John Hawley, Author at The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Nominations open for the 2025 ASCI / Scharschmidt~Crawford Distinguished Lectureship and Award

Posted on September 6, 2024October 15, 2024 by John Hawley

Nominations for the ASCI’s 2025 Bruce F. Scharschmidt & Peggy S. Crawford Translational Medicine Distinguished Lectureship and Award are now open.

The Award recognizes those who have made important contributions to the development of high-impact diagnostics or therapeutics for patients. The Awardee delivers the Scharschmidt~Crawford Distinguished Lectureship at the annual AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting and receives an unrestricted $20,000 honorarium. Drs. Scharschmidt and Crawford have pledged a very generous philanthropic gift to the ASCI to fully endow the Award, the first of which will be presented at the 2025 Joint Meeting, April 25-27.

Any person with an MD or equivalent, regardless of ASCI membership, is eligible for nomination. However, current ASCI Council members may not be nominated.

The deadline for receipt of nominations is October 31, 2024, at 11:59 pm Eastern (extended from October 23). Nominations will be screened to ensure they are complete and fit the nomination criteria. The Council reviews nominations, with the outcome of review expected in December 2024.

Nominators:

may be any ASCI member in good standing, including members of the Council, and
must provide a statement (250-word limit) regarding the nominee.

Nominees:

may be any person with an MD or equivalent, regardless of ASCI membership, but excluding members of the Council;
must be able to attend the 2025 Joint Meeting, April 25-27, in Chicago;
must provide a 500-word-limit description of their contributions to the development of high-impact diagnostics or therapeutics for patients;
must provide a full curriculum vitae;
must complete the ASCI’s demographic survey; and
must provide information regarding their research domain(s).

To start a nomination:

Nominations may be started by the nominator or the nominee:

Access your member account
Go to the “Activities / nominations” tab
Go to the section for “ASCI / Scharschmidt~Crawford Distinguished Lectureship and Award”

For the nominator:

Select “I’m the nominator” option
Search for your nominee
Click on “Start nomination”
If the nominee has not already claimed her/his part of the nomination, click on “Send nominee information to access the nominee’s part of the nomination” to send the nominee an email to access and edit her/his aspect of the nomination (see above).
Supply the required information (see above)
Submit this aspect of the nomination

For the nominee:

… if the nominee is an ASCI member:

Select “I’m the nominee” option
Supply the required information (see above)
Submit this aspect of the nomination

… if the nominee is not ASCI member, the nominee can email staff@the-asci.org to have a nomination set up by staff.

Announcing the Scharschmidt~Crawford Translational Medicine Distinguished Lectureship and Award

Posted on August 28, 2024September 12, 2025 by John Hawley

The ASCI is honored to announce a new recognition for its community: the Bruce F. Scharschmidt & Peggy S. Crawford Translational Medicine Distinguished Lectureship and Award, which recognizes important contributions to the development of high-impact diagnostics or therapeutics for patients.

The Awardee delivers the Scharschmidt~Crawford Distinguished Lectureship at the annual AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting and receives an unrestricted $20,000 honorarium. Drs. Scharschmidt and Crawford have pledged a very generous philanthropic gift to the ASCI to fully endow the Award, the first of which will be presented at the 2025 Joint Meeting.

About Drs. Scharschmidt and Crawford

Dr. Scharschmidt was elected to the ASCI in 1982. He served as the 1987-1992 Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and as the ASCI’s 1992-1993 President. He attended Northwestern University’s Undergraduate School and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine (NUFSM) and finished his postgraduate training at the National Institutes of Health and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He then served as Professor of Medicine and Chief of Gastroenterology at UCSF, where he and colleagues launched the UCSF liver-transplant program. In 1996 he was recruited to Chiron to head clinical development and biometrics. He was most recently Chief Medical and Development Officer at Hyperion Therapeutics where he oversaw the development of glycerol phenylbutyrate (GPB), an ammonia-lowering agent, which was approved for the treatment of urea-cycle disorders and which achieved success in a phase 2 trial for hepatic encephalopathy.

Dr. Scharschmidt has authored over 200 research and review articles, is inventor/co-inventor on multiple patents, and has published several children’s picture books intended as a fun and early introduction to science. He served as Editor of Sleisenger & Fordtran’s Textbook of Gastroenterology, on the National Board of Directors of the American Liver Foundation, on the President’s Council of UCSF’s J. David Gladstone Institutes, and as mentor to colleagues in academia and industry. He served on the External Advisory Board for the NUFSM Clinical and Translational Science Award (2008-2021), was named Distinguished NUFSM Alumnus in 2010, served as President of the NUFSM Medical Alumni Board (2015-2017), and received the prestigious Service to Northwestern Award in 2018. He has raised over $100,000 for multiple foundations, including the American Liver Foundation, the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (a Myanmar welfare organization for which he and his son organized a fund-raiser bike ride from central Thailand to the Myanmar border), and the National Urea Cycle Disorders Foundation.

