Awards Given To 13 National Jewish Medical And Research Center Faculty At Dinner Held June 21
DENVER - At the first Faculty Awards dinner held June 21, 13 National Jewish Medical and Research Center faculty received awards for outstanding patient care, research, education, and service to the institution. The award winners were nominated by their peers at National Jewish.
"The 2001 Faculty Awards dinner is the beginning of an annual event celebrating our incredible faculty," said Lynn M. Taussig, MD, president and CEO of National Jewish. "The awards recognize those faculty members whose exceptional work advances the three vital aspects of our mission: research, patient care and education."
"The 13 faculty who received awards this year were strongly recommended by their peers for their outstanding dedication to the mission of National Jewish," said Frederick S. Wamboldt, MD, head of the Division of Psychosocial Medicine and Chairman and Master of Ceremony of the 2001 Faculty Awards.
The winners of the National Jewish 2001 Faculty Awards were:
Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Basic Research -- Valerie A. Fadok, D.V.M., Ph.D
Valerie A. Fadok, D.V.M., PhD, has focused on the recognition of apoptotic cells by macrophages and non-professional phagocytes for more than a decade. Following the initiation of apoptosis, cells express a variety of proteins on the cell surface, which result in these cells being recognized and ingested by phagocytes. Dr. Fadok's work first led to the appreciation that one of these "eat-me" signals was a phospholipid called phosphatidylserine (PS). Last year Dr. Fadok and her colleagues achieved the goal of many researchers in the field - to clone and elucidate the functions of the PS receptor. As a result of her work and the subsequent publication in Nature, the PS receptor is now emerging as a critical molecule in tissue development, inflammation, wound repair, and quite likely in immunological tolerance and autoimmunity.
Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Clinical Research -- Stanley J. Szefler, MD
Stanley J. Szefler, MD, Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology in the Department of Pediatrics, has worked steadfastly to position National Jewish as a leader in the clinical pharmacotherapy of childhood asthma since his arrival in 1982. Major recent achievements include his role as the Principal Investigator for the Denver Site of the NICHD's Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU) Network, NHLBI's Childhood Asthma Research and Education (CARE) Network and the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP). He was chosen by the CAMP Executive Committee to be one of a select few to write the primary outcome paper from what is widely seen as the most important clinical trial ever conducted on childhood asthma. This paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine will be without doubt a landmark paper for years to come.
Pediatric Clinician of the Year -- Dan Atkins, MD
Fred "Dan" Atkins, MD, is a quiet but strong leader of our Pediatric clinical program. While overseeing the Pediatric Day Treatment and Outpatient Clinic program he leads the way in integrating our program with The Children's Hospital and the University of Colorado Department of Pediatrics. This accomplishment has played a large role in strengthening our clinical and training program. He also maintains a heavy patient load at The Children's Hospital and National Jewish, seeing what his colleagues view as the most difficult patients in the country. He is well known nationally for his painstaking investigation of allergy-related diseases in an outpatient setting. He also serves as a teacher for our fellowship program and for the residents at UCHSC.
Medicine Clinician of the Year -- Gwen A. Huitt, MD
Gwen Huitt, MD is committed to the tuberculosis program at National Jewish. Originally from Colorado, Gwen was well aware of the legacy of tuberculosis at our institution. Since her arrival at National Jewish in 1993, Dr. Huitt has distinguished herself through her passionate, tireless, and steadfast commitment to clinical excellence. She is recognized as a "top-flight" clinician for the treatment of tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial disease. Despite occasional financial difficulties, which threatened the survival of the mycobacterial program, Dr. Huitt has always persevered. She tirelessly attended to the mycobacterial service, when neither replacements nor relief was in sight.
