Alison P. Galvani, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology, has received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for her research on the public perception of influenza vaccination policies. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed not only on the basis of past achievements, but on the promise for exceptional future achievements. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was established in 1925 by former United States Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife in memory of their son. The Foundation supports individuals in the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and creative arts.

Alexander Neumeister, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, was awarded the 2006 Bristol Myers Squibb Max Hamilton Memorial Prize by the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmocologium. The prize, which carries a cash award of $10,000, recognizes a young scientist for outstanding contributions to psychopharmacology. Neumeister studies the molecular and genetic bases of anxiety and mood disorders, especially depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and has scientifically evaluated therapies for these disorders.

Peter J. Novick, Ph.D., professor of cell biology, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Novick, an expert on vesicle trafficking and cell polarity in yeast, joins over 130 other Yale faculty as a fellow of the Cambridge, Mass.-based Academy. The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other Revolutionary leaders to bring scholarly, political and business leaders together “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honour, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.”

Jody L. Sindelar, Ph.D., professor of public health, has been named president of the newly formed American Society of Health Economists (ASHE). Sindelar, who studies the economics of smoking, alcohol and illicit drugs, is a founding member of ASHE, a professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in health economics research in the United States. She was program chair for ASHE’s inaugural conference, to be held in Madison, Wis., in June 2006. The biennial meeting will provide a forum for emerging ideas and empirical results in health economics research through over 400 paper and poster presentations, as well as multiple plenary sessions.