SEATTLE, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientist M. Elizabeth "Betz" Halloran, M.D., M.P.H., D.S.c., has been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow. Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or AAAS, by their peers.

Halloran is a researcher in the Hutchinson Center's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute and a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington. She is being honored, according to the AAAS, "for her integration of sophisticated mathematical modeling of infectious-disease dynamics with strong foundations in the design and analysis of field studies."

Halloran is among the world's leaders in the field of biomathematics and biostatistics to study the spread of infectious diseases. Her expertise is sought widely in the struggle against new and resurgent infectious diseases. During the last few years she and colleagues have consulted with federal and state officials and have been consulted by world health organizations to help develop intervention plans to control potential pandemics, such as avian and swine influenza.

Halloran's work focuses on statistics and study design to help predict the spread of disease and simulate intervention strategies to save lives. A book she co-authored, "Design and Analysis of Vaccine Studies" was published earlier this year by Springer. Halloran also is the founder of the new Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases offered by the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington, where she is a professor.

The Hutchinson Center's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute (VIDI) was formed in 2007. Its researchers aim to eliminate or reduce the mortality and morbidity of the major infectious diseases of humankind. In addition to vaccine development for HIV and other diseases, VIDI research focuses on a wide range of infectious pathogens, including herpes simplex viruses, cytomegalovirus, infectious fungi, and cancer-associated infections such as human herpesvirus-8, among others. Research areas concentrate on treatment and prevention of infectious diseases by studying immune responses to these pathogens and the course of infection.

Halloran is among 531 AAAS Fellows selected this year "for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications." New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 20 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the organization's annual meeting in San Diego.

Other AAAS Fellows from the Hutchinson Center include Nobel laureate Linda Buck, Ph.D., Hutchinson Center Deputy Director Mark T. Groudine, M.D., Ph.D., Maxine L. Linial, Ph.D., Paul Neiman, Ph.D., and Gerald Smith, Ph.D., all of the Center's Basic Sciences Division; Denise Galloway, Ph.D., of the Center's Human Biology Division; John Potter, M.D., Ph.D., former head of the Center's Public Health Sciences Division; and Meng-Chao Yao, Ph.D., formerly of the Center's Basic Sciences Division.

The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. The organization was founded in 1848 and the tradition of electing AAAS Fellows began in 1874.

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Hutchinson Center researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to their work and to the world. For more information, please visit fhcrc.org.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.

    CONTACTS:
    Dean Forbes, Hutchinson Center
    206-667-2896
    dforbes@fhcrc.org

    Molly McElroy, AAAS
    202-326-6434
    mmcelroy@aaas.org

SOURCE Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

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