Distinguished Graduate Award Recipients
Complete List of DGA Recipients
1982
Howard A. Rusk, M.D.’25
1983
Elizabeth K. Rose, M.D.’26
Edward Rose, M.D.’21
1984
Carl F. Schmidt, M.D.’18
1985
Michael S. Brown, M.D.’66
Seymour S. Kety, M.D.’40
1986
Stanley N. Cohen, M.D.’60
Eugene M. Landis, M.D.’26
1987
Louis Sokoloff, M.D.’46
Francis C. Wood, M.D.’26
1988
David E. Kuhl, M.D.’55
Truman G. Schnabel, Jr., M.D.’43D
1989
Christian J. Lambertsen, M.D.’43A
John T. Potts, M.D.’57
1990
Gerald M. Edelman, M.D.’54, Ph.D.
Frank A. Oski, M.D.’58
1991
Maria Iandolo New, M.D.’54
Stanley B. Pruisner, M.D.’68
1992
Leon Eisenberg, M.D. ’46
Peter C. Nowell, M.D.’52
1993
Jonathan E. Rhoads, M.D., GME’40
Harold M. Weintraub, M.D.’74, Ph.D.’71
1994
C. Everett Koop, M.D., GME’47
Darwin J. Prockop, M.D.’56, Ph.D.
1995
Robert E. Forster II, M.D.’43D
James E. Eckenhoff, M.D.’41
1996
Robert A. Fishman, M.D.’47
James D. Hardy, M.D.’42
1997
Jerome H. Grossman, M.D.’65
Juan M. Taveras, M.D.’49
1998
Albert M. Kligman, M.D.’47, Ph.D.’42
Clyde F. Barker, M.D., GME’59
1999
Herbert L. Needleman, M.D.’52
Matthew D. Davis, M.D.’50
2000
Joseph H. Burchenal, M.D.’37
Robert L. Barchi, M.D.’72, Ph.D.’72
2001
Daniel Albert, M.D.’62
Edward Holmes, M.D.’67
2002
John M. Eisenberg, M.D., M.B.A.’76, GME’77
Robert W. Miller, M.D.’46
James C. Thompson, M.D., GME’59
2003
H. Frank Bunn, M.D.’61
Robert B. Daroff, M.D.’61
2004
Selma E. Snyderman, M.D.’40
Edward J. Stemmler, M.D.’60
2005
Carl Brighton, M.D.’57
Jerome Strauss, M.D.’74 , Ph.D.’74
2006
Theodore Friedmann, M.D.’60
Helene Gayle, M.D.’81
John Christian Reed, M.D.’86, Ph.D.’86
2007
Stanley Dudrick, M’61, GME’67
Stanley Plotkin, GME’63
2008
Dennis A. Ausiello, M.D.‘71
Walter J. Gamble, M.D.‘57
Craig B. Thompson, M.D.‘77
2009
Mark T. Groudine, M.D.‘74, Ph.D.‘74
Nicole Lurie, M.D.‘79
2010
Ann Arvin, M.D.’72
Robert I. Grossman, M.D.’73
2011
Elaine S. Jaffe, M.D.’69
Sidney Pestka, M.D.’61
2012
David A. Asch, GM'87, WG'89, HOM'96
William S. Pierce, M'62, RES'69
2013
Richard H. Goodman, M.D.’76, Ph.D.’76
Jeannie T. Lee, M.D.’93, Ph.D.’93
2014
William A. Eaton, C’59, M’64, GR’67
Alan J. Wein, M’66, INT’70
2015
Patricia A. Gabow, M’69, INT’73
Robert M. Wachter, C’79, M’83
2015 Recipients
Patricia Acquaviva Gabow, M’69, INT’73
Patricia Acquaviva Gabow, M’69, INT’73, is nationally renowned for her work to increase access to basic health care in Colorado, and has led a successful career as a researcher, physician, and health care leader. She is the recipient of numerous awards, and has been named as one of the top 25 women in health care, one of the top 50 physician executives, and one of the 100 most powerful people in American health care.
As CEO of Denver Health and Hospitals—from 1992 until her retirement in 2012—Dr. Gabow transformed its health care system into a national model for its superior quality of care. Because of her efforts, Denver Health earned the Shingo Bronze Medallion for Operational Excellence: the first health care entity to receive such recognition. Most recently, Dr. Gabow she has been appointed to MACPAC, the federal commission on Medicaid and CHIP, and is Senior Advisor to Simpler Consulting. She is also a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees, the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Value and Science Driven Health Care, and the National Governors’ Association Health Advisory Board.
Dr. Gabow is Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and has authored more than 150 publications, including articles, book chapters, and books. Her most recent book is The Lean Prescription: Powerful Medicine for Our Ailing Healthcare System. A loyal and active Perelman School alumna, she was chosen as the keynote speaker at Penn Medicine’s Women in Medicine event in 2009.
Dr. Gabow attended Seton Hill College as an undergraduate, received her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine, and completed an internship in Medicine as well as a nephrology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert M. Wachter, C’79, M’83
Robert M. Wachter, C’79, M’83, is considered the father of the hospitalist field. Originally coining the term in a New England Journal of Medicine article in 1996, he has become a national leader of the fastest-growing specialty in the history of modern medicine. He is also a well-respected expert in the fields of patient safety and healthcare quality.
