DOCSLIB.ORG

Collins Challenged Over NCI-Funded Research Linking Tea Party

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Collins Challenged Over NCI-Funded Research Linking Tea Party Vol. 39 No. 10 March 8, 2013 © Copyright 2013 The Cancer Letter Inc. All rights reserved. Price $405 Per Year. To subscribe, call 800-513-7042 or visit www.cancerletter.com. PO Box 9905 Washington DC 20016 Telephone 202-362-1809 Capitol Hill Collins Challenged Over NCI-Funded Research Capitol Hill Linking Tea Party With Tobacco Companies Collins: "I am quite By Paul Goldberg troubled by this NIH Director Francis Collins told a House subcommittee that he was “troubled” by a paper in which a prominent tobacco control expert, who particular circumstance." is funded by NCI, claims to have found a relationship between tobacco . Page 4 companies and the Tea Party conservative movement. The paper in question appeared in Tobacco Control, a peer-reviewed journal published by British Medical Journal Group. Drawing on documents Sequestration dating back to the 1980s and obtained from tobacco companies, the authors NCI Director Harold point to several instances in which the Tea Party and its predecessor Varmus Seeks to Protect organizations appear to act as proxies for tobacco interests. The paper cites Competitive Awards an NCI grant that supports analysis of tobacco industry documents. Page 5 The paper’s senior author is Stanton Glantz, professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, a member of the Varmus' Address to Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. The NCI Board of (Continued to page 2) Scientific Advisors Sequestration . Page 7 Federal Budget Cuts Enacted March 1; HHS Agencies Grapple with Consequences BSA Approves RFA By Matthew Bin Han Ong Reissuance for the The across-the-board 5.1 percent budget cuts that went into effect March Pediatric Brain 1 slash the NIH budget by $1.553 billion and the NCI budget by $219 million for the remaining fiscal year, officials say. Tumor Consortium These deep budget reductions, known as sequestration, affect the . Page 10 entire federal government—with no exemptions for the components of the Department of Health and Human Services. Research Leaders (Continued to page 5) Address International In Brief Cancer Challenges Breakthrough Prize Awarded to 11 Scientists . Page 10 THE BREAKTHROUGH PRIZE, dedicated to excellence in research Obituary aimed at curing intractable diseases, was launched Feb. 20. The 11 inaugural Zora Brown, 63 recipients of the prize, who will receive $3 million each, are: . Page 12 Cornelia Bargmann, for her work in the genetics of neural circuits and behavior, and synaptic guidepost molecules. She is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural (Continued to page 11) Collins Offers No Defense Collins didn’t defend either the NCI grant or the Glantz paper. Instead, the NIH director said that Glantz’s For NCI-Funded UCSF Paper paper falls outside the objectives of NCI grants. (Continued from page 1) “I, too, am quite troubled about this particular The paper states that “rather than being a purely circumstance,” Collins said. “Dr. Stanton Glantz, who grassroots movement that spontaneously developed in is the author of that article, has been a funded grantee 2009, the Tea Party has developed over time, in part of the NIH’s cancer institute for 14 years and has done through decades of work by the tobacco industry and some very important work in tobacco control over those other corporate interests. It is important for tobacco years, and is considered by peers to be among the best in control advocates in the USA and internationally, to the field. If you look carefully at the acknowledgements anticipate and counter Tea Party opposition to tobacco at the end of this particular paper, which came as a control policies and ensure that policymakers, the media surprise to us as well, it does cite two different grants and the public understand the longstanding connection from the NCI. between the tobacco industry, the Tea Party and its There is also wording there, and maybe you can associated organizations.” read it off to us, which says that this particular work and At a hearing of the House Labor HHS Appropriations this particular paper was not suggested or encouraged Subcommittee March 6, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), a by the NIH. It is on its own.” physician who serves on the