The Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lectures

Inspirational ideas from the iconoclasts of biomedical research, health education & delivery

Each year, the  Joseph V. Scaletti  Memorial  Catalyst Lecture  features an individual, institution, or idea responsible for accelerating the rate of positive change and forward progress in the areas of biomedical research, healthcare education, innovative healthcare delivery, and state-of-the-art patient care.

Hosted by the  UNM HSC Clinical & Translational Science Center  (CTSC), these lectures are presented in honor of  Dr Joseph V. Scaletti, PhD, one of the founders of the  University of New Mexico School of Medicine; UNM’s first  Vice President for Research; creator of the  Allied Health Sciences  program; organizer of the first  Rural Health Interdisciplinary Program; chair of the first legislative committee on distance education and telehealth; co-founder of  Project ECHO; educator, mentor, and researcher.

The Catalyst Lectures

• The 2023 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture: Dr. Kjersti Aagaard on the myriad ways maternal environmental exposures can shape the microbiome of the fetus
• The 2022 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Manisha Jhamb  on her data-driven approach to improving the quality of life and health outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease (OMOP)
• The 2021 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Patrick Ryan  on the benefits of the OHDSI Open Science Community focus on evidence, epidemiology, data analytics, and a shared standard for open source electronic health records (OMOP)
• The 2020 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Christopher McIntyre  on the unexpected discovery that hemodialysis itself causes cardiac, liver, and gastro-intestinal injury and contributes to cognitive impairment
• The 2019 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. W. David Arnold  on a new gene therapy to address the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein deficiency that results in the degeneration of motor neurons in SMA and Sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss)
• The 2018 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Robert T. Schooley  on bacteriophages as new allies in the war on multi-drug resistant human pathogens
• The 2017 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Bertha K. Madras  on cannabis & cannabinoids: concerns and therapeutic potential
• The 2016 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Mark T. Gladwin  on nitrite as a new therapy for pulmonary hypertension
• The 2015 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Ramnik Xavier  on genes, bugs, and intestinal inflammation
• The 2014 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Sverre Vedal  on the surprising effects of exposure to air pollution
• The 2013 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Marcelo Ramalho-Ortigao  on controlling Leishmaniasis at a molecular level in its primary vector: the sand fly
• The 2012 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr. Akhil Maheshwari  on the role of TGF-β2  in the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)
• The 2011 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture:  Dr.  Kelan Tantisira  on the personalized medicine revolution and  the  pharmacogenetics of asthma

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Dr Scaletti’s talent for bringing together individuals and institutions and inspiring new initiatives and collaborations prompted some of his colleagues to describe him as a catalyst (to which he would reply with a smile, “I prefer to think of myself as an enzyme.”)

Dr Scaletti dedicated his 50+ year career to basic biomedical research and to envisioning and implementing innovative models for university-community collaboration and the education of healthcare professionals who would serve in and care for the residents of New Mexico. His work exemplifies the combined values of basic scientific research, human compassion, life-long learning, and service to the community. In the words of his colleague and self-professed “product of Joe Scaletti’s mentoring”, L. Clark Hansbarger, MD:

Joe Scaletti was one of those very rare individuals who had a proactive approach to every element of health education resulting in a constant dedication to a vision for the future. Whether it was a test tube, a computer, a curriculum or facility, he had a vision for its application tomorrow and set to work to do it today. And although he had amazing instincts, it was his dedication to data, organizational planning, mentoring and sharing of information that made him a successful “futurist”.

Goals:

To provide a forum for School of Medicine faculty, students, administrators, community members, and invited speakers to envision the future, to engage in discussions, to question the status quo, and to create new initiatives for solving the most pressing challenges in biomedical research, healthcare and healthcare education;

To assist the School of Medicine in inviting dynamic, challenging, enthusiastic individuals to the campus who may act as a spark or impetus to trigger new ideas and inspire further ongoing interactions and collaboration;

To ensure that, even in difficult economic times, the faculty and students of the School of Medicine will always have an opportunity to reflect on the larger issues, to think creatively about the future, to refresh their spirits and renew their idealism;

To further increase the visibility of the School of Medicine in the community at large (both in New Mexico and beyond), to further encourage community confidence and enthusiasm for the School of Medicine and its teaching hospital as a center where gifted expert healthcare professionals are inventing the future of medicine;

To honor the memory and ideas of Joseph V. Scaletti and to promote the values that he worked to advance throughout his life.

Selection

Each year, the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico invites a lecturer at the forefront of biomedical research and/or alternative approaches to education in the health sciences (where ‘education’ is defined as a lifelong pursuit, including but not limited to the years of formal education at the university or professional school) or health care delivery.

The approach could include innovative training or curricula; it could also include new models for post-graduate continuing education or more efficient models for healthcare delivery, such as the ECHO model. Or it could introduce a new result from basic biomedical research or a new technological breakthrough that has the potential to completely change the way healthcare is delivered in the future. It should be an approach that challenges the status quo but which is already producing promising results supported by measurable outcomes.

The goal is to bring in a speaker who has ideas that, even if not universally accepted, will stimulate discussions and encourage students, faculty and administrators to brainstorm about alternative solutions to the most pressing problems of the time.

The visiting lecturer presents a free, open to the public, lecture on the Health Sciences Campus with community participation and visitors from other New Mexico communities and campuses being strongly encouraged.

Each year the lecture includes a brief introduction describing Joseph Scaletti’s career-long ideals and the goals for these lectures.

The visiting researcher also works with smaller groups of UNM School of Medicine students, administrators, visitors from other campuses and health facilities, and faculty (possibilities include research seminar, grand rounds, one-on-one meetings with students or student groups, assisting clinical faculty, meeting with administrators.

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You can help support leading edge biomedical research and education with a tax-deductible contribution to UNM in support of the  “Dr Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Lecture Fund”:

• Online:  The Dr.  Joseph V. Scaletti Memorial Fund

• By telephone: 1-505-277-9600

• Or by sending a check made out to UNM Foundation with “Dr Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Lecture Fund” in the memo line to:

Dr Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Lecture Fund
UNM Foundation
Two Woodward Center
700 Lomas Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87201

Your employer might even match your contribution!  To  find out whether your company matches employee charitable contributions, please try typing part of the company name on this site.

 

Thank you for investing in the future of biomedical research and education to honor the life, work, and values of Dr Joseph V Scaletti!

To see how Joseph Scaletti’s work is reflected in many of the current initiatives of School of Medicine, please see the Corazones de Nuevo México.