Lifetime Achievement in Science Award
Recipients, nominated by the Foundation’s Medical Advisory Board, are selected for their unique contributions to bone marrow failure disease treatment or research.
2023 H. Joachim Deeg, MD
Dr. Joachim Deeg, a distinguished figure in the field of hematology and bone marrow transplantation., was presented with the AAMDSIF Lifetime Achievement in Science Award at the AAMDSIF 40th Anniversary Summit in October 2023. With a career spanning several decades, Dr. Deeg has made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of blood disorders, particularly hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. A longtime supporter of the AAMDSIF mission, Dr. Deeg serves as an original member of our organization's Medical Advisory Board and has presented at numerous professional and patient education programs.
Born in Germany, Dr. Deeg pursued his medical education with fervor, earning his medical degree from the University of Heidelberg. Following his education and arrival at the Fred Hutch in 1976, he embarked on a journey of research and clinical practice that would shape the landscape of hematologic oncology.
Dr. Deeg's work has been characterized by a relentless pursuit of excellence in patient care, research, and education. He has held numerous leadership positions, including Director of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and visiting Professor at Carl Carus University in Dresden, Germany.
Throughout his career, Dr. Deeg has been at the forefront of groundbreaking research aimed at improving outcomes for patients with blood cancers and disorders. He has been cited in over 863 peer-reviewed studies and has authored several books. His research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including graft-versus-host disease, myelodysplastic syndromes, and leukemia. Some of Dr Deeg’s most notable contributions to bone marrow failure research include developing novel treatments for acute graft-vs.-host disease; creating an animal model of MDS that has allowed researchers worldwide to test new treatments; and establishing bone marrow transplantation from healthy donors as a curative treatment for MDS and myeloproliferative neoplasms.
In addition to his research and clinical responsibilities, Dr. Deeg is a dedicated educator, mentoring over 50 students, fellows, and young physicians in the field of hematology and bone marrow transplantation. His passion for teaching and knowledge dissemination has had a lasting impact on the next generation of medical professionals.
Dr. Deeg's contributions to the field have been widely recognized, earning him numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize from the American Society of Hematology. His work continues to shape the landscape of hematology and bone marrow transplantation, offering hope to patients and advancing the field towards new frontiers in treatment and care.
2019 Mary Horowitz, MD, MS
Dr. Mary Horowitz, the 2019 recipient of the inaugural AAMDSIF Lifetime Achievement in Science Award is the Robert A. Uihlein, Jr. Chair in Hematologic Research and Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), where she is also an active blood and marrow transplant physician. Her principal national roles are as the Chief Scientific Director of the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR), the Research Director of the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program, and the founding director of both the stem cell transplantation Clinical Trials Network and the Genetically Modified Cellular Therapy of Cancer registry. Until recently, she also served as division chief of hematology and medical oncology at MCW.
Dr. Horowitz’s accomplishments in medicine are monumental. She has co-authored more than 350 peer reviewed papers, 35 book chapters and over 10 editorials. She has been invited to give over 50 regional lectures, over 100 national lectures and over 100 international lectures. In the CIBMTR, and its predecessor International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, and the Bill Young registry she leads what many consider the first and most successful clinical outcomes registries in the world. She has worked diligently to keep grant funded these vital healthcare organizations, which track outcomes for transplants for all bone marrow failure disease patients. Her work with the CTN has done the largest prospective trials for treatment of aplastic anemia with transplantation. Dr. Horowitz’s research work on so many levels has changed the practice of medicine.
All of these achievements are in addition to her considerable local teaching duties. Dr. Horowitz has mentored 16 scholars in residence at MCW. Her most valuable contribution however may be the teaching she gives to medical residents and students at MCW based on her own life events. She has given lectures on the struggle to balance work life and family as a physician. She lectured student on caring for cancer patients while she herself was being treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer and more recently throat cancer. She now teaches about the struggle between being the caregiver for a husband with dementia as she continues her career.
In addition to this AAMDSIF recognition, Dr Horowitz has received the following awards and recognition:
1997 Service Award, U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration
2005 Honorary Fellowship, The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
2007 Alfredo Pavlovsky Award, XXXI World Congress of the International Society of Hematology
2008 Selected by The Anthony Nolan Trust to give the "Shirley Nolan Memorial Lecture", 7th International Registry Meeting
2008 DKMS Mechtild Harf Award 2010 American Society of Hematology Clinical Research Mentor Award
2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation
2016 14th Annual Thomas L. Smallwood Award for Patient Care Excellence, Froedtert Hospital 2016 The G. Richard Olds Award for Mentorship in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin
Most recently Dr. Horowitz was honored by the American College of Physicians its Harriet Dunstan award for lifetime excellence in contribution to science as related to clinical medicine.