Dr. Crawford has devoted her career to the care of her patients and mentoring the next generation of dermatologists. She graduated from Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where she also completed a rotating medical internship. She did further post-graduate training with Dr. Steven Katz in the Dermatology Branch of the NIH and completed her Dermatology Residency at UCSF. Afterward, she joined the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group of Northern California. She has served as Clinical Professor of Dermatology on the UCSF volunteer faculty, where she helped mentor and teach a generation of UCSF dermatology residents.

Dr. Crawford has been recognized multiple times as Community Faculty Awardee of the Year by the dermatology residents at UCSF, where she served as member and Chair of the Clinical Faculty Promotions Committee. She has also served on the Board of The Women’s Dermatologic Society, has been an awardee of the Mediterranean Academy of Women in Dermatology, and is a recipient of the Dermatology Foundation’s prestigious Clark W. Finnerud Award, given annually to one U.S. dermatologist who demonstrates exemplary service as a practitioner and teacher.

Drs. Scharschmidt and Crawford have two children: Brent Scharschmidt, MD, is a family medicine physician at the Permanente Medical Group of Northern California and Tiffany Scharschmidt, MD (elected to the ASCI in 2024), is Professor in the UCSF Department of Dermatology, where she currently serves as Vice Chair for Research.

Oliver Eickelberg, MD, elected as 2024-2029 JCI Insight Editor in Chief

Posted on August 19, 2024August 19, 2024 by John Hawley

Dr. Eickelberg

Oliver Eickelberg, MD, has been elected as the 2024-2029 JCI Insight Editor in Chief. He succeeds Dr. Kathleen L. Collins, who has served as the journal’s second Editor in Chief from September 2019. Please join the ASCI Council in extending gratitude to Dr. Collins and her Editorial Board for their service to the journal and the ASCI community, along with best wishes to Dr. Eickelberg and his Editorial Board as they assume leadership of JCI Insight on September 1.

Dr. Eickelberg is the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Professor of Pulmonary Research and Executive Vice Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He was elected to the ASCI in 2018. Dr. Eickelberg’s full Editorial Board will include more than 30 members drawn from the University of Pittsburgh faculty, including several early-stage investigator Associate Editors, a new initiative for the journal. The Deputy Editors for Dr. Eickelberg’s Editorial Board will be:

Toren Finkel, MD, PhD (ASCI, 2002), Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology; G. Nicholas Beckwith III and Dorothy B. Beckwith Chair in Translational Medicine; and Director, Aging Institute;
Alison Morris, MD, MS (2013), Professor of Medicine, Immunology, and Clinical and Translational Research; Division Chief, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine; Director, Center for Medicine and the Microbiome; and UPMC Chair in Translational Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine;
Anne Marie Lennon, MD, PhD (2020), Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine; and
Stephen Y. Chan, MD, PhD (2016), Professor of Medicine; Vitalant Chair in Vascular Medicine; Director of the Vascular Medicine Institute and of the Center for Pulmonary Vascular Biology and Disease; and Associate Chief of Cardiology for Basic Research.

Dr. Benjamin Humphreys, the 2023-24 ASCI President, served as the chair of the Editor Selection Committee that recommended Dr. Eickelberg for the role. “He presented a compelling vision for leading JCI Insight, and he assembled a great team to implement it,” Dr. Humphreys said.

The Committee’s recommendation was presented to the ASCI Council, the leadership body of the ASCI, which approved it for vote by the ASCI’s Active members. Of these members, almost 39% submitted their ballots, with 96% voting to confirm the election of Dr. Eickelberg. The ballot was audited by the Dr. Elizabeth Speliotes, the ASCI’s Secretary-Treasurer, and two voters selected at random who volunteered their time: Drs. Andrew Pieper and Lei Zheng.

Nominations for Active and International membership, 2025

Posted on July 22, 2024September 8, 2024 by John Hawley

Nominations for Active and International membership for 2025 are open and may be submitted through the deadline of September 16, 2024, 11:59 pm Eastern (extended from September 11). All participants in a nomination should carefully review the information below. Send questions to staff@the-asci.org.

