News for the Campus Community — November/December 2006

In This Issue ...

News From the Law School 2

Pain and Gender Research 3

Internet Health Care Guide 3

Campus Briefs 10

New Med School Leaders 12

Employee of the Month 12

Founders Week 2006 PAGE 6

JEFFREY RAYMOND

Members of the Dental Schoolcommunity have been anticipatingthe opening of their new buildingfor nearly a decade. Now, withofficial grand opening ceremoniesbehind them, a new era is finallyunfolding for the world’s oldestdental college.

“This is going to be a world-wide center of excellence in den-tal education and training,” saidDavid J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil,president of the University, duringthe Dental School building’sgrand opening on the morningof Oct. 24, during Founders Week.

The $142 million, 375,000-square-foot building at 650 W.Baltimore St. is outfitted withthe latest in dental technology,including clinical care stationsthat record and display patientinformation, clinical training labsthat enable students and professorsto share information with col-leagues around the world, andcustom-designed research spaceon the building’s upper floors.Ramsay and Christian S. Stohler,DMD, DrMedDent, dean of theDental School, recognized corpo-rate partners Planmeca, Bien-Air,and Nobel Biocare for their partin providing the building withcutting-edge technology thatthey said is unmatched by anyother dental school.

Stohler said the new buildingfulfills “a dream of a dentistry thatno one has seen, a dream of adentistry that fits the 21st century.”

Other speakers at the grandopening included state DelegateJoan Cadden, a member of theHouse Appropriations Committee,whom Ramsay thanked for herleadership in securing $120 mil-lion in state funding for thebuilding—the most ever spent bythe state on an academic building.

Kendel Ehrlich, the wife ofGov. Robert Ehrlich, said thenew building will help manypeople and will be a model forthe nation. “You can feel thepride in this room,” Ehrlich said.

“Congratulations to everybodyon this fabulous project.”

On the building’s fifth floorare 170 clinical simulators linkedto a faculty station, allowinginstructors to check students’work or give demonstrationsfrom a central unit. Sessions canbe recorded for later review bythe students.

More than 300 patient stationsin clinics on four floors will hostmore than 155,000 patient visitsannually. Millions of dollars worthof the latest equipment, much of it designed specifically for theSchool, make the patient facilitiesas good as or better than most privatepractices, University officials say.

Stohler said the Dental School,founded in 1840, was the first toteach dentistry as a science. Now,he said, “We are leading again.”The Dental School dean alsopraised the architectural firm

Bohlin Cywinski Jackson ofPhiladelphia for creating a“breathtaking facility” that includestwo distinctive, soaring atriums.

Sponsors of the grand openingceremony were VPC, Inc./EliEisenberg; 3M ESPE DentalProducts; Barton Malow Company;Benco Dental Company; BohlinCywinski Jackson; CareFirstBlueCross BlueShield; DeltaDental; DENTSPLY NorthAmerica; Den-Mat Corporation;Fisher Scientific InternationalInc.; GC America, Inc.; HenrySchein/Sullivan-Schein Dental;Maryland Physicians Care;Patterson Dental Supply, Inc.;Listerine Antiseptic; Schiff &Associates LLC; SS White Burs,Inc.; and VWR, Inc./BeckmanCoulter, Inc.

Ronald Hube contributed to thisarticle.

JEFFREY RAYMOND

Swinging mallets that sent bricksflying, students and staff repre-senting various University programsceremonially began knockingdown the old student unionbuilding this fall to make way for a gleaming new $49 millioncampus center.

Scheduled to open in the fallof 2008, the campus center, to be located on Lombard Streetbetween the Health Sciences andHuman Services Library and theSchool of Nursing, will include

offices for student organizations,a ballroom with seating for 280people, meeting spaces, lounges,and food services. The currentathletic center, atop a garage onPratt Street, will be renovated aspart of the project and will con-nect to the campus center.Facilities will include a fitnesscenter for cardiovascular andstrength training, and a 25-yard,five-lane pool.

For the ceremonial demolitionof the long-vacant student unionbuilding on Oct. 4, work crews

Continued on page 2

MARY SPIRO

The School of Medicine—thenation’s oldest public medicalschool—will celebrate its bicen-tennial next year with a variety of events and the wrap-up of alengthy capital campaign.

The School, founded in 1807,kicked off observance of its200th year with an announce-ment by E. Albert Reece, MD,PhD, MBA, vice president formedical affairs, University ofMaryland, and dean of theSchool of Medicine, during apress conference Nov. 29 atDavidge Hall. The theme of thebicentennial is “The EnduringPower of Leadership.”

The goal of the capital cam-paign is to raise $200 million inhonor of the School’s 200-yearhistory, says Jennifer Litchman,MA, assistant dean of publicaffairs at the School of Medicine.As of Aug. 31, the School hadreceived $167.7 million in private support for its four keyinitiatives: scholarships and

financial aid, professorships andfaculty support, medical researchand discovery, and unrestrictedsupport.

“We are well ahead of ourcampaign projections and shouldachieve our goal during thebicentennial,” says BrianDeFilippis, director of develop-ment services at the School ofMedicine. “Since July 1, 2002,the School has added 12 newendowed professorships andchairs (for a total of 39), and theendowment has grown from$89.1 million to $139.3 million.We have also received significantsupport for basic science andclinical research during the cam-paign.”

An ambitious fundraising goalis something that School ofMedicine founders such as Dr.John Beale Davidge, the firstdean, would well understand.Though formal instruction ofmedical students began in 1807,the school’s premier teachingfacility was not constructed untilContinued on page 2

World’s Most Advanced Dental School Opens

Medical School toCelebrate 200 Years

New Campus Center to be“Front Door to University Life”

Stop the Flu—Don’t Catch It, Don’t Spread ItEven if you are not at high risk for serious complications from the flu, others around you, such as children and the elderly, probably are. The flu can be spread easily in a school or workplace throughcoughing and sneezing. You can be contagious even before symptoms appear.