committee, challenged NCI Director Harold Varmus did not testify at the the appropriateness of NCI supporting what amounts hearing. to Glantz’s investigative work, as opposed to basic or Glantz said he was surprised by this characterization clinical cancer research. of his work. The BMJ paper “alleged that somehow the Tea “I was very troubled by it,” Glantz said to The Party had its origin in 1980s, with tobacco funding, Cancer Letter. “We just published an important paper in which is pretty incredible, because, I mean, I’m a the leading specialty journal in the field, after extensive Tea Party guy,” Harris said. “I was there when it peer review. The work is completely within the scope of was established in 2009. I know the origins. I find the grant. It is Aim Two of the grant—to understand how it incredible that NIH funding is funding this… Dr. the tobacco companies work to prevent effective tobacco Collins, what methods does the NIH have in this kind control policies, including through the creation of third of research takes dollars from cancer research and parties, which is what the Tea Party connection is. other important vital research—what does the NIH do “The grant, when it was peer reviewed got a 119, to universities that waste federal tax dollars this way?” which was the second percentile. The study section specifically highlighted the importance of this kind of research to cancer control. “I don’t understand what the problem is.” ® The Cancer Letter is a registered trademark. An Echo of Tempest Past Editor & Publisher: Paul Goldberg Glantz is no ordinary researcher. He has pioneered Associate Editor: Conor Hale the field of systematic analysis of tobacco industry Reporter: Matthew Bin Han Ong documents. Editorial, Subscriptions and Customer Service: Now, scientists all over the world sift through such 202-362-1809 Fax: 202-379-1787 documents. Altogether, the UCSF library lists 656 peer PO Box 9905, Washington DC 20016 reviewed journal papers based on analysis of tobacco General Information: www.cancerletter.com industry documents. This isn’t the first time NIH has been criticized for Subscription $405 per year worldwide. ISSN 0096-3917. Published 46 times a year by The Cancer Letter Inc. Other supporting Glantz’s work. than "fair use" as specified by U.S. copyright law, none of In 1995, an article in The Washington Times the content of this publication may be reproduced, stored in quoted a spokesman for former Rep. John Porter a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form (electronic, (R-Ill.), then chair of the Labor, HHS and Education photocopying, or facsimile) without prior written permis- Appropriations Subcommittee, objecting to NCI funding sion of the publisher. Violators risk criminal penalties and a Glantz project of tracking campaign contributions damages. Founded Dec. 21, 1973, by Jerry D. Boyd. from tobacco companies and correlating them with The Cancer Letter • March 8, 2013 Vol. 39 No. 10 • Page 2 pro-tobacco measures. connections are exposed and lose their value to the “NCI has gone beyond its mandate to conduct tobacco companies. clinical and behavioral research regarding cancer,” the “By identifying and analyzing these industry staff member said. tactics, our research helps U.S. and global tobacco public At that time, the controversy was resolved when health policy makers anticipate and counter industry the American Cancer Society stepped in to provide activities, increasing the likelihood that tobacco control funding for the small portion of the grant that offended initiatives will succeed in protecting human health. Porter. The NIH study section, which gave the grant the The grant, which focuses on state and local score of 119, wrote: policymaking, was otherwise untouched, and is now in “This outstanding application from a stellar team the 19th year of being funded. (That action prompted an of investigators focuses on a highly significant public investigation by Glantz and resulted in a 2009 paper in health issue in its plan to examine the tobacco industry’s the American Journal of Public Health.) efforts to influence the conduct, interpretation and In 1995, Porter was a friend NIH could ill-afford dissemination of science in order to oppose tobacco to lose. control policies. Now, as NIH faces 5.1 percent or $1.553 billion “The investigators also plan to analyze tobacco in sequestration cuts, it needs friends even more than it industry marketing