Navigate to section:

About this cycle

Nominees for Active and International membership:

must be physicians who have “accomplished meritorious original, creative, and independent investigations in the clinical or allied sciences of medicine” and who enjoy “unimpeachable moral standing in the medical profession” (as stated in the ASCI bylaws);
may not be nominated more than three times; and
must be age 50 or younger on January 1, 2025.

Proposers are discouraged from nominating those whose qualifications may not be sufficiently advanced, or from re-nominating a candidate if the candidate’s work has changed little since their previous nominations.

The ASCI Council reviews nominations and may recommend up to 100 Active and International nominees for election. The Council presents the recommended nominee group to Active and Senior members to approve by vote. Those elected for 2025 will be recognized at the ASCI’s annual Dinner and New Member Induction Ceremony, April 25, 2025, as part of the 2025 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 25-27, at the Swissôtel Chicago.

Note that Council members may not serve in any capacity regarding nominations.

Nomination preparation guidance and instructions

A nomination requires one Proposer and one Seconder, both of whom must be ASCI members in good standing and (if applicable) current in Society dues. General Supporters are optional and are not required to be ASCI members. Note that Emeritus members may participate in any of these roles.

Note: A nominee may request that the nomination be set up for her/his editing by sending an email to staff@the-asci.org; if a Proposer has been identified, provide that person’s name in the request.

There is no limit to the number of nominations a member can propose or support (either as Seconder or General Supporter).

The Proposer is ideally from an institution different from the nominee’s institution (although this is not required) and should have a good understanding of the nominee’s work. The Proposer is responsible for:

starting the nomination (see “ASCI account access” below);
granting access to the nominee to edit certain sections of the nomination (see detail in “Nomination sections” below); note that granting access is required, as demographic information can be supplied only by the nominee;
providing the “Proposer’s general statement on the nominee” (500-word limit) and “Statement on progress and development since previous nomination” (if applicable, 500-word limit);
ensuring that the nomination is accurate and complete; and
submitting the nomination.

Nominees can, when granted access, edit sections of the nomination except those exclusive to the Proposer. Only the nominee can provide demographic information, including research domain(s).

The Seconder is ideally from an institution different from the nominee’s institution (although this is not required) and should have a good understanding of the nominee’s work. The Seconder is responsible for completing and submitting a form that includes:

scores for the areas enumerated in the form;
comments (500-word limit) that supplement, but do not duplicate, information provided by the Proposer and deal specifically with the nominee’s original scientific contributions; and
a description of the relationship to the nominee.

General Supporters (not required; limited to 3 per nomination) may help to provide additional context for a nominee’s contributions, and to demonstrate wider support for the nominee beyond the candidate’s own institution, particularly if the Proposer and Seconder of a nomination are from the nominee’s institution. Anyone (including any ASCI member except those on the ASCI Council) may serve as a General Supporter. The General Supporter completes and submits a form that includes:

scores for the areas enumerated in the form;
comments (250-word limit) that supplement, but do not duplicate, information provided by the Proposer or the Seconder and deal specifically with the nominee’s original scientific contributions; and
description of the relationship to the nominee.

A nomination support template may be referenced in order to aid in drafting comments. Please note, however:

General Supporters who are ASCI members should complete and submit the required information online through their member accounts (see “ASCI account access”).
General Supporters who are not ASCI members should request that the Proposer add them to the nomination. The Proposer is then able to send an email containing information about accessing the support form on the ASCI website.

ASCI account access

Access your account
Go to the “Activities / nominations” tab, navigate to the “Active and International membership” section, and click on Search for a nominee.
Enter the nominee’s last name (you may enter a partial name):
- If the nominee is found, you’ll be prompted to select your role if available: Proposer, Seconder, or General Supporter.
- If the nominee isn’t found, provide the requested information to add the nominee and start the nomination by selecting your role (see bullet point immediately preceding).

