VCU news

Virginia Commonwealth University will welcome faculty and recognize four distinguished professors for outstanding accomplishments in the areas of teaching, scholarship, service and overall excellence.

Held annually since 1982, this year’s ceremony will take place on Thursday, Sept. 15, at 3 p.m., at VCU’s W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave. A reception in the Singleton Center lobby will follow Convocation.

This year’s honorees include:

Phillip B. Hylemon, Ph.D., School of Medicine
University Award of Excellence

When Phillip B. Hylemon, professor of microbiology and medicine in the VCU School of Medicine, first came to VCU 34 years ago as a postdoctoral student, his work landscape looked considerably different than it does today.

“Imagine — my office and lab space together were just slightly larger than this room,” Hylemon said, motioning to his modest office. “Now I have over 1,700 square feet of lab space. But it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference back then — motivation and attitude are the most important traits for success. We didn’t know any better so we made the most of it.”

Filling his spacious, state-of-the-art laboratories are scientists and postdoctoral and graduate students who are part of the VCU Lipid Research Group. Together with the late Reno Vlahcevic, Hylemon more than 25 years ago conceived of an interactive research group consisting of basic and physician scientists.

“I was first interested in studying bile acid metabolism in the intestine,” remarked Hylemon. “I met up with Dr. Vlahcevic in late the ’70s and he was interested in bile acid synthesis in the liver. He convinced me to move up and join him in the liver,” he joked.

Drawing on their individual strengths and expertise, the partnership proved to be an important and rewarding one. Hylemon and his colleagues have played a leading role in determining how the liver regulates bile acid and cholesterol synthesis and secretion in the liver, and bile acid metabolism in the intestine. The implications of his research have contributed to the understanding of several major diseases including, arteriosclerosis, cholesterol gallstone disease, cholestatic liver diseases and colon cancer. With the help of consistent National Institutes of Health funding over the last 30 years — a remarkable feat in itself — his pioneering research has been published in more than 170 scientific papers.

Hylemon is quick to give credit for his considerable accomplishments to his research group and the support its members provide.

“Having a larger group gives you more research options,” he noted. “I like to compare it to running and how we seem to be able to run farther in groups. You may stop and walk if you’re alone, but if you have someone pushing you, it helps. I think that’s just human nature.”

As a leader in the field of bile acid research, Hylemon is frequently invited to speak both nationally and internationally at key scientific symposia. Martin Carey, a colleague from the Harvard Medical School, says of Hylemon: “Phillip has one of the most curious, inquisitive and imaginative minds that I know. It is always a pleasure to hear him lecturing on national or international platforms because he invariably has something new and important to say.”

Hylemon has been recognized many times for his accomplishments, including the prestigious Adolf Windaus prize, awarded by the Falk Foundation in Freiburg, Germany. He also was recognized as Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist by the Science Museum of Virginia in 1991.

Despite his numerous awards and scientific discoveries, when asked what he considers his most significant accomplishment, the conversation turns to his students.

“I enjoy watching the success of the people I’ve trained and seeing them go out and do well,” he said. “I want my students to leave my lab with the tools to be able to solve problems. If they’re not able to think independently by the time they get out, they probably won’t survive well.”

Invariably, many of his students go on to do very well. One former student, Bryan White, professor of immunology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign wrote, “Phil taught me that science is not a career, but a lifestyle. He impressed upon me that being a scientist is an ever-learning, ever-broadening and gratifying field where the rewards are as limiting or as endless as one’s own vision. Where I am today is direct evidence of his outstanding mentoring and his endless ‘vision’ for my success.”

After a very successful career himself, Hylemon shows no signs of slowing down. “I’ve had fun for the last 34 years,” he said. “Right now my research is the best it’s ever been. I’m more enthusiastic about work than I’ve been in my career.”

He added, “I’ve been very lucky. If you think about it — if you can go in to work every day and do something really creative, that is one of the best feelings you can have.”

Suzanne E. Barbour, Ph.D., School of Medicine
Distinguished Teaching Award

As a child, Suzanne Barbour loved to write stories. Today, as associate professor of immunology in the VCU School of Medicine, she credits this early inclination as the basis for her teaching style.

“I like to teach as though I’m telling a story,” said Barbour. “I can look out at the audience and figure out whether they’re interested in the story or whether they’re snoozing. The idea is that you have to become flexible enough to change the approach midway to capture your audience. For me, it works.”

Whether it’s a knack for storytelling or the fact that she comes from a long line of educators — including a great-aunt who was the first African American principal in the state of New Jersey —Barbour seems to come by it quite naturally.

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. In addition to this year’s Distinguished Teaching Award, last year Barbour received the School of Medicine’s highest honor, the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. She also has had an impressive six-year run as the recipient of the school’s Outstanding Teaching Award for her immunology course.

