George Sachs Earns International Award for Medical Research

     George Sachs, professor of medicine and physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is one of five scientists who will be presented with the 2004 International Awards by the Toronto-based Gairdner Foundation.
     Considered one of the most prestigious honors in medical science, the award recognizes top researchers whose work has illuminated understanding of cellular function, reduced disease and enhanced the quality of human life. In the past, 61 of the 269 Gairdner winners have later earned the Nobel Prize.
In announcing the award, John Dirks, president of the Gairdner Foundation, praised Sachs as an ideal bench-to-bedside clinician.
     “Dr. Sachs has made monumental contributions to improving the care of patients with peptic ulcer disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal cancer and gastric cancer,” said Dirks. “Clinical therapies based on his research have led to a dramatic reduction in death and disease.”
In addition to holding the Wilshire Chair in Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Sachs is a staff physician at the VA of Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in West Los Angeles. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry and medical degree from the University of Edinburgh.
     The 2004 winners will receive their awards and a $30,000 honorarium at a gala dinner October 21 in Toronto.
     Established in 1957 by Toronto businessman James Gairdner, the Gairdner Foundation presented its first awards in 1959.
 

APS Members Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

     The American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the election of 178 new Fellows and 24 new Foreign Honorary Members to Academy membership. The 202 men and women are world-renowned leaders in scholarship, business, the arts, and public affairs.
     Three APS members were elected to the American Academy, two of them as Foreign Honorary Members. They include Peter L. Strick, University of Pittsburgh, who was elected to the Neurosciences, Cognitive Sciences and Behavioral Biology Section of AAAS, Sten Grillner, Professor of Neurophysiology and Behavior, Karolinska Institute, Sweden and Manuel Martínez-Maldonado, President and Dean, Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico.
     The Academy was founded in 1780 “to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.” The unique structure of the American Academy allows the Academy to conduct interdisciplinary studies on international security, social policy, education, and the humanities that draw on the range of academic and intellectual disciplines of its members. The current membership of over 4,500 includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. 

APS Members Elected to National Academy of Arts and Sciences

     The National Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the election of 72 new fellows and 18 foreign associates for 2004. Among those elected are two APS members: Kevin Campbell and Riitta Hari.
     Campbell is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Roy J. Carver Professor and chair, department of physiology and biophysics, and professor, department of neurology, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
     Hari is the director, Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, and head, Brain Research Unit Low Temperature Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology (Finland).

Nephrologist Robert Alpern Named Dean of Yale School of Medicine

     Robert Alpern has been appointed as dean of the Yale School of Medicine.
Alpern, who assumed the deanship at Yale June 1, was the Ruth W. and Milton P. Levy, Sr. Chair in Molecular Nephrology at Southwestern. He joined Southwestern as chief of nephrology in 1987 and became dean in 1998. He served his internship and residency in internal medicine at Columbia University and held a postdoctoral fellowship in nephrology and renal physiology at the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco, where he also was an assistant professor of medicine from 1982 to 1987.
     Alpern’s research has focused on the regulation of kidney transport proteins. In his early years his work helped to define the mechanisms by which the kidney transports acid. Subsequently his research has focused on the mechanisms by which kidney cells sense excess acid and initiate a signaling cascade that alters the expression, cellular location, and function of many proteins in the cell, resulting in enhanced acid transport and urinary excretion.
     Nationally, Alpern has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and now serves on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. He was on the Council of the American Society of Nephrology from 1995 to 2002 and served as its president in 2001. He has served as editor and been on the editorial boards of numerous journals, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the American Journal of Physiology and the Annual Review of Physiology.
     As dean, Alpern has had an outstanding record in developing the scientific strength of the faculty while improving the educational program and increasing the quality and volume of clinical services.
     Alpern is married to APS Member Patricia Preisig, a professor of internal medicine at Southwestern Medical Center. They have two children, Rachelle and Kyle. 

Dzau Duke’s Chancellor for Health Affairs

     Victor J. Dzau, chairman of the Department of Medicine, physician-in-chief and director of research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, will become Duke University’s next chancellor for health affairs. Dzau, 57, will succeed Ralph Snyderman, who announced in March 2003 his plans to step down at the end of June 2004 after 15 years as the university’s senior medical official. The chancellor for health affairs also serves as the president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System (DUHS).