Nomination sections

About the nominee
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information.
Nominee’s demographic information
— Only the nominee may edit this information.
The ASCI requests responses to questions in a brief, 9-section survey that will help provide the foundation for expanding diversity, fostering inclusion, and achieving equity in the ASCI. All response areas are voluntary, with a “Prefer not to answer” option available for each section. Anyone with access to person-specific information (such as ASCI leadership, members associated with review processes, and staff members) will be required to keep the information confidential. Depersonalized summary information of all response areas may be provided in periodic public reports.
Nominee’s research domain(s)
— Only the nominee may edit this information.
Nominee’s institutional affiliation
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information.
Support for nomination
— Only the Proposer has access to this section.
Proposers may attach the Seconder and General Supporters to the nomination by searching the ASCI member directory. For a supporter who is not an ASCI member, Proposers must supply the supporter’s name and email address in order to attach the person to the nomination. After supporters are attached to the nomination, Proposers are provided the ability to notify them regarding their support forms.
Nominee’s biography
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information.
Limited to 300 words, this brief summary of the nominee’s research and accomplishments will not be evaluated for review, but will be used to populate the nominee’s ASCI directory entry if the nominee is elected.
Documents
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information:
- Full academic curriculum vitae, including:
  - current funding (clearly indicate whether the nominee is a principal investigator),
  - past funding,
  - invited lectures,
  - patents, and
  - full bibliography (with original research separated from other types of publications and the nominee’s name presented in bold face).
- NIH-style biographical sketch (5-page limit), following the current format available at:
  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm
- A high-resolution headshot photograph (for use if the nominee is recommended for election)
- Three “Most significant publications,” excluding those representing work done by the nominee as a trainee. For each of these three files, an annotation is required and consists of two aspects:

- 1. Author list in the original publication sequence, with the nominee’s name in capital letters, followed by numbered notation of the nominee’s role in parentheses (1 = principal investigator, 2 = collaborator), title, journal name, volume, inclusive page numbers, year, and Pubmed ID (PMID). Example:
    “John Q. Public and JANE DOE (1). Title. Journal. 1:1-10 (2015). PMID 1234”
  2. A description (50-word limit) of the publication’s key findings and significance.

Seminal contribution(s)
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information.
Summarize the nominee’s defining seminal contribution(s) and why this work forms the basis for the nomination (75-word limit). Use of lay terminology is encouraged.
Proposer’s general statement on the nominee
— Only the Proposer has access to this section.
In the Proposer’s own words (500-word limit), describe the quality, originality, and impact of the nominee’s scientific work and the consistency and importance of the nominee’s research theme. Include a statement on the level of independence from the nominee’s mentor(s) and the nominee’s productivity and stature in the field.
- Proposers should expand upon the candidate’s seminal contribution(s), including the originality, novelty, and impact of this research on the field. Note any special circumstances (e.g., childbearing or personal/family illness) that influenced the candidate’s research activities.
- Information regarding major awards, invitations to give plenary lectures (especially at national and international meetings), and invitations to write chapters in major textbooks should be included as applicable — the quality and quantity of work are important factors.
Statement on progress and development since previous nomination
— Proposer and nominee may edit this information.
In the Proposer’s own words (500-word limit), describe the critical differences between this nomination and the previous nomination (if applicable).

Recipient of the 2024 Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Award: Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024 by John Hawley

Dr. Crews

The American Society for Clinical Investigation is pleased to recognize Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, as the recipient of the 2024 Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Award, for her scientific contributions to addressing disparities in the care and outcomes of kidney disease and hypertension. Dr. Crews, who will be recognized at the 2024 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, receives an honorarium of $10,000, and delivers a scientific talk at the 2025 meeting.

Dr. Crews is a nephrologist and epidemiologist and among the most influential researchers worldwide advancing kidney health equity. Her seminal studies (among >250 publications) show: low socioeconomic status (SES) differentially impacts CKD risk and associated mortality among Black versus White Americans; limited access to healthy foods and housing insecurity are potent risk factors for poor CKD outcomes; diet quality impacts CKD risk especially for minoritized persons with low SES; perceived discrimination is associated with progressive loss of kidney function; and functional status of older and low SES adults with kidney failure is improved through a novel home-based intervention. She led studies to define the optimal level of kidney function at which kidney replacement therapy should be initiated, contributing to reversal of the US practice of initiating dialysis in patients still with significant residual kidney function. She led a dietary intervention trial for Black adults with CKD, hypertension and low SES whose results could solidify dietary modification as recommended therapy for this population. She is deputy director of a model health equity research center and co-PI of two NIH center awards focused on advancing equity in kidney and cardio-metabolic diseases.

As a Black American descendant of enslaved people with a strong family history of kidney disease, I have devoted my career to improving the kidney health of people from socially marginalized groups and to advancing inclusive excellence in the biomedical workforce.

— Dr. Crews

Dr. Susan E. Quaggin nominated Dr. Crews for the Award, stating, “Her work has informed clinical guidelines and has catalyzed the study of social drivers of disparities in chronic kidney disease.” Dr. Quaggin emphasized the influence of Dr. Crews’ work and the accolades she has received for exceptional research, leadership, and mentorship, such as the Johns Hopkins University President’s Frontier Award, election to the National Academy of Medicine (2023), and the Distinguished Leader Award from the American Society of Nephrology, an organization for which Dr. Crews is the first Black president.

Dr. Crews earned her BA from the University of Virginia and her MD from Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She completed a nephrology fellowship and a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins, where she was selected as a Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program Scholar, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Crews is now Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She holds appointments in the School of Nursing; the Department of Epidemiology; the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research; the Center on Aging and Health; and the Center for Health Equity, where she is Deputy Director. She was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2020.

Recipient of the 2024 Marian W. Ropes, MD, Award: Renee Yuen-Jan Hsia, MD, MSc

Posted on March 25, 2024 by John Hawley

The American Society for Clinical Investigation is pleased to recognize Renee Yuen-Jan Hsia, MD, MSc, as the recipient of the 2024 ASCI/Marian W. Ropes, MD, Award, for her scientific contributions to understanding the relationship between access to emergency care and disparities in the health care system. Dr. Hsia, who will be recognized at the 2024 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, receives an honorarium of $10,000, and delivers a scientific talk at the 2025 meeting.

Dr. Hsia’s work has elucidated how market-driven imbalances in the supply and demand of emergency care produce preventable mortality and exacerbate underlying inequities. She investigates issues relating to population access to emergency departments and trauma centers; the distribution of emergency care across income areas; factors associated with closure of emergency services; how these closures affect patient outcomes, specifically focusing on patients with acute myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma/COPD, sepsis, and trauma; and the variation of costs and charges in the health care system.

My energy, and my passion, is rooted in daily encounters with patients who cannot access the benefits of our system as easily as others, and my work is based on a conviction that systems and structures must be considered carefully with attention to both efficiency and equity.

— Dr. Hsia

In nominating Dr. Hsia, Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz wrote, “In the ten years that I have known her, I have been privileged to see how her humanity is what ultimately drives her perseverance and capacity for critical analysis, as well as her unwavering commitment to studying issues that fundamentally contribute to the structural inequity of our health care system.” Dr. Krumholz noted Dr. Hsia’s highly cited academic research, which has also gained extensive attention in popular media.

Dr. Hsia received her BA from Princeton University and MSc from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She earned her MD at Harvard Medical School and completed an internship and residency at Stanford University. Dr. Hsia is now Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy; Vice Chair of Health Services Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine, where she was hired as the first woman researcher on a research track; and a member of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the UCSF Policy Lab of Acute Care and Emergencies (PLACE). As a clinician, she attends at the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, a county hospital where most indigent patients, along with documented and undocumented immigrants, receive care and where she regularly uses her skills in Cantonese, Mandarin, and Spanish. Dr. Hsia was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2019.

The 2024 Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine: Arlene H. Sharpe, MD, PhD

Posted on March 19, 2024June 26, 2025 by John Hawley

The eleventh annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been awarded to Arlene H. Sharpe, MD, PhD, Kolokotrones University Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. The award recognizes her breakthrough discoveries in immune regulation, which have established foundational principles in immunology and led to new cancer therapies that act by boosting the immune response to cancer.

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

Dr. Sharpe’s research in immunology has led to significant advances in medical treatments. Her work helped identify key pathways that restrain the activity of T lymphocytes (immune cells) to fight cancer. Her work defined the PD-1 pathway and its immunoinhibitory functions as well as the inhibitory functions of CTLA-4 to restrain the activity of the immune system.

Dr. Sharpe’s research thus laid the foundation for the development of ‘immune checkpoint inhibitors’, drugs that target PD-1 and related pathways. These therapies, including pembrolizumab and nivolumab, have been approved by the FDA for treating numerous types of cancer. They work by preventing inhibition of T cell function, thereby unleashing the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells more effectively. This approach has become a cornerstone in cancer treatment strategies.

“Dr. Sharpe’s body of work has shaped our understanding of the role of the T cell in regulating the immune response. Her innovative scientific discoveries are among the best examples of bench-to-bedside work in the past three decades,” said Benjamin D. Humphreys, MD, PhD, Joseph Friedman Professor of Renal Diseases in Medicine and Chief, Division of Nephrology, Washington University in St. Louis and 2023-2024 President of the ASCI.

“Immune checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that allow for dramatic remission, and even cures, of cancers that had previously been considered untreatable. Dr. Sharpe’s foundational insights have thus been harnessed to transform cancer therapy. Her work provides a beautiful example of physician impact through creative science,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.

A committee composed of members of the ASCI Council and the Harrington Discovery Institute Scientific Advisory Board reviewed nominations from leading academic medical centers globally before selecting the 2024 Harrington Prize recipient.