Getting a flu shot is the best way to prevent catching and spreading influenza. Also, sneeze or coughonto your sleeve, not onto your hands or a handkerchief. (Visit www.coughsafe.com.)

For more information about influenza, visit the Center for Disease Control’s Web site, www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm, or call the University’s Student Health office at 8-6791.

An artist’s rendering of the new campus center building

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Christian S. Stohler speaks before a standing-room-only crowd in the atrium of the new Dental School building during the facility’sgrand opening.

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Campus Center

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Medical School Celebrating 200 Years

Continued from page 1weakened a section of exterior bricks sostudents could smash holes in the wall.People attending the event kept pieces ofbroken brick as souvenirs.

During the ceremony, David J. Ramsay,DM, DPhil, the University’s president, saidhe thought the student union building wasout-of-date when he arrived at the Universityin 1994. He said “good student facilities”have been missing even as the Universityhas rapidly grown. The University’s currentstudent center is in a small building onPine Street.

Richard DeYoung, chief executive officerand senior principal with WTW Architects,which designed the new center, said thefive-story, 114,000-square-foot brick andglass building will allow light in during theday and be a beacon at night. He said itwas designed to be “the welcoming frontdoor to University life.” Willard Hackerman,president and CEO of Whiting-TurnerContracting Co., which will build the center and has constructed other Universityof Maryland, Baltimore buildings, said heis proud to be associated with the project.

Continued from page 11812—it took the medical faculty five yearsto raise the $40,000 needed to build thestructure at Lombard and Greene streets,according to Larry Pitrof, executive direc-tor of the Medical Alumni Association.

An architectural and engineering marvel,Davidge Hall features the circular ChemicalHall on the first floor, and the domedAnatomical Hall above. The facility, whichin 1997 was designated a national historiclandmark, is the oldest building in contin-uous use for medical education in theWestern Hemisphere.

A bicentennial logo, which features a starfor each of the School’s past deans, will beused throughout 2007.

In January, an exhibit about the Schoolof Medicine bicentennial is scheduled toopen in the lobby of the University ofMaryland Medical Center, and two exhibitsabout women in medicine are slated to beon display in the Health Sciences and HumanServices Library later in 2007. A coffee-tablebook produced by the Medical AlumniAssociation—The University of MarylandSchool of Medicine: The First Two Centuries—is expected to be released in January.

School of Medicine students are plan-ning a public service event at area publicschools in April, and mini-med schools for both adults and children will be held.A research symposium for national andinternational media is scheduled in June.

On May 18, the School of Medicine willhost a bicentennial gala in conjunction withits commencement and a medical alumnireunion. The School expects that 1,800business leaders, elected officials, alumni,faculty, staff, and students will attend thegala, which will feature a historical pro-gram and comedian Dennis Miller.

Other School of Medicine bicentennialevents include the following:

Diabetes lecture by singer Patti LaBelle and international researchers. Feb. 26,Hippodrome Theatre, free and open to the public.

Leadership summit with Cal Ripken Jr.and Gen. Colin Powell (invited). April 26,Hippodrome Theatre, free and open to the public.

Central nervous system lecture byHuntington’s disease researcher Nancy

Wexler, PhD, and Janet Reno, former U.S.attorney general. Sept. 24, HippodromeTheatre, free and open to the public.

Live broadcast of the public radio program“A Prairie Home Companion.” Oct. 13,Hippodrome Theatre.

For more information, visit the Schoolof Medicine bicentennial Web site,www.sombicentennial.umaryland.edu.

Information is also available through e-mail at 2007@som.umaryland.edu or bycalling the bicentennial hotline, 6-2007.

Being part of a vibrant, interdisciplinaryacademic community is vital to theSchool of Law’s continued success aswe prepare students to become leadersin law and society, and as we work tofind public policy solutions to complexsocial issues.

Today’s large, complex, and sophisti-cated regulatory frameworks in areasincluding health care law, family law,business law, environmental law, andintellectual property law create issueswhose resolution requires lawyers withknowledge encompassing a wide rangeof fields.

To prepare our students for these chal-lenges, it is increasingly important forus to take advantage of the wide rangeof opportunities for interdisciplinarycoursework that the University ofMaryland, Baltimore provides.

This year alone, the School of Law isoffering almost 20 interdisciplinary

courses that use resourcesfrom all sectors of theUniversity. School of Pharmacyprofessors teach our studentsabout food and drug law.Students in our Clinical LawProgram work with School ofSocial Work faculty and stu-dents to reform law and policyrelated to housing, immigra-tion, drug treatment, childwelfare, special education,and other issues. Courses inour nationally ranked Law &Health Care Program benefitfrom the expertise of scholarsfrom the schools of medicineand public health.

The Center for Health and HomelandSecurity coordinates and expands uponscientific research, health programs,policy development, training, legalanalysis, and government consulting ateach of the University’s professionalschools. The Center has also beencalled upon repeatedly by the city ofBaltimore and surrounding localities,the state of Maryland, and the federalgovernment to address a broad rangeof problems and policies pertaining toterrorism and homeland security.

Interdisciplinary offerings for studentsfind their fullest expression in the jointdegree programs that the law schooloffers in conjunction with otherUniversity schools. The JD/MSW dualdegree program prepares students forcareers in the administration of humanservice organizations, and in executive,legislative, or judicial areas of governmentconcerned with child welfare, family law,and other issues. The JD/MS in toxicol-ogy prepares students for professions

in environmental regulation and publichealth risk assessment fields. Otherdual degree programs with the schoolsof nursing, pharmacy, and public healthimpart the highly specialized knowledgenecessary for today’s complex legalenvironment.

