Five Named UB Distinguished Professors

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Five faculty members representing dentistry, medicine and the social sciences have been named University at Buffalo Distinguished Professors for 2011. The appointments are effective Sept. 1.

The UB Distinguished Professor designation -- not to be confused with the State University of New York Distinguished Professor designation, a rank above that of full professor awarded by the SUNY trustees -- was created by the UB Office of the Provost to recognize full professors who have achieved true distinction and who are leaders in their fields.

It is open to faculty members who have been a full professor for at least five years and who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within their field through significant contributions to the research/scholarly literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine arts.

The new UB Distinguished Professors are:

-- Robert Baier, professor, Department of Oral Diagnostic Sciences, School of Dental Medicine.

A UB faculty member since 1978, Baier is executive director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Cooperative Research Center in Biosurfaces at UB, as well as director of UB's Biomaterials Graduate Program.

He also holds research or adjunct faculty appointments in several departments in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as in the Biomedical Engineering Program, housed in both the medical and engineering schools, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

An expert in biomaterials and surface sciences, Baier's work has impacted greatly on the practice of medicine and dentistry, including cardiovascular implants, dental implants and ophthalmologic care. He has conducted more than 100 research trials, which has produced numerous publications.

He has received more than 20 national and international awards and honors, and served on more than 25 editorial boards and specialty panels, as well as numerous university committees.

-- James Campbell, professor and chair, Department of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences.

Campbell's research program testing theories of congressional and presidential election outcomes has established him as one of the leading authorities on the topic in the country. He has published four books; 15 book chapters; nearly 50 articles in refereed journals, including the top-tier journals in his field; and seven introductions to edited journals.

His publications productivity -- considered a substantial achievement for a scholar in the discipline of political science -- earned him a UB Sustained Achievement Award in 2001. Last year, he was elected president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national honor society of political science.

Campbell joined the UB faculty member in 1998 as a full professor with tenure after holding tenured positions at the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, and serving as program officer in the Political Science Program at the NSF.

-- Paul Knight, professor, Department of Anesthesiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Knight joined the UB faculty in 1992 as a professor of anesthesiology and microbiology and chair of the Department of Anesthesiology. He served as chair until 1998, when he stepped down to devote more time to research and clinical activities. He continues to maintain administrative duties in the department, serving as senior vice chair for research and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program -- the MD/PhD program at UB.

Knight's research focuses on the effects of inhalation anesthetics on lung function, with specific emphasis on the relationship between anesthetics and viral infection, and the inflammatory process in lung tissue following the inhalation of vomit due to surgery or accidental causes.

A prolific scholar, he has published 115 papers in premier peer-review journals in the field, and was editor of the seventh edition of Wylie and Churchill-Davidson's "A Practice of Anesthesia," the premier textbook in anesthesiology. He has authored or co-authored 27 book chapters, including a chapter in "A Practice of Anesthesia."

He has held appointments on numerous review committees and panels for the National Institutes of Health, the March of Dimes, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Heart Association, among others. He has moderated and chaired scientific sessions at annual meetings of professional scientific societies, and has delivered more than 80 invited lectures on his specialty, as well as on his translational research, in this country and around the world.

He received the medical school's 2010 Stockton Kimball Award for outstanding contributions to scholarship and to furthering the overall mission of the school.

-- Teresa Quattrin, A. Conger Goodyear Professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

An internationally known expert in childhood diabetes and obesity, Quattrin's clinical practice and research focus on pediatric diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity and insulin-like growth factors.

A UB faculty member since 1987, she also serves as pediatrician-in-chief at Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, chief of the department's Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and director of the hospital's Diabetes Center, which she established in 1990.

Quattrin's research has been funded continuously since the mid-1980s, including grants from Eli Lilly, Genentech, Pfizer and the American Diabetes Association. She is the principal investigator on a $2.5 million NIH grant to study how family-based primary care can impact obesity in youth, and received one of five Type 2 Diabetes Center of Excellence grants from the New York State Department of Health to screen youth at increased risk of developing the disease.

Elected to the prestigious Society for Pediatric Research in 2003, Quattrin has delivered 14 national and three international invited lectures, and serves as associate editor of Diabetes Care, the premier journal in the field.

-- Stanley Schwartz, professor, departments of Medicine, Pediatrics and Microbiology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

A UB faculty since 1992, Schwartz also is director of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology in the medical school.

He studies the immunoregulatory process, immunodeficiency diseases and cancer, and is a leading authority on the relationship between drug abuse and AIDS.

For the past 15 years, he has received more than $7 million in NIH funding to study the effects of cocaine and heroin on immunological and neurological pathogenesis, including the brain disorders of encephalopathy associated with AIDS.

He has published 175 papers, most in top-ranked, peer-reviewed journals, and five book chapters; edited two books; and was guest editor for a volume of the Journal of Clinical Immunology devoted to immunoglobulin therapy -- a key research area in which he is widely recognized.

Schwartz has received numerous honors for his work, including the Stockton Kimball Award, a UB Sustained Academic Achievement Award and the Meller Award for Outstanding Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.