As the premier gathering of clinicians and scientists committed to advancing pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, the ATS International Conference is an important venue for recognizing individuals who are leaders in these fields for the extraordinary contributions to and achievements in lung disease research, treatment and prevention. The following individuals will be honored at an awards ceremony from 4:45 to 6:30 p.m. today in Rooms 102-103-104, South Building (Lower Level), Moscone Center.
Jack Elias, MD
Amberson Lecturer
Jack Elias, MD
Jack Elias, MD, established the premier laboratory in expression transgenics in the lung at the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. Dr. Elias, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz professor of medicine and professor of immunobiology and chair of internal medicine, will deliver the J. Burns Amberson Lecture. The lecture, titled “Transgenic Modeling and Chitinase Like Proteins in Lung Injury and Repair,” is delivered in honor of James Burns Amberson, MD, an international authority on chest disease and tuberculosis. The lecturer is an individual with a career of major lifetime contributions to clinical or basic pulmonary research and/or to clinical practice.
David Center, MD
Edward Livingston Trudeau Medalist
David Center, MD
David Center, MD, directs Boston University’s efforts in translational research. His research focuses on the role of interleukin-16 in diseases including asthma. He also is chief of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine, the Gordon and Ruth Snider professor of pulmonary medicine, and a professor of medicine and biochemistry. The Trudeau Medal is awarded to an individual with lifelong major contributions to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung disease through leadership in research, education or clinical care. The award was established in 1926 by the American Lung Association (ALA) and is given in honor of Edward Livingston Trudeau, MD, a founder and the first president of the ALA.
Galen B. Toews, MD
Francis X. McCormack, MD
Distinguished Achievement Awardees
Francis X. McCormack, MD
Galen B. Toews, MD
This award is given for contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care or advocacy. Francis X. McCormack, MD, the Gordon and Helen Hughes Taylor professor and director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, focuses his research on pulmonary surfactant proteins. Galen B. Toews, MD, who will receive the award posthumously, was a pioneer of lung immunology. He was chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor. The Distinguished Achievement Awards are given to individuals who have outstanding contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care and advocacy. Dr. Toews died in October 2011.
David Park, MD
Outstanding Educator Awardee
David Park, MD
David Park, MD, associate professor of medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, will receive the Outstanding Educator Award, which recognizes lifetime contributions to education and mentoring in the fields of pulmonary, critical care or sleep medicine. This award also recognizes excellence in clinical or research education as it relates to pulmonary disease. Dr. Park’s interests include lung infections, general pulmonary medicine and critical care.
Lee Reichman, MD, MPH
World Lung Health Awardee
Lee Reichman, MD, MPH
This award recognizes contributions to world lung health. Lee Reichman, MD, MPH, founding executive director of the Global Tuberculosis Institute at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, and a professor of medicine, preventive medicine and community health, New Jersey Medical School, Newark. The award recognizes individuals for the contributions in the public health arena related to respiratory disease and medicine.
Julie G. Ledford, PhD
Jo Rae Wright Awardee
Julie G. Ledford, PhD
The first recipient of the newly established Jo Rae Wright Award for Outstanding Science is Julie G. Ledford, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at Duke University, Durham, N.C. She joined the lab of the late Jo Rae Wright, PhD, at Duke as a postdoctoral fellow. The award recognizes demonstrated potential for significant scientific achievement and contributions. Dr. Ledford’s studies, which were supported by a Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service Award, examined the role of Surfactant Protein-A in Mycoplasma infection. Dr. Wright, a former ATS president who died of breast cancer early this year, dedicated her life’s work to assisting promising young scientists in a variety of disciplines, which is why the award recognizes a rising generation of individuals with the promise of becoming tomorrow’s leaders in science.