As the law itself has changed, the roleof the modern law school has changedfrom one of simply training future lawyersto one of active engagement in theimprovement of law and legal institutions.As a public institution, the University ofMaryland School of Law embraces itsmission to serve as a resource for thedevelopment of law and public policy inMaryland and beyond.

Our efforts in this regard are enhancedimmeasurably by the opportunities forinterdisciplinary collaboration that theUniversity affords. The School of Law’snationally recognized specialty pro-grams, academic centers, and facultyscholarship, and its wide range of con-ferences and symposia, all draw on theresources of our sister professionalschools to help us frame the debate ona variety of issues such as end of lifecare, the environment, tobacco control,and the ethics of nanotechnology.

I look forward to continuing our sharedwork in the years ahead.

Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPADean, School of LawMarjorie Cook Professor of Law

News From the School of Law

Karen H. Rothenberg

Dental School student Sheteka Ross takesa whack at the old student union building.

Anatomy class students from the early 1900s pose for a photo during a dissection.

November/December 2006 3

UMB IN THE NEWSThe opening of the new DentalSchool building in October waswidely reported by Baltimore newsmedia, including newspapers TheDaily Record and The Examiner, andtelevision stations WMAR, WBAL,WJZ, and WBFF.

J. Anthony von Fraunhofer, PhD,professor and director of biomaterialsresearch at the Dental School, toldthe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette thatsports drinks are more harmful toteeth than cola because they containmore organic acids that speed toothenamel damage.

Sherrilyn Ifill, JD, associate professorat the School of Law, discussed theMaryland elections for senator andgovernor with numerous media outlets.

In an article in The (Baltimore) Sun,James Borin, MD, assistant professorof surgery at the School of Medicine,explained the robotic surgery that isbeing used on heart patients at theUniversity of Maryland Medical Center.

In an Op-Ed in The (Baltimore) Sun,Michael Taylor, PhD, professor atthe School of Medicine, argued thatrecent E. coli outbreaks shouldencourage Congress to strengthennational food safety systems.

In a USA Today article about innovativeprograms at nursing schools that aredesigned to address the nationalnursing shortage and attract faculty,Matthew D’Angelo, CRNA, MS, clin-ical instructor at the University ofMaryland School of Nursing, saidhe left a high-paying job to earn theSchool’s new Doctor of Nursing Practicedegree. Brigit VanGraafeiland, MS,CPNP, clinical coordinator of under-graduate pediatrics at the School,said flexibility to care for her childrenprompted her to switch from a full-time clinical job to one that combinesteaching with clinical practice.

Jean Marbella, a columnist for The(Baltimore) Sun, recently wrote aboutthe Governor’s Wellmobile Program,which is operated by the School ofNursing.

Before Halloween, Baltimore televisionstation WBAL interviewed AngelBivens, RPh, MBA, CSPI, publiceducation coordinator at the MarylandPoison Center at the School ofPharmacy, about how parents canensure a safe holiday for their children.

The University has announced thatfirst-year requirements for the Masterof Social Work degree will be offeredat the University System of Maryland,Hagerstown, beginning next fall. TheHagerstown Herald Mail reported thatGeoffrey Greif, PhD, associate deanat the School of Social Work, expects20 students to enroll in the program.

Joe Nathanson, a columnist at TheDaily Record, said bioscienceresearch at the UMB BioPark ishelping to stimulate the region’seconomy.

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The Health Sciences and Human ServicesLibrary (HS/HSL) rolled out a free, Web-based resource guide to local healthcare services this fall. Developed by thelibrary and the National Institutes ofHealth’s National Library of Medicine,Maryland Health Go Local, available atwww.medlineplus.gov/maryland, providesinformation about facilities including hospitals, nursing homes, adult day carecenters, hospices, and substance abuse treat-ment centers, as well as physicians, healthscreenings, and support groups.

Speaking during the rollout at HS/HSL,M. J. Tooey, MLS, AHIP, executive directorof the library, presented several scenarios inwhich the service could be used. She said,for instance, that a patient who has beentold by a doctor to lose weight could useMaryland Health Go Local to find anexercise or health fitness screening programnear their home.

Library LaunchesWeb Health CareGuide

World’s Top Researchers on Pain and Gender Meet

JEFFREY RAYMOND

You probably learned about the “pain path-way” when you were a child in school—putyour foot close to a fire, and nerve endingssend a signal that travels to the spine,where it then goes to your brain and is decoded into a reaction: “Ouch!”

But according to Karen Berkley, PhD, you probably learned wrong. Berkley, adistinguished research professor of neuro-science at Florida State University, wantspeople to think not of a “pain pathway”but a “pain matrix” in which the central nervous system integrates informa-tion from the body, then plans and organizesbodily actions—including the “decision” to experience pain.

Researchers are examining how males andfemales process that information differently.

Berkley presented a lecture in the newDental School building this fall to helpkick off “The Painful Truth: A Conferenceon Gender and Pain Research,” a three-daymeeting in Baltimore. The conference wasorganized by the Sex, Gender, & PainSpecial Interest Group of the InternationalAssociation for the Study of Pain® (IASP).Richard Traub, PhD, an associate professorin the Dental School, is a co-chair of thegroup. Michael Gold, PhD, and JoelGreenspan, PhD, from the University’sResearch Center for NeuroendocrineInfluences on Pain, also helped plan theconference.

