Pato, Rokitka Named To Deans Positions In UB Medical School

By Sue Wuetcher

Release Date: November 12, 1999 This content is archived.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Carlos Pato and Mary Anne Rokitka have been named to positions in the Dean's Office of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

Pato, associate professor of psychiatry and adjunct associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology, has been appointed associate dean for clinical affairs. Rokitka, clinical associate professor of physiology and biophysics, has been appointed assistant dean for biomedical undergraduate education.

Pato, of Williamsville, will work on matters relating to university faculty and programs within UB's affiliated clinical sites, including clinical research and space allocation issues.

A UB faculty member since 1996, he also serves as co-director of the UB Laboratory of Psychiatric and Molecular Genetics. The lab's research program focuses on the genetics of psychiatric disorders and substance-use disorders. The program is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and has pilot projects in obsessive compulsive disorder, alcoholism and substance-use disorder.

Pato has received many awards, including a National Research Service Award and a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

Rokitka, of Snyder, will continue to have primary responsibility within the medical school for developing and overseeing education programs for undergraduate students potentially interested in careers in the biomedical sciences.

A faculty member since 1975, her research involves comparative environmental, animal and hyperbaric physiology.

She received the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993 and has been named an honorary member of the Mortar Board and Golden Key national honor societies. She also received the Charles W. Shilling Award from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in 1991 and the first annual Dr. Mary Anne Rokitka Award from the Great Lakes Chapter for the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in 1990.