It is hard to believe the holiday season is already upon us. Another year has flown by, and we have once again experienced exponential growth as a premier academic medical institution. I was extremely proud to highlight our many successes in this year’s State of the School Address – from workforce and culture, education, and research and discovery, to clinical care and community impact. If you missed the event, I would encourage you to view the video presentations online (https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/about/State-of-the-School/2019-State-of-the-School-Address/), as they feature your colleagues, professors, students, and patients with whom you have worked alongside and supported. We must express our deepest gratitude for our excellence, while recognizing the increasing responsibility our accumulating success delegates. As we learn and achieve more in medicine and science, we must do, give, and share more for the betterment of all.
We are fortunate to have many opportunities to demonstrate and share our institutional successes and research portfolio. This year’s Festival of Science highlighted our global health research and included a keynote presentation from Dr. Samba Sow, Director General of the Center for Vaccine Development-Mali. Annual community-wide events such as these offer critical avenues through which we can share, collaborate, and re-invigorate our spirit of revolutionary discovery.
Our innovative research and educational activities significantly distinguish us from our peer institutions. The recent contract that our Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health received from the National Institutes of Health for influenza vaccine research is one of the largest ever awarded to the School of Medicine — up to more than $200 million. While the choice of vaccination has become a controversial topic, it presents the idea of personal health responsibility. For the first time this year, our medical students have a new requirement to earn their medical degrees— culinary medicine. With our future physicians learning how to integrate better nutrition and health into their medical education and patient care, they should also be empowered to improve their own health and wellness. This is extremely important, as an increasing amount of research demonstrate nutrition’s critical role in chronic diseases. Lack of education about the topic has proven to be a major barrier.
Our feature video at the State of the School Address highlighted a gentleman who took responsibility of his health after Dr. Niederhaus facilitated his kidney transplant. He dramatically changed his diet after much of his own personal research, and he is now expected to outlive his new kidney. We achieve the best results when we, as the medical professionals, work in tandem with our patients. We rely on them to communicate their goals, desires, and backgrounds, and they rely on us for the latest, cutting-edge medical knowledge and skill that will save and improve their lives.
I hope our School of Medicine community enjoys a happy and healthy holiday season! May we practice gratitude all season long for any element of good health, by playing our personal part to the best of our abilities.
In the relentless pursuit of excellence, I am
Sincerely yours,
E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA
Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of Maryland School of Medicine
New Faculty
Allan Doctor, MD, joined the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care, as a Professor in June 2019. Dr. Doctor earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Neurobiology (1984) and his Medical Degree (1989), both at the University of Virginia. Following residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, he went to Boston Children’s Hospital where he completed additional residency training in Pediatrics as well as fellowships in Pediatric Emergency Medicine and Critical Care.
Samantha Latorre, MD, joined the Department of Psychiatry as an Assistant Professor in November 2019.
Stephen Colin Rogers, PhD, MSc, joined the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care, as an Assistant Professor in June 2019. Dr. Roger received a BSc Exercise & Health Science degree from the University of Exeter, England, and a MSc degree in Exercise Physiology from Liverpool John Moores University, England. Dr. Rogers obtained his PhD from University of Cardiff, Wales, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. His research focus is on signaling and interplay between RBCs and the vasculature; more specifically, the role of RBCs regulating regional blood flow.
Recent Appointments
Omer Awan, MD, MPH, CIIP, Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, has been appointed to the editorial board of RadioGraphics, the premier educational journal in radiology, effective immediately.
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD and Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor in Pediatrics, was invited to serve on the advisory board of the Lancet Commission on Global Hearing Impairment, organized by Duke University. Dr. Black was also invited to serve on the WHO Committee to establish Guidelines for Complementary Feeding. Both appointments are two-year terms, starting in November.
Miriam Blitzer, PhD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, has been appointed to the Sanford Children’s Genomic Medicine Consortium External Scientific Advisory Committee. Her three-year term began in August 2019.
Joseph Cheer, PhD, Professor, and Mary Kay Lobo, PhD, Associate Professor, both from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, were appointed in 2019 to the editorial board, as reviewing editors, of eLife, the leading peer-reviewed open access scientific journal for the biomedical and life sciences.
Mariusz Karbowski, PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology.
The Department of Psychiatry would like to announce the formal title of Professor Emeritus to John Talbott, MD, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Talbott served as the former chair from 1985 to 1999, and the department extends its deepest gratitude to Dr. Talbott for his legacy and progressive leadership.
Kudos to our colleagues who are experts in their fields and give their all to represent the School of Medicine!
The Program in Trauma was well represented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma & Clinical Congress of Acute Care Surgery, Dallas, Tex., September 18–22.
