Friends of the Waisman
Center
2012 Annual Reception
August 14, 2012
Marsha Mailick Seltzer, PhD
Director, Waisman Center
Vaughan Bascom and Elizabeth M. Boggs Professor
Friends Support of the Waisman Center
Thank
Funds to renovate the Friends of the Waisman Center Auditorium
you!
and refurbish the seating
This year—
•
• Support for the Waisman Center Post-Doctoral Training Program in
Developmental Disabilities Research
• Support for the three “Waisman Center Days with the Experts”
events (autism, Down syndrome, cochlear implants) and annual WC
poster fair
• Sponsorship of international art collection by people with disabilities
• Sponsorship of the Waisman Center Children’s Theatre
• Support of the John D. Wiley Seminar Series
• Leadership training support—UCEDD
• “Mini-grants” to faculty and staff
• 9 student, staff, and family awards—today!
• Revitalization of the Friends of the Waisman Center Auditorium
• refurbishment of the
auditorium’s current
seating (258 chairs)
• replacement of wallpaper
in winter 2012-2013
• Support for the Waisman Center Post-Doctoral Training
Program in Developmental Disabilities
• provides interdisciplinary training in social, behavioral, epidemiological and
biobehavioral research on development disabilities for new PhDs and junior faculty
who aim to establish independent programs of research on developmental
disabilities.
• $15,000 in supplemental support for four post-doctoral fellows is an effective
strategy to recruit the best trainees to the Waisman Center
• Support for the John D. Wiley Seminar Series
• 24 seminars in the 2012-2013
academic year featuring speakers from
across the country and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
• An opportunity to advance knowledge,
expertise, and collaborations in the
areas of human development,
developmental disabilities, and
neurodegenerative diseases.
Waisman Center Center “Days with the Experts”
• Down Syndrome: Saturday, November 11, 2011
Second annual event in collaboration with the Madison Area Down Syndrome Society.
• Autism: Saturday, January 28, 2012
8th annual event in collaboration with the Autism Society of Greater Madison.
• Cochlear Implants: Saturday, June 23, 2012
First annual event hosted in partnership with the Department of Surgery, Division of
Otolaryngology and the Department of Communicative Disorders
Fifth Annual Waisman Center Poster Fair
April 25, 2012
• Purpose: an opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to learn
about the wide range of research and services throughout the center.
• More than 55 posters presented; 100+ people attended!
• Sponsored by the Friends of the Waisman Center
The Harvey A. Stevens International
Collection of Art
• 150 artworks in the collection, all by people
with developmental disabilities
• Sponsored by the Friends of the Waisman
Center
Waisman Center Children’s Theatre
Fall 2011 through Spring 2012
• Outreach events by the
Waisman Center for the
community
• Combines arts and
environmental themes
• Attended by 4,600
people this year
• 18 performances during
2011-2012 series
• Funding for 2011-2012 series from
American Girl Fund for Children and Baird
• Fall series begins in
September 2012
• Funding for 2012-2013 series from Downtown Madison Rotary,
The Kids Fund, and Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission
How Does the Friends Raise Funds?
—two annual benefits
• Spring Benefit Concert: 17th year
• Summer Golf Benefit: 20th year
17th Annual Spring Concert: Sunday, April 22, 2012
• Event Sponsor:
UW Health
• Artist Sponsor:
John and Georgia Wiley
• Hosts:
2 platinum, 23 gold and 43 silver
• Since event began, has netted
more than $250,000
◘ Greatest # of sponsors and hosts
and highest net proceeds in history
of concert—$27,700+!
Thank you! Committee co-chairs:
Betty Garvey, Toni Richards, & Lucy Williams
Golf Benefit: Monday, July 16, 2012
At Bishops Bay Country Club
• Event Sponsor: American Family
• Reception Sponsors:
Godfrey and Kahn
UW Medical Foundation
• 26 hole sponsors and 126 golfers
• 20th Anniversary of the golf benefit
• Since event began, has netted
over $500,000!