Differences in pain responses betweenmen and women affect the prevalence and

severity of a variety of disorders, from irritable bowel syndrome to temporo-mandibular joint disease. Berkley’s presen-tation followed a lecture by MargaretMcCarthy, PhD, a professor in the Schoolof Medicine’s departments of psychiatryand physiology, who spoke about the roleof hormones in the differences betweenmen’s and women’s brains.

The more than two dozen invitedresearchers at the gender and pain conferenceaddressed a field that was scarcely studiedat all just a few decades ago.

“Many of us feel we are not moving forward fast enough,” said Berkley. “Wefeel we are at the tip of the iceberg.” Shesaid different pain experiences based onage, ethnicity, and culture must also beexamined.

Pain and gender researchers hope theirconclusions will eventually be used to createa set of guidelines for future research.

The conference was sponsored by theIASP® Sex, Gender, & Pain SpecialInterest Group; the University ofMaryland, Baltimore’s Research Center forNeuroendocrine Influences on Pain; theCenter for Neurovisceral Sciences &Women’s Health at the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles; Merck ResearchLaboratories; the American PainFoundation; PriCara; Johnson & Johnson;the University of Maryland, Baltimore’sWomen’s Health Research Group; theUniversity of Maryland Medical Center;and the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation.

M. J. Tooey speaks during the MarylandHealth Go Local rollout.

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LAURELS

SCHOOL OF LAWThe School of Law’s Trial Team swept boththe team and individual national titles atthe National Institute for Trial Advocacy’sannual mock trial championship tourna-ment in October. Students Jessica Butkera,Jason Downs, Sig Libowitz, RachelSimmons, and alternate Nolan Welchekearned team honors, and Simmons wasnamed the top advocate in the tournament’schampionship round. The tournament,which took place in St. Petersburg, Fla.,was limited to the 16 schools that hadcompiled the nation’s best mock trial com-petition records during the past three years.As the tournament winner, the School ofLaw will host the 2008 competition.

SCHOOL OF MEDICINEClaudia Baquet, MD, MPH, associate dean,policy and planning; professor of medicineand epidemiology and preventive medicine;and director of the University of Marylandand National Institutes of Health Compre-hensive Center for Health DisparitiesResearch, Training, and Outreach, hasreceived the Outstanding Rural HealthAchievement Award from the RuralMaryland Council. The award, which waspresented during the annual MarylandRural Summit in October, recognizesBaquet’s work in health disparities in ruraland minority populations. Baquet hashelped launch numerous programs, such asthe University of Maryland StatewideHealth Network, which expand resourcesto underserved populations.

Olivia Carter-Pokras, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology and preventivemedicine, has been appointed a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology.Carter-Pokras was also recently elected to serve on the executive board of theAmerican Public Health Association.

Donald E. Wilson, MD, MACP, directorof the Program in Minority Health andHealth Disparities Education and Research,and former dean and professor of medicineat the School of Medicine, has been awardedthe first Dean’s Diversity Award by theAssociation of American Medical Colleges’Group on Student Affairs-Minority AffairsSection.

SCHOOL OF NURSINGFourteen faculty and two students madepresentations at a recent Council for theAdvancement of Nursing Science conferencein Washington, D.C. Topics included therole of faculty status on nursing doctoralstudents’ decisions to remain in academia.

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCEDave DeLooze, assistant director of opera-tions and maintenance, has been electedvice chair of the Council of UniversitySystem Staff. The council is an advisory bodyto the University System of Marylandchancellor on matters affecting employees.Two Facilities Management employees—John Barber, structural trades chief, andRoy Ross, multitrade supervisor II—havebeen elected University representatives tothe council.

November/December 2006 5

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Larry AndersonTeacher of the Year

Angela BrodieResearch Lecturer of the Year

Rebecca WisemanPublic Servant of the Year

Alessio FasanoEntrepreneur of the Year

SUSIE FLAHERTY AND MARY SPIRO

Each year during Founders Week, awards arepresented for excellence in teaching, research,and public service. This year a fourth award,for Entrepreneur of the Year, was added torecognize “exceptional creativity and resolvein taking the results of basic research fromthe lab to the marketplace,” says David J.Ramsay, DM, DPhil, University president.The Founders Week Awards were presentedduring the black-tie gala.

A sense of discovery, plus rigorous disci-pline, a little serendipity, and a large doseof luck, is what Alessio Fasano, MD—apediatric gastroenterologist and professorof pediatrics, medicine, and physiology atthe School of Medicine—credits withguiding him to some remarkable discover-ies and accomplishments. Fasano, directorof the Mucosal Biology Research Center(MBRC) at the School of Medicine andfounder of the Center for Celiac Research,which is housed in the MBRC in HealthSciences Facility II, is the winner of theinaugural Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Fasano moved to Baltimore fromNaples, Italy, in 1993 with a scholarshipto the School of Medicine’s Center forVaccine Development. In 2000, Fasanoand his colleagues discovered zonulin, aprotein that regulates the permeability ofthe intestine. In 2004, Fasano and BlakePaterson, MD, founded Alba TherapeuticsCorporation, now headquartered at theUMB BioPark, to transfer the zonulintechnology from the lab’s bench top to thepatient’s bedside. Fasano, who sinceresigned as interim chief scientific officerto return to academics full-time, is nowchair of the company’s scientific advisoryboard.

Technology developments from Fasano’slaboratory have resulted in more than 150patents now held by Alba Therapeutics.Named the 2006 Maryland IncubatorCompany of the Year, Alba Therapeuticshas completed clinical and human trials ofAT-1001, its lead compound. AT-1001 istargeted toward the treatment of celiac dis-ease and other autoimmune illnesses.Fasano’s support was also pivotal in enlist-ing investment backing that led to the clos-ing of a $30 million Series A financing forAlba Therapeutics in August 2005.

