Monthly Archives: July 2013

Professor Berkowitz received his B.A. with a major in Philosophy from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. in 1961 and his M.D. from New York University in 1965. He pursued postgraduate training for one year at Kings County Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1965-1966 followed by a three-year residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cornell University Medical Center and New York Hospital in 1968-1971. In 1972, he obtained an M.P.H. from the School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. In between his postgraduate studies, he served as a Peace Corps physician in Mauritania and Nigeria, and as a consultant for Family Planning International Assistance in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania.

Professor Berkowitz’s academic career started in 1974, first as an Assistant Professor in 1974-1979, then as an Associate Professor in 1979-1982 of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. For the next 18 years, he was a Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science and the Director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, N.Y. In 2004, he moved to Columbia University Medical Center in New York, where he is currently a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Program and Director of Outreach and Quality Improvement in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Professor Berkowitz is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. He has also been an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in both general Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine for over 20 years. He founded the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, was a former Council member of the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, and former President of the New York Obstetrical Society, in addition to his memberships of several other Obstetrical and Gynecological organizations.

Professor Berkowitz is an internationally recognized authority in fetal diagnosis and therapy. He is a pioneer in obstetrical ultrasound and has developed several procedures for the diagnosis and in utero treatment of a variety of fetal diseases, with special expertise in the management of high order multiple pregnancies. 

Professor Berkowitz authored over 200 articles, 30 book chapters, and 120 conference abstracts, and edited seven books. His contributions have been recognized by several teaching and memorial awards, invited lectureships, visiting professorships in addition to his election to the editorial boards of five Obstetrics and Gynecology journals.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

James Bussel \ received his B.S. (magna cum laude) from Yale University in 1971 and his M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1975. He served as an intern in pediatrics for one year in 1975-1976 and completed his residency in pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio in 1976-1978, then returned to New York City to undertake a joint fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital where he was Chief Fellow in 1980-1981. He is board certified in Pediatrics and in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.

Professor Bussel’s academic pursuit in pediatrics spans more than three decades, first as an instructor, then an Assistant Professor and then an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Cornell University College of Medicine in New York. From 2000, he became a Professor of Pediatrics in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a Professor of Pediatrics in Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is also the Director of Platelets Disorders Center at Weill Medical College since 2001. From 1981, Professor Bussel has also taken hospital positions at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, Lenox Hill Hospital, and New York Hospital. He also serves on the Board of Medical Advisors of the Platelet Disorders Support Association.

Professor Bussel has published over 200 papers and several chapters in hematology books. His contributions have been recognized by several honors in addition to visiting professorships and invited lectureships, in his field of specialization. He was also voted several times as one of New York’s best doctors. He is a member of the International Society of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Society for Pediatric Research, American Society of Hematology, Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and New York County Medical Society, and former member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Federation of Clinical Research and Society for the Study of Blood. He is also a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Hematology, American Journal of Hematology, American Journal of Perinatal Medicine and Hematology.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Jeffrey Friedman attended the Six-Year Medical Program at Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y., obtaining a B.S. (magna cum laude) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1973 and an M.D. from Albany Medical College at Union University in 1977. After completing residencies as a categorical intern in 1977-1978, an assistant resident in 1978-1979, and a chief resident in 1979-1980 in the Department of Medicine at Albany Medical Center Hospital in Albany, N.Y., and serving for one year as a post-graduate fellow at Cornell University Medical College in 1980-1981, he came to Rockefeller University as a post-graduate fellow and an associate physician in 1980-1985. He received his Ph.D. in 1986 and was appointed an Assistant Professor in 1986-1991 at the same University. He is currently a full Professor at Rockefeller University, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in New York, the Marilyn M. Simpson professor, and the Director of the Star Center for Human Genetics at Rockefeller.

