Featured News
Cheryl L. Maier Receives American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award
Cheryl L. Maier, assistant professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, medical director for the Special Coagulation Laboratory, Emory School of Medicine, has been awarded the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) Young Physician-Scientist Award (YPSA). The YPSA recognizes physician-scientists who are early in their first faculty appointment and have made notable achievements in their research.
Maier joined Emory’s faculty in January 2020 and secured extramural funding from NIH/NHLBI as the recipient of a K99/R00 career development award studying platelet immunology. With the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Maier led a multidisciplinary care team that reported the novel observation of blood hyperviscosity in critically ill COVID-19 patients, and served as the PI for a randomized controlled trial on the role of therapeutic plasma exchange as an intervention for COVID-associated coagulopathy. She spent the next 3 years investigating drivers of severe COVID-19 and uncovered a unique mechanism by which pathologically-elevated fibrinogen induces red blood cell aggregates that mechanically injure the vascular endothelium. Her laboratory continues to investigate mechanisms and mitigators of disease pathology at the interface of the immune and hemostatic systems, including thromboinflammation associated with acute viral infection, sepsis, stroke and malignancy.
Dr. Maier is also a BCDB faculty member.
Dr. Edmund “Ned” Waller Named 2024 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI)
National Academy of Inventors (NAI) fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded to academic inventors. The program recognizes academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation through outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
Dr. Edmund “Ned” Waller is the Rein Saral, MD, Professor in Cancer Medicine at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He serves as the medical director of the Center for Stem Cell Processing and Apheresis at Emory University Hospital and is the director of the Center for Regenerative Engineering and Medicine, a collaborative initiative between Emory University, Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. He is also a faculty member in the CB and IMP programs.
Waller's work not only advances medical research, but also translates it into tangible therapeutic innovations, significantly impacting patient care and public health.
Click here to read the full story.
GDBBS Faculty Recognized at Celebration of Faculty Eminence
Six faculty from the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (GDBBS) were among the thirty-one newly named professors who were honored during Emory University’s 2024 Celebration of Faculty Eminence. The honorees were celebrated for their commitment to advancing scholarship and research while enriching the student experience.
President George L. Fenves said that Emory faculty "have expertise and ideas that inspire our students and drive discovery, research and scholarship at the very highest level." He added that the newly named faculty "ignite students’ ambitions" and "enrich their disciplines."
The six GDBBS faculty members are:
- Dr. Kelly Goldsmith (CB)
- Dr. Machelle Pardue (NS)
- Dr. Yoland Smith (MSP & NS)
- Dr. Rabindra Tirouvanziam (IMP & MSP)
- Dr. Richard Wainford (MSP)
- Dr. Jindan Yu (CB & GMB)
Read the full story here.
Ethnobotanist and GDBBS Faculty Member Named CNN 'Champion for Change'
Cassandra Quave, the Thomas J. Lawley, MD Professor of Dermatology, has been named one of CNN's 'Champions for Change' for 2024. The network calls their recipients "pioneers who are driving us toward a brighter future and changing the world."
In her interview with CNN, Quave says that "over a million people die every year due to untreatable infections. So I've dedicated my life to searching for new medicines from nature to combat the worst of these drug-resistant infections."
In addition to her appointment in Emory's dermatology department, Quave is the curator of the herbarium and assistant dean of Emory School of Medicine's research cores. She is also a faculty member in the MMG and MSP programs.
To watch the CNN primetime special featuring Quave, please visit this webpage.
Emory ranked among the top 10 green colleges in the world
Adding to other recent accolades, Emory University was included among the 10 greenest universities in the world according to a new article from Study International — one of only two universities in the U.S. to receive this recognition. This ranking is one of several acknowledgments of Emory’s institutional leadership in sustainability, including being among the Sierra Club’s 2021 “Cool Schools” and receiving a gold rating from the internationally recognized Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) for more than a decade.
Emory is recognized for the announcement of its 20-year partnership with Cherry Street Solar, which will create 5.5 megawatts of solar generation across campus; its WaterHub system, which reduces non-potable water usage on campus by 40% annually and supports hands-on learning and research opportunities in the environmental sciences and engineering; and for its extensive and varied campus engagement efforts.
Emory’s integration of operational sustainability with academic innovation has built its reputation as a world-class institution of higher education preparing a new generation of environmentally minded leaders.
Community members are invited to contribute to the 2025-2036 Sustainability Vision and Strategic Plan and offer input on how Emory moves forward.
Update: Emory’s graduate, professional schools ranked among best in nation by U.S. News
Editor’s note: This article was updated July 23 to reflect medical school rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.
Emory University’s graduate and professional schools and programs continue to be ranked among the best in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Graduate Schools, which was released April 9.
