Vital Signs

Worthy of Note: Honors, awards, appointments, etc.

Jay Dunlap, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Genetics, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's premier scientific society. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of clock biology; his research has advanced understanding of the genetic basis of the 24-hour cycle that governs biological activity in all living beings. He cloned the first microbial clock gene in 1986 and was the first to demonstrate how light and dark cycles reset the circadian clock.

John Wennberg, M.D., M.P.H., the Peggy Y. Thomson Professor of the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, was honored as a 2009 Public Health Hero by the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, for his leadership in improving U.S. health care.

C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., the Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor of Surgery and former U.S. Surgeon General, received Research America's 2009 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership, honoring his longtime commitment to public-health advocacy.

James Weinstein, D.O., a professor of orthopaedic surgery and director of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, has been appointed to DMS's Third Century Professorship.

H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., a professor of medicine, received the 2009 Under Secretary's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research from the Veterans Administration, for his work in improving the overall health of veterans and the quality of care they receive and for his contributions to VA health-services research.

Joyce Deleo, Ph.D., the chair and Irene Heinz Given Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, was the recipient of the American Pain Society's 2009 Frederick W. L. Kerr Basic Science Research Award.

Ann-Christine Duhaime, M.D., a professor of surgery, was appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. She is the first woman to serve on the publication's board.

Harold Sox, M.D., an adjunct professor of medicine and editor of the Annals of Internal Medicine, was named chair of the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Comparative Effectiveness Research Priorities.

William Wickner, M.D., a professor of biochemistry, has been named to a National Institutes of Health editorial panel on basic sciences that will prioritize proposals for funding submitted under the challenge grants available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Charles Mannix, J.D., chief operating officer of DMS and an assistant professor of medicine, received the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences' 2009 Barry Goldwater Service Award for his contributions to the university's Department of Surgery.

Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D., an assistant professor of surgery, received an honorary degree from Pine Manor College.

John Modlin, M.D., the chair of the Department of Pediatrics, recently received an Excellence in Immunization Award from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, with special recognition for Excellence in Provider Education.

Sean Hunt, M.D., an assistant professor of anesthesiology, was recently elected to the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

William Weeks, M.D., a professor of psychiatry, received the National Rural Health Association's Outstanding Researcher Award.

James Whedon, D.C., an instructor in health policy and clinical practice, received the Bernard Osher Foundation/National Institutes of Health Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioner Research Career Development Award.

Elissa Furutani, an M.D. student, was one of just 42 medical students nationwide chosen as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-National Institutes of Health Research Scholar.

Peter Belenky, a Ph.D. student in molecular and cellular biology, received the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award.

Chris Hong, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in genetics, received the Society for Mathematical Biology's Richard E. Kronauer Prize for Excellence in Biomathematical Modeling.

Katrina Bogan, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry, won a prize for the best poster at the 2009 meeting of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Erika Artinger, a Ph.D. student in molecular and cellular biology, received the Institute of Cancer Research's Lady Tata Memorial Trust international award for leukemia research.

Dartmouth Medical School was once again ranked among the nation's top medical schools by U.S. News & World Report. The magazine assessed 146 programs and placed DMS 22nd on a scale emphasizing primary care and 35th on a scale emphasizing research. DMS was the smallest school in the top 25 primary-care schools and the second-smallest (only Mayo being smaller) in the top 50 on the research scale.

Norris Cotton Cancer Center received approval from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for an additional five years as a comprehensive cancer center, a distinction the Cancer Center has held continuously since 1978. It is one of only 40 NCI designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation.

DHMC was reverified as an Adult and Pediatric Level I Trauma Center, the highest designation given by the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma.