John Hawley

The ASCI’s 2015 Young Physician-Scientist Awards

Posted on by John Hawley

The ASCI congratulates the 40 recipients of its 2015 Young Physician-Scientist Award recipients, who were recognized at the 2015 ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting and presented their work on April 25, 2015.

Recipient Institution
Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Oren Becher, MD Duke University
Eugenio Cingolani, MD Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute
Oscar Colegio, MD, PhD Yale University
Ype P. de Jong, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Patricia C. Fulkerson, MD, PhD Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
J. Travis Hinson, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School
Rajan Jain, MD Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Peng Ji, MD, PhD Northwestern University
J. Michelle Kahlenberg, MD, PhD University of Michigan Health System
Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Jeffery Klco, MD, PhD St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Jason S. Knight, MD University of Michigan Health System
Andrew Lane, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Steven A. Lubitz, MD, MPH Massachusetts General Hospital
Meena Madhur, MD, PhD Vanderbilt
Sandeep Mallipattu, MD Stony Brook University – State University of New York
Michael Mansour, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital
Bradley A. Maron, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital – Harvard Medical School
Marcela Maus, MD, PhD University of Pennsylvania
Luc GT Morris, MD, MSc Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Nima Mosammaparast, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine
Lalitha Nayak, MD Case Western Reserve University
Jesse Nussbaum, MD University of California, San Francisco
Edward D. Plowey, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Neil Romberg, MD Yale University
Robert E. Schwartz, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Akrit Sodhi, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Edda Spiekerkoetter, MD Stanford University
Matthew L. Steinhauser, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Genetics / Harvard Medical School
Nathan Stitziel, MD, PhD Washington University
Amir Tirosh MD PhD Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Keila Torres, MD, PhD UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, MD, PhD Columbia University Medical Center
Kevin C. Wang, MD, PhD Stanford University School of Medicine
Richard Wang, MD, PhD UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Nathaniel Weathington, MD, PhD University of Pittsburgh
Jennifer Woyach, MD The Ohio State University
Robert Yeh, MD, MSc Massachusetts General Hospital
Hao Zhu, MD Children’s Research Institute at UT Southwestern

The ASCI’s 2015 ballot results

Posted on by John Hawley
The Active segment of the ASCI membership recently voted on candidates for Council vacancies, on nominees recommended for election this year to the Society, and on a change to the organization’s bylaws. The results were recently audited and confirmed.

 

The following members will join the Council at the conclusion of the 2015 ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting:
  • Vice President: Benjamin L. Ebert, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. He was elected in 2011.
  • Councilor: Jay D. Horton, M.D., The Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Chair in Obesity & Diabetes Research, UT Southwestern Medical Center. He was elected in 2003.
  • Councilor: Clara Abraham, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine. She was elected in 2014.
The Council received 188 membership nominations for 2015 and recommended 75 nominees for election; the recommendation was approved. Those being inducted at the ASCI Dinner and New Member Induction Ceremony on April 24, 2015, are listed below.

 

Last, voters approved a revision to the bylaws to shorten the selection timeline of the Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and to coordinate selection with the ASCI’s annual meeting. Changes to the bylaws require a 75% affirmative vote and at least 40% of Active members must have voted; 59% of Active members voted, and 92% of the voters approved the revision.

Elected members, 2015

Aghi, Manish K.

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Amaravadi, Ravi Kumar

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Anolik, Jennifer Howitt

University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry
Arias, Cesar A.

University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Bangalore, Sripal

New York University School of Medicine
Bennett-Guerrero, Elliott

Duke University Medical Center
Benzing, Thomas

University of Cologne
Bernstein, Bradley E.

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Blelloch, Robert

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Bottini, Nunzio

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology
Brentjens, Renier Joseph

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Chugh, Sumeet S.

Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Chung, Wendy K.

Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
Daldrup-Link, Heike Elisabeth

Stanford University School of Medicine
de Lemos, James A.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
DeMatteo, Ronald P.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Fearon, William F.

Stanford University School of Medicine
Fessler, Michael Brian

National Institutes of Health
Fitzgerald, Daniel W.

Weill Cornell Medical College
Fon, Edward A.

Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University
Fong, Lawrence

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Frank, Natasha Y.

Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Gazzaley, Adam

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Gottschalk, Stephen Max Gerhard

Baylor College of Medicine
Graham, Douglas K

University of Colorado School of Medicine
Guo, Ming

University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine
Guttman-Yassky, Emma

Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Halpern, Scott D.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Hershman, Dawn L.

Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
Hunninghake, Gary Matthew

Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Iacobuzio-Donahue, Christine A.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Ix, Joachim H.

University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Kahn, Jeremy M.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Kalinski, Pawel

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Kaplitt, Michael G.

Weill Cornell Medical College
Kaufmann, Daniel E.

University de Montreal Faculty of Medicine
Kimmelman, Alec C.

Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Kumanogoh, Atsushi

Osaka University
Lazaridis, Konstantinos N.

Mayo Clinic
Le, Lu Q.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Lee, Vivian S.

University of Utah School of Medicine
Lichterfeld, Mathias

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Lipkin, Steven M.

Weill Cornell Medical College
Luznik, Leo

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Mempel, Thorsten R.

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Nadeau, Kari C.

Stanford University School of Medicine
Nallamothu, Brahmajee K.

University of Michigan Medical School
Noble, Suzanne M.

University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Nobrega, Marcelo A.

University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
Peti-Peterdi, Janos

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Post, Wendy S.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Rajagopal, Jayaraj

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Rajagopalan, Sanjay

University of Maryland School of Medicine
Ram, Sanjay

University of Massachusetts Medical School
Rhee, Kyu Y.

Weill Cornell Medical College
Rowe, Steven Mark

University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
Sadek, Hesham A.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Seki, Ekihiro

University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Shivkumar, Kalyanam

University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine
Smith, David M.

University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine
Steinbach, William

Duke University School of Medicine
Stoltz, David A.

University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Stuart, Lynda Maria

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Tavazoie, Sohail F.

Rockefeller University
Temel, Jennifer G.

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Tewari, Muneesh

University of Michigan Medical School
Velculescu, Victor E.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Verma, Amit K.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Verstovsek, Srdan

University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Wagner, Kathryn R.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Williams, Christopher S.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Winkelmayer, Wolfgang C.

Baylor College of Medicine
Woo, Minna

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
Yeh, Jen Jen

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Zaoutis, Theoklis E.

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

The 2015 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine: Douglas R. Lowy, MD

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Harrington Discovery Institute and The American Society for Clinical Investigation honor National Cancer Institute’s researcher Douglas R. Lowy, MD

Dr. Lowy

The second annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been awarded to oncologist and researcher Douglas R. Lowy, MD, Chief, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology, and Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute.

The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals (UH) in Cleveland, Ohio and The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors a physician-scientist who has moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.

Dr. Lowy is being recognized for his key discoveries that led to development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cancer. The vaccine developed by Dr. Lowy (in collaboration with Merck and GlaxoSmithKline), and approved by the FDA in 2006, was the first licensed vaccine to prevent cancer by guarding against the sexually transmitted infection that causes the disease. It is estimated that the HPV vaccine can afford close to 100% protection and thus Dr. Lowy’s research has the potential to prevent virtually all of the many cancers caused by HPV.

It is estimated that one out of every six cancers worldwide is caused by infection, with HPV leading to more cancers than any other virus. Infection by HPV causes virtually all cervical cancers, the third deadliest cancer in women worldwide, as well as a high percentage of vaginal, oropharyngeal and other cancers.

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving than Doug Lowy to receive The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine,” said Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Through his leadership in the development of the HPV vaccine, Doug has made profound contributions to the prevention of cervical cancer. He continues to seek ways to reduce the burden of this disease in developing countries.”

“Dr. Lowy is an exemplary physician-scientist. His research with former trainee John Schiller helped to identify key aspects of the biology of HPV that guided development and ultimately FDA approval for a vaccine that has significantly improved human health globally,” said Mukesh K. Jain, MD, Scientific Director of the Harrington Discovery Institute and current President of the ASCI.

A committee composed of members of the ASCI Council and the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board reviewed more than 60 nominations from eight countries before selecting Dr. Lowy as the recipient.

“We are pleased to join with the ASCI to honor Dr. Lowy and his team’s remarkable contribution to medicine,” said Jonathan Stamler, MD, Director of the Harrington Discovery Institute and the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Innovation at UH Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “Dr. Lowy has made a difference and thus serves as a role model for all of us hoping to see our discoveries advanced into medicines that impact the lives of our patients.”

