March People Notes

Nicole Amato, V04, a resident in small animal surgery at the Cummings School, has received a Mark S. Bloomberg Award for the abstract she submitted for presentation at this year’s Veterinary Orthopedic Society meeting in March. Dr. Randy Boudrieau, professor of clinical sciences, mentored Amato on her research. The award will cover expenses for her to travel to the meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho, and present her work. Amato’s abstract is titled “Ex vivo Biomechanical Comparison of 2.4mm Unilock Reconstruction Plate Fixation vs. Locking vs. Standard Screws for Repair of Acetabular Ostetomies in Dogs.”

Mukhtar Amin has joined the Global Development and Environment Institute as the new staff assistant. Amin holds a B.A. from College of the Atlantic, where he focused on global environmental policy and development. A native of Ethiopia, Amin interned with the Ministry of Environment in Ethiopia. He has been a case manager at the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, where he worked with refugee families from East Africa. Most recently, he was the minority student recruitment coordinator at the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.

Elizabeth Austin has joined Tufts as the web content specialist for the School of Dental Medicine. She earned a B.S. in information design and corporate communication from Bentley College and most recently was the assistant director of web and electronic communication at Lasell College in Newton, Mass. Austin will oversee all content and development projects for the Tufts dental website: http://www.tufts.edu/dental.

Dr. Angelo Azzi, a scientist in the Vascular Biology Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA), has been elected president of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) for a six-year term. IUBMB is the world’s largest umbrella organization for biochemistry and molecular biology. Azzi also has been named president-elect of the Society for Free Radical Research International. He will become president of the society in January 2009.

Dr. Dennis G. Begos, assistant professor of surgery, has been named chair of the Department of Surgery at Winchester Hospital. He is a partner at Commonwealth Surgical Associates in Stoneham, Mass., specializing in general, colon, rectal and advanced laparoscopic surgery.

Susanne Belovari, an archivist in the Tisch Library, had her article, “Continuity and Change: Record Creators and Record Values,” published with the online proceedings of the annual seminar of the Section on University and Research Institution Archive, Shared Concerns and Responsibility for University Records and Archives (Reykjavik, Iceland, 2006). She also has created and installed an exhibit at Tisch Library about a Jackson College student from the 1920s called “Archival Traces: Muriel Simonson at Jackson College, 1924-1929.” Simonson was a much-lauded student actress, singer and the first undergraduate theater producer at Tufts.

Adrienne Morrison Bishop, J77, G78, F83, is in Rennes, France, this year on a Fulbright Teacher’s Grant.

Lais Costa, assistant professor of clinical sciences at the Cummings School, passed the certification examination and became a diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, with a specialty in equine practice.

Jerry Dallal, a professor at the Friedman School and chief of the Biostatistics Unit at the HNRCA, received this year’s Friedman School Distinguished Faculty Award for his impressive and extensive work with students, staff and faculty.

Rebecca Ducore, V08, presented her research on “RNA Isolation and Use in RT-PCR for Screening Subtypes of Avian Influenza Virus in Necropsied Birds in New England” at a meeting of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in Tucson, Ariz., on December 3. Her faculty advisor is Dr. Mark Pokras, associate professor of environmental and population health and director of the Wildlife Clinic at the Cummings School.

Dr. Michael H. Entrup, assistant clinical professor of anesthesiology at Tufts and chair of the Lahey Clinic’s Department of Anesthesiology, has been appointed to the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The board comprises one member from each state. Entrup has served on the executive committee of the Massachusetts Society of Anesthesiologists since 1995 and is a past president of the state organization. He has been a senior staff physician at Lahey Clinic since 1988 and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology since 2001.

