Yale Medicine-Faculty News

New chairs appointed in three departments; clinical leadership changes

Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., has announced the appointment of three new chairs to lead the departments of Cell Biology, Pharmacology and Surgery.

Ira Mellman, Ph.D., became chair of the Department of Cell Biology in December. Mellman, who earned his doctoral degree in genetics from Yale in 1978, has been on the faculty since 1981. He is a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, which provides research support to his laboratory and increasingly to Yale as a whole, and serves as editor-in-chief of The Journal of Cell Biology and on the editorial boards of Cell and The Journal of Experimental Medicine. He is also a professor of immunobiology and the founding director of Yale’s interdepartmental graduate Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS).

Mellman’s research focuses on how cells control the composition of their intracellular membranes. He is credited with the discovery and definition of cell organelles known as endosomes, which enable cells to take up macromolecules such as hormones, and with the identification of mechanisms enabling individual cells to generate and maintain the asymmetries required to produce complex multicellular structures such as organs and tissues. His laboratory group is now investigating the cellular basis of the immune response and has revealed the inner workings of dendritic cells, which are uniquely responsible for initiating virtually all known immune responses. Lynn Cooley, Ph.D., associate professor of genetics and cell biology, will succeed Mellman as director of the BBS.

Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D., arrived at Yale on Feb. 1 as the new chair of the Department of Pharmacology. Schlessinger, who headed the pharmacology department at New York University School of Medicine and directed the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, is one of a handful of scientists leading the signal transduction field. For the past 25 years he has been the single most visible figure in the area of signal transduction via receptor tyrosine kinases, molecules at the cell surface that tell cells when to grow or stop growing.

Schlessinger, who was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences last year, is one of the most frequently referenced authors in biomedical science and a co-founder of SUGEN Inc., a biotech company in South San Francisco that was acquired in 1999 by Pharmacia and Upjohn. He serves on the boards of a dozen journals, including The EMBO Journal, Cell, and Molecular Cell. In conjunction with Schlessinger’s arrival, the school will renovate portions of the B-wing of Sterling Hall of Medicine and build a 15,000-square-foot addition.

Robert Udelsman, M.D., M.S.B., M.B.A., will become chair of the Department of Surgery on June 1. Udelsman is currently the Richard Darnall Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins, where he is also director of endocrine and oncologic surgery.

Udelsman completed his medical training at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and his surgical residency and chief residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. In addition, he has completed fellowships in surgical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, in endocrinology at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and in gastrointestinal surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His research and clinical interests focus heavily on endocrine surgery, particularly endocrine oncology. His clinical practice focuses on surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal gland and endocrine pancreas. His clinical research focuses on outcome research, particularly on innovative techniques for minimizing the trauma of surgery. These are particularly relevant to laparoscopic adrenalectomy and outpatient minimally invasive parathyroidectomy.

Dean’s office appointments

Several key administrative appointments were announced recently as well.

Richard L. Edelson, M.D. ’70, professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology, was named deputy dean for clinical affairs. His responsibilities include activities related to research, training and services for the entire clinical enterprise. He will also serve as the chief clinical liaison between the dean’s office and the clinical leadership of Yale-New Haven Hospital.

David J. Leffell, M.D., HS ’86, professor of dermatology and director of the Yale Medical Group, was promoted to senior associate dean for clinical activities and strategic planning. Leffell will help to develop, initiate and carry out plans necessary for the ongoing growth and sustained health of the medical school’s clinical programs.

Norman J. Siegel, M.D., professor of pediatrics and medicine and chair of the Yale Medical Group’s finance committee, was named senior advisor for planning and priorities. Siegel will lead the school’s ad hoc committee on long-term financial planning. He will also become the school’s chief liaison to its affiliated hospitals in Connecticut, especially in regard to the implementation of the 1999 affiliation agreement between the medical school and the Yale New Haven Health System.

Searches are under way for new chairs for the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and of Pediatrics and for a section chief in medical oncology.

—Michael Fitzsousa

Aghajanian, Hostetter elected to Institute of Medicine

George K. Aghajanian, M.D., professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, and Margaret K. Hostetter, M.D., professor of pediatrics, chief of the section of pediatric immunology and director of the Yale Child Health Research Center, were elected in October to the Institute of Medicine. Aghajanian was named a senior member and Hostetter a member.

Aghajanian is best known for his basic research on drugs and chemical neurotransmission in the brain. His recent work on serotonin and glutamate has influenced investigations into treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Hostetter’s research focuses on virulence factors in two important pathogens: Streptococcus pneumoniae, the leading cause of death from respiratory infections, and Candida albicans, the predominant cause of fatal fungal infections in patients with compromised immune function. Hostetter co-founded the first clinic specializing in the medical and developmental evaluation of internationally adopted children and has transplanted this model to Yale. She serves on the Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Thomas Steitz honored with Sterling Professorship

Thomas A. Steitz, Ph.D., internationally known for his work in X-ray crystallography, has been honored with an appointment as Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.

