Newswise — PHILADELPHIA - Garret FitzGerald, MD, FRS, professor of Medicine and Pharmacology; chair of the Department of Pharmacology; and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania is the 2013 recipient of the Jay and Jeanine Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Center. The Schottenstein Prize, established with a $2 million gift from philanthropists Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein, is awarded to an international leader in the clinical sciences of cardiovascular medicine, cardiothoracic surgery, or the basic sciences of molecular or cellular cardiology. With the gift, the Schottenstein Laureate receives an honorarium of at least $100,000. FitzGerald will receive the award, one of the largest in the field, during a ceremony in Columbus on Oct 2.
“I am honored to receive this prize, which reflects on the dedication and hard work of so many people with whom I’ve been privileged to work and collaborate,” says FitzGerald.
His research takes an integrative approach to elucidating the mechanisms of drug action, drawing on work in cells, model organisms, and humans. His work contributed substantially to the development of low-dose aspirin for cardioprotection. His team discovered how lower doses of aspirin than had been previously used to treat pain and inflammation act on blood cells called platelets to shut down their role in blocking arteries to cause heart attacks and strokes. Low-dose aspirin is now used for this purpose throughout the world and has saved the lives of tens of millions of people. His group was also the first to predict and then mechanistically explain the cardiovascular hazard from nonsteroidal antinflammatory drugs - NSAIDs. Between his work on aspirin and NSAIDs, he has benefited ten, if not hundreds, of millions of patients worldwide. His laboratory also described the first molecular clock in the cardiovascular system.
While in Columbus, FitzGerald will lecture during a special Grand Rounds in the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital and meet with cardiovascular researchers at the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute.
For more information view the Ohio State release.
### Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 16 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $398 million awarded in the 2012 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2012, Penn Medicine provided $827 million to benefit our community.
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