Graduation 2011: Service defines new Emeritus faculty
During Commencement, Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members who are retiring this year were bestowed with the title of emeritus faculty, honoring their years of service to the University.
Lonnie S. Burnett, M.D., professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emeritus
Lonnie S. Burnett, M.D.
J. Michael Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Steven K. Hanks, Ph.D.
Barbara A. Petersen, Ed.D., R.N.
Ghodrat A. Siami, M.D., Ph.D.
After distinguishing himself as a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University, Burnett was recruited to Vanderbilt in 1976 as chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 1995, he was named the Frances and John C. Burch Professor. Under Burnett's leadership, the department increased in size and national reputation. More than 100 residents completed their residency training during his tenure.
Burnett has been president of the Nashville Obstetrics and Gynecology Society and chair of the Tennessee Section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He served as president and later chairman of the board of directors of the Nashville Academy of Medicine. He also served on the leadership committee of the Vanderbilt's “Shape the Future” Campaign.
In recognition of his support of and devotion to medical student scholarship, Burnett was elected president of the Canby Robinson Society in 2006. In 1993 the Vanderbilt Obstetrical Gynecological Alumni Association (“The Stork Club”) was renamed the Lonnie S. Burnett Society.
J. Michael Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., professor of Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neurological Surgery and Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Emeritus
Fitzpatrick has published more than 190 papers and holds 14 patents for devices and algorithms in surgical guidance. He has worked closely with physicians and surgeons in the departments of Radiology, Neurological Surgery and Otolaryngology. From 1988 to 1995, he led the software development at Vanderbilt for the world's first FDA-cleared surgical navigation system based on bone-implanted fiducial markers.
He and his students developed new approaches to the statistical assessment and theoretical prediction of accuracy in surgical guidance that have achieved worldwide recognition as a standard for the evaluation of guidance techniques and the alignment of magnetic resonance and computed tomography images.
He has taught programming to thousands of first- and second-year students at Vanderbilt. Fitzpatrick is a fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Steven K. Hanks, Ph.D., professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Emeritus
Hanks joined the Department of Cell Biology in 1990. He has a longstanding interest in the role of protein kinases in regulating basic aspects of cell behavior. During postdoctoral studies at the Salk Institute, he developed homology-based cDNA cloning strategies to identify previously unrecognized protein kinases, leading to the first recognition of a cyclin-dependent protein kinase in vertebrates.
His first National Institutes of Health grant was awarded in 1987 to characterize novel protein kinases, and, for the next 24 years, he maintained continuous NIH support for his research. Hanks continued to make seminal contributions to the field, including the discovery of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and the development of the current classification system for protein kinases. Three of his articles on the protein kinase family have received more than 1,000 citations each.
He co-edited the popular Protein Kinases Factbook. Hanks was the founding member of the Cancer Molecular Pathology study section in the NIH Oncology IRG, and he currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Barbara A. Petersen, Ed.D., R.N., associate professor of Nursing, Emerita
Petersen joined the Vanderbilt faculty as an associate professor of Nursing in 1995. Nationally recognized as a pioneer in nurse-midwifery, Petersen started two nurse-midwifery programs, at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in 1995 and at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1990.
Her achievements as an education leader include writing grants that garnered approximately $5.1 million for the School of Nursing. As an expert in the accreditation process, she served as an American College of Nurse-Midwives accreditation site visitor and serves as an Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education board of review member.
In the nurse-midwifery service/practice environment, Petersen conceived and developed the Midwifery Business Institute, now in its 15th year, to bring together business experts to prepare practice directors for their role.
She is a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, a member of Sigma Theta Tau and the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and a founding member of the American Association for the History of Nursing, and has been honored as one of Vanderbilt nursing school's 100 Centennial Leaders in Nursing.
Ghodrat A. Siami, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Medicine, Emeritus
The focus of Siami's research, teaching and practice has been the patient with end stage renal disease and patients requiring apheresis, or the process of removing a specific component from blood and returning the remaining components to the donor. During an era in which academic centers were trying to develop practices of end stage renal disease and apheresis, Siami created cryofiltration apheresis. Equally important for Vanderbilt, Siami put together all of the elements required to maintain a vigorous apheresis program. He founded and remains the medical director of the apheresis program.
Siami has become a national and international figure in the realm of apheresis, serving as vice president and then president of the prestigious International Society for Apheresis and vice president of the World Apheresis Association. Some of his most important contributions have been in the development of immunosuppressive strategies through the history of plasmapheresis.
He has helped to develop Vanderbilt's special training in cryofiltration with hemodialysis and has served as a member of the full-time teaching faculty for more than 28 years.