With courses that range from biochemistry and cell and molecular biology to immunology and dental infection, Barbour is known for her versatility and ability to break down complex subjects in a way that is understandable to her variety of students.

Jan Chlebowski, professor of biochemistry, wrote, “She has a breadth of experience across a broad span of educational levels and delivers with a clarity, articulation and enthusiasm that communicate the engagement in bioscience that we all share but often cannot fully express.”

Internationally recognized for her contributions to the field of biochemical and immunological research, Barbour could certainly fill her plate with the demands of scholarship while — as is often the case in academia — allowing her teaching responsibilities to play a secondary role. Yet, she manages to do both extremely well. According to Mark Davis, assistant professor at Hampton University, “… what makes her stand out even more so than her impressive research record, is her almost unparalleled passion for teaching and her effectiveness in communication.”

When asked about her ability to manage her considerable responsibilities, Barbour is clear about her commitment. “I take teaching very seriously,” she said. “I do my best to strike a balance and hopefully do them both [teaching and research] well.”

Outside the classroom, Barbour has been actively involved in developing educational outreach initiatives focused on increasing minority enrollments in graduate programs. Most notable is her role in establishing the Bridges Program – M.S. and Ph.D. – between VCU, Virginia Union, Virginia State and Hampton University. Through this program, VCU faculty members visit the other schools and introduce students to the research projects that are currently under way.

“Hopefully, we are giving these students the sense that there is a bridge and that they can potentially finish their undergraduate degrees and come here for graduate school,” said Barbour. “Minority enrollment [in graduate programs] is pretty pathetic — and considering where we are located, it really shouldn’t be that way.”

Barbour also has given her time and effort to serving as a presentation judge for K-12 students at the Metro Richmond Science Fair. Her 10-year commitment to the fair underscores her appreciation of and commitment to cultivating a curiosity for science at an early age.

Both in her work at VCU and in the greater community, Barbour clearly is driven by a passion for passing on knowledge and creating possibilities for the future.

“I love the idea that I’m making an impact on somebody,” she noted. “It’s a form of immortality. You take a little bit of knowledge that you’ve learned and give it to somebody else, and they take it and pass it on, and so on and so on. Hopefully, one of these kids goes on and discovers the cure to cancer or AIDS or some such thing. And maybe I will have had a small role to play in that.”

Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of PharmacySchool of Pharmacy; Distinguished Service Award

In 1996, when Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode was approached regarding a new faculty position focused on enhancing the role of the pharmacist in the community pharmacy setting, she jumped at the chance.

Having spent two years working in such a setting earlier in her career, she knew that the demands of the job often left little time for direct patient care. This reality led Goode to leave her position at a local drug store in the late ’80s and pursue the newly created Doctor of Pharmacy Program at VCU. At the same time, she took a position working as a staff pharmacist at MCV Hospitals.

In the nine years that have passed since she accepted the faculty position, Goode, now associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, has developed a national reputation for her work in the development of patient care services in community pharmacies. Working exclusively with Ukrop’s, she is pioneering a shift in the way pharmacists do business.

“Typically, people perceive that community pharmacists don’t have time to take care of patients,” Goode said. “Ukrop’s understands that patient care and the whole health of the patient is an area where pharmacists can play a major role. To achieve this, we have to do more than just hand our patients a bottle.”

With Goode, “more” has meant an impressive variety of wellness and prevention activities that include administering immunizations, providing health screenings, offering programs in smoking cessation and diabetes awareness, and educating patients about health-related topics, such as blood glucose, cholesterol and osteoporosis, to name a few.

As an example of the impact of her leadership, in 1998 — the first year of the immunization program — 11 Ukrop’s pharmacists were trained to administer more than 5,000 vaccinations. Since then, the program has grown considerably. In 2003 — the most recent year without a vaccine shortage — 99 percent of Ukrop’s pharmacists participated in administering approximately 40,000 vaccinations.

Due to the success of this particular program, in 2003 Goode accepted the “Non-Traditional Partner” Award from the National Partnership for Immunization on behalf of the Ukrop’s Pharmacy Immunization Program.

Goode notes that her success would not have been nearly what it is without the support of a great team of pharmacists and backing from the leadership of both VCU and Ukrop’s.

She credits Dean Victor Yanchick of the VCU School of Pharmacy for realizing the potential in this area and acting on it. “I was hired specifically to work with Ukrop’s,” explained Goode. “This area is a huge focus of Dean Yanchick’s. One of his main goals is to increase patient care activity in the community setting.”

Of her collaboration with Ukrop’s, Goode notes the advantages of working with an organization known for its customer orientation. “It’s been great working with Ukrop’s because they are foremost a customer service company,” she said. “John Beckner, director of pharmacy and whole health, has embraced everything I’ve wanted to do, which has been supported by Bobby and James Ukrop. It makes my job easy.”

