Dr. O. Wayne Isom, the Terry Allen Kramer Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery and chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, has been named the recipient of the 2004 Maurice R. Greenberg Distinguished Service Award. He will receive the award at a gala dinner to be held on April 29 at the Plaza Hotel. For information about tickets, please call Christopher Hanway at ext. 10802 (212-821-0802).
The Greenberg Award honors a senior member of the medical staff at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell who has given exceptional and longstanding service. The award includes a $50,000 grant to be used by the recipient in connection with his or her work.
Along with some of his colleagues, Dr. Isom is currently investigating the application of gene therapy in cardiac patients whose frail states make them poor candidates for traditional coronary artery bypass surgery. The inserted gene will stimulate the heart to grow new blood vessels. In addition, Dr. Isom and his team are investigating brain protection during cardiopulmonary bypass and robotic surgical techniques.
A native of Idalou, Texas, Dr. Isom completed his undergraduate studies at Texas Technological College and earned his M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He did his medical internship and general surgery residency at Parkland Hospital in Dallas and completed a cardiothoracic residency at New York University Medical Center. He then joined the faculty at NYU School of Medicine, and, in 1978, became professor of surgery and director of the Cardiothoracic Training Program, a position he held for the next seven years.
In 1985, Dr. Isom was recruited to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and appointed chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery. Under his supervision, the cardiothoracic surgeons at what is now called NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell boast more than 20,000 open-heart procedures.
Dr. Isom is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Heart Association's distinguished "Bugher Foundation Award for Achievement in Cardiovascular Science and Medicine"; the "Hero with a Heart Award" from the National Marfan Foundation (2000); the first annual "Humanitarian Award" from the Larry King Cardiac Foundation and the NYSAE Education Research Foundation; and the highly coveted "Third-Year Teaching Award" from Weill Cornell medical students (Class of 1996).