In the News

Penelope Dennehy, MD receives Distinguished Service Award from Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society

Penelope Dennehy, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at Alpert Medical School and Director of Pediatric Diseases at Hasbro Childen's Hospital, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), the world's largest organization of professions dedicated to the treatment, control and eradication of infectious diseases affecting children. The PIDS Distinguished Service Award recognizes a Society member who has made an outstanding contribution to the specialty of pediatric infectious diseases and to the Society. To read more, please visit.


Brown launches Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership program
Brown University has launched an Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership program, to begin in August 2013. This is Brown’s first executive education program and is part of a University initiative to develop programs in executive and professional education. The Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership has been approved by the Brown Corporation. The Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership is a 16-month program that combines online learning with two 10-day and two six-day sessions on the Brown campus. It is targeted toward clinicians, executives, and senior administrators who have significant responsibility in the healthcare industry and will continue working while pursuing this degree. The Healthcare Leadership program, to be administered by Brown’s Office of Continuing Education, was designed around concerns of leaders in clinical care, insurance, product and device manufacturing, and those in legal and regulatory settings. For more information, please visit.

The American Psychological Association (APA) honors Rena R. Wing, PhD
Rena R. Wing, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Director of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at the Miriam Hospital, has received the Lifetime Achievement award from the American Psychology Association (APA) for her pioneering work in obesity research. To read more, please visit.

Erica Larschan, PhD, wins White House Award
Erica Larschan, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, has won a highly prized Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering - PECASE, the nation's highest honor for young researchers in those fields. Larschan and the other winners will receive their awards from President Obama on July 31. The award citation applauds her "for studies of coordinate gene regulation during Drosophila dosage compensation." Some of her reserach in the field was published last year in Nature. Now she says she is looking at fighting disease: "The PECASE award will allow my laboratory to explore exciting new research directions such as probing the dynamics of gene regulation in real time. In the future, we plan to translate our insights about how genomes are regulated into therapeutic targets for anti-cancer drugs."


Sohini Ramachandran, PhD named a Pew Biomedical Scholar
Sohini Ramachandran, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology is one of 22 young scientists nationwide to be named a Pew Biomedical Scholar. The award comes with a grant of $240,000 during the next four years for her research using mathematical and statistical models and computer simulations to make inferences about human population histories from the genetic variations found in individuals. " To read more, please visit: http://news.brown.edu/shorts

Elizabeth Toll, MD, "The Cost of Technology"
Elizabeth Toll, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, recently authored "The Cost of Technology" which appeared in JAMA's "A Piece of My Mind" section, published in the June 20, 2012 issue. To read Dr. Toll's essay.

Sandra Carson, MD receives the FDA Advisory Committee Distinguished Service Award
Sandra A. Carson, MD has received the FDA Advisory Committee Distinguished Service Award for 2011. Dr. Carson, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was part of the Brown-Women & Infants research team that in 2010 invented the world's first artificial human ovary. To read more.


Kristi A. Wharton PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
and former postdoctoral fellow, Takuya Akiyama introduce the new molecule, Gbb38, int he April 3rd edition of the journal Science Signaling. To read more.

RIMWA honors the 2012 Woman Physician of the Year
RIMWA honored the 2012 Woman Physician of the Year, Mary Ann Passero, MD at the RIMWA Annual Meeting & Woman Physician of the Year Celebration being held May 9, 2012 at the Providence Marriott.

Dr. Passero is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and is Director, Cystic Fibrosis Center of Rhode Island (Retired).

This annual award recognizes a local woman physician who has demonstrated excellence and a high level of commitment to medicine, family, and the community.

Established in 1981, RIMWA is a network of over 130 women physicians in Rhode Island, including women physicians in training programs, in private and hospital practice, and in academic medicine and research. Among its many goals, RIMWA strives to promote the health and welfare of all patients in Rhode Island and to support the personal and professional development of its members. The Woman Physician of the Year Award, established in 1989, recognizes a local woman physician who has demonstrated excellence and a high level of commitment to medicine and to the community.


E. Jane Carter, MD elected President of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
Dr. E. Jane Carter was recently elected as the new President of The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease at their October 30th meeting in Lille, France. Dr. Carter will lead the 91-year old organization, which has 14 offices, more than 300 staff and consultants and some 10,000 members and subscribers worldwide. She will also represent the North America Region on the Board.

Dr. Carter is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University and senior consultant at the Rhode Island State TB Clinic. A pulmonologist by training, she is now working on the issue of TB/HIV co-infection and directs the Brown-Kenya Medical Exchange Program, a collaboration with Moi University Medical School (AMPATH) in Eldoret, Kenya. Her work focuses on HIV/AIDS and TB research, training and treatment with emphasis on public health outcomes and case finding in resource-poor settings.  The full news release is available at: http://www.theunion.org/index.php/en/newsroom/item/1963-the-union-elects-new-president-and-board-members


Patricia Flanagan, MD honored by The Rhode Island Chapter of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition
Dr. Patricia Flanagan, Professor of Pediatrics, was honored by the Rhode Island Chapter of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition with the 12th Annual Silver Rattle Award. The award is given each year to someone who has “shaken up the system” for mothers and babies in Rhode Island. Flanagan has conducted extensive research on the topics of adolescent parenthood as well as attachment and communication behaviors among children of teen mothers and helped create the state's Teen Pregnancy Coalition.
The full article is available online: www.projo.com/news/content/ Your_Neighbors_06_06-06-11_ 2VOAOU1_v11.2dad8d8.html