ACCOLADES

For Federal Fiscal Year 2009, the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine was ranked #3 in the nation based on NIH Funding.

W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., Mary Bartlett Bunge, Ph.D.,  James D. Guest, M.D., Ph.D., and Damien D. Pearse, Ph.D. received a $2.1 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to study Schwann cell implantation for SCI repair: optimization of dosing, long-term cell persistence and the evaluation of toxicity and tumorigenicity.

W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D. recently spoke at the 5th Pannonian Symposium on Central Nervous System Injury held in Pécs, Hungary.  His lecture was entitled Therapeutic Hypothermia in Models of Brain and Spinal Cord Injury.

Coleen Atkins, Ph.D. received the Stanley J. Glaser Research Award for her proposal titled Rehabilitation Strategies for Cognitive Disabilities after Traumatic Brain Injury.

Coleen Atkins, Ph.D. received a 7 percentile ranking on her first submission of a RO1 application. The overall objective of her proposal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute to hippocampal-dependent LTP deficits and learning impairments in the weeks to months after traumatic brain injury.

Coleen Atkins, Ph.D., is Secretary/Treasurer-Elect of the National Neurotrauma Society.

John Bethea, Ph.D. was promoted to full Professor.

Helen M. Bramlett, Ph.D. is Vice President-elect of the National Neurotrauma Society.

Helen M. Bramlett, Ph.D. spoke at the 5th Pannonian Symposium on Central Nervous System Injury held in Pécs, Hungary. She spoke on Posttraumatic Epilepsy Following Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury: Mechanisms and Treatment.

M. Ross Bullock, M.D., Ph.D., is President-Elect of the National Neurotrauma Society and will organize the 2011 National Meeting to be held in south Florida.

James D. Guest, M.D., Ph.D., along with Kim Anderson-Erisman, Ph.D. Director of Education,  authored Hopes and Illusions, for a special issue on the ethics of stem cell tourism in the American Journal of Bioethics.

James D. Guest, M.D., Ph.D. published Grading System to Objectively Evaluate the Strength of Preclinical Data of Acute Neuroprotective Therapies for Clinical Translation in Spinal Cord Injury in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

James D. Guest, M.D., Ph.D. was an invited speaker, Global Stem Cell Blueprint Conference in Toronto and presented Clinical Spinal Cord Injury Researcher Perspective: Challenges In Translating Basic Science Discoveries Into Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Trials and was Moderator, Government-Regulator Perspective: Regulation of Stem Cells.

Mark S. Nash, Ph.D. presented a paper entitled Niaspan Monotherapy for Treating Dyslipidemia in Persons with SCI which was named the outstanding oral presentation at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Spinal Injury Association. The findings were based upon funding received by Dr. Nash from the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and represented the first multi-center trail to effectively manage challenging lipid disorders commonly observed after SCI. These results have recently been accepted for publication in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Mark S. Nash, Ph.D. has been awarded a $1.9 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct a trial of diabetes prevention in persons with chronic SCI. The grant was part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program, and will be conducted with research partners at the Shepherd Center (Atlanta) and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in Miami and Atlanta. The grant, one of only four multi-center randomized clinical trials to receive funding in SCI research, will examine novel methods of exercise and dietary management directed toward weight management, and prevention of diabetes and related disorders.

Mark S. Nash, Ph.D., along with his research colleague Rachel Cowan, Ph.D., published Cardiovascular disease, SCI and exercise: unique risks and focused countermeasures in Disability and Rehabilitation.

Director of Education, Kim Anderson-Erisman, Ph.D. was an invited speaker at the Global Stem Cell Blueprint Conference in Toronto and presented “When Will Stem Cells Cure Me?” in the Consumer Voice – Understanding Patient Risk Acceptance and Demand for Stem Cells session.

Both Dr. Roberta Brambilla and Jessica Ashbaugh, an Immunology graduate student, from Dr. John Bethea’s lab, received travel awards to attend the International Society of Neuroimmunology meeting in Barcelona Spain this coming October.  Jessica will be discussing her studies with IL7Ra and EAE and Roberta will discuss her TNF work.  This is especially impressive because these awards are very difficult to obtain and to get two from the same lab is an almost unheard of accomplishment.

Matthew Saccino, and undergrad in Drs. Bixby and Lemmon’s lab, was recognized as a member of the All-USA College Academic First Team in USA Today.  Only twenty undergraduate students in the entire country were recognized with this honor.  He was also recently received Honorable Mention from the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, which is a premier undergraduate award designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering.

Michelle Theus, a post-doctoral fellow from Dr. Dan Liebl’s lab, won the honor of being bestowed the best "Woman in Neurotrauma Research" award at this year’s Neurotrauma Society Meeting for her work on Eph receptors in adult neurogenesis following traumatic brain injury.

Accolades archive