Atherosclerosis research leads to Presidential Award for Linton
Dr. MacRae Linton.
Dr. MacRae F. Linton, assistant professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, recently received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
The award was established by President Clinton in 1996, and is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their careers. It was presented earlier this month at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
"These gifted young professionals exemplify the best of our science and technology community, and will help set the scientific pace for the United States and the world in the years ahead," said President Clinton in a prepared statement.
Ten government agencies which fund scientific and engineering research combine to nominate the young investigators. Linton was the award recipient from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
"It is a tremendous honor to have been selected," said Linton.
Linton's Presidential Early Career Award recognizes his research into atherosclerosis, the buildup of plaque in the arteries, which is a primary underlying cause of heart attack and stroke.
In collaboration with Dr. Sergio Fazio, assistant professor of Medicine and Pathology, Linton has been studying a protein important for clearing cholesterol from the blood, Apo E. Linton and Fazio found that local production of Apo E by macrophages, a type of white blood cell, in the artery wall is protective against atherosclerosis.