Basic Science Teacher of the Year -- Terry Potter, PhD
Terry Potter, PhD, in addition to formal teaching in the classroom, has worked diligently as Program Coordinator for the Immunology Graduate Program for many years. His efforts have kept the Program alive, funded, and in line with Graduate School requirements. Every year he takes on the task of organizing the recruitment of graduate students. His faculty colleagues are most pleased with Dr. Potter's willingness, when necessary, to take up the role of "chief gadfly to get things done." Most importantly, Dr. Potter is a perennial favorite of the students who count on him to offer them a shoulder to lean on and to be an unflagging spokesman for their interests. Nominators also praise him for his willingness to advise junior faculty members and his availability as a superb consultant and collaborator.
Clinical Programs Teacher of the Year -- Joseph D. Spahn, MD
Joseph D. Spahn, MD, year in and year out, strives to teach fellows, patients, and colleagues about asthma and pharmacotherapy. His colleagues laud him for his ability to explain difficult information in a clear, understandable way. He is an outstanding teacher on the clinical service who always volunteers to be the attending physician to start the new fellows off, and organizes teaching conferences and journal clubs on hot topics for the allergy-immunology fellows. He has received the teaching award from the allergy and immunology fellows four times in the last five years. His reputation as a national teacher is growing and he is now called upon many times by our strongest pharmaceutical collaborators to provide lectures to our colleagues. He is also an active member of the National Jewish Preceptorship and Continuing Education programs and often fills gaps in the program.
Outstanding Junior Faculty, Pediatrics -- Andrew H. Liu, MD
Andrew H. "Andy" Liu, MD, although a young faculty member, has assumed several major responsibilities in the Department of Pediatrics, including heading up the Pediatric Allergy Fellowship program and the National Jewish Allergy Clinic at Denver Health. Six years ago the fellowship program was entrusted to Dr. Liu because of his ability to interact with the fellows and his dedication to research, clinical care, and teaching. He strengthened the program by applying for outside funding and participated in the national training program committee. Under his guidance, the program continues to receive high marks in its accreditation evaluations. He has extended training for our fellows to The Children's Hospital and has managed to build a strong allergy clinic at Denver Health, which is a resource for patient care and an important site for training in this department. Dr. Liu has made exceptional progress as well on his research endeavors including a recent publication regarding the "hygiene hypothesis" of asthma development in the Lancet, which received worldwide attention, and in part, earned Dr. Liu a K-23 award.
Outstanding Junior Faculty, Medicine -- E. Brigitte Gottschall, MD, M.S.P.H.
Dr. Brigitte "Bibi" Gottschall, MD, M.S.P.H., in her first year on our faculty, responded to a call for help and spent the better part of four months in Libby, Montana, where she ran a National Jewish clinical program that screened more than 5,000 community residents for asbestos-related illnesses. This community was the subject of national attention when it was discovered that the local mine was contaminated with tremolite - a form of asbestos - and that community residents were developing a variety of asbestos-related illnesses from environmental fallout. In addition to providing direct clinical service, Dr. Gottschall trained and directed the local physicians as part of the community-wide response to this epidemic. At the same time, she received a K-23 award from NCI to start a chemoprevention trial testing the effect of oral selenium on preventing lung cancer in a high-risk population of asbestos-exposed smokers.
Outstanding Junior Faculty, Immunology -- Hong-Bing Shu, PhD
Hong-Bing Shu, PhD, was recruited to National Jewish in the summer of 1998. His area of focus is the study of death receptors and the mechanisms through which their functions are regulated. In just three years, he has done an outstanding job of establishing his laboratory, recruiting post-doctoral and graduate students, successfully winning grant support in a very competitive field and publishing some very important papers. Since arriving at National Jewish, Dr. Shu has cloned and investigated TALL1, a novel member of the TNF-family, as well identifying its receptor, BCMA. His work is currently focused on understanding the role of these molecules in the immune system.
Outstanding Junior Faculty, Immunology -- Gongyi Zhang, PhD
Gongyi Zhang, PhD, has had an enormously positive influence on the scientific atmosphere of National Jewish in the short time he's been here. His X-ray crystallography research program has solved several important protein structures already. He has established collaborations with numerous other faculty and can always be counted on to offer advice and help. His accomplishments were recently recognized at the national level when he received one of the 20 prestigious Pew Fellowships awarded this year.
Friend of Development -- James D. Crapo, MD
James D. Crapo, MD, has been nominated by Carol Gibson, Vice President of Development, and her colleagues for the 2001 Friend of Development Award in recognition of the faculty member who provides exceptional service to Development to help make National Jewish financially vital. The words of their nomination of Dr. Crapo provide clear justification of their choice: "Dr. Crapo has demonstrated a deep understanding of Development's mission and goals, and has been tremendously supportive of our fundraising activities. He is always willing to work with staff to develop information to share with donors, to speak to donors at events, and to meet with donors individually when that would help 'seal the deal.' He has a wonderful ability to talk about medicine - from basics of how the lung functions to the most esoteric research - in terms that our staff and donors can understand. And, he helps us all appreciate how National Jewish's work will ultimately help people suffering from a variety of illnesses, which is the reason donors give and the reason we come to work everyday."
Faculty Ambassador -- Michael D. Iseman, MD
Michael D. Iseman, MD, has done much to make National Jewish visible to physicians treating patients with Mycobacterial disease throughout the world. As a leader of our Mycobacterial clinical service, Dr. Iseman works hard to emphasize to the medical profession the dangers of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, and has been a major reason that National Jewish has been established as a Center of Excellence for the treatment of Mycobacterial disease. He also lectures away from home and organizes the renowned National Jewish Tuberculosis course, now in its 38th year. His fearlessness in speaking his mind and his ability to clearly and logically defend issues he feels are important have made him a hero for many National Jewish faculty. In the recent past, when National Jewish was facing financial difficulties, Dr. Iseman made clear his dedication to his patients and the institution by volunteering to lower his salary so that programs to treat of patients would be preserved. Despite his focus on our wards and in our clinics, Dr. Iseman never loses sight of the need to understand the underpinnings of tuberculosis. Last year he published a textbook entitled "Tuberculosis: A Textbook for Clinicians" to teach others what he has learned. Though now in theory semi-retired, those who work with him continue to laud him for his endless work on behalf of National Jewish. For his many years of service and dedication to National Jewish and to the practice and teaching of medicine, his faculty colleagues name Dr. Mike Iseman their Faculty Ambassador for 2001.
President's Award -- Stanley J. Szefler, MD
Stanley Szefler, MD, has been chosen by Lynn M. Taussig, MD, president and CEO of National Jewish, as the recipient of the 2001 President's Award. Dr. Taussig's reasons for this selection ring true with all who have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Szefler: "For unwavering commitment and dedication to National Jewish; for being the consummate team player willing to assume various tasks and responsibilities for the betterment of the institution; for being a major force behind the growth of the clinical research programs at National Jewish; for markedly enhancing National Jewish's reputation as a leader in asthma research; and for consistently being an articulate spokesperson on behalf of the institution."
Lifetime Faculty Achievement -- Reuben M. Cherniack, MD
Reuben Cherniack, MD, has been a pillar of National Jewish since his arrival from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1978. His arrival as chairman of the Department of Medicine ushered in an era of unprecedented growth in research, clinical medicine, and academic training. Dr. Cherniack has overseen the training of countless fellows who have since developed successful academic careers. Recognized worldwide as a major influence in the understanding and teaching of pulmonary physiology, he's remained active at National Jewish and on the international pulmonary medicine scene. He is a prime mover in many of our high-visibility, NIH-funded multi-center studies, including the National Emphysema Therapy Trial (NETT), the Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN), A Case Control Etiologic Study of Sarcoidosis (ACCESS), and the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP).
National Jewish is the only medical and research center in the United States devoted entirely to respiratory, allergic and immune system diseases, including asthma, tuberculosis, emphysema, severe allergies, AIDS, cancer, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Founded in 1899, National Jewish is dedicated to enhancing prevention, treatment and cures through research, and to developing and providing innovative clinical programs for treating patients regardless of age, religion, race or ability to pay.
