CNND celebrates anniversary, merger with pharmacology

Attendees at the CNND dinner last week included, from left to right: Tsuneya Ikezu, M.D., Ph.D., CNND; Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., University of California at San Diego; Carol Swarts; Francis Blumkin; John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine; Howard Gendelman, M.D., CNND; Amy Volk, University of Nebraska Foundation; Harriet Singer; and Roseanne Gollan.

Spirits were high on Aug. 18, as UNMC’s Center for Neurovirology and Neurodegenerative Disorders (CNND) held its bi-annual state of the center dinner at the Omaha Press Club. The dinner marked the seventh anniversary of the CNND and – for the first time – brought together members of the CNND and UNMC’s Department of Pharmacology.

Effective Sept. 1, Howard Gendelman, M.D., director of the CNND, will formally bring the two units together when he becomes chairman of the department of pharmacology.

“I’ve been blessed in the CNND with incredible people, who are equally good as scientists as they are as human beings,” Dr. Gendelman said. “We are now becoming a bigger family.

“I can honestly say that my vision and the vision of John Gollan (College of Medicine dean) are totally in sync. We’re on a mission to find lasting answers to diseases that devastate so many of our citizens here in Nebraska and worldwide.”

Dr. Gollan was equally upbeat in his assessment of the restructured department of pharmacology. “I’m delighted with the way this is coming together and taking flight,” he said. “I have great hope and expectations. I’m delighted with how pharmacology has begun to merge with the CNND.

The CNND and the Department of Pharmacology are merging effective Sept. 1. Among the attendees at last week’s dinner at the Omaha Press Club were: Yuri Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., CNND; Terry Hexum, Ph.D., pharmacology; Howard Gendelman, M.D., CNND; Dan Monaghan, Ph.D., pharmacology; and John Gollan, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Medicine.

“My vision is for our clinical services to be underpinned by research. We need to create translational links between research and clinical care. I see this group providing the scientific underpinning for our clinicians working in the neurosciences field.”

Yuri Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., deputy director of the CNND, said, “The past 10 years have been the most difficult and gratifying of my life. This (the CNND) is about building people. The CNND is like a family. It’s the most important part of what we are.”

Members of the CNND External Advisory Committee were in town last week conducting their bi-annual assessment of the CNND.

Two of the members of the CNND External Advisory Committee are William Hickey, M.D. (left), Dartmouth Medical School, and Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., University of California at San Diego. Dr. Hickey was one of the presenters at the dinner.

William Hickey, M.D., senior associate dean for academic affairs at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., chairs the CNND External Advisory Committee. Having reviewed the work of the CNND, Dr. Hickey said the committee was extremely pleased with the progress of the CNND.

“The science here is top drawer,” Dr. Hickey said. “In certain areas of neuroscience such as neuroinflammation, you’re ahead of the pack and you’ve been there for awhile. The CNND is on a great trajectory. In the past seven years, we’ve seen it grow from Howie (Gendelman) and three people to Howie and 63 people.

“The CNND is gaining international recognition. At conferences in Germany, France, Italy and around the world, folks from the CNND are speaking. Nebraska is there. We’re honored to see the successes.”

Richard Miller, Ph.D., left, Northwestern University, is one of the members of the CNND External Advisory Committee. He is joined by Yuri Persidsky, M.D., Ph.D., CNND, who also spoke at the dinner.

Other members of the CNND External Advisory Committee who were involved in the review and who themselves are world-recognized neuroscientists included: Eugene Major, Ph.D., senior investigator for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS); Stuart A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Neuroscience and Aging Center at the Burnham Institute and professor at the Salk Institute/Scripps Research Institute at the University of California at San Diego; and Richard Miller, Ph.D., professor in the department of molecular pharmacology and biological chemistry, Northwestern University.