May 13, 2008
NYU School of Medicine Class of 2008 Awards Ceremony Honors Pathologists
At the NYU School of Medicine Class of 2008 Graduation Awards Ceremony this afternoon, our chairman, Dr. David Roth, received the Distinguished Teacher in the Basic Sciences Award from the Class of 2008. This is a wonderful achievement and, incidentally, not the first time that he has received an award for excellence in teaching from a graduating class.
Other award recipients at the celebration included Lauren Ende, Class of 2008, who was presented with the Fred S. Mandelbaum Award for Excellence in Pathology. Lauren is the only member of this year's class who is entering into a pathology residency program. She will begin her AP/CP training at the University of Pennsylvania this July. Joan Cangiarella, M.D., served as her mentor for the past four years through the Women's Mentoring Program at NYU.
Stephen Haskins, Class of 2008, will have his degree conferred with Honors in Pathology through the Honors Program. The mentor for Stephen's research is Dr. Caterina Hioe. Please join us in congratulating all award recipients!
May 12, 2008
Department of Defense Concept Award for Pathology Breast Cancer Research
Assistant Professor of Pathology Peng Lee, M.D., Ph.D., was recently awarded funding through a Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Concept Award for his study of the androgen receptor coactivator p44 in breast cancer growth and invasion. The concept awards, offered through congressionally mandated medical research funds, are intended to encourage "innovative research that will foster new directions" and to fund projects that have "the potential to make a significant impact" in the field of breast cancer research.
May 2, 2008
Department of Pathology Pioneer in Malaria Research is Recipient of 2008 Sabin Gold Medal
Long-time Department of Pathology member Ruth Nussenzweig, M.D., Ph.D., has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award. The Sabin Gold Medal is awarded annually by the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute to recognize extraordinary accomplishments in vaccine discoveries or vaccine use. The medal commemorates the abiding legacy of Dr. Sabin (1906 - 1993), who developed the oral polio vaccine.
This honor also celebrates a shared history of affiliation, since Albert Sabin received his M.D. degree from New York University Medical School in 1931 and was trained in pathology, surgery, and internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital before he turned his attention to a research career on infectious diseases.
In their announcement, the Institute noted that Dr. Nussenzweig "has been a world leader in epidemiology research for over 40 years. In 1967, Dr. Nussenzweig discovered that protective immunity against malaria can be induced by irradiating the parasite that causes malaria. This and subsequent discoveries such as Dr. Nussenzweig's identification of malaria's cloaking gene have paved the way for several malaria vaccines, at least three of which are currently in clinical trials. Dr. Nussenzweig has been on the faculty of New York University's School of Medicine since 1965 and has been a professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine since 1972.
"She has held vital positions in the school such as head of the Division of Parasitology as well as professor and chairperson of the Department of Medical and Molecular Parasitology. Currently she is the C.V. Starr Professor of Medical Parasitology and Pathology. Dr. Nussenzweig has served in the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization and The Pew Foundation, among other groups. The author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, she also served on the editorial boards of several journals, including Parasitology Research and Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde."
Dr. Nussenzweig is currently collaborating on a new viral vector for P. falciparum malaria with the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
April 14, 2008
ACS, NIH, and Foundation Support for Innovative T cell Leukemia Studies by Young Pathology Investigator
The American Cancer Society recently offered a four-year Research Scholar Grant to Assistant Professor of Pathology Iannis Aifantis, Ph.D., and his Lab for his work on Notch and NF-kB Signaling Activation in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). The ACS grants are subjected to stringent levels of peer-review and are designated to identify meritorious projects that "promote high impact and innovative cancer research across a wide range of disciplines to meet critically important needs in the control of cancer." The awards are granted with up to $200,000 allocated annually for direct costs.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases currently provides Dr. Aifantis with NIH R56 funding that supports the study of the role of the Hedgehog signaling pathway in stem cell differentiation. He was also selected as the recipient of a two-year award by the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation for his work in targeting the ubiquitin pathway in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation's awards serve "to advance knowledge in various fields of medical and health research." In particular, the foundation selects "worthy projects that are in need of initial start-up funding to move the projects forward toward other independent support" and aims to recognize and assist "highly promising young investigators" with its grant awards. In addition, the Chemotherapy Foundation, established in 1968 to support cancer research and practicing oncologists, awarded Dr. Aifantis and his lab a two-year grant to study CNS involvement in T-ALL.