and advertising strategies targeting did 17 years ago, and the prospect of upsetting an entire women and young adults in order to inform future efforts segment of the Republican Party would be remarkably to develop potential counter-strategies. The investigators unwelcome. have been extremely productive in the prior project Examination of tobacco documents is research, not period and have produced around 60 publications. politics, Glantz said. It’s an assessment of the industry’s “The proposed methodology is sound and based efforts to thwart tobacco control measures. on best practices for this kind of inquiry. Indeed, “One of the important points of this research is the investigator has contributed significantly to the that in order to control cancer and heart disease and methodology, and the development and maintenance of other bad things that tobacco causes, you have to reduce the documents library is cutting edge. Triangulation with smoking, and in order to reduce smoking you have to other sources of data, such as interviews, government understand what the tobacco companies are doing to records, and media coverage will be used to validate try to prevent the implementation of effective tobacco and contextualize the information.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Amy Elizabeth Herr
    Amy E. Herr, Ph.D. John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Professor Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, CA 94720 BERKELEY [email protected] | herrlab.berkeley.edu EDUCATION 01/98 – 09/02 STANFORD UNIVERSITY Stanford, CA Doctor of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow “Isoelectric Focusing for Multi-Dimensional Separations in Microfluidic Devices” Advisors: Profs. Thomas W. Kenny & Juan G. Santiago 09/97 – 01/99 STANFORD UNIVERSITY Stanford, CA Master of Science, Mechanical Engineering National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow 09/93 – 06/97 CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (CALTECH) Pasadena, CA Bachelor of Science, Engineering & Applied Science with Honors APPOINTMENTS 07/19 – now JOHN D. & CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 07/14 – 07/19 LESTER JOHN & LYNNE DEWAR LLOYD DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR (5-year appointment), UC BERKELEY 07/12 – 07/15 ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, BIOENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 07/07 – 07/12 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, BIOENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY UC BERKELEY/UCSF GRADUATE GROUP IN BIOENGINEERING Directing a research group focused on design and study of microanalytical tools and methods that exploit scale-dependent physics & chemistry to address questions in the biosciences and biomedicine. Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator (2017-21), National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (2020-23), Faculty Director of Bakar Faculty Fellows Program (2016-now), Co-Convener of Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Life Sciences (2019-22), BioE Vice-chair for Engagement (2016- now), Director’s Council for Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation, Board Member of Chemical & Biological Microsystems Society (2013-19; Awards Chair 2016-18), Director of Bioengineering Immersion Experience (2012-22; NIH R25).
    [Show full text]
  • Patrick J. H. Bradley
    (415) 734-2745 Patrick J. H. Bradley Gladstone Institutes, GIDB [email protected] 1650 Owens Street Pronouns: he/him/his Bioinformatics Fellow San Francisco, CA 94158 Current Position ······················································································· 2013— J. David Gladstone Institutes at UCSF Bioinformatics Fellow, Prof. Katherine S. Pollard Lab Academic History ····················································································· 2012—13 Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Olga G. Troyanskaya Lab 2005—12 Dept. of Molecular Biology, Princeton University Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Specialization in Quantitative and Computational Biology Thesis: Inferring Metabolic Regulation from High-Throughput Data Advisors: Prof. Joshua D. Rabinowitz, Prof. Olga G. Troyanskaya Committee: Prof. Ned S. Wingreen, Prof. David Botstein 2005 Dept. of Biology, Harvard College A.B. in Biology Peer-Reviewed Publications ·········································································· 1. Patrick H. Bradley, Katherine S. Pollard. “phylogenize: correcting for phylogeny reveals genes associated with microbial distributions.” Bioinformatics, 2019; btz722.∗;z 2. Patrick H. Bradley, Patrick A. Gibney, David Botstein, Olga G. Troyanskaya, Joshua D. Rabinowitz. “Minor isozymes tailor yeast metabolism to carbon availability.” mSystems, 2019; 4:e00170-18.∗;y 3. Patrick H. Bradley, Stephen Nayfach, Katherine S. Pollard. “Phylogeny-corrected identification
    [Show full text]
  • Research Grants
    RESEARCH GRANTS 1 HDF RESEARCH GRANTS We like the philosophy of the Hereditary Disease Foundation that monies raised go directly to support research and that scientists from around the world “are encouraged to collaborate and share their work. “ We’ve devoted ourselves to being supporters and research partners, and we have not been disappointed. The research is vibrant with possibilities. Sandy Fox Member, Board of Directors Hereditary Disease Foundation 1 HDF RESEARCH GRANTS Osama Al-Dalahmah, MD, DPhil Anna Pluciennik, PhD Columbia University, New York, NY Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA Cheryl Arrowsmith, PhD Paul Ranum, PhD University of Toronto, Canada Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA Anne Ast, PhD Piere Rodriguez-Aliaga, PhD Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Berlin, Germany Jennie C. L. Roy, PhD Kristina Becanovic, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Abdellatif Benraiss, PhD David M. Sabatini, MD, PhD University of Rochester, Rochester, NY Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Veronica Ines Brito, PhD University of Barcelona Charlene Smith-Geater, PhD Instituto de Neurosciencias, Spain University of California, Irvine, CA Lauren Byrne, PhD Joan Steffan, PhD University College London (UCL), England University of California, Irvine, CA Amit Laxmikant Deshmukh, PhD Xiao Sun, PhD The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD Leslie Thompson, PhD Gladstone Institutes University of California, Irvine, CA University of California, San Francisco, CA Nicholas Todd, PhD Brent Fitzwalter, PhD Brigham and Women’s Hospital Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Ali Khoshnan, PhD Ray Truant, PhD California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA McMaster University, Ontario, Canada Ryan Lim, PhD Jean Paul G.
    [Show full text]
  • Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV Infection Integrated with Municipal- and Community-Based Sexual Health Services
    Research Original Investigation Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV Infection Integrated With Municipal- and Community-Based Sexual Health Services Albert Y. Liu, MD, MPH; Stephanie E. Cohen, MD, MPH; Eric Vittinghoff, PhD; Peter L. Anderson, PharmD; Susanne Doblecki-Lewis, MD; Oliver Bacon, MD, MPH; Wairimu Chege, MD, MPH; Brian S. Postle, BS; Tim Matheson, PhD; K. Rivet Amico, PhD; Teri Liegler, PhD; M. Keith Rawlings, MD; Nikole Trainor, MPH; Robert Wilder Blue, MSW; Yannine Estrada, PhD; Megan E. Coleman, FNP; Gabriel Cardenas, MPH; Daniel J. Feaster, PhD; Robert Grant, MD, MPH; Susan S. Philip, MD, MPH; Richard Elion, MD; Susan Buchbinder, MD; Michael A. Kolber, PhD, MD Invited Commentary page 85 IMPORTANCE Several randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of Supplemental content at preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) jamainternalmedicine.com acquisition. Little is known about adherence to the regimen, sexual practices, and overall effectiveness when PrEP is implemented in clinics that treat sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and community-based clinics serving men who have sex with men (MSM). OBJECTIVE To assess PrEP adherence, sexual behaviors, and the incidence of STIs and HIV infection in a cohort of MSM and transgender women initiating PrEP in the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Demonstration project conducted from October 1, 2012, through February 10, 2015 (last date of follow-up), among 557 MSM and transgender women in 2 STI clinics in San Francisco, California, and Miami, Florida, and a community health center in Washington, DC. Data were analyzed from December 18, 2014, through August 8, 2015. INTERVENTIONS A combination of daily, oral tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine was provided free of charge for 48 weeks.
