FOR RELEASE: 
11 a.m. EST, Thursday
Feb. 16, 2006

CONTACT:
For information Feb. 16-18 call:
Bridgette McNeill, Carole Bullock,
or Julie Del Barto (broadcast)
at the Gaylord Palms, Kissimmee, Fla.
(407) 586-2901

American Stroke Association award news:
American Stroke Association honors Boston neurologist, four others

KISSIMMEE, Fla., Feb. 16 – Noted neurologist Michael A. Moskowitz, M.D., an expert on cellular mechanisms affecting stroke and migraine, today will receive the American Stroke Association’s highest accolade — the Thomas Willis Award.

The Willis Award is one of five being presented at the International Stroke Conference 2006, which is sponsored by the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association.  Other awardees include:

• Ralph M. Sacco, M.D., who earns the William M. Feinberg Award for Excellence in Clinical Stroke;
• Robert J. Adams, M.D., who receives the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association;
• Nicole Gonzales, M.D., who won the Mordecai Y.T. Globus New Investigator Award in Stroke;
• Thomas Bowman, M.D., M.P.H., who receives the Robert G. Siekert New Investigator Award in Stroke.

Moskowitz, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, is being honored “for major contributions to the understanding of stroke over a sustained period.”  His research has focused on identifying and overcoming cellular changes that damage brain arteries as a result of stroke.  For more than a decade, he has investigated novel pathways for cell “suicide,” or apoptosis, implicated in delayed stroke injury.

Moskowitz and his associates are also credited with major findings related to migraine.  He and his team recently identified an important area of cortical brain activity that is a potential target for migraine drug therapy.

The Willis Award honors pioneer physician Thomas Willis (1621–1675), who is credited with providing the first detailed descriptions of the brain stem, cerebellum and ventricles along with hypotheses as to their function.

In his lecture — titled “Research in Stroke and Neurovascular Disease: Lost in Translation?” — Moskowitz will reflect on two decades of personal experience in advancing innovative scientific inquiry.

“Translational research speeds scientific progress to the bedside and tightens the nexus between the laboratory and clinic,” he said.  “Successful efforts are often bi-directional, transitioning from bench to bedside and back, necessitating tight collaborations between scientists, clinicians and those in between.”

Despite promising advances in basic science and emerging technologies, Moskowitz said, progress toward improved stroke treatment remains slow, often taking decades.  “Nevertheless, the goal of alleviating human suffering from stroke is among the highest national priorities.”

Moskowitz has published more than 425 scientific articles.  He has been co-chair of the stroke program review group for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Sacco has been a prominent stroke researcher for 25 years and is being honored with the Feinberg Award “for significant achievement in the clinical investigation and management of stroke.”  His lecture is titled “Shifting the Paradigm From Stroke to Global Vascular Risk Estimation.” 

Sacco is professor of neurology and epidemiology at the Neurological Institute of Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health and the Sergievsky Center.  He also is associate chair of neurology for clinical research and director of the critical care division.  He is the chairman of the American Stroke Association’s Advisory Committee.

Since 1990 Sacco has led the Northern Manhattan Study, a community-based investigation of stroke incidence, risk factors and prognosis in an elderly, multi-ethnic urban population.  He also leads the N.Y. Columbia Collaborative Specialized Program in Translational Research in Acute Stroke.

The Feinberg Award, supported by an educational grant from the pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim, is named for Dr. William Feinberg (1952–1997), a prominent stroke researcher and American Heart Association volunteer who made notable contributions to a fuller understanding of causes of stroke.

Adams will be presented The Distinguished Achievement Award at a council breakfast Saturday, Feb. 18.   This award recognizes an American Heart Association council member who has made major contributions to the affairs of a scientific council over a continuing period, and substantial professional contributions to the field.  

Adams is a former chairman of the Stroke Council and of the American Stroke Association’s Advisory Committee.  He currently serves on several council committees and writing groups.  Adams holds the Presidential Distinguished Chair and is Regents Professor of Neurology at the Medical College of Georgia.   He is the co-director of the cerebrovascular section within the department of Neurology and is professor of pediatrics at the Medical School.   He has a distinguished research career in neurology, especially in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of stroke in sickle cell disease patients.

Two other awards recognize noteworthy research achievement by young investigators.  Gonzales, who works at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, won the Globus award for her research report titled “Mild Stroke Should Not Exclude Patients From Thrombolytic Therapy” (Abstract 9).   The Globus award is supported by the University of Miami.  The award is named after the late famed cerebrovascular researcher.

Bowman  of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, won the Siekert award for his report titled “A Comparison of Blood Pressure Parameters in Assessing Risk of Total, Ischemic, and Hemorrhagic Stroke in Apparently Healthy Men” (Abstract 110).  The award is named for the founding chair of the International Stroke Conference. 

NR06-1018 (ISC06/Awards)                                                         

####