Professor Friedman’s achievements have been recognized by numerous awards and honors, including Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, Shaw Prize, Keio Medical Science Prize, Danone International Prize for Nutrition, Gairdner Foundation International Award, Passano Foundation Award, Heinrich Wieland Prize, Banting Lecture Award, Jesse Stevenson Kovalenko Medal, Endocrinology Transatlantic Medal and Honorary Doctorate in Medical Genetics from Maastricht University. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and its Institute of Medicine, an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), and a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was listed in “Best of Science” by Times Magazine both in 1994 and 1995 and was also named Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate in 2010. Professor Friedman is also associate and founding editor of Cell Metabolism.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Douglas Coleman Completed his elementary and secondary school education in Stratford, after which he joined McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1954, then attended the University of Wisconsin, where he obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry in 1956 and 1958, respectively. He served as a Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin in 1954-1957 and as an E.I. Dupont de Nemours Fellow in 1957-1958. He joined the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, ME, where he spent his entire career rising from an Associate Staff Scientist in 1958 to a Senior Staff Scientist in 1968. He also served as an Assistant Director for Research in 1969-1970 and an Interim Director in 1975-1976. He was also a consultant to the National Health Institutes, serving on the Metabolism Study Section in 1972-1974 and was frequently consulted on various other special study sections involving genetic diabetes, obesity, and nutrition. He also served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva in 1979-1980. Upon his retirement in 1991, he was appointed a Senior Staff Scientist Emeritus at Jackson.

Following his retirement, Professor Coleman became actively interested in forest management, land protection and conservation and served ​​in the Frenchman Bay Conservatory as the Treasurer in 1993-1994, the President in 1994-1997, and the Director in 1992-1998. He was also a member of the Planning Board of the Town of Lamoine for ten years through 1993-2003. 

Professor Coleman received several prestigious awards and honors, including the Claude Bernard Medal by the European Diabetes Foundation in 1977, the Outstanding Forest Stewardship Award in 1998, the Distinguished Alumni Award in Science by McMaster University in 1999, the Gairdner International Award in 2005, the Shaw Prize in 2009, and the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award,. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1991, and was awarded an Honorary D.Sc. from Louisiana State University in 2005 and an Honorary D.Sc. from McMaster University in 2006. He was a member of the American Association of Biological Chemists.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Attillio Maseri received his MD with honors from Padua University Medical School in 1960, then obtained postgraduate degrees in Cardiology and Nuclear Medicine from the University of Pisa in 1963 and 1968, respectively. His academic career spanned more than 30 years. After completing his fellowships at Pisa, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia universities, he became Head of the Coronary Research Group at the University of Pisa (1967-1979). From 1979 to 1991, he was appointed a Sir John McMichael Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, and a Director of Cardiology at Hammersmith Hospital in London. For the following ten years, he served as a Professor of Cardiology at the Catholic University of Rome.

Professor Maseri was a clinical investigator with a remarkable track record of innovative research. His interests include the application of molecular biology, differential gene expression profiling, and clinical cardiovascular research such as molecular mechanisms of coronary instability and molecular mechanisms of negative and positive ventricular remodeling. By changing traditional paradigms, he played an important role in shaping new diagnostic techniques in pathophysiologic thinking. Both his research and clinical investigations contributed significantly to the opening of new avenues of research and patient management in the field of ischemic heart disease. He published more than 550 papers in international journals, authored and co-authored several books and mentored many cardiologists and cardio-thoracic physicians. During his career, he undertook several visiting professorships at several universities including Vanderbilt University in Nashville and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He also had an impressive list of invited lectureships.

Professor Maseri’s outstanding contributions were recognized by several awards and honors. He was a Lifetime Member of the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, an Honorary Fellow of the Council on Clinical Cardiology, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He was also the recipient of the First George von Hevesy Prize for Nuclear Medicine (Tokyo) and James B Herrick Award of the American Heart Association.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Anthony Butterworth received his BA; M.B., B.Chir., M.A., and Ph.D. in Immunology in 1973 from Cambridge University. He started his career as a researcher at Cambridge University Medical School in the same year, and served from 1973-1977 as a Fellow at the Wellcome Trust Laboratories in Kenya, where he conducted research on the immunology of schistosomiasis. He spent the following two years as a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, continuing his studies on schistosome immunity, then joined the Medical Research Council. He is currently an Associate Professor of Medical Parasitology at Cambridge University.

Professor Butterworth spent most of his career studying schistosomiasis (Bilharziasis), a devastating parasitic disease that affects 200-300 million people in tropical and subtropical parts of the world. He combined laboratory research with field studies in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe), in addition to the Philippines, South America and the United States. His studies into the epidemiology and control of this disease, as well as the human body’s immune responses to the parasite, brought significant advances to our understanding of the mechanisms of disease in general, while bringing the world closer to a safe and effective anti-schistosomiasis vaccine.