Christine Fennelly has joined Tufts as director of public relations for the health sciences campuses. She will manage the public and media relations efforts for the Boston and Grafton campuses. Fennelly has more than 15 years’ experience in communications and public relations. She comes to Tufts from the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network, where she was senior director of communications and media relations, overseeing the marketing, media relations and publications for Spaulding and its outpatient and contract sites. Prior to that, she was director of communications for the Boston University School of Dental Medicine. During the 1990s, she served as media relations manager for the Lahey Clinic, a Tufts-affiliated hospital, and as associate director for public affairs and community relations manager for Boston’s Department of Health and Hospitals. Earlier in her career, she worked at Channel 56 TV in Boston, where she was the news administrative manager, with editorial and personnel responsibilities for the 10 p.m. newscast. She is a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she received a B.A. in communications and broadcast journalism. She also holds an M.S. degree in journalism from Boston University. She has won numerous awards, including a Bell Ringer Award from the Publicity Club of New England for outstanding multimedia production, a Telly Award for her work on an academic recruitment video and two University and College Designers Awards for recruitment materials and alumni magazines.

Dr. Lisa Freeman, associate professor of clinical sciences at the Cummings School, lectured on obesity and feline nutrition at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Fla., on January 14.

Catherine Freudenreich, associate professor of biology, has been awarded a $1.2 million, four-year grant from the National Institutes of Health for her project, “Fragility and Instability at Hairpin-forming Trinucleotide Repeats in Yeast.”

Kevin Gallagher , senior researcher at Tufts’ Global Development and Environment Institute, has been recruited by Edward Elgar to edit a Handbook on Trade and Environment, which will consist of 30 original chapters laying out the breadth and depth of this burgeoning field of research in economics, law and political science.

Elliott Garber, V08, was the Cummings School’s student representative at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Fla., in January.

Dr. Brian F. Gilchrist, A79, M84, associate professor of surgery, surgeon-in-chief of the Floating Hospital for Children and director of the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, has been appointed to the editorial board of Contemporary Surgery, the most widely read commercial surgical journal in the world. Gilchrist’s expertise in neonatal surgery, trauma and the surgery of necrotizing enterocolitis, a topic on which he has published a book, were factors leading to his appointment.

Julia S. Goldberg, a senior majoring in community health and Spanish, has been named a Second Team USA Today College Academic All-Star in recognition of her academic achievement and community service leadership in organizing a health fair for immigrant women in Somerville. Last year, Goldberg won a Truman Scholarship, which provides financial support for graduate school and connects recipients with public service jobs in government. This summer, Goldberg will work with the Office of Global Health Affairs. A Tisch Scholar at Tufts, Goldberg runs track and cross country and plans to participate in the President’s Marathon Challenge in Boston in April.

Neva R. Goodwin, co-director of the Global Development and Environment Institute, will have her book, Microeconomics in Context, translated and published in Italian by the Italian publisher, Zanichelli Editore.

Dr. Andrew S. Greenberg, director of the HNRCA Obesity and Metabolism Laboratory and the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Professor in Metabolism and Nutrition at the School of Medicine, was co-chair of the 2006 annual meeting of the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO), which was held in Boston. The meeting attracted more than 2,000 people from throughout the world. NAASO is the largest society in North American dedicated to obesity. Greenberg will chair the 2007 NAASO annual meeting, which will be held in New Orleans in October.

Jonathan Harris, director of theory and education at the Global Development and Environment (GDAE) Institute, gave a presentation on “Towards an Ecological Macroeconomics” to students and faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in February. The paper on which the presentation was based will appear as part of an edited volume, Frontiers in Ecological Economic Theory and Application (John D. Erickson and John M. Gowdy eds., Edward Elgar, 2007). An article titled “Wrong in Retrospect: Cost-benefit Analysis of Past Successes” by GDAE staff members Frank Ackerman, Lisa Heinzerling and Rachel Massey also will be published in that book.

Justin Hollander, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and planning, gave a talk on “Planning Practice and the Shrinking City: Reversing the Land Use Allocation Model” at a symposium on “The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context,” which was sponsored by the Center for Global Metropolitan Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. The symposium examined the phenomenon of shrinking cities in which dramatic declines in economic and social bases lead to urban flight from parts of cities or entire metropolitan areas. At the symposium, 30 speakers from five continents addressed the challenges and needs of shrinking cities.

Thereza Imanishi-Kari, associate professor of pathology, is one of 15 scientists in the country to receive funding from the Lupus Research Institute to pursue new approaches to prevent, treat and cure lupus. The grants provide the researchers with $300,000 over three years to explore their hypotheses, enabling them to expand lupus research in new directions and ultimately advance lupus treatments.

