Autumn 2009: Ticker

Ticker

Emory ranks among nation’s best hospitals

Emory University Hospital ranks among the top in the U.S. News & World Report’s guide to America’s Best Hospitals. Rankings: ophthalmology, 9th; psychiatry, 10th; geriatrics, 13th; heart and heart surgery, 13th; neurology and neurosurgery, 14th; ear, nose, and throat, 22nd; kidney disease, 25th; diabetes/endocrinology, 31st; gynecology and urology, both 44th; cancer, 46th.

Winship Cancer Institute names new director

Walter J. Curran, a radiation oncologist and Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar, has been named executive director of the Emory Winship Cancer Institute. Curran is an international expert in the management of patients with locally advanced lung cancer and malignant brain tumors.

External funds and stimulus grants provide $484 million

Emory researchers received $484.2 million from external funding agencies in fiscal year 2009, an increase of 18 percent over the previous year. More than 70 percent of the funds were awarded by federal agencies, with $298.5 million coming from the National Institutes of Health. The federal stimulus bill accounted for $13.8 million of the funding.

Chemistry professor receives $1.5 million for innovation

Candler Professor of Organic Chemistry Huw Davies has received $1.5 million from the National Science Foundation to establish an NSF Center for Chemical Innovation. He will lead a team of scientists from four universities in finding ways to speed up and simplify the synthesis of new classes of pharmaceuticals.

Board of Trustees elects two new alumni members

The Emory University Board of Trustees, which oversees the governance and long-range financial health of the University, has selected Susan Cahoon 68C, a partner and general counsel of Kilpatrick Stockton of Atlanta, and Jonathan Layne 79L 79MBA, a partner of Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher of Los Angeles.

CDC gives Emory grant for Injury Control Research Center

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designated the Emory Center for Injury Control as one of its newest Injury Control Research Centers. Emory joins a group of eleven Injury Control Research Centers throughout the country and will receive a research grant from the CDC totaling nearly $5 million.

Candler students win national theology fellowships

Four master of divinity students have won national fellowships from the Fund for Theological Education: Christina Repoley is a Ministry Fellow; master of divinity students Kimberly Jenne and Jason Myers are Congregational Fellows; and master of divinity student Leah Lyman is a Volunteers Exploring Vocation Fellow.

Green construction continues on campus

Several campus projects are on track for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification, including the Oxford Road Building for undergraduate admission, a Barnes & Noble Collegiate Superstore and Starbucks Cafe, the Claudia Nance Rollins Building, and Freshman Residence Hall Four.

The Dalai Lama supports the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative

The Dalai Lama, who will next visit Emory on October 17 to 19, 2010, in his role as Presidential Distinguished Professor, has announced that he will give $50,000 to the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, a historic undertaking to deliver a comprehensive science education to Tibetan monastics.

A million downloads on iTunes U . . . and counting

One million downloads of speeches, lectures, news, and performances have been made from Emory’s iTunes U site—a free service hosted by Apple. Emory offers more than 1,700 audio and video podcasts related to the University and its community.

New detection tool for Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center developed a test in primates, using infrared eye tracking, that is now being used in people to detect mild cognitive impairment, says Yerkes director and lead researcher Stuart Zola. See whsc.emory.edu/soundscience.

Early nurturing impacts later life

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have found that the amount of care received by young prairie voles impacts their adult social behavior. In the study in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, early social experience influenced adult bonding, says researcher Todd Ahern 12G, who worked with Professor of Psychiatry Larry Young.