November faculty and staff features

F. Ellen Netting, Ph.D., School of Social Work
Netting, Samuel S. Wurtzel endowed faculty chair and professor in the School of Social Work, was selected as a recipient of the 2009 Best Reviewer award by the Journal of Social Work Education. The award honors manuscript reviewers who have shown exceptional service in responsiveness to requests for review, timeliness in submitting completed reviews and quality of written reviews. Monit Cheung of the University of Houston also is a recipient of this year’s award.

Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery Accomplishments
The following faculty members in VCU’s Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery have been recognized for the following achievements:
 
Rao Ivatury, M.D., professor of surgery and chief, Division of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency General Surgery, has been elected vice-president of the American Association of Surgery for Trauma. He also was elected president-elect of the World Society of Abdominal Compartment Syndrome and has been appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care. In addition, Ivatury has been invited to be associate examiner, certifying examination of the American Board of Surgery, as well as moderator and speaker at the Annual Congress of the American College of Surgeons.
 
Ajai Malhotra, M.D., associate professor of surgery, was named chair of the Trauma Oversight and Management Committee of the EMS advisory board and has been appointed to the Injury Assessment and Outcome Committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
 
Michel Aboutanos, M.D., associate professor of surgery, was awarded first prize for his presentation “Ratification of IATSIC/WHO's Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care assessment in the South American region" at the International Surgical Week of the 43rd World Congress of Surgery of International Surgical Society. He has also been appointed to the International Relations committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
 
Therese Duane, M.D., associate professor of surgery, was appointed to the Virginia Surgical Society as secretary/treasurer;
to the editorial board of American Journal of Surgery as the Associate of Women Surgeons liaison; and to the Acute Care Surgery Committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. She also was invited to be associate examiner, certifying examination of the American Board of Surgery, and has received the Faculty Medical Student Teaching Award for 2008-2009.
 
Julie Mayglothling, M.D., assistant professor of surgery and emergency medicine, was invited to participate as a panelist in "The Roundtable on U.S. Critical Care Policy” in Washington, D.C. She was an invited speaker at the Scientific Assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians; and she is an invited speaker at the Inter-American Emergency Medicine Conference in Argentina on Trauma/Critical Care.

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Michael Hindle, Ph.D., School of Pharmacy
Hindle, associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics, presented the optimized inhaler mouthpiece at the 2009 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists Annual Meeting and Exposition. The new inhaler allows less medicine to be wasted and more medicine to reach the lungs to better treat asthma symptoms. More than 8,500 individuals from the field of pharmaceutical research attended the AAPS annual meeting, which was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Buie Harwood, professor emeritus, Department of Interior Design, School of the Arts
Harwood and co-authors Bridget May and Curt Sherman received the 2009 Joel Polsky Prize for their book “Architecture and Interior Design, from the 19th Century: An Integrated History.” The prestigious award is given annually to recognize authors who have made significant contributions to design research and literature. The jury complimented the book on its scholarship and extensive work in the history of interior design. Their earlier book, “Architecture and Interior Design, to the 18th Century: An Integrated History,” also won the Polsky Prize in 2002. Both books are used in interior design programs in North American and England.

The authors also were invited to join Sigma Pi Kappa, the honor society of Historic Preservation. Membership is for students who qualify in academic performance and individuals who contribute to the field of preservation through their professional work. Induction will take place in April 2010 at the University of Georgia.

Norbert F. Voelkel, M.D., Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine 

Voelkel, the E. Raymond Fenton chair in pulmonary diseases, was presented with the 2009 European Respiratory Society Congress Chair award for his strong commitment to respiratory medicine within the United States and internationally.

Voelkel is one of the nation’s top emphysema investigators and has made significant scientific and clinical contributions in the areas of lung inflammation, pulmonary vascular remodeling and emphysema. His basic and translational research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on endothelial cell death in smoking-induced emphysema, chronic obstructive lung disease, or COPD, and pulmonary hypertension. He has published more than 285 peer-reviewed publications.

Voelkel was presented with this award in September during the opening ceremonies of the European Respiratory Society Annual Congress in Vienna. He joined VCU in 2007.

M. Samy El-Shall, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, VCU Life Sciences 

El-Shall, professor of chemistry and affiliate professor of chemical engineering, together with researchers from Afton Chemical Corp., have been selected for the Society of Automotive Engineering International Award for Research on Automotive Lubricants for their technical paper titled “Friction and Film-formation Properties of Oil-Soluble Inorganic Nanoparticles.”

The award recognizes the authors of the paper for their distinguished accomplishments in research on lubricants and lubricated automotive systems.

VCU and Afton Chemical Corp., have filed a patent with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office based on this work. According to El-Shall, the nanoparticles developed by the team may be used as oil additives to decrease friction and enhance lubrication, offering more stability and durability to the oil than what is currently available.

Ultimately, this work may be applied by the automotive industry for use in engine and transmission oil additives that will prevent or decrease soot formation in the engine, increase the performance of the engine, increase the lifetime of the oil and allow recycling of the used oil. The nanoparticle additives also will contribute to the fuel economy by improving the combustion process, increasing the fuel efficiency and possibly reducing the emissions from engines - especially diesel engines - which will contribute to a clean, healthy environment.
 
For 20 years, El-Shall’s research has focused on the properties of gas phase clusters, gas phase and cluster polymerization, the design, synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles, and nanocatalysis. Clusters and nanoscience have become a heavy area of research in recent years due to current applications in chemical catalysis, advanced materials, renewable energy, solar cells, nanoelectronics and communication in addition to potential uses in medical applications such as sensors, imaging and drug delivery.

The Society of Automotive Engineering International recognizes research that is likely to lead to immediate applications.

El-Shall and his collaborators were honored during the Society of Automotive Engineering International Powertrains, Fuels & Lubricants Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 2-4. They were presented with a certificate and bronze medal.