Family members, faculty and staff gathered to celebrate the lifetime and classroom achievements of Wayne State University School of Medicine instructors, researchers and students during the annual Honors Recognition program.
"The Honors Recognition Program stands side by side with Commencement as one of the school's most joyous ceremonies, and is an occasion that embodies the intellectual vibrancy and academic rigor of this great School of Medicine," said Robert M. Mentzer Jr., M.D., Dean of the School of Medicine and Senior Advisor to the President for Medical Affairs of Wayne State University. "We take quite seriously the academic climate at the School of Medicine, and that's only possible through the people we are honoring today.
The Nov. 15 event at Scott Hall recognized faculty and students who have made their mark, both in teaching and in academic achievement, during 2006.
The ceremony was highlighted by the presentation of the prestigious 2006 Lifetime Achievement Awards to Michael Nigro, D.O., and Roberta Pourcho, Ph.D.
"I am grateful for the opportunity because I love what I do, and have for 35 years," said Dr. Pourcho.
"I've had fun with the students and with my research, and I love every minute of working with the department.""It was unexpected, and I'm honored," said Dr. Nigro. "It was the culmination of my association with the School of Medicine since 1969.
"The 2007 Staff Award for teaching was presented to Dr. Victor Ajluni, M.D., Psychiatry. Ajluni was selected for the award by staff and senior class students.
Sophomore class members selected Dr. William Crossland, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology, to receive the 2007 Lamp Award for teaching.
"These awards recognize all the hard work during the past academic year," said Thomas Roe, M.D., assistant dean of Clinical Education, who served as master of ceremonies for the program. "These people enhance the fine reputation and stature that the Wayne State University School of Medicine enjoys, locally and nationally."
The honorees include:
2006 Lifetime Achievement Awards
Michael Nigro, D.O., Pediatrics; and Roberta Pourcho, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology.
2007 Academic Teaching Awards
Victor Ajluni, M.D., Psychiatry, Staff Award; and William Crossland, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology, Lamp Award.
2007 College Teaching Awards
William Crossland, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology; Mark Ireland, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology; Paul Walker, Ph.D, Anatomy and Cell Biology; David Evans, Ph.D, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; George Brush, Ph.D, Cancer Institute and Pathology; Rebecca Cline, Ph.D, Cancer Institute and Family Medicine; David Womble, Ph.D, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics; Juliann Binienda, Ph.D, Family Medicine; Nejla Israel, M.D., Family Medicine; Frederick Rosin, M.D., Family Medicine; Melody Neely, Ph.D, Immunology/Microbiology; T.R. Reddy, Ph.D, Immunology/Microbiology; Nandalal Bagchi, Ph.D, Internal Medicine; Patricia Brown, M.D., Internal Medicine; Robert Burack, M.D., Internal Medicine; Pravit Cadnapaphornchai, M.D., Internal Medicine; John Ebright, M.D., Internal Medicine; Elisabeth Heath, M.D., Internal Medicine; Willane Krell, M.D., Internal Medicine; Tiziano Scarabelli, M.D., Internal Medicine and Pharmacology; Gail Bentley, M.D., Pathology; Janet Poulik, M.D., Pathology; Husain Saleh, M.D., Pathology; Ibrahim Abdulhamid, M.D., Pediatrics; Ahdi Amer, M.D., Pediatrics; Kavitha Chintala, M.D., Pediatrics; Deborah Ellis, Ph.D, Pediatrics; Teresa Holtrop, M.D., Pediatrics; Deepak Kamat, M.D., Pediatrics; Sujatha Kannan, M.B., Pediatrics; Otto Muzik, Ph.D, Pediatrics; Madhvi Rajpurkar, M.D., Pediatrics; Raymond Mattingly, Ph.D, Pharmacology; Sharada Sarnaik, M.B., Pediatrics; Joseph Dunbar, Ph.D, Physiology; Daniel Walz, Ph.D, Physiology; and Douglas Yingst, Ph.D, Physiology.
2006 Research Excellence Awards
Nicholas Davis, Ph.D, Pharmacology; Yubin Ge, Ph.D, Cancer Institute and Pharmacology; Renu Kowluru, Ph.D, Ophthalmology; Lawrence Lash, Ph.D, Pharmacology; Adhip Majumdar, Ph.D, Internal Medicine; and Rita Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D, Biochemistry.
2007 Graduate Alumni Laureate Award
Kan-Jen Tsai, Ph.D, professor of Medical Laboratory and Technology; dean, College of Medical Sciences and Technology, Chung Shan Medical University
Academic Achievement Awards
Class of 2008: Jessica Janus, Elizabeth Jones, Nicholas Trakul, Lisa Pappas and Gwendolyn Zirngibl.
