University News

Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion Established

Biomedical entrepreneur and philanthropist Alfred E. Mann signed an agreement to establish a life sciences/biomedical engineering research institute at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Mann signed the agreement with the Technion and the American Technion Society (ATS) at the organization's Manhattan office.

The Technion is the first university outside of the United States selected by Mann to be a part of his vision of establishing a total of 12 Alfred Mann Institutes (AMI's) at the world's top research centers. So far, the only other AMI can be found at the University of Southern California (USC); two others are in later stage discussions.

According to the new agreement, Mann will provide initial funding of $4 million for the AMI's operating expenses over the next two years. The money is intended as a bridge to the establishment of a $100 million endowment for the institute. This is coupled with a multi-year agreement that would provide millions of dollars annually for the institute's operating budget, pending establishment of the $100 million endowment.

The gift will become one of the largest ever established for an Israeli institution. Mann said the Technion's standing as a world leader in scientific research and its high academic ranking played significant roles in his decision.

A board of directors for the institute has already been selected. The 12-member group will be comprised of five Technion-appointed representatives; six handpicked by Mann (who will serve as chairman); and one from the ATS. The institute will operate under the direction of Dr. Zeev Gilkis, who has been an investment director of venture capital firm Comverse Investments.

The agreement will give the Alfred Mann Institute unbridled access to information about Technion intellectual property in fields that fall under the institute's umbrella. The Institute – dedicated to the creation of medical device and pharmaceutical products and processes to improve human health and well-being – will also have the right to develop and commercialize that property.

Alfred E. Mann is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Alfred Mann Foundation, founded in 1985, and the Alfred Mann institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. The foundation and the institute are nonprofit research organizations devoted to development of advanced medical products in a variety of fields.

Mann is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MannKind Corporation and of Advanced Bionics Corporation (ABC); and Chairman of Second Sight, LLC, Bioness, Inc. AlleCure Corporation, Quallion, LLC, Implantable Acoustics, and Chairman Emeritus of Pacesetter System, Inc., and MiniMed – all companies founded by Mann.

ATS Executive Vice President Melvyn H. Bloom, Technion President Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig and Technion Prof. Zvi Kochavi, director of the Technion's Research and Development Foundation, were present at the meeting

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University Rectors Protest Sweeping Ban on Palestinian Students

Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rector Prof. Haim D. Rabinowitch has initiated a letter signed by rectors and other senior administrators of universities in Israel, calling upon the minister of defense, Amir Peretz, to cancel the sweeping ban the security forces have imposed on the entry of Palestinian students from the territories into Israel.

In the letter, they state that "the universities protest the sweeping ban and call upon the security establishment to examine all such instances on an individual basis and enable students, who are not suspected of involvement in activities that threaten the security of Israel, to enter the country for academic purposes."

Signing the letter in addition to Prof Rabinowitch, were the rectors of: Tel Aviv University Prof. Dany Leviatan; the University of Haifa, Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi; and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt; plus the dean of the Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Yosef Yarden, and the senior executive vice president of the Technion, Prof. Aviv Rosen.

The call to the minister of defense was issued following the ban which was imposed on Sawsan Salameh, a Palestinian from the village of Anata near Jerusalem. Salameh was accepted last year for doctoral studies in chemistry at the Hebrew University, but despite this she was not permitted by the security authorities – without any explanation -- to receive an entry permit to Israel.

Since she was not able to physically reach the campus, the Hebrew University did not require her to pay tuition for last year.

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Institute of Medicine Elects 65 New Members, Five Foreign Associates

Representatives of The Institute of Medicine announced the names of 65 new members, raising its total active membership to 1,501. In addition, the Institute honored five individuals by election to foreign associate membership, bringing the total members in that category to 82.With another 68 members holding emeritus status, the total IOM membership is now 1,651.

Current active members elect new members from among candidates nominated for their professional achievement and commitment to service. An unusual diversity of talent is assured by the Institute's charter, which stipulates that at least one-quarter of the membership be selected from outside the health professions, from such fields as the natural, social, and behavioral sciences, as well as law, administration, engineering, and the humanities.

The Institute of Medicine is unique for its structure as both an honorific membership organization and an advisory organization. Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute has become recognized as a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on issues related to human health. With their election, members make a commitment to devote a significant amount of volunteer time as members of IOM study committees.

