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Layman to head Georgetown
Oldest US Catholic university
For the first time, Georgetown University has chosen someone who is not a Jesuit priest to lead the country’s oldest Catholic university. John J. DeGioia, Georgetown’s senior vice president, will succeed Father Leo J. O’Donovan, who is retiring in June after 12 years as president. DeGioia is a 1979 graduate of the school, was a philosophy professor starting in 1995, and became senior vice president in charge of finances, student housing, information technology, and other services in 1998. DeGioia is the first layman to head any of the country’s 28 Jesuit colleges or universities.
Although Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington expressed disappointment that Georgetown would not continue the unbroken tradition of Jesuit leadership since 1792, the cardinal issued a statement praising DeGioia’s qualifications. “He is known and respected as a fine Catholic educator,” he said.
Fetal tissue fails in Parkinson’s treatment
“Catastrophic” side effects
A study released in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the experimental treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which uses implants from the brain cells of aborted babies, has “disastrous side effects.”
The results have prompted researchers including Dr. Paul Greene, a neurologist at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, to back out of work in the area. “No more fetal transplants. We are absolutely and adamantly convinced that this should be considered for research only. And whether it should be researched in people is an open question,” said Greene.
In 15 percent of the patients who underwent an embryonic stem cell treatment, the cells began producing too much dopamine, causing patients to “chew constantly” and “writhe and twist, jerk their heads, fling their arms about.” Greene remarked that the results are “absolutely devastating. . . . It was tragic, catastrophic. It’s a real nightmare. And we can’t selectively turn it off,” he said.