Newswise — ATLANTA – The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) announced the 2016 recipients of its Master of the ACR designation, Awards of Distinction, and Distinguished Fellow Award honors during the opening lecture of the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. These recognitions are given annually to members who exhibit outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology.

Master of the ACR designationRecognition as a Master is one of the highest honors that the College bestows on its distinguished members. The designation of Master is conferred on ACR members, age 65 or older, who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students, and the rheumatology profession. These honorees have devoted their long careers to furthering rheumatology research and improving clinical standards in the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

The 2016 recipients of the Masters of the ACR designation are:

• Olufemi O. Adelowo MBBS, FMCP, FRCP, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital/Arthrimed Specialist Clinic, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria• Hans Bijlsma, MD, PhD, University Medical Center Utrecht/Amsterdam Rheumatology and Immunology Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands• Lenore M. Buckley, MD MPH, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT• Jeffrey P. Callen, MD, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY• Luis J. Catoggio, MD, PhD, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires/ Instituto Universitario Escuela de Medicina Hospital Italiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina• Joseph E. Craft, MD, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT• Bruce N. Cronstein, MD, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY• Chad Deal, MD, Cleveland Clinic/ Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH• James A. Engelbrecht, MD, Regional Health Physicians/ DakotaCare, Rapid City, SD• Peter K. Gregersen, MD, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research/ Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine at Hofstra University, Manhasset, NY• John B. Harley, MD, PhD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center/ University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH• David A. Isenberg MD, FRCP, FAMS, University College of London/ University College Hospital, London, UK United Kingdom• Dan Kastner, MD, PhD, Division of Intramural Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD• Lynell W. Klassen, MD, MACP, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE• Edward V. Lally, MD, Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University/ Brown University, Providence, RI• Daniel J. Lovell, MD, MPH, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center/ University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH• Alberto Martini, MD, Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy• Philip Mease MD, Swedish Medical Center/University of Washington, Seattle, WA• Frederick W. Miller, MD, PhD, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD• Rodolfo Molina, MD, Arthritis Associates, P.A., San Antonio, TX• Marilynn G. Punaro MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School/Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Dallas, TX• Martin A. Rodriguez, MD, Centro Nacional Enfermedades Reumáticas/Policlínica Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela• James T. Rosenbaum, MD, Oregon Health & Science University/Legacy Devers Eye Institute, Portland, OR• Christy Sandborg, MD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA• Carter Thorne, MD, FRCPC, FACP, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada/ University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ACR Awards of Distinction The ACR also recognizes leading researchers, clinicians, mentors, and other professionals exhibiting superior commitment to the advancement of the field of rheumatology with the Awards of Distinction honors. Winners of this year’s awards are as follows:

Presidential Gold Medal: David Pisetsky, MD, PhD, MACR, Duke University Medical Center/Durham VA Medical Center, Durham, NC

The highest award that the ACR can bestow, the Presidential Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in rheumatology over an entire career. Established by the past presidents of the ACR, candidates will have made important contributions in multiple areas such as clinical medicine, research, education or administration. Funding support for this award of distinction is provided by the Rheumatology Research Foundation.

Distinguished Basic Investigator Award: John D. Mountz, MD, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

The Distinguished Basic Investigator Award is awarded to a basic scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology.

Distinguished Clinician Scholar Award: Claire Bombardier, MD, MACR, University of Toronto/Toronto General Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Distinguished Clinician Scholar Award is awarded to a rheumatologist who has made outstanding contributions in clinical medicine, clinical scholarship or education.

Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award: • Soumya Raychaudhuri, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA and University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom• Jasvinder Singh, MBBS, MPH, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

The Henry Kunkel Young Investigator Award is awarded to a young physician scientist, age 45 or younger, who has made outstanding and promising independent contributions to basic or clinical research in the field of rheumatology.

Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award:James R. O’Dell, MD, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE

The Distinguished Clinical Investigator Award is awarded to a clinical scientist making outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology. This award was known as the Clinical Research Award prior to 2006.

Paulding Phelps Award:Thomas A. Pressly III, MD, Willis Knighton Medical Center/ Shriners Hospital for Children, Shreveport, LA

The Paulding Phelps Award is awarded to a clinical rheumatologist for outstanding service to patients, community and the practice of medicine.

Distinguished Service Award:• Yvonne Smallwood Sherrer, MD, Center for Rheumatology, Immunology and Arthritis, Fort Lauderdale, FL • Arthur Weinstein, MD, Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C.

The Distinguished Service Award is awarded to an ACR member for outstanding and sustained service to the ACR.

Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award: Sterling West, MD, MACP, MACR, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO

The Distinguished Fellowship Program Director Award is awarded to a current or former rheumatology program director that has made outstanding contributions in the mentoring and training of future rheumatologists.

Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award:• Marian T. Hannan, DSc, MPH, Harvard Medical School/HSL Institute for Aging Research, Boston, MA• Ingrid Lundberg, MD, PhD, MACR, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

The Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award recognizes the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship. A dedicated mentor can significantly influence the successful development and career of a mentee. This award honors an active ACR or ARHP member for their contributions to the rheumatology profession through outstanding and ongoing mentoring. Funding support for this award of distinction is provided by the Rheumatology Research Foundation.

Distinguished Fellow AwardThe Distinguished Fellow Award recognizes clinical and research fellows who are in a rheumatology fellowship training program and who have performed meritoriously.

The 2016 recipients of the Distinguished Fellow Award are:

• Eric J. Allenspach, MD, PhD, Seattle Children’s Hospital/University of Washington, Seattle, WA• Matthew C. Baker, MD, Stanford University, Stanford, CA• Matlock A. Jeffries, MD, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK• Shanthini Kasturi, MD, Hospital for Special Surgery/Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY • Matthew James Koster, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN• Pui Y. Lee, MD, PhD, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA • Jonathan Miner, MD, PhD, Washington University/St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO• Nadia Morgan, MBBS, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD• Ian M. Ward, MD, San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium, Fort Sam Houston, TX

For more information on each of these awards, and to view past recipients, please visit www.rheumatology.org/Get-Involved/Awards.

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About the American College of RheumatologyHeadquartered in Atlanta, Ga., the American College of Rheumatology is an international medical society representing over 9,400 rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals with a mission to Advance Rheumatology! In doing so, the ACR offers education, research, advocacy and practice management support to help its members continue their innovative work and provide quality patient care. Rheumatologists are experts in the diagnosis, management and treatment of more than 100 different types of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. For more information, visit www.rheumatology.org.

About the ACR/ARHP Annual MeetingThe ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting is the premier meeting in rheumatology. With more than 450 sessions and thousands of abstracts, it offers a superior combination of basic science, clinical science, tech-med courses, career enhancement education and interactive discussions on improving patient care. For more information about the meeting, visit http://www.acrannualmeeting.org/, or join the conversation on Twitter by following the official #ACR16 hashtag.