October 2002
Honors & Appointments
This past July the VA Chicago Health Care System welcomed two new associate directors: Michelle Blakely and Jeffrey Gering. While Blakely will work primarily out of the West Side Division and Gering out of the Lakeside Division, both have responsibilities that encompass all areas of VA Chicago. Blakely began her VA career at Lakeside in 1987, and Gering started with the Ann Arbor VA facility in 1990. Both have held other VA assignments.
Edward L. Applebaum, MD, is the new chair of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at the Feinberg School, effective October 1. He had served as interim chair for the past two years. Dr. Applebaum holds an MD degree from Wayne State University; he completed a one-year general surgery residency at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and otolaryngology training at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary of Harvard Medical School. He was a member of the Northwestern medical faculty from 1972–79 and then served 21 years as head of the otolaryngology—head and neck surgery department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Linda J. Walton, associate director of the Galter Health Sciences Library, is one of the first five selected for the NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellows Program, jointly sponsored by the National Library of Medicine and Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries to prepare emerging leaders in academic health sciences libraries. Fellows are paired with mentors who are library directors; flexible scheduling and online learning permit fellows to maintain their professional and personal lives during the program. Walton’s plans for the fellowship are to examine how academic health sciences libraries participate in medical school missions and programs beyond traditional, library-based services.
Todd A. Kuiken, MD, PhD, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, has been named associate dean for hospital academic affairs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, effective September 1. Dr. Kuiken received both his MD and PhD degrees from Northwestern and completed residency training at the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. He has been a member of the medical school faculty since 1997.
Anjen Chenn, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology, has won the Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology. This international prize, established in 2002, honors outstanding neurobiological research by a young scientist. Dr. Chenn will receive $25,000 and be honored November 5 during the Society of Neuroscience annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. His prize-winning essay will be published in Science.
Effective September 1, the Feinberg School’s new chair of the Department of Radiology is Eric J. Russell, MD, professor of radiology, who has served as interim department chair since January 2001. After receiving his MD degree from State University of New York at Buffalo, Dr. Russell completed residency in diagnostic radiology at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in Bronx, New York, followed by fellowship in neuroradiology at New York University Medical Center. He joined the Northwestern faculty in 1986.
John C. Ansel, MD, chair of dermatology at the Feinberg School, was named the Walter J. Hamlin Professor of Dermatology during investiture ceremonies on September 12. Dr. Ansel joined the Northwestern faculty on February 1 after having served as professor of dermatology at Emory University and chief of dermatology at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta. Dr. Ansel received his MD degree from Hahnemann Medical University in Philadelphia and completed medicine internship at Brown University and dermatology residency at the University of Pennsylvania.
Guenter Albrecht-Buehler, PhD, Robert Laughlin Rea Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology, has been elected to the European Academy of Sciences. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, the academy comprises distinguished scholars performing research who are committed to promoting science and technology and their essential roles in fostering social and economic development.
The leaders of two teaching hospitals affiliated with Northwestern University— Gary A. Mecklenburg and Mark R. Neaman— have been named to Modern Healthcare ‘s list of the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare, which appeared in the August 26, 2002, issue of the magazine. Mecklenburg is president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, and Neaman is president and CEO of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.
