Vice Provost Maureen Stanton elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Senate and federation honor the best in teaching, research

By Dateline staff

Two UC Davis professors are among seven of the world’s leading biomedical researchers selected to give presentations this year in the Harvey Lecture series that has previously featured most recipients of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

Stephen Kowalczykowski, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Microbiology, College of Biological Sciences, gave his lecture, “Watching Individual Proteins Working on Single Molecules of DNA: From Biophysics to Cancer,” on March 15.

Jodi Nunnari, chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, also in the College of Biological Sciences, is scheduled to give her address on May 17, on the topic “The Behavior of Mitochondria.”

The sponsoring Harvey Society was founded in 1905 by a group of New York scientists and physicians to forge a closer relationship between practical medicine and laboratory experiments. The society’s namesake is William Harvey (1578-1657), the English physician who first proposed that the heart pumps blood around the body.

Each year the society sponsors seven lectures, free public talks, at Rockefeller University in New York. The collected lectures are published in book form every year.

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Adela de la Torre has had a new Latino honor society named after her at Northern Illinois University.

UC Davis alumna Emily Prieto, director of NIU’s Latino Resource Center, founded the honor society and named it after her mentor, professor and chair in the UC Davis Department of Chicana/o Studies.

Prieto holds three degrees from UC Davis: a Bachelor of Arts in community rhetoric (2002), a Master’s Degree in sociocultural studies (2005) and a doctorate in language, literacy and culture (2007).

She has been director of the NIU Latino Resource Center since August 2007.

The Dr. Adela de la Torre Honor Society aims to recognize and promote excellence among Latinos, build student leaders and help render service through a unified effort, according to the society’s mission statement.

De La Torre, a national expert on Chicano and Latino health issues, last year received a five-year, $4.8 million federal grant for a Central Valley study titled "Niños Sanos, Familia Sana" (Healthy Children, Healthy Family), to discover the best ways to help Mexican-heritage children maintain healthy weights.

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Sarah Hrdy, professor emerita of anthropology, has been awarded the J.I. Staley Prize for her book Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. The School for Advanced Research gives the prize, which, according to the SAR website, is often called the “Pulitzer Prize of anthropology."

“The award recognizes innovative works that go beyond traditional frontiers and dominant schools of thought in anthropology and add new dimensions to our understanding of the human species,” states the award website.

Hrdy joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology in 1984 and took emeritus status in 1996. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the California Academy of Sciences.

The Staley award presentation is planned in November during the American Anthropological Association’s annual meeting, scheduled to be held this year in San Francisco.

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Ramona Hernandez is on her way to becoming president of the Western Association of College and University Housing Officers, or WACUHO.

Hernandez is director of Business Services for Student Housing, after previously serving as an associate director from 2009 to 2011. She joined UC Davis in 2001 as manager of privatized housing.

She has been active in WACUHO for many years. She served as treasurer for two years (2008-10) before being elected recently as president-elect, to hold office in 2013-14.

She has served on many committees, including finance advisory (five years, including three as chair), legislative affairs and corporate relations.

She was chair of WACUHO’s annual conference in 2008, the year UC Davis hosted the event (in Sacramento).

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UC Davis’ campuswide research blog, "Egghead," is “an academic paradise,” one of the “50 Best Must-Read College Campus Blogs,” according to Online Colleges, a website that aims to help students choose where to pursue higher education.

“Featuring research conducted by UC Davis students and staff, visitors can read up on the latest science news,” states the "Egghead" description in the Online College list.

University Communications science writer Andy Fell writes and compiles "Egghead," which, according to Online Colleges, lives up to its name.

The top 50 blogs are broken into eight categories, including dean and administrator blogs, student blogs, sports blogs, political blogs and mixed bag, for “blogs that refuse to be categorized.”

"Egghead" fell into the category of “Learning Beyond the Book: Academic Blogs.”

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The American Hospital Association has honored the UC Davis Health System’s Thomas Nesbitt for innovation.

Nesbitt, who received his medical degree at UC Davis, is a professor of family and community medicine, associate vice chancellor for Strategic Technologies and Alliances, and director of the Center for Health and Technology.

He received the Justin Ford Kimball Innovators Award, recognizing people and organizations for outstanding contributions in health care delivery and financing.

“Dr. Nesbitt’s passion for improving health care in underserved communities has had a powerful influence on the evolution of telehealth in California and the nation,” said Ann Madden Rice, chief executive officer of the UC Davis Medical Center. “His contributions are especially important as the nation focuses on ensuring all Americans have equal access to quality health.”

Rich Umbdenstock, president and chief executive officer of the American Hospital Association, lauded Nesbitt’s visionary in telehealth, public health and disaster planning.

Nesbitt served on the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and the Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities, reporting to the 9/11 Commission.

In addition, he worked to establish Rural PRIME (Programs in Medical Education, to train physicians in small, underserved communities. He advocated for funding to expand the state’s medical education and telemedicine capabilities, most notably in a successful 2006 ballot measure.

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Associate Vice Chancellor Heather M. Young has been appointed to the strategic advisory committee for The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.

Young, who serves as dean of the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, also received an award recently: the Anna M. Shannon Mentorship Award from the Western Institute of Nursing.

The Campaign for Action aims to ensure all Americans have access to high-quality, person-centered health care, with nurses contributing to the full extent of their capabilities.

Young serves on the strategic advisory committee with 11 other leaders in business, health care, education, organized labor and consumer advocacy.

The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the AARP Center to Champion Nursing in America, will work to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on "The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health."

Young has been involved with the Campaign for Action since the beginning, appointed by the Johnson foundation to the California Action Coalition Executive Committee to lead implementation efforts in this state.

The nursing school leader received the Shannon mentorship award during the Western Institute of Nursing’s Communicating Nursing Conference in Portland, Ore.

UC Davis nursing researcher Elena O. Siegel was among Young’s nominators for the award.

“Dr. Young has served as a formal mentor to 56 emerging nurse leaders, including 13 junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars, and 19 doctoral and 24 master’s degree students” Siegel said. “In addition, she has served as a mentor for recipients of awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar program, John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity program and deTornyay Center for Healthy Aging.”

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Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.

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