Brandeis Magazine

Geneticist Frederick Alt was presented the 44th Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research by Brandeis for his pioneering research exploring the mechanisms of genomic instability and the implications for the immune system and cancer cells. He is the second alumnus to win the Rosenstiel Award; the first, Rod MacKinnon ’78, H’05, won the Rosenstiel in 1999 and went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2003. Frederick is the Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics and professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. Paul Bikoff hopes to sell his home in Huntington, N.Y., after 40 years there and move to the Green Mountains of Vermont. For information on his book and cancer-research paper, visit www.ajunebugrecipe.com. Sally Broff is president of the San Diego County chapter of SCORE, a national organization that mentors and educates small businesses and startups. Sally has been active in SCORE since she retired seven years ago. Jesus Tarallo de Kelly reports she is the happy grandmother of 5-year-old Luella. Jack Dembowitz, P’10, announces his daughter Marti ’10 is engaged to Jordan Soffer. The wedding will take place in May, the same month Marti is due to graduate from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Jack joined Wells Fargo Advisors as a financial adviser in May 2014 after 30 years in the industry with other major firms. He and wife Jillian live in suburban Baltimore. DePaul professor Leonard Jason will receive the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research at the organization’s annual meeting in August in Toronto. His research interests include the study of chronic fatigue syndrome, smoking, smoking cessation and Oxford House recovery homes for substance abuse. During his career, Leonard has received more than $34 million in federal research grants. Since his retirement after 31 years at Penn State DuBois, Richard Kopley was awarded emeritus status. He co-coordinated an international Edgar Allan Poe conference in New York City and lectured on Poe at the Grolier Club. Philip Meyer’s book “Storytelling for Lawyers” was the No. 1 bestselling litigation book on Amazon.com for six months. He is a law professor at Vermont Law School. Alain Rook is director of the cutaneous lymphoma program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. His wife, Josie, who serves as assistant vice provost for research at Penn, is recovering from a terrible accident she suffered last year. Daughters Katie and Pamela are a veterinary dermatology consultant and a script supervisor in the film industry, respectively. Philip Rubin is the principal assistant director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and also leads the White House neuroscience initiative. He is on leave as the CEO of Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Conn., where he is a senior scientist. He was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. His wife, Joette Katz ’74, a retired associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, is serving as Connecticut’s commissioner of the Department of Children and Families. Son Jason is a pediatrician at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Daughter Samantha, who lives in New York City, is the associate creative director at Sideways, a division of Sony. After 13 years in the U.S. Federal Defender system, mostly defending capital cases, Jerry Zerkin will retire in the spring to return to private practice on a part-time basis. He joined the public defender’s office in Richmond, Va., when it opened a month after 9/11, and immediately began the defense of Zacarias Moussaoui. Jerry went on to lead the defense in many other capital cases. Previously, in private practice in Richmond, he represented death-row inmates. His wife is a clinical law professor, and their 11-year-old daughter is committed to fast-pitch softball, volleyball and the Red Sox when she can take her nose out of a book. The family attends Americana music festivals in their VW camper (appropriately stickered) and goes to Cape Cod in August.