November 6, 2003

Faculty honors

Sherman Elias, M.D., has joined the faculty at the Feinberg School of Medicine as the John J. Sciarra Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and chair of the department.

Elias previously had been on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was Goldstick Professor and Arends Chair, and department head, of obstetrics and gynecology and professor of molecular genetics. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Yale University School of Medicine and another, in human genetics, at Northwestern, where he subsequently served on the Feinberg School of Medicine faculty from 1978 to 1986.

Two faculty members have been appointed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to his Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors.

They are Chad A. Mirkin, George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry and director of the Institute for Nanotechnology, and Kristian Hammond, professor of computer science and director of the Information Technology Development Laboratory.

Council members are appointed by the mayor and are asked to serve voluntary three-year terms. They meet on a regular basis to advise and counsel the Mayor and his staff on matters of economic development, business attraction and retention, job creation, education and the application of technology for public policy goals.

Donald A. Norman, professor of computer science and psychology, has been elected a fellow of the Cognitive Science Society.

He is a founder and former chair of the society and was editor of its journal, Cognitive Science.

Norman is an advocate of human-centered design and simplicity and is perhaps best known for his book, “The Design of Everyday Things.” He is author or co-author of 13 other books, most recently “Emotion-al Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things,” to be published in January 2004. “The Invisible Computer: Why good products can fail, the PC is so complex, and information appliances are the answer,” was called “the bible of ‘post PC’ thinking” by BusinessWeek.

M. Christine Stock, M.D., James E. Eckenhoff Professor of Anesthesi-ology and chair of the department of anesthesiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, has been selected as a 2003-04 fellow by the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women.

She is one of 45 faculty from medical and dental schools chosen for the program which prepares senior women faculty for leadership positions at academic health centers.

Stock, who is head of anesthesiology services at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, is interested in critical care medicine, especially mechanical ventilation, life support and invasive monitoring.

Last year Stock was named a director of the Foundation for Anesthesia Research and Education.