George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, was named 2004 Scientist of the Year by R&D Magazine.
His 38-year career has encompassed roles in academia, industry and government, with expertise in disciplines as diverse as molecular biology, pharmaceutical development and biosecurity.
The award honors Poste for his career accomplishments as a world-renowned researcher, scholar and policymaker. It also recognizes his leadership in establishing the Biodesign Institute as a confluence of leading-edge technologies, said Tim Studt, editor in chief for R&D Magazine.
Poste was recruited by ASU in May 2003 to head the institute.
R&D Magazine is distributed to more than 80,000 scientists and engineers in industrial, academic and government research and development. Recent recipients of the annual award include J. Craig Venter, whose company led the decoding of the human genome; Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web; Eric Lander, founder of the Center for Genome Research at MIT; Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems; and Nobel Prize winner Kary Mullis.
"Our nation is asleep at the switch when it comes to being able to handle a public health crisis caused by infectious disease, whether from nature or bioterrorism," said Poste.
"We need faster diagnostics and better information linkages to spot the early signs of an epidemic. We need new classes of drugs, especially as antibiotic resistance is increasingly problematic. We need better ways to assess emerging diseases so we can develop vaccines before a sizable population is infected," said Poste.
"It will take radical changes within government and academia to meet these challenges, including better linkages with industry. The Biodesign Institute at ASU is an incredible vehicle for positively impacting the future," he said.
For more: www.biodesign.org.
Healthcare chief named
Tom Sadvary will replace Max Poll as president and chief executive of Scottsdale Healthcare.
Poll had announced his intent to retire in October 2005. Sadvary's appointment was approved during a board meeting last week.
During the next few months, Sadvary will work closely with Poll on the transition, while also reviewing operations of similar hospital systems.
Sadvary, who currently serves as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Scottsdale Healthcare, joined the organization in 1986 as administrator for the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea hospital.
For more: www.shc.org.
Children's center unveiled
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center unveiled a children's center at the Glendale hospital this week.
The 14-bed center, licensed through the Arizona Department of Health Services, includes a pediatric zone in the emergency department and a pre-op surgical room dedicated to pediatric patients.
As a pediatric licensed facility with pediatric surgeons on staff, Banner Thunderbird now may admit patients under the age of 18 and perform elective surgeries; previously the facility only operated in the event of an emergency.
