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School of Architecture Distinguished endowed chairs This fall will inaugurate the Norman Foster Visiting Professorship at Yale, with the appointment of Alejandro Zaera-Polo, cofounder (with Farshid Moussavi) of the London-based firm Foreign Office Architects (FOA). Zaera-Polo has served as dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam and has taught at Columbia, UCLA, Princeton, and other universities around the world. FOA’s award-winning built projects include the Yokohama International Cruise Terminal in Japan; the South-East Coastal Park in Barcelona, Spain; the Highcross development anchor building in Leicester, UK; and the Meydan Retail Center in Istanbul, Turkey. Zaera-Polo will be assisted by Maider Llaguno. Other distinguished visiting faculty this fall will be Tod Williams and Billie Tsien ’71, Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professors; Massimo Scolari, William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor; Brigitte Shim, Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor; Diana Balmori, William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor; Hernando Diaz Alonso, Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professor; and Mario Carpo, Vincent Scully Visiting Professor in Architectural History. Exhibition honors lighting designer An exhibition in the Rudolph Hall Architecture Gallery will celebrate the 100th birthday of Richard Kelly ’44BArch, the Yale-trained architect who was one of the most influential lighting designers in the history of modern architecture. “The Structure of Light: Richard Kelly and the Illumination of Modern Architecture” will be on view August 23–October 2. During his long and productive career, Kelly designed more than 300 lighting projects. He collaborated with Mies van der Rohe on the Lake Shore Drive Apartments and the Seagram Building; with Philip Johnson on his Glass House, Four Seasons restaurant, and New York State Theater; and with Louis Kahn on the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Kimbell Art Gallery in Fort Worth, Texas. The exhibition, organized by Dietrich Neumann, professor at Brown and former Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History at Yale, will feature drawings and photographs, many from Yale’s Manuscripts and Archives, which is the repository for Kelly’s papers. Coming events in Rudolph Hall A number of public events have been announced for the fall term at the School of Architecture. Saarinen Visiting Professor Brigitte Shim will open this year’s lecture series with a talk on August 26. Other lectures by visiting professors will follow during the month of September. A screening of Vincent Scully: An Art Historian among Architects will take place on October 28. The film is produced by the Checkerboard Film Foundation. On November 4, Norman Foster Visiting Professor Alejandro Zaera-Polo will give a talk titled “Envelopes,” as part of the school’s open house for prospective students. More details on these events may be found at the school’s website.
School of Art Critic awarded Rome Prize Sarah Oppenheimer ’99MFA, a critic in the Department of Painting, has won the 2010–2011 Gilmore D. Clarke/ Michael Rapuano Rome Prize in visual arts. The celebrated prize is awarded annually to approximately 30 emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. Rome Prize recipients are provided a stipend, a study or studio, and room and board in Rome for a period of six months to two years. Fellowships begin in September. Sculpture professor receives honorary degree Jessica Stockholder ’85MFA, professor and director of graduate studies in sculpture, received an honorary doctorate of letters May 1 from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, British Columbia. Stockholder’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997. She has been on the faculty at Yale since 1999.
