News Release

LSUHSC's Hill selected as Fellow of AAAS

Grant and Award Announcement

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center

James M. Hill, PhD, Professor of Ophthalmology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, and Neuroscience at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, has been awarded the distinction of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow. Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Dr. Hill is being honored for contributions to the understanding of viral and bacterial keratitis by developing excellent animal models and unique drug delivery systems, and for identifying a specific human gene as a risk factor for ocular Herpes Simplex Virus.

This year 134 members have been awarded this honor in the Biological Sciences Section by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, 14 February from 8 to 10 a.m. at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. This year's AAAS Fellows will be announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on December 19, 2008.

Dr. Hill, who is also the Research to Prevent Blindness Senior Scientific Investigator, serves on the National Science Foundation, and Study Sections for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as a Grant Reviewer and Site Visitor for the Veterans Administration.

Dr. Hill has authored or co-authored more than 200 peer reviewed publications including 15 book chapters and 7 invited reviews. As of August 1, 2008, Dr. Hill has 4,728 cumulative citations based upon Science Citation Index. These include 32 publications with more than 50 citations; 14 with 100 citations or more; 7 with 150 citations; and 4 with more than 250 citations.

Dr. Hill is the principal investigator on multiple NIH grants. His research interests include pathogenesis and chemotherapy of viral and bacterial keratitis and unique drug delivery systems.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer. Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list. The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.

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LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans educates the majority of Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's academic health leader, LSUHSC comprises a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, Schools of Allied Health Professions and Graduate Studies, as well as the only School of Nursing in Louisiana within an academic health center. LSUHSC faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout Louisiana. In the vanguard of biosciences research in a number of areas worldwide, LSUHSC faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, treat, or cure disease. LSUHSC outreach programs span the state.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.


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