    [Show full text]
  • Clinical Efficacy and Increased Donor Strain Engraftment After Antibiotic
    medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.07.21261556; this version posted August 10, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license . Clinical efficacy and increased donor strain engraftment after antibiotic pretreatment in a randomized trial of ulcerative colitis patients receiving fecal microbiota transplant Byron J. Smith A,B (ORCID: 0000-0002-0182-404X) Yvette Piceno C (ORCID: 0000-0002-7915-4699) Martin Zydek D Bing Zhang D (ORCID: 0000-0002-3377-0963) Lara Aboud Syriani E Jonathan P. Terdiman D Zain Kassam F Averil Ma G (ORCID: 0000-0003-4817-1258) Susan V. Lynch D,H (ORCID: 0000-0001-5695-7336) Katherine S. Pollard A,B,I,* (ORCID: 0000-0002-9870-6196) Najwa El-Nachef D,* A The Gladstone Institute of Datascience and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA B Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA C Symbiome, Inc., San Francisco, CA D Division of Gastroenterology, University of California, San Francisco, CA E College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA F Finch Therapeutics, Somerville, MA G Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA H Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA I Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA * Corresponding authors: [email protected] [email protected] NOTE: This preprint reports new research that has not been certified by peer review and should not be used to guide clinical practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Non-Confidential Report.Pdf
    2009 Annual Report I. Table of Contents Pages Cover 1 Table of Contents 2 Overview of the Activities of the Taube-Koret Center for HD Research 3–5 Oversight of the Taube-Koret Center for HD Research Biographies of our Advisors 6 Report from Dr. Pagno Paganetti 7–10 Report from Dr. Norbert Bischofberger 11–13 Publications and Presentations of the Taube-Koret Center for HD Research Bibliography of Publications 14 HD-related Academic Seminars 15 HD-related Industry Consultations and Seminars 16 Taube-Koret Center for HD Research and the Community Press releases 17–22 News stories 23–33 The Taube-Koret Center for HD Research and 34 HD Families Appendix of Publications 35–113 2 II. Overview of the Activities of the Taube-Koret Center for Huntington’s Disease Research for 2009 We are pleased to provide this annual report describing the activities of the Taube-Koret Center for Huntington’s Disease Research during 2009. The Center was established in 2009 with a joint gift from Taube Philanthropies and the Koret Foundation. It has been a very exciting year. I am delighted to say that we exceeded all five of the scientific and financial goals we set for the first year of operation. Our progress in each area is described in detail below. Goal 1. Establish the Taube-Koret Center for Huntington’s Disease Our initial goal was to establish a Center focused on developing therapeutics for Huntington’s disease (HD). We proposed to develop an infrastructure that would be capable of identifying and validating drug targets for HD and of discovering compounds that modify HD and have the potential to become drugs.
    [Show full text]
  • Millie Hughes-Fulford: Scientist in Space
    Millie Hughes-Fulford: Scientist in Space A resource for using QUEST video in the classroom Watch it online http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/millie-hughes-fulford-scientist-in-space/ | 9:59 minutes QUEST SUBJECTS PROGRAM NOTES NASA’s space program became a celebrated endeavor during the successful Moon Life Biology landing in 1969, but few people link NASA and medical research. At the inception of Science Health NASA’s Apollo Program in the 1960s, scientists discovered a link between gravity and Environment human health. As the government space program drew to an end in 2011, we visited former astronaut Millie Hughes-Fulford, the first woman to travel into space as a working Earth Geology scientist. She conducts experiments in space to further medical understanding. Science Climate Weather In this segment you’ll find… Astronomy .Physical Physics ۞ information on medical experiments done in space Science Chemistry Engineering ۞ a description of the immune system and the importance of T cells. an explanation of gravity’s influence on the human ۞ NEXT immune system. GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS TOPIC BACKGROUND High School At the time of first Apollo space missions, in the 1960s, half the astronauts became ill Disciplinary Core Ideas during their flight or soon after coming home. Scientists realized that the pull of Earth’s LS1.A: Structure and gravity helped keep the human body healthy. In a zero gravity environment, the human Function body experiences alterations at the cellular level that can lead to changes in muscle ESS1.B Earth and the Solar tissue, bone loss and problems in the immune system.
