Congratulations to the members who have been recognized for their important contributions to research by distinguished memberships, honors, and awards.
Walter L. Miller, M.D.
Awarded the UCSF Academic Senate's Ninth Annual Distinguished Clinical Research Lecturer
The Academic Senate is pleased to announce the selection of Walter L. Miller, MD as recipient of the Ninth Annual Distinguished Clinical Research Lectureship for his preeminence in the study of the molecular biology of human steroid hormone biosynthesis and its disorders causing the congential adrenal hyperplasias. Dr. Miller has made long-standing and outstanding academic contributions in the area of translational research in endocrinology and the study of steroidogenesis. Current broad research projects include the structure and function of the steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein, the post-translational regulation of androgen synthesis, and the nature of human P450 oxidoreductase deficiency, which Dr. Miller's group discovered in 2004.
Dr. Miller received his S.B degree from M.I.T. in 1965 and his M.D. from Duke University in 1970. He came to UCSF in 1974, joined the faculty in 1978 and is currently a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, the Metabolic Research Unit and the Center for Reproductive Sciences, a member of the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program and the Program in Human Genetics, and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology. He is also the Director of UCSF's National Institutes of Health-supported Pediatric Endocrinology Training Program, which offers a wide variety of fellowship opportunities, research programs and clinical services
The Ninth Annual Distinguished Clinical Research Lecture will take place on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 3:30pm in Cole Hall and will be broadcast to other UCSF sites as availability permits. Refreshments will be provided. The lecture is open to the campus community and the general public.
Louis J. Ptacek, M.D.
John C. Coleman Distinguished Professorship in
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in May 2008, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and independent policy research centers.
In 2007, Dr. Ptacek was elected to the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences. Established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine is a national resource for independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on issues related to human health. With their election, members make a commitment to devote a significant amount of volunteer time as members of IOM study committees.
Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, M.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor, Medicine and Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences
Elected to the American Society for Clinical Ivestigation in 2009.
Established in 1908, the ASCI is one of the oldest medical honor societies in the US. More than 2,800 physician-scientists from all medical specialties are elected members of the Society based upon their records of achievement in biomedical research.
Kathy Giacomini, Ph.D.
Dr. Giacomini was awarded the 2009 Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award. Dr. Giacomini, Professor and co-chair of the newly formed Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences department, is the first woman to receive the Rawls-Palmer Award. The prize goes to an investigator who has demonstrated high-quality clinical pharmacology research.
The Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award was established in 1978 by the late William B. Rawls, MD, a New York physician and the father of the modern organizational structure of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, to recognize midcareer clinical pharmacologists who make an outstanding contribution to improved patient care through drug research.
Yuet Wai Kan, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.
Louis K. Diamond Chair in Hematology, Professor of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Kan was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America in July 2006. It is the first time the award has been presented.
Dr Kan, recipient of many high honors, received the prestigious Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine in 2004, an international award given by the Shaw Prize Foundation based in Hong Kong that recognizes breakthroughs in scientific research resulting in “a positive and profound impact on mankind.” He was honored in 1991 with the distinguished Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award, the nation’s most prestigious honor in the clinical research field.
Dr. Kan is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His research is currently focused on the use of gene therapy to treat sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. His aim is to develop cell therapy on patient-specific embryonic stem cell lines, transplanting the treated cells into patients to treat their disease. His team is carrying out research in a mouse model of sickle cell anemia in which animals have been genetically engineered to harbor a human gene that causes the disease.
Dr. Kan’s honors also include the Helmut Horten Research Award in 1995, the American College of Physicians Award in 1988, the Waterford Award in Biomedical Sciences in 1987, the Allan Award of the American Society of Human Genetics and the Gairdner International Award in 1984, and the Dameshek Award from the American Society of Hematology in 1979.
He currently serves on the Committee on Human Rights and the Executive Council of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the Royal Society (London), a member of the Academia Sinica of Taiwan, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing.
Jane Gitschier, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Dr. Gitschier was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow for 2006 for her work on the genetic basis of absolute-pitch perception. Guggenheim Fellowships are grants to selected individuals to help provide them with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible.
In 2006, The Institute for Human Genetics in partnership with the Department of Pediatrics established a named chair in honor of Dr. Charles J. Epstein.
Charles J. Epstein, MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Emeritus and Chief of the Division of Medical Genetics in Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He was a resident in Boston, a research associate in biochemistry with Christian B. Anfinsen at the National Institutes of Health, and a research fellow in medical genetics with Arno J. Motulsky at the University of Washington. Dr. Tony Wynshaw-Boris, the new Chief of Medical Genetics in Pediatrics is the first Charles J. Epstein Chair in Human Genetics.
We have also recently established a visiting professorship in honor of Dr. Epstein and his wife, Dr. Lois Epstein who is a renowned cancer researcher.
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