MS expert named to head neurology

Psychiatry professor named chair

NOTES

Notes

David Hafler

John Krystal

MS expert named to head neurology

David A. Hafler, M.D., a leader in multiple sclerosis (MS) research, was named chair of neurology at the School of Medicine and chief of neurology at Yale-New Haven Hospital, effective September 1.

An expert on the mechanisms of autoimmunity and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, Hafler was director of molecular immunology in the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. He was the Jack, Sadie, and David Breakstone Professor of Neurology (Neuroscience) at Harvard Medical School, and a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Hafler’s recruitment complements ongoing research at Yale in neurology, genetics, and translational immunology. Hafler will build upon existing neurology research in such areas as spinal cord injury and repair, epilepsy, and neurodegeneration, and he will expand research in MS and in other areas of neurology and the clinical neurosciences.

Hafler succeeds Stephen G. Waxman, M.D., Ph.D., the Bridget Marie Flaherty Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology, who has led the department since 1986 and will remain on the faculty and continue as director of the Center for Neuroscience & Regeneration/Neurorehabilitation Research.

Psychiatry professor named chair

John H. Krystal, M.D. ’84, was named chair of the Department of Psychiatry, effective July 1. Krystal, the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research, will also serve as chief of psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is director of the Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism, and he also heads the Clinical Neuroscience Division of the Veterans Affairs National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Veterans Affairs Alcohol Research Center at Yale. Since 2000, he has served as the department’s deputy chair for research.

Krystal is an internationally renowned expert on the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia, alcoholism, depression, and PTSD. His work is distinguished by its emphasis on translational neuroscience, the effort to combine emerging brain imaging and molecular genetic technologies with psychopharmacology to better understand alterations in brain function associated with psychiatric disorders. His research on the glutamate system in the brain has led to new experimental treatments for several psychiatric disorders.

Krystal succeeds William H. Sledge, M.D., who led the department as interim chair during the past year, and Benjamin S. Bunney, M.D., who served as chair for two decades until his retirement in 2008.

Notes

Stephen Waxman

Peter Salovey

William Sessa

Robert Sherwin

William Tamborlane

Stephen G. Waxman, M.D., Ph.D., the Bridget Flaherty Professor of Neurology, Neurobiology, and Pharmacology, received the William S. Middleton Award, the highest scientific honor bestowed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington in April. The award includes a cash prize of $150,000 in research support.

Waxman was honored for his research on spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, and painful nerve injuries. His research was the first to show the changes in molecules within nerve cells that permit remissions—recovery of such lost functions as vision and motor control—in multiple sclerosis. He has also identified key molecules responsible for pain after nerve and spinal cord injury.

Waxman is the director of the Neuroscience and Regeneration Research Center, a collaborative enterprise of Yale University, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the United Spinal Association. He is also co-director of the Yale-London Collaboration on Nervous System Injury at University College London. Having served as chair of neurology since 1986, Waxman is now making the transition to a full-time role as director of the research center at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven.

Eleven Yale faculty members, including six from the School of Medicine, were elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering in April in recognition of their contributions to the advancement of science. Scientists and engineers elected to the academy must achieve distinction through original contributions to theoretical or applied science or engineering.

The newly elected members, who were introduced at the academy’s annual meeting at the New England Air Museum in May, are Michael Donoghue, Ph.D., the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and vice president for West Campus Planning and Program Development; Peter Jones, Ph.D., the James E. English Professor of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics; John H. Krystal, M.D. ’84, the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research; Lynne J. Regan, Ph.D., professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry and of chemistry; Peter Salovey, Ph.D., University Provost and the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology; William C. Sessa, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology; Robert S. Sherwin, M.D., the C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine and director of the Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center; Abraham Silberschatz, Ph.D., chair and Sidney J. Weinberg Professor of Computer Science; Joann B. Sweasy, Ph.D., professor of therapeutic radiology and genetics; William V. Tamborlane, M.D., FW ’77, professor and section chief of pediatric endocrinology; and Kyle T. Vanderlick, Ph.D., dean of the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of chemical engineering.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation awarded $125,000 in April to Yale biomedical engineers Mark Saltzman, Ph.D., chair and the Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and Michael Levene, Ph.D., assistant professor of biomedical engineering, for research on the obstacles to drug delivery in regions of the brain affected by Parkinson disease. Saltzman and Levene will develop new imaging techniques that observe the movement of molecules in the brains of living animals. These techniques will make it possible to track the way in which drugs important for the treatment of Parkinson disease move to their target areas under different conditions.

Levene is a pioneer of deep brain imaging using multiphoton microscopy in living animals. This study will expand the technology to include molecular tracking of drugs as they traverse the brain.

Saltzman has published widely on the development of efficient drug delivery technology, including the recent addition of water-soluble polymers to chemotherapeutic drugs to allow deeper and more stable delivery to various locations in the brain.

Michael Crair

Michael C. Crair, Ph.D., was named the inaugural William Ziegler III Associate Professor of Vision Research at the School of Medicine this spring. Crair studies the ways in which the eye gets wired to the brain during fetal development. He uses a broad range of experimental techniques, including in vitro and in vivo electrophysiology and optical imaging, to examine neural-circuit development and to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms for sensory map development. Research from his lab will help advance understanding of the ways in which a combination of genetic instruction and sensory experiences can lead to developmental disorders related to vision.

Pietro De Camilli

Pietro De Camilli, M.D., FW ’79, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology, has received a $100,000 Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD, the leading charity advancing treatment of mental health disorders. The one-year grant will help support his research into the role metabolism plays in the regulation of brain function and its impact on autism, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia. De Camilli is one of 16 scientists honored by NARSAD this year.

Thomas Gill

Thomas M. Gill, M.D., FW ’94, a leading authority on the epidemiology and prevention of disability among older persons, was named the Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine this spring. Gill is co-director of the Yale Program on Aging and of the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. His research is focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying the development of functional decline and disability among community-living older persons and on developing preventive strategies to forestall the onset and progression of disability among frail at-risk elders. His other research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of bathing disability and the epidemiology of frailty among older adults.

Jeffrey Gruen

Jeffrey R. Gruen, M.D., HS ’83, associate professor of pediatrics and genetics, has received a $5.2 million grant from the Manton Foundation in New York City to further his research on the genetics of dyslexia. Gruen’s discovery of a gene involved in dyslexia was named one of the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of 2005 by the journal Science. Gruen will use the grant monies to launch a new study that will compare the complete genomes of 1,000 dyslexic children with those of 1,000 fluent readers to obtain a fine-grained view of genes known to play a role in reading disabilities, and possibly to identify new genes that increase the risk of developing dyslexia.

Susan Kaech

Susan Kaech, Ph.D., assistant professor of immunobiology, is one of 50 researchers named Early Career Scientists by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). This award was created by the HHMI to fuel the creative energy of young scientists strained by reductions in federal funding in scientific research and education. The award includes a research grant of $1.5 million over six years to support Kaech’s research. Kaech is an expert on protective T-cells generated by the immune system to combat infections. In particular, she is focusing on memory T-cells, which are long-lived cells that remember pathogens from prior infections and can provide long-term protection against reinfection. Kaech is working on ways to enhance responses to infection and to improve vaccines.

Shirleen Roeder

Shirleen Roeder, Ph.D., professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been named to the National Academy of Sciences. Roeder is at the forefront of scientific research in molecular genetics; she was part of a Yale team that fully characterized the function of the yeast gene. Roeder specializes in meiotic chromosome behavior and cell cycle checkpoints. In the laboratory, she is studying a special type of cell division called meiosis, which is necessary for sexual reproduction, by isolating and characterizing yeast mutants with defective meiotic processes. She has written nearly 100 scientific articles that have appeared in such journals as Cell, Science, Genetics, and Molecular Cell Biology.

Michael Sernyak

Michael Sernyak, M.D., HS ’87, professor of psychiatry, was appointed director of the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC), effective July 1. Sernyak was nominated by Yale University and appointed by Thomas Kirk, Ph.D., the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. Sernyak, who replaces the retiring Selby Jacobs, M.D., served as unit chief of the Psychosis Studies Unit at CMHC for five years. In 1996 he joined the staff at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven and in 2001 was appointed chief of the psychiatry service. Sernyak is a nationally recognized health services researcher who specializes in treatment issues of the severely mentally ill. His most recent areas of focus have been the development of such metabolic abnormalities as diabetes and the delivery of medical care in patients with schizophrenia.