The Johns Hopkins Gazette: May 20, 2002
May 20, 2002
VOL. 31, NO. 35

  

Society of Scholars Inducts 15 New Members

Johns Hopkins Gazette Online Edition

To honor the significant accomplishments of men and women who spent part of their careers at Johns Hopkins, the Society of Scholars was created by the board of trustees in May 1967 on the recommendation of former president Milton S. Eisenhower.

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

The Committee of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, whose members are equally distributed among the academic divisions, elects the scholars from the candidates nominated by the academic divisions that have programs for postdoctoral fellows. There are currently 430 members in the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

The 15 scholars elected in 2002 will be invested at an induction ceremony hosted by Provost Steven Knapp at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 22, at Evergreen House. At that time they will be presented with a diploma and a medallion on a black and gold ribbon to be worn with their academic robe. The induction will be followed by a dinner hosted by President William R. Brody. The new Society of Scholars will be recognized at Commencement on May 23.

The following listing gives the names of the inductees, their current affiliation, their Hopkins affiliation, the name of their nominator and a short description of their accomplishments at the time of their election to the society.


Daniel J. Auerbach, senior manager and research staff member, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, Calif.

At Hopkins: Assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, 1975 to 1978. Nominator: Paul J. Dagdigian, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Best known for his work on the dynamical aspects of atomic and molecular interactions with solid surfaces, Daniel Auerbach pioneered the application of molecular beam and laser techniques to surface science problems, opening up exciting new areas of study. His research has spanned a broad range of topics in atomic, molecular and optical physics; chemical physics; surface chemistry; and condensed matter physics. In addition to his scientific achievements, he has played an important management role at IBM, where he has been involved in developing programs in magnetic storage, microelectronics, displays and computation.


Robert M. Blizzard, chairman emeritus, Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia School of Medicine; chief emeritus, Children's Medical Center, University of Virginia Medical Center; president, Genentech Foundation for Growth and Development, Charlottesville, Va.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, Department of Pediatrics, 1955 to 1957; associate professor and professor, 1960 to 1973. Nominator: Michael A. Levine, School of Medicine.

Robert Blizzard has made multiple significant contributions in the field of endocrinology. His careful and systematic clinical studies of patients with autoimmune endocrine diseases enabled him to propose a classification of polyglandular autoimmune diseases that is now internationally accepted. He has also elucidated the critical role that growth hormone plays in childhood, adolescence and aging. This work led to the controversial notion, now generally accepted, that growth hormone replacement is necessary throughout life.


Thomas A. Cebula, director, Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment, Food and Drug Administration.

At Hopkins: graduate student in the department of Biology, 1973 to 1977; postdoctoral fellow in the departments of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (now Molecular Biology and Genetics), 1977 to 1978. Nominator: Maurice J. Bessman, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

With a strong and broad base in biochemistry, microbiology, immunology and genetics, Thomas Cebula is one of those rare investigators who have made important contributions in basic as well as applied research. At the Food and Drug Administration, he has had a profound effect on public health issues by developing molecular methods for the detection of pathogens in the environment and in the food supply.


Leland W.K. Chung, John Kluge Distinguished Professor of Urology, Biochemistry, Hematology/Oncology and director of the Molecular Urology and Therapeutics Program, Emory University School of Medicine.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (now Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences) and the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, 1969 to 1972. Nominator: Donald S. Coffey, School of Medicine.

An outstanding international leader in the field of urological research, Leland Chung developed the first model of human prostate cancer metastasis. That has led to a new form of gene therapy for prostate cancer that now is in clinical trials and shows great promise. A professor at Emory University, he has won the Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in Research at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the State of Georgia Distinguished Cancer Clinician and Scientist Award and the prestigious Wu Jieping Medical Science Award from the Chinese government.


John F. Ferguson, professor of civil engineering, University of Washington.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, 1970 to 1974. Nominator: Edward J. Bouwer, Whiting School of Engineering.

In the field of water quality engineering, John Ferguson's research contributions span several areas, including microbial and chemical processes in anaerobic treatment and advanced biological treatment systems. His work on biological treatment processes for controlling hazardous wastes is providing treatment options that promise to reduce the risks to the public and the environment. In addition to conducting meritorious research, he is dedicated to teaching and working with students, many of whom will be among the next generation of exemplary environmental engineers.


Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, University of Notre Dame.

At Hopkins: graduate student in the Department of Mechanics (now Mechanical Engineering), 1968 to 1972, and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanics and Materials Science (now Mechanical Engineering), 1973. Nominator: Andrea Prosperetti, Whiting School of Engineering.

Winner of the Alexander von Humboldt Prize, Germany's highest prize for U.S. scientists and researchers, Mohamed Gad-el-Hak is well known for advancing several important and novel diagnostic tools for turbulent flows and for discovering the efficient mechanism by which a turbulent spot rapidly grows by destabilizing a surrounding laminar flow. He has also worked on many other important flow problems and in particular, most recently, in the new area of micro-fluid mechanics.


Ibrahim A. Gambari, undersecretary-general and special adviser on Africa, the United Nations Secretariat.

At Hopkins: visiting professor, African Studies Program at SAIS, 1986 to 1989. Nominator: Gilbert M. Khadiagala, SAIS.

