Inside Einstein

Prestigious Honor — Dr. Bruce Schwartz, professor and vice chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Einstein and deputy chair at  Montefiore Medical Center, will lead the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Section for Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Services. During his one-year term, Dr. Schwartz and a 16-person governing council will address matters of AHA policy, advocacy, and member resources in order to improve the quality and efficiency of psychiatric and substance abuse services.

Good Reading — Dr. U. Thomas Meier was awarded a $1.2 million grant over four years by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study how cells assemble small nucleolar RNA-protein complexes that function in the modification of ribosomal and other RNAs, thereby fine-tuning protein synthesis and pre-messenger RNA processing.  Dr. Meier’s laboratory will use novel approaches to shed light on these basic cellular processes, thus providing the foundation for understanding what goes wrong in certain genetic diseases and cancers.  Dr. Meier is professor of anatomy and structural biology.

Visionary Research — Dr. Nicholas Baker was awarded a $1.5 million grant over four years by the National Eye Institute to study light-responding nerve cells in the eye and the emerging link between their cellular structure and their growth and death cycle. Taking advantage of the large-eyed and genetically tractable fruit fly as a model organism, Dr. Baker’s laboratory will use genetically engineered flies and modern molecular biological techniques to identify key genes and molecules involved in regulating nerve cell survival.  The aim of these studies is to gain knowledge that can inform the design of new approaches to treating retinoblastoma, retinal degeneration, and neurodegenerative conditions.  Dr. Baker is professor of genetics, of developmental & molecular biology, and of ophthalmology & visual sciences.