Yale College Dean Mary Miller delivers Mellon Lectures Dean of Yale College Mary Miller ’81PhD had an unusually busy spring semester, dividing her time between her “day job” as the college’s chief administrator and her scholarly work in pre-Columbian art history as she delivered the prestigious A. W. Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The five-week series of talks, Art and Representation in the Ancient New World, focused on the constant evolution of Miller’s field of research. As Miller describes it, her newest research—from which the lectures were drawn—is distinct from her earlier work in that it looks at the works of Maya art and architecture in terms of the “fundamental issues” of culture that they represent, thus seeking “to use the works themselves to understand principles so grand that they do transcend cultural boundaries.” Yale’s Collaborative Learning Center On the lower level of the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Library, the Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) helps students and faculty make use of Yale’s rich technological resources, collections, and opportunities for interactive, interdisciplinary, and cooperative academic projects. The CLC service desk is a gateway for many of these activities, offering foreign language tutoring; workshops on effective use of the technologies (video and image editing, web publishing, etc.); and access to media equipment, digital images, and other tools to enhance the learning process in and out of the classroom. A primary goal of the CLC is to help faculty use technology in their course offerings. Working with CLC director Barbara Rockenbach and instructional technology group manager Kenneth Panko, faculty members have used the CLC’s resources to design innovative courses such as Studies in Visual Biography (an art course offered through the Yale College Freshman Seminar program in fall 2009), and Medieval Manuscripts to New Media: Studies in the History of the Book (a collaborative effort pioneered by two colleagues in the Department of English in spring 2010). The former, taught by School of Art faculty member Jessica Helfand ’82, ’89MFA, took first-year students “into the collections”—from Ezra Pound’s passport at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library to a private tour of the Marcel Duchamp holdings in the Yale University Art Gallery—inspiring them to understand, according to Helfand, that “research doesn’t mean Wikipedia; that an artist/designer can make work inspired by the accomplishments of others … and that to reconstruct someone’s biography is a multifaceted and often asynchronous exercise.” In the latter course, the “two Jessicas” of the Department of English—associate professor Brantley and assistant professor Pressman—guided students through an exploration of contemporary digital literary culture and its intersection with medieval manuscript culture. Operating as a “collaboratory,” the class made use of manuscripts and Kindles, Yale Library archives and digital software, with students contributing to a course-specific blog to track and expand upon their classroom experiences. To read more about these and other items of community interest, visit the Yale College news archive at yale.edu/yalecollege/homepage_announcements/archive/.
Divinity School Environment: despair, no; hope, yes Hope and despair were recurrent themes when activists in the climate change and environmental justice communities came together for the April “Environmental (Dis)Locations Conference” hosted by Yale Divinity School. Early on in the three-day conference, David Orr of Oberlin College laid the groundwork for a theological approach to the environmental crisis by calling despair a “sin,” warning that despair over environmental degradation can be a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” and challenging listeners to adopt a “hopeful” posture that can lead to action. “I would submit that the challenge of climate change is more than replacing our lightbulbs or measuring our carbon footprint,” asserted Mary Evelyn Tucker, who holds joint appointments in the schools of divinity and environmental studies, and at the college in religious studies. “Climate change is at its heart a moral issue, calling into question who we are as humans and how we will survive as a species on a finite planet. … Issues of justice and compassion are at the core of these moral arguments.” Four tapped for alumni awards Winnowed from a strong field of international candidates, four YDS graduates are recipients of the school’s 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards. They span four decades of YDS education and will be honored at Convocation and Reunions 2010, October 11–14. Honorees include Lillian F. Daniel ’93MDiv, senior minister at the First Congregational Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Distinction in Congregational Ministry; Barbara K. Lundblad ’79MDiv, the Joe R. Engle Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Distinction in Theological Education; Nancy Jo Kemper ’67BD, former executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace and Justice; and Nai-Wang Kwok ’66BD, past head of the Hong Kong Christian Council and the founder and director of the Hong Kong Christian Institute, Lux et Veritas. YDS capital campaign close to goal At the end of April, as the university’s Yale Tomorrow capital campaign approached the beginning of its fifth and final year, Yale Divinity School was just shy of the $30 million mark toward a goal of $38 million. While gifts of $1 million or more have provided a foundation for the YDS campaign, smaller gifts from alumni have played a significant role as well in reaching the milestone. One very successful “mini-campaign” within the framework of the overall campaign was the Divinity School Challenge, in which two Yale College alumni established a dollar-for-dollar matching fund that yielded $1 million primarily through gifts from alumni. “The campaign has had a wonderfully sustained momentum,” said director of development Constance Royster ’72. “We now have to make that final push to the finish line.”
