For more information contact: Boonshoft
School of Medicine, Judi Engle,
Office of Public Relations, (937) 775-2951
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2007
Fulbright Research/Teaching Scholarship Awarded to
Wright State Professor
 DAYTON, OHIO — Mariana Morris, Ph.D., chair and professor of pharmacology
and toxicology at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine,
has received the prestigious Fulbright Research/Teaching Scholarship
from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. This is
a competitive program which sends American scholars to lecture and or
conduct research in more than 130 countries.
The award will provide
an opportunity for Morris to conduct a research and teaching program
in Porto Alegre, Brazil, a city located on the southern border of the
country. She will work at the University Cardiology
Foundation, Federal Foundation of Medical Sciences of Porto Alegre and
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul along with Brazilian clinical
and basic scientists, Drs. Renato Kalil, Katya Rigatto, Maria Claudia
Irigoyen, Beatriz Schaan and Adriane Bello-Klein.
The focus of
her work is on translational sciences, the interface between clinical
and basic science. In this project she will study the role of diet in
diabetes and insulin sensitivity, major worldwide health problems. She
will also teach translational physiology in a small group setting with
a focus on animal models for human diseases. The research will
be conducted in collaboration with other Brazilian scientists and medical
and graduate students.
Morris has a long-standing interest in international research and teaching
exchange, particularly with South America. She was the director
of an international exchange program which was supported in the U.S.
by the Department of Education (Fund Improvement of Post Secondary Education)
and in Brazil by CAPES. The Brazil consortium provided for the interchange
of students between Brazil and the US. She has trained numerous
international students/fellows and she was the director of a course for
medical students, “ Translational Physiology: From Bench to Bedside,” which
was held at the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto,
Brazil.
Morris received
a B.A. degree in biology and chemistry at the University of Colorado
and holds a Ph.D. degree in physiology from Southwestern Medical School
in Dallas, Texas. Her postgraduate training was at the University of
Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and the National Institutes
of Health. Morris was chosen as a member of the inaugural class of the
Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM). She has been active
in science and leadership training for women and underrepresented minorities.
Her internationally recognized research centers on hypertension and cardiovascular
complications of diabetes. She has served on numerous National Institutes
of Health (NIH) review panels, has been active in the American Heart
Association and the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental
Therapeutics and has served on the editorial board of prominent journals
in her field. She received the Wright State University
Mentor’s
award for her work with faculty and students.
The Fulbright
Program was established in 1946, by Senator J. William Fulbright with
support from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United
States Department of State. The Fulbright Program is designed to increase
mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the
people of other countries, and to exchange ideas and embark on joint
ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world. The Brazilian Fulbright exchange program
accepted 15 scholars for 2007/2008 and is also supported by the Foundation
for the Support of Research in Rio Grande do Sul.
Click on the photo above to see a high-resolution version suitable for
printing.
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