Archive issue
November 4, 2002

People

Hall dedicated to finding spinal cord injury treatments
Football player named to AFCA Good Works Team
Police officer receives LFCHR award for work with international students
The changing face of China
Four named to HES Hall of Fame
Briefs
Research and Funding
Publications

Hall dedicated to finding spinal cord injury treatments

Edward D. Hall

Edward D. Hall has wanted to be a doctor throughout his life. He became interested in medical research during his graduate studies, though his particular research focus was at first uncertain.

Hall's father became paralyzed at the age of 48 as a result of a spinal cord tumor and died 20 years later. This has been the impetus for his dedication to the spinal cord and brain injury field throughout his scientific career.

Hall is the new director of the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), as well as a professor of anatomy and neurobiology and neurosurgery, both in the College of Medicine. He was attracted to the position at SCoBIRC because of the center's exceptional expertise in central nervous system research.

Prior to his appointment at UK, Hall worked primarily in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently at Pfizer Inc., where he conducted drug discovery research for the treatment of brain and spinal cord injury, as well as stroke.

Hall was the first to discover that high-dose methylprednisolone was effective in the treatment of acute spinal cord injury. This is the only drug approved for the treatment of this type of injury. Hall also researched neuroprotective steroids in the hope of finding a treatment with the benefits of methylpredisolone, but not the side-effects. This resulted in the discovery and development of tirilazad, which is marketed in several countries for the treatment of certain types of brain hemorrhage. In addition, Hall was involved in the development of pramipexole, one of the leading treatments for neural degeneration in Parkinson's disease.

Due to limited financial success, the industry began to slow down or halt spinal cord and brain injury drug discovery research. Hall subsequently left Pfizer Inc. and accepted the directorship of SCoBIRC.

UK established SCoBIRC in 1998. Its researchers are actively exploring various potential drug, cellular transplant, rehabilitation or biomedical engineering treatments for spinal cord and brain injury. The center is funded in part by the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust (KSCHIRT), which was established by the 1994 General Assembly of Kentucky.  KSCHIRT provides about $2.5 million each year to support spinal cord and head injury research programs at UK and the University of Louisville.  The revenues are drawn from penalties added to speeding tickets.

KSCHIRT is one of the reasons that Hall has come to UK. “Kentucky has made a real commitment to this area through KSCHIRT,” said Hall. “Because of the excellent faculty already in place and the commitment of the university and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, UK is the best place imaginable to pursue research aimed at spinal cord and brain injury.”

Hall looks forward to the future of the center. “In the next five years or so, SCoBIRC could emerge as the premier site in the country, if not the world, in the pursuit of treatments for spinal cord and brain injury.”

To learn more about SCoBIRC, call (859) 323-6299 or visit www.mc.uky.edu/scobirc/.

Jennifer M. Bonck

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Football player named to AFCA Good Works Team

Hall one of only 11 NCAA Division I players chosen

Antonio Hall

UK Football player Antonio Hall was one of only 11 named to the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team for 2002. The team honors those athletes who show exceptional dedication to community service and to the betterment of the communities in which they live.

Hall, who is also a member of the SEC Good Works Team, was chosen because of his involvement with UK's “Cats That Care” service program. He participates in UK's Excel Mentor Program, meeting with a high school student each week to encourage academic success and personal growth, is a guest speaker at various schools and churches around Kentucky, and has been a frequent visitor to UK Children's Hospital.

Hall also was a quality candidate after creating and implementing the Complete College Experience, a one-day mentoring program that gave middle school students a chance to experience the benefits of college before they undergo the peer pressures and rigorous demands of high school. The mentoring program promotes the importance of continuing education and athletics, providing a glimpse of the real college experience.

“Being a student-athlete isn't just about playing the sport,” Hall said. “I realized that I can influence others not just by doing well athletically, but by being the best all-around person that I can be. Giving back to the community is something I love to do and this honor means a lot to me.”

Susan Lax

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Police officer receives LFCHR award for work with international students

Kathy Johnson Police officer Michael Bandy received the Police Community Relations Award for his work with international students at the university. The Lexington-Fayette County Human Rights Commission gives this award for exceptional achievement in the advancement of human rights and equity by honoring officers who are dedicated to enriching community understanding of the joint role of the police and the public in promoting public safety, crime prevention and community involvement.

Too often police officers go without a pat on the back for a job well done, but the Lexington-Fayette County Human Rights Commission launched a new Police Community Relations Award program this past spring to reward outstanding officers. UK police officer Michael D. Bandy was one of the first to receive the award.

