London Professor Wins Clinical Psychology Award, UK

Professor Til Wykes is to receive the 2009 M.B. Shapiro Award from the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology. It is the Division’s premier award and is made each year to a clinical psychologist who has achieved eminence in the profession.

Professor Wykes will give her Award Lecture at the Division of Clinical Psychology’s Annual Conference, to be held at the Congress Centre, 28 Great Russell Street, London WC1, on 9-11 December 2009. Further information about the Conference can be found at http://www.dcpconference.co.uk.

Sandra R. Gordon Wins Golden Trumpet Award From The Publicity Club Of Chicago

At the 50th Annual Trumpet Awards Luncheon at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Sandra R. Gordon received one of the most coveted public relations awards from the Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC). As the director of public relations at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), Sandra was the lead visionary and creative force for their organization’s multi-faceted special event “Seventy-five Years of Orthopaedic Surgery”.

SANE Australia Announces Book Of The Year Award

SANE Australia is pleased to announce the 2009 SANE Book of the Year is Back From The Brink Too: Supporting Your Loved One In Overcoming Depression by Graeme Cowan.

The SANE Book of the Year Award recognises outstanding Australian non-fiction titles which promote understanding of mental illness and its effect in the community. Previous winners include Anne Deveson AO for Tell Me I’m Here and Craig Hamilton for Broken Open.

Mo Kwan Kang Receives The IADR Young Investigator Award

The International Association for Dental Research (IADR) is presenting the 2009 Young Investigator Award to Dr. Mo Kwan Kang, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. The award will be presented at the IADR 87th General Session & Exhibition in Miami, Florida, USA, on April 1, 2009.

Dr. Kang is associate professor, Section of Endodontics, at the UCLA School of Dentistry. He was the first student who successfully completed the combined D.D.S./Ph.D. program at UCLA, where he graduated in 2001 and completed postgraduate specialty training in Endodontics in 2003.

Alessandro Riva Receives IADR Salivary Research Award

Professor Alessandro Riva, University of Cagliari, Italy, is the recipient of the 2009 Salivary Research Award from the International Association for Dental Research (IADR), to be presented at its 87th General Session & Exhibition in Miami, Florida, USA, on April 1, 2009.

Prof. Riva is head of the Department of Cytomorphology at the University of Cagliari. After completing his medical training and one year in the Department of Anatomy, St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, he joined the Department of Anatomy in Cagliari. He has been the chair in anatomy since 1971.

PLx Pharma Receives $730,000 In Funding From U.S. Army In SBIR Phase II Award

PLx Pharma announced the award of a U.S. Army contract totaling $730,000 as part of the Army’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The award funds continued development of PL 4500, a molecular complex of indomethacin and phosphatidylcholine that is being developed as a GI safer anti-inflammatory and analgesic in both oral and IV formulations.

The Phase II award follows the successful completion of a Phase I program, in which PL 4500 was shown in in vivo and in vitro models to provide a longer period of analgesia with less GI toxicity than traditional indomethacin at standard doses while providing an equivalent degree of anti-inflammatory and analgesic efficacy. Such a GI-safer formulation of indomethacin could be used for the treatment of inflammation and pain due to trauma or surgery, while avoiding the sedative and addictive potential of opioid pain medications.

Swedish Officials Investigate Ties Between AstraZeneca, Nobel Foundation Over Award For Discovery Of HPV

Swedish officials are investigating whether the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca could have improperly influenced this year’s Nobel Prize for medicine, which was awarded to the researcher who discovered the human papillomavirus, London’s Times reports. AstraZeneca last year acquired a company that holds a license for a key component used in the production of HPV vaccines. In addition, two members of committees that assess candidates for the award have links to the company. According to the Times, Bertil Fredholm — chair of the five-member committee that assess Nobel candidates — was a paid consultant for AstraZeneca in 2006, and Bo Angelin — a member of the 50-person committee that votes for the winner — sits on AstraZeneca’s board. AstraZeneca also sponsors the Nobel Web site and a promotional subsidiary.

Facial Injury The Focus Of US Department Of Defense Award To Further New Dummy Design And Development

Wake Forest University’s School of Biomedical Engineering and Science’s Center for Injury Biomechanics has received the Army Modeling and Simulation Award for 2008.

The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army and Director of the Army presented the award for research that could ultimately help save eyesight and reduce morbidity and mortality associated with facial injury.

The center was selected from 57 applicants from around the nation for leading a team of researchers in the design of a new test dummy. The Virginia Tech team was lead by Stefan Duma, a professor of mechanical engineering in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering, and his graduate student Eric Kennedy, who is now an assistant professor at Bucknell University. Together Duma and Kennedy lead a three-year research effort that included key partners from the United States Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory of Ft. Rucker, Ala., as well as Denton Inc. of Detroit, Mich.

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, Honored With American Diabetes Association’s Distinguished Service Achievement Award

The American Diabetes Association, the nation’s largest and leading voluntary health organization in the fight against diabetes, announced that Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, received the Association’s prestigious C. Everett Koop Medal for Health Promotion and Awareness at the organization’s Community Volunteer Leadership Conference and Annual Meeting on November 23 in Tampa, Florida.

The C. Everett Koop Medal for Health Promotion and Awareness is named for former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Koop and honors excellence in wellness promotion and disease prevention.

National Institute On Drug Abuse Announces Recipients Of New Avant-Garde Award For Innovative HIV/AIDS Research

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced the first three recipients of its new Avant-Garde Award. This award is intended to stimulate high-impact research that may lead to groundbreaking opportunities for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in drug abusers. Award recipients will receive $500,000 per year for five years to support their research.

NIDA’s HIV/AIDS Research Program supports an innovative and multidisciplinary HIV/AIDS research portfolio that addresses the role of drug use and its related behaviors in the evolving dynamics of HIV/AIDS epidemiology, natural history/pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention.