Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher Wins Steven C. Beering Award
Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College, has won the Steven C. Beering Award from the Indiana University School of Medicine.
Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher. Photo credit: Lisa Berg
The Beering Award recognizes an internationally renowned scientist whose research has contributed to advancing biomedical or clinical science. The annual award, which carries a $25,000 prize and a medal, was established in 1983 to honor Dr. Steven C. Beering, who served as Indiana University School of Medicine's youngest dean from 1974 to 1983.
Dr. Glimcher is one of the world's leading immunologists. Her laboratory uses biochemical and genetic approaches to determine the molecular processes by which cells of the immune system, called lymphocytes, develop into their final specialized form and the mechanisms that activate them. Through this work, Dr. Glimcher discovered how the body controls gene expression in the development of type 1 and type 2 T-helper lymphocytes, findings that have implications for autoimmune, infectious, allergic and malignant diseases. Dr. Glimcher's lab also isolated the gene XBP1 and discovered that it not only is a critical regulator of immune and metabolic functions, but it is also important to cancer's ability to adapt and thrive in tumors.
Dr. Glimcher received the award on Sept. 24 and also gave the lecture "Stressed Out: A Novel Approach to Cancer Immunology," which illuminated the role of the gene XBP1 in breast and ovarian cancer and how new strategies that target the gene may be able to effectively treat these deadly diseases.
Additional Awards and Honors
Dr. Joseph Fins, the E. William Davis, Jr., MD Professor of Medical Ethics, a professor of medicine, of medicine in psychiatry, of healthcare policy and research, and of medical ethics in neurology, was appointed to the editorial board of The Pharos, a quarterly journal published by Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, in May for a one-year term. The honor society has more than 150,000 members, elected as medical students, who have demonstrated commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism and service. The Pharos publishes scholarly essays covering a wide array of nontechnical medical subjects, including medical history, ethics and medical-related literature.
Dr. Mark Lachs, co-chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, the Irene F. and I. Roy Psaty Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine, and a professor of medicine, received the American Medical Association's Debasish Mridha Spirit of Medicine Award. This award recognizes the work of a U.S. physician who has demonstrated altruism, compassion, integrity, leadership and personal sacrifice while providing quality healthcare to a destitute, distressed or marginalized population in an impoverished community. Dr. Lachs received the award at the association's annual meeting in June.
Dr. Rosemary A. Stevens, a DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Scholar, was a plenary speaker at the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation's fourth G. Gayle Stephens Keystone Conference, hosted June 5-7 in Keystone, Col. Her lecture, titled "Recharging Family Medicine," opened the weekend-long conference, which was dedicated to the memory of Dr. G. Gayle Stephens, one of the founders of family medicine in the United States.