Class of 2009: Zachariah Hicks
Class of 2010: Emily McLaren
Honors in Year 1 Class of 2010
Sayf Al-katib, Grant Bailey, Jane Beimer, Jaida Bourke, Britton Carter, Christopher Cendrowski, Jeanie Cote, Kunal Dalal, Stephanie Dean, Timothy Ferng, Elizabeth Frayer, Pooja Gupta, Aaron Heindl, Levi Hilton, Joanna Hooten, Marian Ibrahim, Cerine Jeanty, Aaron Kang, Christopher Lam, Thomas LaRoche, Remy Lobo, Emily McLaren, Brett Mollard, Kristin Moore, Kristin Ophaug, Dominic Pelle, Courtney Rowling, Johanna Scheer, Eirwen Scott, Caitlin Shapiro, Adam Skrzynski, Matthew Stemer, Justin Stenz, Joshua Tibbe, Shezad Tejani, Erica VanderKooy, Timothy VanderKooy, Amber Warnat and Nathan Zwagerman.
Honors in Year 2 Class of 2009
Peter Adams, Andrea Barbieri, Matthew Bernbeck, William Braaksma, Johanna Coughlin, Danielle Djoumbi, Jason Domina, Laura Douglass, Robert Falconer, Adrian Gasperut, Aaron Glaeser, Nathan Gonik, Joshua Grant, Bianca Gruber, Anna Hehl, Zachariah Hicks, Steven Kammann, Paul Kim, Michael Kopec, Rachel Laarman, Angela Liang, John Lillvis, Victor Mangona, Andrew Moriarity, Brian Mott, Patricia Myers-Gurevitch, Daniel Osborn, Mihailo Popovic, Meredith Price, Nathan Rimmke, Crystal Ritsema, Ishai Ross, Richard Schildhouse, John Schwartz, Nicole Seleno, Saloni Shah, Clint Simpson, Kelly Smith, Christopher Sutter, Mary Tanski-Arbogast, Senja Tomovic, Itishree Trivedi and Stephen VanHaerents.
Honors in Year 3 Class of 2008
Ashley Abramson, Abigail Balger, Kurt Bernacki, Kathy Borovicka, Adam Brinkman, Steven Daveluy, David Demos, Stephanie Diamond, Heather Evanson, Tarek Fakhouri, Gary Gallagher, Paul Gillard, Elizabeth Gwinn, Erin Hendriks, Ronald Huang, Mark Jacobsen, Jessica Janus, Elizabeth Jones, Lewis Joseph, Anastasia Ketko, Darren King, Emily Kingsley, Jonathon Kivela, Nicholas Kujala, Timothy Liao, Chi Lim, Sean Logan, Adam Lubert, Nicole Marijanovich, Erin McNicholas, Ankur Mehta, Drew Moore, Kaitlin Murphy, Stephanie Niec, Laura Owczarek, Mark Pankonin, Lisa Pappas, Ryan Pollina, Andrew Powers, Tammy Provatas, Katie Reed, Isaac Reeve, Jonathan Rhee, Phillip Rosen, Lauren Sheill, Wagdy Sidrak, Harmony Sierens, Christopher Smith, Matthew Sniegowski, Tyler Southwell, Valerie Tackabury, Nicholas Trakul, Paul Trowbridge, Angela Yue and Gwendowlyn Zirngibl.
Alpha Omega Alpha Class of 2008
Ashley Abramson, Kurt Bernacki, Kathy Borovicka, Steven Daveluy, David Demos, Stephanie Diamond, David Ellenberg, Tarek Fakhouri, Michelle Figuereroa, Gary Gallagher, Elizabeth Gwinn, Erin Hendricks, Ronald Huang, Elizabeth Jones, Louis Joseph, Anastasia Ketko, Darren King, Jonathan Kivela, Nicholas Kujala, Adam Lubert, Ankur Mehta, Drew Moore, Stephanie Niec, Laura Owczarek, Lisa Pappas, Manish Patel, Andrew Powers, Stephen Rancour, Katie Reed, Isaac Reeve, Lauren Sheill, Christopher Smith, Matt Sniegowski, Melissa Sundberg, Amandip Sunerh, Nicholas Trakul, Paul Trowbridge, and Gwendolyn Zingibl.
Alpha Omega Alpha Class of 2009
Andrea Barbieri, Matthew Bernbeck, Jason Domina, Adrian Gasperut, Bianca Gruber, Zacharia Hicks, Paul Kim, Michael Kopec, Angela Liang, Andrew Moriarity, Brian Mott, Crystal Ritsema, John Schwartz, Saloni Shah, Kelly Smith and Itishree Trivedi.
2007 Graduate Students Academic and Research Awards
Alan Arnold, Cancer Biology; M. Katie Conley, Cancer Biology; Sijana Dzinic, Physiology; Philip Jessmon, Anatomy and Cell Biology; Srinivasu Kallakuri, Anatomy and Cell Biology; Taba Kheradmand (Amouzegar), Immunology/Microbiology; Kalyan Kondapalli, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Guy Lenk, Molecular Biology and Genetics; Vesna Milacic, Cancer Biology; Shalini Pandya, Medical Physics; Olga Radkevich-Brown, Cancer Biology; Omid Tehrani, Cancer Biology; and Zimei Zhou, Anatomy and Cell Biology.