Dr. Robin Davisson elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Dr. Robin L. Davisson, The Andrew Dickson White Professor of Molecular Physiology in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Weill Cornell Medical College, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Dr. Davisson was elected for her distinguished contributions to understanding how hypertension develops.
Dr. Davisson, who holds the same endowed professorship in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, focuses on the basic mechanisms of function, control, and signaling in the cardiovascular system in health and disease. Her investigations employ the interdisciplinary approach of functional genomics, which melds physiology and molecular biology. Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind hypertension, heart failure, and the pregnancy-induced cardiovascular syndrome pre-eclampsia are the main focuses of her research efforts.
Dr. Davisson's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, and private industry for more than two decades.
An additional seven Cornell University scientists were elected fellows. They are: Harold G. Craighead, the Charles W. Lake Jr. Professor of Engineering and professor of applied and engineering physics; James J. Giovannoni, adjunct professor of plant biology and a researcher at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell; Carla P. Gomes, professor of computer science and director of the Institute for Computational Sustainability; Stewart M. Gray, professor of plant pathology; Donald L. Hartill, professor of physics; John D. Helmann, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology; and Patricia A. Johnson, professor and chair of the Department of Animal Science.
This year 388 members have been named fellows by AAAS for their efforts to advance science or its applications. New fellows will be announced in the Nov. 29 issue of Science and presented with a certificate and a rosette pin on Feb.15 at the 2014 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. Fellows are nominated by peers in their fields.
Additional awards and honors
Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of the Department of Genetic Medicine, the Bruce Webster Professor of Internal Medicine, professor of medicine and professor of genetic medicine, has been named a Pioneer Series Award winner for his research on adenoviral vectors and the role in translation of gene therapy to the clinic by a committee of the peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy. The 12 winners were selected for their seminal contributions to the field in the context of a career that has consistently contributed to cell and gene therapy research for an extended period of time.