    [Show full text]
  • IHV2019 Progress in HIV/AIDS: Challenges in 2020 1 Contents
    IHV2019 Progress in HIV/AIDS: Challenges in 2020 1 Contents CONTENTS Click on any content title to link to that section. 03 Program Information and Acknowledgements 14 Events Schedule 16 Speaker Index 20 Abstract Index 22 Poster Index IHV2019 Progress in HIV/AIDS: Challenges in 2020 2 Welcome IHV2019: 21st Annual International Meeting of the Institute of Human Virology Dear Colleagues and Friends, You are invited to join us on Thursday, October 3 and Friday, October 4 for IHV2019, “Progress in HIV/AIDS: Challenges in 2020.” On Day 1, this year’s meeting will focus on Zero Transmission with sessions on DHHS Responses to HIV/AIDS Epidemic; HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategies; and HIV/AIDS Epidemiology. Day 2 will focus on Opioid Intersection and include sessions on Epidemiology of the HIV-Opioid Intersection and Closing the Gap. Early stage investigators have been invited to submit research abstracts for poster presentation during our poster session on Thursday evening. This year’s meeting will honor Warner C. Green, MD, PhD, as IHV Lifetime Achievement Awardee for Scientifc Contributions. Dr. Greene, who is Director of the Gladstone Center for HIV Cure Research, is most known for his groundbreaking research studies on human retroviruses beginning with HTLV-1 and then on to HIV, as well as the founding and Emeritus Director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology. We will also honor IHV Lifetime Achievement Awardees for Public Service, The Honorable Parris Glendening, former Maryland Governor and The Honorable Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Maryland Lieutenant Governor. In 1996, both were instrumental in establishing the Institute of Human Virology and have remained strong advocates of its research and clinical efforts since its inception.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Active Members by Class
    MEMBERS List of Active Members by Class October 31, 2017 The list of Academy Members is divided into two categories: Fellows and International Honorary Members. In each category, the Members are arranged by Class and Section. The number after each name indicates the year of election. The symbol * designates Members elected in 2017. An alphabetical index of Members in both categories begins on page 211. FELLOWS – 4,980 i:1 i:1 i:1 Bertozzi, Andrea Louise ’10 Cheeger, Jeff ’06 Engquist, Björn ’15 University of California, Courant Institute of Mathematical University of Texas at Austin Class I–1,246 Los Angeles Sciences, New York University Eskin, Alex ’11 Mathematical and *Bhargava, Manjul ’17 Chernoff, Herman ’74 University of Chicago Princeton University Harvard University Etingof, Pavel ’16 Physical Sciences Bickel, Peter J. ’86 Chorin, Alexandre Joel ’91 Massachusetts Institute University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley of Technology I:1–Mathematics, Birman, Joan S.L. ’12 Christ, F. Michael ’07 Evans, Lawrence Craig ’03 Barnard College University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley Applied Mathematics, Bloch, Spencer Janney ’09 Christodoulou, Demetrios ’01 Fefferman, Charles Louis ’72 and Statistics–219 University of Chicago Eidgenössische Technische Princeton University Bombieri, Enrico ’79 Hochschule Zürich, Switzerland Fefferman, Robert A. ’09 *Aizenman, Michael ’17 Institute for Advanced Study, Colding, Tobias ’08 University of Chicago Princeton University Princeton, NJ Massachusetts Institute Fleming, Wendell Helms ’95 Aldous, David ’04 Borcherds, Richard Ewen ’00 of Technology Brown University University of California, Berkeley University of California, Berkeley Constantin, Peter S. ’10 Frenkel, Edward ’14 Andrews, George E.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert W. Mahley, M.D., Ph.D
    Robert W. Mahley, M.D., Ph.D. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Robert W. Mahley, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally known expert on heart disease, cholesterol metabolism and, more recently, Alzheimer’s disease, is president of the J. David Gladstone Institutes, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and professor of pathology and medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. After receiving his B.S. from Maryville College (Maryville, Tennessee) in 1963, he went on to complete his medical and doctorate degrees at Vanderbilt University in 1970 and a pathology internship in 1971. Following his training at Vanderbilt, he joined the staff of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and in 1975, he became head of the Comparative Atherosclerosis and Arterial Metabolism Section, Laboratory of Experimental Atherosclerosis. In 1979 Dr. Mahley was recruited by the Gladstone Trustees to San Francisco to create the Gladstone Institutes, and he founded the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease. As president of the J. David Gladstone Institutes, Dr. Mahley has been instrumental in guiding the growth of the institutes with the addition of the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology in 1992 and the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in 1998. Most recently, he has worked with the Gladstone Trustees to build a new laboratory facility that now houses all three institutes and allows for future expansion and scientific growth at the Mission Bay campus of UCSF.