Newly elected members are:

• NANCY C. ANDREWS, M.D., PH.D., George R. Minot Professor of Pediatrics, division of hematology/oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston
• SUZANNE BAKKEN, R.N., F.A.A.N., D.N.SC., Alumni Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing, and professor of biomedical informatics, department of nursing and biomedical informatics, Columbia University, New York City
• LANCE B. BECKER, M.D., professor, department of emergency medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• TIMOTHY R. BILLIAR, M.D., George Vance Foster Professor and chair, department of surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
• JOHN D. BIRKMEYER, M.D., George D. Zuidema Professor of Surgery, division of gastrointestinal surgery, department of surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• ROBERT W. BLUM, M.D., M.P.H., PH.D., William H. Gates Sr. Professor and chair, department of population and family health sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
• MICHAEL BOEHNKE, PH.D., Richard G. Cornell Collegiate Professor of Biostatistics, department of biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• DAN W. BROCK, PH.D., Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics, and director, division of medical ethics, department of social medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston
• LINDA B. BUCK, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; associate director for basic sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and affiliate professor, department of physiology and biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle
• R. ALTA CHARO, J.D., Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law and Bioethics, Law School and School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and visiting professor of law, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley
• NICHOLAS A. CHRISTAKIS, M.D., PH.D., professor of medical sociology, department of health care policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston
• FRANCISCO G. CIGARROA, M.D., president, and professor of pediatric and transplantation surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio
• ELLEN WRIGHT CLAYTON, M.D., J.D., Rosalind E. Franklin Professor of Genetics and Health Policy, professor of pediatrics, professor of law, and co-director, Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
• GRAHAM A. COLDITZ, M.D., DR.P.H., professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, and epidemiologist, department of medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
• CHI VAN DANG, M.D., PH.D., Johns Hopkins Family Professor of Oncology Research, professor of medicine, cell biology, oncology, and pathology, and vice dean for research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
• BETTY A. DIAMOND, M.D., chief of rheumatology and professor of medicine and microbiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City
• ELAZER R. EDELMAN, M.D., PH.D., Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston
• STEPHEN J. ELLEDGE, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics and of Medicine, department of genetics, Harvard Medical School; and department of medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
• ELLIOTT S. FISHER, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and community and family medicine, Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, N.H.
• RICHARD A. FLAVELL, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Sterling Professor and chair, section of immunobiology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• GARY R. FLEISHER, M.D., Egan Family Foundation Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and pediatrician in chief and chair, department of medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston
• THEODORE G. GANIATS, M.D., professor and interim chair, department of family and preventive medicine, University of California, San Diego
• KATHLEEN M. GIACOMINI, PH.D., professor and chair, department of biopharmaceutical sciences, University of California, San Francisco
• SHERRY A. GLIED, PH.D., professor and chair, department of health policy and management, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City
• STEPHEN P. GOFF, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and professor of microbiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City
• MARTHE R. GOLD, M.D., M.P.H., Arthur C. Logan Professor and chair, department of community health and social medicine, City University of New York Medical School, New York City
• FRANCISCO GONZALEZ-SCARANO, M.D., professor and chair, department of neurology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• DAVID A. GRIMES, M.D., vice president of biomedical affairs, Institute for Family Health, Family Health International, Research Triangle Park, N.C.
• MAXINE HAYES, M.D., state health officer, Washington State Department of Health, Olympia
• SUSAN BAND HORWITZ, PH.D., Distinguished Professor and co-chair, department of molecular pharmacology; Distinguished Professor, department of cell biology; and Rose C. Falkenstein Professor of Cancer Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York City
• RUDOLF JAENISCH, M.D., professor of biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and founding member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge
• DILIP V. JESTE, M.D., Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging; director, Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging; and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, and VA San Diego Healthcare System
• EMMETT B. KEELER, PH.D., professor of health services, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles; rofessor, Pardee RAND Graduate School, and senior mathematician, RAND Corp., Santa Monica, Calif.
• RAYNARD S. KINGTON, M.D., PH.D., principal deputy director, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• H. CLIFFORD LANE, M.D., director, Office of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• MITCHELL A. LAZAR, M.D., PH.D., Sylvan H. Eisman Professor of Medicine; professor of genetics and chief, division of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism; and director, Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• SUSAN L. LINDQUIST, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; and professor of biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• GEORGE LISTER, M.D., Robert L. Moore Chair in Pediatrics, and professor and chair of pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and pediatrician-in-chief, Children's Medical Center, Dallas
• JOSEPH LOSCALZO, M.D., PH.D., Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, Harvard Medical School, and chair, department of medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
• MARTHA L. LUDWIG, PH.D., research biophysicist and J. Lawrence Oncley Distinguished Professor, department of biological chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• JAMES D. MARKS, M.D., PH.D., professor of anesthesia and pharmaceutical chemistry, and chief of anesthesia, San Francisco General Hospital; and vice chair, department of anesthesia and perioperative medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• ROBERT L. MARTUZA, M.D., Higgins Professor of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, and chief, neurosurgical service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• JOAN MASSAGUÉ, PH.D, investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Alfred P. Sloan Chair, cancer biology and genetics program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City
• JOHN C. MAZZIOTTA, M.D., PH.D., chair, department of neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
• CATHERINE G. MCLAUGHLIN, PH.D., professor, department of health management and policy, and director, Economic Research Institute on the Uninsured, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor
• RANDOLPH A. MILLER, M.D., Donald A.B. and Mary M. Lindberg Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Medicine, and Nursing, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
• ARNOLD S. MILSTEIN, M.D., M.P.H., medical director, Pacific Business Group on Health, San Francisco
• RUTH S. NUSSENZWEIG, M.D., PH.D., C.V. Starr Professor of Medical and Molecular Parasitology, department of pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York City
• BALDOMERO M. OLIVERA, PH.D., Distinguished Professor of Biology, department of biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
• WALTER A. ORENSTEIN, M.D., professor of medicine and director, program for vaccine policy and development, department of medicine, Emory University, Atlanta
• GUY HUGHES PALMER, D.V.M., PH.D., D.A.C.V.P., professor, department of veterinary microbiology and pathology, Washington State University, Pullman
• KENNETH S. POLONSKY, M.D., Adolphus Busch Professor and chair, department of medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis
• THOMAS H. RICE, PH.D., vice chancellor, academic personnel, University of California, Los Angeles
• JANE S. RICHARDSON, D.SC., James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
• JOHN L.R. RUBENSTEIN, M.D., PH.D., Nina Ireland Distinguished Professor in Child Psychiatry, department of psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco
• PAUL ALBERT SIEVING, M.D., PH.D., director, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• RICHARD J.H. SMITH, M.D., Sterba Hearing Research Professor; director, Molecular Otolaryngology Research Laboratories; and vice chair, department of otolaryngology, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City
• GEORGE GAYLE STEPHENS, M.D., professor emeritus, department of community and family medicine, University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham
• WILLIAM M. TIERNEY, M.D., Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, and chief, general internal medicine and geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis
• AJIT P. VARKI, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, department of medicine, University of California, San Diego
• ELLEN S. VITETTA, PH.D., professor and director, Cancer Immunology Center, and professor of biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas
• JUDITH N. WASSERHEIT, M.D., M.P.H., director, HIV vaccine trials network; member, program in infectious diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; and professor of medicine, University of Washington, Seattle
• ALASTAIR J.J. WOOD, M.D., F.R.C.P., managing director, Symphony Capital LLC, New York City
• SCOTT L. ZEGER, PH.D., Hurley-Dorrier Professor and chair, department of biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
• CHARLES S. ZUKER, PH.D., investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of biology and neurosciences, University of California, San Diego

