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The Wistar Institute Welcomes New Board Members

Newswise - The Wistar Institute recently welcomed Gail Walker Hearn and Milton S. Schneider to its board of trustees.

Gail Walker Hearn is a biology professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she teaches courses in ecology and animal behavior. Prior to joining Drexel's faculty in 2007, Hearn taught biology at Arcadia University for 34 years, and chaired the Department of Biology from 1983 to 1986. At Arcadia, Hearn earned the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Frank and Evelyn Steinbrucker Professorship.

Hearn is the founder and director of the Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program (BBPP), a wildlife conservation program for rare species of primates, sea turtles, and large vertebrates on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, Africa. Hearn has secured more than $2.5 million in grants to support conservation and education at BBPP since 1997.

Hearn serves on boards of the Academy of Natural Sciences, First Hospital Foundation, Penn Medicine (formerly University of Pennsylvania Health System), and Pennsylvania Hospital. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Bryn Mawr College and a doctoral degree in protein biochemistry from Rockefeller University. She completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the Penrose Research Lab at the Philadelphia Zoo.

Milton S. Schneider, an investor and residential and commercial real estate developer, is the founder and principal of The Glenville Group, a real estate development and investment firm in Lafayette Hill, Pa.

Schneider is a member of the National Advisory Board of the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. He serves as an Advisory Faculty Board Member of the Institute for Private Investors and is on the advisory board of a number of real estate and private equity funds.

An avid rower who has competed in international competitions, Schneider is President of the Anti-Defamation League Foundation and serves as a member of the League's National Executive Committee. He serves on the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

"With their expertise and leadership, I am confident our new members will complement Wistar's dynamic board of trustees, who are integral to Wistar's success as a leader in cancer research and vaccine development," said Wistar President and CEO Russel E. Kaufman, M.D.

The Wistar Institute is an international leader in biomedical research with special expertise in cancer research and vaccine development. Founded in 1892 as the first independent nonprofit biomedical research institute in the country, Wistar has long held the prestigious Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute. The Institute works actively to ensure that research advances move from the laboratory to the clinic as quickly as possible. The Wistar Institute: Today's Discoveries - Tomorrow's Cures. On the Web at www.wistar.org.

Source: NewsWise