In addition to receiving a $20,000 honorarium, Dr. Lowy will deliver the Harrington Prize Lecture at the 2015 ASCI and Association of American Physicians Joint Meeting on April 24, and publish a review in the April issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Lowy received his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine. Between 1970 and 1973, he was a research associate in the Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH. He trained in internal medicine at Stanford University and dermatology at Yale University, and started his laboratory at the NCI in 1975.

In addition to his own research, Dr. Lowy is a leader in promoting public health issues related to HPV-associated diseases, especially cervical cancer in developing nations. He is an effective advocate for sustainable comprehensive cervical cancer control in the developing world.

He is an elected member to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and is recipient of numerous awards and honors including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama in 2014. Dr. Lowy has or currently serves as a member of many scientific editorial boards, advisory boards and grant committees.

The first recipient of the Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine was Dr. Harry Dietz, a pediatric cardiologist and genetics researcher from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The Prize recognized Dr. Dietz’s contributions to the understanding of biology and treatment of aortic aneurysms and other connective tissue disorders.

The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the nation’s oldest and most respected medical honor societies. The ASCI is dedicated to the advancement of research that extends the understanding and improves the treatment of human diseases, and its members are committed to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists.

The Harrington Discovery Institute, part of a national initiative unveiled in February 2012 called The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development, is a nonprofit medical institute dedicated to physician-scientists, enabling them to transform breakthrough insights into novel therapies that enhance patient care. The Harrington Project is fueled by $250 million in donations and other funding, including $50 million from the Harrington Family.

About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio with 25,000 employees, serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of 15 hospitals, 29 outpatient health centers and primary care physician offices in 15 counties. At the core of our $3.5 billion health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ranked among America’s 50 best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in all 12 methodology-ranked specialties. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women’s health, orthopaedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, transplantation and genetics. Its main campus includes UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women’s Hospital, Ohio’s only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org

The 2015 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Louis J. Ptáček, MD

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Louis J. Ptáček

Louis J. Ptáček, MD, is the 2015 recipient of the American Society for Clinical Investigation’s Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award for research leading to the development of the field of ion channel defects, known commonly as channelopathies.

During his time as a neurology resident at the University of Utah, Dr. Ptáček became interested in epilepsy and migraine because they are episodic in nature and very common. He also encountered a patient who, along with other members of her family, experienced temporary paralysis after physical exertion. He proposed this disease (and others like it) to be a good model for the abnormal electrical excitability in seizure and headache: compared with migraine and epilepsy, this muscle disease has a simpler and strongly genetic phenotype. In the early 1990s, he identified a mutation in a gene that caused abnormal electrical signaling and dysfunctional muscle contraction. Specifically, the defective gene encodes channels in the walls of muscle cells failing to properly transport sodium ions. Dr. Ptáček has since identified genes that produce the ion channel defects behind many related inherited muscle diseases, cardiac arrhythmias, and other disorders.

More recently, Dr. Ptáček and collaborators were the first to identify genes in humans responsible for regulating the circadian rhythm and sleep systems. This work has opened avenues to improved understanding of the similarity between the internal clocks of humans and other organisms, and has allowed investigation into the potential relationship between circadian system pathologies and those present in channelopathies.

Dr. Ptáček received his MD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1986, and completed his residency in neurology at the University of Utah in 1990. Afterward, he performed postdoctoral studies in human genetics at the University of Utah. Dr. Ptáček currently holds the John C. Coleman Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he is also Director of the Neurogenetics Program. He has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator since 1997.

Dr. Ptáček was elected to the ASCI in 2000, to the Institute of Medicine in 2007, to the Association of American Physicians in 2009, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012.

Related

Louis Ptáček receives the 2015 ASCI/Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award in the Journal of Clinical Investigation

Call for Council nominations, 2015

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The ASCI is seeking nominations for vacancies on the 2015-2018 Council (all terms of office are three years): Vice President (which ascends to the Presidency in year three) and two Councilor positions.

All Council members are expected to support the activities of and attend the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting, and to participate in the general governance of the Society, including conference calls and review of administrative and other issues. All Council members participate in the review of membership nominations. There are two in-person meetings of the Council: in the Fall (usually in November) and in the Spring, at the start of each year’s ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting.

