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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
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A Publication of Guidry News Service |
Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, an internationally recognized Hepatitis C researcher, has been named the first director of the new Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Lemon, who is outgoing dean of medicine, also will become the inaugural holder of the new John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Human Infections and Immunity, supported by a $2 million endowment provided by The Sealy & Smith Foundation and UTMB. UTMB President Dr. John Stobo, who made the announcement today, said Lemon’s mission with the new institute is to coordinate, integrate and enhance infectious disease research across a broad range of specialties and specific interests. The institute embraces the proposed Galveston National Laboratory, the UTMB Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, the Sealy Center for Vaccine Development and the WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases. It also includes management of the McLaughlin Endowment, which supports training in infections and immunity. “Stan Lemon is a distinguished infectious disease researcher, a statesman of academic medicine and a superb administrator,” Stobo said. “Thanks in no small measure to his talents and efforts in coordinating our proposal, the federal government last September awarded UTMB funding to build one of two National Biocontainment Laboratories in the nation. With plans for this proposed Galveston National Laboratory under development, we are indeed fortunate that Stan has agreed to continue to place his administrative acumen and scholarly understanding of infectious disease and immunity at the service of UTMB. In this new position, he will be helping us build what we believe will be seen increasingly as a world powerhouse for infectious disease research.” “I very much appreciate the generosity of The Sealy & Smith Foundation and the president’s support in co-funding the new chair,” Lemon said. “The foundation’s support has been invaluable in developing the infectious disease research program at UTMB, including substantially funding construction of the John Sealy Pavilion for Infectious Disease Research, which houses the biosafety level 4 Robert E. Shope, M.D., Laboratory.” Lemon said that he plans to continue supervising UTMB’s Hepatitis C Research Center, last funded in 2001 with a $5 million, five-year competitive grant from the National Institutes of Health.
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