Volume 23, No. 4 - December 1998                     Published by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) will honor David Satcher, MD, PhD, United States Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, and renowned researcher Stanley Falkow, PhD, at the annual NFID Awards Dinner on March 4, 1999, at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City in Arlington, VA.

NFID will present the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement to Dr. Falkow for his pioneering achievements in infectious disease research, which have included identification and elucidation of fundamental mechanisms of microbial resistance. This award is given to a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of infectious diseases or public health.

Dr. Satcher will be honored with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind for outstanding contributions in improving the health of humankind through national and global health programs.

"The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases is proud to honor such important individuals with these two awards," said William J. Martone, MD, senior executive director, NFID.

Stanley Falkow, PhD, is widely known as the father of the field of pathogenesis the study of how infecting microbes and host cells interact to cause disease.

By adopting highly unconventional perspectives for example, viewing infection as a process that ultimately is mediated by the host Dr. Falkow has made startling findings such as the discovery that infectious microbes employ genes that are activated only inside host cells. The fruits of his work range from clinical applications, such as a new vaccine for whooping cough, to such fundamental advances in knowledge as the discovery of how cells are penetrated by bacteria. Dr. Falkow is professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

"Dr. Falkow has made an indelible mark on the field of infectious disease research in the second half of this century," said Jon S. Saxe, president, Protein Design Labs, Inc., Mountain View, CA, and an NFID Trustee. "[For] over four decades, Dr. Falkow has pioneered infectious disease research through his recognition of the role plasmids play in the development of antibiotic resistance and by originating the field of microbial pathogenesis, basic findings which reverberate throughout the study of infectious mechanisms. As did Maxwell Finland, Dr. Falkow has trained a generation of researchers, many of whom have since advanced to leadership roles in academia and industry. His combination of truly innovative research and inspired teaching and mentoring have been acclaimed widely and uniquely qualify him to be nominated for the Maxwell Finland Award."

Dr. Falkow's early work in the 1960s focused on the genetic mechanisms that enable populations of bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. He demonstrated that organisms such as shigella can possess gene fragments called plasmids that exist apart from the bacterial chromosome and that they carry specialized information for survival. Under selective pressure from antibiotics, one species of bacteria can pass its plasmids to another unidirectionally rather than by mating, thereby preserving its own specialized survival genes.

At the University of Washington in Seattle, Dr. Falkow was able to employ these findings to describe how meningitis and gonorrhea organisms acquire plasmids to become resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics.

In the 1970s, Dr. Falkow shifted his focus to the infection process. During this period, he showed that a life-threatening diarrhea prevalent in many developing countries is caused by a sub-type of E. colher of bacterial pathogenesis." Prior to his 18-year tenure at Stanford, Dr. Falkow was professor of microbiology and medicine at the University of Washington Medical School. He also spent eleven years in Washington, DC at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as assistant chief, Department of Bacterial Immunology and at Georgetown University Medical School, where he was a professor of microbiology. Dr. Falkow has published many articles, and has served on the editorial boards of sePhD, chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine. "It would not be an overstatement to consider him as the modern-day father of bacterial pathogenesis."

Prior to his 18-year tenure at Stanford, Dr. Falkow was professor of microbiology and medicine at the University of Washington Medical School. He also spent eleven years in Washington, DC at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as assistant chief, Department of Bacterial Immunology and at Georgetown University Medical School, where he was a professor of microbiology.

Dr. Falkow has published many articles, and has served on the editorial boards of several professional publications. In addition, he has received numerous awards for his achievements in science. Some of these include the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Disease Research, the Altemeier Medal from the Surgical Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Howard Taylor Ricketts Award Lecture at the University of Chicago, and the Paul Ehrlich-Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize.

Dr. Falkow is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Falkow is currently President of the American Society of Microbiology.

Dr. Falkow graduated cum laude from the University of Maine in 1955. He received both his Master of Science and PhD degrees in biology from Brown University.

After many years of distinguished service in medicine and public health, Dr. Satcher was sworn in as both the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Surgeon General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in February 1998.

As Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Satcher serves as the HHS Secretary's senior advisor on public health issues, and provides leadership on issues that involve the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS). The Surgeon General, often referred to as the "Nation's Doctor," is one of the most visible positions in government from which to advocate on health issues.

