Jul 2, 2009 –Allen M. Spiegel, MD, The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has been appointed by Governor David Paterson to the Empire State Stem Cell Board Funding Committee.

During his term, Spiegel will join 12 esteemed members of the funding committee who have expertise in biomedical research. The committee’s responsibilities include reviewing grant applications, recommending standards for grant awards, and making recommendations for awards to New York State health commissioner, Richard F. Daines, MD.

Earlier this year, in applauding President Barack Obama’s executive order restoring federal funding for stem cell research, Governor Paterson announced $101.8 million in new State funding for stem cell research. This move reinforced New York’s continued investment and leading role in this rapidly evolving scientific field. To date, New York State has awarded a total of $118.3 million in funding for stem cell research.

Spiegel will replace Harold Varmus, MD, the president of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and director of the NIH from 1993 to 1999. Varmus has been selected as one of the co-chairs of the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the Obama administration.

Spiegel is an internationally recognized researcher and endocrinologist. He assumed office as dean of Einstein in June 2006. Prior to joining Einstein, he was director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health, the culmination of a distinguished 33-year-career at the NIH.

The Einstein dean has expertise in stem cell research. He served as a member of the NIH Stem Cell Task Force from its creation in 2002 through 2005 and was vice-chair from 2005 through 2006. In 2001, he conducted a White House Oval Office briefing on stem cell research before former President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, and Andrew Card. He also testified before the Senate and House in multiple hearings on stem cell research.

A member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Spiegel earned his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1967. He received his MD degree cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1971 and completed his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Spiegel began his career at the NIH in 1973 as a clinical associate in its endocrinology training program. He then served as a senior investigator in the Metabolic Disease Branch from 1977 to 1984. In 1985 he was appointed chief of molecular pathophysiology, and then chief of the Metabolic Diseases Branch. In 1990, he was appointed director of the NIDDK’s Division of Intramural Research. He served in these various capacities until his appointment as director of the NIDDK in 1999. In this role, Spiegel had responsibility for a staff of 625 full-time employees and a $1.7 billion budget.

Spiegel is a widely renowned physician-scientist and endocrinologist with extensive experience in translational research programs. His research has centered on G-protein-regulated signaling dysfunction in human disease, and his work on signal transduction helped to clarify the genetic basis of several endocrine diseases. He has published extensively, with more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and 100 reviews and book chapters to his name, as well as two books on G proteins.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have received nearly $14 million from the Empire State Stem Cell Board. In his capacity, Spiegel will recuse himself from any discussion or recommendation that impacts future Empire State Stem Cell Board funding for Einstein.

In 2007, New York State strengthened its position as a leader in biomedical research by adopting an 11-year, $600 million initiative that provided State funding for stem cell research, in part to counter President Bush’s policy restricting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research (hESC) to those hESC lines in existence prior to August 9, 2001.

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Jul 2, 2009 — The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), a program under the auspices of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future that assists disputing couples in resolving their differences and obtaining a timely divorce in accordance with the highest standards of Jewish law, recently resolved its 100th case since its establishment five years ago.

The milestone case offers an insight into the plight of married women denied a get [Jewish divorce] by their husbands. “Rachel,” an anonymous Hasidic woman from Brooklyn, suffered years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, “Meir.” An order of protection was placed against him for fear that he would also turn his violence against their daughter. Before he would even consider granting Rachel the get, he attempted to extort $100,000 from her. With ORA’s intervention, she was granted a get without any payoff.

ORA provides all of its services, from confidential consultations and professional referrals to mediation and engaging neighborhood and community support, completely free of charge. It operates under the guidance of Rabbi Herschel Schachter, rosh yeshiva at YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and utilizes an extensive team of attorneys, rabbis, mental health professionals and community volunteers.

In addition to the resolution of its 100th case, ORA still has 72 active cases of agunot or “chained wives” from across the country, Israel and around the world.

These include the case of Tami Tessler, whose husband walked out on her shortly after she gave birth to their daughter. Thirty-two years after seeking a get from her husband, Tessler has been awarded a $202,000 settlement against him from the State of California: $75,000 for intentional infliction of emotional distress resulting from withholding the get, and $127,000 for enforcement of a foreign court order from Israel, also thanks to ORA.

While Tami is still seeking a get—her case is the oldest of its kind in both the U.S. and Israel—the ruling is unprecedented and a monumental occasion for agunot. In fact, the judgment is indicative of a shift in the civil court system, which is now recognizing the legal ramifications of withholding a get and imposing sharp penalties on those responsible.

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