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A weekly roundup of medical center personalities in the news
WALL STREET JOURNAL. Some private foundations are taking a new approach to research, asking scientists they fund to share findings as they come along, rather than have the scientists labor secretly and in isolation. This approach was described in a Wall Street Journal column that highlighted the work of neurobiologist Ben Barres, PhD. Barres is part of a group of scientists funded under a collaborative arrangement with the Myelin Repair Foundation in California, which aims to find effective therapies for multiple sclerosis.
BUSINESS WEEK. Merck’s voluntary withdrawal of the painkiller Vioxx from the market because of potential cardiovascular risks is causing a shakeup in the marketplace as doctors and their patients scramble for alternatives. Paul Utz, MD, a professor of rheumatology, was quoted in Business Week as saying he believes doctors are likely to shy away from other drugs in the same class, known as COX-2 inhibitors. He noted that these drugs are far more expensive than the more traditional painkillers, such as ibuprofen and naproxen.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE AND SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Imagine receiving an unexpected, no-strings-attached gift of $500,000. That was Julie Theriot’s lot in life last week, when she was named one of the MacArthur fellows. Theriot, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and of microbiology and immunology, was profiled in front-page stories in the Mercury News and Chronicle and was mentioned in an Associated Press story that ran in newspapers around the country.