The School of Medicine and Discovery Health Channel have launched a groundbreaking partnership that combines the knowledge of Yale faculty with the far-reaching influence of the multi-media enterprise.
Over the next two years, with the research and assistance of Yale experts, the Discovery Health Channel will produce four one-hour television specials relating to adult and children's health. Yale faculty will also contribute regularly to "Family Matters," "Cutting-Edge Medicine" and "The Views on Health News" features on discoveryhealth.com, an online source for information on medical illness and wellness.
"The remarkable medical discoveries being made at Yale, and the great advances in treatment that we are developing and practicing, are of great value to everyone," said Dr. David A. Kessler, dean of the School of Medicine. "Our service includes increasing public understanding of both the progress we are making and the challenges we face, and working with Discovery Health will support that goal."
Yale signs agreement to preserve need-based financial aid
Yale is among 28 leading private colleges and universities -- including Columbia, Cornell and Stanford -- that have agreed to use a common set of standards when determining students' financial aid needs.
The new guidelines are designed to bring greater clarity, simplicity and fairness to the financial aid process by eliminating the disparities in the formulas used to assess the educational expenses parents are expected to pay. In most cases, the new guidelines will reduce the amount of parent contributions and increase the amount provided by the universities.
Noting that some schools have moved toward merit-based scholarships "which take limited funds away from the students who need [financial assistance] most," President Richard C. Levin said, "By committing themselves to need-blind admissions and need-based aid through this agreement, Yale and the other participating institutions are ensuring that future generations of scholars will continue to have access to high-quality higher education regardless of their financial circumstances."
New V.P. for Finance and Administration named
The appointment of Yale's new Vice President for Finance and Administration -- Robert L. Culver -- was announced in June by President Richard C. Levin.
Culver comes to Yale from his post as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the Cabot Corporation. He previously served for seven years as senior vice president and treasurer of Northeastern University.
"Robert Culver brings an impressive record of administrative, financial and operational experience in the public and private sectors to Yale," said Levin. "I am pleased to welcome someone with his outstanding credentials and proven dedication to higher education to the University."
Noted financial manager elected as Yale trustee
Theodore P. Shen '66 B.A., widely recognized as one of the most innovative and effective managers on Wall Street, was elected to the Yale Corporation as an alumni fellow in a worldwide balloting of graduates.
Shen retired in 1999 from Donaldson, Lutkin & Jenrette after a three-decade career there, serving nearly half that time as the company's chair. In that post, he played a crucial role in transforming the firm from a fledgling business to a leader in the investment banking industry.
Surgeons test procedure for curing multiple sclerosis
In an experimental procedure, School of Medicine researchers transplanted nerve cells from a woman's ankle into her brain in an attempt to reverse the course of her multiple sclerosis (MS).
MS is caused when the immune system attacks the brain's nerve fibers and strips away their protective sheathing, or myelin, making it difficult for the nerves to transplant messages. Myelin in the peripheral nerves is created by Schwann cells, and animal studies have shown that these cells have the potential to remyelinate nerves. By transplanting Schwann cells from a peripheral nerve into the patient's brain, the scientists hope to learn whether Schwann cells can survive in the brain of an adult with MS and whether they can reverse the damage caused by myelin disorders.
"The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the procedure is safe and has enough promise to justify future research," said principal investigator Timothy Vollmer, associate professor of neurology.
Faculty honored with endowed chairs
The following appointments to endowed professorships were announced this summer: Mahzarin Banaji as the Reubon Post Halleck Professor of Psychology; Ronald Duman as the Elizabeth Mears & House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry; Donald Green as the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Political Science; Glenda E. Gilmore as the Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History; Shirleen Roeder as the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology; Peter Salovey as the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology; Steven B. Smith as the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science; and Stanley Weinstein as the first Lex Hixon Professor of World Religions.
Endowed professorships were also awarded to three incoming faculty members: Seyla Benhabib, formerly of Harvard University, was named the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy; Daniel Kevles, formerly of the California Institute of Technology, has been designated as the Stanley Woodward Professor of History; and Dr. Thomas D. Pollard, formerly of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology.
