The Wayne State University School of Medicine administration and faculty celebrated the granting of tenure to three of its members and the promotion of others during the first Promotion & Tenure Reception.

The May 24 event, organized by the Roberta E. Sonnino, M.D., vice dean of Faculty Affairs, and her office, took place with a reception and awards program in the Margherio Family Conference Center.

"This is my favorite day of the year, the highlight of my academic year," Dr. Sonnino said. "We are extremely proud of your accomplishments. This is not a freebie, it's not a giveaway. You earned this; you have worked hard for this. You should be proud."

Each faculty member recognized received a special WSU School of Medicine lapel pin and had their photo taken with Dean Valerie M. Parisi, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

"It doesn't matter what track you're in, we are very serious about the standards and factors to which you've been held for your promotions," Dean Parisi told the faculty. "We don't often take time to celebrate our accomplishments, but over the next few days you should take the time to reflect and celebrate with your colleague and families.

"This recognition comes from your peers, and there is no tougher recognition than peer recognition," she added.

Three faculty members, Sreenivasa Chinni, Ph.D.; Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D.; and Senthil Sundaram, M.D.; were awarded tenure.

"Tenure is affirmation of the research we are doing, which is a collaborative effort, with everybody pulling together, and the mentoring that I've done, and I've had some great mentees," said Dr. Diwadikar, who also serves as co-director of the Division of Brain Research and Imaging Neuroscience for the School of Medicine. "It's special because of the recognition from the senior faculty."

Faculty promoted to the rank of professor include:

Cynthia Arfken, Ph.D., Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

Li Li, Ph.D.; Internal Medicine and Molecular Medicine and Genetics

Raymond Mattingly, Ph.D., Pharmacology

Sylvie Naar-King, Ph.D.; Pediatrics and Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

Harley Tse, Ph.D.; Immunology and Microbiology

Jinsheng Zhang, Ph.D., Otolaryngology

Those promoted to the rank of professor (clinician educator) include:

Rouba Ali-Fehmi, M.D., Pathology

Martin Bluth, M.D., Ph.D., Pathology

Jonathan Cohn, M.D., Internal Medicine

Quan Jiang, Ph.D., Neurology

Yi Li, M.D., Neurology

Ho-Sheng Lin, M.D., Otolaryngology

Fulvio Lonardo, M.D., Pathology

Tsveti Markova, M.D., Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences

Darius Mehregan, M.D., Dermatology

David Mehregan, M.D., Dermatology

Sureyya Savasan, M.D., Pediatrics

Panayiotis Varelas, M.D., Ph.D., Neurology

Those promoted to the rank of associate professor include:

Sreenivasa Chinni, Ph.D., Urology and Pathology

Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

Senthil Sundaram, M.D., Pediatrics and Neurology

Those promoted to the rank of associate professor (clinician educator) include:

Sanjeev Aggarwal, M.D., Pediatrics

Jocelyn Ang, M.D., Pediatrics

Michael Carron, M.D., Otolaryngology

Mona Doshi, M.D., Internal Medicine

Darren Fuerst, Ph.D., Neurology

Tamar Giorgadze, M.D., Ph.D., Pathology

Nirupama Kannikeswaran, M.D., Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine

Christopher Mastropietro, M.D., Pediatrics

Girija Natarajan, M.D., Pediatrics

Usha Sethuraman, M.D., Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine

Lalitha Sivaswamy, M.D., Pediatrics and Neurology

Maria Zestos, M.D., Anesthesiology

Those promoted to the rank of associate professor (research) include:

Lisa Polin Ph.D., Oncology