From the Labs
Houston, Texas
Volume 7, Issue 5
June 2008

Briefs

By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.

Baylor scientist wins Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize

Huda Zoghbi, M.D., professor in the departments of pediatrics, molecular and human genetics and neurology and neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, received the eighth annual Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Perl prize carries a $10,000 award and is given to recognize a seminal achievement in neuroscience. Zoghbi is being recognized with the award for her research on the molecular genetics of neurological disorders, especially her 1999 discovery of the gene responsible for Rett Syndrome, a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder that results in devastating motor deterioration that affects one in every 10,000 females.

Zoghbi is also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

2008 Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Bone Research Awards

Lawrence A. Donehower, Ph.D., professor of molecular virology and microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, and Steffi Oesterreich, Ph.D., associate professor in the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at BCM, are the Bone Disease Program of Texas 2008 Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Research Award winners.

These awards provide initial funding to promising new research in the area of bone metastases, bone health in cancer patients, bone formation and bone biology and are awarded to faculty at BCM and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Joining the BCM award winners is Qing Yi, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of lymphoma and myeloma, at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Shearer and Eissa named to Association of American Physicians

William Shearer, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and chief of allergy and immunology, and N. Tony Eissa, M.D., professor of medicine, immunology and molecular and cellular biology and director of the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center, have been elected as members of the Association of American Physicians.

The AAP was founded in 1885 for the advancement of scientific and practical medicine. The goals of its members include the pursuit of medical knowledge and the advancement through experimentation and discovery of basic and clinical science and their application to clinical medicine. BCM now has 22 faculty who are members of AAP.

Greenberg, Guntupalli and DuPont elected masters to the American College of Physicians

Stephen B. Greenberg, M.D., senior vice president and dean of medical education at BCM and chief of medicine at Ben Taub General Hospital, Kalpalatha Guntupalli, M.D., professor of medicine at BCM and chief of the section of pulmonary and critical medicine at Ben Taub and Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., professor of medicine at BCM and chief of medicine at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, have been elected to Mastership in the American College of Physicians.

Masters comprise a small group of highly distinguished physicians, selected from among Fellows, who have achieved recognition in medicine by exhibiting preeminence in practice or medical research, holding positions of high honor, or making significant contributions to medical science or the art of medicine.