Other appointments
Among the other appointments announced this summer were the following:
Susan L. Carney, associate general counsel since 1998, was promoted to the post of deputy general counsel.
Maria Rosa Menocal, the R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and director of Special Programs in the Humanities, was appointed director of the Whitney Humanities Center; Norma Thompson, associate professor of political science and of Special Programs in the Humanities, will be the center's associate director.
Chad Oliver, of the University of Washington, an expert in the field of forest stand dynamics, is joining the faculty at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in January as professor of forestry and environmental studies.
The School of Medicine is welcoming two new chairs this year: Joseph Schlessinger, a physical chemist from Harvard University, as chair of the Department of Pharmacology; Robert Udelsman, a renowned endocrinologist from Johns Hopkins University, is joining Yale as chair of the Department of Surgery.
Program to promote enlightened care of the elderly
The School of Medicine received a $2 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to develop ways to teach medical students about the unique needs of geriatric patients. For instance, according to the project's lead investigator, Dr. Margaret Drickamer, associate professor of internal medicine and geriatrics, physicians need to develop different skills, such as "asking more questions and asking different questions" when trying to determine the cause of elderly patients' problems and choosing appropriate treatments.
SOM enters partnership with education center for CEOs
The Yale School of Management (Yale SOM) and the Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI) have joined forces to create the first university-based, peer-driven leadership education program for America's top executives.
The partnership with CELI, a combination think-tank and corporate management education center, will bring students and faculty at Yale SOM into a closer learning partnership with prominent leaders in corporate, government and nonprofit enterprises, allowing them to develop deeper ties with experienced executives and to develop corporate interest in research projects.
Depression can reduce workplace productivity, says study
Depressed workers not only cost their employers dollars in terms of missed days from work, but are also less productive while on the job, according to Yale researchers.
"In our study, the impact of depression on function at work was substantially higher than its association with missed days at work, suggesting that previous reports of absenteeism may represent only a small fraction of the cost of depression in the workplace," said Dr. Benjamin Druss, the study's lead author and assistant professor of psychiatry and of epidemiology and public health. Furthermore, he said, depressed workers who report poor quality of health care are most likely to have persistent depressive symptoms and decreased productivity.
Professors elected to prestigious organizations
Eleven Yale faculty members were honored with election to prestigious national academies this summer.
Dr. Pietro V. De Camilli, professor of cell biology, was chosen as a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
The five other Yale faculty members elected into the AAAS are: Stanley Isler, the Edward E. Salisbury Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology; Giuseppe Mazzotta, the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Italian Languages and Literatures; Ira Mellman, professor of cell biology; Judith Resnik, the Arthur Liman Professor of Law; and Joseph Schlessinger, formerly of New York University, who recently joined the Yale faculty as chair of pharmacology.
The other newly elected members of the NAS are: Peter Creswell, professor of immunology and dermatology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; Dr. Richard P. Lifton, professor of genetics, medicine and molecular biophysics and biochemistry; Gregory A. Margulis, professor of mathematics; William D. Nordhaus, the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics; and Efim I. Zelmanov, professor of mathematics.
Discovery reveals gender differences among songbirds
In a study illustrating how hormones might affect learning, a Yale researcher discovered that female songbirds learn new tunes 60% faster than their male counterparts.
The study by Ayako Yamaguchi, a research associate in the School of Medicine's Department of Pharmacology, also revealed that, when the songbirds were raised in isolation from their species' songs, males would improvise songs, while females remained essentially mute. "These findings demonstrate one of the most substantial learning differences between male and female animals found to date," Yamaguchi says.
New non-invasive test detects Down's syndrome in the womb
Scientists at the School of Medicine have developed a non-invasive way to detect Down's syndrome prenatally, thereby cutting down the need for amniocentesis, an invasive method of detecting the condition that carries a risk of miscarriage.
The new formula was developed by Dr. Ray O. Bahado-Singh, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and research fellow Dr. Utku Oz. The formula uses a ratio of limb measurements from an ultrasound done at 16 weeks to determine the presence of Down's syndrome; it can detect the condition nearly 71% of the time.
