Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, and Peter J. Snyder, MD
PHILADELPHIA —
Scott Halpern, MD, PhD, MBE, an associate professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Medical Ethics and Health Policy, and director of the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research (PAIR) Center, and
Peter J. Snyder, MD, a professor of Medicine in the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, will be presented with the 2017 Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Distinguished Investigator Award for Career Achievement and Contribution to Clinical and Translational Science at Translational Science 2017, the organization’s annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Halpern will also receive the American Federation for Medical Research’s (AFMR) Outstanding Investigator Award at the meeting next month.
The ACTS Distinguished Investigator Award recognizes senior investigators whose innovative research or education leadership has significantly impacted clinical and translational science. The AFMR Outstanding Investigator Award is presented annually to an investigator age 45 or younger in recognition of excellence in biomedical research.
The ACTS Distinguished Investigator Award for Translation from Clinical Use into Public Benefit and Policy & AFMR Outstanding Investigator Award
Dr. Halpern is also the founding director of the Fostering Improvement in End-of-Life Decision Science (FIELDS) program, and deputy director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economic (CHIBE). By blending ethical analyses and empirical research, Dr. Halpern's work promotes the ideals of fairness and value in how scarce healthcare resources, including transplantable organs, ICU beds and services, and clinicians’ time are allocated to seriously ill patients. The PAIR Center conducts large, pragmatic randomized trials of interventions that seek to improve the lives of all people affected by serious illness. The FIELDS program includes scholars from multiple health-related disciplines who use principles of behavioral economics in an effort to understand and improve upon the healthcare decisions made by seriously ill patients and their family members and clinicians. Finally, his work through the CHIBE develops behavioral economic interventions that motivate smoking cessation, research participation, and reductions in the use of low-value healthcare services, without unduly constraining autonomous choice.
Dr. Halpern’s research is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by a number of foundations. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and a member of the editorial boards of the Annals of Internal Medicine and the American Journal of Bioethics. From 2013 – 2015 he was an anniversary fellow at the Institute of Medicine. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, and an MD, PhD, MSCE and MBE from the University of Pennsylvania.
The ACTS Distinguished Investigator Award for Translation from Early Clinical Use to Applicability for Widespread Clinical Practice
Snyder’s clinical expertise is focused on neuroendocrinology, or the diagnosis and treatment of pituitary adenomas and other pituitary and hypothalamic abnormalities, including excessive and deficient pituitary hormone secretion. These conditions include acromegaly, Cushing’s disease, hyperprolactinemia, gonadotroph and other clinically nonfunctioning adenomas, other pituitary and hypothalamic tumors, hypopituitarism, and diabetes insipidus. In clinical practice, he also specializes in male reproductive endocrinology, the diagnosis and treatment of hypogonadism and infertility in men.
Over his nearly five-decade career, Snyder has examined the effects of hormones on bone and pituitary adenomas. Most notably, Snyder was the principle investigator of The Testosterone Trials, a multicenter study of seven coordinated trials of the effects of testosterone in elderly men with low testosterone on physical function, vitality, sexual function, cognitive function, anemia, bone and cardiovascular risk.
Snyder is also involved in several professional societies including the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Endocrine Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a medical degree from Harvard University.
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