Peer Health Liaison Program

The Peer Health Liaison program seeks to bridge a gap between BSD students and Student Health and Counseling Services. Liaisons undergo a training session with SHCH senior leadership to become well-versed in the services and resources available to students. They communicate with their students via a monthly email digest with up-to-date information on SHCH services. They additionally meet monthly with leadership to discuss items brought to their attention by their peers. The liaisons for the 2018-19 academic year are:

Neuroscience Cluster, Biophysical Sciences, Medical Physics and Public Health Sciences

Andrew Tremain

2015

Clifton Ragsdale and Carrie Albertin: first to sequence octopus genome

Clifton Ragsdale, Associate Professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Organismal Biology and Anatomy, along with Organismal Biology graduate student Caroline Albertin and a team of researchers from University of California, Berkeley and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology sequenced the genome of the California Two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides).

The California Two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides)

1942

Julian H. Lewis: debunked race-based blood typing

Julian H. Lewis, PhD 1915, the first African American to hold both an MD and a PhD, conducted groundbreaking research on race and blood typing that led to his hallmark book, Biology of the Negro (1942). His book was a precursor to the field of anthropathology and is credited with changing many people’s perspectives on race. Lewis was also the first African American to teach at the University of Chicago, where he was a noted expert in immunology.

1990

Paul Sereno: discovered previously unknown dinosaur species

Beginning in the 1990s, paleontologist Paul Sereno’s discoveries of previously unknown dinosaur species on several continents have contributed to the understanding of the dinosaur family tree and to the larger question of how evolution works over millions of years.

Paul Sereno, Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy

1975

Janet Rowley: discovered cancer can be genetic

Presidential Medal of Freedom winner and geneticist Janet Davison Rowley, LAB’42, PhB’45, SB’46, MD’48, discovered the first consistent chromosomal abnormalities associated with cancer in the 1970s, demonstrating a link between cancer and genetics. She later was a key player in the development of the first precisely targeted anti-cancer drug.

2013

Robert Grossman: developed first NIH-approved cloud-based computing system to process cancer data

In 2013, data scientist Robert Grossman developed the Bionimbus Protected Data Cloud, the first cloud-based computing system approved by the National Institutes of Health to process data from the Cancer Genome Atlas, the agency’s flagship cancer genetics study. In late 2014, Grossman became director of the Genomic Data Commons, an NIH-funded project based on Bionimbus that will be the nation’s most comprehensive data facility when completed.

Peer Health Liaison Program

Biomedical Sciences

Darwinian Sciences

Molecular Biosciences

Neuroscience Cluster, Biophysical Sciences, Medical Physics and Public Health Sciences