(NEW YORK – December 05, 2014) For the first time ever, three researchers from The Mount Sinai Hospital have won all the scientific achievement awards from the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America in a single year.
“This is the first time in the history of the award that all three winners are from the same medical institution,” said Marjorie Merrick, Vice President of Research Special Projects at Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. “And it seems quite fitting that they all are from Mount Sinai, where Crohn’s disease was first described by Dr. Burrill B. Crohn, a Mount Sinai physician, and where groundbreaking research and treatment for Crohn’s continues today.”
“We are absolutely delighted that the CCFA has chosen to recognize our Mount Sinai colleagues, Drs. Sachar, Cho and Colombel, for their outstanding contributions, innovation and leadership in IBD,” said Bruce Sands, MD, Dr. Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology in the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “These awards recognize not only their profound individual contributions to this area, but also Mount Sinai’s ongoing contributions to understanding these complex and difficult diseases.”
Dr. Burrill Crohn, for whom the disease was named after, practiced at The Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1967 the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America was started at Mount Sinai by then GI Division Chief Henry D. Janowitz, MD, Bill and Shelby Modell, and Suzanne and Irwin Rosenthal. After Dr. Janowitz’s passing, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America established the Henry D. Janowitz Lifetime Achievement Award in IBD in his honor.
Members of the medical and scientific community are invited to nominate outstanding physicians and scientists for this award and the CCFA Scientific Achievement Awards in both Clinical and Basic Research. Winners are chosen by a blinded panel of members of CCFA’s National Scientific Advisory Committee. The awards ceremony will take place during CCFA’s annual Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Conference, held from December 04 - 06 in Orlando, Flordia.
The winners of the 2014 Scientific Achievement Awards are:
• Henry D. Janowitz Lifetime Achievement Award in IBD:DAVID B. SACHAR, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine and Director Emeritus of the Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology in the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Sachar was the first Dr. Burrill B. Crohn Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine from 1992-1999. Dr. Sachar also held served as chairman of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine and Director of the Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology at The Mount Sinai Hospital (1983-99).
He was the first American elected Chairman of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD). From 2005-2008 Dr. Sachar served as Chairman of the GI Advisory Panel of the FDA.
As a professor, he has earned 1996 Distinguished Educator Award of the AGA, the 2005 Berk/Fise Clinical Achievement Award of the ACG for “an entire career of service to patients and fellow practitioners,” and a dozen other national and international awards. To date he has published more than 260 articles on the topic of IBD.
• Scientific Achievement in IBD Clinical Research:JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC COLOMBEL, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Dr. Jean-Frédéric Colombel is Professor of Medicine and past-president of ECCO (European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization) and a past-chair of the International Organization for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IOIBD).
He is the associate editor of Alimentary Pharmacology Therapy, and serves as an editorial board member or a reviewer for several journals including Gut, Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis, and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is the author or co-author of more than 600 published articles and books.
• Scientific Achievement in Basic IBD Research: JUDY H. CHO, MD, Ward-Coleman Professor of Translational Genetics and Medicine, Vice-Chair of Translational Genetics, Associate Chief for Research in the Dr. Henry D. Janowitz Division of Gastroenterology and Director of CePORTED at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As the first woman to win this award, she is the principal investigator and chair of the Steering Committee of the NIH’s National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases IBD Genetics Consortium.
Dr. Cho has served on the NIDDK Council, the Council for the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is a member of the American Association of Physicians (AAP). She led efforts in identifying NOD2, one of the first genes associated with Crohn’s disease. She has also led efforts in identifying associations of 163 genetic loci to IBD. Her laboratory is presently investigating the role of less common genetic variations contributing to IBD in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.
“On behalf of the millions of IBD patients worldwide, we extend heartfelt congratulations and thanks to these winners for their courage, innovation and vision as leaders in the IBD scientific community,” said CCFA’s Chief Scientific Officer Caren Heller, MD, MBA. “Their significant efforts have moved IBD research and patient care in directions that ultimately improve the quality of life for patients of all ages and their families.”
About CCFAThe Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) is the largest voluntary non-profit health organization dedicated to finding cures for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). CCFA’s mission is to cure Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and to improve the quality of life of children and adults who suffer from these diseases. The Foundation works to fulfill its mission by funding research, providing educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public, and furnishing supportive services for those afflicted with IBD. For more information, visit www.ccfa.org, call 888-694-8872, like us on Facebook, find us on LinkedIn or follow us on Twitter.
About the Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven member hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient services—from community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.
The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians, 12-minority-owned free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, over 45 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, as well as 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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