Honors & Appointments

Cynthia LaBella, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, received the award for the best overall research at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Society annual conference on April 28. Her study was entitled, “Effect of a neuromuscular warm-up on injury rates among female athletes in urban public high schools: A cluster-randomized controlled trial.” Dr. LaBella is the medical director of the Institute for Sports Medicine at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Edwin McGee, MD, assistant professor of surgery, has received the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation Clinical Leadership Award.

Richard Lee, MD, MBA, has been promoted to associate professor of surgery.

Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD, is one of the 2009 Research Scholar Program award winners named by The American Urological Association Foundation. The program provides support to young men and women who plan to pursue a career in urologic research.

D. Mark Courtney, MD, received the Best Faculty Presentation award at the 2009 annual meeting from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine. His presentation, “Prospective multi-center assessment of interobserver agreement for radiologist interpretation of 64-channel CT angiography for pulmonary embolism” was selected based on reviews of his abstract, manuscript, and presentation at the meeting. Dr. Courtney will be recognized at the 2010 SAEM Business meeting to be held in Phoenix, Arizona later next year.

Serving a one-year term as president of the National Association of MD/PhD Programs is David M. Engman, MD, PhD, professor of pathology and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Feinberg School.

Mary Hendrix, PhD, president and scientific director of the Children’s Memorial Research Center and professor in the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, was appointed to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils as liason to the National Cancer Institute.

Curt M. Horvath, PhD, professor of medicine and biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology, was awarded the Jean Ruggles Romoser Chair of Cancer Research.

June M. McKoy, MD, MPH, JD, assistant professor of medicine, was recently elected to the board of directors of the American Cancer Society’s Illinois Division and H.O.M.E., Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly.

Leonidas C. Platanias, MD, PhD, Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin, and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology, is serving as president of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research for 2008-09.

Linda J. Van Eldik, PhD, professor of cell and molecular biology, was recently awarded a three-year research grant from the American Health Assistance Foundation for Alzheimer’s disease research. The award of $400,000 is for her project titled “Attenuating Proinflammatory Cytokine Up-Regulation as an AD Therapeutic Strategy”.

Aleksandar Videnovic, MD, MS, assistant professor of neurology, was selected for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and American Academy of Neurology Clinician Scientist Development award. The title of the awarded project is “Circadian Rhythm and Sleep/Wake Cycle in Parkinson’s Disease Patients with Excessive Daytime Somnolence.”

Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD, was selected by members of the Medical Faculty Council as the 2009 Mentor of the Year. Dr. Woodruff is the director of the Institute for Women’s Health Research, the director of the Oncofertility Consortium, and a professor in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department. She was also recently honored as the 2009 Distinguished Women in Medicine and Science by the Women Faculty Organization.