Finally, Dr. Aifantis received a highly competitive five-year Scholar Award by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) that will support the study of the tumor suppressor role of the Fbw7 ubiquitin ligase.
April 1, 2008
Save the Date: Friday, May 2, is Pathology Residents Day
This year's Pathology Residents Day is Friday, May 2—a day to celebrate our graduating residents!
There will be a guest lecture entitled "Cell lineage as a basis for the classification of pancreatic neoplasms" by David S. Klimstra, M.D., Chief of Surgical Pathology, Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, at 4pm in the Smilow 1st Floor Seminar Room, followed by a graduation dinner in honor of our seven PGY-4 residents and ten clinical fellows for all residents at 6pm.
March 20, 2008
A Warm Welcome to the 2008 Entering Class of Pathology Residents
The Department of Pathology is excited to welcome the six members of the July 2008 entering Pathology Resident Training class: Hao Ho, Oluyomi Kabiawu, Lorraine Pan, Fernando Roca, Jay Stahl-Herz, and Sofia Taboada.
Dr. Hao Ho is a graduate of New York Medical College with a PhD from the Weill-Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Oluyomi Kabiawu obtained her MD from Howard University College of Medicine and has received post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at the Weill-Cornell Campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Lorraine Pan, MD, graduated from and trained in OB-GYN at the NYU School of Medicine. Fernando Roca, MD, a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, is a PGY1 resident in Internal Medicine at the Columbia-Presbyterian site of New York Presbyterian Hospital. Jay Stahl-Herz is a senior medical student at New York Medical College and Sofia Taboada is a fourth year medical student at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.
We were very impressed with the outstanding caliber of this year's entering pathology residents. Please join us in extending a warm welcome to our future colleagues!
March 10, 2008
The Department of Pathology mourns the death of Dr. Gloria R. Gallo
The faculty, staff, and students, present and past, of the Department of Pathology mourn the recent death of our colleague of 52 years, Dr. Gloria R. Gallo. She started in the Department of Pathology in 1956 as a resident physician and remained as an instructor, rising through the ranks to a professorship. Her early research using immunologic techniques led to pioneer publications describing the immunologic basis of much of renal disease and established national and international recognition of her work. Related investigations with a team of investigators at New York University helped define the structural and pathologic basis of other immunologic disorders including that of the enigmatic amyloidosis.
Dr. Gallo played a major role in the education of medical students and in the postgraduate training of young physicians throughout the Medical Center, including the directorship of a large postgraduate program in Pathology. Throughout her career she persistently pushed for equal opportunity, recognition, and advancement of women in medicine and in academic pathology in particular. In all her endeavors she was recognized as a demanding, but fair-minded, sometimes free spirit, who inspired hundreds of students and colleagues of all ages and backgrounds. We will miss her dearly and extend our sincere sympathy to her family and many friends. Contributions in her memory to the American Cancer Society Foundation will be appreciated.
Jerry Waisman, M.D., Professor, Department of Pathology
David Roth, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology
February 28, 2008
Chair of Pathology Appointed Director of the NYU Medical Scientist Training Program
Dean and CEO Robert I. Grossman, M.D., and Steven B. Abramson, M.D., Sr. Vice President and Vice Dean for Education, Faculty and Academic Affairs for NYU Medical Center, announced that David Roth, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman of the Department of Pathology and the Irene Diamond Professor of Immunology, has been appointed Director of the NYU Medical Scientist Training Program (M.S.T.P.—also known as the M.D./Ph.D. program), succeeding Rodney E. Ulane, Ph.D.