Alumni visit Elihu's grave in honor of Tercentennial
On July 4 the Yale Alumni Chorus paraded through the streets of Wrexham, Wales, to St. Giles Church, where the group performed at the gravesite of Elihu Yale, the benefactor who gave the University its name.
The visit was just one stop on the Tercentennial tour undertaken by the chorus in honor of Yale's 300th anniversary. The chorus, composed of about 400 former members of the Yale Glee Club and the Whiffenpoofs, also presented concerts in Finland and Russia.
On July 6, as part of a Tercentennial celebration to which all European alumni were invited, the Yale singers performed music by composers with a Yale connection in St. Paul's Cathedral; they were accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The evening also included an academic procession in full regalia.
New center to study devastating eye disease
The Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the School of Medicine received a $1 million grant to establish a center to study macular degeneration, the leading cause of visual impairment in the United States.
The grant comes from Foresight, Inc., a Connecticut-based charitable foundation that was founded in 1968 by patients treated by Yale ophthalmologists in order to support basic research into devastating blinding eye diseases. Macular degeneration, which affects an estimated one-third of the U.S. population over age 65, is caused by the deterioration of the central part of the retina (the macula), which records visual images and sends them to the brain.
Yale pitcher grabbed in draft's early rounds
Yale junior Jon Steitz was picked by the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft on June 21, making him the highest draft selection for a Yale player since Dan Lock was taken in the second round of the 1994 draft.
A pitcher with a 2-4 record and a 2.66 earned-run average, Steitz is the son of Yale scientists Thomas and Joan Steitz, who each hold a Sterling Professorship in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry.
Researcher traces causes of brain tumors
In separate studies, a Yale scientist found that people who work in certain professions are at greater risk of developing brain tumors, but that people who use tobacco products are not.
Both investigations were headed by Tongzhang Zheng, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the School of Medicine.
In one study, Zheng determined that those who work with agricultural products, rubbers and plastics, gasoline or solvents, textiles, electronic equipment, plumbing, heating, air conditioning or sheet metal were at higher risk of developing brain tumors. "An increased risk of brain cancer for workers in these industries could be due to their exposure to pesticides, solvents, dyes and formaldehyde, metal fumes and other chemical or physical carcinogens," noted Zheng.
In a different study, Zheng failed to find any positive link between the use of tobacco products and the development of brain cancer -- despite the fact that cigarette smoking is considered to be the greatest single source of human exposure to certain carcinogens. "This is one of only a few studies to systematically examine the risk of a specific histological type of brain cancer, glioma, with use of particular types of tobacco products ...," said Zheng. "Most of the earlier studies only compared smokers with those who never smoked ..."
Obituaries
The Yale Bulletin & Calendar learned of the following deaths this summer:
Richard F. French, professor emeritus at the School of Music and an eminent musicologist, who died on May 18 at age 85.
Dr. Richard H. Granger, pediatrician at the Yale Child Study Center and former Morse College master, who died on April 9 at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was 76.
Jerome K. Myers, professor of sociology and a pioneer in the field of social psychiatry, who died on May 7 at age 79.
Murray Murdoch, former head coach of Yale men's hockey and professional hockey player, who at the time of his death on May 17 at age 97 was "the oldest living National Hockey League Player."
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale to greet new crop of students
Over half of new foreign students got financial aid
Programs pay tribute to Yale abolitionist
Stern, González Echevarría named DeVane Professors
Discovery may yield insights into treating high blood pressure
Hockfield is appointed Gilbert Professor
Brewer returns to Yale as Weyerhaeuser Professor
African American studies celebrates 30th year
Symposium will explore 'Challenges to Internationalizing Yale'
IN FOCUS: Yale Architecture
While You Were Away: The Summer's Top Stories Revisited
Art Gallery exhibit combines the visual and literary
Ethnic cleansing in Europe and America is focus of Lamar Center's weekend symposium
'Symmetry and Asymmetry' is topic of Tetelman Lecture
Fair to highlight resources for those with disabilities
School of Music celebrates new year with concert, convocation
New Yale Library website unveiled
C. Norman Gillis, noted vascular disease specialist, dies
The Great Outdoors
Pictures and poems sought for contests at Morse College
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