F O U N D E R S W E E K 2 0 0 6

Illustrious AlumniMAKING AN IMPACT

PHOTOS BY STEVEN SPARTANA

Founders Week Awards Include Entrepreneur of the YearFasano says the success of the biophar-

maceutical company would not have beenpossible without industry backing and thesupport of University President Ramsay.“To make discovery a service, you have tohave resources—and a University ofMaryland president who is an entrepre-neur,” says Fasano.

No doubt the systematic dissection of acadaver leaves a lasting impression on everyfirst-year medical student. As director for theStructure and Development course since1998, Larry Anderson, PhD, a School ofMedicine professor in the Department ofAnatomy and Neurobiology, ensures that hisstudents’ encounter with their first “patient”not only forms a solid foundation for therest of their medical training, but that it isalso engaging, entertaining, and fun.

“This is their introduction to medicalschool,” says Anderson, the winner of thisyear’s Teacher of the Year Award. “They areanxious, pensive, and they’ve probably neverseen a dead body before. I want to givethem a chance to gain some confidence.”That is no small task for an 11-week coursein anatomy, histology, and embryology.

Before the start of a recent 8 a.m. lecture,Anderson blares some music relevant tothe day’s topic: Tom Waits’ song “Heartattackand Vine.” He then launches into a gloves-off, hands-on presentation—with props,animation, and audiovisuals—to help stu-dents remember just which artery is which,or what size a “normal” heart should be.And by infusing the latest technology intohis continuously evolving course outline,Anderson advances the students’ knowledgebeyond what can be seen and felt to learningthrough multiple imaging modalities.

“His educational collaborations with the Department of Radiology have directlyresulted in the routine integration ofadvanced computer-based radiologicaltechnology into the study of gross anatomy,”says Calvin Hisley, PhD, assistant professorin the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology. “This combination is univer-sally considered foundational to the studyof modern medicine.”

Anderson began teaching anatomy coursesin 1978. He never imagined he would stillbe teaching anatomy 28 years later.

“Now I realize,” he says, “that I have beenable to affect the care of many morepatients through teaching our future physi-cians than I ever would have working on myown.”

For more than 30 years, Angela Brodie,PhD, professor of pharmacology and experi-mental therapeutics at the School ofMedicine and a researcher at theUniversity of Maryland Marlene andStewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, has led a far-reaching revolution in thetreatment of breast cancer. Her pioneeringwork in the role of estrogens in breast cancer led to the development of the most important breast cancer therapy used today: aromatase inhibitors.

The 2006 Research Lecturer of the Year,Brodie began her studies on compoundsthat would block the conversion of andro-gens to estrogen in the early 1970s at theWorcester Foundation in Shrewsbury, Mass.There she and her husband, Harry Brodie,discovered Formestane (4-hydroxyan-drostenedione). After relocating her labora-tory to the School of Medicine’s Departmentof Pharmacology and ExperimentalTherapeutics in 1979, Brodie pursued clinicaltesting of the drug. Formestane was releasedfor worldwide use in 1994 and became thefirst new drug in a decade specificallydesigned for the treatment of breast cancer.

“It is rare that one individual can take adrug from the phase of synthesis to ultimateuse in patients,” says Richard Santen, MD,professor of internal medicine and associatedirector of clinical research at the Universityof Virginia Health System.

Brodie was recognized with the topprize in the world for cancer research whenshe received the Charles F. Kettering Prizefrom the General Motors Cancer ResearchFoundation last year. She also received theBrinker International Breast Cancer Awardfor Basic Research from the Susan G. KomenFoundation in 2000, and the Dorothy P.Landon American Association for CancerResearch Prize this year.

On Oct. 25, Brodie delivered theannual Founders Week Faculty ResearchLecture—“Aromatase Inhibitors and BreastCancer: Concept to Clinic.”

Rebecca Wiseman, PhD, RN, an assistantprofessor and director of the Governor’sWellmobile Program at the School ofNursing, is known among her staff andpeers as someone who can bring the rightpeople together for a common purposeand make things happen. Under her lead-ership, the number of patients seen at theWellmobiles—four 33-foot-long mobilehealth units that provide primary healthcare for the uninsured and underinsuredthroughout Maryland—has increased fromthree to more than 15 per van each day.

“As a nurse, I see access to health care asa right,” says Wiseman, this year’s PublicServant of the Year. “My job is to give ourproviders as many resources as possible sothat they can provide the highest level ofcare possible.” To that end, Wiseman hasdeveloped partnerships with local careproviders to establish a network of care andcase management for an ever-increasingclient load.

Through Wellmobile outreach, patientsalso learn about their eligibility for state orfederal health care programs. UnderWiseman’s direction, says Gov. RobertEhrlich, the Wellmobile program helpsidentify “all the services for which a patientmight qualify.” In addition, he says,Wiseman “empowers her staff to beinvolved in their service to the community,”and she is a “mentor to those she leads.”

Wiseman is also praised by DelegateKevin Kelly, a member of the MarylandGeneral Assembly from rural AlleganyCounty. “In each region of the state wherethe four Governor’s Wellmobiles are situated,Dr. Wiseman conscientiously works in con-junction with local community officials toprovide patient referrals, hospital/lab sup-port, and other essential services to unin-sured individuals,” Kelly says.

Wiseman, who organized the travel oftwo Wellmobile vans and staff toMississippi in the aftermath of HurricaneKatrina, plans to expand the Wellmobiles’hours and provide more education andcare for patients with diabetes, one of themost common diseases among her clients.

“The truth of the matter is that theWellmobile Program is a true safety netprovider that offers many people the carethey would not have been able to receiveelsewhere,” Wiseman says.

