Newsletter Volume 10 Issue 2 - September 20, 2023 | |
Special Colloquium -- Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | |
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“Good….Better….Best! Timothy Albrecht Performs at the Piano and Illustrates Selections from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 2”
Timothy Albrecht
Professor Emeritus of Music
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A SPECIAL COLLOQUIUM WITH
AN EARLIER TIME -- NO FOOD WILL BE SERVED
Alumni Hall - Miller-Ward Alumni House
815 Houston Mill Road
10:00-11:30am
A sequel one year after his September 2022 Emeritus College presentation about Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1.
Last October, Professor Timothy Albrecht gave a delightful presentation in Alumni Hall about Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1. He returns to Alumni Hall on Tuesday, September 26th at 10:00 am to discuss and play some of the musical treasures in J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 2. Based on his presentation last year, you can anticipate his presentation entitled “Good…Better…Best! Timothy Albrecht Performs at the Piano and Illustrates Selections from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 2 to be accessible to even to non-musicians, and to be humorous and informative.
About Timothy Albrecht:
For over forty years Professor Emeritus of Music Timothy Albrecht divided his time between Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Candler School of Theology, and playing organ for services at Glen Memorial Church and the Cannon Chapel. Since his retirement in 2022, he has written two books (Exploring the Magic: Short Notes on the Bach-Busoni Chaconne, and More J.S. Bach Magic: Exploring the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue) and recorded over 100 short instructional YouTube videos about J.S. Bach’s keyboard music.
He received both a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College in 1973, and master’s degree in music from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) in 1975, a Performer’s Certificate in Organ from the Eastman School of Music in 1976, and a DMA (Doctor of Music Arts in Organ Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music in 1978.
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Lunch Colloquium -- Monday, October 10, 2023 | |
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"Novel Therapeutics for Treating Viral Diseases,
Cancer and Neurological Disorders"
Dennis Liotta
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry
Monday, October 10, 2023
11:30-1:00
Led by Dr. Dennis Liotta, the Liotta Research Group (LRG) is a complex medicinal chemistry organization within Emory University. This talk will start with an overview of the LRG’s earlier success in the antiviral arena and transition into LGR’s recent endeavors in (1) developing novel CXCR4 antagonists as immunomodulators for treating cancer and (2) designing fast-release neurosteroid prodrugs for treating traumatic brain injury.
Part I. CXCR4 antagonists – Pro-angiogenic and immune cells expressing chemokine receptor CXCR4 traffic along concentration gradients of its chemokine ligand CXCL12, which disseminates from stromal niches in lymph nodes, lung, liver, and bone marrow. The CXCR4/CXCL12 axis is hijacked by numerous cancer types characterized by dramatic CXCR4 and/or CXCL12 upregulation. Consequently, CXCR4 antagonists have significant therapeutic potential against cancer progression. In the past decade, the LRG has designed, synthesized, and evaluated over 350 tetrahydroisoquinoline-containing CXCR4 antagonists. Leading this pipeline is EMU-116, which exhibited enhanced pharmacokinetic properties and superior anti-tumor efficacy compared to mavorixafor, a small molecule CXCR4 antagonist studied in clinical trials. Ultimately, our CXCR4 antagonist pipeline has significant potential to deliver the best-in-class CXCR4 antagonist for treating a variety of cancers.
Part II. Neurosteroid prodrugs – Despite tremendous scientific efforts allocated towards the development of pharmacological interventions for reducing the impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on public health, none have resulted in an FDA-approved neuroprotective agent. In recent years, neurosteroids, such as progesterone, emerged as promising neuroprotective agents for treating TBI. Unfortunately, previous investigations into the use of neurosteroids for TBI treatment typically required administration in a hospital setting, thus losing valuable time before the treatment could be administered. To address this unmet need, the LRG has developed two generations of progesterone prodrugs having improved aqueous solubility and fast in vivo release rate. Their efficacy was demonstrated in a rat model of acute TBI.
About Dennis Liotta:
Dennis Liotta is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry and has authored over 300 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on over 100 issued U.S. patents. He is also the founding editor-in-chief of an American Chemical Society journal, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, which provides a rapid communication venue for reporting important new findings in medicinal chemistry and related fields.
He was named recipient of the 2022 Perkin Medal, the highest honor a scientist can receive for contributions to the field of applied chemistry in the U.S. A recipient of several teaching awards, including the Williams Teaching Award and the Thomas Jefferson Award — the highest faculty honor at Emory — Liotta has supervised nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists and visiting scholars. He is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society. He was elected to the Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2010 and the National Academy of Inventors in 2014.
He served as the associate director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research for over a decade. He is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Cancer Institute-Chemical Biology Consortium at Emory. Beyond his roles at Emory, Liotta has, for over two decades, initiated outreach activities to cultivate the next generation of African scientists, providing them with skills required to address healthcare needs in the continent. To further the work, he co-founded the Advancing Healthcare Innovation in Africa program with Emory’s general counsel, Steve Sencer.
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Photo Highlights of the Lunch Colloquium with Anna Leo | |
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Creating Mandalas
Although it’s been over five years since the Emeritus College held an Emory University Emeritus College Art Exhibit, it’s clear that participants at our last Lunch Colloquium are quite creative. Perhaps we should add more opportunities for creativity and/or sponsor another juried exhibit of art created by our members. Please let us know if you might be interested in opportunities for creativity or submitting your work in the future for exhibit.
--Ann
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Still Seeking MedShare Volunteers!
From 2010 until we were put on hiatus by COVID at the beginning of 2020, a group of committed, fun-loving volunteers from the Emeritus College showed up one afternoon a month at the distribution center for MedShare to identify, sort, and repack donated medical supplies for disadvantaged healing locations around the world. We helped make those supplies free for the asking to many, many populations in desperate need. From disaster relief, to field clinics in remote locations, to medical personnel working in the most austere circumstances, these supplies were life-saving gifts over and over again. We felt humbled but proud to be a part of something that mattered so much to so many. I think our favorite duty of all was the assembling of birthing kits – basic needs that fit into gallon plastic bags which greatly enhanced the possibility of safe and sanitary childbirth in impossible conditions – sometimes for women who were absolutely on their own. But there is very little that we did not see and handle and know that it had a purpose in saving lives wherever it was going. I must add at this point that the social pleasure of the carpools down to the warehouse in Panthersville, along with the delicious potluck snacks and merry conversation we shared both while working and on break, were welcome ancillary benefits that we all enjoyed.
MedShare is now reaching out to the Emeritus College to send a new team for this important work, as the COVID crisis is past. Our original group has aged past 80 for the most part and we feel that it is extremely important to develop leadership and participation amongst our younger members so that the good work can continue for a longer time to come. Any and all of our members are welcome to become a part of this essential activity and those of us who know how much it matters -- and how lucky we were to get to do it – have no hesitation about urging others to join the party.
If you are interested in becoming a part of this first-class team, just contact Diane Becht at dianne.becht@emory.edu or Ann Rogers at ann.e.rogers@emory.edu.
We had a regular monthly date and we each went whenever we were free to be there….and despite that freedom to miss when necessary, we always had a full complement of eager workers who didn’t want to miss a minute! Be there!!!
For more information about MedShare, please click here.
--Brenda Bynum
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New members are the lifeblood of any organization.
Please make a special effort to welcome them to the EUEC!
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Ira Horowitz, Director of the Emory Clinic; Physician Group President and Co-Chief of Clinical Operations, Emory Healthcare; John D. Thompson Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Executive Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, Emory University School of Medicine
April Dworetz, Associate Professor, Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine
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New members Lynn Sibley and William Branch recently shared short bios:
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William Branch, Emeritus Professor of Medicine
I came to Emory from Harvard Medical School in 1995. I wanted to be closer to my family in Montgomery, Ala. I also wanted to mentor faculty members as opposed to my work at Harvard, which was teaching medical students and residents. Emory gave me plenty of opportunity to mentor, which offered the most satisfaction to me of all activities.
In 1995, my field of primary care internal medicine was in the midst of expansion into managed care. Being a part of this at Emory was another attraction, as we had plans to build a large physician's network. I learned a great deal from this effort, although in the end, we found financial stability to be elusive and wisely decided to create a somewhat smaller, high-quality operation that was and is successful today.
I had by then developed a real appreciation for the work we did and potential for even better work at Grady Memorial Hospital. My chief goals were developing a cadre of educational leaders who could help Emory and Grady develop educational programs, something I foresaw would happen because this had been my major role at Harvard. Hand in hand with a vision for developing educational programs and leaders (thus the opportunity to mentor) was improving patient care by expanding the numbers of clinical teachers to the point that patients at Grady would receive individual hands-on attention from faculty members in both inpatient and outpatient venues. I am proud to say that we (my colleagues and I) together achieved much success in both educational leadership and improved patient care.
I directed the Division of General Medicine for seventeen years. This included Emory Clinic, which expanded but had extremely high-quality physicians when I came, the VA, and Hospital Medicine, which started at Grady and then spun off into a large and thriving independent Division at all Hospitals, as it is today.
While in the Division Director role, I also served for a year as President of the University Senate and Faculty Council. I'll summarize by saying we experienced fun and satisfaction being part of a transition in leadership at Emory University and I personally had the opportunity to work with the university Board Chair, Ben Johnson, to put in place the system of Faculty Councilors, which has allowed faculty input and improved communication with trustees until today.
Finally, in the past eleven years when I was no longer Division Chief, I organized a national program of longitudinal faculty development. To be brief, I continue to lead this program; we regularly publish analyses of our results; the program is Interprofessional; it has included more than thirty health care institutions over time, and with my colleagues, Corrine Abraham in Nursing and Tamara Haynes in Psychiatry and Medicine, we are beginning our fourth iteration at Emory and are excited about enrolling twelve new fellows this month.
