2016 Cura Personalis Award
The Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis, which means “care of the whole person,” suggests individualized attention to the needs of others, distinct respect for unique circumstances and concerns, and an appropriate appreciation for singular gifts and insights. This is the founding principle of Georgetown University Medical Center, and has special resonance for the scientific and educational missions of the university.
Every year at the GUMC Convocation, the Cura Personalis Award is bestowed upon a health professional who has made outstanding contributions to human health guided by compassion and service.
This year we are pleased to present the Cura Personalis Award to our keynote speaker, Roger I. Glass, MD, PhD. Glass was named director of the Fogarty International Center and associate director for international research for the National Institutes of Health in 2006. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Glass is an award-winning researcher dedicated to the prevention of gastroenteritis who has co-authored more than 600 research papers and chapters. He has maintained field studies in India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Vietnam, China and elsewhere, and he is fluent and often lectures in five languages.
Roger I. Glass Full Bio
Roger Glass was named director of the Fogarty International Center and associate director for international research for the National Institutes of Health in 2006. An award-winning researcher dedicated to the prevention of gastroenteritis, Glass has co-authored more than 600 research papers and chapters. His research has been targeted towards epidemiologic studies to anticipate the introduction of rotavirus vaccines. He has maintained field studies in India, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Vietnam, China and elsewhere, and he is fluent and often lectures in five languages. Glass is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine).
After graduating from Harvard College, Glass received a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the University of Buenos Aires before returning to Harvard to earn his MD and MPH. Glass then joined the CDC as a medical officer in the environmental hazards branch. From 1979 to 1983, he served as a scientist at Bangladesh’s International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research before earning his PhD at the University of Goteborg. He then studied the molecular biology of the rotavirus at the National Institutes of Health Laboratory of Infectious Diseases before returning to the CDC where he served as chief of the viral gastroenteritis unit at the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
In recognition of his 30-year career, Glass was honored by the CDC with the prestigious Charles C. Shepard Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award, as well as the Dr. Charles Merieux Award from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases for his work on rotaviruses in the developing world. He was also recognized with the 2015 Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal Award.
Glass will deliver the keynote address and receive the Cura Personalis medal during the Convocation ceremony beginging at 4:00 p.m. Glass will also be the featured panelist during the Conovocation colloquium beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Past Cura Personalis Awardees
Martin J. Blaser, MD – 2015
Blaser is recognized for his pioneering work identifying a connection between Helicobacter pylori and the development of gastric cancers, his research on early life changes to the microbiome and the development of chronic health conditions, and his vision and leadership in raising awareness of the issue of antibiotic resistance.
Helen S. Mayberg, MD – 2014
Mayberg is renowned for her pioneering work using deep brain stimulation (DBS) in treatment-resistant depression.
Ronald M. Harden, OBE, MD, FRCP, FRCS, FRCPC – 2013
Harden is committed to developing new approaches to curriculum planning and assessment, and to teaching and learning. His innovations in medical education include the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, known as the OSCE, which has been universally adopted as a standard approach to assessing clinical competence.
John Ruffin, PhD – 2012
Ruffin is a renowned leader and visionary in the field of health disparities. He has devoted his professional life to improving the health status of minority populations in the United States and to developing and supporting educational programs for minority researchers and health care practitioners.
Arno G. Motulsky, MD – 2011
Dr. Motulsky is Professor of Medicine and Genome Sciences (emeritus, 1998 – active) at the University of Washington, Seattle, is known among scientiscts as founder of the field of pharmacogenetics.
Edmund Pellegrino, MD – 2009
Dr. Pellegrino is the John Carroll Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center and inaugural Director of the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics and considered the father of clinical bioethics.
Leroy Hood, M.D., PhD – 2008
Dr. Hood, founder of the Institute for Systems Biology, and the foremost expert in the field of systems medicine.