Highlights

The Food and Drug Administration called for putting new limits on powerful and long-lasting bronchial drugs that millions of Americans use to treat asthma – a move designed to lower the risk of complications leading to hospitalization or even death. Serpil Erzurum, MD, Chair, Pathobiology, comments in the LA Times.

Laura Nagy, PhD, Pathobiology, is featured in the Winter 2010 issue of Cleveland Clinic Magazine for her research showing that alcohol consumption affects the liver much sooner than previously thought.

Cleveland Clinic has received a $9.2 million federal grant to continue to study how inflammation affects heart disease. Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, Head, Preventive Cardiology, will lead the study. Dennis Stuehr, PhD, Pathobiology, will lead Project 3. Read the story in the Plain Dealer and MedCity News.

Serpil Erzurum, MD, Chair, Pathobiology, has been elected Chair of the American Thoracic Society's Assembly on Allergy, Immunology, and Inflammation.

Fred Hsieh, MD, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, was awarded Teacher of the Year for his excellence in resident and fellow education. For a complete list of the award winners, see page 4 of Alumni Connection.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Office of Communications is highlighting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investment and scientists on its Recovery Act Web site. Serpil Erzurum, MD, a recipient of ARRA funding, is a featured researcher. Find Dr. Erzurum on NHLBI and the Recovery Act or under Meet the Scientists.

Kay Stelmach, RN, Nurse Manager of the Clinical Research Unit (CRU), is the first Research Nurse to receive the 2009 Maria and Sam Miller Professional Excellence Award for Cleveland Clinic RN of the Year. Read more in the Fall 2009 Research STAR Tracker.

Respiratory Exchange, research and news from The Cleveland Clinic Respiratory Institute, features Serpil Erzurum, MD, Daniel Culver, DO, Mitchell Olman, MD, Kenneth McCurry, MD and Fred Hsieh, MD. Read more in the Fall 2009 Issue of Respiratory Exchange.

Serpil Erzurum, MD, Chair, Pathobiology, was awarded $177,761 over 1 year for "A Phase II Study in Patients with Asthma to Assess the Safety and Immunogenicity of an Unadjuvanted Novartis H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Administered at Two Dose Levels" as a supplement to her current R01 grant "Redox Determinants of Severe Asthma." Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute/NIH. Dr. Erzurum also received $415,578 over 2 years for "Imaging Inflammation in Asthma." This award was a challenge grant issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Satish Kalhan, MD, Pathobiology, was awarded $730,681 for 2 years for "Sulfur Amino Acid Metabolism in NAFLD." The grant was funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and distributed via the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Laura Nagy, PhD, Pathobiology, was awarded $1,512,735 over 5 years for "Alcoholic Liver Disease: Biochemical, cellular and systemic responses to ethanol" (P20, Exploratory/Developmental Alcohol Research Center). Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/NIH.

Serpil Erzurum, MD is the study coordinator for the Cleveland Clinic study that is testing the H1N1 vaccine in asthma patients. Read the full article in the October 20 Cleveland Plain Dealer and Chicago-Tribune, in LRI News & Notations or watch the video on Fox 8 news.

Arthur McCullough Jr., MD, Chairman of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in the Digestive Disease Institute, will be the first to hold the Pier C. and Renee A. Borra Family Endowed Chair in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Established by the Borra Family Foundation, the chair supports the work of the Chairman of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology within the Digestive Disease Institute. Read more in MedCity News.

Surgeon Kenneth McCurry, MD is one of four lung transplant surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic who have collectively performed more lung transplant surgeries in a single year than any other hospital ever has in the world. Read full article in October 16 Cleveland Plain Dealer and MedCity News.

Carol de la Motte, PhD has been awarded a five year grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study hyaluronan regulation of microbial host defense of the intestine.

Daniel Culver, DO, Pathobiology, was awarded $120,235 over a continuation year for "Matrix Metalloproteinases and PPAR Gamma in Sarcoidosis" (K23). Funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute/NIH.

Serpil Erzurum, MD, Chair, Pathobiology, was awarded $750,000, to collaborate with experts in nuclear medicine and physics to develop an innovative way for clinicians to observe changes in the lungs of patients during an asthma attack. Funded by the American Asthma Foundation. Her collaborator is Frank DiFilippo, PhD, Nuclear Medicine/Imaging Institute and Biomedical Engineering.

Claudio Fiocchi, MD, Pathobiology, was awarded $195,136 over a continuation year for "Role of Angiogenesis in IBD Pathogenesis" (R01). Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH.

Laura Nagy, PhD, Pathobiology, was awarded $218,475 over a continuation year for "Complement and ethanol-induced liver injury" (R01). Funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism/NIH.

Raed A. Dweik, MD (PULMCC’96), of Cleveland Clinic’s Respiratory Institute, has been asked to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board of Mid Infra-Red Technologies for Health and the Environment, a research center based in Princeton University and funded by the National Science Foundation. He will provide advice regarding the technology involved in human breath analysis.

