Scientific symposium to honor pioneer in mitochondria research

A scientific symposium at UNC’s School of Medicine Dec. 3 will honor Dr. Giuseppe Attardi, a California Institute of Technology distinguished professor and pioneer in the molecular biology of the mitochondria, the cell’s energy machines and producers of DNA building blocks.

The invitation-only symposium brings together an international array of scientists to explore topics such as defects in mitochondrial DNA replication and repair, and the impact on human health, disease and aging.

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the department of cell and developmental biology will sponsor the event.

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Retired UNC dental scientist Donald Warren receives top award from speech-language group

Dr. Donald W. Warren, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, has received the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s highest honor.

The award, known as "Honors of the Association," recognizes distinguished contributions to speech, language and hearing. Warren, Kenan professor of dental ecology, received the award Nov. 14. During their careers, recipients have made contributions deemed of such excellence that they have altered the course of the professions.

He and the five other 2003 awardees are known to speech, hearing and language professionals around the world and were honored for innovative clinical practice, insightful and rigorous research, creative administration, effective legislative activity, outstanding teaching or other professional activities.

Warren, also former research professor of otolaryngology at the UNC School of medicine, helped found the UNC Craniofacial Center and served as its director from 1963 to 2000.  The center has helped thousands of patients and provided instruction for hundreds of speech-language pathologists, dentists and surgeons.

"An entire generation of researchers and patients owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Warren," said Dr. Michael P. Karnell of the University of Iowa, a colleague of the UNC professor.

In 1997, Warren and colleagues received the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research’s Editor’s Award for the best research paper about speech. He also was recognized by the University of Kupio in Finland with an honorary doctorate and by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association with its "Honors of the Association."

The UNC and University of Pennsylvania graduate is a longtime resident of Hillsborough who recently retired to Southern Pines.

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Contact: News Services, (919) 962-2091
School of Dentistry Contact: Sharon Grayden, (919) 966-2730