Appointments and Elections
Craig Kennedy, professor and chair of special education, has been elected to the Board of Trustees for the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. SEAB oversees the publication of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Awards and Honors
Earle Burgess, a clinical fellow at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, received a Young Investigator Award at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology held in Chicago. The award includes a one-year $50,000 grant designed to promote high-quality research in clinical oncology by funding promising investigators during their transition from a fellowship program to a faculty appointment. Burgess will continue his research in the lab of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Interim Director Jennifer Pietenpol studying transcription factors in head and neck cancers.

Pierre Massion, assistant professor of medicine, received the 2007 Advanced Clinical Research Award at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology held in Chicago. The award includes a $450,000 grant, which Massion will use to continue his research evaluating a new approach to the early detection of lung cancer.

Papers and Presentations
John Wikswo, the Gordon A. Cain University Professor, presented a seminar, “BioMEMS and Symbolic Regression for Automated Inference of Metabolic Network Dynamics,” at the Institute for Advanced Study’s Simons Center for Systems Biology in Princeton, N.J., where he is a visiting member for fall 2007.

On the Move
Susan Barone, assistant director of Vanderbilt’s English Language Center, has been named director of the English Language Center, effective July 1.

Elizabeth Rapisarda has been named assistant provost for research and graduate education. Rapisarda was previously associate vice chancellor for operations and chief operating officer for Development and Alumni Relations at Vanderbilt. In her new role, Rapisarda will assist Associate Provost Dennis Hall in carrying out the responsibilities of his office, including complying with federal policies and regulations, pursuing external funding opportunities, improving the infrastructure for research and graduate education, monitoring the activities of research centers and institutes and improving communication with graduate student alumni.

Jeffrey H. Samz has been appointed chief executive officer of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI). He will assume the newly created position in August. Samz comes to Vanderbilt from Duke University Hospital, where he has served as associate operating officer for heart services since 2005. In his new role, Samz will be responsible for the overall business administration of VHVI, including inpatient and outpatient activities, the oversight of strategic development and the financial growth and success of the institute.

_{Posted 06/25/07}