Posts in category: Medicine

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.

Janet Rowley was awarded a scholarship to enter an advanced placement program at the University of Chicago (UC), where she finished the last two years of high school and the first two years of college concurrently. She then continued at UC, earning a Bachelor’s of Philosophy in 1944, a Bachelor’s of Science in 1946, and an MD in 1948, at the age of 23. She balanced her family life with her career by working part-time as she raised four sons. When her youngest turned 12 years old, she began full time research.

Professor Rowley earned her medical license in 1951, then served as an attending physician at the Infant and Prenatal Clinics in the Department of Public Health in Maryland. From 1955-1961, she took up a research post at a clinic for children with developmental disabilities, while teaching neurology at the University of Illinois Medical School. In 1962, after spending a year in England studying the pattern of DNA replication in normal and abnormal human chromosomes, she returned to UC as an assistant Professor, becoming an associate professor in 1969, and a full professor in 1977. In 1984, she was named the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, and Human Genetics at UC.

Professor Rowley was one of the most distinguished cancer geneticists in the world. In the early 1970’s, she identified a specific genetic translocation (exchange of genetic material between chromosomes) in patients with leukemia. This discovery, along with her subsequent work on chromosomal abnormalities, revolutionized the medical understanding of the role of chromosomal translocation and damage in causing cancer.

Professor Rowley received numerous honors, including a long list of honorary and named lectureships, fellowships of major national and international science academies, and around 30 prestigious prizes and medals, including the Dameshek Prize in 1982, Esther Langer Award in 1983, and the Kuwait Cancer Prize in 1984.

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

Barrie Jones received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Physics from Victoria College at Wellington University in 1942, and his MD from the University of Otago, Dunedin in 1946, before moving to the United Kingdom in 1952, where he specialized in general and surgical ophthalmology at the University of London, qualifying in surgery in 1955. He served for 17 years as a Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the Institute of Ophthalmology in Moorefield’s Eye Hospital in London before relinquishing the chair to set up a new Department of Preventive Ophthalmology. In 1981, he established the International Center for Eye Health at the Institute of Ophthalmology, which became – under his leadership – one of the foremost institutions for the education and training of ophthalmologists from all over the world.

Professor Jones devoted his entire professional life to studying the etiology, transmission, pathogenesis, and treatment of eye diseases and infections. For 12 successive years, he spent several weeks each year in Iran to pursue his studies on trachoma. He made seminal contributions to the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of viral and chlamydial eye diseases, and developed novel chemotherapeutic measures and surgical procedures to prevent blindness due to trachoma. In later years, he turned his attention to river blindness and designed novel strategies for controlling that widely spread disease in Africa. His group was the first to show that the drug Ivermectin can reduce the incidence of blindness in onchocerciasis (a parasitic disease that involves the eye).

Professor Jones published hundreds of research papers and authored or coauthored more than 23 books, in addition to many invited lectureships and conference presentations. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the fight against blindness, he was appointed CBE by the British Queen in 1985.

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

Lelio Orci obtained his MD from the College of Medicine at Rome University in 1964. He started his career as an assistant professor at the Institute of Histology and Embryology, University of Geneva Medical School in 1966, and rose to full professorship in 1972. He was appointed as a Chairman of the Department of Morphology (now the Department of Cell Physiology and Metabolism) at the Medical School of Geneva University in 1972. He was also a researcher or a visiting professor at several universities, mostly in the United States.

Professor Orci dedicated his entire career to cell biology research and the study of the islets of Langerhans, in particular the beta cells. He carried out pioneering studies on the ultrastructure and immunocytochemistry of beta cells. His studies were instrumental for better understanding of the structure and function of those cells, the mechanism of Insulin synthesis, storage and secretion, the secretion and mode of action of Glucagon and the regulation of pancreatic hormone secretions.

In later years, he collaborated with Professor Rothman and other scientists in a series of landmark studies on the molecular basis of vesicular trafficking. These studies have profoundly enriched our knowledge of Diabetes and contributed to the development of drugs to control it and have granted Professor Orci the status of the most talented electron microscopist of his generation.

Professor Orci’s seminal contributions were published in more than 300 papers in international journals. According to ISA and The Scientist, he was one of the most cited researchers in the field of diabetes research. His accomplishments were recognized by the international scientific community throughout the world. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Medicine from the University of Guelph in Canada. He was also an honorary member of the Argentinian Society of Physiological Sciences.

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

Albert Renold obtained his MD in 1947 and completed his thesis in 1948. He was a Professor of Medicine at Geneva University, Chief of the Division of Clinical Biochemistry, and Founding Director of the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry. He held several professional and research positions, including visiting professorships and consultancies, as well as about 15 years as a teacher and researcher at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, MA (USA). Numerous outstanding diabetes researchers were trained by Professor Renold both in Boston and Geneva. Professor Renold was the Founding Secretary of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD) from 1965-1970 and its President from 1974-1977, as well as the President of the International Diabetes Federation from 1979-1982 and Vice-President of the Swiss Academy for Medical Sciences.

