New Herbert and Florence Irving Scholars Appointed

Four new Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professors were appointed this summer. Irving scholars hold their research appointments for three years and are supported by funding established by Mr. and Mrs. Irving in 1987. The program provides incentives for young physician-investigators to embark on careers in clinical research. The new Irving professors are Drs. Eric Collins, Timothy Lynch, Gwen Nichols, and Beth Feller Printz.

Dr. Collins is the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. He received the M.D. degree from P&S and has been a faculty member here since 1994. Dr. Collins investigates addiction to heroin, other opioids, and cocaine. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has recognized Dr. Collins' research potential by granting him a research career training award to study new approaches to the treatment of heroin abuse. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Collins actively teaches medical students and psychiatric and medical residents. Because of the recent resurgence in heroin use and addiction, Dr. Collins hopes to develop better detoxification methods so that more addicts may enter treatment and remain drug free. Dr. John Oldham, director of the Psychiatric Institute and the Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law, said in his nomination letter, "Dr. Collins' interest in developing better treatments for drug dependence and the clinical acumen he brings in working with medically ill substance abusers makes him an excellent candidate for the Irving Professorship."

Dr. Lynch, the Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Neurology, will focus his research efforts on Parkinson's disease and movement disorders. After medical education and training in Ireland, Dr. Lynch took on an additional residency in neurology at the Neurological Institute at CPMC, followed by a postdoctoral clinical fellowship in movement disorders and molecular genetics at NI. Since 1995, Dr. Lynch has been an assistant professor of neurology at P&S. Along with Dr. Kirk Wilhelmsen, a former Irving Assistant Professor in neurology, Dr. Lynch has followed a family whose members became demented with additional features of parkinsonism and amyotrophy. Through examination of this family, Drs. Lynch and Wilhelmsen published their findings of what is now called Lynch-Wilhelmsen disease. "Dr. Lynch is involved in the analysis of major public health problems of the aging brain and nervous system," said Dr. Lewis P. Rowland, the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor and Chairman of Neurology. "I could not possibly be more enthusiastic in supporting the career of a young investigator."

Dr. Nichols is the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine. She studies autologous stem cell transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia. Before joining the P&S faculty in 1994, Dr. Nichols was an attending physician and postdoctoral researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where she studied hematology/oncology, molecular immunology, and leukemia. Her expertise encompasses both clinical and laboratory work. For example, Dr. Nichols is the local director of several clinical protocols for the treatment of leukemia and is a member of the Southwest Oncology Group Leukemia Committee. In addition, she has successfully obtained NIH support for her research activities. In their nomination letter supporting Dr. Nichols as an Irving scholar, Dr. Vincent P. Butler, acting associate chairman of medicine, and Dr. Myron Weisfeldt, the Samuel Bard Professor and Chairman of Medicine, said, "[Dr. Nichols' studies] represent an excellent example of the application of one's basic laboratory interest to the direct study of patients with a malignant disorder. We consider Dr. Nichols to be an experienced and capable investigator with strong backgrounds both in the laboratory and clinical investigation."

Dr. Printz, who was granted both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees through Mount Sinai School of Medicine's medical scientist training program, is the Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiology. She has been a senior fellow in pediatric cardiology at Babies & Children's Hospital since 1994. While taking on major clinical responsibilities at BCH, Dr. Printz has continued research including echocardiographic studies and clinical application of her computer modeling work. For the past year, she has been working with Dr. Lawrence Boxt, P&S professor of clinical radiology, in the application of MRI techniques to pediatric cardiology. As an Irving scholar, Dr. Printz will draw on that work to help define the mechanisms of right ventricular function in the heart. Dr. John M. Driscoll Jr., the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor and Chairman of Pediatrics, said in his nomination letter, "I earnestly believe that Dr. Printz has the potential to become a national leader in this field, further enhancing the already excellent reputation of pediatric cardiology, and cardiology in general, in our institution."