In their announcement, Deans Grossman and Abramson noted:
"We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Ulane for his leadership of the M.S.T.P. over the past few years. Since his arrival in 2004, Rod has enhanced vertical integration within the program, created a peer student advising program, involved faculty at Washington Square, offered more opportunities for our students to conduct research in various fields of expertise, and recruited several classes of outstanding M.D./Ph.D. students. We thank Rod for his contributions to our Medical Center and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
"In training physician-scientists, the M.S.T.P. is at the very frontier of translational research, and Dr. Roth brings extraordinary qualifications both as scientist and teacher to his new role, not to mention his leadership expertise as Chairman of Pathology. An Investigator in the Program in Molecular Pathogenesis at the Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, he has sustained a remarkable trajectory of seminal discoveries in the area of genomic stability and lymphomagenesis. As an educator, he has consistently won student-initiated and professional awards for his clear and enthusiastic teaching style, including an Innovative Teaching Award from the American Medical Association. David also served as Director of two graduate programs at Baylor College of Medicine.
"Since joining NYU in late 2002, David has helped revamp the Immunology graduate student curriculum, won a Teacher of the Year award from the medical students for his contributions to the medical Immunology course, and-with a talented team of Pathology faculty-started a new Pathobiology graduate program to provide clinical knowledge to Ph.D. students interested in pursuing translational research. He was named Chairman of the Department of Pathology in 2004.
"As anyone who knows David can attest, he is brimming with energy and fresh ideas-a genuine role model for physician-scientists in training. The appointment of such an accomplished, charismatic leader provides clear evidence, we think, of the depth of our commitment to the NYU M.S.T.P. and of our determination to make it the very model of excellence."
February 8, 2008
Pathology Residents Are Going Places
Our Pathology residents are moving on. Residents in their fourth post-graduate year have been accepted to the following 2008 positions and programs: New York Blood Center, Transfusion Medicine; M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Cytopathology; University of Virginia, Hematopathology; and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Oncologic Pathology. Residents in PGY3 have been accepted to the following 2009 clinical fellowship programs: Dermatopathology and Cytopathology at NYU; Molecular Pathology Fellowship at Mt Sinai Hospital; and Uropathology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Please join us in extending our warmest congratulations to all of our residents for their successful placements and our best wishes for their future careers!
January 18, 2008
NYU Pathologists Participate in Multidisciplinary Stem Cell Research
Working under the auspices of Ruth Lehmann, Ph.D., the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Chair and Director of the Kimmel Center for Stem Cell Biology, and E. Lynette Wilson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell Biology, a number of investigators from the Department of Pathology and the NYU Medical Center will receive support through the New York Stem Cell Science foundation or NYSTEM. NYSTEM works in collaboration with the Empire State Stem Cell Board, established in 2007 by Governor Eliot Spitzer, to support stem cell research and its revolutionary clinical and promising therapeutic potential in the State of New York. The Medical Center received a $ 1 million grant for stem cell research, with individual funds designated for the labs of Iannis Aifantis, Eva Hernando, Jane Hubbard, and David Levy, as well as Peter Lopez, among 36 other researchers in the "NYU Stem Cell Group" from various programs and departments at the NYU Schools of Medicine and Hospitals Center.
For more detailed information on the Stem Cell Grant see the NYU Medical Center news announcement.
January 17, 2008
New Directions in Leukemia Research Supported by Discovery Grant
A Discovery Research Grant by the Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation was recently awarded to Filiz Sen, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, for her project on FBW7 Mutations in T Cell ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). Dr. Sen is a hematopathologist working in the laboratory of Dr. Iannis Aifantis with a particular focus on the molecular pathogenesis of hematopoietic neoplasms. A primary mission of the Laurie Strauss Leukemia Foundation is to "find a cure for leukemia and allied cancers by means of awarding Discovery Grants for innovative developmental research." In this endeavor, the foundation's grants support innovative projects by investigators with the promise of finding "new directions in much-needed research in the cause and treatment of leukemia."
December 11, 2007
Malaria Researcher Featured in the New York Times
Recently, the lifelong work of Ruth S. Nussenzweig, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and C.V. Starr Professor of Medical and Molecular Parasitology, was prominently featured in a New York Times article on the continuing search for a malaria vaccine.
