Dr. Colleen Clancy, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics, has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship, the oldest fellows program in the United States.
Dr. Clancy, along with four other Cornell faculty members, are among 116 young scientists and economists selected as 2005 Sloan Fellows, representing faculty from 54 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
Dr. Clancy received her bachelor's degree in mathematics and biology from Union College in 1994 and her Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics at Case Western Reserve University in 2001. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University from 2001-2003 and appointed an associate research scientist in pharmacology in 2003. Dr. Clancy joined the Cornell faculty in 2004. She was profiled in The Chronicle of Higher Education's annual "Rising Stars: Ph.D.s to Watch" in 2001 and was the recipient of a Junior Investigator Research Grant from the National Epilepsy Foundation in 2004-2005.
Dr. Clancy's past research has focused on developing mathematical models of genetic mutations in cardiac ion channels to examine the mechanisms behind arrhythmia. In a natural extension of focus, she is now studying analogous models of genetic mutation in the brain's neuronal channels, examining how they may contribute to epilepsy. She is engaged in developing more detailed models of hippocampal neurons to understand basic mechanisms of excitability and inhibition of nerve impulses. Her long-term goal is to improve understanding of genetic defects and ionic mechanisms within excitable systems.
Sloan Fellows are engaged in research at the frontiers of science and mathematics. The Fellowship aims to support young scientists and economists in developing independent research projects at pivotal stages in their academic careers.
Dr. Rubin Cooper
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is the oldest fellows program in the United States. The fellowships, totaling $5.2 million this year, allow scientists to continue their research with awards of $45,000 each over two years.
For more information on Dr. Clancy's research, visit http://physiology.med.cornell.edu/faculty/clancy/index.html.
Dr. Rubin Cooper, professor of clinical pediatrics, has been appointed to serve as the first David Wallace-Starr Foundation Professor of Clinical Pediatric Cardiology. The position was created with an endowment of two gifts totaling $2 million from the Starr Foundation and the Jean and David W. Wallace Foundation.
Dr. Cooper joined the Medical College in 1991 as associate professor of clinical pediatrics and became professor of clinical pediatrics in 1993. From 1991 to 1999, he was chief of the division of pediatric cardiology at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. He became director of pediatric cardiology at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center in 1999 and also serves as associate director of the pediatric cardiovascular center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
Dr. Cooper received his medical degree from New York Medical College and his undergraduate degree from Yeshiva University. Following residency and fellowship training in pediatric cardiology at the University of Rochester and Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., he went to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where he was an instructor in pediatric cardiology from 1975 to 1977. He then joined SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York, where he served as co-director of the division of pediatric cardiology. In 1991, he left SUNY Downstate to become chief of pediatric cardiology at North Shore University Hospital and also joined the faculty at Cornell University Medical College.
Weill Cornell Medical College has established the Jerome J. DeCosse, M.D. Distinguished Professorship of Surgery in honor of the late Dr. DeCosse, a noted surgeon who served on the faculty from 1978 until his death in 2001. Dr. Jeffrey Milsom, professor of surgery, has been appointed to serve as the first DeCosse Professor.
Dr. Jeffrey Milsom
A leading expert on colon cancer, Dr. DeCosse was the Lewis Thomas University Professor at Weill Cornell and also served as vice chairman of the Department of Surgery. He authored or co-authored more than 250 publications related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of colon cancer. "Dr. DeCosse was an outstanding role model for his colleagues on the faculty as well as medical students and house staff," said Dr. Antonio Gotto, dean of the Medical College.
Funding for the DeCosse Professorship was provided by gifts totaling $2 million from more than 100 donors among Dr. DeCosse's family and friends. Spearheading the fundraising initiative were his wife, Sheila, and his brother Cy DeCosse.
Dr. Milsom, who is chief of the section of colon and rectal surgery in the Department of Surgery, joined Weill Cornell in 2001. Previously, he was the Turrell Professor of Endoscopic Surgery at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York; director of research and co-director of minimally invasive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic; and with Michigan State University as director of surgical research at the Ferguson Clinic in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he had completed his fellowship training in colon and rectal surgery. Dr. Milsom received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and did his house staff training at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and the University of Virginia Medical Center.
Photos by Weill Cornell Art & Photo.