In a long and distinguished career, Ibrahim Gambari has traveled widely and served with distinction as both a diplomat and a scholar. Prior to joining the U.N. Secretariat, he was Nigeria's longest serving ambassador/permanent representative to the United Nations. As a scholar, he has published a number of books on foreign policy-making, economics and African politics, including Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy Decision Making, which is an insightful account of his tenure as foreign minister of Nigeria. He has taught at SAIS, Georgetown and the Brookings Institution and is the founder of the Savannagh Centre for Diplomacy, a think tank in Nigeria devoted to analyzing and solving problems in Africa.


Melvin M. Grumbach, E.B. Shaw Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus, University of California, San Francisco.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, School of Medicine at the Harriet Lane Home, 1953 to 1955. Nominator: Michael A. Levine, School of Medicine.

As a leader in research on the hormonal control of growth and maturation, Melvin Grumbach has studied the development and function of the human endocrine and neuroendocrine systems from fetal life through puberty. His current research is focused on deciphering gene mutations that affect the growth and maturation of bones as well as sexual development. He is also past president of the Endocrine Society, the American Pediatric Society and the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society.


Willa A. Hsueh, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Hypertension, University of California, Los Angeles.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, 1973 to 1976. Nominator: Paul W. Ladenson, School of Medicine.

Willa Hsueh directs a major research team investigating the impact of diabetes and other metabolic factors on the cardiovascular system. Her projects span the spectrum of translational research from bench to animal cage to bedside. She is highly respected and internationally recognized as having made important contributions to the understanding of the metabolic pathways involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic vascular disease. She is also an accomplished medical educator and mentors a number of junior faculty and fellows in clinical and bench research.


Gerald A. Klassen, emeritus professor, emeritus university vice president and emeritus department chair, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, 1963 to 1965. Nominator: Kenneth Zierler, School of Medicine.

A major figure in Canadian medicine, Gerald Klassen is a retired professor of medicine, chairman of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and vice president for academic and research affairs at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. A past president of the Canadian Society of Clinical Investigation, Klassen holds several patents on instruments for medical research and presides over a company he founded for their manufacture. He helped develop a method for studying regional myocardial mechanics in man, and he developed a laser Doppler method for studies in the beating heart, with which he found that a major determinant of myocardial blood flow is the folding of red blood cells by heart muscle cells.


Mark A. Klebanoff, director, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, National Institutes of Health.

At Hopkins: M.P.H. student, 1982 to 1983; taught reproductive epidemiology in the Department of Population Dynamics, 1985 to 1997; currently part-time faculty in the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences. Nominators: Bernard Guyer and Ronald Gray, Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In work that is widely cited and which has had important implications on national policy, Mark Klebanoff has conducted epidemiologic research in maternal and child health, demonstrating that a woman's own birth weight and gestational age affect the risk of low birth weight and preterm birth in her offspring. He is also noted for his contributions to several randomized trials on the prevention of preeclampsia and effects of the control of infection during pregnancy on preterm delivery and low birth weight. Klebanoff has worked for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development since 1987 and in 1999 was named the director of the NICHD's Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research.


Giovanni Romeo, professor of medical genetics, University of Bologna Medical School.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Genetics, 1968 to 1971. Nominator: Victor A. McKusick, School of Medicine.

Giovanni Romeo's research has been wide-ranging in the study of human genetics and genetic disorders with almost 300 publications. He has organized a short course in medical genetics that is the European equivalent of the Bar Harbor Course of Johns Hopkins and The Jackson Laboratory. At the University of Bologna, he is developing an institute of genetic medicine to advance the fields of genetics and genomics in Italy. A collaboration with the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Hopkins promises to forge another relationship of Johns Hopkins with Bologna.


Larry A. Sargent, chairman, Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Tennessee.

At Hopkins: postdoctoral fellow in general surgery, 1977 to 1979, and plastic surgery, 1980 to 1983. Nominator: Paul N. Manson, School of Medicine.

Larry Sargent has distinguished himself as an educator, surgeon and mentor and is one of the most prominent program directors and craniofacial surgeons in the nation. While he was a resident in plastic surgery, the technical superiority of his facial fracture repair results became known, and some of the original work on complex facial fracture injury repair, orbital reconstruction and nasoethmoid repair was written. He is founder and director of the nationally recognized Tennessee Craniofacial Center, which is one of the best known in the country for the excellence of its results. His skill as a surgeon and the technical excellence of his results are acknowledged universally among plastic surgeons and serve as a standard for his profession. He has also been active in the design of new equipment and techniques that benefit the entire community.


Barry Shane, professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, University of California, Berkeley.

At Hopkins: assistant and associate professor, Department of Biochemistry (now Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), 1977 to 1985. Nominator: Roger McMacken, Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Barry Shane is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking research on folic acid and other water-soluble vitamins. He and his research group have cloned many of the human genes encoding the key enzymes in the regulation of folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism and have identified influences in these genes that affect the risk of vascular disease, cancer and birth defects. He has collaborated extensively with epidemiologists to evaluate the public health implications of his findings. Shane is a recipient of the Mead Johnson Award from the American Institute of Nutrition.


Lynne S. Wilcox, director, Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Center for Disease Control

At Hopkins: M.P.H. program and postdoctoral fellowship in Maternal and Child Health (now Population and Family Health Sciences), 1986 to 1988. Nominator: Donna M. Strobino, Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Lynne Wilcox's research has focused on several women's reproductive health concerns, including the effects of tubal sterilization on the health of women and the population variations in hysterectomy rates. While she has made many contributions, she is best known for her work on the effect of assisted reproductive technology on pregnancy and multiple birth risk. This work has greatly contributed to understanding the magnitude of the technology's effect on multiple births and, in turn, the rate of low-weight births in the country.


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