• Special guest NY Giant and Super
Bowl Champ Travis Beckum
Thank you!
Committee co-chairs:Nicole Bunbury-Sjowall and David Scher
Special Thanks: Officers of the Board
of
Directors of the
Friends
• Outgoing board president—
Kendall Harrison (Godfrey and Kahn)
• New president—
Eric Lund (S & L Hospitality)
• New vice-president—
??(TBD)
• Continuing secretary—
Sandy Gehler (Baird/Corbett-Gehler Group)
• Outgoing treasurer—
Jan Robertson
• New treasurer— Brian Walsh, WIPFLI
Waisman Center Update
• Special Events
• Faculty Honors/Staff Transitions
• In the News
• Noteworthy Events
• On the Horizon
• Student, Staff, and Family Awards—Today!
Morse Endowment
• $11 million endowment gift from
Dick Morse, PhD, to support
8-12 graduate fellowships for
Waisman Center students
studying developmental
psychopathology and
developmental disabilities
Dylan’s Annual Run for Autism
September 11, 2011
• Sponsored by the
Autism Society of
Southeastern
Wisconsin.
Some of last year’s team from the Waisman Center.
This year’s run scheduled for September 9, 2012.
JOIN US!
• A portion of the
proceeds has been
donated to the
Waisman Center over
the years to benefit
our research focused
on autism (total of
more than $150,000).
Visit by Autism Speaks
October 11, 2011
• Grants from Autism Speak
support research of Leann
Smith, PhD and Marsha
Mailick Seltzer, PhD
• Smith is PI of
“Transitioning Together,” an
intervention for families and
teens with ASD
Autism Speaks—the nation's largest autism
science and advocacy organization dedicated
to funding research into the causes,
prevention, treatments and a cure for autism.
• Seltzer is PI of a study
focused on quality of life of
adults with ASD
• Opportunity to share
Waisman Center research
on autism
David Busta Annual Basketball Tournament
November 26, 2011 in Chetek, Wisconsin (9th year).
• Proceeds benefit spinal
cord injury research of
Su-Chun Zhang, MD,
PhD
• Raised $35,624 this
year in combination with
the “Bags for Busta”
follow-up event
organized by GMR
marketing in January
2012.
• Raised $255,000 since
event began in 2001.
Fashion Show for All Abilities
June 1, 2012 at the Monona Terrace (5th year)
• The fashion show is a community awareness event, promoting
accessibility and calling for respect and courtesy to all persons.
• More than 300 people attend this event each year.
West Towne-Middleton Rotary
Luncheon
June 15, 2012
• Lunch followed by an overview of the Waisman Center and a “Q&A”
session
Visit by John Tortorice, Mosse Foundation
July 2012
The Mosse Family
Foundation has supported
many Waisman Center
goals:
• creation of sound-proof
testing rooms
• support for remodeling of
the Waisman Center
Clinics
“Although her life was seared by
violence and prejudice, Hilde Mosse did not
fall into despair. Rather, she devoted her
intelligence, compassion, and extraordinary
energy into healing the bodies and psyches
of children who were the subject of poverty,
violence, and abuse.”
• support for WECP
Scholarship Fund
Faculty & Staff Honors
Gail Chodron, Outreach Specialist
Waisman Resource Center, UCEDD, Waisman Center
Award: “Association of University Centers on Disabilities
2011 Young Professional Award”
David Gamm, MD, PhD Associate Professor of
Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Waisman
Investigator
Honor: Named director of the University of Wisconsin Eye
Research Institute. Gamm will continue his research at the
Waisman Center.
Anna Dusick, MD
Anna Dusick, MD
Medical Director,
Waisman Center
Clinics
“Her legacy is vast. She has been
the recipient of medical and
community awards and honors
recognizing her work and impact on
infant and children's health.
Anna was forever teaching and
imparting her passion and
knowledge on to all disciplines of
the health care team. Her work will
live on from the lives she has
touched and from lessons learned
under her tutelage.”
