JAMA editor–in-chief, breast cancer activist to be honored at Commencement
May 14, 2008 College News - The Medical College of Wisconsin Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences will award 186 MD, 19 PhD, 16 MS, 18 MA and 31 MPH degrees at its 95th commencement exercises on Friday, May 16, at the Milwaukee Theater.
Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH, editor–in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary Doctor of Science.
The Medical College will also honor Melodie Wilson Oldenburg with an honorary Doctor of Science degree. A former broadcast journalist and an advocate of breast cancer awareness and education, she is the founder of the nonprofit organization, ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis.
DeAngelis is editor-in-chief of the most widely circulated medical journal in the world, reaching 120 countries in 14 languages. She is also professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she has been a faculty member since 1978, and author or editor of eleven books on pediatrics and medical education. She is being honored for “her pioneering contributions to the medical literature through JAMA, her advocacy for compassionate patient care, and her insight on medical education.”
Wilson Oldenburg is being honored “for her journalistic integrity, extensive community service and compassionate efforts to support people affected by breast cancer.” ABCD provides free, personalized information and one-to-one support to people in eastern Wisconsin affected by breast cancer. A member of the College’s Board of Trustees, she was the first chairman of its Cancer Center Advisory Board, a group of civic leaders who raise funds for cancer research and increase awareness of Cancer Center programs.
Additionally, four outstanding faculty members will be honored with Distinguished Service Awards, the school’s highest faculty honor. They are:
•Michael J. Chusid, MD, Professor and Associate Chair of Pediatrics and Chief of the Pediatrics Infectious Diseases section at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. A nationally recognized researcher, his expertise includes infection in immunocompromised patients, and he often consults with pediatric physicians on infections affecting children in cancer therapy. Dr. Chusid has published more than 100 articles in professional journals on his research in the physiology of white blood cells that help fight bacterial infections.
•Michael J. Dunn, MD, Dean Emeritus, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Physiology and Director of the Translational Research Resources Office of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the Medical College. Under his leadership as Dean, which ended earlier this month, new facilities, including the College’s Health Research Center and Translational and Biomedical Research Center, have been constructed to support expanded research and medical education programs, and the College’s research support from the National Institutes of Health grew 255 percent between 1994 and 2007. Dr. Dunn has also appointed 22 academic chairmen and established five new departments – Biophysics, Plastic Surgery, Population Health, Otolaryngology and Communication Sciences, and Urology.
•James S. Hyde, PhD, Professor of Biophysics and Director of the College’s National Biomedical Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Center. He has made pioneering contributions to the field of EPR, specifically the development of new instrumentation. His research and development of surface coils and gradient coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) has created unique research opportunities for functional brain-imaging studies of addiction, language, vision, and Alzheimer’s and digestive diseases.
•Sally Twining, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and of Ophthalmology. She is an internationally recognized expert in proteases, proteins that break down other proteins, and their roles in corneal ulceration and wound healing of the eye. She is currently a core director of the College’s National Eye Institute Core Grant for Vision Research, and her research has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Eye Institute since 1983. Senior vice president and president-elect of the Faculty Council, she has been active in many of the key function committees governing the College, in addition to carrying a full teaching load.