Professor Butterworth made his first major contribution by showing – in the mid-1970’s – that eosinophils can kill larval forms of the parasite when working in concert with certain antibodies. Later, as a fellow at Harvard Medical School, he and others demonstrated that eosinophils destroy schistosome larvae by releasing highly toxic granules onto the larva’s surface. Butterworth’s next major accomplishment came when he conducted longitudinal studies on human schistosomiasis in Kenya and Uganda which showed that, beginning at around the age of 12, individuals experience increased Immunoglobulin E (lgE) antibody levels — another key culprit in allergic reactions — that react against antigens of the adult parasite, as well as a drop in the levels of certain antibodies that obstruct the immune response. Molecules recognized by the IgE antibodies in immune humans are being investigated as possible candidates for a vaccine.

Professor Butterworth was elected as a member of several prestigious societies including the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He received many awards including the Frederick Murgatroyd Prize from the Royal College of Physicians in 1979 and the Bernhard Nocht Medal from the Bernhard Nocht Institute in 1987.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

André Capron completed his MD in 1958 and worked at the College of Medicine in Lille University. In 1970, he became a Professor of Immunology and Parasite Biology at Lille University and a Director of the Parasite Immunology Research Center at Pasteur Institute, then Director of Pasteur Institute in Lille. He was also a member of the World Health Organization’s Scientific Advisory Group of Experts and its Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee. He was a Chair of the Scientific Committee of the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche.

Professor Capron was an internationally recognized authority on the biology of parasites and the development of new strategies in the prevention of epidemics caused by parasitic infections such as schistosomiasis (bilharzia). He was recognized worldwide as one of the founding fathers of parasite immunology and was one of its acknowledged leaders. His early contributions to the immunology of parasites started in 1962, when, using the new tools of immunochemistry and immuno-electrophoresis, he described for the first time the antigenic structure of helminths, showing the existence of shared antigens between parasites and their hosts. He also developed immunodiffusion techniques for the diagnosis of parasitic diseases, some of which are still in use. In parallel with R. T. Damian of Georgia University in the US, he developed the novel concept of “molecular mimicry” and pursued the deciphering of what he named “the molecular language of parasites”.

Professor Capron’s elegant studies on the mechanisms of schistosome immunity contributed significantly to understanding the immunology of schistosomiasis and the current attempts to develop defined-antigen vaccines against that parasitic disease. These studies included the discovery of previously unknown forms of antibody-dependent, cell-mediated cytotoxicities involving the activation of eosinophils, monocytes and platelets by IgE complexes, and the role of IgM-blocking antibodies in regulating protective immunity. His work renewed hope in developing a novel vaccine to protect people against schistosomiasis, a disease which countries and international organizations have failed to control by conventional methods.

Professor Capron authored hundreds of scientific publications and held several prestigious positions in France, Europe and at the international level. His honors include editorships of several medical journals, visiting professorships at leading international universities and consultancies at international organizations. He received many prizes and medals including ​​the Bernhard Nocht Medal in 1987. He was a member and Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences. He was an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and a corresponding Member of the Academie Royale de Médecine de Belgique.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Luigi Mastroianni, Jr. graduated from Yale University in 1946 with a bachelor’s degree in zoology and obtained his MD from Boston University School of Medicine in 1950. He completed his internship and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Metropolitan Hospital in New York and then proceeded to a fellowship in Fertility and Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School and the Free Hospital for Women in Boston. He returned to Yale as an Assistant Professor. In 1961, he became the Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harbor General Hospital and a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he continued to focus on the basic physiology of the oviduct. In 1965, he was appointed the William Goodell Professor and Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he established a Division of Reproductive Biology and a Division of Human Reproduction. Under his leadership, these Divisions made substantial contributions to the understanding of the female reproductive tract and the biology of male and female gametes, as well as to the treatment of infertility in both partners. The Reproductive Biology Division also provided research training for investigators from the USA and 25 other countries.

Professor Mastroianni dedicated his life to studying the causes of and solutions to human infertility problems. He studied the effects of reproductive hormones on ovulation and showed that clomiphene-induced ovulation in non-human primates could be used to increase the fertilization rate in women. His distinguished work on the physiology of the fallopian tube and the biochemistry of tubal fluid contributed significantly to the basic understanding of the requirements for successful fertilization, which was a major factor in developing successful human in vitro fertilization techniques. His groundbreaking animal studies in the 1970s paved the way for IVF. In 1983, he performed the first successful human in vitro fertilization in the Philadelphia region.

Mastroianni published numerous papers in international journals. His achievements in human reproduction research were widely recognized. He received several scientific prizes including the Ortho Medal in 1966, Barren Medal in 1977, and the Research Special Award in 1981. He was a chairman of the Committee on Contraceptive Development of the National Academy of Science and Institute of Medicine, and an honorary member of major international fertility societies. He was also an invited lecturer at many universities and scientific centers. Furthermore, he served as Editor-in-Chief of Fertility and Sterility and served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Fertility. 