Professor Renold was a leading authority in diabetes mellitus. He played a major role in advancing diabetes research in Europe and throughout the world. He developed animal models to study the physiology and pathophysiology of the pancreas and strived to gain insight into the abnormalities of human diabetes by defining the pathophysiological aspects of the disease peculiar to a given animal. These studies have since been used in diabetes research throughout the world, as for example, in research on oral hypoglycemic agents which presently form the basis for the treatment of type-2 diabetes. Professor Renold was also the first to demonstrate a direct action of insulin on adipose tissue in 1950. His work in this area extended to delineate the role of this tissue in the metabolic derangements in insulin-deficient diabetes and in obesity often associated with insulin abundance. The research led by Professor Renold over many years contributed significantly to our present understanding of the mechanisms of insulin activity and its effect on glucose and energy metabolism.

Professor Renold’s seminal studies on diabetes mellitus were published in more than 400 scientific papers in international journals. He published a series of articles in which he showed that the injections of homologous insulin elicited an inflammatory reaction in the pancreatic islets of injected animals. He also co-authored the volume on Adipose Tissue of the Handbook of Physiology and served on the editorial boards of seven international medical journals. His accomplishments were recognized by more than 10 prizes and medals.

In addition, he was elected as the chairman of several major scientific and medical societies and a member of about 15 others. Professor Renold was also the only foreign scientist elected to the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association.

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

Gian Bottazzo obtained his MD from the University of Padua in 1971, completed his post-graduate studies in Allergology and Immunology at the University of Florence in 1974 and obtained a Diploma in endocrinology from the University of Padua in 1979. He held several medical and scientific positions, mostly in London. He was a member of the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom (RCP). Professor Bottazzo was the Director of the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) and Disease Laboratory of St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College in London.

Over several decades, Professor Bottazzo carried out extensive research on autoimmune diseases, particularly diabetes. He discovered islet cell antibodies (ICA) in 1974. A world authority on diabetes, he discovered the association between type 1 diabetes and the development of antibodies directed against the insulin secreting beta cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. Thereafter, he demonstrated antigens relating to the HLA system, which controls the body’s immune defenses, on the surface of damaged beta cells. The discovery of the link between a patient’s genetic make-up and the development of autoimmunity to the islet’s beta cells had opened the door for new approaches to the prevention of diabetes mellitus.

In a landmark paper published in 1974, Professor Bottazzo and his colleagues showed that type I diabetes was associated with the development of antibodies directed against the insulin-producing B cells of the pancreas. This pioneering discovery opened the way to a flood of investigations in the study of autoimmunity as a basic cause of failure, not only of the islet cells of the pancreas leading to type I diabetes mellitus, but also the loss of other endocrine-producing cells such as those in the thyroid and pituitary glands.

Professor Bottazzo also demonstrated the presence of HLA-DR antigens on the surface of the B cells in the early stage of type I diabetes mellitus. This link between the genetic background of the sufferer and the development of autoimmunity has once more opened up a new field of exploration that may lead to a new approach to the prevention of diabetes mellitus and perhaps its treatment.

Professor Bottazzo’s distinguished contributions to diabetes research were recognized by several honors. He authored more than 500 papers in major journals and scientific conferences for Diabetes mellitus for his research on autoimmunity as a major cause of type 1 (insulin- dependent) diabetes.

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

Donald Trunkey obtained his B.S. from Washington State University in 1959 and his M.D. from the University of Washington in 1963. Following his internship at the University Oregon Medical School, he served for two years as a medical officer in the U.S. military base in Germany. He then completed his training in general surgery at the University of California in San Francisco, spent one year in the Organ Preservation Laboratory, and another year at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, on a special NIH fellowship in trauma. After completing his fellowship in Dallas, Professor Trunkey returned to the University of California, San Francisco, where he became involved in the care of trauma patients, and later became Chief of the Burn Center at San Francisco General Hospital.

Professor Trunkey established a laboratory to study mechanisms of shock at the cellular level with a special interest in myocardial performance following shock, lung injury, and cellular immune mechanisms following injury. In 1978, he became Chief of Surgery at San Francisco General Hospital, and in April 1986, he was appointed Chairman at Oregon Health Sciences University Department of Surgery, where he built a strong general surgery residency based on all the primary components of general surgery. Following his chairmanship, he was appointed Professor Emeritus at OHSU in 2007.

Professor Trunkey dedicated his career to the development of this field, having authored around 170 journal articles, 24 books, and 200 book chapters, and presented many honorary lectures. He also served on the editorial boards of many professional journals.

