People & Achievements in the greater Ann Arbor area, including the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Pure Visibility
The following is a list of achievements by businesses and individuals in the Ann Arbor area:
• Dr. Lori J. Pierce, a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, was one of 11 physicians nationwide selected as a fellow of the American Society of Radiation Oncology, a cancer organization with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients using radiation therapy. Pierce will receive her FASTRO designation Nov. 2 at a special ceremony during the society's 52nd annual Meeting, scheduled for Oct. 31-Nov. 4 in San Diego. In related news, U-M Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher N. Lynn Henry is one of five new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. The recipients of this three-year award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation are outstanding early career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research at major research centers under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians. Henry will receive $450,000 to support the development of her cancer research program. The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to help address the shortage of physicians capable of translating scientific discovery into new breakthroughs for cancer patients.
• Pure Visibility, an Internet marketing company based in Ann Arbor, was recently retained by Compuware to help the national IT firm with its search marketing activities. Pure Visibility's comprehensive work for Compuware will center on pay-per-click campaigns, search engine optimization and Web analytics reporting.
• Panera Bread recently announced that Kim Kenney, Helen Geigler, Caitlin Ruf and Alex Roberts, employees at the four bakery-cafes located in Ann Arbor, have been recognized as four of the company’s 2010 Associate of the Year honorees. These honors are given by the Panera Bread management team to individuals who demonstrate a continued commitment to Panera’s values.
• Addell Austin Anderson was recently named the new director of the University of Michigan's Detroit Center, a hub for research, civic partnerships and student outreach in the state's largest urban center. Anderson, who previously led the Michigan AmeriCorps Partnership at U-M's Ginsberg Center since 2003, began her new position July 1. She succeeds Roger Doster, who retired after directing the center since it opened in 2005. • Ann Arbor SPARK will kick off its fourth Shifting Gears program this fall. Applications to the 2010 Shifting Gears program are due on Sept. 3. Leading up to the fall Shifting Gears program, SPARK also announced five information sessions beginning Aug. 3. Shifting Gears is an intensive four-month program, providing professional career coaching for executive talent seeking opportunities in entrepreneurial and emerging businesses. For more information on Shifting Gears, visit www.AnnArborUSA.org/Shifting-Gears.
• Ann Arbor-based research and networking consortium Internet2 recently announced the appointment of H. David (Dave) Lambert as its new president and CEO. In related news, Internet2 recently announced it will partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to deploy a high capacity nationwide network that will serve to enhance the capabilities of NOAA's researchers and their partners across the country. Funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the new high capacity research network called "NWave" will be used to provide dedicated, high speed, and high capacity connection between climate and weather researchers and NOAA's key high performance computing sites across the nation. Climate scientists around the country leverage these HPC resources to understand, predict and explain changes in climate.
• University of Michigan tech startup Ambiq Micro recently netted a $250,000 investment prize as the first-place winner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco's co-sponsored Global Business Plan Competition for university and business school students. Ambiq Micro was selected as the winner of the Global Business Plan Competition out of a group of 16 finalist teams from all over the world who presented business plans to a panel of judges composed of venture capitalists and executives. The presenting members of the University of Michigan Ambiq Micro team were Scott Hanson, a post-doctoral fellow at the College of Engineering, and Phil O'Niel, an MBA 2010 graduate of the Ross School of Business.
• Ypsilanti-based Maggie's Organics, a producer of clothing made with organic fibers, is now the first manufacturer in the world to sell clothing that is independently certified to a new standard for Fair Labor Practices and Community Benefits. The certification was issued by Scientific Certification Systems, which inspected each stage of the manufacturing process, including farming the organic cotton, ginning and spinning the crop into fabric in Nicaragua, cutting and sewing garments in Costa Rica and screen printing, office and warehouse operations in Michigan. Criteria include hiring, wages, working conditions, hours of work, freedom of association and freedom to organize, as well as worker access to housing, health care and transportation.
• The Henry Ford Health System is taking part in a national program aimed at getting children to read more. Reach Out and Read is a school readiness program through which age-appropriate books are given to children when they come in for their well-child physicals. The focus now is on what's being called the Summer of a Million Books. Reach Out and Read officials say pediatricians and family physicians at 4,500 hospitals and clinics across the country are participating in the effort to give a new book to 1 million children in need before Labor Day. Dr. Flommy Abraham, a pediatrician at Henry Ford Medical Center-Ann Arbor, said staff at her center gave out 350 books to children ranging in age from 6 months to 5 years during the last six months of 2009. As a whole, Henry Ford Health System provided more than 9,000 books to children during the second half of 2009.
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