H. Perry Fell, Ph.D., M.B.A., has joined the Board of Managers for Recursion Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company combining high-throughput functional genomics, imaging, and computation to accelerate drug discovery for genetic diseases. Dr. Fell is a seasoned biotech executive with a robust scientific background. He earned a Ph.D. in immunology from UT Southwestern and then worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb as Director of Molecular Immunology at its Pharmaceutical Research Institute from 1989 to 1997. In 1997, he completed an M.B.A. at Columbia University. He co-founded Seattle Genetics the following year, serving as Chief Executive Officer until 2002, when he was named Chairman. From 2004 to 2009, Dr. Fell served as CEO and Director of NanoString Technologies. He currently serves on the board of Prevencio Inc., a development-stage diagnostics company.

Jonathan D. Leffert, M.D., has been named Vice President of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, an association with more than 7,000 U.S. members. The AACE is a professional society at the forefront of education and practice management for endocrinologist members and their patients. Dr. Leffert graduated from Brown University, and received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Parkland Memorial Hospital and UT Southwestern in 1986.

Dai J. Li, M.D., Ph.D., has been named Clinical Director of American International Biotechnology (AlBioTech), based in Richmond, Virginia. AlBioTech is a research organization that contracts to provide clinical testing, research, and development services to physicians and life science investigators in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and government agencies. Dr. Li will conduct clinical trials by utilizing the combined approach of diagnostic testing and clinical informatics in the field of precision medicine. Dr. Li, who completed fellowships in clinical pathology at UT Southwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital, earned his M.B./M.D. at Sun Yat-Sen University’s School of Medicine in China, as well as his M.Sc./Ph.D. from MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received additional training in tumor immunology at the UT Health Science Center at Houston.

Tom F. Parker III, M.D., has been named Vice President of Clinical Affairs for Dialysis, a new position at Renal Ventures Management (RVM). The company provides dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney disease in the Denver area. Dr. Parker, who recently held the Chief Medical Officer position at RVM, completed his nephrology training at UT Southwestern, and became a founding member of Dallas Nephrology Associates (DNA), one of the largest nephrology groups in the U.S. In addition, he was the Medical Director of the DNA dialysis program for 30 years, and co-developed the Dallas Transplant Institute. Some of his high honors include being named Physician of the Year by the National Kidney Foundation in 1996, as well as receiving the Medal of Excellence Award in 2010 from the American Association of Kidney Patients.

Larry Rogers, M.D., who completed his neurosurgery residency at UT Southwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital in the 1970s, has written an apolitical memoir of his time serving in the military, Sword and Scalpel: A Doctor Looks Back on Vietnam. The book describes Dr. Rogers’ life and experience as a medical doctor in Vietnam leading up to the infamous Tet Offensive. Included in the memoir are stories of how Dr. Rogers saved a soldier who was left for dead in a makeshift morgue, and how he rescued another by rigging a defibrillator from an auxiliary generator and strips of radio-antenna wire. Dr. Rogers, a father of five, practiced neurosurgery in Charlotte, North Carolina, for 27 years. He is the author of 25 scientific novels, author-collaborator of a neurosurgical textbook, co-editor of another, and author of Against the Grain, a story of 1980s brain surgery.

Jacob Rosenstein, M.D., became the first surgeon in North America to use an innovative spinal implant manufactured with a new material that is utilized to enhance spinal fusion technology. The March 11 procedure marked the first time the device had been implanted in a live human. The patient had been suffering from spinal cord compression and myelopathy as a result of degenerative disc disease producing severe cervical stenosis. The enhanced intervertebral spacer, cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in October 2014, is made from biocompatible plastic designed to provide mechanical stability for patients who need spine surgery. Dr. Rosenstein described the implant as a potential game changer for interbody fusion devices. The implant’s material incorporates hydroxyapatite, a naturally occurring compound in bony structures. Dr. Rosenstein, who practices in Arlington, graduated from Johns Hopkins University before earning his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1979. He completed his residency and training in neurological surgery at UT Southwestern and Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he served as Chief Resident of Neurological Surgery.

Marty Wade, Plano Deputy Chief, served as the city’s interim Fire Chief from early in 2015 until June. Mr. Wade’s career began in 1989 when he joined Plano Fire-Rescue. He has been promoted numerous times throughout his career, notably to fire apparatus operator in 1995, Lieutenant in 1999, Captain in 2001, Battalion Chief in 2007, and Deputy Chief over Community Health Systems in 2013. Mr. Wade earned his EMT-paramedic certification in 1991 from the UT Southwestern School of Health Professions.

David S. Wilkes, M.D., has been named Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia, where he will begin his five-year appointment on Sept. 15. Dr. Wilkes, a board-certified specialist in pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, previously was the Executive Associate Dean for Research Affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Wilkes, who completed a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at UT Southwestern during his medical training, has co-authored more than 100 research papers during his career, holds six U.S. patents, and was a co-founder of Immune Works Inc., a company that researches and develops treatments for immune-mediated lung diseases that include lung transplant rejection and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. A graduate of Villanova University, Dr. Wilkes earned his medical degree from Temple University and completed a residency at Temple University Hospital. Dr. Wilkes also served three years as a Major in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service Corps.