School of Drama Award-winning playwright joins faculty Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright ’85 will join the Yale School of Drama faculty as a lecturer in playwriting for the fall 2010 semester. Paula Vogel, the Eugene O’Neill Chair of the playwriting department, will take a one-semester leave of absence in the fall to work on a new play commissioned by Yale Rep through the Yale Center for New Theatre. Doug Wright received the Pulitzer Prize, a Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Desk Award, a GLAAD Media Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama League Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award for his play I Am My Own Wife. His other works include the books for the Broadway musicals Grey Gardens and The Little Mermaid, as well as the plays Quills, The Stonewater Rapture, Interrogating the Nude, Watbanaland, Buzzsaw Berkeley, and Unwrap Your Candy. For a Yale Alumni Magazinereport on Wright’s work, see “Symphony for One,” Arts & Culture, July/August 2004.) Yale School of Drama at the Tonys School of Drama alumni were represented with 14 Tony nominations and two Tony awards, which were handed out on June 13. Lynne Meadow ’71Dra, artistic director of Manhattan Theatre Club, received two nominations, as producer of Time Stands Still and The Royal Family. Liev Schreiber ’92MFA was nominated in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play category for his role in A View from the Bridge; and David Alan Grier ’81MFA was nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Race. Three of the four Best Scenic Design of a Play nominees received their MFAs from the School of Drama: John Lee Beatty ’74, The Royal Family; Alexander Dodge ’99, Present Laughter; and Santo Loquasto ’72, Fences. Marina Draghici ’88MFA received two nominations, Best Costume Design and Best Scenic Design of a Musical, for her work on Fela! She took home the Tony for costume design. Derek McLane ’84MFA was also nominated in the Best Scenic Design of a Musical category for Ragtime. Lighting designers Donald Holder ’86MFA and Robert Wierzel ’84MFA were both nominated for their work on the musicals Ragtime and Fela!And Constanza Romero ’88MFA and Catherine Zuber ’84CDR were both nominated for Best Costume Design of a Play forFences and The Royal Family, respectively; Zuber won the Tony in this category. Connecticut Critics honor Yale Rep Yale Repertory Theatre productions received five 2010 Connecticut Critics Circle awards, including Outstanding Production of a Play for Eclipsed by Danai Gurira and Outstanding Production of a Musical for POP! by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs. Brian Charles Rooney was named Outstanding Actor in a Musical for his performance as Candy Darling in POP!; Kevin Adams received the Outstanding Lighting Design Award (also for POP!); and Chad Raines ’11MFA garnered the award for Outstanding Sound Design for Battle of Black and Dogs. Yale Rep productions were honored with an additional 12 nominations.
School of Engineering & Applied Science Carbon nanotubes boost cancer-fighting cells The work of professors Tarek Fahmy, Lisa Pfefflerle, and Gary Haller, appearing on the cover of the April 20 issue of the journal Langmuir, has shown that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be used to boost T cell production for adoptive immunotherapy to fight cancer. Adoptive immunotherapy involves extracting a patient’s blood and stimulating the reproduction of naturally occurring T cells (a type of white blood cell) before transferring the blood back to the patient’s body. Scientists boost the production of T cells outside the body using different substances that encourage T cell antigens to cluster in high concentrations. Yale researchers have found CNTs to be particularly effective in causing T cell antigens to cluster in the blood and stimulate the body’s natural immune response. Leadership program gains momentum Over the past year, the Advanced Graduate Leadership Program has begun to reshape the way Yale’s engineering doctoral students prepare for professional pursuits—helping them make the transition from highly focused graduate studies to careers as entrepreneurs, educators, or engineers, among others. Twelve students were selected for the program in 2009–10. What began in fall 2009, with an individually designed coursework package within Yale’s School of Management, expanded through the year to include highly sought-after internships in technology ventures with the Yale Office of Cooperative Research and Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, as well as opportunities in K–12 outreach, communications and public affairs, policy and government relations, and international partnerships. The program, supported by a grant from the Goizueta Foundation, will continue to grow in the next year, expanding upon opportunities that cross the boundaries of science, policy, and business and provide valuable experience beyond the lab. Hybrid race car wins kudos The Yale Bulldogs racing team went back to the garage this past fall with renewed ambition to rebuild and fine-tune the formula hybrid race car—which they had built from scratch, but failed to race, the previous year. Following eight months of hard work, on May 3 the Yale Bulldogs racing team pulled into Loudon, New Hampshire, site of the Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Hybrid International Competition, with their best entry to date. Evaluated on design, presentation, acceleration, autocross, and endurance, Yale finished tenth in a pack of 30 and was awarded second place in Best Engineered Hybrid Design. “The bar is set higher now for the Yale Formula Hybrid team. We are confident that we can win this competition and will come back next year with an even stronger car,” said Henry Misas ’10, who has led the team the last two years.
