2017 Dean's Awards: Research Honorees (with video)

On Nov. 14, 2017, Dean Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., and the executive vice deans for the University of Michigan Medical School presented Dean's Awards to 23 faculty and staff for exceptional accomplishment in the areas of teaching, research, clinical care, community service, innovation and administration.

This year's recipients, who received their awards during a dinner and ceremony in the Omenn Atrium of the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building, include Basic Science Research Award recipients Anthony Antonellis, Ph.D., and Peter K. Todd, M.D., Ph.D.; Clinical Research Award recipient Daniel J. Clauw, M.D.; Health Services Research Award recipient M.E. Michele Heisler, M.D., MPA; Innovation and Commercialization Award recipients Shaomeng Wang, Ph.D., and Kevin R. Ward, M.D.; and Distinguished Faculty Lectureship Award in Biomedical Research recipient Peter Arvan, M.D., Ph.D.

“This group sets the leading edge of discovery and plays a key role in fostering Michigan Medicine’s sterling reputation as a research powerhouse,” said Bishr Omary, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice dean for research and chief scientific officer for Michigan Medicine. “They ask the tough questions, set in motion critical lines of inquiry, and lead the bench-to-bedside transition of breakthroughs that are transforming health care.”

Anthony Antonellis, Ph.D., is an associate professor of human genetics and neurology in the Medical School.

He joined the Medical School faculty in 2008 as an assistant professor of human genetics and neurology, and was promoted to associate professor in 2014.

He is a leader in understanding the causes and treatments for devastating neurodegenerative diseases with a focus on the pathogenesis of hereditary neuropathies, including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) — the most-common hereditary neuropathy, affecting 150,000 patients in the United States alone.

He was involved in the initial discovery of mutations in glycyl-tRNA synthetase in patients with CMT disease, and has since identified mutations in many other tRNA synthase genes, and contributed to the recognition that loss of enzymatic function is a common feature of disease pathogenesis.

Peter K. Todd, M.D., Ph.D., is the Bucky and Patti Harris Collegiate Professor of Neurology and an associate professor of neurology in the Medical School.

He came to the University of Michigan in 2008 as an American Academy of Neurology clinical research fellow in movement disorders and neurogenetics.  He joined the Medical School faculty in 2010 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 2016. He became the Harris Professor in 2011.

His research focuses on disorders that result from nucleotide repeat expansions — a heterogeneous group of neurological disorders that together represent a major cause of neurodegenerative disease. His lab aims to define the pathogenic mechanisms by which these repeat expansions elicit human diseases such as ALS and Fragile X-associated disorders and develop therapeutics for those conditions based on these insights.

His group has made significant contributions to this research field by defining a novel mechanism by which repeats cause disease through aberrant protein translation and then developing a series of tools to selectively block this process.

Daniel J. Clauw, M.D., is a professor of anesthesiology, internal medicine and psychiatry in the Medical School.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (1981) and U-M Medical School (1985), he joined the faculty in 2002 as a professor of internal medicine. He added additional appointments as professor of psychiatry in 2004 and professor of anesthesiology in 2008.

He is an internationally renowned expert in chronic pain, especially the central nervous system contributions to chronic pain states including fibromyalgia, low back pain, interstitial cystitis and vulvodynia. The Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center has become one of the world’s leading pain research groups.

He served as the Medical School’s first assistant and then associate dean for clinical and translational research and is founding director of the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR).

In 2011, he was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Research Excellence.

M.E. Michele Heisler, M.D., MPA, is a professor of internal medicine in the Medical School and a professor of health behavior and health education in the School of Public Health.

She joined the Medical School faculty in 2002 as a lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine. She was promoted to assistant professor of internal medicine in 2004, associate professor in 2008, and professor in 2013.

She is internationally recognized for her work in developing and evaluating innovative health system interventions to help adults adopt and sustain healthy behaviors and improved self-management of chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. She has worked to implement interventions that improve between-clinic visit support for patients’ chronic disease management, including the use of peer support.

She is a multiple Dean’s Awards honoree, as she received the Global Community Service Award in 2015. 

Shaomeng Wang is the Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Medicine and a professor of internal medicine and pharmacology in the Medical School, and a professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy.

He joined the Medical School faculty in 2001 as an associate professor of internal medicine, with a joint appointment in the College of Pharmacy. He was promoted to professor of internal medicine in 2006, and assumed the Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professorship in 2007.

He is a leading researcher in the field of experimental therapeutics with expertise in the development of novel small-molecule cancer drugs and the translation of his discoveries from the laboratory into commercial opportunities. He is co-founder of five U-M start-up companies since 2004 and has advanced six drugs into clinical development and many more in advanced preclinical development.

In 2011, he was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Research Excellence.

Kevin R. Ward, M.D., is a professor of emergency medicine in the Medical School and a professor of biomedical engineering in the Medical School/College of Engineering.

He joined the Medical School faculty in 2012 as a professor of emergency medicine. He also serves as executive director of the Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC) and executive director of Fast Forward Medical Innovation (FFMI).

He is a pioneer in emergency medicine and critical care research, developing and translating cutting-edge innovations in critical care technology and device development to the clinical arena. His passion is developing programs that encourage strategic, integrative, and disciplined collaborations across medicine, engineering, information sciences, and industry that promote innovation to develop real-world solutions to complex problems.

Such programs serve as force multipliers for translational team science.

Peter Arvan, M.D., Ph.D., is chief of the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes and a professor of internal medicine and molecular and integrative physiology in the Medical School.

His research focuses on how hormone precursors are made and converted into biologically active hormones, and how these steps go wrong in various diseases. His laboratory has made cutting-edge discoveries in the mechanisms of secretory protein folding and trafficking, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) quality control and a process called “ER stress,” which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes and other diseases.

In 2011, he was a member of the inaugural class of inductees into the Medical School’s League of Research Excellence.