Month: May 2018

Memorial contributions to the Seldin~Smith Award

Posted on by John Hawley

Drs. Kieren Marr and Mukesh Jain recently marked the loss of Donald W. Seldin, MD, a physician-scientist giant, with a tribute to his career and ASCI service, including a photo and video collection. This week, I’m writing to highlight the Society’s recognition of Dr. Seldin through the Donald Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research.

The annual Award, which was conceived in 2015, has so far recognized and supported the careers of four early-career physician-scientists:

  • Christian P. Schaaf, MD, PhD (inaugural recipient, 2016). He is Professor, Clinical Genomics, University of Cologne, Germany, and Visiting Professor, Baylor College of Medicine.
  • Omar I. Abdel-Wahab, MD (2017). He is an Assistant Member in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) and an Attending Physician on the Leukemia Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
  • Anna Greka, MD, PhD (co-recipient, 2018). She is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School; Institute Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; and an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
  • Deepak Nijhawan, MD, PhD (co-recipient, 2018). He is Assistant Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Hematology and Oncology at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

More information about all Award recipients is available here.

As the ASCI was bringing the Award to fruition, we were heartened by generous contributions from colleagues, friends, and trainees of Drs. Seldin and Smith to support development of the Award. Together, these contributions totaled nearly $500,000. In order to reach an endowment level for the Award, we hope ultimately to reach at least $750,000. This will allow us to support young physician-scientists on exemplary career paths and to honor the outstanding legacies of Drs. Seldin and Smith well into the future.

I hope that as you reflect on Dr. Seldin’s support of physician-scientists and the ASCI, you will consider a contribution in his memory. We will highlight all memorial contributions on the ASCI’s homepage over the coming months, to recognize fully each donor’s generosity and commitment to the physician-scientist community, and to continue honoring a true legend.

Contribute to the Seldin~Smith Award Fund online or by mail

Please contact me with any questions. Thank you, as ever, for your consideration and time.

Sincerely,

John B. Hawley, Executive Director
The American Society for Clinical Investigation

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A tribute to Donald W. Seldin, MD

Posted on by John Hawley

We are saddened by the passing of Donald W. Seldin, MD, on April 25 at age 97.

Dr. Seldin was an iconic figure in medicine and the very embodiment of what the ASCI represents. His dedication to the ASCI community rose to the level of legend. Since his election to the Society in 1960, he attended the annual meeting nearly without fail. He served as Councilor from 1961 to 1965, after which he was elected 1965-1966 President.

In his May 2, 1966, Presidential Address, “Some Reflections on the Role of Basic Research and Service in Clinical Departments,” Dr. Seldin noted,

“Investigation is by definition the search for truth, the discovery of new knowledge, the development of explanatory and predictive theories. If this were all, a University would be no different from a research institute. Clearly the University has the vital additional function of education. If investigation is progressively separated from clinical work and teaching, the educational process deteriorates. Only the investigator can inculcate the methods of critical inquiry acquired in research into the routine practice of medicine. Only he can bring physiology and biochemistry meaningfully to bear in the study and treatment of the sick.”

His comments came 14 years into his tenure as Chair of the UT Southwestern Department of Internal Medicine, a position he would hold for another 22 years until 1988. He had begun his UT Southwestern career in 1951, and for a time he was the lone person in the Department, within a medical school sited in a former Army barracks. From this inauspicious foundation, Dr. Seldin transformed UT Southwestern into one of the great institutions worldwide built by physician-scientist powerhouses.

In recent years, the ASCI honored Dr. Seldin and his contributions to the physician-scientist community by creating the Donald W. Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research. The Award connects the careers of these two physician-scientist luminaries with outstanding early-career physician-scientists, and we were fortunate that Dr. Seldin, along with his wife Dr. Ellen Taylor Seldin, was able to attend recent AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meetings to celebrate the next generation that the Seldin~Smith Award represents.

We’ve compiled a collection of photographs featuring Dr. Seldin and a video excerpt from his interview in the Journal of Clinical Investigation series “Conversations with Giants in Medicine.” While he leaves a legacy of tremendous accomplishments, he will also be remembered for his sharp wit.

With Dr. Seldin’s passing, his mantle of integrity, intellect, and dedication to academic medicine and the aspiring physician-scientist becomes all of ours to pick up and carry forward.

Kieren Marr, MD
2018-2019 President
On behalf of the ASCI Council

Mukesh K. Jain, MD
2014-2015 President
Chair, Seldin~Smith Award Selection Committee

Call for applicants, Editor Selection Committee

Posted on by John Hawley

The ASCI is convening an Editor Selection Committee to identify and recommend a new Editor for JCI Insight, to succeed Howard Rockman, MD, whose term expires at the end of August 2019. The new Editor will serve a 5-year term, beginning September 1, 2019.

The Committee is, per the bylaws, constituted by members of the Publications Committee, which is presently as follows: Kieren Marr, W. Kimryn Rathmell, Lorraine Ware, Hossein Ardehali, Gordon Tomaselli, Howard Rockman, and Andrew Fontenot. Dr. Marr, who is the 2018-2019 ASCI President, will serve as Chair of the Committee.

The Committee seeks to fill two additional Committee seats and calls for applications from members. The Committee will become active in July 2018 and conclude its activity upon its recommendation of a candidate to the ASCI Council for consideration.

Members interested in serving must be available for an in-person meeting of the Committee on April 4, 2019 (in Chicago), when the Committee will interview finalists for Editor and determine its recommendation.

Applications consist of the following in a single PDF:

  • A summary (limit of 250 words) of the member’s research and training background
  • An explanation (limit of 500 words) of the member’s interest in and experience with editorial matters, and including comment about JCI Insight’s editorial focus
  • A full academic CV

Applications are due May 31, 2018, and must be sent via email to staff@the-asci.org. The committee will review applications and submit its recommended applicants to the Council for approval.

The ASCI’s 2018 Young Physician-Scientist Awards

Posted on by John Hawley

The ASCI is pleased to recognize the 35 recipients of its 2018 Young Physician-Scientist Awards. The Awardees presented their work at the ASCI’s Food & Science Evening, on April 21, 2018, as part of the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 20-22, 2018.

Awardee Institution Abstract title
Ana Paula Abreu, MD, PhD Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School MKRN3, a new player in the reproductive axis
Raag D. Airan, MD, PhD Stanford University Spatiotemporally precise and versatile noninvasive neuromodulation via focused ultrasonic drug uncaging
Francis J. Alenghat, MD, PhD University of Chicago Skap2 regulates atherosclerosis through macrophage polarization and efferocytosis
Vivek K. Arora, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine Bladder-cancer-associated mutations in RXRA activate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors to drive urothelial proliferation
Megan T. Baldridge, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine Transferable microbiota factor stimulates resistance to norovirus infection in immunodeficient mice
Scott W. Canna, MD University of Pittsburgh/Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Dysregulation of interleukin-18 diagnostically distinguishes and pathogenically promotes macrophage activation syndrome
Brian Curran Capell, MD, PhD Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania KMT2D regulates p63 target enhancers to coordinate epithelial homeostasis
Kevin J. Cheung, MD Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Tumor cell clustering promotes breast cancer metastasis by increasing apoptosis resistance and cell proliferation
Silvia S. Chiang, MD Alpert Medical School of Brown University/ Hasbro Children’s Hospital/ Center for International Health Research Barriers to the diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis: a qualitative study
Janet Chou, MD Boston Children’s Hospital Leucine-rich repeat–containing 8A (LRRC8A) is essential for T cell activation by non-hematopoietic antigen-presenting cells
Louis Jared Cohen, MD, MS Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Bacterial modulation of human glycans in inflammatory bowel disease
Kimberley Jane Evason, MD, PhD Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Serotonin in zebrafish liver development and tumorigenesis
Jennifer E. Flythe, MD, MPH University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Failed target weight achievement associates with short-term hospital encounters
Robert David Guzy, MD, PhD University of Chicago Fibroblast growth factor 2 decreases bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis through inhibition of fibroblast collagen production
Andrew M. Intlekofer, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Acquired clinical resistance to IDH inhibition through in trans IDH2 mutations
Prasanna Jagannathan, MD Stanford University Impact of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy on risk of malaria in early childhood
Benjamin Levi, MD University of Michigan Tuning inflammation to improve musculoskeletal wound healing through modification of monocyte/macrophage Tgfb1
Piro Lito, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Modeling the evolution of resistance to ERK signaling inhibitors at the single cell level
Steven E. Mansoor, MD, PhD Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health and Science University Mechanisms of P2X receptor activation, desensitization, and antagonism­­­­
Jonathan J. Miner, MD, PhD Washington University Mouse models of Zika virus pathogenesis
Zaman Mirzadeh, MD, PhD Barrow Neurological Institute Perineuronal net formation in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus-median eminence corresponds with the end of the critical period for AgRP/NPY neuron maturation
Chiadi Ericson Ndumele, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University The association of longitudinal changes in metabolic syndrome with incident heart failure: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study
Esther A. Obeng, MD, PhD St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital The nonsense-mediated decay pathway is a therapeutic vulnerability in myelodysplastic syndromes
Michael Joseph Ombrello, MD National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIH IL1RN variation is associated with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis and predicts non-response to anakinra treatment
Cevher Ozcan, MD University of Chicago Mitochondrial mechanism of atrial fibrillation and novel therapies for primary prevention of the disease process
James R. Priest, MD Stanford University School of Medicine Rare inherited variants confer substantial risk for congenital heart disease in a large British cohort
Jarrad M. Scarlett, MD, PhD University of Washington Diabetes remission induced by the central action of fibroblast growth factor 1
Chetan Shenoy, MBBS University of Minnesota Long-term outcomes after detection of left ventricular thrombus by late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging
Neeraj K. Surana, MD, PhD Boston Children’s Hospital Moving beyond microbiome-wide associations to causal microbe identification
David B. Sykes, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital DHODH inhibition as differentiation therapy for acute myeloid leukemia: understanding the metabolic therapeutic window
Viviany R. Taqueti, MD, MPH Brigham and Women’s Hospital Coronary microvascular dysfunction is a better discriminator of cardiovascular risk than body mass index in obese patients
Sarah Kathleen Tasian, MD Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania Essential JAK, SRC, and PI3K signaling pathways regulate cell survival in human Ph-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Kirk J. Wangensteen, MD, PhD University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Novel combination therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma identified by genetic screening
Melissa Y. Yeung, MD Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women’s Hospital Identifying key regulators of B cell–mediated transplant tolerance
Lilei Zhang, MD, PhD Baylor College of Medicine KLF15 regulates the circadian susceptibility to ischemia reperfusion injury in the heart

Best Poster Award recipients

Each year, the ASCI recognizes three presenters with $1,000 Best Poster Awards. The 2018 Best Poster Award recipients are, from left, Drs. Guzy, Mansoor, and Canna.