Those elected to foreign associate membership are:

• CAROL M. BLACK, M.D., D.B.E., F.R.C.P., chair, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, London
• STEN GRILLNER, M.D., PH.D., professor and director, Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, and chair, network program for neuroscience/psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
• CLIFFORD MARTIN MCKEE, C.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P., professor of European public health, department of public health and policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London
• ANNE J. MILLS, D.H.S.A., PH.D., professor of health economics and policy, department of public health and policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London
• LEENA PELTONEN-PALOTIE, M.D., PH.D., Academy Professor, department of medical genetics, University of Helsinki, and department of molecular medicine, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland

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Richard Leapman, Ph.D., Named NIBIB Scientific Director

Representatives of The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced the appointment of Dr. Richard Leapman as the Scientific Director of its Intramural Research Program. As Scientific Director, Dr. Leapman will be responsible for planning, evaluating, and directing all aspects of NIBIB's intramural research.

Prior to his appointment at NIBIB, Dr. Leapman was the Acting Director of the Division of Bioengineering and Physical Science in the Office of Research Services at NIH. He served in a dual capacity as the Chief of the Supramolecular Structure and Function Resource. Leapman received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge, England.

Leapman's research interests are in the development and application of quantitative electron microscopy and the application of novel nanoscale imaging methods to solve problems in structural and cellular biology. He has been particularly active in developing the techniques of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and combining it with x-ray spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to provide an unprecedented high spatial resolution for nanoanalysis of biological structures. Leapman has devised new methods for quantifying both elemental and chemical information obtained from inelastic electron scattering, a research area in which he has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Leapman has been an active member of the scientific community. He has been an officer or board member of many scientific review and professional society committees, and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Burton Medal from the Microscopy Society of America, the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and two NIH Director's Awards. Over the years, Leapman also has served on various editorial boards of scientific journals and is currently serving as the editor of the Journal of Microscopy.

Leapman will assume his new position effective October 29, 2006.

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The University of Nottingham Announces Ningbo Campus Leadership

Plans for the future management of The University of Nottingham's pioneering campus in China are set out with the announcement that two senior academics from the United Kingdom will lead The University of Nottingham Ningbo China into its next phase of development from January 2007.

Professor Ian Gow, the Foundation Provost, will return to England, following his appointment as Dean of Bristol Business School and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at The University of the West of England. This move will follow the completion of an extended and highly accomplished three-year term in Asia.

His successor as Vice-President and CEO in China will be Professor Peter Buttery.

Professor Roger Woods is appointed Vice-President and CEO-elect of the China campus.

Peter Buttery is Professor of Applied Biochemistry and Dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Nottingham, and has vast experience in higher education management. He has served as a Pro-Vice-Chancellor with special responsibility for international students, and is a former Head of the Division of Nutritional Sciences in the School of Biosciences.

Roger Woods is a former Head of The School of Modern Languages, and is Professor of German in an internationally renowned division. He is also Chairman of the University Council of Modern Languages, and is currently undertaking a review of modern languages on behalf of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Professor Douglas Tallack, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Internationalisation, said: "The University of Nottingham is the first foreign institution to establish a legally independent university inside the People's Republic of China. Professor Ian Gow has driven forward all of the crucial stages of campus development with great skill, helping to deliver UK quality assured degree courses across faculties, supported by magnificent infrastructure.

The University of Nottingham Ningbo China now has almost 2,000 students and has received numerous awards and accolades. This year The University of Nottingham received The Queen's Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade. The institution was also declared Outward Investor of the Year by the foremost China-Britain trade association, the 48 Group Club. The China Campus also received an International Business Award 2006 in the United States.

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Gates Foundation Awards $15 Million to Support Science-Based Effort to End Poverty in Africa

Representatives of The Earth Institute at Columbia University announced that it has received $15 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to advance scientific research and efforts to slash poverty, disease and hunger in Africa. The grant supports The Earth Institute at Columbia University, which is currently working in 10 African countries to battle the complex challenges of poverty with proven scientific interventions and policy recommendations at the local and national levels.

Today more than 300 million people in Africa live on less than $1 a day. Of this number, a large percentage must also endure associated ills such as disease and social inequality that entrap them in a vicious cycle of poverty. Opening access to markets, technological advances, infrastructure, and basic services such as health care and education can make the difference between a future that is full of hope or bleak with despair.

Under the leadership of Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, an interdisciplinary team of experts in agriculture, engineering, hydrology, public health, and a host of other disciplines have been implementing a dynamic strategy for achieving sustainable development in some of the world's poorest countries. Due in large part to their efforts, thousands of people across a distinct agriculture zone in Africa now have access to clean water and alternative fuel sources, life-saving medicine, nutritious meals and income-generation opportunities.

Funding provided through the Gates Foundation's Global Development Program will help ramp up the Earth Institute's efforts and resources dedicated to achieving the Millennium Development Goals — eight interrelated objectives for halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015 and meeting other related targets. The Institute's work in Africa is aligned with the strategic goal of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to actively contribute to an African "Green Revolution," similar to that which dramatically increased the productivity of small farms in Asia, moving hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty and hunger.