Johns Hopkins University names
Donald Gilden to Society of Scholars
Donald Gilden, the Louise Baum Professor and chair of neurology at the University of Colorado Denver, has been elected to The Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Gilden and 14 other esteemed scientists and clinicians were honored during the society's 37th induction ceremony on Wednesday, May 24, and again at the university's Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 25.
The Society of Scholars was created on the recommendation of former president Milton S. Eisenhower and approved by the university board of trustees on May 1, 1967. The society*the first of its kind in the nation*inducts former postdoctoral fellows and junior or visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have gained marked distinction in their fields of physical, biological, medical, social, or engineering sciences or in the humanities.
Long after a bout of the chicken pox fades, the varicella-zoster virus that causes the illness lingers in the human nervous system. Gilden studies the impact of the latent virus.
A second important project led by Gilden uses a molecular approach to understand and define immune system responses in multiple sclerosis; the ultimate goal is to pinpoint the antigens responsible for the disease. A native of Baltimore, Gilden came in 1969 to the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (now the Bloomberg School of Public Health), where he spent two years as an NIH postdoctoral fellow.
The Committee of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars elects the scholars from among nominations made by Johns Hopkins faculty members. At induction, the scholars are presented with a diploma and with a medallion on a black and gold ribbon, to be worn with their academic costumes. This year's inductees will bring the total number of society members to 490.
