Washington, D.C., November 8, 2003 - The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has awarded national honors to four distinguished leaders in academic medicine. Drs. Kenneth M. Ludmerer, Frank Speizer, Walter Willett, and Aaron Shatkin will be recognized at the AAMC's 114th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., for their contributions to the fields of medical education, public health, and biomedical research.

Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education

Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine
Professor of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Washington University, St. Louis

Known as one of the foremost authorities on medical education in the country, Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D., this year's Abraham Flexner Award winner, is both a professor of medicine in the school of medicine and a professor of history on the faculty of arts and sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Established by the AAMC in 1958, the award recognizes extraordinary individual contributions to medical schools and to the medical education community as a whole.

Through his Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize nominated books, Learning to Heal: The Development of American Medical Education and Time to Heal: Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care, Dr. Ludmerer highlighted the professional and social conditions that are needed for medical education to progress. These published works inspired the concept of the "Academy of Medical Educators" as a way medical schools might support and strengthen their teaching mission and identified forces that have affected academic medicine for the last 150 years.

Dr. Ludmerer received his masters and medical degrees from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed his residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and at John Cochran Veterans Administration Hospital, where he also served as chief resident. He joined the Washington University faculty in 1980.

David E. Rogers Award

Frank E. Speizer, M.D.
Edward H. Kass Professor of Medicine and
Co-Director, Channing Laboratory
Harvard Medical School
Professor of Environmental Sciences
Harvard School of Public Health

Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr. P.H.
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and
Chairman, Department of Nutrition
Harvard School of Public Health

This year, two physicians will share the David E. Rogers Award for their collaborative work in the public health field. Frank E. Speizer, M.D., and Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr. P.H., both professors of medicine at Harvard Medical School and faculty members at the Harvard School of Public Health, will receive the award for their work with the "Nurses' Health Study." The David E. Rogers Award, jointly sponsored by the AAMC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is named for the foundation's former president, and recognizes a medical school faculty member who has made major contributions to improving the health and health care of the American people.

Beginning in 1976, Dr. Speizer was the principal investigator for the Nurses' Health Study, now the largest and longest running women's health study in the world. Dr. Willett built upon the foundation of this research and conducted studies that identified biological, environmental, and nutritional risk factors for several chronic diseases. His work allowed for a direct evaluation of the relationship between dietary habits and disease.

Dr. Speizer received his M.D. from Stanford University Medical School in 1960 and later began his residency at Boston City Hospital in 1963. In 1965, he was named chief resident at Stanford-Palo Alto Hospital in California. He joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School in 1968 and is currently the Edward H. Kass professor of medicine. He is also a professor of environmental sciences with the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Willett earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1970, followed by his M.P.H. and Dr. P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1973 and 1980, respectively. He joined the Harvard School of Public Health faculty in 1980. He is currently chairman of the department of nutrition and professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Award for Distinguished Research in Biomedical Sciences

Aaron J. Shatkin, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine
Professor of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Professor of Molecular Biology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Aaron Shatkin, Ph.D., director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, a joint project of Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, will receive the Award for Distinguished Research in Biomedical Sciences. This distinguished research award, established by the AAMC in 1981, is awarded to medical school faculty members who conduct outstanding clinical or laboratory research.

Dr. Shatkin, whose work demonstrates how viruses spread within cells, is considered one of the pioneer scientists to bring molecular biology and biochemistry to the field of animal virology. While at the National Institutes of Health, he studied the genome of the reovirus and gained insight into the base life processes of life-threatening diseases, such as AIDS and cancer.

In 1961, Dr. Shatkin received his Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University and later held positions at the National Institutes of Health, the Salk Institute and the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology. He became director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine in 1986. He is also professor of molecular genetics, microbiology and immunology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, as well as professor of molecular biology at Rutgers University.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 129 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and 94 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 109,000 faculty members, 67,000 medical students, and 104,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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