Medical center people

Denise Monack

Jonathan Pollack

Denise Monack, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, is the recipient of the 2009 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease award presented by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. She was chosen for her work on host-pathogen interactions during persistent Salmonella infection. The award provides $500,000 over five years.

Marlene Martin, a second-year medical student, is one of 12 recipients of a 2009 Minority Scholars Award from the American Medical Association. The award was established to promote diversity in the medical profession, and helps with the rapidly rising cost of medical education. Martin, outreach chair for the Latino Medical Student Association and a volunteer at the Arbor Free Clinic, will receive a $10,000 scholarship in recognition of her excellence as a medical student and outstanding promise for a future career in medicine.

Jonathan Pollack, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology, has received a $400,000 grant from the state's Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program for a two-year research project on lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related death in California. The state program, funded by the cigarette surtax, supports work on the prevention, causes and treatment of tobacco-related disease. Pollack has identified a gene, known as TITF1, which drives lung cancer development, and he hopes to find a vulnerable spot along the TITF1 pathway that could be used as a target for new treatments for lung cancers.