Faculty recognition and accomplishments

Francisco J. Alvarez-Leefmans, M.D., Ph.D., 
professor of pharmacology and toxicology, is an author and co-editor of a new book containing work by some of the leading global experts in neuroscience and medicine. Physiology and Pathology of Chloride Transporters and Channels in the Nervous System: From Molecules to Diseases, published by Elsevier Press in 2009, is a comprehensive exploration of the molecular structure and function of chloride transporters and channels and their impact on various neurological diseases and conditions such as epilepsy, deafness, pain, brain edema and brain tumors.

In addition to authoring or coauthoring several of the book’s 30 chapters, Alvarez-Leefmans served as the book’s co-editor, along with Eric Delpire, Ph.D., of Vanderbilt University, who served briefly as a research associate at Wright State 20 years ago. Other Boonshoft School of Medicine faculty contributing to the book include Norma Adragna, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology; Mauricio Di Fulvio, Ph.D., research assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology; and Peter Lauf, M.D., emeritus professor of pathology and university professor.

Adragna, Lauf and Ameet Chimote, Ph.D., also published the article “Ion transport in a human lens epithelial cell line exposed to hyposmotic and apoptotic stress” in the April 2010 edition of the Journal of Cell Physiology. The paper was published as Chimote's doctoral thesis work under Lauf's supervision in Wright State's Biomedical Scieinces Ph.D. program.

Yanfang Chen, M.D., Ph.D., FAHA, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology, received a Basic Science Research Award from the American Diabetes Association. The three-year award, which will provide $300,000 in funding through 2013, is entitled “Enhancing the SDF-1a/CXCR4 pathway in EPCs Based Vasoregenesis Therapy for Diabetic Stroke.” The award was announced in the Spring 2010 edition of the ADA Professional Section Quarterly.

He also received an R01 grant entitled “Balance of Angiotensin II/Angiotensin (1-7): A Target in Ischemic Stroke” from the National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which provides $1,467,482 in funding through 2014.

Julie Gentile, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, director of Medical Student Mental Health Services, and medical director for the Consumer Advocacy Model, received the 2009 NADD Contribution to Clinical Practice Award from the National Association for the Dually Diagnosed (NADD). Gentile received her award during a ceremony at the 26th NADD Annual Conference in New Orleans in October.

Courtney E. W. Sulentic, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology, is serving as president-elect of the Ohio Valley Society of Toxicology, the regional chapter of the national/international Society of Toxicology. She assumed her duties in May following a one-year term as vice president of the organization, and she will become president in May 2011. Her leadership role means that Wright State will host the chapter’s annual meeting in the fall of 2011.

James Ebert, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., FAAP, Oscar Boonshoft Chair and director 
of the Center for Global Health Systems, Management, and Policy; director of the Master of Public Health Program and the Boonshoft Physician Leadership Development Program; and associate professor of community health and pediatrics, attended the 2009 fall meeting of the Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control. During the meeting, the Consortium presented Ebert with a plaque recognizing the designation of the center’s Health Systems Management Program as a Center of Excellence for its work to promote management of cardiovascular disease.

Mariana Morris, Ph.D., chair and professor of pharmacology and toxicology and assistant vice president for graduate studies, attended the “Call to Action” conference of the “U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality.” The conference, held at Morehouse College in Atlanta in May, featured an international digital town hall and panel presentations on economic empowerment, environmental justice, civil rights and education, and access to the justice system. Morris is a member of the Action Plan’s Steering Group sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The Joint Action Plan was signed in 2008 to promote ongoing collaboration between the two governments to eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination and promote equality of opportunity in both countries.

In addition, Morris, Khalid Elased, Ph.D., R.Ph., associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology, and Ajay Kumar Sharma, graduate student in biomedical sciences, gave presentations at the 2010 American Diabetes Association meeting in Orlando, Florida, in June.

Sabrina Neeley, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of community health, was appointed faculty advisor for the Boonshoft Physician Leadership Development Program in the Center for Global Health Systems, Management, and Policy. Neeley, who joined the faculty in 2009, is also the course director for the population medicine competencies in the medical school and participates in ongoing collaborative research and teaching at the center.

Dean Parmelee, M.D., FAACAP, FAPA, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, co-authored an article in the special Flexner Centenary issue of Academic Medicine, published in February 2010. The issue contains articles celebrating the transformational report on American medical education written by Abraham Flexner and published by the Carnegie Foundation in 1910. “Professional Formation: Extending Medicine’s Lineage of Service Into the Next Century” explores the importance of compassion and service alongside technical proficiency in a balanced medical education.

Glenn Hamilton, M.D., vice chair and executive director of the National Center for Medical Readiness and professor of emergency medicine, was honored by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s Academy for Women in Academic Emergency Medicine (AWAEM) in June. The organization awarded Hamilton its 2010 AWAEM Honorary Award in recognition of his strong and consistent advocacy for women in emergency medicine and his vision for AWAEM.

Faculty and residents of the Department of Emergency Medicine gave presentations and led workshops for the Wilderness Medicine Expo at the 2010 Adventure Summit held on campus in March and cosponsored by WSU and Five Rivers Metroparks. Presenters affiliated with the department include Brian Springer, M.D., FACEP, assistant professor, sports medicine director, and associate director of the Sports Medicine Fellowship Program; Jason R. Pickett, M.D., clinical instructor; chief resident Michael Hixson, M.D.; and residents Maj. Jacqueline Percy, M.D., and Chris Calvert, M.D.