Four Yale School of Public Health faculty—Serap Aksoy, Harvey Risch, Jeffrey Townsend and Shuangge Steven Ma—have been elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. The academy, which is modeled on the National Academy of Sciences, identifies and studies issues and technological advances that are or should be of concern to the people of Connecticut, and provides unbiased, expert advice on science- and technology-related issues to state government and other Connecticut institutions.
The YSPH faculty are among 24 new members statewide, 13 of whom are from Yale. All will officially be introduced at the academy’s annual dinner in Cromwell on May 28.
“Connecticut science will benefit greatly from the perspectives of these highly accomplished Yale School of Public Health faculty members. Their experience and knowledge will be invaluable in addressing the environmental, sociobehavioral, health policy and disease control and prevention issues confronting the state today,” said Dean Sten H. Vermund.
Serap Aksoy, PhD, professor of epidemiology (microbial diseases), was cited for studies on biology of tsetse flies and trypanosome pathogens; seminal discoveries of determinants of multipartite interactions of tsetse, trypanosome parasites, and beneficial symbiotic microbes providing innovative and global research approaches for control of African trypanosomiasis, a neglected fatal disease of humans/animals; forming international consortia for research and science capacity building.
Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, professor of statistics, was cited for foundational contributions to the development of statistical techniques, including cutting-edge statistical methods for analysis of -omics and public health studies; crucial contributions to cancer genetics and health care research; >200 publications in leading scientific journals; a deep commitment to outstanding teaching and scientific dissemination both in Connecticut and globally.
Harvey Risch, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology (chronic disease), was cited for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the causes of cancer, particularly of the lung, ovary and pancreas. His work, comprising more than 300 original research publications in the biomedical literature, has proposed practical approaches for prevention of these highly fatal diseases.
Connecticut science will benefit greatly from the perspectives of these highly accomplished Yale School of Public Health faculty members.
Sten H. Vermund
Jeffrey P. Townsend, PhD, Elihu Professor of Biostatistics, was cited for the development of innovative approaches to population biology, including the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, disease evolution and transmission, and evolution of tumorigenesis; and research that has enabled curtailment of pathogen evolution, outbreak mitigation, and informed therapeutic approaches to cancer metastasis and evolution of therapeutic resistance in cancer.
Additionally, Michelle L. Bell, PhD, Mary E. Pinchot Professor of Environmental Health at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and Eugene D. Shapiro, MD, professor of pediatrics (general pediatrics) and of epidemiology (microbial diseases), were also elected to the academy. Both have secondary appointments at the Yale School of Public Health.
Shapiro was cited for major contributions to the prevention and the treatment of infectious diseases in both children and adults, including the clinical effectiveness of vaccines, and to the diagnosis, management and epidemiology of Lyme disease, as well as for leadership in training clinical investigators and for his steadfast public advocacy of science.
Bell was cited for advances in our understanding of how air pollution impacts human health, how weather conditions have impacted health including mortality and hospital admissions, and how health is affected by the complex systems of urbanicity, green space and vegetation, [and] social and economic systems, as well as traditional environmental exposures.