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Microbes contribute less to climate warming Microbes living underground may not be the significant contributors to global warming that scientists previously believed them to be. Researchers at UC–Irvine, Colorado State University, and F&ES have found that as global temperatures increase, microbes in soil become less efficient over time in converting carbon in the soil into carbon dioxide, which is a key contributor to climate warming. Microbes use carbon for energy to breathe and to grow in size and number. New research shows microbes exhaling carbon dioxide furiously for a short period of time in a warmer environment, leaving less carbon for growth—resulting in a decrease in the number of microbes and, eventually, a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere. The study, published in April online in Nature Geoscience,suggests that if microbial efficiency declines in a warmer world, carbon dioxide emissions will fall back to pre-warming levels. But if microbes manage to adapt to the warmth—for instance, through increases in enzyme activity—emissions could intensify. Mark Bradford, assistant professor of terrestrial ecosystem ecology, says there is intense debate in the scientific community over whether the loss of soil carbon will contribute to global warming, and adds that “the microbial processes causing this loss are poorly understood. More research in this area will help reduce uncertainties in climate prediction.” Compton Fellows will research tropical conservation issues Four F&ES students, all first-year candidates for master’s degrees in environmental management, have been named Compton International Fellows for 2010–11 by the school’s Tropical Resources Institute. Each received $11,250 from the Compton Foundation, which enables students from developing countries to conduct research on the environment and sustainable development that has links to the fields of peace and security (conflict management) and population and reproductive health. Geofrey Mwanjela is conducting research on protected areas and their impact on the livelihoods of local communities in Tanzania; Ana Perea is working to engage local Mexican communities in the conservation and restoration of natural resources; Giancarlo Raschio is planning a comparative study of climate-change mitigation and adaptation initiatives in Ghana and Peru; and Pablo Reed is researching whether indigenous community lands in Ecuador could benefit from a program designed to use financial incentives to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation. F&ES dean Peter Crane says that the Compton Fellows program “perfectly complements” the school’s efforts to provide “multidisciplinary training and research opportunities” to its students and supports the school’s goal of “building environmental leadership capacity in developing countries.”
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Scientist appointed new dean Thomas D. Pollard, Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry and cell biology, has been named the new dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. At press time, he was scheduled to begin his term on July 1. Dean Jon Butler has stepped down after six years of service and will rejoin the departments of American studies, history, and religious studies after a sabbatical. Pollard, who holds a BA in chemistry and zoology from Pomona College and an MD from Harvard, came to Yale in 2001 after teaching at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and UC–San Diego medical schools, and heading up the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He has been chair of MCDB at Yale since 2004. Dean Pollard’s research combines biochemical, biophysical, cellular, and genetic experiments to investigate the molecular basis of cellular motility and cytokinesis. He has been recognized widely by the scientific community, receiving the 2004 E. B. Wilson Medal from the American Society of Cell Biology and the 2006 Gairdner International Award (with Alan Hall of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) for “discovering the molecular basis of cellular motility and the mechanism of its regulation,” which are critical for understanding embryonic development, the spread of malignant tumors in our bodies, and how humans defend against infections. He is a longtime fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine. (For a Yale Alumni Magazine report, see “Busy Bio Prof Named Graduate School Dean.”) New student prizes awarded The Graduate School inaugurated new prizes this year: two of the prizes honor students engaged in public service and two were given in memory of Annie Le. Christina Roberto (EPH, psychology) received the Public Scholar award for her work on overeating and obesity. She studies how people’s choices are influenced by nutritional labels on restaurant menus and front-of-the-box packaging. Roberto’s research in nutrition standards and policy has been cited in court decisions upholding New York City’s restaurant menu labeling requirements and in the development of federal menu labeling requirements in the recent health care bill signed by President Obama. Dana Asbury (sociology) received the first Community Service Award for the hundreds of hours she has given to Camp Antrum, which offers underprivileged local children programs in personal development, recreational activities, and academic tutoring. Her research focuses on ethnography, community organizing, consensus building and collective decisionmaking, theories of deviance and difference, and the sociology of knowledge. Jason Wallace (MCDB) and Julie Button (microbiology) were awarded the inaugural Annie Le fellowships, in memory of the graduate student who was the victim of a tragic homicide last fall. The winners “embody the scholarly achievements, service to the Yale–New Haven community, and humanity we knew in Annie Le,” said Elias Lolis, associate professor of pharmacology.
