National Awards to UC San Diego School of Medicine Faculty Members

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William Bradley, Jr., MD, PhD

William G. Bradley, Jr., MD, PhD, FACR, chairman of the Department of Radiology, was awarded the ACR Gold Medal, the highest honor of the American College of Radiology on April 22, during the ACR annual meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference held in Washington, D.C.   The ACR said of Bradley, “(He) is renowned for his endless dedication…to advance the science and cause of radiology locally, nationally and internationally.”  He founded the ACR’s MR Accreditation Program in 1992 and served as its chair for seven years.  He also chaired the ACR Commission of Neuroradiology and MRI from 1999 to 2005, and was vice president of its Board of Chancellors in 2005-06.  ACR noted his many accomplishments in pioneering developments in MR and publications, especially his influential co-editorship of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Dilip Jeste, MD

Dilip Jeste, MD, Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair on Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, has been selected to receive a 2012 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).  The awards are given to psychiatrists “who have made substantial contributions to NAMI Affiliate or NAMI State Organization activities,” and winners are recognized for their advocacy for access to care and research funding, community education programs or other NAMI priorities.  Jeste, nominated by San Diego NAMI, is director of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association.  NAMI is organizing a special presentation honoring this year’s award winners on May 7, during the 2012 APA conference in Philadelphia.

Victor Nizet, MD

In addition, Neal Swerdlow, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, will receive the 2012 APA Award for Research at its Philadelphia conference.  APA notes that Swerdlow’s “demonstrated leadership and outstanding achievements in the field of psychiatry make him an outstanding recipient of this award.” Swerdlow is director of the UCSD Psychiatry Research Residency Track, and Deputy Director of the NIMH Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia. His laboratories study the neurobiology of information processing and its deficiencies in schizophrenia, Tourette Syndrome and OCD. Swerdlow chaired the Tourette Syndrome Association Scientific Advisory Board, served on the San Diego NAMI Board of Directors and chaired their Medical Advisory Board. He is associate editor of Behavioral Neuroscience.

The American Academy for Microbiology has announced that Victor Nizet, MD, has been elected as a 2012 Academy Fellow, an honor that recognizes those who have made significant contributions to the field of microbiology.  Nizet is a professor of pediatrics and pharmacy and Chief of the Division of Pediatric Pharmacology & Drug Discovery at UCSD’s School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research seeks to discover novel treatment strategies for infectious diseases through understanding the fundamental mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and the innate immune system, with a special focus on human streptococcal and staphylococcal infections.