The award is a way for the community to show its appreciation for police officers who make outstanding contributions to the improvement of police community relations.  The LFCHR commission gives this award for exceptional achievement in the advancement of human rights and equity by honoring officers who are dedicated to enriching community understanding of the joint role of the police and the public in promoting public safety, crime prevention and community involvement.

Bandy has been with the UK police department for 26 years, and his interests include building trust and positive relationships between UK police and international students. Bandy works toward this end by attending welcoming activities set up by the Office of International Affairs. He volunteers his service at special group activities for international students and responds to all calls and reports involving international students. Bandy has even made extra walking patrols of the areas frequently used by international students, and he has helped set up safety talks and meetings to discuss their concerns. 

“It has only been in recent years that more emphasis has been placed on officers actually getting out and meeting individuals of the community,” Bandy said.

Programs such as Adopt-A-Copp offer this involvement for UK officers. With this program, officers volunteer to adopt a residence hall for the school year and that officer is then responsible for the educational and awareness-type programming for that residence hall.

Bandy was surprised and humbled by his nomination and award and said that he wished he could include all the individuals behind the scene who made International Adopt-A-Copp successful. According to Bandy, the people who made the program a success are: UKPD for supporting and encouraging him; the employees of the UK Office of International Affairs for allowing him to attend their programs; UK Housing for including him in special events and community talks; the resident managers of UK Housing for calling upon him for help with international students' problems; and all the students who helped him start “an inroad into their tight-knit cultural community.”

Recipients must be nominated and are chosen by an independent committee made up of community members. Stephanie Bastin, Police Operations, who oversees the educational and awareness programming provided by UKPD, nominated Bandy for this award. 

“Officer Bandy possesses all the traits needed to act as liaison between UKPD and the international student resident population. [He] has managed to break through cultural barriers that many times exist towards police,” Bastin said. “Bandy is compassionate and cares about people, all people, and this is why Officer Bandy is so deserving of this award.”

Outside his duty as an officer, Bandy enjoys gardening, computing, target shooting, reading, home remodeling and working with the next generation of leaders of all countries. When asked if his job has changed over the years, Bandy said, “All officers of the University of Kentucky Police Department are striving to be better aware of the activities around the university community and make sure that this university remains an institution where ideas and philosophies can be freely exchanged without fear of retribution or censure.”

Kimberly Williams

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The changing face of China Professor finds charm, challenges while cultivating Sino-U.S. relations Photo Submitted Professor Ed Jennings (right) presents Ji Guo, president of the Chinese Public Administration Society, with the book “Horse Mania,” which features the 79 painted and decorated fiberglass thoroughbreds that were on public display throughout Lexington in 2000. Ed Jennings, a professor in the University of Kentucky Martin School of Public Policy and Administration, visited China for 12 days last summer to take part in the First Sino-U.S. International Conference on Public Administration. In Beijing, Jennings joined members of the American Society for Public Administration who set aside ideological differences to discuss major issues in public administration and to advise Chinese officials on the creation of 24 schools of public administration. The government authorized the establishment of the schools two years ago to meet the challenges brought on by modernization and a turn toward a market economy. Jennings presented a paper "Performance Measurement-Style or Substance?" and he spoke at the conference's concluding plenary session. Additionally, Jennings was a featured speaker at the First International Conference on Information Management and Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. He presented a paper "Electronic Government and Public Affairs Education." Jennings said he had a fair amount of interaction with Chinese government leaders, who are facing a number of difficulties, including the daunting task of modernizing rural areas, delivering more public services, downsizing the bureaucracy, and reigning in government corruption, which has begun to proliferate.  "It was very interesting to observe the Chinese and see their different faces," Jennings said. "A transition is taking place in China. The challenge for Chinese leaders is to modernize their country while maintaining centralized one-party control of the government. This is creating tension." A good deal of that tension could be seen in Beijing, a city of 12 million people, where Jennings noticed a clash between the old and the new.  "Sections of the city are contemporary," he said, "but in the older quarters of the city you feel like you've stepped back in time, to the 18th or 19th century." Underscoring China's need for adequate public administration, Jennings said Beijing suffers from problems typical of all large cities -- gridlock, air pollution, water pollution and overpopulation. One particular dilemma is a lack of adequate public facilities, which is a way of saying there aren't enough bathrooms. "The way the city was built, people go to communal toilets. Generally, they don't have toilets in their homes," he said. In rural China, the feeling of time travel continued. Jennings, accompanied by his wife, Kathy, saw some of the country's 800 million peasants cultivate fields with ox-drawn plows. "We saw nothing mechanized," he said. "They're trying to bring them into the 21st century, and that's an extraordinary challenge." Other excursions took the couple to the Great Wall, socked in by fog the day they visited; the Forbidden City, seat of imperial power during the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Temple of Heaven, where dynastic rulers corresponded with their perceived heavenly emperor; and the banks of the Li River, which Jennings called "extraordinarily beautiful."  Completing their experience in the Orient, the couple traveled to Seoul, South Korea, where Jennings spoke to the staff of the Korean Institute of Public Administration. George Lewis