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Robert Edwardsobtained his B.Sc. from the University of Wales, Bangor and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Animal Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. He joined the University of Cambridge in 1963, then served as a visiting scientist at several prestigious universities including Johns Hopkins University in 1965, the University of North Carolina in 1966, and the Free University in Brussels in 1984. In 1985, he became Professor of Reproduction at Cambridge University. Upon his retirement in 1989, he became a Distinguished Professor at Cambridge. He was also an Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College.

Professor Edwards was the scientist who developed in vitro fertilization (IVF), a technology that has revolutionized the treatment of infertility. He carried out pioneering research on human in vitro fertilization in collaboration with the late Patrick Steptoe. This culminated in the first successful birth of a “test tube baby”, Louise Brown, on 11 July 1978. This milestone event in the fight against infertility captured the imagination of the public throughout the world, and focused attention on the importance of basic research in human reproduction. Professor Edwards’ studies permitted hundreds of other infertility centers around the world to establish IVF clinics. Refinements in technology increased pregnancy rates and it is estimated that by 2020 more than 8 million babies have so far been born by IVF. Professor Edwards’ seminal research also laid the groundwork for further innovations in the treatment of infertility, such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection, embryo biopsy and stem cell research.

With a background of training in endocrinology, immunology and developmental genetics, he initiated studies in 1954 on reproductive physiology in mice. In 1957, he showed that exogenous gonadotropins could induce superovulation. With the aim of finding how to fertilize human ova outside the body, he turned his attention to the study of isolated human oocytes. Unfortunately, he found that they behave differently from those of rodents so he was obliged to turn to the oocytes that mature inside the human ovary shortly before they are released at ovulation. The necessity for him at that point to seek clinical help led, in the early 1960′s, to a remarkably fruitful collaboration with Professor Patrick Steptoe, which resulted 10 years later in the birth of the first “test-tube baby”.

Professor Edwards authored and co-authored hundreds of research papers and scientific reviews, in addition to 22 books, many of which were reprinted several times. His groundbreaking accomplishments in the field of human reproduction earned him worldwide recognition. Professor Edwards received 15 prestigious prizes, including the renowned Axel Munthe Award as well as several medals. He was also awarded Honorary Doctorates from several major universities.

He was an elected Fellow of the Royal Society (London) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist, Honorary member of the Royal College of Physicians, and Life Fellow of the Australian Fertility Society. He was appointed Captain of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen of Britain and Honorary Citizen of Bordeaux in France. His scholarship is further attested by an impressive list of honorary lectureships and visiting professorships.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Melvyn Greaves received his B.Sc. in Zoology in 1964 and a Ph.D. in Immunology in 1968 from the Faculty of Medicine at University College London. He spent a one-year fellowship training with the Immunology Group at the Department of Bacteriology in Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, then served as a Research Scientist at the Immunology Division of the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill (1969-1972) before joining the Tumor Immunology Unit of the Department of Zoology at University College London (1972-1976).

Professor Greaves became Head of the Immunology Laboratory from 1976 – 1984, then the Director of the Leukemia Research Fund Center at the Institute of Cancer Research at University College London in 1984. He is currently a Professor of Cell Biology and Chairman of the Haemato-Oncology Section at the Institute of Cancer Research. Earlier in his career, Professor Greaves introduced new methods for the biological classification of leukaemias that led to insights into the cellular origins of disease and more specific allocation of treatment. His subsequent work on the molecular genetics of childhood leukaemias uncovered the pre-natal origin of this disease and shed light on its possible causes. His research paved the way for important advances in the diagnosis and prognosis of leukemias and for the design of novel forms of treatment in individual patients.

Professor Greaves’ contributions to research in leukemia appeared in numerous publications and a long list of honorary and invited lectures, and have earned him worldwide recognition. He received the Paul Martini Prize from Gottingen University in Germany, the Peter Debye Prize from the University of Maastricht in Holland. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal College of Physicians (London) and a Member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He also holds a Personal Chair of Cell Biology at London University. Professor Greaves has a wide range of interest in biology, cancer, and medicine and has authored numerous scientific publications and several books including: T and B Lymphocytes: Their Origins, Properties and Roles in Immune Responses; Cellular Recognition; and Atlas of Blood Cells: Function and Pathology. He is also the editor of several books on Leukemia.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.