NIDDK's Harlan Wins Legion of Merit
Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig
(r) recently presented the
Legion of Merit to Dr. David Harlan , now head of the
NIDDK/Navy Transplantation and Autoimmunity Branch, for
exceptional professional achievement as a research scientist,
clinician, director of the Immune Cell Biology Program, and head of
combat casualty care department at the Naval Medical Research
Center. Capt. Harlan, who recently joined NIDDK, was cited for
"his vision, leadership, and inspired research to develop novel
immunoregulatory therapies," a research area he continues to pursue
in his current position. The Legion of Merit is awarded to members
of the armed forces for exceptionally meritorious service and
achievement.
Burgdorfer Elected to Swiss Academy
Dr. Willy Burgdorfer
of NIAID's Rocky Mountain Laboratories
(RML) was recently elected to the Swiss Academy of Medical
Sciences. He is an internationally acclaimed zoologist and a
microbiologist who has long been acknowledged as a leading global
expert in the relationship between animal and human disease agents
and their transmission by blood-feeding arthropods, especially ticks.
He is perhaps best known for his discovery that Lyme disease was
actually a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a
newly recognized bacterium which was named in honor of his work.
Born in Basel, Switzerland, Burgdorfer retired in 1986 after heading
rickettsial diseases research at RML and has remained active as
scientist emeritus. He also recently received the Lifetime
Achievement Award at the annual meeting of the Society for Vector
Ecology.
Balaban Elected Society President
Secretary of the Navy Dr. Robert S. Balaban, scientific director of the NHLBI Laboratory
Research Program and chief of the institute's Laboratory of Cardiac
Energetics, has recently been elected incoming president of the
Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. The SCMR is a
rapidly growing international society of some 600 members that
focuses on the application of magnetic resonance imaging and
spectroscopy to the cardiovascular system. Balaban has been active
in this field over the last decade, developing an NHLBI research and
clinical program in cardiovascular magnetic resonance. He is
currently leading the joint NIH/Suburban Hospital MRI program in
the emergency room with Dr. Steven Warach of NINDS and Dr.
Andrew Arai of NHLBI. He also is chair of the steering committee
for the In Vivo NMR Center on campus.
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