YSM News and Recognition

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies, has elected five faculty members from Yale School of Medicine (YSM) as fellows of the AAAS. They are:

David A. Hafler, MD, William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor of Neurology

Leonard Milstone, MD, professor emeritus of dermatology

Ruth Montgomery, PhD, professor of medicine

Karla Neugebauer, PhD, R. Selden Rose Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

Craig Roy, PhD, Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis

The YSM faculty will be inducted in June in Washington, D.C., along with three others from Yale elected as AAAS fellows this year.

Two Yale School of Medicine (YSM) faculty members recently testified before the Connecticut General Assembly Public Health Committee about a bill designed to promote liver disease awareness and care in the state. Bubu Banini, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (digestive diseases), and Wajahat Mehal, MD, professor of medicine (digestive diseases), spoke in support of Senate Bill (SB)1537, which focuses on metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The bill calls for the designation of Connecticut Liver Health Day, creation of a website with educational materials about liver disease, and a plan for screening for MASLD in high-risk communities, among other recommendations. Mehal and Banini also co-chaired the multidisciplinary working group formed by the Connecticut State General Assembly, which developed the recommendations.

Melissa Langhan, MD, received the Association of Pediatric Program Directors Faculty Research Award at the group’s annual spring meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Langhan is a professor of pediatrics (emergency medicine) with a focus in clinical, patient-oriented research and medical education scholarship.

Jennifer L. Sherr, MD, PhD, professor of pediatrics (endocrinology), was invited to speak at the International Conference on Advanced Treatments and Technologies of Diabetes, held in the Netherlands. Sherr gave two talks: "Debate: Is there a Real Unmet Need for Continuous Ketone Monitoring?" and "Evidence and Ideas from Automation Insulin Delivery on the User Experience of Automation."

An assessment of the national cancer program presented 30 years ago by Paul Calabresi, MD, Yale’s first chief of medical oncology, is both “inspiring and heart-breaking” to read today because of what has been accomplished and what still needs to be done, said Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, the 17th director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), who gave this year’s Paul Calabresi MD Memorial Lectureship on March 25. Recommendations made by Calabresi in 1995 are still “fantastic” today, said Rathmell, who spoke about current developments in cancer research, treatment, and care during a special Yale Cancer Center Grand Rounds hosted by Roy Herbst, MD, PhD. Calabresi, an internationally recognized expert on the clinical pharmacology of anticancer agents, was a Yale associate professor of medicine and pharmacology and served in many NCI positions.