Hal Blumenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology, neurobiology and neurosurgery, has received the Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award for his research on epilepsy and impaired consciousness. The award is made by the American Academy of Neurology to recognize physicians in the early stages of their careers who have made an independent contribution to epilepsy research. 

Linda Degutis, Dr.Ph., M.S.N., associate professor of surgery (emergency medicine) and of epidemiology and public health, was elected chair of the executive board of the American Public Health Association (APHA). The APHA, with 35,000 members from a variety of disciplines, is the primary association for public health professionals and practitioners.

Roberto J. Groszmann, M.D., professor of medicine and director of the Section of Digestive Diseases at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven, received the 2004 Ismar Boas Medal from the German Society of Digestive and Metabolic Diseases in Leipzig, Germany for his scientific contributions to gastroenterology, hepatology and metabolic diseases. 

Albert C. Lo, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology, received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy at a reception at the White House last September. Lo was honored for his contributions to new therapeutic strategies to restore function in people with multiple sclerosis.

John D. MacMicking, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Section of Microbial Pathogenesis, has been selected as a Searle Scholar by the Illinois-based Kinship Foundation. The award is one of the most prestigious given to junior scientists. MacMicking also received the Mallinckrodt Foundation Program Scholar Award in 2004, given annually to scientists starting their careers.

Susan T. Mayne, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology, was appointed to the nutrition subcommittee of the Food Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, which provides advice to the center’s director and the commissioner of food and drugs regarding emerging food safety, food science, nutrition, and other food-related issues. 

David McCormick, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology, has received the Jacob Javits Award in the Neurosciences to study the basic operational mechanisms of the cerebral cortex. The award is made by Congress in honor of the late U.S. Senator Jacob Javits of New York with advice from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council. 

John A. Persing, M.D., professor of surgery (plastic) and neurosurgery, will begin his term as chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery in May. Persing, who is just finishing his term as president of the American Association of Academic Chairmen in Plastic Surgery, has been chief of the Section of Plastic Surgery at Yale since 1992.

Raymond R. Russell, M.D., assistant professor of medicine (cardiology), has been named the 2004 Bayer Fellow. The award, endowed by the Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corp., provides a fellowship each year to a faculty member making significant advances in medicine or health care management.

Robert S. Sherwin, M.D., the C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine, has received the Long- Standing Achievement Award from the Novartis Pharmaceutical Corp. for his role in developing insulin pump therapy, a crucial advance in diabetes care, in which insulin is infused continuously via a small pump. He also helped develop the most widely accepted method for measuring cells’ sensitivity to insulin. 

Robert Udelsman, M.D., M.B.A., the Lampman Memorial Professor of Surgery and Oncology and chair of the Department of Surgery, has been elected president of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons (AAES), a society of board-certified surgeons who have a major interest in and devote significant portions of their practice or research to endocrine surgery. 

Stephen G. Waxman, Ph.D., M.D., professor of neurology, pharmacology and neurobiology and chair of the Department of Neurology, has been named the first recipient of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s Stephen C. Reingold Award. The award recognizes the contributions of Stephen C. Reingold, Ph.D., who, until his recent retirement, was responsible for the society’s national research and training programs.