Professor Trunkey received many other prestigious awards and honors including: Distinguished Service Award of the American College of Surgeon, Washington State University Distinguished Alumnus Award, Barry Goldwater Service Award, International Society of Surgery Prize, Honorary Membership of the British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine, Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Ireland, Edinburgh, Glasgow, South Africa and Brazil, Medal of the Royal College of Medicine of England and Honorary Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

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

Basil Pruitt Jr. pursued his undergraduate education at Harvard College in 1952 followed by his M.D. from Tufts University in 1957. After completing his internship at Boston City Hospital and residency at Boston and Brooks General Hospitals, he became a fellow of the American College of Surgeons in 1964. He served as an army surgeon for 35 years, including 27 years as leader of the Burn Center of the US Army Institute of Surgical Research in Southern Texas, developing it into one of the most developed burn centers in the world. In 1996, he joined the University of Texas and was a Clinical Professor of Surgery at Texas University Medical Center in San Antonio; he then joined the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Maryland, and served as a Consultant at the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research 

Professor Pruitt organized and directed a multidisciplinary clinical and research program focused on burn care and trauma management, which resulted in improved resuscitation, ventilatory management, wound care and metabolic support regimens that significantly increased survival, reduced complications, accelerated convalescence, and improved functional recovery. He mentored a whole generation of burn center directors and surgeons from the US and overseas. He is a president and member of many professional societies. He published over 440 research papers, 13 books and monographs, 160 textbook chapters, and 200 conference abstracts.

Professor Pruitt received numerous national and international awards for his achievements, including: the American Surgical Medallion for Scientific Achievement in 1998, the American College of Critical Care Medicine Distinguished Investigator Award in 2000, the G. Whitaker International Burns Prize in 2000, the Roswell Park Medal in 2007, and the Society of University Surgeons Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. He was president, former president or member of 40 surgical, medical and scientific societies, an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Trauma since 1995, member of the editorial boards of several other journals, and ad hoc reviewer for an additional 26 journals. He also served as a visiting professor, honorary lecturer and invited lecturer in more than 200 universities and medical centers worldwide.

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

Ronald Levy received his A.B. from Harvard University in 1963, his M.D. from Stanford University in 1968, and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1968-1970. He also served for two years as a clinical associate at the Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute, followed by one year fellowship at Stanford and two years at the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1973-1975. He joined the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1975 as assistant professor, and is currently the Robert K. and Helen K. Summy Professor, Frank and Else Schilling American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor and Chief of the Oncology Division at the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.

Professor Levy’s exceptional contributions were instrumental in establishing the role of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of B-cell lymphomas. Over the past 30 years, he discovered that it was possible to generate antibodies that would recognize specific receptors on these cancer cells and tag them for destruction; he conceived the idea of using these antibodies as molecular targeted drugs to kill the tumor cells and saw his idea develop into an FDA approved drug, Rituxan, which is used to treat half a million people with B-cell lymphoma each year. He also developed and worked on the idea of a customized vaccine based on the patient’s own tumor cells and is using state-of-the art genomic technologies to evaluate genetic signatures that would allow prediction of a response to treatment.

Professor Levy, also known as the “antibody hero”, received numerous awards and honors, including nearly every major award in cancer research, as well as fellowships and memberships of learned societies and an impressive list of invited lectureships and Scientific Advisory positions. He published more than 200 papers in premier medical journals and served as a visiting professor at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the universities of Texas Southwestern, Minnesota, Nebraska and Miami.

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

Robert Beasley earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and a master’s degree in preventive medicine from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1969. He was a Fellow of the American Epidemiological Society and the American Public Health Association. Beasley worked for more than 20 years as a Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. He worked as the Director of the American University Medical Center in Taiwan since 1979 and as a professor at the Department of Epidemiology in Washington University since 1981.

Professor Beasley’s academic and educational accomplishments in the field of public health, as well as his scientific contributions to society, were enormous. During his over 20-year career as an epidemiologist, he worked on a variety of epidemiological problems, including HIV/AIDS, plague, rubella, rheumatoid arthritis, and Waardenberg syndrome. However, he was most renowned for his seminal research into the epidemiology of Hepatitis B in China. His relentless pursuit to unlock the deadly mystery posed by the hepatitis B virus resulted in many important discoveries, including mother to infant transmission of the virus, protecting infants with immunoglobulins and vaccines, proving that the hepatitis B virus is a major cause of primary liver cancer, and establishing an effective vaccine to prevent it, which the WHO recognized as the first anti-cancer vaccine. Further advocacy for the vaccine resulted in the global Hepatitis B immunization program.

Professor Beasley published numerous scientific papers and had a long list of invited lectureships. His scientific accomplishments had earned him several prestigious international awards.

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