Patrick Gatmaitan, MD, in the laboratory of John Kirwan, PhD, won the Karl Storz Endoscopy-America Bariatric Fellow Award for his work on insulin secretion after bariatric surgery. Dr. Gatmaitan presented his work at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, held June 21-26, 2009, in Dallas, TX. The title of Dr. Gatmaitan’s presentation was “Pancreatic islet isolation in a rat model shows increased insulin secretion after gastric bypass.” Co-authors on the study included H. Huang, S. Catinchi, R. Fouad, C Goldblatt, B. Chand, P. Schauer, J.P. Kirwan, and S.Brethauer.

Christine McDonald, PhD, has been awarded $1,025,000 over 5 years for "Autophagy and Nod2 Function in Crohn's Disease" (R01). Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases/NIH.

Laura Nagy, PhD, was Co-Organizer and Symposia Chair for the 32nd Annual RSA Scientific Conference of the Research Society on Alcoholism, “Adipose talks, does liver listen?,” held June 20 - 24, 2009, in San Diego, CA; she spoke on “Complement and ethanol-induced liver injury.”

A Friend in Platelets? Not When It Comes to Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Carol de la Motte, PhD discusses her research on the role of platelets in IBD in the June 2009 edition of the LRI News & Notations.

Satish Kalhan, MD is a Pioneer in Metabolism. Currently, his focus is Neonatology. Read more in the May 2009 edition of the LRI News & Notations.

Michele Pritchard, PhD was awarded a NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00) for her project entitled: Liver fibrosis and ethanol: role of the transcription factor, Egr-1. "Currently, liver transplantation is the only cure for end stage liver disease. Our studies will contribute to our understanding of fibrosis and help to define new ways to heal fibrotic lesions in the liver."

WHO’S WHO AT The American Thoracic Society features Serpil Erzurum, MD, "a translational researcher with a passion for discovery and a knack for perseverance." Read more in the May Issue of ATS News

On Friday, May 8 2009, John Kirwan, PhD, FACSM, Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine will moderate the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute's 4th Annual Obesity Research Day. For more information, please see the Agenda and Registration.

Florian Rieder, MD in the laboratory of Claudio Fiocchi, MD is a 2009 recipient of a Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Research Fellowship award.

Could Alcoholic Liver Disease Start Earlier Than Previously Thought? Find out how researchers in Dr. Laura Nagy's lab are working to answer this question in the April 2009 edition of Lerner Research Institute News and Notations.

Dan Culver, DO (Critical Care Medicine), Raed Dweik, MD (Critical Care Medicine), JP Achkar, MD (Gastroenterology), Art McCullough, MD (Hepatology) and Fred Hsieh, MD have all been selected as "Best Doctors in Cleveland" for 2009. Cleveland Magazine – Best doctors 2009

Raed Dweik, MD, Respiratory Institute, has been asked to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board of Mid InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE), a research center based in Princeton University and funded by the National Science Foundation. He will provide advice regarding the technology involved in human breath analysis.

Suzy Comhair, PhD received the 2008 Cleveland Clinic Innovator Award for human lung cell culture.

Karen Kelly, PhD (Kirwan lab) received 1st place in the Clinical Investigator division of the Bumpus Junior Investigator Awards at the Cleveland Clinic Annual Research Day. The title of her presentation was THE EFFECTS OF AEROBIC EXERCISE TRAINING AND DIET ON PLASMA PYY, GIP AND LEPTIN IN OBESE ADULTS.

Dennis Stuehr, PhD - NIH RO1 Grant was awarded $1,125,000 to continue his research project entitled "Control mechanisms of the nitric oxide synthases". Dr. Stuehr is also a Keynote lecturer at the 9th UK Nitric Oxide Forum Meeting held August 2008 at Guy's Campus, King's College London, The title of his presentation is: Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer: How might NO control the biological functions of the NO synthases?

Kewal Asosingh, PhD (Erzurum Lab) was awarded an International American Thoracic Society/Pulmonary Hypertension Association Grant. It is a grant for two years (50.000$/year).

Raed Dweik, MD was recognized by the Internal Medicine residents as the Teacher of the Year and the Best Teacher at Senior Morning Report. Raed has been the Internal Medicine Teacher of the Year for 4 out of the past 5 years.

Raed Dweik, MD proposal on Breath Analysis was fully funded by the Third Frontier Awards. Raed's Cleveland Clinic team, in collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center, The Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University and Makel Engineering, Inc., was recommended for nearly $3.8 million to develop a nitric oxide sensor that will enable asthma patients to monitor their asthma at home. The proposal aims to re-develop a sensor used in the aerospace industry, and the project’s emphasis will be on testing and commercializing sensors already produced in Ohio.

Ashis Biswas, PhD (Stuehr Lab) was awarded an American Heart Association Postdoctoral fellowship.

Satish Kalhan, PhD and Richard Hanson, PhD are to be recognized with the “Lifetime Achievement Award in Research” from The Diabetes Association of greater Cleveland on October 16, 2008.

Fred Hsieh, MD has been awarded a ‘Howard Hughes Physician Scientist Award’. This is the first HHMI individual award ever at Lerner Research Institute.