Among the presenters were:
- Samuel Tisherman, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, was among the presenters of “Expert on the Hot Seat: Top 10 Topics in Critical Care.
- David Feliciano, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery, was among the presenters of “Ten Principles of Re-Operative Surgery.”
- Jonathan Morrison, MB, ChB, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Joseph DuBose, MD, Clinical Professor, both from the Department of Surgery, presented “Do Military Innovations Work and Can They be Studied in the Civilian World,” with Todd Rasmussen, MD, Visiting Professor, also from the Department of Surgery, serving as moderator.
- Rosemary Kozar, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Surgery, was among the presenters of “Geriatric Trauma: Now the Good News;” served as a moderator for Session IXA: Papers 18–26; and a discussant on “Effect of Oral Anticoagulants on Outcomes Following Severe Trauma T-IC Brain Injury in the Elderly.”
- Joseph DuBose, MD, Clinical Professor, Department of Surgery, served as a moderator for “How to Maintain the Combat Trauma Readiness of Forward-deployed Caregivers: Residency, Fellowships, Partnerships, and More.”
- Todd Rasmussen, MD, Visiting Professor, Department of Surgery, was among the presenters for Session IX: Shock/Transfusions.
- Sharon Henry, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, served as recorder for Session XIVB: Papers 54-63.
- Mira Ghneim, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, presented “Geriatric TBI: What We Know Now.”
The University of Maryland School of Medicine and the Department of Radiation Oncology hosted the first Thermal Oncology Practice School (TOPS), October 18–19. The course was directed by Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, Professor; Dario Rodrigues, PhD, Assistant Professor; and James Snider, III, MD, Assistant Professor. In addition to the directors, course faculty included department members: Nrusingh Biswal, PhD, Assistant Professor; Mariana Guerrero, PhD, Clinical Associate Professor; Scott Hill, Radiation Therapist; Erika Maynor, Senior Director of Clinical Operations; Jason Molitoris, MD, PhD; Assistant Professor, and Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Assistant Professor. This educational program is the first of its kind to provide practice guidelines and practical training in thermal therapy as an adjunct in cancer treatment. The course drew physicians, physicists, nurses, and therapists from across the United States and from South Korea, Poland, and Japan. The TOPS course, held at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center and at the University of Maryland Medical Center, provided attendees with theoretical aspects of thermal therapy, case reviews, and small-group instruction in experimental phantoms. The course was sold out, and plans are underway for future TOPS offerings.
The Department of Radiation Oncology was also well represented in presentations at the 2019 meeting of the Particle Therapy Cooperative Group–North America in Miami, Fla., October 14–16. The presentations focused on experience with proton therapy at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center. Presenters (each of whom represented multiple department co-authors) included:
- Anthony Koroulakis, MD, Resident, presented: “Early Results of Re-Irradiation for Rectal Cancer Using Pencil-Beam Scanning Proton Therapy are Promising.”
- Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Assistant Professor, presented: “Evaluation of Stopping Power Ratio Prediction of Lung Tissue from Dual-Energy CT;” “Evaluation of The Gain in Using Higher Order Components of the Thoraco-Abdominal Surface to Estimate Volumetric Tidal Flow;” and “Feasibility of Predicting Proton Stopping Power Ratio Using the MRI-Measured Material Hydrogen Density.”
- Pouya Sabouri, PhD, Assistant Professor, presented: “The Impact of Dual-Energy CT Scans on TPS Calculated Dose Accuracies for Biological and Non-Biological Samples”
- James Snider, III, MD, Assistant Professor, presented: “Concurrent Pencil Beam Scanning Proton Therapy and Hyperthermia: Growing Experience with Promising Results.”
- Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, Professor, delivered the invited lecture “Hyperthermia and Protons: Is This the Safe Way to Get the ‘Carbon Effect’?”
- Adeel Kaiser, MD, Assistant Professor, was a co-moderator of a “Head and Neck and Gastrointestinal” session.
Gad Alon, PT, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, presented: “Obstetric Brachial Plexus Injury (OBPI): Is Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) a Viable Intervention Option?” at the 13th Vienna International Workshop on Functional Electrical Stimulation (FE). The workshop was held from September 23–25.
Aditi Banerjee, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, presented: “Inhibition of Angiogenic Signaling Upregulates RASSF1A Expression” at the 4th International Conference on Cancer Research and Drug Development, held at the Radisson Hotel in Baltimore, Md., October 21–23. Dr. Banerjee was the host and chair of the Cancer Drug Development, Nanomedicine and Screening Session.
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD and Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor in Pediatrics, presented “Enhancing Human Capital Through the Nurturing Care Framework” at the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia, Pa., on November 4. Erin Hager, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, also attended the conference and presented: “Approaches to Addressing Child Hunger in Schools and Local Communities.”
