Recent accolades received by UConn Health and its faculty, staff and students include:
Lakshmi S. Nair, M. Phil., Ph.D., has been elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). At UConn Health she serves as associate professor of orthopedic surgery and associate director for science administration in the Institute for Regenerative Engineering, and also associate professor of biomedical engineering, materials science and engineering at UConn.
Nair was named an NAI Fellow for demonstrating a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Her novel research focuses on the development of new therapies using regenerative biomaterials to enhance tissue repair and regeneration, including innovative ways to regrow musculoskeletal tissue.
“We congratulate Lakshmi on this very well-deserved honor,” says Dr. Jeffrey Seemann, vice president for research at UConn and UConn Health. “We are proud to have her at UConn.”
Nair will be inducted on April 6 during the Sixth Annual Conference of NAI at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. With the election of the 2016 class, she is now one of only 757 NAI Fellows, representing 229 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes.
UConn School of Dental Medicine has been awarded by Special Olympics Connecticut a 2016 Golisano Health Leadership Award of the Special Olympics and its major supporter, The Golisano Foundation.
The award recognizes the dental school’s more than two decades of its faculty, students and staffs efforts in providing oral health services and programs for athletes at the Connecticut Summer and Winter Special Olympics. The Golisano Award honors “an individual or organization that is dedicated to improving the health of people with intellectual disabilities and advancing the health work of Special Olympics.”
On Dec. 7 the dental school’s Special Olympics CT/Special Smiles program’s Dr. Deb Redford-Badwal, clinical director and Matthew Lepowsky, coordinator and dental student accepted the award. This year UConn’s dental school is one of 32 individuals or organizations to receive the award world-wide and one of only two in the field of oral health.
“Congratulations to everyone involved in our Special Olympics activities over the past many years and a special applause to our students and their faculty mentors,” says Dr. Monty MacNeil, dean of UConn School of Dental Medicine.
UConn School of Medicine was honored on Nov. 15 by Connecticut’s House of Representatives for the 20 years of dedicated service by hundreds of physicians across the state who act as preceptors, educators and mentors of their medical students.
The medical school’s Student Continuity Practice (SCP) and Clinical Longitudinal in The Community (CLIC) programs’ participating physicians were recognized by the General Assembly with an official congratulatory citation for helping medical students train in the community and develop their future skills as physicians. The SCP/CLIC program is an integral part of the medical school’s curriculum. Students spend a half day per week in a community practice for 3 years, and students often elect to participate during their fourth year of medical school.
“These community physicians have welcomed students into their practices to teach them the skills vital in caring for others,” reads the citation. “They ensure care for our citizens today and tomorrow by ensuring that Connecticut will always have access to capable and caring physicians.”
Dr. Bruce E. Gould, associate dean for primary care and director of the Connecticut Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program at UConn School of Medicine, has been selected by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell to serve on the Advisory Committee on Interdisciplinary, Community-Based Linkages.
In his new committee role, Gould will advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services about Title VII programs established under the Public Health Service Act of 1944 that help create academic-community partnerships and prepare a workforce to meet the nation’s healthcare needs. In addition, the committee’s work focuses on interprofessional practice and education, among other issues.
Dr. Marja Hurley, professor of medicine and orthopaedics and associate dean of the Health Career Opportunity Programs at UConn School of Medicine, has been appointed a member of the Special Programs Committee of The Endocrine Society. Hurley will begin her three-year term in April 2017.
In her new committee role, Hurley will help the Endocrine Society develop educational activities under its Continuing Medical Education Services program. In addition, she will help review opportunities to develop new educational activities and oversee proposals for industry support.
