LA JOLLA, CALIF., March 21, 2000 - Actor Christopher Reeve has been named the first recipient of the UCSD-Salk Institute Service Award for his tireless efforts to raise awareness of the importance of basic research for human biology and disease.
Presented as part of "A Day of Molecular Medicine," co-sponsored by The Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the award is one of three to be given at a ceremony at The Birch Aquarium of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
The daylong celebration includes an international symposium of scientific lectures and discussion featuring some of the world's preeminent researchers, many of whom are based in San Diego. The awards were established by the institutions to recognize significant contributions in the advancement of biomedical research, and in the application of basic science findings to the improvement of human health.
Reeve was chosen to receive the Service Award for his unwavering personal campaign to increase public and legislative awareness of the need to support basic research in health. Injured in an equestrian competition in 1995, Reeve is a powerful spokesperson for people with disabilities and for the profound impact medical science can have on everyone's life.
The UCSD-Salk Institute Translational Medicine Award, for pioneering scientific and clinical work that leads to therapeutic advances, was given to Dr. Dennis Slamon and to Genentech, Inc., represented by Arthur Levinson, chairman and chief executive officer. Slamon, director of the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Jonsson Cancer Center, and Genentech, Inc., pioneered efforts that led to the development and application of Herceptin (known generically as trastuzumab) antibodies as a new therapy for metastatic breast cancer. Slamon, a professor of Medicine, also serves as chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and as executive vice chair for research at the UCLA Department of Medicine. Levinson joined Genentech in 1980 as a senior scientist and quickly rose through the ranks to become president and chief executive officer in 1995, as well as a member of the board of directors.
Dr. Donald Seldin, chairman emeritus, Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas (UT-Southwestern), is the recipient of the UCSD-Salk Institute Mentorship Award, established for exceptional work in the mentoring of scientists and physicians. Seldin is being recognized for building an outstanding Department of Medicine that has generated many leaders in molecular biology, including two Nobel laureates and seven members of the National Academy of Sciences.