Peter Bowman, PT, DPT, FAAOMPT, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, attended the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists (AAOMPT) in Orlando, Fla., and was a co-author on the poster “Does a Specific Exercise Protocol Along with Manual Therapy Effectively Improve Outcomes for Non-Operative Patients with Shoulder Pain in Adults 40–65 Years Old? A Case Series.” Roy Film PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT, Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, also attended the annual AAOMPT conference and was a co-author on the poster: “Emphasizing Fascia in the Treatment of a Former Weightlifter with Low Back Pain after Five Years of Stalled Functional Progress: A Case Report.” Separately, Dr. Film presented a CEU course titled “With Feathers: Helping People with Chronic Pain,” on Thursday, October 10, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Dr. Film also presented the keynote address “Physical Therapy to Facilitate Non-Opioid Pain Management,” at the annual congress of the Society for Opioid-Free Anesthesia, which was held in Panama City, Fla.
France Carrier, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, presented “Role of Dual Oxygenase (DUOX2) in Mediating Gastric Cancer Cell Death and Macrophages Dynamic Response to Low-Dose Fractionated Radiation Therapy (LDFRT),” at the annual meeting of the Radiation Research Society, held in San Diego, Calif, November 3–6. In addition, Isabel Jackson, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, presented “Biological Basis of Sex Differences in Radiation Response and Consideration of Sex Differences in Normal Tissue Radiation Response During Drug Development.”
Svetlana Chapoval, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, delivered an invited presentation titled “Semaphorin 4A as Immune Checkpoint and Regulator of Inflammation in Allergic Asthma,” at the World Immunotherapy Congress during Festival of Biologics, October 15–17, in Basel, Switzerland.
Yasmine Cisse, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, gave a lecture titled “Insights on Generational Health Consequences of the Perceived Stress of Racism: Maternal Preconception Stress Programs Female Offspring Stress Hyper-Reactivity,” at the Society for Neuroscience Nanosymposium, held in Chicago, Ill., October 19–23.
Natalie Davis, MD, MMSc, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, presented a webinar titled “An Update on the Car Seat Tolerance Screen” for the Child Passenger Safety and Occupant Healthcare Project at the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMMS) on August 15.
Vasken Dilsizian, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, was an invited plenary speaker at the 59th annual scientific sessions of the Japanese Society of Nuclear Medicine, which was held in Matsuyama, Japan, on November 1. His presentation was titled “Advances in Nuclear Cardiology and Image-Guided Patient Management.”
Howard Dubowitz, MB, ChB, MS, FAAP, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, presented “Child Neglect” and “Meet the Experts,” at the ISPCAN Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect in Muscat, Oman in September. Separately, Dr. Dubowitz presented “The Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) Model: A Role for the Health Sector in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect” to the Department of Defense Health Board, Child Abuse/Neglect Meeting in Fairfax, Va., in May.
Sharon Henry, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, presented “ATLS International—A Short Update,” at the ATLS European Trauma Association, October 4–5, Tallinn, Estonia. Separately, Dr. Henry, presented “NSTI: The Bad the Worse and the Ugly,” at the MidAtlantic Region WOCN Conference, Owings Mills, Md., on October 11.
Eldin Jasarevic, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology, presented a lecture titled, “Transmission of Stress Signals: Neurodevelopmental Programming Through the Maternal Microbiome,” at the Mount Sinai Neuroscience Seminar Series at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, N.Y., in November.
Brian Johnson, OTR/L, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, attended the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Capitol Hill Day in Washington, D.C. on September 23. He led a delegation of occupational therapy students and clinicians to advocate for healthcare policy with senators and representatives from Wisconsin, Florida, New York, and New Jersey.
Margaret McCarthy, PhD, the James and Carolyn Frenkil Dean’s Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, presented a keynote lecture titled, “Immune Origins of Sex Differences in the Brain,” at the Mayo Clinic’s 3rd Annual Celebration of Women’s Health Research: “SeXX as a Biological Variable,” held in Rochester, Minn., on October 4.
Eric Weintraub, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, recently spoke at the National Conference on Addiction Disorders, held August 15–18, in Baltimore, Md. Dr. Weintraub presented: “Prescribing Medication for Opioid Use Disorder Through Telepsychiatry: An Innovative Approach to Expand Treatment.”
Congratulations to the following who have received honors!
Monique Bellefleur, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor; Mark Dimino, MD, Assistant Professor; Stephanie Kahntroff, MD, Assistant Professor; and Anne Savarese, MD, Assistant Professor, all from the Department of Anesthesiology, have been named Baltimore Magazine’s 2019 “Top Doctors.”
Margaret McCarthy, PhD, the James and Carolyn Frenkil Dean’s Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology, was honored with the 2019 Gill Transformative Investigators Award from the Gill Center for Biomolecular Sciences on September 25.
William Regine, MD, FACR, FACRO, the Isadore & Fannie Schneider Foxman Endowed Chair and Professor in Radiation Oncology, and Elizabeth Nichols, MD, Associate Professor, also from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were recognized as Top Doctors in the November 2019 issue of Baltimore Magazine.
Daniel Weinreich PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology, was honored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Graduate Program in Life Sciences (GPILS) with the “Teacher of the Year” Award in October.
Eric Weintraub, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, was awarded the title of “State of Maryland 2019 Community Star,” by the National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health. The organization is a central network to support rural communities, health professionals, and clinics to improve the health of individuals in small towns across the nation.
Natalie Zlebnik, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, was selected to receive a Travel Fellowship to attend the 2020 Winter Conference on Brain Research in Big Sky, Montana. As a Panel Travel Fellow Awardee, she will receive complimentary registration and a travel reimbursement award of up to $1,000.
Multiple members from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology received awards at the annual Graduate Program in Life Sciences (GPILS) and Office of Postdoctoral Scholar (OPS) Awards Ceremony on October 28.
- Donna Calu, PhD, Assistant Professor, won the Alumnus of the Year Award.
- Natalie Zlebnik, PhD, Assistant Professor, received the Postdoctoral Fellow Excellence in Mentorship Award.
- Carleigh Jenne, Graduate Student in the Masters Program in Cellular and Molecular Biosciences (Lab of Asaf Keller, PhD, Professor and Interim Chair), received the MS Scholar Award.
Sasha Baghdadi, Neuroscience Student at the University of Maryland, College Park, was awarded the Neuroscience is Rewarding Scholarship by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Ms. Baghdadi and Melissa Motta, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Neurology, will work together to integrate and evaluate The Neurocritical Care Family Centered Checklist into an electronic patient portal. This communication tool is intended to provide education and guidance to loved ones of patients in the Neurocritical Care Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
In the Media
Todd Gould, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, was highlighted in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director’s blog for his pioneering work in ketamine research. A safer alternative to ketamine, used to treat treatment-resistant depression (TRD), was identified through a cross-institute collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Medicine, NIMH, National Institute on Aging, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science. For more information, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/messages/2019/new-hope-for-treatment-resistant-depression-guessing-right-on-ketamine.shtml
William Carpenter, MD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, was interviewed by Dateline. The episode reports on recently uncovered pages from the diary of John Hinkley, Jr., written after his arrest for the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Dr. Carpenter served as the defense psychiatrist during Hinkley’s trial and interviewed Hinkley for more than 45 hours. Ultimately, Hinkley was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and Dr. Carpenter was credited with increasing public awareness about severe mental illness. For information or to watch the episode, https://www.nbc.com/dateline/video/hinckley/4017341
Dheeraj Gandhi, MBBS, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was highlighted in U.S. News and World Report’s story of “Medical Marvels.” The piece spotlighted Dr. Gandhi’s role in the clinical trial of MRI-guided focused ultrasound to the brain to treat neuropathic pain.
Jessica Lee, MD, Instructor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, along with colleagues from the University of Maryland Women’s Health Center, launched a new Complex Contraception Clinic in October 2019. The Complex Contraception Clinic serves women with medical factors that complicate their contraception options. The Center provides all methods of contraception, including but not limited to, long-acting reversible contraception and sterilization. The Center also offers contraception to adolescents and adults, including nulliparous patients, and post-partum contraceptive planning. Contact the University of Maryland Women’s Health Center at (410) 706-2500 to request an appointment.
Congratulations to our very productive faculty on their recent grants and contracts!
Howard Dubowitz, MB, ChB, MS, FAAP, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, received a three-year, $556,383 supplemental grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development for “Dissemination and Implementation of the Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) Model for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect.” Dr. Dubowitz also received a one-year, $694,942 grant from the Governor’s Office on Crime Control and Prevention for “Victims of Child Maltreatment.”
Thomas Ernst, Dr rer nat, Professor, and Linda Chang, MD, MS, Professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were awarded a one-year, $154,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for “Brain MRS GABA Measures, Impulsivity and the Adolescent Brain.”
Dheeraj Gandhi, MBBS, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was awarded a three-year, $180,000 grant by MicroVention, Inc for “Sofia® Aspiration System as First Line Technique.” Dr. Gandhi will serve as the national Principal Investigator.
James Gold, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, was awarded a five-year, $2.67 million R01 award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH/NIMH), for “Cognitive Neurocomputational Task Reliability & Clinical Applications.”
