MILESTONES

MILESTONES

HONORS

Dante “Danny” Zarlenga Jr., a 1976 graduate of Youngstown State University, won the World Federation of Parasitology Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Commission on Trichinellosis which was presented at an award ceremony in Daegu, Korea, during the International Congress of Parasitology in August.

Trichinellosis is a disease people can get by eating raw or undercooked meat from animals infected with the microscopic parasite Trichinella, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zarlenga went on to get his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Cincinnati.

After Zarlenga completed his doctorate he got married and did postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and accepted a job as a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he was named “Scientist of the Year.”

He has published hundreds of research papers, co-authored several books and has seven U.S. patents to his name.

Zarlenga has two adopted children from Korea with his wife, Gloria.

PH.D

Chad J. Miller, son of John and Beth Miller of Poland, has completed his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Miller is a 2003 graduate of Poland Seminary High School. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and psychology from Youngstown State University, where he was a university scholar and graduated summa cum laude with honors.

While at YSU, he served as president of the Student Government Association and participated in several other student leadership roles. He also earned his master’s degree in chemistry from YSU.

While completing the doctoral program at Yale, his research focused on an important mechanism of cell communication. He investigated one way that proteins transmit signal, which may be relevant in understanding diseases such as cancer. His work resulted in 12 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

In October, Miller will begin work as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of David Baker at the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design in Seattle. His work will focus on new methods to deliver therapeutic proteins to cells for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

He and his wife, Christine Leonard, will relocate to Seattle within the next few months.

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