The Legal Aid Society announced today that two staff attorneys have joined the firm – Amanda Dobbins and Rachel Figueroa. Dobbins will work from the firm’s Gallatin office and Figueroa will be based in Columbia.

Before coming to Legal Aid Society, Dobbins worked as a legal extern for the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, Inc., where she assisted in research and representing impoverished clients. She also gained research experience working for Gerald Gulley, attorney, and Joan Heminway, professor for the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Dobbins earned her undergraduate degree and juris doctorate from the University of Tennessee. While in law school, Dobbins worked as a student attorney for the University of Tennessee Legal Clinic, representing clients in juvenile court, housing, DUI, unemployment, criminal and immigration matters.

Figueroa joins the Legal Aid Society from private practice where she concentrated on family and juvenile law since 2009. Figueroa also has worked for the State of Tennessee including as tax counsel for the Department of Revenue.

Figueroa graduated summa cum laude from Lipscomb University where she earned a bachelor’s degree. She graduated cum laude and secured a juris doctorate from the University of Tennessee College of Law, concentrating in advocacy and dispute resolution.

She is a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, Maury County Bar Association and Law Association for Women.

DVL announces three promotions

Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence (DVL) recently announced the promotions of four account service leaders.

Heather MacDonald, Cheryl Thompson and Andrea Lindsley have been promoted to senior vice president roles. MacDonald, who has extensive experience in both the restaurant and healthcare industries, has been with DVL since 1989. Thompson has been with the agency since 2000 and supervises all advertising accounts. Lindsley joined the agency in 2001 and specializes in media relations for DVL’s healthcare and food industry clients.

Rob Hoskins has been promoted from account supervisor to vice president. Prior to joining the agency in 2000 as an account executive, Hoskins was an account executive at Bohan Advertising.

VUMC’s Lovly awared lung cancer grant

Uniting Against Lung Cancer, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative lung cancer research in the United States and Canada, has awarded a $100,000 grant to Christine Lovly, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

The two-year grant will fund Lovly’s research on better treatment options for a subset of lung cancer patients harboring specific genomic alterations in the ALK gene.

More than 200,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.

Lung cancer has few symptoms during the early stages of the disease, so it is often found late, which is one of the reasons lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined.

VUMC’s Gore elected to National Academy

John Gore, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Cited for his contributions to “the development and applications of magnetic resonance and other imaging techniques in medicine,” Gore joins a select group of 2,290 U.S. scientists and 202 foreign associates. He is the third Vanderbilt faculty member to be elected to the academy.

Gore is Hertha Ramsey Cress University Professor and professor of radiology & radiological sciences, biomedical engineering, molecular physiology & biophysics and physics & astronomy.

He also is vice chair for Research in the Department of Radiology & Radiological Sciences.

He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of London and held faculty appointments at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London and Yale University before coming to Vanderbilt in 2002.

Van Cleave elected to Better Business chair

Bob Van Cleave, co-owner of Nashville independent insurance agency Bandy Van Cleave & Williamson, LLC, has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee, which has a membership of more than 5,300 businesses in Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky.

Van Cleave was first elected to BBB’s Board of Directors in 2004 and has been a member of the executive committee since 2008. He was chairman of BBB’s Ambassador Awards in 2007. Van Cleave will serve a 2-year term as board chair.

Van Cleave, a Nashville native, has worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years. He is a past president of many non-profit and professional organizations, including the Vanderbilt-Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital Advisory Board, Tennessee Technological University International Alumni Board, Insurors of Nashville, Nashville Area Junior Chamber of Commerce, and DuBose Conference Center and Episcopal Churchmen of Tennessee. Van Cleave, a member of the Leadership Nashville Class of 1993, has served on the Board of Governors of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors for the Tennessee Shooting Sports Association, and as past treasurer of Nashville Friends of NRA.

Baker Donelson adds Sloan to tech. practice

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, is pleased to announce that Chris Sloan will has joined its Nashville office as a shareholder in the firm’s business technology practice. He was previously with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

Mr. Sloan focuses on the representation of entrepreneurs, start-ups and other emerging businesses in corporate matters, while also in handling complex software and other information technology transactions for small and large companies.

He regularly represents both technology and brick-and-mortar clients in connection with software, information technology and other vendor contract negotiations, including software and health care IT transactions.

Mr. Sloan has been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America as a leading attorney in the areas of information technology law and intellectual property law.

At Baker Donelson, Mr. Sloan will join with Steve Wood to lead the Firm’s Emerging Companies initiative, including its Boot Camp program, a series of workshops established last year as a single source for information about common legal, accounting and insurance issues encountered by entrepreneurs in starting and growing companies.

McNeely Pigott & Fox welcomes Gosney

McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations has hired Katherine Gosney as a staff associate.

Gosney, a Memphis native, is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a degree in communication.

While at UT, Gosney was a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and completed several internships. During her time at CityView Magazine, she planned the second annual Top Chef Event of Knoxville.

She worked with Stormwater Management at the Knox County Mayor’s Office and served as the public relations intern at a nonprofit mental health organization, the Helen Ross McNabb Center. She majored in public relations and received minors in both journalism and business administration.

PBG named General Contractor of Year

PBG Builders, Inc., Goodlettsville, was named 2011 General Contractor of the Year and also received two Platinum Awards from Associated General Contractors of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee Branch (AGC), at the organization’s recent annual Build Tennessee Awards program.

General Contractor of the Year recognition is the highest honor presented to a general contracting company by AGC.

In addition, PBG received a Platinum Award, the highest honor in the $5.01- 15 million project category, for the construction of Conservation Hall at the Tennessee Residence, home of the state’s governor. A second Platinum Award, in the Renovation Project category, was presented to PBG for the Gault Fine Arts Center at Martin Methodist College, Pulaski, Tennessee.

In 2009, PBG won the National Construction Safety and Excellence Award presented by AGC of America. Also in 2009, PBG received a Platinum Award for its renovation work on the Tennessee Residence from the Middle Tennessee Branch of AGC.