May 31, 2007
Lipsky honored for amputation prevention efforts
Dr. Benjamin A. Lipsky, UW professor of medicine, will receive the Edward James Olmos Award for Advocacy in Amputation Prevention at DFCon 08, the Global Diabetic Foot Conference, set for March 13-15 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. Lipsky is director of the General Internal Medicine Clinic and head of the Antibiotic Research Clinic at VA Puget Sound Health Care System.
In making the announcement, Drs. George Andros and David Armstrong, conference co-chairmen, noted that Lipsky has conducted pioneering research in the diagnosis and treatment of foot infections in diabetic patients and has conducted studies evaluating new antimicrobial agents in treating bacterial infections.
“In challenging many preconceived notions about wounds and the nature of bacterial infection, Professor Lipsky has fundamentally changed and refined our understanding of antimicrobial therapy in this field,” said Armstrong. “The randomized trials conducted by Dr. Lipsky and others have provided a foundation for years of future work in amputation prevention.”
The Olmos Award is named after Edward James Olmos, the Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor who has devoted much of his career to limb salvage and amputation prevention efforts. Olmos presents the award annually at DFCon.
Lipsky received his medical degree from Cornell University in 1973. His internship and residency were at the UW, where he was chief medical resident and also held a fellowship in infectious diseases. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and Infectious Diseases Society of America. An internationally known speaker and lecturer, Lipsky is the author of more than 170 professional articles and book chapters and co-author of two textbooks on antibiotic therapy. He was also chairman of the committees that produced both the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot and the Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines on diabetic foot infections. Among his honors and awards are the R.W. Johnson Mentorship Award and the Eugene Furth Lectureship at East Carolina University.
For more information about the international conference, visit www.dfcon.com.