Rao Gullapalli, PhD, MBA, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was awarded a 15-month, $101,700 grant from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation for “The Feasibility of Targeting Temporal Lobe Using Transcranial MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound.”
Miroslaw Janowski, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was awarded a two-year, $345,000 grant by Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission/Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) for “Image-Guided, Intra-Arterial Delivery of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles for Treatment of Ischemic Stroke.”
Javed Mahmood, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, received a one-year, $70,000 Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center Payline Award for “RhoA/ROCK Pathway Inhibition to Ameliorate Radiotherapy-Induced Erectile Dysfunction (RiED) in Prostate Cancer Patients.”
Pranshu Mohindra, MD, MBBS, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, received a five-year, $251,561 grant from Varian via the University of Virginia, for “A Randomized Phase III Trial of Two Standard Dose Fractionation Regimens for Adjuvant Vaginal Brachytherapy in Early Stage Endometrial Cancer.”
Rebekah Owens, LMT, BCTMB, CIMI, CPMT, CEOLS, PR Specialist and Massage Therapist, Center for Integrative Medicine, was awarded a one-year, $4,850 Community Service grant from the Massage Therapy Foundation for “Seated Massages to Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in Cancer Center Staff.”
Rekha Rapaka, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, received a four-year, $759,456 grant as part of a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award. The grant is titled: “Human Cellular Immune Programming Against Invasive Salmonella”
Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, and Peixin Yang, PhD, Professor, both from the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, were awarded a five-year, $2.5 million R01 renewal for “Molecular Signalling Pathways and Cellular Stress in Diabetic Embryopathy.”
Mark Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, and Thomas Ernst, Dr rer nat, Professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were awarded a three-year, $105,000 grant by Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, Inc for “Brain Pet Motion Correction on the Biograph mMR Using KinetiCor Camera Head Tracking Device.”
Toshihiko Tanno, PhD, Research Associate, Institute of Human Virology, and Martin Devenport, PhD, OncoImmune, Inc., were awarded a one-year, $312,714 grant from the Office of the Director, National Institute of Health (NIH/OD) for “Evaluation of Therapeutic Efficacy and Safety of Novel Small RNA Target Delivery Platform in Vivo.”
Brittney Williams, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, was awarded the Mentored Research Training Grant (MRTG) by the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research (FAER) for her research project titled “Role of TLR7 in Platelet Activation and Dysfunction in Sepsis.” The award, $250,000 over two years, helps physician-scientists develop the skills, preliminary data for subsequent grant applications, and research publications needed to become independent investigators.
Community Service
Students and faculty from the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science (DPTRS) assisted the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Chapter of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) during their 17th Annual Health Fair, CommUNITY Fest, on September 28, at the world-renowned Lexington Market. This event allowed for students from all professions to engage and assist community members by promoting healthy habits, providing health screenings, and connecting community members to medical, social, and legal resources. Physical Therapy Students Matt Delapaz, and Lindsey Mathis, performed 22 screening procedures during the event under the guidance of Vincent Conroy, PT, DScPT, Assistant Professor in DPTRS. Separately, the Doctor of Physical Therapy Class of 2021, participated in a balance screening at the Baltimore County Department of Aging’s Run/Walk at Essex Community College on September 22. Sixty-two participants were screened using the STEADI balance screening tools.
Linda Horn, PT, DScPT, MHS, and Rachel Skolky, PT, MSPT, DPT, both from the DPTRS, served as faculty leads for the Governor’s Proclamation for Falls Prevention Week, September 23–29. The Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Class of 2021 participants included: Melanie Garrison, Jake Cannon, Blake Wood, Ashley Eckhart, Emily Edwards, Patrice Elleston, Eddy Chen, Kevin Brown, Nikhil Patel, Nicole Viscuso, Anthony Fontaine, Kachi Ude, Laura Osborne, Emily Barton, and Abriana Williams.
Hats off to those who have been published!
Megan Anders, MD, Assistant Professor, and Samuel Galvagno, DO, PhD, Professor, both form the Department of Anesthesiology, and Samuel Tisherman, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, were among the co-authors of “Improving Postoperative Handoff in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Critical Care Nurse.
Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD and Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor in Pediatrics, was a co-author of “SNAP Participation, Young Children’s Health and Development, and Family Food Security and Health Care Access,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. In addition, Dr. Black, along with Chloe Drennen, MD, were among the authors of “Food Insecurity, Health and Development Among Children Under Age Four Years,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Pediatrics. The article received media attention in multiple sources, including the US News and World Report 2019.
Stewart Becker, PhD, Assistant Professor; Pouya Sabouri, PhD, Assistant Professor; Shifeng Chen, PhD, Associate Professor; Elizabeth Nichols, MD, Associate Professor; and Byong Yong Yi, PhD, Professor; all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Commissioning and Acceptance Guide for the GammaPod,” which was published in Physics in Medicine and Biology on September 5, 2019.