The annual list uses data, surveys and other information to rank programs in schools of nursing, public health, business, law and other areas. The publication has delayed releasing rankings for medical schools, engineering schools and clinical psychology programs because of concerns with the data.
Here are the Emory schools included in this year’s national rankings:
The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing master’s program ranks 1st in the nation. The school’s doctor of nursing practice program is 6th.
The Rollins School of Public Health ranks 3rd in the nation. In the category of public health programs, U.S. News issued rankings for several master’s programs: biostatistics (5th), environmental health science (3rd), epidemiology (4th), health policy and management (8th) and social behavior (3rd).
Emory’s School of Medicine was ranked in Tier 1 for research-oriented medical schools, a group that includes the top schools in the nation. US News introduced group rankings for medical schools this year instead of assigning specific numbers for each institution. The publication did rank Emory 15th for most diverse medical schools and the doctor of physical therapy program was listed as 4th in the country.
Goizueta Business School’s full-time MBA program ranks 18th. The Executive MBA program is 13th and the part-time program is 20th.
The School of Law ranks 42nd in the nation. Multiple programs within the school also received rankings including business/corporate law (22nd), constitutional law (25th), contracts/commercial law (21st) and health care law (21st).
The Laney Graduate School awards all PhDs at Emory in partnership with faculty located in various schools and departments across the university. Among doctoral science programs, computer science is 64th.
In U.S. News’ rankings of nursing master’s programs, Emory’s nurse practitioner, adult/gerontology, primary care is 3rd ; nurse practitioner, adult/gerontology, acute care is 4th; and family nurse practitioner program is 4th.
In rankings of Emory’s doctor of nursing practice programs, adult gerontology/acute care is 4th; adult gerontology/primary care is 3rd; family practice 5th; and nurse administration management 6th.
Each school may have additional information about rankings issued to specific programs. Not all graduate and professional programs are ranked annually.
Emory ranks among the top recipients of NIH support
Emory University continues to be one of the largest recipients of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to an independent ranking of peer institutions.
Each year, the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) publishes a ranking of U.S. academic institutions and health care systems based on the research funding they received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the prior year.
In 2023, Emory received more than $485 million and is amongst the top 20 in the nation overall for institutional funding from the NIH.
“NIH support across the health sciences remains critical to our faculty and staff conducting high impact research that is contributing to scientific breakthroughs and improving the lives of populations around the world,” says David Stephens, MD, vice president for research at Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. “The investment of federal dollars will continue to support our mission as a leading research university.”
Emory’s individual schools all figured in the top 20 in their categories, with two in the top 5.
- School of Medicine: 17th in the nation
- School of Nursing: 5th in the nation
- School of Public Health: 5th in the nation
At the department level, Emory School of Medicine has several departments in the top 20, including five in the top 10:
- Biomedical Engineering (6)
- Neurology (9)
- Pathology Medicine (5)
- Pediatrics (5)
- Physical Medicine (10)
In addition, Winship Cancer Institute scientists contribute significantly to the NIH research funding totals, and the National Primate Research Center has one of the largest research funding bases of the nation’s seven NIH-supported national primate research centers.
GDBBS faculty recognized among world's most influential researchers
Three GDBBS faculty members were recently recognized as part of an elite group of the world’s most influential scientists by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), a scientific analysis service. ISI, a division of Clarivate, uses the designation “Highly Cited Researchers” to describe scholars who produce high levels of research that also has a strong influence on their colleagues.
These faculty members are three out of the nine Emory researchers who are part of a group of Highly Cited Researchers from more than 1,300 institutions in 67 nations and regions. Selections were made by ISI’s bibliometrics experts, chosen through a process that includes the number of times their work is cited in the Science Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index.
They are:
- Rafi Ahmed, PhD, professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and director of the Emory Vaccine Center, is a world-renowned immunologist whose work during the past decade has been highly influential in shaping our current understanding of how the germ-fighting white blood cells called T cells differentiate into the more specialized memory T cells that remain in the body after infection has been conquered. He is also a faculty member in the IMP and MMG programs.
- Andrew H. Miller, MD, is the William P. Timmie Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine, as well as head of the Emory Behavioral Immunology Program. Miller is an internationally recognized expert in interactions between the brain and immune system as they relate to behavior and health, including depression. His research focuses on the mechanisms by which the signaling proteins called cytokines cause depression in humans. He is also a NS faculty member.
- Mehul S. Suthar, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, as well as at the Emory Vaccine Center, is currently applying an innovative systems biology approach to understand the complex and dynamic signaling networks that control innate immunity, the body’s multiple barriers designed to suppress or slow down viral infections. He uses a combination of high-throughput technology, computational analysis and pathway-specific modeling to reveal tissue and cell-specific gene regulatory signaling networks and antiviral effector genes that control virus infection and regulate innate antiviral immunity. He is also a faculty member in the IMP and MMG programs.