Brookhaven Town Honors Two Brookhaven Lab Scientists
March 23, 2005
UPTON, NY - Two scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory - Rita Goldstein and Lisa Miller - were among eleven women honored for their accomplishments at the Brookhaven Town-sponsored Women's Recognition Night at Brookhaven Town Hall on March 22. Goldstein and Miller were recognized for their contributions to science in the Town ceremony, which celebrates National Women's History Month.
Rita Goldstein, an associate scientist in Brookhaven Lab's Medical Department, uses the Laboratory's medical imaging technologies - positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging - to study the neurobiology of drug addiction. She has found that a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex is involved with the inability of drug-addicted individuals to control their drug-taking behavior when confronted with powerful emotional stimuli. The disadvantageous behavior of a drug-addicted individual who keeps taking drugs despite extremely negative consequences can be partly attributed to this neural mechanism.
Using Brookhaven Lab's sophisticated imaging tools and relying on the expertise of Nelly Alia-Klein, a postdoctoral fellow at Brookhaven Lab, Goldstein has extended her studies to investigate anger, aggressive behavior, violence, and their co-occurrence with drug addiction. Understanding the origins of these behaviors in the brain and particularly how certain variations in a person's genes may make them more vulnerable to these behaviors under certain severe or extended environmental stressors is crucial information that is needed to develop strategies for prevention and intervention.
"I am glad that I have the tools available at Brookhaven to pursue this research," Goldstein said. "I am also gratified that the Town of Brookhaven is honoring me as a woman in science. Women have made important contributions to this field and will continue to do so."
Goldstein earned a B.A. in psychology and French from Tel Aviv University in Israel in 1992, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Miami, Florida, in 1999. She was an intern in clinical neuropsychology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center before joining Brookhaven Lab in 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow of Nora Volkow, former Associate Laboratory Director for Life Sciences at Brookhaven and current Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Goldstein was promoted to assistant scientist in 2002 and then to associate scientist in 2004. She is also an affiliate in Stony Brook University's Departments of Psychology and Biomedical Engineering.
Lisa Miller, a biophysicist, uses infrared light and x-rays at Brookhaven Lab's National Synchrotron Light Source to study the chemical composition of bone tissue in diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. She also investigates protein-folding diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and scrapie, the sheep form of mad cow disease, in which specific proteins in the brain fold into incorrect shapes and cause damage to brain cells.
Miller also plays an important role in science education and the public understanding of science. She often mentors students from high school to the postgraduate level. In addition, Miller is responsible for outreach activities on behalf of the Light Source, including publications, the website and tours. For example, she organizes an annual open house at the Light Source for Brookhaven's Summer Sundays, when the Laboratory's facilities are open to the public.
"I am very pleased to receive this honor from Brookhaven Town," Miller said. "I'm glad that my research is recognized, and I am happy that many of the students I've mentored have chosen to pursue scientific careers."
Miller earned a B.S. in chemistry from John Carroll University in 1989, an M.S. in chemistry from Georgetown University in 1992, and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1995. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Brookhaven Lab, she joined Brookhaven Lab in 1999 as an assistant biophysicist, and she was promoted to biophysicist in 2003. Since 2002, she also has been an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University.
This year, Miller was invited to serve on the scientific advisory committee of the Canadian Light Source, a role served only by world-class scientists. For her work with students, Miller received the U.S. Department of Energy Outstanding Mentor Award in 2002.
2005-10292 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