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November/December 2006 7

P O N S O R SS

BRONZE SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS

FREDERICK G. SMITH, DDSand

VENICE K. PATERAKIS, DDS

GOLD SPONSORS

November/December 2006

The annual Founders Week celebration, which honors theaccomplishments of the University’s professional schoolsand its graduate school, took place in late October under the theme “Illustrious Alumni.” This special section of theVOICE features event photos and profiles of Founders Weekaward winners and honored alumni.

“My heartfelt thanks go out to each and every person whomade Founders Week 2006 a great success,” says AnneRamsay, chair of the Founders Week Committee. Ramsay,who is the wife of David J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil, Universitypresident, thanked the hundreds of attendees, the sponsors,

Founders Week 2006 “A Great Success”

and the volunteers—including the Office of External Affairsstaff, who served at the buffet tables during the staff luncheon;Pat Maloney, executive coordinator to the president, whocollected luncheon tickets; and deans, vice presidents, and other University staff and guests who helped serve foodand welcome guests at the luncheon and student cookout.

Special thanks go to volunteers at the gala: Tracy Boyd,Betsy Burtner, Dianne Cooper, Susie Flaherty, CarolynFootman, Rosa Johnson, Mary Nichols, Danielle Peterson,Daryll Smith, Nancy Steele, Chrishna Williams, and Jan Wright.

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1. University President David J. Ramsay serves hors d’oeuvres to Brian Sturdivant, coordinator for community affairs, during the staff luncheon.

2. E. Albert Reece (right), vice president for medical affairs, University of Maryland, and dean of the School of Medicine, talks with Alessio Fasano before Fasano’s Founders Week presentation on Oct. 23.

3. Angela Brodie delivers the Founders Week Faculty Research Lecture.

4. Richard Himelfarb (left), winner of the first President’s Award during last year’s Founders Week, and Joseph Tydings, one of this year’s Illustrious Alumni, enjoy the black-tie gala.

5. Richard P. Barth (left), dean of the School of Social Work, helps serve food during the student cookout.

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F O U N D E R S W E E K 2 0 0 6

Illustrious AlumniMAKING AN IMPACT

William Magee Jr. Joseph Tydings Sylvan Frieman Carol Romano Victoria Hale Barbara Mikulski

MARY SPIRO

The theme of this year’s Founders Week wasIllustrious Alumni, and six outstandinggraduates were honored during the black-tiegala on Oct. 26.

Leading plastic and craniofacial surgeonWilliam Magee Jr., DDS, MD, graduatedfrom the Dental School in 1969. He andhis wife, Kathleen, founded OperationSmile in 1982, a private, nonprofit volun-teer medical services organization that hasprovided free reconstructive surgery andrelated health care to more than 100,000young people around the world sufferingwith cleft lips, cleft palates, and otherfacial deformities.

As the organization’s CEO, Magee alsohas helped train more than 650 interna-tional physicians in advanced craniofacialtechniques through Operation Smile’sannual Physicians’ Training Program heldin Norfolk, Va. Operation Smile receivedthe first $1 million Conrad N. HiltonHumanitarian Prize, the 2001 AntonioFeltrinelli Prize for Exceptional Endeavorsof Outstanding Moral and HumanitarianValue, and the U.N. Servants of PeaceAward, among many other honors.

Magee has presented the HonoraryKazanjian Lecture to the American Societyof Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons,and in 1998 he received the DistinguishedService Award from the American Societyof Plastic Surgeons. Magee’s reputation as aleader in his profession has spread acrossthe globe, making him a featured guest onmany television programs, including“Dateline NBC,” “CBS Sunday Morning,”and “48 Hours.”

The distinguished political career of Sen.Joseph Tydings, JD, began when he waselected to the Maryland House of Delegatesshortly after his 1953 graduation from theSchool of Law. And after being appointedattorney for Maryland in 1961 by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, Tydings vigorously prose-cuted cases involving government corruption.

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1964,Tydings chaired the Committee on theDistrict of Columbia prior to home ruleand the Senate Judiciary Committee

Subcommittee on Improving the FederalJudicial System. While in the JudiciarySubcommittee post, Tydings wrote legisla-tion establishing the federal magistrate system.

A champion of progressive causes, par-ticularly environmental legislation, Tydingsis being honored by the League ofConservation Voters and the Marylandchapter of the U.S. Lung Association thisyear for his leadership in the passage ofMaryland’s Healthy Air Act. Always a pro-ponent of higher education, Tydings servedon the Board of Regents of the Universityof Maryland from 1974 to 1984, includingtwo years as chair. He was also a regent ofthe University System of Maryland from2000 to 2005.

Tydings is now senior counsel at Dickstein,Shapiro, Morin and Oshinsky in Washington,D.C. Last year he established the JosephD. Tydings Scholarship at the School ofLaw for outstanding students who are plan-ning careers in public interest law.

The influence that Sylvan Frieman,MD—obstetrician, gynecologist, professor,and philanthropist—has had upon theUniversity of Maryland spans 53 years.

A 1953 graduate of the School ofMedicine, he is presently an attendingphysician at the University of MarylandWomen’s Health Center. As an associateprofessor on the volunteer faculty in themedical school’s Department of Obstetrics,Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, he instructs medical residents.

Frieman has served on the Board ofVisitors for the School of Medicine since1994 and is a past chair of the board. An enthusiastic supporter of the School,Frieman chaired the New Century MedicineCapital Campaign, which raised more than$90 million

He is currently secretary of the Universityof Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc., a member of the University’s bicentennialcommittee, and past president of the MedicalAlumni Association. He and his wife, May,have established the Dr. Sylvan and MayFrieman Professorship in ReproductiveEndocrinology for an outstanding facultymember in the Department of Obstetrics,Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

In 1998, Frieman was awarded theMedical Alumni Association DistinguishedService Award. He also won the Dean’sMedal for outstanding contributions andservice to the School of Medicine in 2006.