The Vice President transitions to President-Elect in year two and President in year three. For the last two years of the term and an ex-officio fourth year, this member is expected to participate significantly in matters related to the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting. In the Presidential year, the member convenes a face-to-face meeting and oversees related membership-nomination reviewing processes. The President works closely with the Association of American Physicians to create the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting program, and the member presents the traditional Presidential Address at the meeting.

The Council is supported by an Executive Director and a Managing Director, who oversee the day-to-day operations of the Society and effect initiatives as directed by the Council.

Members who will be 55 or younger in 2018 are eligible for nomination. Nominations must be submitted by members online through November 14, 2014, and consist of a 250-word summary of accomplishments accompanied by an NIH-style brief biosketch (PDF only).

Access your member account for further information, including a list of eligible members.

The ASCI’s 2014 Young Physician-Scientist Awards

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The ASCI Council congratulates the 33 recipients of its 2014 Young Physician-Scientist Awards, whose work was recognized at the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting Poster Session, April 26, 2014.

Recipient Institution
Jason Andrews, MD Stanford University School of Medicine
Justin R. Bailey, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
David Barbie, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Sami Barmada, MD, PhD University of Michigan
Daniel E. Bauer, MD, PhD Boston Children’s Hospital
Trevor Burt, MD University of California, San Francisco
Ping Chi, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Matthew M. Churpek, MD, MPH, PhD University of Chicago
Ajai Dandekar, MD, PhD University of Washington
Andrew Dauber, MD, MMSc Boston Children’s Hospital
Marco L. Davila, MD, PhD Vanderbilt University
Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD Yale University School of Medicine
Joshua A. Englert, MD Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Jorge L. Gamboa, MD, PhD Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Don Gibbons, MD, PhD University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Anna Greka, MD, PhD Harvard Medical School
Alan Hanash, MD, PhD Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Mark Hatley, MD, PhD St Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Mohit Jain, MD, PhD University of California, San Diego
Brian S. Kim, MD Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Conor Liston, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Randy Longman, MD, PhD Weill Cornell Medical College
Ann Mullally, MD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Eirini Papapetrou, MD, PhD University of Washington
Sudarshan Rajagopal, MD, PhD Duke University Medical Center
Stacey Rentschler, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine
Andrew Rhim, MD University of Michigan
Matthew Riese, MD, PhD Medical College of Wisconsin
Chetan Seshadri, MD University of Washington
Anthony Shum, MD University of California, San Francisco
Emily K. Sims, MD Indiana University School of Medicine
Scott Soleimanpour, MD University of Michigan Medical School
Stephanie B. Troy, MD Eastern Virginia Medical School

The 2014 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine: Harry C. Dietz, MD

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Harrington Discovery Institute and the American Society for Clinical Investigation honor Johns Hopkins Pediatric Cardiologist and Geneticist Harry C. Dietz, MD

Harry Dietz

The inaugural Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been awarded to pediatric cardiologist and genetics researcher Harry Dietz, MD, of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established this year by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), is a $20,000 honorarium that recognizes a physician-scientist who has successfully navigated the path to advance discovery into clinical application.

Dr. Dietz became a scientist as well as a pediatrician to better care for young patients with Marfan syndrome, a rare and potentially fatal connective tissue disease that enlarges the aorta, leading it to tear or burst. Dr. Dietz’s work provided new insights into the origins of the disease, which motivated clinical trials under his direction with commonly available medication. Children with Marfan syndrome have thus been offered new hope for longer and healthier lives. Dr. Dietz has also inspired research that may lead to a blood test to detect aortas at risk for rupture so that surgery can be timed appropriately.

“The extraordinary dedication and creative thought of Dr. Dietz has led to groundbreaking progress in understanding aortic aneurysms and connective tissue disorders,” said Peter Tontonoz, MD, PhD, the 2013 – 2014 President of the ASCI. “He and his team took basic genetic science and found a promising therapeutic agent – a commonly prescribed blood-pressure medication – that prevents aortic aneurysms from forming that will improve the quality of life and save thousands of lives each year.”

A committee composed of members of the ASCI Council and the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board reviewed more than 60 nominations from eight countries before selecting Dr. Dietz as the recipient. This year’s award acknowledges Dr. Dietz’s “bedside to bench and back” efforts that have led to fundamental new insights into the biology of Marfan syndrome and related disorders, and the development of therapies to improve care standards.

