April 13, 2006

Faculty honors

Andrea Dunaif, M.D., Charles F. Kettering Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, professor of medicine and chief of endocrinology, metabolism and molecular medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, has received the Berthold Medal from the German Endocrine Society.

She also has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

The Berthold Medal is named in memory of Arnold Adolph Berthold, one of the founders of endocrinology, for his work on hormone secretion. The medal honors outstanding scientific achievement, especially in the combination of basic and clinical research.

The honorary degree from University of Athens was conferred to assert the significance and impact of Dunaif’s “outstanding work that has bestowed praise and credit on [the field of] endocrinology.”

Dunaif’s primary research interests are in reproductive physiology and metabolism in women. She is an expert on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disease in premenopausal women.

Her recent work has focused on identifying genes conferring susceptibility to PCOS and diabetes.

Nancy Staudt, a recent visiting professor at the School of Law, has been named the Class of 1940 Research Professor in the Law School, effective Sept. 1.

Staudt came to Northwestern from Washington University where she was a full professor as well as faculty advisor to the LLM Program in Taxation. She has spent the last several years investigating congressional and judicial decision-making in the taxation context.

Staudt has published more than 20 articles and a book, and her work has appeared or will shortly appear in many of the top law journals, including the Northwestern University Law Review, New York University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Emory Law Journal, Vanderbilt Law Review and Tax Law Review.

A recipient of two awards from the National Science Foundation, Staudt is a highly sought after speaker.

John Varga, M.D., professor of medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine, has been named the Gallagher Research Professor in Rheumatology.

Varga is an internationally recognized leader in scleroderma research with a long-term interest in fibroblast biology and fibrosis. The goal of his studies is to understand the process of scarring that results from tissue injury in the skin, lungs and kidneys, and in association with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

A fundamental assumption is that scarring in all of these organs and diverse pathological processes involve similar cellular and molecular mechanisms, and that effective treatments can be developed from understanding these mechanisms.

Varga’s research is both multidisciplinary and translational, spanning laboratory and clinical investigation.

Varga has received numerous awards, including the Heroes Award in 2001 from the Arthritis Foundation and the Founder’s Award in 2003 from the National Scleroderma Foundation.