Newswise — Donald B. Sanders, MD, will receive the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine’s (AANEM) highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, at its Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fl., on Friday, October 5, 2012. His leadership includes training electrophysiological and neuromuscular (NM) scholars and practitioners from around the globe and his continuous, active involvement in the AANEM.
“There is no greater honor than to have the respect and approbation of one’s family, friends and peers,” Sanders stated. “Since the AANEM is all of these to me, this is a singular honor, and I am very touched by it.”
Sanders helped “pioneer the development of computerized approaches to electromyography (EMG), broadening our understanding of motor unit physiology, and developing and testing many early templates for computerized motor unit potential waveform processing and analysis,” noted Cliff Gooch, MD, AANEM Awards Committee. “Dr. Sanders’ work helped pave the way for the digital transformation of clinical EMG.”
Gooch continued, “He is one of the world’s foremost authorities in the electrophysiological study of the neuromuscular junction, making seminal contributions to the refinement and application of single fiber EMG and other neurophysiological methods … He is an international leader in the clinical research of both myasthenia gravis and Lambert Eaton myasthenic syndrome and continues to perform landmark studies of new therapeutic approaches to these disorders.”
Sanders completed his medical education at Harvard, his neurology residency at the University of Virginia, and his EMG and clinical neurophysiology fellowship at Mayo Clinic. He then returned to the University of Virginia, where he directed its EMG laboratory. Duke University then recruited Sanders in 1980, where he remains today. He is founder of Duke’s electrodiagnostic (EDX) laboratory and Myasthenia Gravis Clinic.
NM and EDX medicine have changed since Sanders started his career: “The major differences in EDX result from innovations in equipment, mainly the incorporation of computerized signal measurements. This has enabled the automatic quantitation of physiologic parameters, which previously could only be done manually, if at all, and was too cumbersome and time-consuming to be part of the clinical routine,” he said. “Neuromuscular medicine is now duly and officially recognized as a medical subspecialty, which I think will be very important in our future healthcare system.”
A tireless AANEM volunteer, Sanders served on its board and as president; he also served on the ABEM board. “Participating in various AANEM committees and task forces over the years taught me how the organization works and provided an introduction to many of its members, who have remained friends. And it’s been fun,” he said. “I hope to remain active in the AANEM for some time yet.”
The honoree served two terms as editorial board member for Muscle & Nerve, as well as its liaison to the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. He now is AANEM’s IFCN representative.
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