MANHASSET, N.Y., Sept. 5, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Molecular Medicine announced today that it will confer the second Anthony Cerami Award in Translational Medicine to Göran K. Hansson, MD, PhD, professor of cardiovascular research at the Karolinska Institutet and head of the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at the Center for Molecular Medicine in Stockholm, Sweden. The award is in recognition of his discoveries in atherosclerosis inflammation and cardiology.
The Cerami award, which includes a $20,000 prize, is conferred semi annually by the peer-reviewed, open-access journal Molecular Medicine published by the Feinstein Institute. A monograph authored by Dr. Hansson, entitled "A Journey in Science: Medical Scientist in Translation," will be published online September 5 in Molecular Medicine.
"The Anthony Cerami Award in Translational Medicine was created to recognize investigators who provided the crucial, early insight and ideas that are the essence of discovery, creating new fields and research trajectories followed by the persistent clinical investigation that ultimately changes how disease is prevented, diagnosed and treated," said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president of the Feinstein Institute, editor emeritus of Molecular Medicine and Cerami Award committee member. "Professor Hansson's monograph is an inspiring story of genius and persistence that illuminates the discovery of how inflammation causes atherosclerosis, a major killer in the modern world."
"I am obviously very honored to be recognized in this way," said Dr. Hansson. "Being a scientist and having the opportunity to make discoveries is very rewarding in itself. To be selected for the Anthony Cerami Award in Translational Medicine is a wonderful recognition by my peers that the work my colleagues and I are doing contributes to the translation of science into medicine. I am particularly honored to follow in the footsteps of two of my role models in science – Anthony Cerami, after whom the award is named, and Carl Nathan, who received the first Cerami Award."
In the monograph, Dr. Hansson describes his journey in deciding whether to be a clinician or scientist, and notes a patient he met as a resident in internal medicine helped him solve this question. The patient had suffered a major stroke, and at the time there was no treatment available to help him. Hansson writes "The best they could hope for was that the man would die soon. Meeting this patient made me realize the limitations of clinical medicine. As a physician, you can do a lot for your patient—but not more than the tools of medicine available at the time allow. As a clinician, your hands are tied by the limitations of medicine. As a physician-scientist, you can help stretch those limitations."
The Feinstein Institute is committed to celebrating the stewardship of the scientific process and imparting that perspective to young scientists. The Feinstein Institute also recognizes that the story behind making a discovery in medicine and healthcare is cherished and should be documented. The goal of the Cerami Award and its associated monographs, is to document such innovations and discoveries, so that they endure and inspire future generations of investigators.
In addition to his role at the Karolinska Institutet, Dr. Hansson is secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, director of the Medical Nobel Institute and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His research deals with immune and inflammatory mechanisms in atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on artery walls (plaques), which can restrict blood flow. Dr. Hansson discovered that the atherosclerotic plaque is the site of an inflammatory/immune response involving activated T-cells and their cytokines. His work has shown that low-density lipoprotein (LDL) elicits a cellular immune response and that humoral immunity contains atheroprotective activity.
The Anthony Cerami Award in Translational Medicine was made possible made possible by the generosity of the Anthony Cerami, PhD, and Ann Dunne Foundation for World Health. Dr. Cerami's breakthrough translational work includes the identification of anti-TNF's potential to treat a number of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, and the development of the HbA1c Diagnosic Test, currently the gold standard for the diagnosis and control of diabetes. He is currently working on a potential treatment of diabetes as CEO of Araim Pharmaceuticals.
About Molecular Medicine
Molecular Medicine is an open access, international, peer-reviewed biomedical journal published by The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Molecular Medicine strives to understand normal body functioning and disease pathogenesis at the molecular level, which may allow researchers and physician-scientists to use that knowledge in the design of specific molecular tools for disease diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention. To learn more, visit www.molmed.org.
About The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Headquartered in Manhasset, NY, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is home to international scientific leaders in many areas including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sepsis, human genetics, pulmonary hypertension, leukemia, neuroimmunology, and medicinal chemistry. The Feinstein Institute, part of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, ranks in the top 6th percentile of all National Institutes of Health grants awarded to research centers. For more information, visit www.FeinsteinInstitute.org.