NEWS

Dr. David Ammons, a professor in UNC’s School of Government, has been elected to the National Council of the American Society for Public Administration.

Ammons will serve a three-year term, representing public administration professionals in nine Southern states.

With 9,000 members, the American Society for Public Administration is the largest and most prominent professional association in public administration. The society’s mission is to advance excellence in public service.

Ammons specializes in productivity improvement, performance measurement and benchmarking in local government. He directs the Master of Public Administration program at the school, which prepares students for public service leadership in government.

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The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics has named Dr. David P. Siderovski, assistant professor of pharmacology in UNC’s School of Medicine, the recipient of the 2004 John J. Abel Award.

Siderovski, a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UNC Neuroscience Center, "receives the award as an outstanding young investigator for his contributions that helped shape the field of pharmacology," society officials said.

In 1996, while head of the Quantitative Biology Laboratory at the Amgen Institute in Toronto, Siderovski discovered a new family of proteins, RGS proteins, that accelerates the shutoff of cell signaling pathways.

He continues his basic research program at UNC using biochemistry, structural biology and genetics to understand how RGS proteins control the timing of physiological events. His studies are aimed at drug target discovery and drug development.

The award, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Co., is considered the most prestigious award for young scientists in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics.

This is Siderovski’s third national career award since joining the UNC faculty in 1999. He was named a Year 2000 Neuroscience Scholar by the EJLB Foundation of Montreal and in 2001 received a New Investigator Award in Basic Pharmacological Sciences by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Siderovski receives the newest award, which carries a $2,500 stipend, April 17 at the society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Photo URL: http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/siderovski_david.jpg 

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The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has awarded the UNC School of Government $30,000 to complete Dr. Anne Dellinger’s Adolescent Pregnancy Project.

The project offers information on N.C. law and resources to pregnant and parenting adolescents and those who care for them.

The grant will support the production, distribution and translation into Spanish of a legal guidebook, the final edition in a four-part series that aims to change how pregnant and parenting adolescents are treated. Dellinger, a professor in the school, has written three previous guidebooks for health-care practitioners, social services personnel and public school officials.

More information about the project is available at www.adolescentpregnancy.unc.edu.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has made grants totaling more than $349 million to recipients in all N.C counties. Its current focus areas are community building and economic development; the environment; governance, public policy and civic engagement; pre-collegiate education; and social justice equity.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu