Highlights
From Across UTMB’s Academic Enterprise
for distinguished work in tropical medicine by an early or mid-career member of the society who has made outstanding contributions to the field. Dr. Weaver is professor in the Departments of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology, interim chair of microbiology and immunology, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and scientific director of the Galveston National Laboratory. He was also elected this year as a fellow in the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Paessler is a professor in the Department of Pathology, director of the Galveston National Laboratory Preclinical Studies Core and scientific director of the Animal Biosafety Level 3 facilities. He was recently selected as a member of the Center for Scientific Review’s Virology B Study Section.
Dr. Nichols presented at TEDx Vienna. Joan Nichols, PhD, presented “Bioengineering the Lung: High-Risk Research with Breathtaking Results” at the annual TEDx Vienna Dr. Joan Nichols conference. The theme for the event was “Brave New Space,” and Dr. Nichols was one of 20 speakers chosen to talk about their ideas, concepts and inventions. Dr. Nichols, who has grown lungs in her UTMB lab, is a professor of infectious diseases and associate director of research and operations for the Galveston National Laboratory. She is currently investigating transplanting lab-grown lungs into living pigs.
UTMB faculty members are part of a national research group awarded a $20 million human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) grant. Kathleen Vincent,
MD, assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Richard Pyles,
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UTMB ACADEMIC ENTERPRISE
PhD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics; and Massoud Motamedi, PhD, professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences are members of a research collaboration that received a $20 million grant to develop an intravaginal ring capable of delivering powerful antiretroviral drugs to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted HIV in women. Led by the Oak Crest Institute of Science in Pasadena, CA, the five-year research initiative is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. UTMB investigators will lead projects determining pharmacokinetics, drug safety and efficacy utilizing ex vivo, preclinical and clinical studies of the effectiveness of the novel device.
UTMB’s School of Health Professions (SHP) ranked in the top 10 for NIH funding in 2014. The SHP ranked
ninth out of 59 schools in the nation that received funding from the National Institutes of Health, bringing in $2,583,045 in NIH grants in 2014, up from $2,448,176 in 2013.
The National Institutes of Health recently awarded David N. Herndon, MD, three grants for burn care. Dr.
Herndon was awarded more than $4.3 million for a four-year grant to study the effects of administering fenofibrate, alone or in combination with propanol, in patients with severe burns. Dr. Herndon, Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Chair in Burn Surgery at UTMB and chief of staff and director of research at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, is the principal investigator on two additional grants recently renewed by NIH: UTMB’s postdoctoral training Dr. David Herndon in trauma
and burns program and “Mitigation of the Catecholamine Surge in Severely Burned Patients.” The postdoctoral training program, an integrated two-year program for young physicians and scientists interested in burns and trauma research, has been funded for its 24th year at more than $400,000 for two years. In 2014, Dr. Herndon was awarded the Medallion for Scientific Achievement, the highest accolade bestowed by the American Surgical Association, and became the eighth person to receive the International Burn Foundation’s Tanner-Vandeput-Boswick Burn Prize.
Alexander Bukreyev, PhD, has been awarded roles on multiple five-year grants funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Defense Treaty Reduction Agency totaling more than $6.58 million. Through these projects, Dr.
Bukreyev is working to develop antibodies and small molecules to treat Ebola and Marburg infections, investigating their pathogenetic mechanisms and studying the innate immunity that allows bats to harbor these viruses. Dr. Bukreyev is a professor in the Departments of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology.
Three faculty members from the Department of Surgery have been awarded grants totaling more than $3.67 million from the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity. Responding to a call for applica-
tions regarding care for critically injured burn patients, Drs. Celeste Finnerty, Ravi Radhakrishnan and Oscar E. Suman — who also are scientific colleagues at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston — each earned multiyear grants exceeding $1 million. Celeste Finnerty, PhD, serves as associate professor in the Department of Surgery and associate director of research for the Department of Surgery Burn Unit and Shriners. Ravi S. Radhakrishnan, MD, MBA, FACS, FAAP, serves as assistant professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pediatrics, chief of pediatric surgery, director of the adult and pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation programs and is the Leonard