As the leader of one of the first programs of its kind that has been well recognized on a national level, Goode often is asked to present locally, regionally and nationally. In addition, she is frequently called as a consultant for other universities interested in similar efforts with community pharmacy chains.

Her contributions to the field also extend to service in professional associations at both the state and national levels — most significantly with the American Pharmacists Association. She has served as chair of the Clinical and Pharmacotherapeutic Section of the association’s Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management or APPM. And this past year she was elected president of the APhA-APPM, which puts her on the Board of Trustees as well.

Goode is excited about her new position and the possibilities for bringing more attention to her passion for improving patient care. She notes that the increase in demand for community pharmacists, combined with patients being discharged from the hospital earlier than ever, has intensified the role of pharmacists and made their job all the more critical. While some may view this shift as a burden, Goode sees it as an opportunity.

“Nationwide, 250 million people walk into community pharmacies each week,” Goode said. “The access is incredible and the ability for the community pharmacist to make an impact in patient care in that setting is just tremendous.”

Donald J. Abraham, Ph.D., School of Pharmacy
Distinguished Scholarship Award

In 1974, Donald J. Abraham was — in his own words — washed up. His lab at the University of Pittsburgh, where he had been conducting research on sickle cell anemia, was in a desperate state. He had run out of funding and was unable to convince the National Institutes of Health that his research design was viable. As a result, his research group had dwindled to just one — his then teen-aged son who worked for him as a lab technician for free.

One day while riding the elevator contemplating what seemed to be a hopeless situation, a chemical delivery person by the name of Robert Heflin noticed. Abraham’s gloomy demeanor and asked him what was wrong. Abraham explained the situation, appreciative of the concern but sure there was no way Heflin could help him.

Turns out, he was wrong.

Heflin, whose picture now hangs on Abraham’s wall along with Albert Einstein and other renowned scientists, just happened to be friends with Willie Stargell, the famous first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. At the time, Stargell was heading a group of black professional athletes who were contributing to sickle cell anemia research. A couple of phone calls later and Abraham was back in business with $18,000 — enough money to revive his research efforts and ultimately convince the NIH to fund him.

Groundbreaking research, three successful start-up companies and 161 papers later, no one — especially not the NIH — doubts him now. Known worldwide for his landmark work discovering and developing drugs that interact with hemoglobin, Abraham has received over $9 million in research funding since coming to VCU in 1988.

Glen Kellogg, associate professor in the School of Pharmacy wrote, “His careful and innovative multidisciplinary approach, which is the hallmark of his research, has yielded virtually innumerable insights into the structure and function of hemoglobin.” These insights have led Abraham and his colleagues to discover a drug with potential for treating sickle cell anemia, as well as another for treating breast cancer metastasis to the brain, which is now in final clinical trials for Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approval.

The list of internationally known scientists Abraham has collaborated with reads like a Who’s Who in the world of chemistry and includes the late Nobel Laureate Max Perutz, with whom he worked as a visiting scientist in Cambridge from 1980 to 1988. Currently, he works in partnership with scientists at the University of Parma in Italy and will be receiving an honorary doctorate from Parma this fall. His international reputation led to an invitation to host the 25th National Medicinal Chemistry Symposium, as well as the honor of serving as editor of Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry, 6th edition — the preeminent text in the field.

Here at home, Abraham is well known for his interdisciplinary approach and his ability to dissolve barriers commonly found in academia. “Don is a university citizen and sees the university’s opportunities in broadly interactive rather than narrow discipline-specific ways,” wrote Thomas Huff, vice provost for VCU Life Sciences. “Consequently, Don is always an ally when trying to put together partners for a goal that serves the university as a whole.”
A direct result of this cooperative approach led Abraham and his colleagues to form in 1996 the Institute for Structural Biology and Drug Discovery, which is part of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park. Bringing together scientists in structural biology and drug discovery, the institute facilitates new discoveries being transferred to the marketplace. Abraham and his colleagues modeled the institute after the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where Abraham worked with his mentor, Perutz.

Abraham believes the success of the Cambridge lab, which produced a dozen Nobel prizes and a number of fundamental discoveries, is due in part to a very simple equation — one that he has attempted to emulate as director of the institute here at VCU.

“A significant factor [in the success found in Cambridge] is the communal spirit instilled by Dr. Perutz, its founder and first director,” Abraham said. “There is a great deal of sharing — of space, equipment and ideas — and daily gatherings for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. Everyone participates in the get-togethers including scientists, secretaries, administrators, technicians and guests from around the world. It’s a time when new ideas are voiced and problems are solved.”

Indeed, it is this atmosphere of inclusiveness and partnership for which Abraham has become known. His work confirms that the most promising new discoveries are brought about through the sharing of time, space and talents.