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Four named to HES Hall of Fame

The University of Kentucky College of Human Environmental Sciences inducted four people into its Hall of Fame on Oct. 24 as part of its HES Week celebration. The honorees were recognized in a ceremony at the William T. Young Library auditorium.

This year's inductees were:

Marjorie Smock Stewart

•Marjorie Smock Stewart, dean of the UK College of Home Economics from 1972 to 1982. Stewart earned her master's in home economics education from UK in 1963. After earning her doctorate from The Ohio State University in 1968, she returned to UK to head up the Home Economics Education program. Stewart established the Human Environmental Sciences Development Fund to enable faculty or staff members of the college to purchase research equipment. She previously has been honored by the HES Alumni Association with a scholarship in her name for non-traditional students.

Sue Cravens Stivers

•Sue Cravens Stivers, a retired agent with the Adair County Cooperative Extension Service and first recipient of the Adair County Woman of the Year award. Stivers earned her bachelor's degree from the UK College of Home Economics. She was responsible for securing the funding for an employment training center in Adair County, which helped reduce the unemployment rate from nearly 30 percent to about 3 percent. Stivers is a very active volunteer serving on 28 boards.

Audrey Carr

•Audrey Carr, the Committee Staff Administrator for the Interim Joint Committee on Education in Kentucky. Carr earned her bachelor's degree in home economics education, masters in education and doctorate from UK. In 1999-2000, as president of the HES Alumni Association, Carr spearheaded a drive for alumni to form the college's own endowed professorship. Under her direction, more than $20,000 was raised, with a pledge for an additional $30,000, and the funds were matched with $50,000 from the Research Challenge Trust Fund.

Helen Horlacher Evans

•Helen Horlacher Evans, director of the Vest-Lindsey House. A UK graduate in home economics, Evans joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942. She taught classes in Army Food Service and established a Bakers and Cooks School at the WAC Training Center. Evans assisted the Army in a controlled study of food consumption of women. The study led to a Master Menu which in 1944 saved the army potentially $2.7 million annually. Evans has served as president of the Lexington Woman's Club and state president of the Kentucky Federation of Women's Clubs, and also served as a field representative for the Women in Military Service Memorial at the entrance to the Arlington National Cemetery.

Brad Duncan

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Briefs

Resident of the Month
Jessica Pennington, Family Practice, has been selected as the resident of the month for November 2002. Jessica was nominated by a faculty member in Family Practice, who noted her educational skills in his nomination.

Advisers honored
Penny Miller, political science, and Bonita Lykins, engineering extended campus at Paducah Community College, received the 2002 Ken Freedman Outstanding Adviser Awards.  Miller was named the faculty winner, while Lykins was the professional adviser winner.