Dr. Satcher is the 16th Surgeon General in a line dating back to 1871 when the Marine Hospital Service was transformed into a broader Public Health Service. The PHS' 6,000-member Commissioned Corps is a uniform service which can be reassigned to medical trouble spots when needed.

As Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Satcher has given priority to major national health issues such as eliminating disparities in health among racial and ethnic groups, making children's health a primary goal, and focusing more resources on mental health. These goals are in keeping with the thoughts of his daughter, Gretchen, who describes his earlier career in an article in City Flight magazine:

"[He] learned very early in life the importance of making the best health care readily available for all people. He has emphasized this, not only as a physician, but also as a researcher, educator, and administrator. His life has been a testament to the values he will continue to instill in America's health care system."

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Satcher was the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1993 to 1997. During his tenure at the CDC, Dr. Satcher distinguished himself as a leading health care advocate. The CDC is responsible for promoting health and preventing disease, injury, and premature death. As its director, Dr. Satcher spearheaded initiatives that have increased childhood immunization rates from 55 percent in 1992 to 78 percent in 1996. Dr. Satcher also upgraded the nation's capability to respond to emerging infectious diseases, and laid the groundwork for a new Early Warning System to detect and prevent food-borne illnesses.

"Dr Satcher is an exceptionally visionary leader and an extremely effective advocate for science-based public health policy and its applications. He has had a profound impact on CDC's mission and its programs," says James M. Hughes, MD, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the CDC. "He was a strong supporter of the concept of prevention research, recognizing the need to develop new information in support of effective implementation and evaluation of prevention programs with particular emphasis on the disadvantaged and underserved. He was a strong advocate for strengthening links between those in clinical medicine and those in public health."

Dr. Satcher has been recognized for his skill at consensus building. "An important contribution was his developing and strengthening of partnerships," Dr. Hughes says. "This included not only the groups we traditionally work with but also a broad range of stakeholders including the corporate world, minority organizations, and the faith communities."

Dr. Satcher graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1963 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his MD and PhD from Case Western Reserve University in 1970 with election to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.

Before joining the Administration, Dr. Satcher served as president of Meharry Medical College from 1982 until 1993. Dr. Satcher also served as professor and chairman of the Department of Community Medicine and Family Practice at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Dr. Satcher is a former faculty member of the UCLA School of Medicine and the King-Drew Medical Center In Los Angeles. He developed and chaired King-Drew's Department of Family Medicine and, from 1977-1979, served as the Interim Dean of the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School. He also directed the King-Drew Sickle Cell Center for six years.

Dr. Satcher has been the recipient of many outstanding awards. They include the 1996 American Medical Association's Dr. Nathan B. Davis Award, the John Steams Award for Lifetime Achievement In Medicine from the New York Academy of Medicine, Ebony Magazine's American Black Achievement Award in Business and the Professions in 1994, and the Surgeon General's Medallion for significant and noteworthy contributions to the health of the nation, just to name a few.

Past recipients of the Maxwell Finland Award are Maurice R. Hilleman, PhD, renowned vaccine researcher, Joshua Lederberg, PhD, Nobel Prize winner and genetics research pioneer; the Honorable Paul G. Rogers, former congressman from Florida; the Honorable Dale Bumpers, senator from Arkansas, and Mrs. Betty F. Bumpers, co-founder, "Every Child by Two"; Elizabeth Hanford Dole, president, American Red Cross; Arthur Ashe, Jr., champion tennis player and humanitarian; Michael E. DeBakey, MD, chancellor, Baylor College of Medicine and renowned surgeon; Mrs. Albert Lasker, president, Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation; P. Roy Vagelos, MD, former chief executive officer, Merck & Co., Inc.; Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director, NIAID, NIH; and C. Everett Koop, MD, ScD, former United States surgeon general.

The first Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind was presented in 1997 to President and Mrs. Carter. In 1998, NFID presented this award to General Colin L. Powell.

The Awards Dinner will take place on the evening of March 4, 1999 at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City in Arlington, VA. Individual seats for the NFID Awards Dinner are $350 per person. Sponsored private tables for 10 are available for $8,000 for a Preferred Location and $5,000 for a Select Location. NFID is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, and as a result, most of this cost is tax deductible. Net proceeds from the event will be used to support research, public and professional education, and prevention into the causes and cures for infectious diseases.