Dean’s Lecture Series
An opportunity for students, trainees, faculty and staff to explore current topics that impact our mission areas.
Fresh Perspectives on Diversity
This series will lead to a deeper understanding of how diversity contributes to all our mission areas and fuels innovation and collaboration. These lectures will focus on the value and transformative power of diversity as we seek to lead the biomedical revolution. Lectures will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in Berg Hall. We hope you can join us. Space is limited and preregistration is required.
Upcoming Speakers
Marcia McNutt, Editor-in-Chief of Science Magazine
12-1 p.m., Monday, April 18, 2016
Berg Hall, Li Ka Shing Center
Marcia McNutt (BA in Physics, Colorado College; PhD in Earth Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography) is a geophysicist who became the 19th Editor-in-Chief of Science in June 2013. From 2009 to 2013, Dr. McNutt was the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, which responded to a number of major disasters during her tenure, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. For her work to help contain that spill, Dr. McNutt was awarded the U.S. Coast Guard’s Meritorious Service Medal. She is a fellow of AGU, the Geological Society of America, AAAS and the International Association of Geodesy.
Her honors and awards include membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as honorary doctoral degrees from Colorado College, the University of Minnesota, Monmouth University and the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. McNutt was awarded the Macelwane Medal by AGU in 1988 for research accomplishments by a young scientist and the Maurice Ewing Medal in 2007 for her significant contributions to deep-sea exploration.
Past Guest Speakers
Freeman A. Hrabowski, President of University of Maryland, Baltimore County
American Competitiveness: Broadening Participation in STEM and the Health Professions
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, President of UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) since 1992, is a consultant on science and math education to national agencies, universities, and school systems. He was recently named by President Obama to chair the newly created President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans. He also chaired the National Academies’ committee that produced the recent report, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads.
More about Freeman A. Hrabowski
Named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME (2012) and one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report (2008), he also received TIAA-CREF’s Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence (2011), the Carnegie Corporation’s Academic Leadership Award(2011), and the Heinz Award (2012) for contributions to improving the “Human Condition.” UMBC has been recognized as a model for academic innovation and inclusive excellence by such publications as U.S. News, which the past six years ranked UMBC the #1 “Up and Coming” university in the nation.
Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA - Surgeon General, USA
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, was nominated by President Barack Obama in November 2013 and confirmed on December 15, 2014 as the 19th United States Surgeon General. As America’s Doctor, Dr. Murthy is responsible for communicating the best available scientific information to the public regarding ways to improve personal health and the health of the nation. He also oversees the operations of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, comprised of approximately 6,700 uniformed health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote, protect, and advance the health and safety of our nation.
Dr. Murthy has devoted himself to improving public health through the lens of service, clinical care, research, education, and entrepreneurship. The son of immigrants from India, Dr. Murthy discovered a love for the art of healing early in his childhood while spending time in his father’s medical clinic in Miami, Florida. After attending Miami Palmetto Senior High School, he received his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard, and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Yale. He completed his residency training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School where he later joined the faculty as an internal medicine physician and instructor Dr. Murthy regards caring for patient as the greatest privilege of his life, and he has cared for thousands of patients and trained hundreds of residents and medical students as a clinician-educator.
In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Murthy has two decades of experience and perspective improving health in communities across the country and around the world. He co-founded VISIONS, an HIV/AIDS education program in India and the United States, which he led for eight years. As President, he established ten chapters with hundreds of volunteers in both countries and grew the organization’s education programs to reach more than 45,000 youth. Dr. Murthy also co-founded the Swasthya project (“health and wellbeing” in Sanskrit), a community health partnership in rural India, to train women to be health providers and educators. During his five-year tenure with the organization, he established seed funding and helped expand research and direct care programs that reached tens of thousands of rural residents.
As a research scientist, Dr. Murthy has conducted laboratory research on vaccine development and studied the participation of women and minorities in clinical trials. His research findings have been published in Science, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Dr Murthy is also a healthcare entrepreneur and innovator. He co-founded and chaired a successful software technology company, TrialNetworks, which improves research collaboration and enhances the efficiency of clinical trials around the world. In seven years, Dr. Murthy and his team took the company from conception to an international enterprise that powers dozens of clinical trials for over 50,000 patients in more than 75 countries. Dr. Murthy has also served as the President of Doctors for America, a non-profit organization with more than 16,000 physicians and medical students in all 50 states who work with patients and policymakers to build high quality, affordable health system for all.
Seen by many as a proven leader who can use 21st century approaches and technology to modernize the role of Surgeon General, Dr. Murthy will focus his efforts on building cross-sector partnerships in communities to address the epidemics of obesity and tobacco-related disease, to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness, and to improve vaccination rates, and to make prevention and health promotion the backbone of our communities. Dr. Murthy firmly believes that our nation's greatest strength has always come from its people. Improving the health of our people means strengthening our communities and our country. That will be Dr. Murthy’s highest priority as Surgeon General.
