Vital Signs

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

Ethan Dmitrovsky, M.D., the Andrew G. Wallace Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, has been named chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Board of Scientific Counselors for Clinical Sciences and Epidemiology. He will guide the 22-member board of physicians and scientists from cancer centers and universities around the country in advising the NCI's director and scientific leadership on the direction of cancer-related research. Dmitrovsky is also an American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor, an associate director of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, and a member of the board of the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

David Goodman, M.D., a professor of pediatrics, has been appointed to the national Council on Graduate Medical Education. The group assesses physician workforce trends, training issues, and financing policies and recommends appropriate federal and private-sector efforts on those subjects. In addition, Goodman was a coauthor of a recent high-profile Institute of Medicine report titled "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

John Wennberg, M.D., a professor of community and family medicine and the founder and director emeritus of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, was honored by the New England Healthcare Institute as an "Innovator in Health." He was recognized for his research on variations in the delivery of health care and for his efforts to make patients more active participants in their treatment.

Robert Zwolak, M.D., a professor of surgery, was appointed to the American College of Surgeons' Governors' Committee on Socioeconomic Issues and, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, to the Board of Governors for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Jack Cronenwett, M.D., a professor of surgery, received the Julius H. Jacobson II Award for Physician Excellence from the Vascular Disease Foundation.

Marie Bakitas, D.N.Sc., an associate professor of anesthesiology, received the 2010 Brilliant Future New Investigator Award at the annual meeting of the Council for Advancement of Nursing Science.

Albert Mulley, M.D., has been named the inaugural director of the new Dartmouth Center for Health Care Delivery Science (see the article "Delivering the goods" for details of the Center). Mulley, who has been a Trustee of Dartmouth College since 2004, will step down from that position to take the new post. He will also resign from the Board of Overseers of DMS and the DHMC Board of Trustees. He was previously chief of the Division of General Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an expert in shared decision-making.

Stephen Bartels, M.D., a professor of psychiatry, was honored as a "champion for mental health" by Riverbend Community Mental Health of New Hampshire.

Robert Keene, D.M.D., an adjunct associate professor of anatomy, was honored for his service to dentistry by the American Academy of Gold Foil Operators. He has served as the organization's president and for the past eight years as its secretary and treasurer.

Suzanne Boulter, M.D., an adjunct professor of pediatrics, received an Oral Health Service Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Jennifer Bomberger, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Dartmouth Lung Biology Center, received the Young Investigator Basic Science Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Her research points to the possibility that a toxin released by the P. aeruginosa bacterium severely compromises the immune defenses of patients with cystic fibrosis.

Courtney Kozul-Horvath, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in microbiology, received the 2010 Karen Wetterhahn Award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research, funded under the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program, involves the harmful effects of exposure to arsenic in drinking water.

Nathan Delault, a research associate in biochemistry, received the International Young Researcher Prize from the Alberta Prion Research Institute. A paper he authored was singled out as having the most innovative findings and likely future impact on the field of prion science. He works in the lab of Surachai Supattapone, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry.

Linda Piotrowski, M.T.S., a pastoral care coordinator and chaplain in DHMC's Palliative Care Service, received top honors from the Advocating for Clinical Excellence Project, funded by the National Cancer Institute, for her efforts to improve the delivery of palliative care.

Ann Laumann, A.P.R.N., a pediatric nurse practitioner at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Mascoma, received the New England Rural Health Roundtable Rural Health Clinician award.

Danielle Salvas, R.N., a nurse in DHMC's Pediatric/Adolescent Unit, was named New Hampshire Direct Care Nurse of the Year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited Norris Cotton Cancer Center's Colorectal Cancer Screening Program as a best-practices model to increase colorectal cancer screening and thus prevent colorectal cancer.