Gunda Georg, Ph.D., is an esteemed researcher and professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. As head of the Department of Medical Chemistry, Georg has made a tremendous impact in the field of synthetic medicinal chemistry.

Georg is also the director of the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development and holds both the Robert Vince Endowed Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and McKnight Presidential Chair. This July she will receive the prestigious Volwiler Research Achievement Award for her research accomplishments.

For many this spring, the return of the sun and warm weather also means a return of seasonal allergies. The sniffling, sneezing and itching can be a frustrating characteristic of this time of year. As you head for the pharmacist to combat your allergies once again, keep an eye on your pets — they may be suffering, too.

May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, spotlighting a peak season for asthma and allergy symptoms as pollen and other allergens come out in full force.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing’s nurse-midwife degree program, Melissa Avery, Ph.D., C.N.M., R.N., director of the midwifery specialty, reflected on how nurse-midwifery has changed.

Midwives have been attending births for thousands of years.

“But in the United States in the early 1900s, as the field of medicine became more formalized and specialized, birth started moving to hospitals,” said Avery. Midwives began to play a lesser roll.

The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine will release rehabilitated raptors back to the wild this Saturday, May 4 at the Hyland Lake Park Reserve in Bloomington, Minn. The free and public event will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with interpretative programming beginning at noon.

Event-goers are invited to meet some of The Raptor Center’s education birds and watch the release of other rehabilitated birds back to the wild. The all-ages event will have family-friendly activities including nature and craft projects available throughout the day.

Please bring used ink-jet printer cartridges to the event for The Raptor Center’s Recycling for Raptors program. Photography is allowed. However, for the safety of the raptors, no pets are permitted.

For more information, contact The Raptor Center at 612-624-4745. We’ll see you there!

Yesterday, the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing celebrated the opening of a new, state-of-the art education center for nursing and other health professional students.

The Bentson Healthy Communities Innovation Center will provide students with new opportunities to engage in complex simulated health scenarios in interprofessional teams, use sophisticated telehealth technology and learn emerging health records technology.

The center is named to honor the lead gift made by the Bentson Foundation, which contributed $3.7 million to the $7.8 million dollar project. A $1 million gift from the United Health Foundation and other generous donations enabled rapid construction, which began in May 2012.

As you can see by the photos, the new space looks great.

Compare these photos to the one taken nearly a year ago, while the space was still under construction… What a difference!

S. Charles Schulz, M.D., head of the Department of Psychiatry, will receive the esteemed Stanley Dean Award for Research in Schizophrenia in 2014. For more than 50 years, The American College of Psychiatrists (ACP) has issued this award to “a group or individual that has made a major contribution to the treatment of schizophrenic disorders.”

The award will be presented at the next annual meeting of the ACP in February 2014. As part of the award ceremony, Schulz has also been asked to present a brief lecture on his work.