Gary LeRoy, M.D., FAAFP, associate dean for student affairs and admissions, was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) at the medical society’s 2015 annual meeting in Denver.

The AAFP, which represents 120,900 physicians and medical students nationwide, is devoted to primary care. Its board of directors advocates on behalf of family physicians and patients nationwide to inspire positive change in the U.S. health care system.

Betty Cheney, M.D., M.P.H., exemplifies the collaboration between medicine and public health. As a student in the Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Wright State Master of Public Health Program, she focused on helping others attain high-quality lives by creating social and physical environments that promote good health.

The U.S. Public Health Service took note of her commitment to public health and recognized Cheney with a 2015 Excellence in Public Health Award at the Boonshoft School of Medicine commencement ceremonies in May.

Wright State University’s dazzling new Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration Building a research powerhouse

Wright State University’s spectacular new Neuroscience Engineering Collaboration (NEC) Building promises to spawn pioneering research and medical breakthroughs by housing the collective brainpower of almost 30 top neuroscientists, engineers, and clinicians, and their teams.

Weiwen Long and his research team are on the hunt for mysteries of gene that affects cancer

A Wright State University researcher and his team are working on unlocking the mysteries of a gene that plays an important role in the formation and spread of lung cancer and other cancers.

Weiwen Long, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, recently received a $1.7 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the research.

Timothy Broderick, M.D., professor of surgery, was named associate dean for research affairs, effective January 1, 2015. He replaces Arthur Pickoff, M.D., who retired December 31, 2014. A surgeon and researcher, Broderick also serves as the chief scientist at the Wright State Research Institute.

Broderick served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He spent seven years as professor of surgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati and was founder and director of its Center for Surgical Innovation.

James R. Ebert, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H., was appointed chair of the Department of Community Health, effective January 1, 2015. He replaced Arthur Pickoff, M.D., who retired December 31, 2014.

Ebert is the Oscar Boonshoft Chair and director of the Center for Global Health. He also is the lead physician for the Lipid Clinic at Dayton Children’s Hospital. 

John C. Duby, M.D., has been appointed professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics, effective October 1, 2015. Duby comes to Wright State from the Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), where he served as professor of pediatrics since 2008 and professor of clinical pediatrics from 2000 to 2008.

The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation announced in September that Nicole Craker is one of 19 medical students nationwide to receive the 2015 Physicians of Tomorrow Award. She is the fourth Boonshoft School of Medicine student to receive the award since 2012.

In March 2015, 91 graduating Boonshoft School of Medicine students learned where they will pursue their residency training.

Gathered with family and friends at the Wright State University Student Union, the students took part in the national event that has become a rite of passage.

Wright State students matched in outstanding programs in Dayton, throughout Ohio, and across the country, including at Case Western Reserve University, Duke University, Stanford University, Cambridge Health Alliance (Harvard) and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The Boonshoft School of Medicine welcomed 111 new students during the Convocation and White Coat Ceremony last July, formally marking the start of their medical education.

During the ceremony, students took their first oath of professional medical ethics, concluding with the words, “I commit myself to a lifelong journey of learning how to cure, relieve, and comfort with humility and compassion.”

Each student received a white coat—a traditional symbol of the medical profession—personalized with his or her name and the medical school patch.

Heather Hostetler, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Wright State University, died August 5, 2015, at the age of 41.

She had been diagnosed with gastric carcinoma and died suddenly due to complications from aspiration pneumonia.

Hostetler joined Wright State University in September 2009 with a matrix position in both the Boonshoft School of Medicine and the College of Science and Mathematics and was awarded tenure in summer 2014.