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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
APRIL 29, 1999
Hopkins President, Community Leader Ann Heil To Be Honored At Medical College Commencement
The Medical College of Wisconsin will bestow honorary Doctor of Science degrees to William R. Brody, M.D., Ph.D., president of The Johns Hopkins University, and Ann E. Heil, an active community volunteer and leader. The degrees will be awarded at the College's Commencement on May 22.
Three faculty will also receive Distinguished Service Awards, the Medical College's highest honor for faculty and staff. They are: William L. Donegan, M.D., professor of surgery; Lawrence M. Ryan, M.D., the Will and Cava Ross Professor of Medicine; and Donald D. Tresch, M.D., professor of medicine.
Dr. Brody is a national leader in academic medicine and in medical imaging technology. The fields of medical acoustics, computed tomography, digital radiography and magnetic resonance imaging have all benefited from Dr. Brody's dual expertise as a radiologist and electrical engineer.
Dr. Brody's ties with Johns Hopkins began in 1987 when he became the Martin Donner Professor and Director of the Department of Radiology, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering. In 1994, he joined the University of Minnesota as Provost of the Academic Health Center. In 1996, he returned to The Johns Hopkins University as its 13th President.
Previously Dr. Brody was professor of radiology and electrical engineering and director of the Advanced Imaging Techniques Laboratory at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Brody has co-founded three medical device companies, including Resonex, Inc., a medical imaging company.
Ann E. Heil, an active community volunteer and leader, has dedicated her time to helping countless organizations and people. She is presently a member of the Medical College's Cancer Center Advisory Board, a group that works to increase public awareness and raise support for the teaching, research and patient care programs of the Cancer Center.
Mrs. Heil was active in the inception in the late 1960s of the Penfield Children's Center, the first center of its kind in the country to provide daycare for high-risk children.
The Heil family has had a profound influence on the history of the Medical College. The Heil Report, produced by Joseph Heil, Sr., and the Greater Milwaukee Committee in 1967, led directly to the Marquette University Medical School becoming the Medical College of Wisconsin. In 1986, the family created the Marjorie and Joseph Heil Professorship of Ophthalmology. Most recently, the family has endowed the Joseph F. Heil Jr. Professorship at the Cancer Center.
William L. Donegan, M.D., chairman of surgery at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center and Senior Attending Surgeon at Froedtert Hospital, joined the Medical College in 1974. In 25 years, he has distinguished himself for his expert care of breast cancer patients, and for clinical research in breast cancer which has brought significant national recognition.
Since 1972, Dr. Donegan has been the principal investigator of the Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Cancer grant of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project. The study results have improved the treatment and prevention of breast cancer across the U.S. He is co-editor of Cancer of the Breast, considered the standard text in the field.
Lawrence M. Ryan, M.D., chief of rheumatology and director of the rheumatology diagnostic laboratory, has brought national recognition to the Medical College in the past 22 years for his work in arthritis and musculoskeletal medicine.
Dr. Ryan's colleagues hail him as a premiere internist and rheumatologist. His students have honored him with teaching awards. He has received significant funding since 1979 by the NIH, the National Arthritis Foundation and other sources for his extensive investigations into crystal deposition disease and pyrophosphate metabolism in arthritis. He is currently on the Wisconsin Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation's Board of Directors.
Donald D. Tresch, M.D., is internationally renowned for his expertise in geriatric cardiology. He has been with the Medical College for 30 years and is revered as an outstanding teacher and physician. For 20 years he directed the Cardiology Fellowship Training Program. He has served on the National Scientific Advisory Council of the American Federation for Aging Research and on the Board of Directors of the American College of Cardiology's Council of Geriatric Cardiology. Dr. Tresch has been honored with 13 annual teaching awards from medical students and residents.
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