NIDRR Grantee and Staff Recognition

The NCDDR continues to share the recognition given to NIDRR-funded researchers and their staff. All grantees are encouraged to send this information to the NCDDR for future issues. Send email to ncddr@sedl.org, call 1-800-266-1832, or use the online form available on the NCDDR Web site:
http://www.ncddr.org/forms/submitrecog.html

Dr. J. Elton Moore was named a W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor during Mississippi State University's 2002 Alumni Association Faculty Recognition Program. Moore is director and Principal Investigator of the RRTC on Blindness and Low Vision and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education. A Giles Distinguished Professorship is the highest academic honor the university can bestow on a faculty member. Named for MSU's 13th president, the awards are based on research, scholarship, outstanding teaching, and service. Dr. Moore is the first faculty member from MSU's College of Education to receive this award.

Other staff of the RRTC on Blindness and Low Vision were recognized at the 2002 International Conference of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, held in Toronto, Ontario.

Mrs. B.J. LeJeune, Senior Research Associate at the RRTC, received the Alfred Allen Award for outstanding contributions to direct service delivery for persons who are blind or visually impaired. LeJeune has worked for the RRTC for the past 11 years where she directs the Internet communications of the center in information and referral, distance education, and Web design.

Ms. Paula Warren, Anne Sullivan Macy Fellow at the RRTC, was presented the Joyce Arend Honor for her accomplishments and educational goals in the field of rehabilitation counseling. Warren, the first recipient of the Joyce Arend Honor, is a graduate research assistant at the RRTC. She is also a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Mississippi State University.

For more information on these awards to RRTC staff members, please contact Kelly Schaefer, Publications Manager at schaefer@ra.msstate.edu or call 662-325-7825.

In August 2002, Judith A. Cook, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Director of the University of Illinois at Chicago's National Research and Training Center on Psychiatric Disability, was invited by President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health to become the Commission's Expert Consultant on Employment and Income Supports.

Dr. Cook also received the CCSW 2002 Mentor of the Year Award from the UIC Chancellor's Committee on the Status of Women (CCSW), at a ceremony held in Chicago, IL. Her commitment to advancing recovery and community integration for individuals with psychiatric disabilities and other long-term illnesses was highlighted, along with her other accomplishments as a mentor. For more information, contact Edie Bamberger at bamberg@psych.uic.edu or call 312-422-8180, x14.

The American College of Physicians and American Society of Internal Medicine recognized Atlanta-based Shepherd Center for its "distinguished contributions to the health care field" with the Edward R. Loveland Memorial Award. The award will be presented at its Annual Session to take place in San Diego, April 3-5, 2003. Shepherd Center, known as the country's largest hospital for brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation, is one of only two Georgia-based organizations to ever receive the 40-year-old award. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was honored in 1984.

"Shepherd Center is a prestigious organization that deserves to be recognized," said Dr. Mark Silverman, a cardiologist with Piedmont Hospital. "Many people would not be where they are today without the help of this hospital."

The medical specialty society, with more than 115,000 members, established the award to honor Mr. Loveland, who served for 33 years as the first Executive Staff Officer of the American College of Physicians. Other previous winners include the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Rockefeller Foundation and the Shriners Hospital for Children.

Shepherd Center houses a NIDRR-funded Model Spinal Cord Injury System project, Georgia Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System, headed by Dr. David Apple. In addition, Dr. Stuart Krause is the PI for a NIDRR-funded Field Initiated Project, Aging After Spinal Cord Injury: Three Decades of Longitudinal Research. For more information, please contact Kim Lathbury, Media Relations Manager, 404-350-7708 or kim_lathbury@shepherd.org

Two physicians working with the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) have been named to the 2001-2002 Best Doctors in America. Geetha Reddy, M.D., and Sara Walker, M.D., are both rheumatologists with the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Dr. Reddy works with MARRTC's Arthritis Rehabilitation Center: Training in Careers (ARCTC) research project. This project focuses on helping people with arthritis stay or become employed. Dr. Walker is co-investigator on a MARRTC project looking at depression and rheumatoid arthritis and a project designed to develop a model curriculum for arthritis health-care professionals.

Best Doctors is a Web-based paid physician referral service. The site is at http://www.bestdoctors.com/ Physicians listed for the Best Doctors Web site are selected through a survey of 30,000 leading specialists in various medical fields. The specialists are asked which physician they would choose for their own medical care or that of a loved one.

For more information on MARRTC, contact Senior Information Specialist, Dianna Borsi O'Brien: obriendi@missouri.edu or call (573) 882-2914.

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