Congratulations Paul Titchenell for being selected to the 2024-2025 cohort of Penn Faculty Fellows! This competitive program provides leadership development to select Penn faculty in mid-career. Begun in 2009, it includes opportunities to build alliances across the university, meet distinguished academic leaders, think strategically about university governance, and consult with Penn’s senior administrators. Please join me in celebrating Paul’s selection to this prestigious program.

Appointment of Michael Ostap, PhD, as interim Senior Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer for the Perelman School of Medicine

Congratulations Melike Lakadamyali on her promotion to FULL PROFESSOR!! This promotion recognizes Melike’s outstanding contributions to the Department and the University, and importantly, her international stature in the research community. Please join me in applauding Melike on her success and in achieving this distinguished milestone.

CONGRATULATIONS to Rob Lee on his promotion to Associate Professor of Otorhinolaryngology with tenure!! Rob has been a fully-engaged secondary member of the Department of Physiology, and has excelled in all of our missions. This is well-deserved, not a surprise, and awesome news!! Please join me in applauding Rob on this fantastic accomplishment!

Congratulations to Tejvir S. Khurana, MD, PhD for winning the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching! This award was established in 1961 with the help of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation to recognize excellence in teaching. Awards are granted each year for distinguished teaching in health and non-health areas. The receipt of their respective Lindback Awards is a testament to Drs. Ferrari and Khurana's exceptional dedication to education, and their profound influence on students' intellectual and personal growth. Their recognition signifies their outstanding teaching abilities, as well as their enduring commitment to fostering a vibrant and inspiring learning environment within the Penn community.

Congratulations to the Dominguez lab on their seminal study recently published in Science on the structures actin filaments that explains the bases for filament polarity that underlies many cell biological functions.

This milestone reflects the University’s recognition of Paul’s exceptional research achievements and contributions to the academic enterprise. While there was never any doubt that he would be promoted to Associate Professor, it’s nevertheless outstanding to have it under his belt. We’ll be planning a celebration, date TBD. In the meantime, please reach out to Paul to join me in congratulating him on this fabulous achievement.

Natasha Jaiswal (Titchenell lab) officially accepted an offer as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the College of Health Sciences at Purdue University. She will be starting her new position Jan 2, 2024! Congratulations Natasha!

Congratulations to our own Teji Khurana for being selected for the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching!! This prestigious award is given annually in recognition of commitment to teaching at Penn. The selection committee chose Teji from a highly competitive nomination pool based on his peers' and students' letters written on his behalf. Well-deserved to say the least!! Please join me in applauding Teji on this distinguished award!!

Congratulations Ben Prosser! Ben and a team that he put together to find a cure for his daughter and those who also suffer from disorders due to mutations in STXBP1 and SYNGAP1 genes have received a $25 million gift from an anonymous donor to support their research efforts through their Center for Epilepsy and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ENDD). Please have a look at the attached press release that will be posted today. We share Ben’s hope that this gift will help lead to breakthroughs on the path to a cure. Please join me in congratulating Ben on this fantastic news!