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National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST) Richard Loftin, president 52 institutional members, 50 affiliate members c/o Lousiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts 715 College Ave., Natchitoches, La. 71457 (318) 357-3255 - Fax: (318) 357-3271 - E-mail: loftin@nsula.edu http://www.inmind.com/schools/NCSSSMST Magnet Schools of America Donald Waldrip, executive director 500 institutional members 2111 Holly Hall, Suite 704, Hous

The institutions strive to overcome a poor image while looking ahead to a new role in a managed-care environment Sidebar : ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH Once the poor cousins of medical schools, public health schools are coming into their own as universities create new programs or expand existing ones. The advent of managed care, which emphasizes cost-effectiveness, has focused the attention of many institutions on prevention, the traditional raison d'^Ðtre of public health. CON

'PEOPLE ARE THE SAME': Myron Mehlman plans to pursue a $30 million defamation suit against Mobil if his case is upheld on its next appeal. A New Jersey appellate court has upheld and doubled a $3.5 million ruling in favor of a Mobil Oil Corp. toxicologist fired after advising a Mobil subsidiary in Japan to stop selling gasoline with hazardous levels of benzene, a carcinogen. While the company appeals the decision to the state Supreme Court, observers are speculating that the case may help whi

SOLVING REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS: MacArthur fellow Vonnie McLoyd's research combines concepts in socioeconomics, psychology, and anthropology. This year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowships will help six scientists advance their cutting-edge, multidisciplinary projects that extend from the ocean depths to distant stars and planets. With grants of about $250,000 or more, the newly named fellows will be able to finance innovative-even maverick-research ideas that might otherwis

My own background in schools of medicine and institutions for biomedical research perhaps leads me to stress the opportunities for those disciplines to impact research and education at schools of public health. While the agenda of such schools has turned more and more to hospital administration and the rationalization of the health-care system, this must not be to the neglect of using science for the most effective population-based measures to protect public health. These measures will be larg

STARRY-EYED: Margie Profet used her MacArthur funds to switch fields of study. Margie Profet had been researching reproductive biology for 10 years when the call came, out of the blue, in 1993. On the line was an official with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago, informing her that she had been named to join one of the most creative and elite groups of thinkers and doers in the world. Such a scene has been played out 479 times since 1981, when the first MacArthur Fel

ROCK STAR: The now-famous 4.5 billion-year-old hunk of meteorite that may have once contained microscopic Martian life. Last month's historic announcement that a Martian meteorite found on Earth may contain vestiges of ancient microbes (D.S. McKay et al., 273:924-30, Science, 1996) has spawned all manner of comment. The American Physical Society's Robert Park opined in the August 9 issue of his online newsletter, "What's New," that the discovery may save United States taxpayers billions of dol

Date: September 2, 1996 ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF PUBLIC HEALTH School of Public Health, University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health, Columbia University School of Public Health, Emory University School of Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health, University of Hawaii School of Public Health, University

Changes In System REHIRED: Following her exoneration, Thereza Imanishi-Kari was named an associate professor at Tufts University. Participants, observers say the case highlighted a need to overhaul the mechanism for dealing with charges of scientific misconduct. The conclusion of the decade-long scientific misconduct case against Thereza Imanishi-Kari-she was exonerated in a June 21 decision of an appeals panel of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)-would appear to be a clear-cu

Biotechnology Boom Molecular biologists find niche as new technologies are adapted to the animal health market. While the biotech boom resounds in human health research, the technology has made less of a roar in the animal health field. Uncertainty over product costs and regulatory approval has left some animal health companies hesitant to embrace biotechnology. But this situation could be changing. A growing number of vaccines for cats, dogs, and fish are based on recombinant DNA techniques.

Anxieties Hospital mergers are becoming a national trend, as institutions from New England to the San Francisco Bay area combine to strengthen their competitive positions in a changing health care market. The phenomenon has now emerged in New York, where the proposed merger between Mount Sinai Medical Center and New York University Medical Center (NYU), announced June 18, appeared to set off a flurry of similar transactions. In addition to combining their two hospitals, the institutions will me

Researchers Wait For Federal Guidelines Two reports, one from each side of the Atlantic Ocean, conclude that research on xenotransplantation-the transfer of organs, tissues, or cells from animals to humans-should be pursued because the potential benefits of the practice outweigh its possible risks. But scientists in the United States are frustrated by the Public Health Service's slow pace in issuing federal guidelines for the research. CAUTIOUS STEPS: Xenotransplantation pioneer Suzanne Ilst