Awards And Certifications From September13
Three Talented UM Researchers Receive Taubman Emerging Scholars Grants: Three young physician-scientists whose research shows extraordinary promise have been appointed to the Emerging Scholars Program at the University of Michigan's A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. The Emerging Scholars Program was created to support and encourage early-career physician-scientists whose laboratory work aims to translate basic research into new treatments for disease. The program connects UM Medical School faculty members at the assistant professor level with philanthropists who pledge to support the physicians' research for three years at $50,000 per year. This support enables the young scientists to establish the credentials necessary to pursue more traditional means of funding and keeps them from dropping out of the research arena for a variety of reasons. The new Taubman Emerging Scholars are Katherine Gallagher, M.D., Assistant Professor of Surgery. Gallagher studies impaired wound healing in diabetes patients, particularly the role of inflammation and immune cell function. She has been named the Friends of Judy and Alfred Taubman Emerging Scholar. Another winner is Alon Kahana, M.D., Assistant Professor and Helmut F. Stern Career Development Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Kahana's laboratory work studies the use of stem cells to regenerate eye tissue lost to injury or disease. He has been named the Mrs. William Davidson Emerging Scholar. The third winner is Parag Patil, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Anesthesiology and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Patil, who also trained as an engineer, studies the use of deep-brain stimulation to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases. He has been named the Young Friends of the Taubman Institute Emerging Scholar. These grants bring the current total of Taubman Emerging Scholars to seven.
Beaumont Named To List Of Top Tech Innovators: Royal Oak-based Beaumont Health System has been named to the 2012 InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. The list was announced at an awards ceremony this week in Monarch Beach, Calif. InformationWeek has identified and honored the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing for 24 years. It also tracks the technology, strategies, investments and administrative practices of America's best-known companies, including Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., General Motors Co., Colgate-Palmolive and Merck. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings, spotlighting the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. Beaumont Health System is a three-hospital regional health system with a total of 1,726 licensed beds, more than 14,000 full-time equivalent employees and 3,700 physicians in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. In addition to its hospitals, Beaumont operates numerous community-based medical centers, family practice and internal medicine practices, five nursing centers, a research institute, home care services and hospice. Beaumont is the exclusive clinical teaching site for the new Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine that welcomed its first class in August 2011. Visit Beaumont on the Web at www.beaumont.edu.
Plante Moran Earns Spot On InformationWeek 500: Southfield-based accounting and business advisory firm Plante Moran PLLC announced it ranked No. 128 on this year's InformationWeek 500, an annual listing of the nation's most innovative users of business technology. The list was revealed this week at a gala awards ceremony at the exclusive InformationWeek 500 Conference which took place at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, Calif. Plante Moran was recognized for its client collaboration centers, an innovative solution launched last year to provide a more efficient, dynamic way to share documents with clients and mitigate the security risks inherent in exchanging personal, confidential documents. InformationWeek identifies and honors the nation's most innovative users of information technology with its annual 500 listing, and also tracks the technology, strategies, investments, and administrative practices of America's best-known companies. The InformationWeek 500 rankings are unique among corporate rankings as they spotlight the power of innovation in information technology, rather than simply identifying the biggest IT spenders. Additional details on the InformationWeek 500 can be found online at www.informationweek.com/500/. More about Plante Moran at www.plantemoran.com.
Detroit-based SurClean Wins 4th Annual Brinks Innovation Competition: The intellectual property law firm Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione announced that Detroit-based SurClean, a start-up that produces laser tools for removing coatings in an environmentally safe and energy-efficient manner, has won the 4th Annual Brinks Innovation Competition. The Brinks Innovation Competition is an annual juried contest that helps emerging and venture-ready clean and green tech companies in the Midwest gain visibility for their technology and make connections with early-stage investors, researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and financiers. Each entry in the Competition is evaluated by a panel of experts from regional universities, venture capitalists and business executives familiar with clean and green technologies. The Brinks Innovation Competition is the centerpiece of the annual Midwest Clean Tech Expo presented by the Global Midwest Alliance and the Midwest Research University Network. Top executives representing the winner and both runners-up were on hand to receive their awards on Wednesday, Sept. 12, following presentations from four of the five finalists at the Midwest Clean Tech Conference 2012 at Chicago's McCormick Place. This year's show was also held in conjunction with the International Manufacturing Technology Show. Kelly K. Burris, a shareholder in the Ann Arbor office of Brinks, Chair of the firm's Greentech practice and co-chair of the Brinks Innovation Competition, was enthusiastic about the Competition and the Michigan win. "The growing number of applications Brinks received for this year's Competition, with Michigan-based winner SurClean and Michigan-based GreenSand one of the top five finalists, reflects the region's potential for innovation and clean technology-driven economic growth," said Burris. "Our hope is that the success of the finalists in this year's Brinks Innovation Competition will inspire other Michigan and Midwest entrepreneurs to develop and commercialize innovative new clean technology." SurClean's laser-based products incorporate a disruptive technology to replace the use of harmful chemicals, media blasting and other abrasives typically used in the removal of paint and other coatings from aircraft, vessels and bridges undergoing maintenance. The company's system uses a laser beam to disintegrate and remove paint and other coatings like rust from substrate in a cost-effective, safe, energy-efficient and earth-friendly way. SurClean addresses safety concerns, environmental issues and hazards associated with the control and use of chemicals used in coating stripping, and eliminates the production of contaminated waste products in most cases. Learn more by visiting www.surclean.net. More about Brinks at www.usebrinks.com.
