Dr. Kathryn A. Cunningham, director of the Center for Addiction Research and professor and vice-chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, recently was chosen chair-elect of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). The CPDD has been in existence for 75 years and is the longest standing group in the U.S. addressing problems of drug dependence and abuse.
With an elected membership of approximately 700 scientists worldwide, CPDD serves as an interface among governmental, industrial and academic communities, maintaining liaisons with regulatory and research agencies as well as educational, treatment, and prevention facilities in the drug abuse field. It also functions as a collaborating center of the World Health Organization. The international journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence is sponsored by CPDD.
Cunningham currently directs research and training in the neurobiology of drug abuse. Author of more than 75 publications, her research has been funded for 15 years by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and she is a recipient of a NIDA Independent Scientist Award. She also is the director of a NIDA Training Grant and has mentored more than 20 pre- and post-doctoral students in addiction research. Cunningham served on NIH study sections and is an editorial board member for Neuropsychopharmacology and Behavioral Neuroscience. She was awarded the 2001 Distinguished Faculty Research Award at UTMB and named the 2000 Hedwig van Ameringen designate at the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women and was honored with the 2001 Distinguished Faculty Research Award at UTMB. She serves on the board of directors for the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Women's Program in Galveston, and lectures on drug abuse and addiction at community treatment programs and in the Chemical Dependency Counseling Program at Galveston College.
Dr. Shawn D. Newlands, chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology, recently received the Edmund Prince Fowler Award from Council of the Triological Society. The award was given in recognition of Newlands basic research, "Relationships of Static and Dynamic Mechanisms in Vestibular Compensation."
Dr. Karen D. Wagner recently received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the State University of New York and the College at Oneonta. This degree will be conferred upon her at their commencement ceremony on May 22, 2004.
Dr. Wagner is the Clarence Ross Miller Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as well as director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the department.
Dr. Ping Wu, a member of the Marine Biomedical Institute, is the first recipient of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Erica Nader Award. Wu received the award May 15 at the ASIA annual meeting in Denver Colorado. This award is an unrestricted grant to an investigator doing breakthrough research in the field of spinal cord regeneration.
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