SUNY Board Of Trustees Appoint Three SUNY Downstate Faculty Members To Distinguished Faculty Ranks
Apr 18, 2019
SUNY Downstate is the only SUNY campus with an appointment in three categories
BROOKLYN, NY – The State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees recently appointed three
SUNY Downstate Medical Center faculty among 18 faculty members to Distinguished Faculty
rank. Neurology Department Chair and professor Daniel M. Rosenbaum, M.D.; physiology, pharmacology, and neurology professor William W. Lytton, M.D.; and Clinical Assistant Dean and professor Jason M. Lazar, M.D. recently received the elevated ranking—the highest that the SUNY Board of Trustees
bestows on professors.
SUNY Downstate is the only one among the 64-campus system with an appointment in the three categories of Distinguished Professorship, Distinguished Service Professorship, and Distinguished Teaching Professorship. All distinguished faculty in active service with SUNY are also members of the SUNY Distinguished Academy.
“As witnessed by their massive accomplishments and ground-breaking research in their academic areas, each individual is passionate about their field of expertise, and shares that energy with their students,” said SUNY Board Chairman H. Carl McCall. “We are pleased to congratulate this most recent class of distinguished faculty.”
“The SUNY faculty being honored today with the distinguished ranking are leaders in
innovation, research, environmental and cultural studies, and serve as a strong and
constant reminder of the quality higher education students receive at our campuses,”
said SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson. “On behalf of all our faculty, staff and students, I congratulate these individuals
on this honorable distinction.”
“The appointment to Distinguished Faculty rank is an exceptional achievement,” said
Downstate President Wayne J. Riley, M.D. “We are proud that Dr. Rosenbaum, Dr. Lytton, and Dr. Lazar are the only newly-appointed
faculty members in this year’s appointments to achieve ranks in three categories.
These appointments are a testament to their service and commitment to students, colleagues,
and our global community, and I congratulate them on behalf of their fellow faculty,
the staff, and students.”
The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon individuals achieving national and/or international prominence and a distinguished reputation in their chosen field through extraordinary contributions to, and impact on, the candidate’s field of study. The candidate is a role model for students, and other faculty and their work must have the potential to elevate the standards of scholarship or creative activity of colleagues both within and beyond their academic fields. Their work must be of such quality that students and scholars on other State University of New York campuses would wish to benefit from lectures and seminars, or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might provide. To be eligible for nomination, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years and must have at least one year of full-time service at the nominating institution.
William W. Lytton, M.D., a Professor in Downstate Medical Center’s Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
and Department of Neurology, is a pioneer in Computational Neuroscience. This field
aims to consolidate the enormous amounts of anatomical and physiological data obtained
from clinical and research sources such as genomics, Electroencephalogram, magnetic
resonance imaging, and functional magnetic resonance imaging into explicit computer
models. Dr. Lytton was one of the first to suggest and then demonstrate applications
of his research in a wide variety of brain disease. His research has been continuously
funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH); his book Computer to Brain was the first undergraduate textbook in the field, and he has over 120 publications.
Dr. Lytton has chaired multiple NIH study sections, helped to develop core neural
simulation software tools, serves on the editorial boards of several renowned journals,
and speaks and teaches nationally and internationally.
The Distinguished Service Professorship is conferred upon instructional faculty in any of the disciplines or fields of study
who have achieved a distinguished reputation for service to the campus, the University,
the community, the State of New York or the nation, by a sustained effort in the application
of intellectual skills drawing from the candidate’s scholarly and research interests
in matters of public concern. To be considered, service activities must exceed those
generally considered to be a part of a candidate’s professional portfolio of work
and should include service that surpasses that for which professors are normally recognized.
It must also extend over multiple years and, very importantly, must involve the application
of intellectual skills drawn from the individual’s scholarly and research interests
in issues of public concern.
The Distinguished Service Professorship is conferred upon instructional faculty in any of the disciplines or fields of study
who have achieved a distinguished reputation for service to the campus, the University,
the community, the State of New York or the nation, by a sustained effort in the application
of intellectual skills drawing from the candidate’s scholarly and research interests
in matters of public concern. To be considered, service activities must exceed those
generally considered to be a part of a candidate’s professional portfolio of work
and should include service that surpasses that for which professors are normally recognized.
It must also extend over multiple years and, very importantly, must involve the application
of intellectual skills drawn from the individual’s scholarly and research interests
in issues of public concern.
The Distinguished Teaching Professorship recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. For this prestigious tribute to be conferred,
candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding
service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship,
and professional growth, and adhering to rigorous academic standards and requirements.
The faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five
years, completed at least three years of full-time teaching on the nominating campus,
ten years of full-time teaching in the System, and must have regularly carried a full-time
teaching load as defined by the campus at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional
level.
Jason M. Lazar, M.D., MPH is a Professor who holds appointments in the Cardiology Division of the Department
of Medicine, the Departments of Molecular and Cell Biology and Neurology, and in the
School of Public Health. In addition to his teaching responsibilities in the Department
of Medicine and the Cardiology Division, Dr. Lazar provides all of the cardiology
lectures in the physician assistant and cardiology ultrasound programs. He is the
head of the Graduate Medical Education Research Committee, an oversight group charged
with developing and implementing the highest quality research experiences for nearly
1,000 residents regardless of specialty or subspecialty. He is also an expert in population
health and launched initiatives to educate students in the principles of this approach.
Dr. Lazar has published more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and more than 30
invited articles and book chapters. He has a national and international reputation
as a non-invasive cardiologist studying microvascular physiology and its effect on
conditions such as sickle cell disease, HIV, and systemic lupus.
About The State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY) is the most extensive comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, with 64 college and university campuses located within 30 miles of every home, school, and business in the state. As of fall 2018, nearly 425,000 students were enrolled in a degree program at a SUNY campus. In total, SUNY served 1.4 million students in credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs in the 2017-18 academic year. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Its students and faculty make significant contributions to research and discovery, contributing to a $1.6 billion research portfolio. There are 3 million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.
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About SUNY Downstate Medical Center
SUNY Downstate Medical Center is the borough’s only academic medical center for health education, research, and patient care, and is a 376-bed facility serving the healthcare needs of Brooklyn’s 2.6 million residents. University Hospital is Downstate’s teaching hospital, backed by the expertise of an outstanding medical school and the research facilities of a world-class academic center. More than 800 physicians, representing 53 specialties and subspecialties—many of them ranked as tops in their fields—comprise Downstate's staff.
A regional center for cardiac care, neonatal and high-risk infant services, pediatric dialysis, and transplantation, Downstate also houses a major learning center for children with physical ailments or neurological disorders. In addition to University Hospital, Downstate comprises a College of Medicine, College of Nursing, College of Health-Related Professions, a School of Graduate Studies, a School of Public Health, and a multifaceted biotechnology initiative, including the Downstate Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT for early-stage and more mature companies, respectively. For more information, visit www.downstate.edu