Newswise — MAYWOOD, IL – Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine bestowed its highest honor, the Stritch Medal, to Kathy Albain, MD, FACP, FASCO, one of the nation's top breast and lung cancer researchers, during the Stritch School of Medicine 68th Annual Awards Dinner at the Hilton Chicago.
Eva Bading, MD, FAAFP, received the AMDG award in recognition of her decades of service to medically underserved communities from Maywood to Haiti.
The event raised funds to support medical education and student scholarships.
The black-tie dinner was co-chaired by the 11 children of the late John and Joan Mullins and their spouses. The Mullins family started Mullins Food Products in Broadview and has a longstanding relationship with Loyola University Chicago and Loyola Medicine.
Also honored at the dinner were 10 high school students who are members of the Stritch Junior Service League, a volunteer group that has performed hundreds of hours of service in local communities. The Stritch Medal recognizes outstanding accomplishments of a Loyola graduate or faculty member who exhibits dedication to research, education, and patient care.
Dr. Albain, (pictured, right) the Huizenga Family Endowed Chair in Oncology Research, is a professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Medicine of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Dr. Albain is a leader in national clinical trials of new treatments for breast and lung cancer and her research in both diseases has changed standard of care. She also studies cancer survivorship. Dr. Albain has mentored many medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty in clinical and translational research studies locally and nationally.
Dr. Albain is an author of more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals and textbooks. She recently was among the main co-authors of a landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that a 21-gene test enables many breast cancer patients to safely avoid chemotherapy.
Dr. Albain long has held key leadership roles in SWOG, a National Cancer Institute cooperative research group. She chaired SWOG's Committee on Special Populations since the committee’s inception and is a member of SWOG’s Cancer Prevention and Control Executive Committee and working groups on breast and lung cancer. She recently was named vice chair of SWOG in order to direct its new Clinical Trials Partnerships initiative.
Dr. Albain is a member of the international Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group and its Steering Committee. She served on the National Cancer Institute Concept Evaluation Panel for lung cancer. She was a charter member of the NIH Committee on Research on Women’s Health. She served on the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee and was a consultant to the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
The AMDG award is derived from the Latin phrase Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (for the greater glory of God). It is attributed to St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus. The award honors a person who has made a difference in the world by generously helping others.
Dr. Bading is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She joined the department in 1998 and served as chair from 1999 to 2016. Under her leadership, the department opened clinics in Maywood, Elmwood Park and Melrose Park and grew to 17 full-time faculty treating 32,000 patients per year.
Dr. Bading (pictured, right) has been a mentor, role model and inspiration for hundreds of medical students and residents. She is co-director of medical school courses on the healer's art and patient-centered medicine and has long served on Stritch's admissions committee, seeking students who understand medicine is about service. The Bading Community House, a home in Maywood where medical students immerse themselves in the community, is named in her honor.
Dr. Bading long has been active in the Maywood community. She provides medical and fundraising support to the Maywood Fine Arts Association, a studio that provides high-quality arts instruction to children. She is director of Community Advocacy through Relationships and Education (CARE), which pairs medical students with families who need healthcare advocates.
Dr. Bading has performed physicals at a Maywood high school and been an advisor to a gun buyback program in Maywood.
Dr. Bading also has served overseas, leading medical students on mission trips to Haiti, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Bading has received previous Stritch awards for her service and teaching, including the Spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. award in 2009, Outstanding Community Service and Global Health award in 2011, Master Teacher award in 2014 and Jack MacCarthy Service in Medicine Award in 2018.
The Stritch Awards Dinner was started in 1950 by Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago. It originally was named the Cardinal's Dinner. After Cardinal Stritch's death, the dinner was renamed in his honor.
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