June 13, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RUTGERS BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPOINTS
TWO PHARMACY PROFESSORS TO ENDOWED CHAIRS
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See Also: Board of Governors Awards Prestigious Professorships
New Brunswick, N.J. The Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, today appointed two distinguished faculty members from the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy as inaugural holders of two named, endowed chairs. Both appointments carry five-year terms, beginning July 1, 2007. The income from the endowment for each of these appointments will be used to supplement the research activities of the holders.
Professor Debra Laskin of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology has been named to the Roy A. Bowers Chair. Laskin is an internationally recognized leader in the area of immunotoxicology, particularly in exploring the biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying macrophage activation and the role of inflammation in tissue injury induced by air pollutants and liver toxicants. Laskin has been continuously funded for over 25 years by the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.
Professor Chung S. Yang, chair of the Department of Chemical Biology, has been named to the John L. Colaizzi Chair in Pharmacy. Yang, who came to Rutgers in 1988, is a pioneer and world-class leader in the area of cancer prevention by dietary substances and synthetic compounds. He has made major contributions in elucidating the metabolism of carcinogens and how dietary constituents may prevent cancer formation and drug toxicity.
Laskin, who joined Rutgers in 1982, has been chair of her department since 2003. Among the many awards and honors Laskin has received during her career, the Burroughs Wellcome Toxicology Scholar Award is noteworthy as a highly competitive and prestigious national award reserved for the most distinguished and accomplished scholars in the biomedical sciences. She also received the Society of Toxicology Award for the best research publication in 1998, as well as an award for the most cited publication in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology in 1999.
The Bowers Chair was established by the university in 2002 with a generous gift from Robert E. Martini, in recognition of his friend and mentor. Martini, a longtime friend of the College of Pharmacy (now the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy) is the former board chairman of AmerisourceBergen Corp., one of the leading pharmaceutical distribution and services companies.
Bowers, for whom the chair is named, became dean of Rutgers College of Pharmacy, then located in north Newark, in 1951. He was dean until 1978 and remained as a professor until 1981. He continued to teach on a voluntary basis as a professor emeritus until his death in 1992 at age 79. Bowers also had been active on the national pharmaceutical scene, serving in a series of official capacities with the American Pharmaceutical Association from 1950 to 1979 and as president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in 1963-1964.
In 2003, Yang established and now directs the schools Center for Cancer Prevention Research, which brings together scientists from Rutgers and other institutions to research and develop effective new means of cancer prevention. He is also a key member of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, leading the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program for the past 12 years. Yang is known for his collaborative studies on esophageal cancer in China as well as his studies on reflux-induced esophageal cancer and colitis-induced colon cancer in animal models. He has more than 400 publications.
The university established the John L. Colaizzi Chair in Pharmacy in 2001 with a generous gift from the Ernest and Mildred Martha Mario Foundation. Colaizzi, the chairs namesake, is dean of Rutgers Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and is the schools longest-standing dean, having served since 1978. Colaizzi has shepherded the schools expansion, doubling the size of its faculty, enhancing its research funding and academic programs, and raising its reputation as one of the nations premier schools of pharmacy.
Ernest Mario is chairman of the Board of Directors of Reliant Pharmaceuticals and served as the companys chief executive officer from April 2003 until January 2007. Over the past four decades, Mario has played a significant leadership role in the pharmaceutical industry and the practice of pharmacy. He also holds the profession of pharmacys highest honor, the Remington Honor Medal. Mario and his wife Mildred reside in Princeton.
Contact: Joseph Blumberg
732-932-7084, Ext. 652
E-mail: blumberg@ur.rutgers.edu
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