Waisman Hails
Terri Peck
Human Resources
Manager
Karla Ausderau, PhD
Assistant Professor,
School of Education
Choutae Yang
Human Resources
Assistant
Paola Perez-Meyer, MSW
Social Worker
Susan Ellmaurer
Human Resources
Assistant
Athena Lickel, PhD
Psychologist
• The Business Journal
“UW-Madison Grant to Aid Children
(8/25/11) features the
with Neurodevelopmental
MCH-LEND Training Program
Disorders”
“The UW-Madison received
a $674,483 grant from the
U.S. Health Resources and
Services Administration to
help improve the health of
children and young adults
with neurodevelopmental
and other related
disabilities like autism.”
• University Communications
(10/11/11) features Denise
Ney, PhD
A new dietary regimen
features a special protein—
GMP—derived from whey
protein that provides new
better tasting food options for
individuals with PKU.
“Medical Foods for PKU Diet
Enter Phase II Clinical Trials”
• University Communications
(10/24/2011) features
Ruth Litovsky, PhD
“An ongoing study of 45 deaf
children who had two cochlear
implants finds that their skills are
within the normal range.”
The study provides the first good
evidence that a second implant
helps with understanding
speech.
“Deaf Children: Study Shows
Significant Language Progress
after Two Cochlear Implants”
• University Communications
(November 21, 2011) features
Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD
• Neurons, forged in Zhang’s lab
from blank slate human
embryonic stem cells and
implanted into the brains of mice,
can successfully fuse with the
brain's wiring and both send and
receive signals
• Lab used optogenetics, where
light, instead of electric current,
stimulates the activity of neurons
“Implanted Neurons, Grown in
Lab, Take Charge of Brain
Circuitry”
• LA Times (December 16, 2011)
features Marsha Mailick Seltzer, PhD
Waisman Center Director Marsha
Mailick Seltzer, PhD, was quoted in
the LA Times article, “Finding traces
of autism in earlier eras.” part of a
four part “Discovering Autism” series.
Seltzer, an autism expert, studies
how lifelong caregiving affects the
well-being of parents and siblings of
individuals with disabilities, including
autism.
“Discovering Autism:
Finding Traces of Autism
in Earlier Eras”
• UW Communications
(January 30, 2012) features 10
major Waisman Center
accomplishments that might
amaze and please Harry
Waisman, MD, PhD
The article marks the
successful renewal of the
National Institutes of Health
core grant that Harry
Waisman first won 45 years
ago. The $6 million federal
award will fund the core
activities of the Waisman
Center through 2016.
The Waisman Center: Decades
Later, What Would Harry Think?
• American Family Children’s
Hospital Press Release
(February 9, 2012) features
Waisman Center Down
Syndrome Clinic
“ The Down Syndrome Clinic
provides clinical expertise in
Down syndrome that
supplements, but does not
replace primary care
providers. Parents want a
clinical team that has expertise
with Down syndrome to keep
their children physically
healthy and to maximize their
developmental potential”
American Family Children’s
Hospital & the Waisman
Center join forces to open a
multidisciplinary Down
syndrome clinic
• IW ICTR Today Newsletter
(February 21, 2012)
features Leann Smith, PhD
“Leann Smith, PhD, has
demonstrated a remarkable
ability to involve local family
and advocacy groups in her
studies of the interplay of
stress, coping, and social
support for parents of teens
with autism spectrum
disorders.
Leann Smith, PhD, receives
Type 2 Translational Research
Pilot Award from UW Institute
for Clinical and Translational
Research
• UW Communications
(March 3, 2012) features
Richard Davidson, PhD
A new book by Richard
Davidson, PhD, offers an
inside look into how
emotions are coded in
our brains and our power
to control them.
"This book will hopefully
take readers through my
scientific quest for answers
and understanding why and
how people differ in terms
of their emotions and
responses to different life
experiences."
“The Emotional Life of Your Brain”
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
Newswise (March 13, 2012)
For the first time, a team of scientists
led by David Gamm, MD, PhD, has
made early retina structures using
induced pluripotent stems cells
derived from human blood.
The retina structures showed the
capacity to form layers as in normal
human development and possessed
the machinery that could allow them
to communicate information.
“Scientists Produce Eye
Structures from Human
Blood Derived Stem Cells”
• University of WisconsinMadison Newswise
(March 15, 2012)
features Su-Chun Zhang,
MD, PhD
Using a special type of
brain cell forged from
stem cells could help
restore the muscle
coordination deficits that
cause the uncontrollable
spasms characteristic of
Huntington’s disease.
“Stem cells hint at potential
treatment for Huntington’s
Disease”
• (March 30, 2012) features
Maureen Durkin, PhD, DrPH
Maureen Durkin, Principal Investigator
of WISADDS and Waisman Center
investigator and professor in the
Departments of Population Health
Sciences and Pediatrics, and Matt
Maenner, PhD, Waisman post-doctoral
fellow contributed to the CDC report
as part of the Autism and
Development Disabilities Monitoring
Network
“CDC estimates 1 in 88
children in the United States
has been identified as
having an autism spectrum
disorder”
• University Communications (June 6,
2012) features Jamie Hanson, UWMadison graduate student working
with Waisman PIs Richard Davidson,
PhD, and Seth Pollak, PhD
"There has been a lot of work in
animals linking both acute and chronic
stress to changes in a part of the brain
called the prefrontal cortex, which is
involved in complex cognitive abilities
like holding on to important information
for quick recall and use. We have now
found similar associations in humans,
and found that more exposure to stress
is related to more issues with certain
kinds of cognitive processes."
“Stress may delay brain
development in early
years”
• University Communications
(June 14, 2012) features
Marsha Mailick Seltzer, PhD
“Fragile X gene’s prevalence
suggests broader health
risk”
"The premutation of this
condition is much more
prevalent than we previously
thought and there are some
clinical risks associated with
that.”
• Goal of study was to calculate the
prevalence in a US population of the
premutation and the “gray zone.”
• Research based on data from the
Wisconsin Longitudinal Study which
has tracked 10,000 graduates from
Wisconsin’s high school class of
1957.
On the Horizon: Grandparents’ Network
• Provide support to grandparents and their families, and
information about developmental disabilities
• Help grandparents send positive messages about
disabilities to their communities to help create better climate
for family members
• Facilitate direct “grandparent-to-grandparent”
communication through the use of social media and other
technology
• Waisman Center Day with the Experts: Grandparents’
Network Fall 2012
On the Horizon: August 2012 – January 2013
• Wiley Seminar Series begins – September 7
• Dylan’s Run for Autism – September 9
• Children’s Theatre Series fall series begins –
September 2012
• Down Syndrome Day with the Experts– Fall 2012
• David Busta Event – November 23
• Autism Day with the Experts – January 2013
On the Horizon: Waisman 40th Anniversary
Fall 2013
• Scientific Symposium on October 3, 2013
• Donor Dinner, Fall 2013
2012 Fellowships and Awards
WISCONSIN DISTINGUISHED GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS
 Hongda Li— Richard L. and Jeanette A. Hoffman Wisconsin
Distinguished Graduate Fellowship
 Kristen Allison— Jeannette Anderson Hoffman Wisconsin Distinguished
Graduate Fellowship
FRIENDS OF THE WAISMAN CENTER AWARDS
Students
 Rebecca Shalev— Alvin L. Berman and Ruth Bleier Memorial Award
 Tatiana Campbell— IDDRC Undergraduate Student Research Award
 Elliott Maxwell Wilson— UCEDD Graduate Student Award
 Caitlin Zablotney— UCEDD Undergraduate Student Award
Staff
 Eric Schafer— Classified Staff Award
 Karla Knobel— Academic Staff Award
Family
 Andrea Wipperfurth and Zoe and Max Goldstein— Family Volunteer Award