Rob Jacob, associate professor of computer science, has been elected to the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) Academy. He was an early leader in creating and applying techniques that are appropriate to the kinds of concurrent real-world interactions that are becoming prevalent in today’s post-WIMP (window, icon, menu, pointing device) interfaces. His work is notable for bringing system design, theoretical analysis and quantitative measurement to bear on the problem. He will be honored at the 2007 CHI conference April 28 through May 3 in San Jose, Calif.

Michael Klein, professor of international economics at the Fletcher School, has been named to the editorial board of the Journal of International Economics. Last fall, he presented a research seminar at the University of Wisconsin on his paper, “Establishing Credibility: Evolving Perceptions of the European Central Bank.” He presented his paper on “The Nature of Exchange Rate Regimes” at the autumn meeting of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge. That paper was co-written with Prof. Jay Shambaugh, F96, of Dartmouth College.

Valerie Krah, a senior majoring in economics, sunk a three-pointer at the 9:31 mark of the first half against Middlebury College on February 2 to become the women’s basketball program’s all-time leader in three-point field goals with 127. She broke the record held by Carrie Hironaka, now a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, who played for Tufts from 1995 to 1999.

Alice Lichtenstein, director of the HNRCA Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, gave a talk on “Soy Protein and Soy-derived Isoflavones, Plasma Lipid Levels and Cardiovascular Disease Risk” at the Women’s Health Forum: Navigating Health Information, which was sponsored by the American Nurses Association and the National Consumers League in Washington, D.C., on January 18.

Dr. Michael Mason, assistant clinical professor of orthopedic surgery, was a co-author of an article, “An Accurate and Reproducible Method for Locating the Joint Line during a Revision Total Knee Arthroplasty,” which was published in The Journal of Arthroplasty, Vol. 21, No. 8.

Isabelle Naginski, professor of French, has co-edited a book with Prof. Brigitte Diaz, a faculty member at the Université de Caen in Normandy, France, titled George Sand: Pratiques et imaginaires de l'écriture (University Press of Caen, 2006).

Dr. Eliezer (Eli) Peli, adjunct professor of ophthalmology at the School of Medicine and director of vision rehabilitation services at Tufts-New England Medical Center, received the 2006 Pisart Vision Award from Lighthouse International. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the field of vision impairment or blindness. In addition to his roles at Tufts, Peli is a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the Moakley Scholar in aging eye research at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston. “Dr. Peli is one of the few people who has achieved international recognition as an acclaimed scientist, inventor, engineer and foremost clinician in visual impairment. His success in applying his knowledge of biomedical engineering and clinical care to eradicating problems in low vision and vision rehabilitation has propelled him to the forefront of the field of low vision research and its practical applications,” said Tara Cortes, president and CEO of Lighthouse International, a nonprofit that helps people of all ages overcome the challenges of vision loss.

J. Michael Reed, associate professor of biology, has been promoted to full professor.

David Rivard’s poem, “The Rev. Larry Love Is Dead,” has been selected by guest editor Heather McHugh for The Best American Poetry 2007 (Scribner). The poem originally appeared in TriQuarterly and is included in Sugartown, the collection he published last year. Rivard is a lecturer in the English department.

Dr. Robert Russell, director of the HNRCA, gave a talk on “Setting Nutritional Requirements for Vitamin A and Carotenes: What We Know and What We Don’t Know” at the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements on December 13. He chaired a session on “Carotenoids in Human Health II: An International Perspective on Carotenoid Nutrition/Bioavailability” at the Gordon Research Conference on Carotenoids January 8-12. Russell participated in a food forum on “Nutritional Risk Assessment: Bridging Perspectives, Sharing Methodologies, Identifying Data Challenges,” which was hosted by the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Lauren F. Schwartz, assistant professor of neurosurgery and a neurosurgeon at Baystate Medical Center, a Tufts-affiliated hospital in Springfield, Mass., has been elected secretary-treasurer of the national association Women In Neurosurgery (WINS). Schwartz received her medical degree from Temple University and completed neurosurgical training at the Cleveland Clinic and Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center. She has been a member of WINS since 1993.

Dr. James Schwob, professor of anatomy, this winter will take the reins of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), designed for students who want to pursue careers that include both research and clinical practice. Schwob, who received his M.D./Ph.D. from Washington University, had considerable experience leading M.D./Ph.D. training prior to his arrival at Tufts. Naomi Rosenberg, dean of the Sackler School, will also maintain her active role in the program.

Juniors Nathan Scott and Jeremy Arak of the men’s indoor track and field team won 2007 New England Division III indoor titles at Bates College February 16-18. Their victories led the Jumbos to a second-place finish as a team. Scott won the pentathlon on with a score of 3,404 points. Arak won the high jump for the second straight year, clearing 6 feet, 5 ½ inches.

Nadia Stegeman, V08, and Emily Christiansen, V08, attended the State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs’ third annual national meeting in Las Vegas on December 11-12.

Kendall Swett, a junior majoring in art history, dominated the diving events at the 2007 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Swimming and Diving Championships, held at Williams College February 16-18. Her score of 475.20 points won the conference one-meter title and set new NESCAC and conference championship meet records. She won the three-meter championship with a score of 482.25 points. Swett is the first conference champion for the Jumbos since Mika Sumiyoshi won the 200-yard and 400-yard individual medleys in 2004.

Cheryl Tano, a lecturer in the Department of Romance Languages, has published a new first-year French language textbook, ESPACES: Rendez-vous avec le monde francophone (Vista Higher Learning, Boston, 2007).

Allen Taylor, director of the Laboratory for Nutrition and Vision Research at the HNRCA and professor of nutrition, biochemistry and ophthalmology, organized a session on “Nutrition and Age-related Eye Diseases” at the International Congress on Eye Research, which took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last November. In December, he gave a presentation on “Seeing beyond Oxidative Stress via Proteolysis and Nutrition” at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Mark A. Tidswell, assistant professor of medicine, is the recipient of a 2007 Educational Scholarship Award from the Society of Critical Care Medicine. The awards recognize excellence in critical care research. Tidswell was chosen for his abstract, titled “Results of a Phase 2 Trial of Eritoran, a Synthetic TLR-4 Antagonist, in Patients with Severe Sepsis,” which was published in Critical Care Medicine, 34 (12) Supplement, page A7. He received the award, a cash prize of $500, at the 36th Critical Care Congress, which took place in February in Orlando, Fla.

Dr. Flo Tseng, assistant professor of environmental and population health at the Cummings School, is serving as associate editor of the Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine.

Paul Waldau, director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School, delivered an invited lecture to a full-capacity audience on February 9 at the Humanities Center on the campus of the University of California at Irvine. His presentation, “The Animal Invitation,” covered the many ways that nonhuman animals’ lives are being explored and addressed in sciences, legal systems, religious communities and ethics-based discussions.

Dr. Xiang-Dong Wang, a professor at the Friedman School and director of the HNRCA Nutrition and Cancer Biology Laboratory, has been promoted to senior scientist at the HNRCA. Wang’s research focuses on the mechanisms of carotenoids and retinoids against carcinogenesis. He serves as a co-leader of the Nutrition and Cancer Prevention Program at Tufts-New England Medical Center’s Cancer Center.

Jake Weitzen, a junior majoring in economics, reached the 1,000-career-points milestone on January 27, when the men’s basketball team played at Wesleyan University. Needing five points to reach 1,000 entering the game, Weitzen hit a three-pointer at 17:29 of the first half to accomplish the milestone. He finished with a team-high 19 points in a 94-69 Jumbo blowout of the Wesleyan Cardinals. Weizen is the 25th player in Tufts history to score 1,000 points, and the first since Reggie Stovel did it during the 2004-05 season.

Senior tri-captain Chloe Young-Hyman broke two Tufts records at the 2007 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Swimming and Diving Championships, held at Williams College February 16-18. She was the runner-up in the 50-yard breaststroke with a school record time of 30.09 seconds. She swam the 100-yard breaststroke in 1 minute, 6.61 seconds for a new school record and third place in NESCAC.