In 2004, Dr. Wachter received the John M. Eisenberg Award, the nation’s top honor in patient safety. He has been named one of Modern Healthcare magazine’s 50 most influential physician-executives in the US for the past seven years—the only academic physician to receive this recognition. In 2014, the same publication listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in healthcare.
In the patient safety and quality arenas, Dr. Wachter edits the AHRQ WebM&M, a case-based patient safety journal on the Web, and AHRQ Patient Safety Network, the leading federal patient safety portal. He has written two books on these subjects, including Internal Bleeding—an Amazon best seller—and Understanding Patient Safety, the leading safety primer. His newest book, The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, was published in April 2015. Dr. Wachter’s blog, www.wachtersworld.org, is one of the nation’s most popular healthcare blogs.
Dr. Wachter is currently Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, where he holds the Lynne and Marc Benioff Endowed Chair in Hospital Medicine. He is also Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine and Chief of the Medical Service at UCSF Medical Center.
Dr. Wachter received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine, and completed a residency and chief residency in internal medicine at University of California, San Francisco. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Stanford University, and studied patient safety in England in 2011 as a Fulbright Scholar.
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2014 Recipients
William A. Eaton, C’59, M’64, GR’67
William A. Eaton, C’59, M’64, GR’67, is internationally recognized for his pioneering research on the physical chemistry of proteins. He is NIH Distinguished Investigator in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, which he joined in 1968 as a medical officer in the US Public Health Service.
Dr. Eaton also earned his doctorate in molecular biology from Penn. His investigations of the kinetics and thermodynamics of the aggregation of sickle cell hemoglobin exemplify the role of biophysical studies in providing major breakthroughs in understanding a human disease. He discovered and explained the highly unusual time course and sensitivity of sickle hemoglobin fiber formation and showed how they play a central role in both the pathophysiology and therapy of sickle cell disease.
Dr. Eaton has made significant contributions to the field of protein folding by pioneering the application of pulsed lasers to dramatically improve the time resolution in kinetic studies and by developing single molecule fluorescence methods to watch individual molecules fold and unfold. This work has led to major advances in understanding how the random conformations of the polypeptide chain self-assemble into the biologically active folded structure. All of Dr. Eaton’s experiments have been closely tied to theory, culminating in his development of a mathematical model of protein folding capable of quantitatively explaining a wide range of equilibrium and kinetic experimental results.
Dr. Eaton has also played a major leadership role at NIH. As Chief of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics since 1986, he has been responsible for building what is arguably one of the very top groups of biophysical scientists anywhere. As Scientific Director of the Intramural AIDS Targeted Anti-viral Program (IATAP) in the Office of the Director of NIH since 1986, his program has attracted many of NIH’s very best scientists to turn their efforts to research on the structural, molecular, and cell biology of HIV/AIDS. The IATAP program has contributed to the strong record of NIH scientists in meeting the AIDS crisis, and is now being used as a model for new granting programs within NIH in areas such as bioterrorism and orphan diseases research.
Dr. Eaton is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. His awards include the Neurath Award of the Protein Society, the Founders Award of the Biophysical Society, the Delbruck Prize in Biological Physics from the American Physical Society, and the John Scott Award of the City of Philadelphia.
Alan J. Wein, M’66, INT’70
Alan J. Wein, M’66, INT’70, has dedicated his life to the field of urology and his career to Penn Medicine. In 2012, Dr. Wein was a recipient of The Edward L. Keyes Medal, presented by the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons for “outstanding contributions in the advancement of urology.” The Keyes Medal is recognized as the greatest individual citation in urology and has been awarded rarely since its inception in 1926.
At Penn, Dr. Wein has held positions along the entire professional spectrum as student, to researcher, to clinician, and now as Professor and Chief of the Division of Urology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Chief of Urology and Director of the Residency Program in Urology for Penn Medicine.
Through Dr. Wein’s leadership, the Division is now considered among the nation’s leading centers for excellence in urology and urologic surgery. Under his direction, the Residency Program in Urology ranks among the top 5 in the country. In 2007, Dr. Wein was named the Founders Professor in Urology, which was created in recognition of his leadership and accomplishments.
Among his many honors, Dr. Wein is a recipient of the Urodynamics Society Lifetime Achievement Award, both the Distinguished Service and the Distinguished Contribution Awards of the American Urological Association, and the Ferdinand C. Valentine Award of the New York Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Wein holds or has held editorial board or associate editor positions on 15 respected journals, authored or coauthored over 925 scientific publications or chapters and over 785 editorials, and written, edited, or coedited over 30 books on urologic topics. He is editor-in-chief of the gold standard textbook in urology, Campbell-Walsh Urology.
His laboratory is well recognized for numerous contributions to the physiology and pharmacology of the lower urinary tract, and Dr. Wein is widely acknowledged for his simplified and now commonly used approach for classification, evaluation, and management of lower urinary tract dysfunction, including incontinence, the effects of neuromuscular disease, and obstruction. He is also recognized for his primary role in developing the concept and terminology for the overactive bladder symptom syndrome and its diagnosis and noninvasive therapy. A founding member of the Society of Urologic Oncology, he directs the Urologic Cancer Program at Penn.
After graduating from Princeton University, Dr. Wein received his MD and completed training in surgery and urology at Penn, including a fellowship at the Harrison Department of Surgical Research. He was awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Patras, Greece, in 2005. He was conferred the status of Honorary Professor of the Federal State Institute of Urology by the Russian Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development in 2010.
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