“We are so pleased to join with the ASCI to honor Harry and his team’s remarkable work that has changed the way people think about Marfan syndrome as well as the quality of life of young children with the disease,” said Jonathan Stamler, MD, Director of the Harrington Discovery Institute and the Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Distinguished Chair in Cardiovascular Innovation at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “Harry has made a difference and serves as a role model for all of us hoping to see our discoveries advanced into medicines that impact the lives of our patients.”

In addition to a $20,000 prize honorarium, Dr. Dietz will deliver the Harrington Prize Lecture at the 2014 ASCI and Association of American Physicians joint meeting on April 26 and publish a review in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Dietz is the Victor A. McKusick Professor of Genetics in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Molecular Biology and Genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research.

The Harrington Prize, presented by the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, honors a physician-scientist who has moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.

The Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, part of a national initiative unveiled in February 2012 called The Harrington Project, is a nonprofit medical institute dedicated to physician-scientists, enabling them to transform breakthrough insights into novel therapies that enhance patient care. The Harrington Project is fueled by $250 million in donations and other funding, including $50 million from the Harrington Family.
Learn more about The Harrington Project.

The 2014 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Beth Levine, MD

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Beth Levine

Photo credit: Brian Coats for UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Beth Levine, MD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, professor, and director of the Center for Autophagy Research at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), is the recipient of the 2014 American Society for Clinical Investigation’s Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award. The award recognizes Dr. Levine’s fundamental contributions to our understanding of autophagy — literally, “self-eating” — a housecleaning process in which cells destroy damaged proteins and organelles.

Inspired by Stanley Korsmeyer’s co-discovery of Bcl-2 as a B cell lymphoma oncogene, Dr. Levine began her independent research career by searching for proteins that interacted with Bcl-2. These experiments led to the identification of a gene she termed Bcl-2 interacting protein, or beclin 1, and her subsequent characterization of beclin 1 opened the molecular era of disease-related autophagy research. Dr. Levine showed that beclin 1 is an essential mammalian autophagy gene and important for preventing many tumors. One copy of the gene is lost in about of half of human breast and ovarian cancers; beclin 1 prevents lung cancer, liver cancers, and B cell lymphomas in mice; and Bcl-2 and other oncogenes inactivate beclin 1. Dr. Levine demonstrated how Akt, a gene in the insulin-signaling pathway that is activated in many cancers, inhibits autophagy by inactivating beclin 1, allowing unregulated tumor cell growth. More recently, her laboratory showed that the epidermal growth factor receptor — which is expressed at abnormally high levels by many types of cancer cells — deactivates autophagy by binding beclin 1, leading to increased rates of tumor growth and chemotherapy resistance in non-small cell lung carcinomas.

Dr. Levine’s work has also revealed the crucial role of autophagy in defense against intracellular pathogens. Her group showed that autophagy genes protect against lethal alphavirus encephalitis and Salmonella typhimurium infection, and found that a herpes simplex virus neurovirulence factor acts by antagonizing beclin 1. Furthermore, her work suggests that beclin 1 and the autophagy pathway slow the progress of neurodegenerative diseases, increase lifespan, and underlie the beneficial effects of exercise on glucose metabolism.

Recently, Dr. Levine and her colleagues identified an autophagy-inducing peptide, called Tat-beclin 1. Mice treated with this peptide are resistant to several infectious diseases. In additional experiments, the team demonstrated that human cells treated with Tat-beclin 1 are resistant to HIV infection and are more efficient at clearing mutant huntingtin protein aggregates. The peptide may thus have therapeutic potential in the prevention and treatment of a broad range of human diseases. Dr. Levine’s current research focuses on the role of autophagy in normal development and aging, the mechanisms by which autophagy genes suppress tumors, biochemical mechanisms that regulate beclin 1, and the role of autophagy in infection and exercise physiology.

Dr. Levine received her M.D. from Cornell University, completed a residency at Mount Sinai Hospital, and did postdoctoral training in infectious diseases and the neurobiology of viral pathogens at Johns Hopkins University. She was director of Virology Research at Columbia University from 1994 to 2004, and thereafter joined the UT Southwestern faculty. She holds the Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science. Dr. Levine was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2000, the Association of American Physicians in 2006, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.

