Magnuson Scholars funded to work on research projects

Six health sciences students have been selected as Magnuson Scholars for the 1999-2000 academic year. the late Senator Warren G. Magnuson, in whose name the program was established, was committed to improving the nation’s health through biomedical research and was instrumental in establishing the National Institutes of Health, Medicare and Medicaid during his long career in the senate.

Each of the students receives $20,000 to support graduate studies and research.

This year’s Magnuson Scholars:

The six 1999-2000 Magnuson Scholars met last week at a luncheon with Jermaine Magnuson (center), wife of the late Senator, and her daughter Juanita Garrison (seated at left). Dr. Bruce Ransom, chair of the Department of Neurology and holder of the Warren and Jermaine Magnuson Endowed Chair in Neurosciences, is seated at the right. Standing left to right, the Magnuson Scholars are Cheryl Cooke, Scott Rutledge, Stephen Sullivan, Kristin Marciante, Dr. Wellington Rody and Erin Harper. Photo by Gavin Sisk.

School of Dentistry - Dr. Wellington Rody, Jr., born and educated in Brazil, came to the UW last year to pursue a Ph.D. in oral biology. He had already earned a dental degree and a certificate in orthodontics in Brazil, but sought additional education to support an academic career. The Magnuson Scholarship will allow him to earn a master’s degree, and to complete his research project on how bone-forming cells are developed when orthodontic appliances are adjusted.

School of Medicine - Stephen Sullivan has completed three years of medical school and now, with the support of a Magnuson Scholarship, is spending a year working in the laboratory of Dr. John Olerud, head of the Department of Medicine’s Division of Dermatology, on wound healing. Specifically, he is working on ways, using genetically engineered molecules, to improve the ability of skin cells to heal diabetic ulcers. He was born and raised in Helena, Mont., and graduated from Carroll College there.

School of Nursing - Cheryl Cooke is conducting research for her Ph.D. dissertation in nursing science. After working for many years in California with an associate’s degree in nursing, she enrolled at UW Bothell in the bachelor’s degree program after moving to Washington state in 1992. She completed the bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1996 and a master’s in nursing in January 1999. Drawing on her previous work with communities of color and at-risk families, she is conducting a study of imprisoned African American men and their families, focusing on health status and recidivism.

School of Pharmacy - Kristin Marciante is pursuing a Ph.D. in the Pharmaceutical Outcomes Program. Before she came to Seattle as a doctoral student, she spent three years working as a pharmaceutical statistician analyzing clinical trial data to determine the efficacy and safety of mental health compounds. She is a graduate of Emory University in Atlanta, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in biology and a master’s degree in public health epidemiology. She is focusing her current outcomes research on prescription drug use in women’s health and diabetes management, and plans a career in which she can contribute to the population-based evidence that increasingly drives health care policy and practice.

School of Public Health and Community Medicine - Erin Harper, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Pathobiology, is working with Dr. William Carter, professor of pathobiology and a member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, on studies of cell behavior in diabetic ulcers. Harper has observed that insulin stimulates the activity of some skin cells in test tubes and is trying to learn exactly what mechanisms keep diabetic ulcers from healing. Born and raised in Mossyrock, Wash., Harper earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Washington State University.

School of Social Work - Scott Rutledge, a Ph.D. student in social welfare, earned a bachelor’s degree from Marycrest College in Iowa in 1985 and a master’s in social work from the University of Iowa in 1997. He supervised placement of children in foster and adoption programs in Illinois for five years and more recently has researched and provided services in HIV prevention. His program of study focuses on understanding the intersections of individual and community identities for people within HIV/AIDS risk categories. He is working on efficacy trials of brief interventions designed to increase participation and success by decreasing the burden and stigma often associated with prevention programs. He is working with the Innovative Programs Research Group, directed by Dr. Roger Roffman, professor of social work.

The Magnuson Scholars are selected on the basis of their academic performance and their potential contributions to research in the health sciences.

The scholars program is part of the Warren G. Magnuson Institute for Biomedical Research and Health Professional Training, established in 1991 in honor of the late senator. Support for the Institute comes from two grants totaling nearly $5 million from the U.S. Department of Education, matching funds of $500,000 from the State of Washington, and more than $569,000 in donated funds.

The income from the endowment is used for diabetes research, to support students in graduate or postgraduate health professions training programs, and to fund the Warren and Jermaine Magnuson Chair in Medicine for Neurosciences, held by Dr. Bruce Ransom, chair of the Department of Neurology. ¶

Claire Dietz