Stanford Report, January 11, 2006

Medical Center People

Atul Butte MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and of pediatrics, has been awarded a 2006 research starter grant in informatics by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America Foundation. Butte was chosen for his work related to novel genomics-based classification of disease and how it can be used in diseases with no current therapies. Butte serves on the scientific program committee of the American Medical Informatics Association and is also a study section reviewer at the National Institutes of Health Biomedical Computing and Health Informatics Study Section.

Ivan Cheng, MD, has been appointed assistant professor of orthopedic surgery as of Dec. 1. His research interests lie in the biologic enhancement of spinal fusions, molecular techniques of intervertebral disc regeneration and techniques of spinal instrumentation. He is also chief of the education committee in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

James Fries, MD, professor of medicine, emeritus, received the Clinical Research Award from the American College of Rheumatology during its annual scientific meeting in November. The award is given to a clinical scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology. Fries has worked to improve the use of quantitative data to resolve central clinical problems of rheumatology. He founded the Arthritis, Rheumatism and Aging Medical Information System, a national chronic disease data bank system.

Beverly Mitchell, MD, has been appointed professor of medicine as of Dec. 16. She joined the faculty from the University of North Carolina, where she was associate director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also deputy director of Stanford's proposed Comprehensive Cancer Center.