Liron Boyman, PhD, Research Associate; Mariusz Karbowski, PhD, Associate Professor; and Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor and Director, all from the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, were among the co-authors of “Regulation of Mitochondrial ATP Production: Ca2+ Signaling and Quality Control,” which was published in the November 2019 issue of Trends in Molecular Medicine. This publication was also the Feature Review of the Special Issue: Mitochondria—from Diagnosis to Treatment in Cell Press Reviews.
Mary Beth Bollinger, DO, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, was among the co-authors of “Intolerance of Uncertainty and Protective Parenting in Mothers of Children with Food Allergy,” which was published in Journal Children’s Healthcare on August 25, 2019.
Joseph Cheer, PhD, Professor, and Sonia Aroni, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, in the lab of Dr. Joseph Cheer, both from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, were among the co-authors of “Prenatal THC Exposure Produces a Hyperdopaminergic Phenotype Rescued by Pregnenolone,” which was published in Nature Neuroscience on October 14, 2019.
Rong Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was the last author of “Predicting Necrosis in Adnexal Torsion in Women of Reproductive Age Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging,” which was published in European Radiology on October 18, 2019. Dr. Chen was also a co-author of “Smcr8 Deficiency Disrupts Axonal Transport-dependent Lysosomal Function and Promotes Axonal Swellings and Gain of Toxicity in C9ALS/FTD Mouse Models,” which was published in Human Molecular Genetics on October 18, 2019.
Wengen Chen, BM, PhD, MSc, Professor, and Vasken Dilsizian, MD, Professor, both from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, authored “Radioactive Iodine Treatment and Cancer Mortality in Hyperthyroid Patients: Questioning Standard Clinical Practice Requires Indisputable Scientific Data,” which was published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine on November 1, 2019.
Barry Daly, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors of “Left Ventricular Hypertrophy in a Contemporary Cohort of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease Patients,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of BMC Nephrology.
Derik Davis, MD, Associate Professor; Jiachen Zhuo, PhD, Assistant Professor; Michael Mulligan, MD, Professor; Charles Resnik, MD, Professor; and Rao Gullapalli, PhD, MBA, Professor; all from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors of “Association of Patient Self-Reported Shoulder Scores to Quantitative and Semiquantitative MRI Measures of Rotator Cuff Intramuscular Fatty Infiltration: A Pilot Study,” which was published in the American Journal of Roentgenology on September 11, 2019. Dr. Davis was also first author of “Association of Rotator Cuff Tear Patterns and Intramuscular Fatty Infiltration on Magnetic Resonance Imaging,” which was published in the Journal of Clinical Imaging Science on August 2, 2019.
Cristina DeCesaris, MD, Medical Resident; Jenna Jatczak, Dosimetrist; Mark Mishra, MD, Associate Professor; Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Assistant Professor; and Elizabeth Nichols, MD, Associate Professor; all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “In Reply to Tommasino et al,” which was published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics on November 1, 2019.
Howard Dubowitz, MB, ChB, MS, FAAP, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, was last author of “Psychometric Properties of a Self-Report Measure of Neglect During Mid-Adolescence,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Child Indicators Research.
Matthew Ferris, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Survival Outcomes in Patients with Gastric and Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinomas Treated with Perioperative Chemotherapy with or without Preoperative Radiotherapy,” which was published in Cancer on September 18, 2019.
Rajender Gattu, MD, Assistant Professor; Yan Wang, BM, DrPH, Associate Professor; Richard Lichenstein, MD, Professor; and Maureen Black, PhD, the John A. Scholl, MD and Mary Louise Scholl, MD Professor in Pediatrics, all from the Department of Pediatrics, were co-authors of “The 2-Item Hunger Vital Sign in Emergency Departments Identifies Children in Food Insecure Households with Increased Risk for Adverse Health Conditions,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Children.
Rachel Gore, ScM, CGC, Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, was first author of “Challenges to Informed Consent for Exome Sequencing: A Best-Worst Scaling Experiment,” which was published in Journal of Genetic Counseling on September 25, 2019.
Isabel Jackson, PhD, Associate Professor; Yannick Poirier, PhD, Assistant Professor; Diana Newman, Lab Manager; and Zeljko Vujaskovic, MD, PhD, Professor; all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “A New Zealand White Rabbit Model of Thrombocytopenia and Coagulopathy Following Total Body Irradiation Across the Dose Range to Induce the Hematopoietic Subsyndrome of Acute Radiation Syndrome,” which was published in the International Journal of Radiation Biology on September 17, 2019.
