• Timothy Brennan, MD, PhD
• Sarah England, PhD
• Robert Mullins, PhD
• Satish Rao, MD, PhD
• Richard Rosenquist, MD,
• Gary Rosenthal, MD

UI Physicians Receive National Awards

A pair of UI physicians will receive national awards for their contributions to the field of treating pain from the American Pain Society (APS) during the group's annual meeting May 6-8 in Baltimore, Md.

Timothy Brennan, MD, PhD, the Samir Gergis professor of anesthesia and vice chair for research, received the Frederick W. L. Kerr Basic Science Research Award. The award recognizes individual excellence and achievement in pain scholarship. Brennan is the first anesthesiologist to receive the award.

Richard Rosenquist, MD, professor and director of the Center for Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia, received the Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes outstanding and dedicated service to the APS. Rosenquist has made significant contributions to developing practice guidelines for pain management.

Mullins Receives Kolder Professorship

Robert Mullins, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences is the inaugural recipient of the Hansjoerg E.J.W. Kolder, MD, PhD, Professorship in Best Disease Research. The five-year appointment was effective April 1.

The professorship was established in the UI Carver Family Center for Macular Degeneration through a gift jointly made by Martin G. and Ruth A. Carver of Muscatine, Iowa, and an anonymous donor to honor Kolder, who joined the UI in 1968. Kolder made important contributions to electro-oculography to diagnose Best disease, a hereditary form of progressive macular degeneration, before molecular testing was developed.

Rosenthal Named President of Society of General Internal Medicine

Gary Rosenthal, MD, professor of internal medicine, became the president of the Society of General Internal Medicine, an organization at the forefront of efforts to promote national health care reform. Rosenthal, who also directs the UI Division of General Internal Medicine, will serve as the society’s president until May 2011.

England and Rao Receive Regents Awards

Two UI Carver College of Medicine faculty members have received the 2010 Regents Award for Faculty Excellence given by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, for work representing a significant contribution to excellence in public education.

Sarah England, PhD, is a professor in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Her long-term research interest is in the role of ion channels in smooth muscle as they pertain to women’s health. In addition to her teaching, research, and patient care duties, England is co-director of the Iowa Biosciences Program, a bioscience research program preparing underrepresented minority students for PhD study.

Satish Rao, MD, PhD, professor, Internal Medicine, serves as a researcher, educator, and clinician. Rao's research interests focus on the pathophysiology and treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, constipation and fecal incontinence, and visceral pain, particularly esophageal chest pain. He has pioneered several new techniques for evaluating esophageal, gastric, colonic, and anorectal function and pursued various techniques for treatment, including biofeedback therapy for dyssynergic defecation.

Timothy Brennan, MD, PhD

Richard Rosenquist, MD

Robert Mullins, PhD

Gary Rosenthal, MD

Sarah England, PhD

Satish Rao, MD, PhD

Iowa Biosciences Program