Research Messenger
Vol 2, Issue 3
November 29, 2007
Albert W. Johnson Lectureship
The University Grants and Lectureship Committee, with representatives from all colleges, the library and IVC, has recommended that Mark A. Sussman be named the Albert W. Johnson Lecturer for 2008. This recognition, named in honor of SDSU's former Provost and stalwart supporter of our university's research effort, is the highest award for scholarship we offer.
The competition for the award was gratifyingly intense. There were seven nominees, all worthy of this recognition, and the Committee required two rounds of deliberation and voting to reach its recommendation.
Mark Sussman is professor of biology working on molecular signalling and stem cell transplantation as they relate to heart disease. He represents the leading edge of a paradigmatic shift in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. The strategy of the past few decades has been to slow the progression of cardiac cell death with drugs, then eventually resort to surgery to implant a mechanical assist device or a donated heart. This has revolutionized cardiac care and been responsible for part of the increase in longevity that we in developed nations have enjoyed. However, it entails great financial cost, debilitating invasive procedures and loss of quality of life.
Mark's work, and that of his colleagues, promises to regenerate and repair the myocardium using stem cells and appropriate molecular signals; the patient receives a renewed heart with minimal invasion and no risk of rejection of foreign parts or tissues.
This has met with considerable enthusiasm in the scientific community. Mark is invited to give an average of six lectures around the world annually, including the prestigious Krop Honorary lecture at Georgetown University this year. He has published 60 articles and chapters in the past decade, and holds multiple research awards from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health.
Mark's funding is capped by a Program Project Grant from the NIH, the first awarded in the CSU. He serves on five editorial boards, and is Chair of the NIH study section on Cardiac Contractility Hypertrophy and Heart Failure, a position of considerable national visibility. In 2006, Mark received the Presidential Award from the International Society for Heart Research.
Mark's large, bustling lab in North Life Sciences engages technicians, undergraduates, masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students in a united effort to address cardiac myopathy. He is seen by students and colleagues as an inspiring lecturer, attentive mentor and wise counselor.
Mark will deliver the AWJ lecture during the week of March 17, 2008, on a date to be determined. He will receive a monetary award, a plaque of recognition, be named Distinguished Professor of Biology and his name will be added to the plaque of 17 former AWJ lecturers that hangs at the entrance to Graduate and Research Affairs.
I hope you will join me in offering Mark congratulations on his signal achievements, and will attend the AWJ lecture in March.
Tom