Academic Honors & Events

Guiding Young Physicians — Drs. Mark Einstein and Roman Perez-Soler have received a five-year, $3.9 million Paul Calabresi Career Development Award for Clinical Oncology from the National Cancer Institute. The award provides continuing support for their program mentoring young physician-scientists at Einstein who are committed to building careers in patient-oriented research – particularly those investigating novel cancer therapies. Calabresi scholars receive training through special courses on clinical research methods and development of clinical trials using a formal curriculum devised in conjunction with Einstein’s Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. The scholars also will be guided individually, based on their background and needs, with their progress evaluated by faculty members from the Albert Einstein Cancer Center. Dr. Einstein is professor of and vice chair of research in obstetrics & gynecology and women's health and professor of epidemiology & population health. Dr. Perez-Soler is professor of medicine and chief of the oncology division.

Healthy Perspective — The Chinatown Health Clinic Foundation honored Dr. Roy Chuck for leading a team of Einstein medical students and Montefiore doctors in conducting sight-saving glaucoma exams for community members. The foundation, which  was established by healthcare professionals and other concerned individuals to improve access to quality healthcare for underserved Asian Americans, presented the award at its annual dinner, where 1,000 guests raised funds to provide quality, culturally relevant, and affordable healthcare and support services. Drs. Wen-Jeng (Melissa) Yao and Anne Barmettler accepted the honor in Dr. Chuck’s behalf from foundation board member Dr. Pak Chung. Dr Chuck is professor and chair of ophthalmology and visual sciences. Drs. Yao and Barmettler are assistant professors in the department.

Insightful Lecture — Dr. Steven Walkley was an invited speaker of the Harry Waisman Memorial Lecture series, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His talk focused on what has been learned from a half-century of studying lysosomal diseases, as well as the new advances and treatments that help fight these disorders. Dr. Walkley is director of the Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center and professor of pathology, of neurology and of neuroscience.

Celebrating Women in Science — In honor of Women’s History Month, the Rosalind Franklin Society recognized Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo for her work as a leader in the field of protein degradation. She was selected to share her insights at the society’s board meeting, where she presented “Selective Autophagy: Fighting Aging One Protein at a Time.” Dr. Cuervo is professor of developmental and molecular biology, of anatomy and structural biology, and of medicine. She also holds the Robert and Renée Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases and is co-director of the Einstein Institute for Aging Research.

Chief Recognition Award — The Association of Chiefs & Leaders of General Internal Medicine (ACLGIM) and the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) have awarded Dr. Julia Arnsten their 2015 Chief’s Recognition Award, given annually to a GIM division chief who has shown excellence in division leadership. Nomination for the award is based on a number of criteria including mentorship, advocacy for GIM within one’s institution, and recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty. Dr. Arnsten is professor of medicine, of epidemiology & population health, and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. In addition, she serves as chief of the division of general internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, and is director of the Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research.

IT Intensive — Dr. Terrance Ma was a 2015 fellow of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Group on Information Resources (GIR) Leadership Institute. The GIR Leadership Institute is the only program that provides information technology leaders with tools to understand how to excel at the nexus of academic, research and clinical systems used to support organizations as they move to more integrated and data-driven models. The intensive, interactive four-day program is limited to 30 fellows, each of whom must be nominated by their institution's leadership to participate. Graduates of the Leadership Institute acquire better understanding of the business and cultural dynamics of academic health centers, as well as access to a variety of alumni-only resources and tools. Dr. Ma is assistant dean for educational informatics and professor of clinical anatomy and structural biology.

Significant Honors — Dr. Ruth Macklin received the Hastings Center’s 2014 Henry Knowles Beecher Award, given annually in recognition of a lifetime contribution to ethics and the life sciences. Dr. Macklin is considered among the founders of the bioethics field and has published widely on a variety of medical ethics topics, including research using human subjects, global health, reproductive health and public health ethics. As part of the award ceremony she gave a lecture discussing inequalities and human rights issues affecting women's sexual and reproductive health and safety worldwide.  In addition, Dr. Macklin also was honored by the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research, which presented her with an award for contribution to progress in international research ethics. Dr. Macklin is professor of epidemiology & population health  and holds the Dr. Shoshanah Trachtenberg Frackman Faculty Scholar in Biomedical Ethics. She also is a Hastings Center Fellow. 

Recognizing Promise — Dr. Evripidis Gavathiotis was named one of three recipients of the 2014 Young Chemical Biologist Award. Established in 2013 by the International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS), the honor recognizes young investigators who have made groundbreaking contributions to chemical biology—a field that focuses on how novel chemical compounds can be used to solve biological problems, including designing new drugs to treat diseases. As part of the award, during a special “Rising Stars of Chemical Biology” session at the 2014 ICBS annual conference Dr. Gavathiotis presented his work exploring methods to encourage regulated cell death through the activation of the protein Bax, which could someday aid development of new therapies for cancer and other diseases. Dr. Gavathiotis is assistant professor of biochemistry and of medicine.

Inaugural Honoree — The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) has selected Dr. Matthew Scharff as the first-ever recipient of its inaugural 2015 AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award, which he will receive this spring during a special session at IMMUNOLOGY2015^TM. The honor recognizes an individual who has made exemplary research contributions to the field of B cell biology. Dr. Scharff is world-renowned as a pioneer in the development and application of monoclonal antibodies, which have become a cornerstone in biomedical research. He is distinguished professor of cell biology and of medicine, as well as the Harry Eagle Chair in Cancer Research/National Women's Division and faculty supervisor of the Hybridoma and Tissue Culture Facility. The AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award was established, with support from BioLegend to honor the memory of AAI member Dr. Leonard A. Herzenberg.

Diet Conscious — U.S. News & World Report invited Dr. Mossavar-Rahmani to review and rank 35 of the best diets available to weight-conscious individuals. The invitation was her third from the publication to assist with its annual focus on diets. In  2011, she served on a panel of 22 health experts who assisted the magazine in developing its first-ever “Best Diets” ranking. She also weighed in on the rankings in 2012. Dr. Mossavar-Rahmani specializes in nutrition assessment and intervention. She is associate professor of clinical epidemiology & population health.