In addition to receiving the Prize’s $20,000 honorarium, Dr. Sharpe will deliver the Harrington Prize Lecture at the 2024 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting on April 5, will be a featured speaker at the 2024 Harrington Scientific Symposium May 22-23, and will publish an essay in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The Harrington Prize has recognized outstanding and diverse innovations in medicine:

2014: Harry Dietz, MD, Johns Hopkins University, for his contributions to the understanding of the biology and treatment of Marfan syndrome, a disorder leading to deadly aneurysms in children and adults.
2015: Douglas R. Lowy, MD, The National Cancer Institute, in recognition of his discoveries that led to the development of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
2016: Jeffrey M. Friedman, MD, PhD, The Rockefeller University, for his discovery of leptin, which controls feeding behavior and is used to treat related clinical disorders.
2017: Jointly awarded to Daniel J. Drucker, MD, Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada, Joel F. Habener, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Jens J. Holst, MD, DMSc, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, for their discovery of incretin hormones and for the translation of these findings into transformative therapies for major metabolic diseases such as diabetes.
2018: Helen H. Hobbs, MD, UT Southwestern Medical Center, for the discovery of the link between a gene mutation (PCSK9) and lower levels of LDL, which has improved the treatment of high cholesterol.
2019: Carl H. June, MD, University of Pennsylvania, for advancing the clinical application of CAR T therapy for cancer treatment, and for his sustained contributions to the field of cellular immunology.
2020: Stuart H. Orkin, MD, Harvard University, for breakthrough discoveries on red blood cells that offer new treatments for patients with sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, which are among the most common genetic disorders.
2021: Warren J. Leonard, MD, and John J. O’Shea, MD, NIH, for their respective contributions to the field of immunology, from fundamental discovery to therapeutic impact.
2022: James E. Crowe Jr., MD, and Michel C. Nussenzweig, MD, PhD, for their groundbreaking work, which has elucidated fundamental principles of the human immune response and enabled the use of human antibodies to treat COVID-19.
2023: Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, for their groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.

The 2024 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award: Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD

Posted on February 15, 2024September 26, 2024 by John Hawley

Dr. Chang

Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD, is the recipient of the 2024 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for his contributions to understanding long noncoding RNAs, which impact a variety of human health concerns, including cancer metastasis, human development, and aging.

Dr. Chang received a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Harvard College. He received his PhD in biology at MIT, followed by his MD at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chang completed a residency in Dermatology and a postdoctoral fellowship in Genomics with Patrick O. Brown, MD, PhD, at Stanford University.

Dr. Chang’s research has focused on mechanisms that coordinate the activities of a large number of genes involved in cell fate control, with a long-term goal to decipher regulatory information in the human genome for disease diagnosis and therapy.

To this end, his group first elucidated fibroblasts’ role in encoding the positional identity of skin cells via specific markings on their chromatin. These insights led to the discovery of an abundance of long intergenic noncoding RNAs that are involved in programming chromatin states, which control positional identity. This discovery opened the door for the development of methods to pinpoint master regulators of genetic positional programming, which have in turn resulted in new laboratory models, treatments, and biological understanding.

Dr. Chang is the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research, Professor of Dermatology and Genetics and, by courtesy, Professor of Pathology at Stanford University Medical Center. He is the Director of the NIH Center of Excellence in Genomic Science: Center for Personal Dynamic Regulome, and the Founding Director of the RNA Medicine Program at Stanford. Dr. Chang holds numerous patents and is Co-founder of several companies, including Accent Therapeutics, Cartography Biosciences, and Orbital Therapeutics. He has trained scores of individuals, many of whom are now faculty members, investigators and leaders in academia and industry.

Dr. Chang’s many contributions have been recognized through a number of awards including the the Alfred Marchionini Research Prize, Alfred Marchionini Foundation (2011), the Judson Daland Prize, American Philosophical Society (2014), and the NAS Award in Molecular Biology, National Academy of Science (2018). Dr. Chang has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2018, and was elected to the ASCI in 2009, the National Academy of Medicine in 2017, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

New Active and International members elected for 2024

Posted on December 18, 2023January 2, 2024 by John Hawley

The ASCI is pleased to announce the election of 100 Active and International members for 2024.

These new members come from 50 different institutions and represent excellence across the breadth of academic medicine. They will be officially inducted into the Society at the ASCI Dinner and New Member Induction Ceremony, April 5, 2024, as part of the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 5–7, at the Swissotel Chicago.