Law School Law School students successful in Connecticut Supreme Court case The Education Adequacy Project won a major victory in the Connecticut Supreme Court in March when the court ruled in favor of the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding in the case CCJEF v. Rell. CCJEF, represented by Yale Law students in the EAP clinic, asserted in a complaint back in 2005 that the state’s failure to adequately and equitably fund public schools had irreparably harmed thousands of schoolchildren. In oral arguments before the court almost two years ago, clinic members said Connecticut students had the right, not just to an education, but to an adequate one. In its 4–3 decision in March, the court agreed, saying, “The fundamental right to an education is not an empty linguistic shell” and that it must meet “modern educational standards.” “This is a significant victory by any standard,” said professor and director of clinical studies Bob Solomon. “The fact that the litigation team consists of a law school clinic is remarkable, and a real testament to the combination of intelligence and dedication that permeates Yale’s clinical program.” The Education Adequacy Project is part of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School. Professors win Guggenheim fellowships Two YLS faculty members have been awarded fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation: James Q. Whitman ’80, ’88JD, the Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law, and John Fabian Witt ’94, ’99JD, ’00PhD, the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law. Professor Whitman is an expert on comparative law, contracts, criminal law, and European legal history. He has written extensively on the origins of reasonable doubt and the widening divide between American and European criminal punishment. His Guggenheim project will explore the verdict of battle. Professor Witt is the author of widely acclaimed works in the history of American law and in torts, including Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law and The Accidental Republic: Crippled Workingmen, Destitute Widows, and the Remaking of American Law. His Guggenheim research will examine the laws of war in American history. The Guggenheim grants provide support to exceptional mid-career scholars, scientists, and artists, giving them the opportunity to work on projects with complete creative freedom anywhere in the world. This year, the foundation selected 180 fellows from a group of approximately 3,000 applicants. New program will promote field of law and economics The Law School’s newly created Kauffman Program in Law, Economics, and Entrepreneurship will help “reenergize and redirect the field of law and economics,” says law professor George L. Priest. Priest, who has been named a Kauffman Distinguished Research Scholar in Law, Economics, and Entrepreneurship, is an expert in the fields of antitrust and regulation, and has focused his research on the determinants of economic growth. He says that the Kauffman Program will move the field of law and economics forward “by studying and developing the role of law in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in order to advance worldwide economic growth.” Funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Kauffman grant also supports the Information Society Project, which examines ways in which laws relating to technology can promote innovation and growth. School of Management Yale SOM launches faculty research e-newsletter SOM has launched an online Faculty Insights newsletter [http://mba.yale.edu/faculty/insights/] showcasing the intellectual capital of the school’s faculty. Each quarterly issue will include a selection of recent working papers, publications, research summaries, commentaries, and interviews. The first issue highlights the work of Gary Gorton, Frederick Frank Class of 1954 Professor of Management and Finance, who connects the financial crisis of late 2008 to other banking panics throughout history; an interview with Robert Shiller, Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, on how economists need to look beyond the classical view of individuals as rational actors; and an argument by K. Sudhir, professor of marketing, that organized retail in India can achieve long-term success by following the strategies of China and other Asian countries that recently modernized their retail sectors. To subscribe to Faculty Insights, send an e-mail to faculty.insights@som.yale.edu. Dean Oster blogs for Forbes Dean Sharon Oster has signed on as a regular contributor to Forbes.com’s new CSR Blog, which highlights corporate