    [Show full text]
  • UCSF Mission Bay Is a Health Sciences Campus for Discovery, Education, and Health. It Is On
    3333 California Street Suite 103, Box 0462 San Francisco, CA Corinna Kaarlela, News Director 94143-0462 Source: Kristen Bole (415) 476-2557 tel: 415/476-2557 E-mail: [email protected] fax: 415/476-3541 Web: www.ucsf.edu FOR YOUR INFORMATION September 2010 FACT SHEET: UCSF MISSION BAY CAMPUS UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only campus in the 10-campus UC system devoted exclusively to the health sciences. Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, is UCSF Chancellor. Overview of UCSF Mission Bay: UCSF Mission Bay is a health sciences campus for discovery, education, and health. It is one of three UCSF campus sites; the others are located at Parnassus Heights and Mount Zion. Significance to the City: UCSF Mission Bay is the anchor of the entire Mission Bay redevelopment project, and was launched as San Francisco's largest urban development since the building of Golden Gate Park. The city's Mission Bay development covers 303 acres of land between the San Francisco Bay and Interstate 280. UCSF Size and Location: A 57-acre site, UCSF Mission Bay is located near the S.F. Giants baseball park, about one mile south of San Francisco’s Financial District. About 2.2 acres are set aside for the San Francisco Unified School District as a public school site. The Land: UCSF Mission Bay transforms land once occupied by old warehouses and rail yards. The initial land parcel included 29.2 acres donated by Catellus Development Corporation and 13.2 acres donated by the City of San Francisco.
    [Show full text]
  • Reduction of Tau Protein Improves Symptoms in Model of Severe Childhood Epilepsy
    Reduction of tau protein improves symptoms in model of severe childhood epilepsy Protein implicated in Alzheimer’s disease has important treatment potential in genetic form of epilepsy EMBARGOED UNTIL 8AM ET, AUGUST 13, 2014 SAN FRANCISCO, CA—August 13, 2014—Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes have shown that reducing brain levels of the protein tau effectively blocks the development of disease in a mouse model of Dravet syndrome, a severe intractable form of childhood epilepsy. This therapeutic strategy not only suppressed seizure activity and premature death, but also improved cognitive and behavioral abnormalities that can accompany this syndrome. Previous studies from this group have shown that lowering tau levels reduces abnormal brain activity in models of Alzheimer’s disease, but this is the first demonstration that tau reduction may also be beneficial in intractable genetic epilepsy. “It would really be wonderful if tau reduction turned out to be useful not only in Alzheimer’s disease, but also in other disabling neurological conditions for which there currently are no effective treatments,” said senior author Lennart Mucke, MD, the director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and a professor of neurology and neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. “We suspected that this approach might be beneficial in Dravet, but we couldn’t be sure because of the severity of this syndrome and the corresponding model. We are thrilled that our strategy was so effective, but a lot more work is needed to advance it into the clinic.” Dravet syndrome is one of the most challenging forms of childhood epilepsy, resulting from a specific genetic mutation that affects sodium channels in the brain.
    [Show full text]