The 2024 Active and International members:

Member	Institution
Allison Lorna Agwu, MD, ScM	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Cristina Maria Alvira, MD	Stanford University School of Medicine
Liana Apostolova, MD, MSc	Indiana University School of Medicine
Pankaj Arora, MD, FAHA, FASE	University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
Ruanne Vanessa Barnabas, MBChB, MSc, DPhil	Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Miles Berger, MD, PhD	Duke University School of Medicine
Arthur Beyder, MD, PhD	Mayo Clinic
Mitesh Jivraj Borad, MD	Mayo Clinic
Angela R. Bradbury, MD	University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Jonathan D. Brown, MD	Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
James Edward Cassat, MD, PhD	Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Lilia Cervantes, MD, MSCS	University of Colorado School of Medicine
Lin Yee Chen, MBBS, MS	University of Minnesota Medical School
Matthew Aaron Ciorba, MD	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Scott M. Damrauer, MD	University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
John P. Dekker, MD, PhD	National Institutes of Health
Evan Samuel Dellon, MD, MPH	University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Robert Pickett Dickson, MD	University of Michigan Medical School
Nico Urs Felix Dosenbach, MD, PhD	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Vikas Dudeja, MBBS, FACS	University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine
Jeffrey D. Dvorin, MD, PhD	Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
E. Jennifer Edelman, MD, MHS	Yale School of Medicine
Susan D. Emmett, MD, MPH	University of Arkansas College of Medicine
Michelle Mae Estrella, MD, MHS	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Carmella Evans-Molina, MD, PhD	Indiana University School of Medicine
Amani A. Fawzi, MD, MSc, DSc	Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Courtney Dayle Fitzhugh, MD	NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Elizabeth E. Foglia, MD, MSCE	University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Karunesh Ganguly, MD, PhD	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Marcus DaSilva Goncalves, MD, PhD	Weill Cornell Medicine
Monika Kumari Goyal, MD, MSCE	George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Peter Christopher Grayson, MD, MSc	NIH, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Kira Gritsman, MD, PhD	Albert Einstein College of Medicine
David Sullivan Hains, MD, MBA	Indiana University School of Medicine
Brent A. Hanks, MD, PhD	Duke University Medical Center
Tamia A. Harris-Tryon, MD, PhD	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Jeffrey A. Haspel, MD, PhD	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Timothy Jensen Henrich, MD, MMSc	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Christian S. Hinrichs, MD	Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Jennifer En-Sian Ho, MD	Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Craig Michael Horbinski, MD, PhD	Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Christopher Simon Hourigan, DM, DPhil, FRCP	National Institutes of Health
Sohail Z. Husain, MD	Stanford University School of Medicine
Samar H. Ibrahim, MBChB	Mayo Clinic
Rodney Elwood Infante, MD, PhD	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Daniel J. Jackson, MD	University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Joanne Michelle Kahlenberg, MD, PhD	University of Michigan Medical School
Kiran Kaur Khush, MD, MAS, FACC	Stanford University School of Medicine
Betty Y.S. Kim, MD, PhD, FRCSC, FAANS	University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD	Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Justin Paul Kline, MD	University of Chicago Medical Center
Frederick Kofi Korley, MD, PhD	University of Michigan Medical School
Carl Koschmann, MD	University of Michigan Medical School
Elaine Ku, MD, MAS	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Li Lan, MD, PhD	Duke University School of Medicine
Charles Regis Langelier, MD, PhD	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
John Kyung Lee, MD, PhD	University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine
Jung-Min Lee, MD	NIH, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
JoAnna Kristine Leyenaar, MD, PhD, MPH	Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Kian-Huat Lim, MD, PhD	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Robert Coleman Lindsley, MD, PhD	Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Elizabeth Dawn Lowenthal, MD, MSCE	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Jeffrey A. Magee, MD, PhD	Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Steven E. Mansoor, MD, PhD	Oregon Health & Science University
Rozalina G. McCoy, MD, MS	University of Maryland School of Medicine
Reena Mehra, MD, MS	Cleveland Clinic
Madhav Chandrasekhar Menon, MD, MBBS	Yale School of Medicine
Jonathan J. Miner, MD, PhD	University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Kent William Mouw, MD, PhD	Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Nikhil Vilas Munshi, MD, PhD	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Samir Sunil Parekh, MD	Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Jonathan B. Parr, MD, MPH	University of North Carolina School of Medicine
William Hughes Peranteau, MD	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Craig Evan Pollack, MD, MHS	Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Read Pukkila-Worley, MD	University of Massachusetts Medical School
Babak Razani, MD, PhD	University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Armin Raznahan, MD, PhD, MRCPCH, MRCPsych	NIH, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Nadine Rouphael, MD, MSc, FSSCI, FIDSA	Emory University School of Medicine
Takeshi Saito, MD, PhD, FAGA	University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Matthew G. Sampson, MD, MSCE	Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
Tiffany C. Scharschmidt, MD	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
John Alexis Schneider, MD, MPH	University of Chicago Medical Center
Matthew Semler, MD, MSc	Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Amil Madhukar Shah, MD, MPH	University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
N. Sarita Shah, MD MPH	Emory University School of Medicine
Sanjiv J. Shah, MD	Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Benjamin David Singer, MD	Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Douglas R. Stewart, MD	NIH, National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Steve Myer Taylor, MD, MPH	Duke University School of Medicine
Zian Huan Tseng, MD, MAS	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Miguel Valderrabano, MD, PhD	Houston Methodist, Texas Medical Center
Sriram Venneti, MD, PhD	University of Michigan Medical School
Sushrut S. Waikar, MD, MPH	Boston University School of Medicine
Yinghong (Mimi) Wang, MD, PhD, MSc	University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Arun Paul Wiita, MD, PhD	University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
F. Perry Wilson, MD MSCE	Yale School of Medicine
Alexi A. Wright, MD, MPH	Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Rona D. Yaeger, MD	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Robert W. Yeh, MD, MSc, MBA	Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Jindan Yu, MD, PhD	Emory University School of Medicine

