The National Academy of Inventors, the American Heart Association, and the Rank Prize Funds are among the latest organizations honoring Rochester faculty.
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University of Rochester faculty regularly earn regional, national, and international awards and honors for their professional contributions to research, scholarship, education, and community engagement.
As part of an ongoing series, we’re spotlighting their accomplishments.
Danielle Benoit elected to National Academy of Inventors
Danielle Benoit, formerly the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Materials Science Program at Rochester, has been elected to the 2023 class of fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The honor recognizes her contributions to the field of biomedical engineering.
Benoit holds 12 fully executed US patents and 38 foreign patents that cover seven distinct inventions (patent families) that have been licensed to four companies. She also has five US provisional patents and two invention disclosures pending submission.
In 2022, Benoit joined the University of Oregon as their Lokey Chair of the Department of Bioengineering. She was nominated by Stephen Dewhurst, Rochester’s Vice President for Research, for her work while she was a member of the Rochester faculty, from 2010 to 2022. Her work, which has been funded by NIH and NSF (among others), has provided insights into the translation of tissue engineering strategies for bone healing and the development of tissue models to discover new drugs and drug delivery systems.
- Read more about Benoit’s work at Rochester as an inventor.
Thomas Caprio recognized for geriatric leadership
Thomas Caprio, a professor of medicine in the division of geriatrics and aging, has dedicated his work to improving the health and well-being of older adults, serving in multiple leadership roles at the University of Rochester Medical Center, as well as several national societies. In mid-October, the State Society on Aging of New York held its annual conference. After presenting on the topic “Transformation Toward an Age-Friendly Health System Through Interprofessional Collaboration,” Caprio was honored with the Walter M. Beattie Award. This recognition is the society’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, honoring distinguished members for their contributions and commitment to the goals of the State Society.
Caprio was also appointed director at large of the Hospice Medical Director Certification Board of Directors for a two-year term. His appointment is a testament to his expertise and dedication to improving end-of-life care for patients and their families.
- Read what Caprio had to say about these honors.
Mary Carey and coauthor receive Research Article of the Year Award
At the American Heart Association’s (AHA) 2023 Scientific Sessions, Mary Carey and her coauthor received the Research Article of the Year Award. The award-winning article, “An annotated ventricular tachycardia (VT) alarm database: Toward a uniform standard for optimizing automated VT identification in hospitalized patients,” was published in the Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology earlier this year. The study found that creating high-quality, well-annotated datasets for algorithm development and testing can ultimately improve patient outcomes and reduce alarm burden.
- Learn more about the study’s findings.
Konstantinos Chochlidakis recognized as distinguished researcher
The American College of Prosthodontists (ACP) honored Konstantinos Chochlidakis with the 2023 Distinguished Researcher Award for his significant contributions to literature, teaching, clinical applications in prosthodontics, dentistry, science, and health professions. Chochlidakis, an associate professor with the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, is likely the youngest person to receive this award. He and his colleagues have contributed 56 scientific articles on prosthodontics and implant dentistry throughout the last four years.
- Check out what Chochlidakis had to say about the honor.
Michele Cotrufo receives Young Investigator Award
Michele Cotrufo, an assistant professor in the Institute of Optics, received the 2023 Young Investigator Award from the journal Photonics. He was recognized for his outstanding research investigating metamaterials—artificially structured materials that manifest optical properties not available in bulk materials—for a broad range of applications in classical and quantum optics.
As the awardee, Cotrufo will receive an honorarium of 1,000 Swiss francs, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before the end of 2024 in Photonics after peer review, and an electronic certificate. He joined the University of Rochester faculty this fall after having served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin and at the City University of New York.
- Read more about Cotrufo’s background.
Michelle Dziejman elected to leadership role with American Society for Microbiology
Michelle Dziejman, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, has been elected vice chair of the American Society for Microbiology’s Council on Microbial Sciences. The council is ASM’s governance structure and is the key connection between the society’s members and leaders. The council keeps a pulse on new developments in microbial sciences and helps develop innovative ways to move the field and ASM forward. Dziejman begins in the role on July 1, 2024.
- Check out the Dziejman Laboratory website.