Naval Rear Admiral Carol Romano, PhD,RN, FAAN, earned her bachelor’s (1977),master’s (1985), and doctoral (1993)degrees in nursing from the University ofMaryland. Since then she has become apioneer in nursing informatics.

In 1976, Romano helped design andimplement one of the first computerizedmedical information systems, which pro-vided electronic medical orders and clinicaldocumentation for patients in ambulatoryand hospital environments. She was alsoinstrumental in creating the world’s firstgraduate curriculum in nursing informatics,for the University of Maryland School ofNursing. Romano has also advised theWorld Health Organization on the man-agement of human resources and healthinformation in developing countries.

Selected as chief nurse officer by theU.S. Public Health Service (PHS) andnamed assistant surgeon general, Romanois currently charged with the leadershipand coordination of PHS nursing profes-sional affairs for the Office of the U.S.Surgeon General. Romano has received thePHS Meritorious Service Medal, threePHS Outstanding Service Medals, and two PHS Achievement Medals, amongmany other awards.

In addition to lecturing at the School of Nursing for many years and serving onnumerous advisory committees, Romano is a member of the School’s AlumniAssociation Council.

In the early 1980s, while studying for herbachelor’s degree at the School of Pharmacy,research pharmacist Victoria Hale, PhD,became interested in drug development.Today, Hale is founder and CEO of theInstitute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company thataddresses the health needs of some of thepoorest people in the world. Bringingtogether representatives from scientific,

entrepreneurial, humanitarian, pharmaceu-tical, and health sectors, Hale created a wayfor potentially beneficial drugs deemedunmarketable by industry to be developedto solve global health problems.

In August 2006, OneWorld Health’sfirst drug, Paromomycin Intramuscular(IM) Injection, was approved by Indianregulatory authorities. Paromomycin IMInjection will be an important new publichealth tool for India in its efforts to safelyand affordably control visceral leishmaniasis,a parasitic disease.

Hale received the World Academy ofArt and Science’s 2006 BioPolicy Award,the award for social and economic innovationat The Economist ’s Fourth Annual InnovationAwards Ceremony in 2005, and a grantfrom the MacArthur Foundation this yearto further the work of OneWorld Health.

Before Barbara Mikulski, MSW, joinedthe U.S. Senate, she was helping Baltimoreresidents as a social worker—she earned amaster’s degree in social work from theUniversity of Maryland in 1965. Workingwith Catholic Charities and the BaltimoreCity Department of Social Services, shewitnessed many of the challenges city resi-dents face. And as a community activist,she fought to prevent the construction of a 16-lane highway through neighborhoodsand family-run businesses in Baltimore’sFells Point.

Mikulski was elected to the BaltimoreCity Council in 1971, and six years latershe was elected to represent Maryland’s 3rd district in the U.S. House of Repre-sentatives. In 1986 she won a race for aU.S. Senate seat in Maryland, and she iscurrently serving her fourth term as a senator.

Well-known for creating and sponsoringthe HOPE VI program—aimed at improv-ing living conditions for public housingresidents—she was named a Legislator of the Year in 2004 by the AmericanPlanning Association. Mikulski has main-tained a strong relationship with theUniversity, and recently was instrumentalin passage of a federal appropriations billthat helped establish the Institute for NurseEducators in the School of Nursing. Theinstitute addresses the nationwide shortageof nurses and nursing educators.

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November/December 2006 9

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CAMPUS BRIEFS

Nursing Alumni Sponsor London TourThe School of Nursing Alumni Associationwill sponsor a trip to the Florence NightingaleMuseum in London, April 21-28. Continuingeducation credits can be earned during theweeklong trip, which will be led by formerSchool of Nursing faculty member JeanTrotter, BSN. Tours of other London sitesand a stopover in Iceland are included.

The cost, including round-trip airfarefrom Baltimore, is $2,395. A $500 depositis due by Dec. 15. For more information,contact Samantha Davis, the School ofNursing’s director of alumni relations and annual support, at 6-0674 or ssdavis@son.umaryland.edu.

Staff Award Nominations SoughtThe Council of University System Staff(CUSS) is accepting nominations for theUniversity System of Maryland Board ofRegents’ Staff Awards. The awards recog-nize achievements by both exempt andnonexempt employees in the following cat-egories: contributions to the institutionand/or the employee’s unit, service to

students in an academic or residential envi-ronment, and public service within or outside the University.

Staff who have been employed for atleast five consecutive academic years areeligible. A nomination form and moreinformation are available at www.umaryland.edu/ssenate/borcussawards.pdf.Nomination packets for staff at theUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore must besent to Pat Maloney, Office of the President,Room 103, East Hall, by Jan. 5, 2007.

New University Stationery AvailableAs part of an ongoing effort to bettershape the University’s identity, new sta-tionery, available in both a redesigned stan-dard format and a bicentennial version, isnow available.

The new letterhead, envelopes, andbusiness cards can be seen atwww.oea.umaryland.edu/stationery. Thenew stationery can be ordered as suppliesof the old stationery run out by calling BillWelkner of Ridge Printing Corporation at 410-668-4780.

Emergency 711

Information and Escort 6-6882

Turnaround 410-828-639024-Hour Hotline (sexual assault/domestic violence)

Crime Statistics and 6-COPSSafety Tips (2677)

Campus Safety Phone Numbers

November/December 2006 11

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The VOICE is published by theCommunications Office in ExternalAffairs.

T. Sue Gladhill, MSW, Vice President of External Affairs

Paul Drehoff, Assistant Vice President of Communications

Susie Flaherty, Senior Editor

Ronald Hube, Editorrhube002@umaryland.edu

Danielle Peterson, Graphic Designer

Joann Fagan, Editorial Assistant

The Gazelle Group, Display Advertising410-343-3362, gazellegrp@comcast.net

Office of External AffairsUniversity of Maryland410-706-7820, fax 410-706-6330

Submissions are preferred via e-mail:thevoice@umaryland.edu. All copy is subject to editing. Classified ads for theJanuary issue are due Dec. 12.

Any commercial advertisements appearingin the VOICE by firms unaffiliated with theUniversity do not represent endorsement.

The VOICE is delivered through campusmail and to drop boxes across campus. Call410-706-7820 to request additional copies.

Vol. 27 Number 3

CALENDAR

CLASSIFIEDS

Dec. 5: “The NIH Public Access Policy:What Is It All About?”—a free class forUniversity faculty, staff, and students, andlibrary corporate members. 10-11 a.m.,Health Sciences and Human ServicesLibrary. To register, visit www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/main.html, Education &Training link. For more information, call6-7996 or send an e-mail to hshsl@umaryland.edu.

Dec. 6: “Personal Digital Assistants: AnIntroduction to Mobile Computing”—a free class for University faculty, staff, andstudents, and library corporate members.10-11 a.m., Health Sciences and HumanServices Library. To register, visit www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/main.html, Education& Training link. For more information,call 6-7996 or send an e-mail to hshsl@umaryland.edu.

Dec. 14: Lunch Under the Pipes, presentedby the School of Law. Music by the CarillonsBell Choir. Noon-1 p.m., Westminster Hall,free (bring a lunch). For more information,contact Mary Jo Rodney at 6-2072(TTY/VOICE: 800-735-2258) or mrodney@law.umaryland.edu.

Medical School Names Four Department Heads

Richard Eckert, PhD, a researcher formore than 30 years, has been appointedchair of the School of Medicine’sDepartment of Biochemistry & MolecularBiology. And Peter Rock, MD, MBA, anationally known expert in anesthesiologyand critical care medicine, has been chosento head the Department of Anesthesiology.

The appointments, made this fall, cameon the heels of announcements earlier thisyear regarding the heads of two otherdepartments at the medical school. DavidStewart, MD, MPH, an associate professorof family and community medicine at theSchool of Medicine and an expert on pub-lic health issues, including hypertensionand diabetes in African-Americans, wasnamed chair of the Department of Family& Community Medicine. Brian Browne,MD, FACEP, FAAEM, a professor ofemergency medicine at the School who

has long worked to expand the emergencymedicine program, was appointed actingchair of the Department of EmergencyMedicine.

Also, the role of Bruce Jarrell, MD,FACS, as vice dean for academic affairs atthe School of Medicine, was expanded thisfall to include management of research.

Eckert comes to the University fromCase Western Reserve University, where hewas a professor of physiology/biophysics,dermatology, reproductive biology, oncol-ogy, and biochemistry. His researchfocuses on understanding how normal sur-face epithelial cells function to protectagainst illness, and how those cells arealtered during disease states, includingskin cancer.

Before his appointment at theUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore, Rockwas vice chair of the anesthesiology

department at The University of NorthCarolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, where healso served as a professor of anesthesiologyand medicine. Rock was the medical direc-tor of respiratory care at UNC Hospitalsas well, and is now the chief of anesthesi-ology at the University of MarylandMedical Center.

Stewart, who is chief of family medicineat the University of Maryland MedicalCenter and an attending physician atUniversity of Maryland Family MedicineAssociates, PA, had been acting chair ofthe School of Medicine’s Department of Family & Community Medicine since 2003.

Before being named acting chair, Browneheaded the Division of Emergency Medicine,which was recently elevated to full depart-mental status.

Inclement WeatherInformation

The fastest way to obtain the mostaccurate information regarding the status of the University duringinclement weather is to call 410-706-8622 or visit the Campus Alerts pageof the University’s Web site atwww.umaryland.edu/alerts.

Radio and television stations in theBaltimore and Washington, D.C., areasare also notified when the University isclosed or is opening late.

Shannon Stifler Wins Employee of the Month Award

JOANN FAGAN

Shannon Stifler, human resources and payrollspecialist in the School of Medicine’sDepartment of Physiology, was the University’sEmployee of the Month for September.

Stifler, who is described by co-workers asenthusiastic and energetic, answers questionsabout human resources and payroll, processesimmigrant visa documentation, and maintainsdatabase files for the department’s businessoffice. Stifler also prepares all appointment,reappointment, and termination forms for train-ing grant recipients. She developed a spread-sheet and databases to help maintain a

documented history of all training grant slotsfilled for each year.

“I could not run this department withoutpeople like Shannon Stifler,” says KennethFahnestock, MA, administrator of the physiol-ogy department. Fahnestock praised Stifler forher “expertise, positive attitude, proactive think-ing, and attention to the needs of others.”

Stifler was nominated for Employee of theMonth by Meredith Bond, PhD, professor andchair of the department.

Stifler says interacting with co-workers is thebest part of her job. “I like working with all ofthe different personalities in the department,”she says.

Annual Fund Giving

A gift to any of the University’s annualfunds provides scholarship support forstudents, allows faculty and students torespond to new research opportunities,and helps make it possible for theUniversity to maintain its position as atop-tier institution.

For more information or to make a gift,call 6-8488. Gifts can also be madeonline at www.umaryland.edu.

Shannon Stifler

Richard Eckert Peter Rock David Stewart Brian Browne