Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Scientist Wins Prestigious NIH New Innovators Award

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Newswise — Derek Taylor, PhD, a member of the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, has been awarded the prestigious New Innovator Award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH awards this grant to scientists proposing highly innovative approaches to major contemporary challenges in biomedical research, under the agency’s High Risk-High Reward program.

“Only the absolute top notch scientists compete for this award, which undergoes intense review by leaders at the NIH,” stated Stanton Gerson, MD, Asa and Patricia Shiverick- Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology, director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Case Medical Center. “Derek continues to excel as a cancer scientist at Case Western Reserve. I have been impressed with his continuous innovative approaches to fundamental questions in cancer. Telomere research is critical since this process is central to how cancer continues to grow and outlive normal cells.”

Taylor is an assistant professor, Department of Pharmacology, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. He received the New Innovator Award to support his research on the induction of cancer cell death by selective DNA misincorporation.

Taylor’s laboratory studies chromosome stability. His lab is particularly interested in telomeres, the specialized structures that cap and protect the ends of chromosomes. Dr. Taylor’s research also focuses on a special enzyme, telomerase, which interacts with telomeres to contribute to chromosome stability. As telomerase is upregulated in the majority of human cancers, the Taylor lab is investigating how to use its unique mechanism to deliver toxic compounds to cancer cells selectively.

Taylor’s research will use telomerase as a “Trojan horse” to deliver toxic drugs exclusively to cancer cells. The results obtained from the proposed experiments could lead to an entirely new, and more successful, method for treating a diverse set of human cancers.

The New Innovator Award initiative, established in 2007, supports investigators who are within 10 years of their terminal degree or clinical residency, but who have not yet received a Research Project Grant (R01) or equivalent NIH grant, to conduct exceptionally innovative research.

Taylor is the only scientist in Ohio to receive a 2013 New Innovator’s Award.

About Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Founded in 1843, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is the largest medical research institution in Ohio and is among the nation’s top medical schools for research funding from the National Institutes of Health. The School of Medicine is recognized throughout the international medical community for outstanding achievements in teaching. The School’s innovative and pioneering Western Reserve2 curriculum interweaves four themes--research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership,
and civic professionalism--to prepare students for the practice of evidence-based medicine in the rapidly changing health care environment of the 21st century. Nine Nobel Laureates have been affiliated with the School of Medicine.

Annually, the School of Medicine trains more than 800 MD and MD/PhD students and ranks in the top 25 among U.S. research-oriented medical schools as designated by U.S. News & World Report’s “Guide to Graduate Education.”

The School of Medicine’s primary affiliate is University Hospitals Case Medical Center and is additionally affiliated with MetroHealth Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic, with which it established the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in 2002. http://casemed.case.edu.

About Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Comprehensive Cancer Center is an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center located at Case Western Reserve University. The center, now in its 25th year of funding, integrates the cancer research activities of the largest biomedical research and health care institutions in Ohio – Case Western Reserve, University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. NCI-designated cancer centers are characterized by scientific excellence and the capability to integrate a diversity of research approaches to focus on the problem of cancer. It is led by Stanton Gerson, MD, Asa and Patricia Shiverick- Jane Shiverick (Tripp) Professor of Hematological Oncology, director of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine, Case Western Reserve, and director of the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Case Medical Center.

Ravichandran Named the Irene and Robert Bozzone '55 Distinguished Chair in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

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Newswise — Troy, N.Y. – Information systems expert T. (Ravi) Ravichandran has been named the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair in the Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An endowed professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member.

“Dr. Ravichandran is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of business strategy, information technology management, and supply chain management. Scholars in these fields recognize the strength and impact of his research, which positions Rensselaer and its students at the forefront of learning about and preparing for today’s global marketplace,” said Tom Begley, dean of the Lally School at Rensselaer. “We commend him on his appointment to the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair and look forward to his continued scholarly achievements in this new leadership role.”

The Bozzone Chair advances the management and technology program at the Lally School, and was established by colleagues of former Rensselaer Board of Trustees member Robert P. Bozzone ’55 to pay tribute to his exceptional career and accomplishments in building Allegheny Technologies Inc., into one of America’s outstanding corporations.

“Robert was a pioneer in leading his industrial company through the changes necessary to compete effectively internationally, and he has been a longtime loyal supporter of Rensselaer,” Begley said. “We are immensely pleased that we have the opportunity to honor the contributions of our Lally School faculty member through the efforts of Robert Bozzone.”

Ravichandran joined Rensselaer faculty in 1996 as an assistant professor at the Lally School. He was promoted to a full professor in 2009 and named associate dean for research at the Lally School in 2012.

“I feel honored to be awarded the Irene and Robert Bozzone ’55 Distinguished Chair, and would like to thank President Shirley Ann Jackson, Provost Prabhat Hajela, and Dean Tom Begley for the support I have received at Rensselaer,” said Ravichandran. “I look forward to continuing our efforts to build a pre-eminent business school at Rensselaer that creates and disseminates knowledge to leverage advanced management practices, analytical insights, and technology for the benefit of society.”

Ravichandran’s research focuses on the strategic implications of information technology, supply chain management, business-to-business electronic markets, innovation diffusion, and assimilation and organizational renewal/growth through innovation. This work examines how information technology creates value for firms and transforms organizations, industrial supply chains, and industries. His research has developed deep insights about how the competitive behaviors of firms are shaped by the information systems and about the mechanisms to facilitate the effective design, development, assimilation, and use of information systems within organizations and in value networks.

Ravichandran has published more than 100 research papers in leading academic journals and conference proceedings. He currently serves as a department editor for IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He has also served as an associate editor of Information Systems Research and an associate editor of MIS Quarterly.

Ravichandran also works closely with several large firms on IT strategy, supply chain management, and innovation management. He has had extensive business experience as a consultant to the Reliance Group, Bombay; as the assistant director of the National Productivity Council, India; and as a production manager in Flakt AB (now Asea Brown Boveri). He has also been a successful entrepreneur, starting an IT services firm.

Ravichandran received his doctoral degree in business administration with a focus on information systems from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; a postgraduate diploma in industrial and systems engineering from the National Productivity Council in India; and a bachelor’s degree in production engineering from the University of Madras.
For more information about the Lally School of Management, visit: http://lallyschool.rpi.edu/.

For more information regarding Ravichandran and his research at Rensselaer, visit: http://lallyschool.rpi.edu/faculty/ravit.html.

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