responsibility issues within companies worldwide. In her first post, she writes about how BP should respond to its oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and draws on research by Victoria Brescoll, assistant professor of organizational behavior, and postdoctoral associate George Newman. Using research both on business executives and on a random selection of adults, Brescoll et al. found that after the fact, firms that conveyed an empathetic, responsibility-taking message ended up losing much less public trust than those taking more defensive or noncommittal stances. Oster writes that such an approach might seem obvious to those observing a crisis from outside. “Yet looking at actual crisis situations, it is surprising how many company leaders fail to act on this insight,” she writes. Read this post, and others, at http://blogs.forbes.com/csr. Inaugural Green Summit celebrates progress of last 40 years The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute and NYSE Euronext hosted the inaugural Green Summit at the New York Stock Exchange on April 22, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Leaders from business, government, and academic realms described the ways that environmental sustainability can be a means to drive the economy. The summit underscores NYSE Euronext’s commitment to creating thought leadership forums where executives can exchange innovative ideas and network. “We are celebrating how, 40 years later, economic development and environmental vitality can join forces. We are proud to showcase the profound tangible strides shared by a large portfolio of enterprises,” said senior associate dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Read about the Green Summit at http://qn.som.yale.edu/article.php?issue_id=12&article_id=279.
School of Medicine Zeroing in on genes to head off aneurysms In a new genomic study, a team led by Yale researchers has identified three new regions of the genome containing variants that increase the risk of intracranial aneurysms—weaknesses in the brain’s blood vessels. Brain aneurysms rupture in 500,000 people worldwide each year, causing hemorrhagic stroke, but most people have no prior symptoms. Rupture is fatal in up to 40 percent of cases, and survivors usually have severe neurological damage. The team compared nearly 900,000 variable spots in the genomes of 6,000 aneurysm patients with those of 14,000 healthy subjects. In the May issue of Nature Genetics, they describe the new regions and confirm that two previously identified loci are strongly associated with aneurysms. The new knowledge is “ten percent more than we understood just a couple of years ago,” says lead author Murat Günel ’94Grd, the Nixdorff-German Professor of Neurosurgery. An engineered tissue’s surprising development Christopher K. Breuer and Toshiharu Shinoka, both associate professors of surgery and pediatrics, have been studying the use of tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) to treat congenital heart defects. TEVGs—created from a patient’s bone marrow cells (BMCs)—make living vessels that will grow as a child grows and could last a lifetime. With colleagues, Breuer and Shinoka explored how BMCs are transformed into vessels in TEVGs. Many scientists thought that BMCs—stem cells—differentiate into several kinds of cells that make up blood vessels. But the group found that BMCs were undetectable soon after TEVGs were implanted into mice. Instead, the graft appeared to initiate an inflammatory response that drew white blood cells to the scaffold, replacing the BMCs. These cells were also soon replaced—with the mouse’s own blood vessel cells. This “better understanding of how TEVGs develop in vivo will lead to improved second-generation TEVGs,” the authors write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Autoimmunity expert named Beeson Professor Joseph E. Craft, chief of the section of rheumatology and director of the Yale Investigative Medicine Program, as well as chief of rheumatology at Yale–New Haven Hospital, has been named the Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine. Craft is an internationally recognized expert on the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. He and his research team seek to define the mechanisms of loss of self-tolerance and activation of autoreactive T cells in systemic autoimmune diseases, as well as the differentiation and regulation of T cells in normal immune responses. The Beeson professorship was established in 1981 by the late Elisha Atkins to honor his colleague, Paul B. Beeson, chair of Yale’s Department of Internal Medicine from 1952 to 1965.
School of Music Acclaimed composer conducts School of Music students Composer Krzysztof Penderecki spent the last week of April at the School of Music—where he served on the faculty in the 1970s—working with current students and faculty on three concerts of his music. The first, which opened with an interview of Penderecki by Dean Robert Blocker, featured solo and chamber works. For the other two concerts Penderecki conducted the Yale Philharmonia, first in Woolsey Hall and then in a performance at Carnegie Hall that earned critical acclaim. The orchestral program ranged from the groundbreakingThrenody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1960) to the New Haven and New York premieres of the Horn Concerto (2008). Faculty artist William Purvis was the soloist in the concerto, while faculty violinist Syoko Aki performed the 1967 Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra. The program closed with the Symphony No. 4, of which the New York Times wrote: “All sections of the orchestra had a chance to shine in this piece, a kind of concerto for orchestra, and they did, with Mr. Penderecki leading a tightly wrought, polished, and dramatic interpretation.” Ensembles bring home prizes in major competitions The Charis Piano Trio—Helen Kim ’11MusM, violin; Yoon Hee Ko ’10MusM, cello; and Jeong-ah Ryu ’10MusM, piano—won the Coleman-Barstow Prize for Strings (the top prize in the strings division) at the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. The trio was coached by cellist Ole Akahoshi ’95CertPF, a member of the Yale School of Music faculty. In the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, one of the most prestigious events of its kind, the Amphion String Quartet won first place in the piano and strings division as well as the Audience Prize. The members of the Amphion String Quartet are Katie Hyun ’09ArtA, violin; Mihai Marica ’04CertPF, ’08ArtA, cello; and David Southorn ’09MusM, ’10ArtA, violin; as well as violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin, a DMA candidate at Stony Brook University. School of Music honorees At the school’s annual honors dinner May 1, the composer Bruce MacCombie received the Cultural Leadership Citation. In addition to serving on the Yale faculty in the 1970s, MacCombie has held major positions at G. Schirmer, Juilliard, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Alumni Certificate of Merit was awarded to baritone Richard Lalli ’08MusAM, ’86MusAD, who has taught at Yale since 1982 and is the artistic director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project. Mitch Leigh ’51MusB, ’52MusM, received the Ian Mininberg ’34 Distinguished Service Award. Best known for composing the musical Man of La Mancha(1965), Leigh was instrumental in the renovation of what is now called Abby and Mitch Leigh Hall. Dean Blocker awarded the Sanford Medal, the School of Music’s highest honor, to Elzbieta Penderecki. The president of Poland’s Ludwig van Beethoven Association, she has cofounded the European Mozart Foundation and initiated the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival and numerous other festivals. She is married to the composer Krzysztof Penderecki.
