Johns Hopkins Gazette: May 12, 1997

Society of Scholars
Inducts 14

The Society of Scholars was created on the recommendation of former university President Milton S. Eisenhower and approved by the board of trustees on May 1, 1967.

The society--the first of its kind in the nation--inducts former postdoctoral fellows and junior or visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social or engineering sciences, or the humanities, and for whom at least five years has elapsed since their last Hopkins affiliation.

New scholars are nominated by the academic divisions, which have programs for postdoctoral fellows, and they are elected by a committee whose members are equally distributed among the academic divisions. There are currently 341 members in the Hopkins Society of Scholars.

The following 14 individuals have been named new members of The Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. They will be formally invested at university commencement exercises on May 22. During commencement ceremonies, the inductees will be presented with a diploma and a medallion on a black and gold ribbon to be worn with their academic robes.


Po-Ya Chang

Po-Ya Chang, of Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, is director-general of the newly created National Department of Health for Taiwan.

Chang was among the first to recognize the public health problems emerging in Taiwan due to rapid socioeconomic and demographic change. She initiated research in occupational health, focusing on workers' exposure to lead and has been a pioneer advocate for women's health. She has served as mayor of Chaiyi City, population 300,000, and in 1990 was appointed to her present position.


Mahlon R. Delong

Mahlon R. DeLong, of Atlanta, Ga., is a professor and chairman of Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine.

DeLong's research in neurology has changed the way we think about and treat two major illnesses: Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's. A clinician- investigator par excellence, he was among the team that recognized the depletion of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis in Alzheimer's patients and has led the profession to reconsider how the basal ganglia function in relation to the brain stem.


James K. Edzwald

James K. Edzwald, of Amherst, Mass., is a professor and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts.

Edzwald's research and teaching in environmental engineering, particularly in the area of water supply and water quality, have earned him wide recognition. He has held positions at several universities, including Johns Hopkins, during his distinguished career. His work has garnered him professional prizes, as well as many consulting assignments; he recently served on an EPA panel concerning the New York City water supply.


Timothy S. Harrison

Timothy S. Harrison, of Hershey, Pa., is professor emeritus of surgery and physiology at the Milton D. Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University.

A skilled surgeon and researcher, Harrison has made internationally recognized contributions in the field of endocrine surgery and has expanded our understanding of endocrine function, dysfunction and neoplasms. He completed his residency in the Department of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1956 and had a distinguished career as both physician and mentor.


David McKinnon Lawrence

David McKinnon Lawrence, of Oakland, Calif., is chairman and chief executive officer of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.

A graduate of the General Preventive Medicine Residency Program at the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Lawrence has developed innovative health-care delivery systems to meet the challenges of large populations. He was one of the first to advocate the use of physicians' assistants and is committed to preventive care.


Allen Sollie Lichter

Allen Sollie Lichter, of Ann Arbor, Mich., is chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

During his tenure as chairman, Lichter has helped the Department of Radiation Oncology become one of the premier departments in the country. He developed clinical trials to improve breast cancer treatment and has pioneered the use of three-dimensional methods for tumor diagnosis and treatment. Last year the New England Journal of Medicine honored his achievements by inviting him to author the journal's "Medical Progress" monograph on "Recent Advances in Radiation Oncology."


Lechaim Naggan

Lechaim Naggan, of Beer Sheva, Israel, is vice president and dean for research and development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Naggan, who has served as Israeli deputy surgeon general, combines the talents of researcher and administrator. A physician epidemiologist, he has investigated clinical problems such as congenital malformation and viral hepatitis, and he has also studied health services, successfully evaluating, for example, the health needs of Bedouins, a group unaccustomed to Western models of health care.


Jennifer R. Niebyl

Jennifer R. Niebyl, of Iowa City, Iowa, is professor and head of medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa College.

Niebyl's commitment to research, education and clinical practice in obstetrics and gynecology is reflected in the variety of her accomplishments. In the classroom she appears not only as a fine teacher, but also as co-editor of a widely used obstetrics textbook. Her research continues to generate new articles and book chapters. A co-editor of two professional journals, she is a respected leader in obstetrics and gynecology today.


Shin-Ichiro Nishimura

Shin-Ichiro Nishimura, of Sapporo, Japan, is a professor and director of the Division of Biological Science in the graduate school at Hokkaido University.

Nishimura's work in polymer chemistry and glycobiology holds promise for new treatments of diseases such as influenza and AIDS; the work has produced a flurry of publications--more than 100 in nine years--and remarkable professional recognition. After taking his Ph.D. in 1987, he has risen to the rank of professor, editor of scientific journals and a member of the advisory boards of several scientific associations.


Robert G. Robinson

Robert G. Robinson, of Iowa City, Iowa, is professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

By identifying the depressive disorder associated with stroke, Robinson has made a crucial contribution not only to neurology and psychiatry, but also to the treatment and rehabilitation of patients who suffer from stroke. His work has also helped us understand the cerebral mechanism behind affective disorder and its role in the depression and mania symptomatic of that disorder. These contributions have made him a leader in American psychiatry.


Kenji Sunagawa

From the time Kenji Sunagawa, of Osaka, Japan, began his post-doctoral work at the School of Medicine in 1978, he has been breaking new ground in cardiovascular research. Beginning with work he did here, which helped define the dynamic relationship between the left ventricle and its artery, he and his research team have recently developed crucial insights into cardiovascular control systems. A book he co-authored has become the standard reference for understanding the pressure-volume approach to ventricular function.


Noriko Takahashi

Noriko Takahashi, of Handa-City, Japan, has made two important contributions in the field of glycobiology, both of which help scientists analyze the structure of carbohydrates in glycoconjugates. She discovered glycoamidase, an enzyme which has become an indispensable tool for studying glycoproteins, and she developed new chromatic methods for carbohydrate analysis. Takahashi is also distinguished in the history of Japan: she was the first woman graduate of Nagoya University (1951) and the first woman in Japan to obtain an engineering degree.


John E. Wennberg

In studying the way physicians work, John E. Wennberg, of Hanover, N.H., invented the concept of "small area variation," which demonstrated for the first time, and in a scientifically rigorous way, that equally capable physicians in adjacent geographic areas practice medicine very differently. He developed the analytical methods needed to form the core of a new field: practice variation. Studies in this field point the way toward better clinical guidance for physicians and more consistent communication with patients about treatment options.


Anne B. Young

From the molecule to the clinic, Anne B. Young, of Cambridge, Mass., has taken up major questions in the field of neurology. She produced a body of research which elucidates the role of excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate in brain function, and has been a key clinical investigator of Huntington's disease, helping identify the genetic abnormality that appears to cause it. At Harvard, Young is considered an extraordinary chair of Neurology, having guided both research and clinical activities to new levels of achievement.


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