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•Debra Anderson, Nursing Instruction, $204,291, Risk for Workplace Violence in Long-haul Truckers.
•Rubio Angel, Kentucky Community Cancer Program, $400,000, An Appalachian Community Based Cervical Outreach Demonstration Project.
•Reto Asmis, Internal Medicine, $1,158,039, Role of Glutathione Reductase and Macrophage Oncosis.
•Stephen Brown, Internal Medicine, $1,399,300, Studies in Bone Marrow Transplantation.
•Patricia Browne-Ferrigio, Administration and Supervision, $197,397, School Leadership Development Program.
•Alan Daugherty, Internal Medicine, $627,737, Mechanisms of Sidestream Cigarette-Induced Atherogenesis.
•Robert Dickson, Molecular and Cellular Biology, $321,566, Molecular Genetic Analysis of Yeast Sphingolipids.
•Steven Fleming, Health Services, $227,122, Kentucky HSR Development.
•Thomas Foster, Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, $649,530, Estrogen and Cognition Over the Lifespan.
•Greg Gerhardt, Anatomy and Neurobiology, $166,756, Nitric Oxide and Cholinergic Activity in Schizophrenia.
•Theodore Grossardt, Kentucky Transportation Center, $125,000, Long-Term Maintenance Needs Planning.
•Theodore Grossardt, Kentucky Transportation Center, $210,092, AMIS Technical Development Project.
•Edward Hall, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, $1,840,500, Peroxynitrite-Induced Oxidative Damage in TBI.
•Louis Hersh, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $1,472,400, Estrogens, Neprilysin, and Amyloid Peptides.
•Matthew Hiller, Center for Drug and Alcohol Research, $2,415,243, Health Services Utilization and Co-occurring Disorders.
•Rick Honaker, Mining/Engineering, $501,730, Premium Fuel Production from Mining and Timber Waste Using Advanced Separation.
•Craig Jordan, Internal Medicine, $734,000, an In-vivo Model for Leukemic Stem Cells.
•Jacqueline Kearns, Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute, $179,845, Access to Assessment via Technology Research Project.
•Lakshmyya Kesavalu, Dentistry Research and Graduate Studies, n-3 Fatty Acid and Host Responses to Oral Infection.
•Kames Kipp, Kentucky Water Resources Institute, $ 184,074, CHS Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Oversight.
•Philip Landfield, Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, $5,671,303, Calcium Regulation in Brain Aging and Alzheimer's Disease.
•Sandra Legan, Physiology, $1,498,000, Age-related Changes in Mechanisms Controlling LH Surges.
•Carl Leukefeld, Behavioral Science, $2,443,102, Central States Criminal Justice Drug Abuse Center.
•Carl Leukefeld, Center for Drug and Alcohol Research, $899,085, 1544 HER ACT for Women and Girls in Science, Math and Technology.
•John Littleton, Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, $192,854, R&D Voucher: Naprogenix Inc.
•Richard McCann, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $1,472,400, Adhesion in Myogenesis and Muscle Cell Architecture.
•Robert McKnight, Preventive Medicine, $191,883, Kentucky Migran Vocational Rehabilitation Project.
•Daniel Noonan, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $1,000,000, Dissecting the Molecular Pathology of LAM Disease.
•Sabire Ozcan, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $294,300, Histone Acetylation and Insulin Gene Expression.
•Sabire Ozcan, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, $294,300, Regulation of Insulin Gene Expression in Liver Cells. •Bhupendra Parekh, Center for Applied Energy Research, $377,833, Premium Fuel Production from Mining and Timber Waste Using Advanced Separation.
•Beth Rous, Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute, $699,942, National Early Childhood Transition Center.
•Jonathon Satin, Physiology, $1,837,250, Mechanisms of Long-term Cardiac Ion Channel Regulation.
•F. Scutchfield, Center for Health Services Research, $447,752, Community-Based Participatory Prevention Research.
•Joe Springer, Anatomy and Neurobiology, $1,202,800, COX-2 Pathophysiology in Spinal Cord Injury.
•Patrick Sullivan, Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, $300,000, Oxidative Stress and the Ketogenic Diet.
•Hollie Swanson, Molecular and Biomedical Pharmacology, $1,720,800, Dioxin and Keratinocyte Differentiation.
•Glenn Telling, RCTF- Gerontology, $349,369, US Based Colalboration in Emerging Viral and Prion Disease.
•Emery Wilson, Physiology, $500,000, Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health.
•Stephen Wyatt, Kentucky Community Cancer Program, $755,000, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center.
•David Yurek, Neurosurgery, $1,013,600, Gene Therapy, Neural Grafts and Parkinson's Disease.
•Zhiming Zhang, Anatomy and Neurobiology, $1,250,000, Investigating L-Dopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Rhesus Monkeys.
•Rick Zimmerman, Communications, $315,000, School-based Alcohol and HIV Prevention in South Africa.

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Robert Olson, Professor of Middle East history and politics has recently published “Turkey-Syria Relations, 1991-2000: Kurds, Israel and “undeclared war,” Orient, vol 42, no. 1 (2001); “The Arab-Palestine, Israel Conflict, 53 years on: Perceptions and an Assessment,” Journal of Third World Studies, vol. xix. no.1 (Spring 2002); “Turkey-Iran Relations, 2000-2001: The Caspian, Azerbaijan and Kurds,” Middle East Policy, vol. ix, no. 2 (2002); “Turkey-Russia Relations, 2000-2001: Containment or Congagement?” Orient, vol. 43, no. 1 (2002).

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