Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth, M.D., and four faculty members were honored at the Academy of Science-St. Louis’ annual dinner April 24 at the Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis.
Danforth received a Science Leadership Award for a lifetime of contributions to science and medicine as a renowned physician and mentor, vice chancellor in charge of medicine, chancellor and founding chair of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Robert M. Senior, M.D., the Dorothy R. and Hubert C. Moog Professor of Pulmonary Diseases in Medicine and professor of cell biology and physiology, was honored as a fellow in the Academy.
Senior studies mechanisms of lung remodeling that occur during lung development and destructive lung diseases such as emphysema. He is internationally known for research on the cellular mechanisms of remodeling the extracellular matrix and is well recognized in the pulmonary community as a master clinician, teacher and scientist.
Alfred P. Fishman, M.D., senior associate dean for program development at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said of Senior, “Under his leadership, the training and research program in St. Louis has evolved into a shining national model for research and training in pulmonary medicine.”
Philip D. Stahl, Ph.D., the Edward C. Mallinckrodt Jr. Professor and head of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, received a Peter H. Raven Lifetime Award.
Stahl’s research has focused on understanding the process of endocytosis in cells. Endocytosis is necessary for cell protection and cell signaling, and the Stahl laboratory has made key contributions to both areas. Early work led to the discovery of the mannose receptor, a component of the innate immune system.
More recent work has helped unraveled the role of endocytosis in cell signaling and signal attenuation, an important regulatory checkpoint in many diseases. His mentoring of scientists, in particular women, in the cell biology and physiology is legendary.
Siamon Gordon, the Glaxo-Wellcome Professor of Cellular Pathology at the University of Oxford, said of Stahl, “Over the years, he has always been generous with his advice and reagents, mentoring generations of students and postdoctoral scientists, many of them now scattered throughout the world.”
David C. Van Essen, Ph.D., the Edison Professor of Neurobiology and head of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, also received a Peter H. Raven Lifetime Award.
Van Essen is internationally known for his research on how the brain organizes and processes visual information and has been among the pioneers in the biological study of the brain. His work has helped to develop powerful new techniques in computerized brain mapping.
Eric Knudsen, Ph.D., professor and chair of neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center, said of Van Essen: “He is without a doubt one of the most influential figures in systems neuroscience of the past quarter of a century. It is remarkable that Van Essen has been able to maintain a world-class laboratory and simultaneously perform such a broad range of leadership roles for the international community of neuroscience.”
Eric C. Leuthardt, M.D., assistant professor of neurological surgery and of neurobiology and biomedical engineering director of the Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology, received an Innovation Award.
Considered a “rising star” in academic neurosurgery, his research on the brain-computer interface changed the discipline. Leuthardt’s work has the potential to revolutionize neurosurgery, neurology and rehabilitative medicine, said Ralph G. Dacey Jr., M.D., the Henry G. and Edith R. Schwartz Professor and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery.
His integrated approach of using biomedical engineering, clinical neurosurgery, mathematical modeling, complex signal analysis and computer programming garnered him honors as one of the Top Young Innovators in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology magazine, Technology Review.
He has 24 patents pending for medical devices and brain-computer interface technologies.
His work includes telepathic control of machines, such as telepathically playing a video game; computer-controlled neurosurgical tools; and healing aids, such as a less invasive carbon fiber composite “spine” in place of the exoskeleton device worn after spinal surgery.