In 2003, the A&M Health Science Center received its first National Institutes of Health training grant since the health science center's creation in 1999--$483,000 to support graduate students conducting research in infectious diseases at the College of Medicine, the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A&M University. David McMurray, Ph.D., regents professor in the College of Medicine's department of medical microbiology, is principal investigator for the five-year grant.

The International Council on Active Aging selected the School of Rural Public Health's Active for Life Program as one of North America's five most innovative active aging programs. Faculty leading the program at the school include Marcia G. Ory, Ph.D., director, and Diane M. Dowdy, Ph.D., deputy director. Active for Life is a four-year initiative that seeks to increase the number of American adults age 50 and older who engage in regular physical activity.

Lih Kuo, Ph.D., professor of physiology in the College of Medicine and a member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, was named Verlin and Howard Kruse Centennial Chair in Ophthalmology at Scott & White by HSC President Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., and the A&M System Board of Regents. As holder of the Kruse Chair, Kuo directs the development of the new Ophthalmic Vascular Research Program in the division of ophthalmology, department of surgery on the Temple campus.

Two faculty members at the A&M Health Science Center were named recipients of the prestigious Regents Professor Service Award: Magnus Höök, Ph.D., faculty member at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology and director of the institute's Center for Extracellular Matrix Biology, and David S. Carlson, Ph.D., vice president for research and graduate studies at the health science center and associate dean for research and advanced education at Baylor College of Dentistry. The award is bestowed annually by the A&M System Board of Regents.

Peggy Wakefield, M.D., director of the Coastal Bend Health Education Center's Asthma Education Program, was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Asthma and Allergy Research Advisory Committee. The committee was charged with developing a plan assessing the resources, analyzing the economic impact and making recommendations concerning asthma and allergies

Ernie Brooks, D.D.S., director of student development and associate professor of restorative sciences at Baylor College of Dentistry, is reaping a harvest. The college's dental classes include one post-baccalaureate program participant and 46 alumni of the college's Summer Predental Enrichment Program, which Brooks directs through "Bridge to Dentistry: Awareness to Graduation." Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Health Careers Opportunity Program for $1,479,709, "Bridge" includes this and other programs designed to educate, attract, recruit, admit and retain students interested in the dental profession.

Ciro V. Sumaya, M.D., M.P.H.T.M., dean of the School of Rural Public Health, serves on a study committee examining diversity in the health care workforce. The National Academies Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., at the request of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, created this national study committee to examine and recommend the institutional and policy strategies for increasing the diversity of the U.S. health care workforce.

James Rohack, M.D., professor in the College of Medicine and medical director of the Scott & White Health Plan, was tapped by the American Medical Association to be chairman of the AMA Board of Trustees beginning in June 2004. Rohack is a past president of the Texas Medical Association and has served on the state association's board of trustees and as a Texas delegate to the AMA.

James R. West, Ph.D., was named the first distinguished professor for the A&M Health Science Center. West is professor and head of the department of human anatomy and medical neurobiology in the College of Medicine and a world-renowned expert on fetal alcohol syndrome. In another honor for West, the Association of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Neurobiology Chairpersons elected him as president-elect for 2003-04.

Robert D. Wells, Ph.D., director of the Center for Genome Research at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, became the 88th President of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology on July 1. The organization is comprised of 22 societies with more than 60,000 members, making it the largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United States.

Nancy W. Dickey, M.D., president of the A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor for health affairs for the A&M System, was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At the request of the FDA, the advisory committee reviews and evaluates data on the safety and effectiveness of human drugs for use in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, and makes appropriate recommendations to the FDA.

Seven Institute of Biosciences and Technology faculty are involved in the National Institutes of Health grant renewal to the Center for Environmental and Rural Health. The grant runs from 2003 to 2007, and has been awarded at $1.442 million for each year. Stephen H. Safe, Ph.D., is principal investigator and Richard H. Finnell, Ph.D., is co-principal investigator.

The College of Medicine family and community medicine department's Preceptorship Program recognized several physicians and awarded three physicians with the Preceptor of the Year Award in March 2003. Barker Stigler, M.D., of Caldwell, Stephen Braden, M.D., of Bryan, and Aiyandadar Shanmugam, M.D., of College Station, were presented the Preceptor of the Year Awards by Rachel Bramson, M.D., and Robert Wiprud, M.D., co-directors of the Preceptorship Program. Prior to the awards presentations, Dean of Medicine Christopher C. Colenda, M.D., announced the new name of the Preceptorship Program to be the O.C. Cooper, M.D., Preceptorship Program. Dr. Cooper started the program at the college in 1979.

Laura E. Mitchell, Ph.D., was recently appointed as Epidemiology Section Editor of the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Journal. A member of the IBT faculty, she also holds an appointment at BCD.

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