Sincerely, William T. Branch, Jr., MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine
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Lynn Sibley, Professor Emerita of Nursing, Public Health and Anthropology
Lynn Sibley is a Professor Emerita in the Schools of Nursing, Public Health and Anthropology at Emory University. Her career has been devoted to reducing deaths for women and newborns in low resource settings by focusing on community research and health programming. Dr. Sibley led the team that developed and tested the Home-Based Lifesaving Skills program for the American College of Nurse-Midwives. This revolutionary, low-cost program educated birth attendants, women, and family caregivers, regardless of their educational level. It focused on basic lifesaving skills that they can use during the time of birth. This program has been adopted in more than a dozen countries. The program came to the attention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who awarded a grant to Emory University in 2009 to develop a community model for maternal and newborn health in rural Ethiopia in cooperation with the Government. In 2012, this implementation research program, led by Dr. Sibley, was extended through a grant from the Canadian government to other regions of the country. The Emory-Ethiopia programs continue to expand to this day under the leadership of Drs. Abebe Gebremariam and John Cranmer. The program office serves as Emory University's platform and national office in Ethiopia. Dr. Sibley has served as an advisor the World Health Organization, UNICEF, International Confederation of Midwives, the United States Agency for International Development, and the US National Institutes of Health on maternal and newborn health in developing countries. Retiring in 2017, Dr. Sibley currently lives in the northeast Georgia mountains with her husband and two very lively and lovable standard poodles. She is happily engaged in landscaping, hiking, traveling, and contemporary art quilting.
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Julianne Daffin
Associate Vice President of Campus Life
Member of the Emeritus College Executive Committee
Julianne passed away on September 10, 2023. No other information is available at this time.
Donald Humphrey
Professor Emeritus of Psychology
Dr. Donald R. Humphrey of Atlanta, passed away peacefully on August 27, 2023. A Professor Emeritus of Emory University, he is survived by his children Matthew and Liz and grandsons Christopher, Nicholas and Christian.
Susan Socolow
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor Emerita of History
Dr. Susan Midgen Socolow, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor Emerita of History and a faculty member at Emory passed away at her home in Atlanta on July 21, 2023
Please click here to view the Emory Department of History Memoriam
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Fall Native Plant Sale @ Oxford College Farm
Oxford College Farm
406 Emory St
Oxford, GA 30054
Saturday, September 23, 2023
9am – 1pm EDT
Purchase native plants for your yard or garden to provide habitat for native pollinators and birds.
For more information on the Oxford College Farm please click here.
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Comedy and Conversations
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
7:30-9:30pm EDT
Ackerman Hall
M C Carlos Museum
Little Amal, the 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, will arrive in Atlanta in October as part of her trek to 15 countries and 35 U.S. towns and cities to bring her message of hope and solidarity for displaced people everywhere.
To celebrate her arrival and her message, the Michael C. Carlos Museum and Emory Libraries present an event focused on the plight of the ever-growing refugee population. Hosts comedian David Perdue and social curator/activist Munir Meghjani welcome comedians Angel Contreras and Gilbert Lawand, and artist and Spelman emeritus professor Arturo Lindsay for Comedy and Conversations, a critical, concerned, and sometimes comic look at the world around us, designed to bring attention and action to Little Amal’s message of hope.
For registration and more information please click here.
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ECMSA: Bach's Lunch Series -- The Fantastic Flute
Friday, September 29, 2023
12:00pm
First Presbyterian Church
1328 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, GA 30309
The distinguished American flutist Ransom Wilson makes his ECMSA debut with a varied program of music by Mozart, Kuhlau, and Rota, with the Vega Quartet, pianist Elizabeth Pridgen, and flutists Christina Smith and James Zellers
For more information please contact: alexandra.shatalov@emory.edu
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Fentress Waits Chamber Music Concert
Saturday, September 30, 2023
8–10PM EDT
Cannon Chapel
Featuring: The Vega Quartet; Bradley Howard; Bethany Mamola; Laura Ardan; Brice Andrus; William Ransom
Open To All (Public)
Cost: Free
Contact: wransom@emory.edu
More Info: chambermusicsociety.emory.edu
The fall Fentress Waits Chamber Music Concert features tenor Bradley Howard, soprano Bethany Mamola, the Vega Quartet, clarinetist Laura Ardan and more in beautiful chamber works which include voice. Music by Schubert, Vaughn-Williams, and Villa Lobos’ magical “Bachianas Brasileiras #5” for 8 celli and soprano are featured.
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Details and other information, as well as additional campus events, can be found on the Emory Events Calendar.
If you'd like to share an event/program of interest before the next newsletter
please contact Dianne Becht Dianne.becht@emory.edu
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Walking the Campus with Dianne | |
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Those modern chairs from our last walk can be found at the Miller-Ward Alumni House, 815 Houston Mill Road in the room now known as Alumni Hall. This space and the adjoining rooms were recently renovated and equipped with new furniture making the rooms much brighter and more comfortable.
If you would like to see the renovations in person, be sure to register for the upcoming Timothy Albrecht Special Colloquium on September 26 -- the event will be in the newly named Alumni Hall at Miller-Ward.
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For our next walk, let's look at a piece of campus art that probably gets overlooked. It's in a busy area of campus but it blends in with the surrounding buildings and might not be seen unless you are actually looking for it.
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Where will you find this on the Emory campus? | | | | |
