WASHINGTON, D.C., November 5, 2005 - The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) has awarded national recognition to three leaders in the field of academic medicine. Drs. Georges Bordage, C. Everett Koop, and Stuart Orkin were recognized this evening at the AAMC's Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., for their contributions to the fields of medical student education, pediatric surgery and public health, and blood disorders research.

Abraham Flexner Award for Distinguished Service to Medical Education

Georges Bordage, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Medical Education
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine

For more than 25 years, students in the United States and abroad have been captivated by Dr. Georges Bordage, a medical educator known for his "verbal adroitness, inquiring intellect, and passion for teaching" as well as his "incredible ability to motivate through gentle, persistent Gallic charm." Born in New Brunswick, Canada, Dr. Bordage has combined his zeal for learning with his talents for teaching to raise the overall profile of medical educators. From directing two masters programs to improving the quality of the Canadian medical licensing process, and inspiring countless students in between, Dr. Bordage has taken medical education beyond the traditional boundaries of teaching.

Dr. Bordage is currently a professor in the department of medical education at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine. He previously served as graduate studies director of the university's Masters of Health Profession Education program. Due to his leadership, this program is now regarded internationally as the premier program for training health professions educators. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Dr. Bordage founded and directed a similar program at Laval University Faculty of Medicine in Canada. And, notably, his early research into the area of clinical reasoning had a profound impact on the medical licensing process in Canada, prompting the Canadian medical board to adopt a concept he developed for written and oral assessment of clinical competence.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in science from College de Bathurst, Dr. Bordage earned his medical degree from Laval University. In addition, he has a M.Sc. degree in biometry-medical informatics from Case Western University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology-medical education from Michigan State University. He has also been awarded several honorary degrees from universities around the world.

David E. Rogers Award

C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D.
Former Surgeon General of the United States
Elizabeth DeCamp McInerny Professor of Surgery, Dartmouth Medical School
Senior Scholar, C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth Medical School

During the year he was born, polio was claiming children's lives in epidemic numbers and an even greater scourge, Spanish flu, was about to hit America. A prominent tobacco company had just launched the first mass-produced cigarette, which was becoming popular with women. In many ways, the events of 1916 foreshadowed and may have predicted that Charles Everett Koop would become a tireless advocate for children's health, an internationally recognized pediatric surgeon, a champion for early immunization/disease prevention, the government's chief spokesperson on AIDS, and a public crusader against nicotine addiction.

Dr. Koop is considered the founder of pediatric surgery and has been the principal mentor of many of the current leaders in this field. Prior to his appointment as Surgeon General, he spent more than 40 years in academic medicine. He was surgeon-in-chief of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for more than three decades; under his guidance the nation's first neonatal intensive care nursery was established there. He also held faculty appointments at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He helped establish the American Academy of Pediatric Surgeons and served as founding editor-in-chief of Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Throughout his distinguished career as a teacher, physician, and scientist, Dr. Koop has contributed to the education of students and physicians at all levels of medical training.

As Surgeon General, Dr. Koop challenged America to become a "Smoke-Free Society by the Year 2000" and in a landmark report detailed the consequences of involuntary smoking. He also served as the primary author of Understanding AIDS, the 1999 public health brochure mailed to 107 million households.

Dr. Koop earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and his medical degree from Cornell Medical College. After an internship at Pennsylvania Hospital, he pursued postgraduate training at Boston Children's Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, from which he received his doctor of science (in medicine) degree.

Award for Distinguished Research in the Biomedical Sciences

Stuart H. Orkin, M.D.
David G. Nathan Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Chair, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, Children's Hospital Boston

"More than any other investigator, Stuart Orkin has dominated the field of blood disorders for the past twenty-five years," says Joseph Martin, M.D., dean of the faculty of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Orkin's work has greatly improved the ability to diagnose blood disorders, leukemia and other diseases, and has helped to develop new and improved treatments for these conditions. His research not only revolutionized the molecular pathology of inherited disorders, but provided the standard by which similar work is now measured.

Before Dr. Orkin began his research, the molecular bases of inherited blood disorders had been largely undefined. It was his initial major research that provided medical science with its first look at a comprehensive molecular dissection of an inherited disorder-thalassemia (a group of genetic blood disorders). His work paved the way for DNA-based prenatal diagnosis of these disorders. Later in his career, Dr. Orkin used reverse genetics to unlock the mysteries behind a form of chronic granulomatous disease-an inherited, disabling abnormality of the immune system-resulting in a novel treatment for patients with the disease. And today, in a research environment marked by heightened interest in stem cell research, Dr. Orkin's groundbreaking work has taken on new relevance; he has shown how different sets of genes are activated in stem cells to cause them to produce red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.

Dr. Orkin received his undergraduate degree in life sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health and clinical training in pediatrics and hematology-oncology at Children's Hospital Boston.

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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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