines and atomic clocks; the dot matrix, alphanumeric CRT display (with An Wang), once on virtually every computer; and the instant imaging (CT) scanner.

Dr. Wilson Hsin, D83, has been appointed consulting chairman of the stomatology department of Huashan Hospital of Fudan University in China.

James Joseph, director of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, received the American Aging Association’s Harman Research Award at the 33rd annual meeting of the American Aging Association June 4-7 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Joseph was honored for his contributions to research on aging, centering on his premier research in the recognition and definition of the role of nutrition in modulating age-related changes in neuronal function and behavior. He presented the Harman Lecture on June 7.

Dr. Joseph Kirsner, M33, is the first recipient of a lifetime achievement award of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. He is a pioneer in gastroenterology, especially inflammatory bowel diseases, and helped establish the National Institutes of Health’s General Medicine Study Section. At age 95, he is still practicing medicine in Chicago.

David D. Lynch, A56, was honored on March 17, when Northrop Grumman Corp. dedicated its space gyroscope manufacturing facility in Woodland Hills, Calif., in his name. Lynch, who has been called the Father of the Hemispherical Resonator Gyro (HRG), led the team that developed this navigation instrument. The gyro, which uses changes in vibration patterns on a thin-walled glass shell to detect when it is moved, supports space missions and is used in other spacecraft applications, including communications, earth science studies and deep space exploration.

Dr. Jeff Mariner, V87, was awarded the Dean’s Medal at the School of Veterinary Medicine’s commencement on May 23. Mariner was recognized by Dean Philip C. Kosch for having “the greatest impact on animal and human health and well-being in the school’s young history.” Mariner is a leader in the development of animal vaccine technologies and a pioneer in the creation of community-based, animal health systems for regional disease control programs. For more than 15 years, he has worked with pastoral communities in Africa and Asia on projects contributing to the global eradication of rinderpest, a viral disease that kills 90 percent of the cattle and buffalo exposed to it. Mariner began developing the rinderpest vaccine as a student in Tufts’ International Veterinary Medicine program. After graduating, he completed the development of a heat-stable vaccine that does not require refrigeration and can be used in remote, arid regions of the world. The vaccine is now produced in Africa under the supervision of the Tufts Thermostable Rinderpest Vaccine Technology Transfer Project, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Jonathan Mugar, A98, G99, of Mugar Enterprises of Boston, has been appointed to the Tufts Board of Overseers for Athletics.

Fred Nostrant, V06, received an award from the American Society of Laboratory Animal Practitioners on May 11. Sarah Balcom, V06, and Jennifer Ginn, V05, received Honorable Mention Awards from the Scholarship Committee of the Association of Women Veterinarians at the same ceremony.

Dr. Ronald Pies, clinical professor of psychiatry, has published a new collection of short stories, Zimmerman’s Tefillin, with Publish America. The stories explore the Jewish-American experience through the physician’s eye, and many of the stories look at the emotional challenges of working with seriously ill patients.

William B. Richardson, A70, F71, H97, the governor of New Mexico and a Tufts trustee, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the University College of Citizenship and Public Service.

Wendin Smith, F00, senior consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. of Washington, D.C., has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Tambra Stevenson and Valerie Rock, members of Tufts’ Graduate Programs in Public Health Class of 2004 and founding members of the school’s public health student senate, have been chosen to participate in the highly selective Emerging Leaders program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Stevenson, a health communications student, and Rock, who received a B.A./M.P.H. in epidemiology/biostatistics in May, will work full time for the department in Washington, D.C., and Atlanta for two years.

Dr. B. David Stollar, professor of biochemistry, chaired a session in a symposium on “From Immunogenicity to Autoimmunity” at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel. The symposium was an 80th birthday tribute to Prof. Michael Sela, former chairman of the Department of Chemical Immunology and president of the Weizmann Institute. Sela’s pioneering work in the use of synthetic polypeptide antigens to study many aspects of immunobiology led to the discovery of a currently used treatment for multiple sclerosis. Stollar conducted research at the Weizmann Institute in 1971-72, and Sela spent a sabbatical year at Tufts School of Medicine in 1992-93.

Jonathan Tisch, A76, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels of New York and a university trustee, has been appointed to the Board of Overseers to the University College of Citizenship and Public Service.

Arthur Uhlir Jr., professor emeritus of electrical engineering and computer science, and his wife, Ingeborg, attended the 2004 Porous Semiconductor Science and Technology Conference this spring in Cullera, Spain, to give the opening lecture, “Dawn of Porous Semiconductor Research.” In the lecture and in informal discussions, they described their discovery of porous silicon at Bell Telephone Laboratories 50 years ago. They received a Conference Award for that discovery, which is now considered associated with the field of nanotechnology, the study of matter with dimensions as small as one-billionth of a meter. Their discovery of porous silicon occurred by accident: In 1954, while the couple was doing research for Bell Labs, they noticed a crud-like byproduct on what was supposed to be a smooth silicon surface. The substance was later identified as porous silicon, which is now used to stabilize the surface of silicon wafers. The Uhlirs’ discovery a half-century ago is expected to produce advances in light-emitting chip technology and time-released delivery of drugs to patients.

David Walt, professor of chemistry, and W. Anthony Mann, professor of physics, received the Faculty Research Awards Committee’s Distinguished Scholar Award at the Arts, Sciences and Engineering faculty meeting on May 19.

Jingjin Zhang, an exchange student from Hong Kong University, and undergraduates Michael Kastoryano and Michael Burr finished 14th out of 401 college teams in the 64th annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition. The Tufts students went head to head with 3,600 other students from around the country to solve 12 complex math problems during a six-hour period. The trio was coached by Fulton Gonzalez, associate professor of mathematics.