For the 2024 Active and International membership nomination cycle, the Council received and considered 302 nominations, from which it recommended 100 nominees (the maximum) for election. The Active, International, and Senior segments of the membership voted on the recommendation from November 29 through December 6, with 43% of eligible voters submitting their ballots. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of approving the recommendation. Dr. Elizabeth Speliotes, in her role as the ASCI’s 2023–2025 Secretary-Treasurer, oversaw auditing of the ballot. Drs. Benjamin Humphreys and Priscilla Hsue served as auditors.

Nominations for ASCI Council, 2024

Posted on December 8, 2023January 22, 2025 by John Hawley

The Society seeks nominations for the following ASCI Council vacancies arising in 2024 (all terms begin and end in the spring):

Vice President (4-year term, 2024-2028)
Secretary-Treasurer Elect (3-year term, 2024-2025; first year is Councilor position, transitioning to Secretary-Treasurer for years 2 and 3)
Councilor (one position, 3-year term, 2024-2027)

Those eligible for nomination must be in the Active category and:

for Vice President, do not turn 56 until 2029 or later
for other positions, do not turn 56 until 2028 or later

The Society strongly encourages members to consider diversity in identifying those suitable for nomination. Self-nominations are not permitted. Nominations may be submitted by any member in good standing (with dues up to date if applicable) and must be submitted by January 16, 2024, at 11:59 PM EST.

All Council members are expected to support the activities of and attend the ASCI annual meeting, and to participate in the general governance of the Society, including two in-person meetings (fall and spring, with the spring meeting occurring as part of the annual meeting) and videoconference calls (typically every other month). All Council members participate in the review of membership and Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award nominations and subsequent discussion at the fall meeting.

The Vice President transitions to President-Elect in year 2, President in year 3, and Immediate Past President in year 4. For the 2nd through 4th years of this position, this member is expected to participate significantly in matters related to the annual meeting. In the Presidential year (year 3), the member convenes a face-to-face Council meeting and oversees related review processes for nominations, notably including those to membership. The President works closely with the Association of American Physicians to create the annual meeting program and presents the traditional Presidential Address at the meeting.

The Council is supported by an Executive Director, Managing Director, and other staff members who oversee the day-to-day operations of the Society and effect initiatives as directed by the Council. For details on Officers and Councilors, see the ASCI Bylaws.

Nominators:

may be any ASCI member
must provide a statement (250-word limit) regarding the nominee

Nominees:

must specify the position of interest (Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer Elect, Councilor);
must provide the following:
- a 250-word candidate statement, written in first person, for consideration by the Council and for use as the ballot statement if the nominee is selected as a candidate. The nominee must provide the statement by email to staff@the-asci.org by the deadline noted above. (Nominees may refer to candidate statements for the 2022 nomination cycle for guidance in drafting their own statements.)
- an NIH-style biosketch;
and must complete the ASCI’s demographic survey.

To start a nomination:

Access your member account
Go to the “Nominations” tab
In the section for “Council nominations”:
- If you are the nominee, select the “I’m the nominee” option to start your part of the nomination (only you have access to this information).
- If you are the nominator, select “I’m the nominator” option, then search for your nominee. Only nominees who are within the age-eligibility criteria will be returned in the results.