Suzanne Haber honored for contributions to neuroscience
Suzanne Haber, a professor of pharmacology and physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, was honored for her outstanding contributions to neuroscience. She is the co-recipient of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Barbara Fish Memorial Award. This award goes to an ACNP member who has made outstanding contributions to basic, translational, or clinical neuroscience. Haber is the principal investigator of the Conte Center for Research in OCD at the Medical Center. Her lab investigates the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic system, the neural network that underlies incentive-based learning and decision-making leading to the development of action plans. The pathology of this network is implicated in several mental health disorders, including drug addition, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia.
- Discover what the Haber Lab is up to.
Gaelen McCormick elected to executive board of national arts-in-health organization
Gaelen McCormick, director of Eastman Performing Arts Medicine and a faculty member with the Department of Health Humanities and Bioethics at the Medical Center and in arts leadership in the Eastman School of Music, has been elected vice president of the board of directors of the National Organization for Arts in Health. McCormick has been a member of the NOAH board since 2021. She begins the vice president role in January 2024 and, in 2026, ascends to a two-year term as president.
- Learn more about McCormick and the work of Eastman Performing Arts Medicine.
Andrea Pickel selected as Scialog fellow for automating chemical laboratories
Andrea Pickel, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and a scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, has been selected as a fellow for the first meeting of a new Scialog in automating chemical laboratories. The three-year initiative aims to accelerate innovation in basic research and broaden access within the chemical enterprise through advances in automated instrumentation and artificial intelligence.
The Scialog, set to begin in April 2024 and continuing through 2026, is co-sponsored by Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. Created by RCSA in 2010, Scialog is short for “science + dialog.”
- Learn more about Pickel’s NSF CAREER Award.
Linda Rasubala recognized for educational leadership
Linda Rasubala was the only dentist to be accepted into—and to complete—the 2022 Association of American Medical Colleges’ Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Certificate Program. The certificate program develops educational leaders in medical and dental education through evidence-based, collaborative learning, and reflective practice. The program is targeted for early to mid-career faculty and focuses on strategic vision and setting direction, developing people and organizations, and effective management.
For the last 10 years, Rasubala has worked at Eastman Institute for Oral Health as an educator, researcher, and clinician. She currently serves as an associate professor and associate director of the Howitt Urgent Dental Care Center at Eastman Institute for Oral Health, part of the University of Rochester Medical Center.
- Learn more about how Rasubala is leveling up her leadership skills.
Edward Schwarz named editor-in-chief of top journal
Edward Schwarz, the Richard and Margaret Burton Distinguished Professor in Orthopaedics and the director of the Center for Musculoskeletal Research, has been named editor-in-chief of the Journal of Orthopaedic Research, the most impactful journal worldwide for basic and translational orthopaedic research. He begins his five-year leadership term in March 2024. Schwarz has been an associate editor of the journal for the past 10 years and serves as associate editor on two other musculoskeletal research journals.
The Journal of Orthopaedic Research is a publication of the Chicago-based, 3,200-member Orthopaedic Research Society, the only international research society focused on orthopaedics and musculoskeletal care.
David Williams and former Rochester colleagues to receive Rank Prize for Optoelectronics
The 2024 Rank Prize for Optoelectronics is being awarded to four internationally leading scientists for the development of instruments that use adaptive optics technologies to capture high-resolution images of the living human retina. The winners are David R. Williams, the William G. Allyn Professor of Medical Optics, as well as three of his former doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at Rochester: Junzhong Liang, Austin Roorda, and Donald T. Miller ’96 (PhD). The prize will be presented at an event in London on July 1, 2024.
The researchers’ pioneering work at Rochester has generated new fundamental insights into the structure and function of the human eye in both health and disease as well as new clinical interventions to remedy sight loss from common disorders.
Adaptive optics is a technique used in astronomy to reduce image blur in ground-based telescopes. The seminal invention by Liang, Williams, and Miller in 1997 combined adaptive optics with an objective wavefront sensor to create a retinal imaging camera that exquisitely controlled the light both entering and exiting the pupil. The camera compensated for distortions caused by the eye’s natural aberrations, producing a clear image of individual photoreceptor cells.
The instrument was used by Roorda and Williams in 1999 to produce the first-ever images showing the distribution of the three cone types in the human retina that are used for color vision, revealing a surprising randomness and heterogeneity of the spatial distribution of the long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive cone types.
- Read more about Williams’ award-winning research.