Dr. Nussenzweig is widely known for her pioneering work on the development of vaccines to prevent malaria. She and her colleagues have made a series of major contributions to the field, starting in 1967 with the finding that immunity could be induced by irradiating, and thereby inactivating, the parasite that causes malaria. A member of our faculty since 1965, Dr. Nussenzweig has served as Professor in the Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pathology, Professor and Head of the Division of Parasitology, and Professor and Chairwoman of the Department of Medical Parasitology.
December 1, 2007
NYU Cancer Institute Grants for Translational Projects
The NYU Cancer Institute recently granted Translational Pilot Awards to Iannis Aifantis, Ph.D. and Peng Lee, M.D., both Assistant Professors in the Department of Pathology. Dr. Aifantis will identify and study cancer-initiating stem cells in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Dr. Lee's project explores the glucococorticoid receptor antagonist as potential therapeutic agent targeting prostate cancer. In addition, Eva Hernando, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, and David Zagzag, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, received funding for their labs in collaboration with other NYU investigators supported by Translational Pilot Awards.
October 15, 2007
Pardee Foundation Grant for Assistant Professor
Jane A. Skok, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, was recently awarded $187,000 to study the epigenetic factors that contribute to the development of B-ALL by the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation. The family-run Pardee Foundation was founded in 1944 "for the promotion of the control and cure of cancer." In support of research directed toward identifying new treatments or cures for cancer, the Pardee Foundation particularly encourages grant applications for a one-year period. These grants are intended to assist the capabilities of new cancer researchers or augment new treatment approaches by established researchers.
September 15, 2007
Assistant Professor Included in Prestigious Pew Scholars Program
Michelle Krogsgaard, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, was selected as a recipient of the 2007 Pew Scholar Award and the Cancer Research Institute Investigator award. Krogsgaard is studying how robust and functional T-cell responses can be generated against cancer ('self') antigens. The Pew Award, designed to support investigators of outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences, is one of the most prestigious awards for new investigators, requiring an internal nomination process and a nationwide competition. Krogsgaard was among the twenty most promising scholars selected by the Pew Scholars Program.
September 1, 2007
Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Grant Awarded to Department Professor
Michele Pagano, May Ellen and Gerald Jay Ritter Professor of Oncology in the NYU Department of Pathology, was recently awarded a 2007 Senior Research Award from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, a private charitable research organization. Pagano was selected for his promising work in the role of SCF ubiquitin ligases in Multiple Myeloma. MMRF Senior Research Awards provide a 2-year, $200,000 grant to investigators who have been working in blood cancer research for a minimum of five years. These awards are selected by the Foundation's scientific advisory board on the basis of a stringent peer review process, which meets the same rigorous scientific standards that the National Cancer Institute applies to its own research grants.
July 1, 2007
Sarcoma Research Honored by Foundation Grant
Eva Hernando, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of the NYU Department of Pathology, and her team have received a $50,000 year-long grant from the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative and the Leiomyosarcoma Direct Research Foundation for their project "MicroRNA Deregulation in Mesenchymal Transformation and Sarcoma-genesis." According to Hernando, the project "represents to our knowledge the first attempt to classify sarcomas based on their microRNA expression, and to explore the contribution of these small RNAs to sarcoma-genesis." She hopes that this "research will lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of leiomyosarcoma and will unravel new potential targets for future therapeutic intervention." The enormous clinical relevance of microRNAs was acknowledged by the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Fire and Melow, the two scientists who first discovered a new mechanism of genetic regulation mediated by these small RNAs.
June 1, 2007
Distinguished Department Professor Invited to Serve as Study Section Member at NIH Center of Scientific Review
Joel E. Ernst, M.D., Jeffrey Bergstein Professor of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and Pathology at NYU, has accepted an invitation by the NIH Center of Scientific Review in Bethesda, Maryland, to serve as a member of the Host Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens Study Section from 2007 to 2011. Members of NIH Study Sections in biomedical research are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific disciplines as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant activities and honors.