Related

Beth Levine receives the 2014 ASCI/Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award in the Journal of Clinical Investigation

The ASCI’s 2013 Young Physician-Scientist Awards

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The ASCI Council recognizes the 26 recipients of its inaugural Young Physician-Scientist Awards, who presented their work at the ASCI/AAP Joint Meeting Poster Session, April 27, 2013.

2013 Young Physician-Scientist Award abstracts
Awardee Institution
Edward M. Behrens, MD The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Kathrin Maria Bernt, MD Children’s Hospital Colorado/University of Colorado Denver
Maneesh Bhargava, MD University of Minnesota
John M. Brehm, MD Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC / University of Pittsburgh
Carolyn S. Calfee, MD, MAS University of California, San Francisco
Philip A. Chan, MD, MS Brown University
Scott P. Commins, MD, PhD University of Virginia Health System
Edward Vincent Faustino, MD Yale University School of Medicine
Alexander G. Fiks, MD, MSCE The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Brian Barkley Graham, MD University of Colorado Denver
J. Anthony Graves, PhD, MD Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
Steven K. Huang, MD University of Michigan
Ania Magdalena Jastreboff, MD, PhD Yale University School of Medicine
Qing Li, MD, PhD University of Michigan
Jill Lamanna Maron, MD, MPH Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center
Tobias A. Neff, MD Children’s Hospital Colorado/University of Colorado Denver
Shetal H. Padia, MD University of Virginia Health System
Matthew T. Rondina, MD University of Utah
Lauren Hachmann Sansing, MD University of Connecticut Health Center
Carla Rose Scanzello, MD, PhD Rush University Medical Center
Jennifer Lynn Sherr, MD, PhD Yale University School of Medicine
Neal J. Sondheimer, MD, PhD The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Jason Zachariah Stoller, MD The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Andrew W. Tai, MD, PhD University of Michigan
Dawn Marie Wetzel, MD, PhD Yale University School of Medicine
Bryan Williams, MD, PhD University of Minnesota

The 2013 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Bruce Beutler, MD

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Bruce Beutler

Photo credit: Brian Coats for UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Bruce Beutler, MD, director of the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, is the recipient of the 2013 American Society for Clinical Investigation’s Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, in recognition of his contributions to the field of innate immunity. Dr. Beutler was the first to isolate mouse tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and he established that TNF acts as a key executor of the inflammatory response. He designed a recombinant inhibitor of TNF, which as etanercept became widely used in clinical practice for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease.

Between 1993 and 1998, he used a classical genetic approach to identify the mammalian lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor. While at UT Southwestern in 1986, his laboratory discovered the LPS receptor and with it the function of the mammalian Toll-like receptors (TLRs). This 10-member protein family functions in the sensing of infection and when overactive leads to illnesses such as septic shock and systemic lupus erythematosus. For this discovery, he shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

The 2013 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award recognizes Dr. Beutler’s continued leadership and scientific contributions since his seminal work on TLRs. Moving to the Scripps Research Institute in 2000, he developed an innovative mouse mutagenesis program and applied a forward genetic approach to decipher the signaling pathways activated by TLRs. His laboratory then used this screen to identify many other molecules with non-redundant function in the immune response. Notable among these were TRIF (the adaptor protein responsible for MyD88-independent TLR signaling) and Unc93b1, a protein needed for signaling by all the nucleic acid sensing TLRs, mutations of which are implicated in recurrent herpes simplex encephalitis in human patients. His many trainees have gone on to successful independent positions and, like their mentor, focus on immunological questions in the most rigorous fashion.

Elected to the ASCI in 1990, Dr. Beutler is a recipient of numerous honors, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego, in 1976 and his medical degree from the University of Chicago in 1981. After medical school, he completed residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, studying internal medicine and neurology. He was a postdoctoral fellow and an assistant professor at the Rockefeller University (1983-1986) before returning to UT Southwestern in 1986.

Beginning in 2000, he moved his laboratory to the Scripps Research Institute, where he served as the chair of the Department of Genetics. Dr. Beutler returned to UT Southwestern in 2011 to direct the Center for the Genetics of Host Defense. He holds the Raymond and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research in honor of Laverne and Raymond Willie, Sr.

Related

Bruce Beutler wins the 2013 ASCI/Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award in the Journal of Clinical Investigation