Eldin Jasarevic, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Pharmacology, authored “Prenatal and Postnatal Contributions of the Maternal Microbiome on Offspring Programming,” which was published in Frontiers of Neuroendocrinology on September 28, 2019.
Xiaofeng Jia, BM, PhD, Associate Professor, corresponding author, along with co-author Junyun He, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; and Leanne Young, MS and Ruoxian Deng, MS, both Graduate Students; and Daniel Callow, Undergraduate Student; all from the Department of Neurosurgery, were authors of “Real-Time Quantitative Monitoring of Cerebral Blood Flow by Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging After Cardiac Arrest with Targeted Temperature Management,” which was published in the June 2019 issue of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Adeel Kaiser, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Lack of Efficacy of the Neutropenic Diet in Decreasing Infections Among Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review,” which was published in Nutrition and Cancer on October 12, 2019.
Kimia Khalatbari Kani, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was first author of “External Fixators: Looking Beyond the Hardware Maze,” which was published in Skeletal Radiology on September 12, 2019.
Victoria Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, and Owen Woodward, PhD, Assistant Professor, were among the co-authors of “Target Genes, Variants, Tissues and Transcriptional Pathways Influencing Human Serum Urate Levels,” which was published in Nature Genetics on October 2, 2019.
Young Kwok, MD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “An Open Invitation to Join the Pediatric Proton/Photon Consortium Registry to Standardize Data Collection in Pediatric Radiation Oncology,” which was published in the British Journal of Radiology on October 10, 2019.
Joshua Lewis, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, was the first author of “Pharmacogenomic Polygenic Response Score Predicts Ischemic Events and Cardiovascular Mortality in Clopidogrel-Treated Patients,” which was published in the European Heart Journal—Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy on September 3, 2019.
Regina Macatangay, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, was among the authors of “Warthin-Finkeldey-Like Cells in Lymph Node from a Child with Li-Fraumeni Syndrome,” which was published in the August 2019 issue of the Journal of Hematopathology.
Javed Mahmood, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Feyruz Rassool, PhD, Associate Professor, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “DNA Methyltransferase Inhibitors Induce a Brcaness Phenotype That Sensitizes NSCLC to PARP Inhibitor and Ionizing Radiation,” which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA on October 7, 2019.
Rachel McCarroll, PhD, Medical Physics Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Automatic Detection of Contouring Errors Using Convolutional Neural Networks,” which was published in Medical Physics on September 10, 2019.
Mary McKenna, PhD, Professor, and Jaylyn Waddell, PhD, Assistant Professor, both from the Department of Pediatrics, were among the authors of “Effect of Acetyl-l-carnitine Used for Protection of Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury on Acute Kidney Changes in Male and Female Rats,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Neurochemical Research.
Robert Miller, MD, MBA, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Google Search Trends in Oncology and the Impact of Celebrity Cancer Awareness,” which was published in Cureus on October 10, 2019. Separately, Dr. Miller was among the authors of “Reply to A.S. Garden,” which was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology on September 26, 2019.
Timothy Miller, MD, Associate Professor; Gaurav Jindal, MD, Associate Professor; and Dheeraj Gandhi, MBBS, Professor, all from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors of “Utility of the Hijdra Sum Score in Predicting Risk of Aneurysm in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Single-Center Experience with 550 Patients,” which was published in Neurosurgery on September 9, 2019.
Mark Mishra, MD, Associate Professor, and Kasey Baker, MS, Director of Clinical Research Operations, both from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the co-authors of “Pragmatic Randomised Clinical Trial of Proton Versus Photon Therapy for Patients with Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer: The Radiotherapy Comparative Effectiveness (Radcomp) Consortium Trial Protocol,” which was published in BMJ Open on October 15, 2019. Separately, Dr. Mishra was among the authors of “Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Trials,” which was published in Oncotarget on September 24, 2019.
Jessica Mong, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology, was among the co-authors of “Sex, Drugs, and the Medial Amygdala: A Model of Enhanced Sexual Motivation in the Female Rat,” which was published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience on September 10, 2019.
Kathleen Morrison, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, authored “Brexanolone for the Treatment of Patients with Postpartum Depression,” which was published in the September 2019 issue of Drugs Today.
Vincent Njar, PhD, Professor, and Puranik Purushottamachar, PhD, Assistant Professor, both from the Department of Pharmacology, were among the co-authors of “Development of Benzimidazole Compounds for Cancer Therapy,” which was published in IntechOpen on June 10, 2019. Separately, Drs. Njar and Purushottamachar were among the co-authors of “Galeterone and the Next Generation Galeterone Analogs, VNPP414 and VNPP433-3b Exert Potent Therapeutic Effects in Castration-/Drug-Resistant Prostate Cancer Preclinical Models In Vitro and In Vivo,” which was published in Cancers (Basel) on October 24, 2019. Yun Qiu, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology; Nicholas Ambulos, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Yuji Zhang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Public Health; Arif Hussain, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine; David Weber, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Weiliang Huang, PhD, Research Associate, and Maureen Kane, PhD, Associate Professor, both from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UMB School of Pharmacy; were also among the co-authors.
