2014 Symposium Opening Remarks - Ann Arvin and William Newsome

Event Details:

Thursday, October 9, 2014
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Time
1:00pm to 1:15pm PDT
Location
Event Sponsor
Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
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Opening Remarks

Ann Arvin

Vice Provost and Dean of Research, Stanford University 

  

Bio: Ann Arvin, M.D. is the Lucile Salter Packard Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases) and Microbiology & Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Arvin’s basic research focuses on the molecular virology and pathogenesis of varicella- zoster virus (VZV), a medically import-ant herpesvirus that causes varicella (chickenpox) and zoster (shingles). Her laboratory pioneered a severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse model of VZV pathogenesis and has used this approach to define viral gene functions required for infection of skin, T cells and neurons, cell-type specific regulation of viral gene expression by host factors, and immunoevasion mechanisms. Discoveries about VZV infection include that chickenpox results from the capacity of VZV to infect and remodel T cells to enhance skin homing and delivery of the virus to skin, and that VZV establishes persistence in neurons without adaptive immune control. She has also done clinical studies of VZV, measles and influenza vaccines, and herpes simplex virus and cytomegalovirus infections. Her recent and current national service includes the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology working group on H1N1 influenza and the National Academy of Sciences Board on Life Sciences, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-eases Director’s Advisory Council and the National Academy/NRC Commit-tee on Responsible Science. Among other honors, she has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology, the American Pediatric Society, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Association of American Physicians. She has been Vice Provost and Dean of Research at Stanford since 2006, which includes responsibility for overseeing the university-wide independent laboratories, centers and institutes.

William Newsome

 

Harman Family Provostial Professor
Vincent V.C. Woo Director, Stanford Neurosciences Institute

Bio: Bill Newsome is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He received a B.S. degree, summa cum laude, in physics from Stetson University (1974) and a Ph.D. in biology from the California Institute of Technology (1979) and did post-doctoral research at the National Eye Institute (1984). Dr. Newsome served on the faculty of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at SUNY Stony Brook before moving to Stanford in 1988.  Dr. Newsome is a leading investigator in the fields of visual and cognitive neuroscience. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying visual perception and simple forms of decision- making. Through his outstanding research, he has demonstrated the correlation between certain brain cells and the process of visual perception and how the brain interprets the signals arriving from the eye. Among his honors are the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics, the Spencer Award for highly original contributions to research in neuro-biology, the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychological Association, the Dan David Prize of Tel Aviv University, the Karl Spencer Lashley Award of the American Philosophical Society, the Champalimaud Vision Award, and most recently, the Honorary Doctor of Science degree, State University of New York, School of Optometry.  He has given numerous distinguished lectureships, including the 13th Annual Marr Lecture at the University of Cambridge, the 9th Annual Brenda Milner Lecture at McGill University, the Evnin Lecture at Princeton University and the 18th Annual Swartz Mind-Brain Lecture, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York. He was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in 2000, and to the American Philosophical Society in 2011. His scientific publications include more than seventy research articles in scientific journals, including Journal of Neuroscience, Neuron, Nature, Journal of Neurophysiology, Science and PNAS.