William D. James, MD
William D. James, MD, the Paul R. Goss professor of Dermatology, received two honors, including one that will now bear his name, in recognition of his significant contributions to the field of dermatology. This month James received the American Academy of Dermatology’s (AAD) Master Dermatologist award, and he is first recipient of the William D. James, MD, Mentor of the Year Award also from the AAD, which was established in recognition of his career-spanning dedication to mentoring of students, residents, and junior faculty. In addition to his past service as president of the AAD, James has delivered more than 300 invited lectures, published more than 265 articles and 35 book chapters, and has written or edited 24 books, including multiple editions of the foundational textbook Andrews’ Disease of the Skin. He is the founding editor of the internet-based Emedicine Textbook of Dermatology, and currently serves as editor in chief of Medscape Dermatology Reference.
X. Sherry Liu, PhD
X. Sherry Liu, PhD, an associate professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering, received the Kappa Delta Young Investigator Award at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2019 annual meeting in Las Vegas. The Kappa Delta Award is bestowed upon physicians for “outstanding manuscripts that focus on basic and/or clinical research related to the musculoskeletal system.” The manuscript by Liu and her co-authors, Yihan Li, MS, a graduate student in her lab, and Chantal de Bakker, PhD, a former Penn graduate student, “Understanding Functional Adaptation of Maternal Bone to Reproduction and Lactation,” identified the different ways a woman’s body counteracts losses in bone mineral density as a result of pregnancy and lactation. As a winner, Liu and her co-authors was awarded $20,000.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will honor two members of the Abramson Cancer Center at this year’s annual meeting on May 31 through June 4: Lynn M. Schuchter, MD, chief of Hematology-Oncology, and Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, FACP, deputy director for clinical services of the Abramson Cancer Center.
Schuchter, the C. Willard Robinson Professor of Hematology-Oncology and the program leader for the Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies Program, received the Hologic, Inc. Endowed Women Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award. Her clinical research focuses on melanoma, with particular interest in novel therapies for advanced disease.
She was lauded for her strong commitment to and passion for mentorship, especially for women, having by example and through her leadership, worked to promote and pave the way for women at Penn and for women and men in oncology.
Schulman, a professor of Medicine and director of the Center for Global Cancer Medicine, received the Humanitarian Award. He specializes in the treatment of patients with breast cancer, and his research includes development of new cancer therapies, and implementation of cancer treatment programs in low-resource settings. Shulman serves as senior oncology advisor to the
nonprofit organization Partners In Health, where he plays a leadership role in the establishment of national cancer treatment programs with the Ministries of Health in Rwanda and Haiti. He sits on the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Council for Rwanda’s University for Global Health Equity. He is involved in the development of the national oncology program in Botswana through the Botswana-UPenn Partnership.
Li Shen, PhD
Li Shen, PhD, a professor of Informatics, was named to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Shen was officially inducted on March 25th during a ceremony at the AIMBE annual meeting in Washington D.C. His peers, who nominated and elected him, lauded his work in the “development of bioinformatics strategies for multidimensional brain imaging genomics.”
The Division of Chemical Toxicology of the American Chemical Society (ACS) honored Trevor Penning, PhD, the Thelma Brown and Henry Charles Molinoff Professor of Pharmacology and the director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology, with the 2019 Founders’ Award. Penning, a professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and of Obstetrics/Gynecology, has performed research in the areas of chemical toxicology and environmental science with over 500 publications. He studies the role of aldo-keto reductases (AKR) in hormone biosynthesis as it relates to prostate and breast cancer, as well as the development of inhibitors for AKR enzymes as chemical probes and therapeutics.
Penning was cited for providing outstanding and sustained service to the ACS for his many professional volunteer positions, such as Chair of Chemical Toxicology Division, a member of the Executive Committee, and an ACS symposium organizer and regular speaker. He has also been a member of the Cancer Etiology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health and a Senior Editor for Cancer Research for Population and Prevention Science,
as well as a member of two working groups at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which re-assessed the cancer-causing properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and diesel exhaust. Penning will be recognized at the ACS annual meeting in San Diego in August with a symposium in his honor.
Penn Medicine has attained “Level 7” of Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics’ Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model. Fewer than 10 percent of health systems across the United States have achieved this top honor, which recognizes a health system’s effort to completely adopt and utilize electronic medical records (EMR). Penn Medicine was the first academic medical health system in the United States to fully deploy an EMR across ambulatory, inpatient and homecare settings—in 2017. Since then, efforts by teams across the health system, including those from Information Services, have resulted in electronic access to all clinical and patient data, widespread use of the MyPennMedicine patient portal, and an overall increase in efficiency. The IS team will continue its work, with its sights set on achieving the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 validation for the inpatient setting. Read more on the Penn Medicine News Blog.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.
Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.