Erin O’Connor, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors of “No Association Between Cortical Lesions and Leptomeningeal Enhancement on 7-Tesla MRI in Multiple Sclerosis,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Multiple Sclerosis. In addition, Dr. O’Connor was first author of “Is Treated HIV Infection Still Toxic to the Brain?” which was published in Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science on June 8, 2019.
Yuko Ota, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Martin Flajnik, PhD, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology; and Timothy O’Connor, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Institute for Genome Sciences, were co-authors of “Inferring the ‘Primordial Immune Complex’: Origins of MHC Class I and Antigen Receptors Revealed by Comparative Genomics,” which was published in the Journal of Immunology on September 6, 2019.
Jerimy Polf, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “A Monte Carlo Model for Organ Dose Reconstruction of Patients in Pencil Beam Scanning (PBS) Proton Therapy for Epidemiologic Studies of Late Effects,” which was published in the Journal of Radiological Protection on September 11, 2019.
Prashant Raghavan, MBBS, Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors of “A Consistent, Reliable Landmark to Assist in Placement of Orbital Floor Reconstruction Plates after Blowout Fractures,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.
Horea Rus, MD, PhD, Professor; Freidrich Anselmo, Medical Student; and Alexandru Tatomir MD, Postdoctoral Fellow; all from the Department of Neurology, were among the co-authors of “JNK and Phosphorylated Bcl-2 Predict Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Activity and Glatiramer Acetate Response,” which was published in Clinical Immunology on November 5, 2019.
Pouya Sabouri, PhD, Assistant Professor; Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Assistant Professor; Giovanni Lasio, PhD, Assistant Professor; and Amit Sawant, PhD, Associate Professor; all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Development and Prospective In-Patient Proof-of-Concept of a Surface Photogrammetry + CT-Based Volumetric Motion Model for Lung Radiotherapy,” which was published in Medical Physics on September 13, 2019.
Eliot Siegel, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was among the co-authors of “Interpreting Radiographs with Concurrently Obtained Patient Photographs,” which was published in Radiographics in September-October 2019.
Jonathan Vanryzin, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Ashley Marquardt, PhD Candidate, Lindsay Pickett, PhD Candidate; and Margaret McCarthy, PhD, the James and Carolyn Frenkil Dean’s Professor and Chair, all from the Department of Pharmacology, authored “Microglia and Sexual Differentiation of the Developing Brain: A Focus on Extrinsic Factors,” which was published in GLIA on November 6, 2019.
Esther Vicente, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Arezoo Modiri, PhD, Assistant Professor; and Amit Sawant, PhD, Associate Professor; all from the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Accounting for Respiratory Motion in Small Serial Structures During Radiotherapy Planning: Proof of Concept in Virtual Bronchoscopy-Guided Lung Functional Avoidance Radiotherapy,” which was published in Physics in Medicine and Biology on October 30, 2019.
Erik von Rosenvinge, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, and Jonathan Pearl, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, were among the co-authors of “Randomized Trial of Medical Versus Surgical Treatment for Refractory Heartburn,” which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine on October 17, 2019.
Andrew Wescott, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Joseph Kao, PhD, Professor; Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor and Director; and Liron Boyman, PhD, Research Associate; all from the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, were among the co-authors of “Voltage-Energized Calcium-Sensitive ATP Production by Mitochondria,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Nature Metabolism.
Jill Whitall, PhD, Professor Emerita, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, was a co-author of “Methods for an Investigation of Neurophysiological and Kinematic Predictors of Response to Upper Extremity Repetitive Task Practice in Chronic Stroke,” which was published in Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation on September 10, 2019.
Charles White, MD, Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was the last author of “Potential of Calcium Scoring CT to Identify Subclinical Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Prior Thoracic Irradiation,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging.
Junfang Wu, BM, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, was the corresponding author of “Inhibition of MicroRNA-711 Limits Ang-1 and Akt Changes, Tissue Damage, and Neurological Dysfunction After Contusive Spinal Cord Injury in Mice,” which was published in Cell Death & Disease on November 4, 2019.
Mingyao Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Technical Note: Quality Assurance of Proton Central Axis Pencil-Beam Spread-Out Bragg Peak Using Large-Diameter Multilayer Ionization Chambers,” which was published in the October 2019 issue of Medical Physics.