PSYCHOLOGIST IRVING GOTTESMAN, BIOLOGIST GENE BLOCK ARE NAMED
FELLOWS OF AMERICAN ASSOCIATION  FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 21 -- Two University of Virginia
faculty members were recently named fellows of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, one of America's oldest
professional science organizations and publisher of the journal
Science.
	Irving I. Gottesman, the Sherrell J. Aston Professor of
Psychology and a noted schizophrenia researcher, and Gene D. Block,
U.Va.'s vice provost for research and an authority on biological
timing, are among 283 scientists around the country who will be
honored at the annual AAAS meeting in Seattle in February.
	Gottesman first theorized about the possibility that
schizophrenia is a polygenic disorder nearly 30 years ago.  An
international collaboration has provided strong evidence that
Gottesman's theory is correct. Along with 27 co-investigators,
Gottesman studied the DNA of 456 schizophrenics from 276 families in
a dozen countries including China, Ireland, Sweden and the United
States.
	He is the recipient of numerous awards for his long-term
research on schizophrenia.
	Block, widely known for his research on biological rhythms,
has been the University's chief research administrator since 1993.
A member of the faculty since 1978, he is also director of the
National Science Foundation-supported Center for Biological Timing
based at U.Va. 
	Block has been a leader in research into the cellular and
molecular basis for the way that organisms regulate their life
rhythms through internal "clocks," and has been involved with many
national organizations in that field. He is an associate editor of
the Journal of Biological Rhythms, a member of the MacArthur
Foundation Task Force on Biological Rhythms and a member of the
advisory board of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms.
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November 20, 1996

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