Milestones

Chemistry professor Bassam Shakhashiri was voted president-elect of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Shakhashiri will serve on the ACS board of directors for a three-year term, beginning in January as president-elect, as president in 2012 and as immediate-past president in 2013.

The ACS is the largest scientific organization in the world, with more than 160,000 members from academia, government and industry. Its mission is to advance chemistry practice and education and the usefulness of chemistry to society.

He has been a member of ACS for 49 years and will become the third ACS president from UW–Madison. Professor Farrington Daniels — whose namesake building is Shakhashiri’s academic home — held the position in 1953, and professor emeritus Charles Casey held it in 2004.

As president, Shakhashiri will have the opportunity to promote his own set of initiatives while serving as the society’s public representative and main spokesperson. He has identified several issues he intends to pursue, including green chemistry, climate change, research support, education and science communication.

Jim Healy has been named Cinematheque’s new director of programming.

Before coming to UW–Madison, Healy was assistant curator at George Eastman House, an International Museum of Photography in Rochester, N.Y. Before the Eastman House, he spent five years as a programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival.

Healy also currently serves as a consultant for the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy.

As the new director of programming, Healy looks forward to expanding the idea of the “Cinematheque Film.”

Michelle Chui, assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy, and Olufunmilola Odukoya, graduate student working with Chui, were awarded a $30,000 grant to study e-prescribing on patient safety and pharmacy workflow. Selected by The Community Pharmacy Foundation, the project titled “Impact of e-prescribing on patient safety and pharmacy workflow in community pharmacies,” may shed light on the impact of e-prescribing on patient safety and pharmacy workflow, and be used to identify interventions to support pharmacists’ interface with e-prescribing technology and inform national pharmacy associations and policymakers about the appropriate role of health information technology in the community setting.

Mel de Villiers, associate professor in the School of Pharmacy, has been appointed associate editor for AAPS PharmSciTech.

Robert Thorne, assistant professor in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, has been invited to deliver a talk and serve as chair of a scientific session at the ninth International Symposium on Cerebral Vascular Biology in Leiden, the Netherlands, in June.

Joshua Thorpe, assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy, has received a two-year award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program (LRP) for his research in disparities in access to asthma medications in racial/ethnic minorities, and rural/urban disparities in healthy behaviors among adults with elder care responsibilities.

Susan Thibeault, Department of Surgery, was named the Diane M. Bless Chair in Otolaryngology. Her appointment was effective July 1.

Richard M. Moss, School of Medicine and Public Health, was named the Rennebohm Research Professor. His appointment was effective Oct. 1.