With last week’s election of Lorraine Ware, MD, as vice president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), two faculty members of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine are among the current officers of the elite physician-scientist honor society.
Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, Cornelius Abernathy Craig Professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Vanderbilt, has completed a one-year term as vice president is now president-elect.
ASCI officers are elected to serve four successive one-year terms, as vice president, president-elect, president and immediate past president.
Ware, professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, is noted for her research on the pathogenesis and resolution of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Her election was announced during the joint annual meeting of the ASCI, Association of American Physicians (AAP) and American Physician Scientist Association in Chicago.
“Physician-scientists are in a unique position to impact biomedical discoveries at the intersection of clinical medicine and scientific investigation,” Ware said. “As the premier society of physician-scientists, the ASCI can work to favorably impact all aspects of the physician scientist’s role in medicine,” she said. “I am honored to have the opportunity to help lead these efforts through the position of ASCI vice president.”
Ware’s comprehensive bench-to-bedside research program centers on the pathogenesis and treatment of sepsis and acute lung injury with a focus on mechanisms of lung epithelial and endothelial oxidative injury by cell-free hemoglobin.
In 2015 she received the Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments from the American Thoracic Society. The award is given to ATS members for outstanding scientific contributions to the understanding, prevention and treatment of acute or chronic lung diseases.
Ware, who became an ASCI member in 2012, also is dedicated to training physician-scientists. She directs the Vanderbilt Medical Scholars Program, a one-year in-depth research experience for Vanderbilt medical students designed to foster an enduring interest in biomedical research.
Rathmell, who also last week was inducted into the AAP, is a genitourinary oncologist who specializes in treating patients with kidney cancer, also known as renal cell carcinoma. More than 60,000 patients are diagnosed with this type of cancer each year in the United States.
She operates a research laboratory focused on biological mechanisms that drive renal cell carcinomas and is active in research advocacy and mentorship. She co-leads a K-12 program for clinical oncology researcher development at Vanderbilt and is a representative to the board for the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Last year Rathmell was elected to the nominating committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the leading organization of oncology professionals dedicated to improving research, education and care for cancer patients.