School of Nursing Nightingale Awards honor YSN faculty Two YSN faculty members were honored as winners of the 2010 Nightingale Award for Nursing Excellence in Connecticut at the tenth annual awards ceremony on May 5. Associate professor Ivy Alexander, director of YSN’s specialty in adult, family, gerontological, and women’s health primary care, is a noted expert in midlife women’s health, and has published two popular and award-winning consumer books on osteoporosis and menopause. Associate professor Nancy Banasiak, pediatric nurse practitioner, is an expert in primary care of urban children with asthma, and has led coordination of asthma care for more than 700 children at Yale–New Haven Hospital Pediatric Primary Care Center. The Nightingale Awards program was established in 2001 by the Visiting Nurses Association of South Central Connecticut and honors nurses who make special contributions to patient care. In connection with this program, YSN student Brandon Ko ’10MSN received a Nightingale scholarship. Visiting professor presents findings in gastrointestinal health Beatrice Renfield Visiting Professor Margaret M. Heitkemper addressed YSN faculty and students on March 31, on the topic of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Heitkemper is chair of the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, and director of the Center for Women’s Health, at the University of Washington. She has been continually funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1983 in an ongoing study of women’s health, stress, and gastrointestinal function. IBS occurs in 10 to 17 percent of the U.S. population, Heitkemper said, and more often in women than in men. She added that hormone levels are an important factor in both men and women, and that a lab rat study has shown that estrogen inhibits bowel function. Heitkemper has found that treatment for IBS is less effective for patients with a history of trauma, indicating that the cause may be a combination of genetics and life events. Managing IBS, Heitkemper said, has gained importance in health-care management because the disorder accounts for 40 percent of gastroenterologists’ time and involves costly diagnostic procedures. YSN professor receives Elm-Ivy Award YSN associate professor Alison Moriarty Daley ’94MSN was recently honored with a Seton Elm-Ivy Award, which celebrates an individual’s efforts to enrich the relationship between the university and the city of New Haven. Moriarty Daley was recognized for her work with underserved teens through primary care, advocacy, and education. In 1999, she developed and implemented a primary care clinic with the Hill Regional Career High School. There, and in her practice at the Adolescent Clinic at Yale–New Haven Hospital, she provides friendly health care for many of New Haven’s teenagers. Moriarty Daley was tapped by Mayor John DeStefano to co-chair his Task Force on Teen Pregnancy Prevention and has worked with community-based organizations like Planned Parenthood of Connecticut. In addition, she developed new programs to help urban youth avoid or stop smoking and she established and conducts the first school-based program for grieving youth.
School of Public Health Breakthrough method predicts risk of invasive breast cancer Scientists for the first time have discovered a way to predict whether women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)—the most common form of non-invasive breast cancer—are at risk of developing more invasive tumors in later life. The finding will allow women with DCIS to be more selective about their course of treatment and, potentially, to avoid aggressive forms of treatment such as complete mastectomy or radiation. The study, accessible online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, followed the medical histories of 1,162 women who had been diagnosed with DCIS. It found that a diagnosis of DCIS based on a lumpectomy specimen was more predictive of a high risk of subsequent invasive cancer than was a DCIS diagnosis by mammography. Different combinations of biomarkers were also associated with various levels of cancer risk. Women diagnosed with DCIS have historically had an inaccurate perception of their risk of developing invasive cancer, and as a result have chosen fairly aggressive treatments. “This separation into risk groups will assist in determining an appropriate treatment regimen, tailored to an individual woman’s clinical profile,” said Annette Molinaro, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the YSPH and one of the study’s lead authors. Advocate of better health for all visits Yale An outspoken advocate of better health and health care for the world’s poorest people visited the School of Public Health in March with a hopeful message that many of the glaring health disparities found in England, the United States, and elsewhere can be changed—if societies have the will. Sir Michael Marmot, whose well-known Whitehall studies in England have clearly established a link between an individual’s social class and health, said that health inequalities between rich and poor are “morally unacceptable” and that this divide gets at the very heart of what is a good, fair, and compassionate society. There is no biological reason for the glaring health disparities that are found in the world today, he added. The good news is that these disparities can change dramatically and quickly—improvements can be seen within the span of years—if a society deems it important enough, Marmot said. Noted medical researcher receives Winslow Award Sir Iain Chalmers, recognized as one of the leading health researchers of his generation, is the 2010 recipient of the C-E. A. Winslow Award, which was presented April 26. The award commemorates the contributions of Charles-Edward Amory Winslow to public health—he established the Yale School of Public Health in 1915, one of the country’s first public health programs—and is given to those who exemplify Winslow’s ideals, particularly his concern for social factors affecting health. It is bestowed by the school every several years to recognize outstanding contributions to the field of public health. Chalmers is only the third recipient since the award’s creation in 2000. Sir Iain Chalmers’s career in medicine and public health spans more than four decades. Much of his work focuses on health research, particularly on assessing the effects of health interventions and addressing medical uncertainties.
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