Sutherland Prize recognizes Robertson’s research efforts

David Robertson, M.D.

Sutherland Prize recognizes Robertson’s research efforts

David Robertson, M.D., has received one of Vanderbilt University's highest honors, the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research, for “groundbreaking contributions” to understanding heart and blood pressure regulation.

Robertson, the Elton Yates Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Neurology, and director of the Elliott V. Newman Clinical Research Center, was honored recently during the University Fall Faculty Assembly in the Student Life Center.

Other School of Medicine faculty recognized by Interim Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos:

• James Crowe Jr., M.D., professor of Pediatrics, who won a Chancellor's Research Award for two publications on human metapneumovirus infections in children; and

• Virginia Shepherd, Ph.D., professor of Pathology and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach, who shared the Thomas Jefferson Award for Distinguished Service with Matthew Ramsey, Ph.D., associate professor of History.

The Sutherland Prize, named for Vanderbilt's first Nobel laureate in medicine, is awarded annually to a faculty member whose achievements in research, scholarship or creative expression are recognized nationally or internationally. It includes a $5,000 prize.

Robertson was honored for his contributions to understanding disorders of the autonomic nervous system, which controls vital systems including blood pressure and heart rate for the most part without conscious control or sensation; for devising new methods to treat low blood pressure; and for advancing the field of patient-oriented clinical investigation.