Steitz’s research interests include the molecular structure of proteins and nucleic acids, the structural basis of enzyme mechanisms, and protein-nucleic acid interactions. He and his research team recently made a landmark scientific stride in determining the atomic structure of the ribosome’s large subunit (See Findings, Fall 2000 | Winter 2001).

Steitz joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor in 1970 and currently serves as chair of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Steitz has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 1986 and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

Patricia Goldman-Rakic named Eugene Higgins Professor of Neurobiology

Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic, Ph.D., a world leader in the study of the brain’s cellular mechanisms for memory and cognition, has been appointed the Eugene Higgins Professor of Neurobiology.

Goldman-Rakic has conducted much of her research on the prefrontal cortex, the brain area most concerned with reasoning and thought. She has studied such issues as the development and organization of this area’s neural circuitry and its physiological and pharmacological properties in relation to its memory functions. Her work has shown how the modular structure of neural connections constrains these functions.

Before joining the Yale faculty in 1979, Goldman-Rakic was chief of the section of developmental neurobiology at the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a fellow or member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Neuroscience. She served as president of the latter organization in 1990.

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Jennifer A. Doudna, Ph.D., the Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and an associate investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been chosen to receive the 2001 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry. This award, one of three to be presented by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Biological Chemistry in August, recognizes an individual who has accomplished outstanding research in biochemistry that reflects unusual independence and originality. Doudna’s work is aimed at determining the structural basis of RNA catalysis using X-ray crystallography and biochemistry.

Thomas M. Gill, M.D., associate professor of medicine and director of the Yale Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology, has been chosen to receive the 2001 Outstanding Scientific Achievement for Clinical Investigation Award from the American Geriatrics Society. Gill’s research is directed toward understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of functional decline and disability among community-living older persons and toward developing preventive strategies to forestall the onset and progression of disability among at-risk elders who are frail.

Elaine E. Grant, M.P.H. ’92, PA-C, assistant dean and director of the Physician Associate Program, began a one-year term in January as president of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Grant is the NCCPA’s first female president and the first Association of Physician Assistant Programs appointee to serve in that role. She is currently serving her fourth four-year term on the NCCPA’s board.

Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., received the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Public Welfare Medal in April at the NAS award ceremony in Washington. Kessler was recognized “for his courageous approach to public health issues, including insistence on the validity of drug labeling; protection of the impartiality of review boards; institution of mechanisms for fast-tracking drug approval, especially for orphan drugs and terminal malignancies; implementation of nutrient food labeling, and recognition that the addictive effects of tobacco require a more active intervention on the part of society and government. His legacy as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration affects the lives of all Americans.” The medal was established to recognize distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare and has been presented since 1914.

K.J. Lee, M.D., associate clinical professor of surgery (otolaryngology) and managing partner of the Southern New England Ear, Nose, Throat and Facial Plastic Surgery Group in New Haven, is president-elect of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgeons and will assume the presidency in September. Lee is the author of Essential Otolaryngology.

William H. Prusoff, Ph.D., professor emeritus and senior research scientist in pharmacology, has been honored by the creation of the William Prusoff Young Investigator Lecture Award. The award, supported by an endowment by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, will be given annually by the International Society for Antiviral Research. Its intent, the two organizations said in a statement, is to honor “one of the most talented and beloved members of the society and a loyal member since its inception. His contributions to the development of antivirals and their clinical use are legendary, and his dedication to mentoring young scientists makes this award in his name truly appropriate.”

Robert A. Rosenheck, M.D., HS ’77, professor of psychiatry and of epidemiology and public health, has received the Carl A. Taube Award for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Mental Health Services Research from the Mental Health Section of the American Public Health Association. Rosenheck is a leading authority on homelessness and post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. The award is named in memory of Taube, a former staff member of the National Institute of Mental Health, who played a major role in creating the field of mental health services and policy research.

M. Bruce Shields, M.D., professor and chair of ophthalmology and visual science, has been honored by the Duke University Eye Center with a professorship in his name. The endowed chair was made possible by a $1.2 million bequest by two grateful patients. Shields served on the faculty at Duke for 25 years before coming to Yale in 1997.

Heping Zhang, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology and a member of the Child Study Center faculty, has been named a fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA). Zhang was recognized at the Joint Statistical Meetings in Indiana last summer “for significant contributions to methodology in non-parametric classification and non-linear regression, for influential work in statistical genetics, and for applications in epidemiology and psychiatry.” Zhang earned his doctorate at Stanford in 1991 and has been a member of the ASA since 1992.

—Claire Bessinger

Send faculty news items to: Claire Bessinger, Yale Medicine Publications, P.O. Box 7612, New Haven, CT 06519-0612.