May 30, 2008
UW Medicine to honor outstanding alumni at all-school celebration
The UW Medicine Alumni Association will honor four alumni June 7 at an evening reception at Bell Harbor International Conference Center. The event is part of the annual UW Medicine All-School Celebration planned for June 6 and 7.
Dr. Gerald Nepom, director of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason, will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award. The award recognizes an alumnus or alumna whose professional achievements and cumulative contributions have brought personal distinction, enhanced the profession, improved the welfare of the general public, and brought honor to the UW School of Medicine.
Nepom, an affiliate professor of immunology, completed both his medical degree and a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the UW in the late 1970s. His research on mechanisms of autoimmune diseases led to the discovery of the major gene associated with type 1 juvenile diabetes. Nepom is a leader in the areas of molecular immunology, autoimmunity, and immunotherapy, focused on building translational programs which cross-multiple clinical disciplines and diseases.
Dr. Ann Kao, pediatric clinician-educator at Massachusetts General Hospital and pediatric coordinator with the Cambodian Health Committee, will receive the Humanitarian Award, which acknowledges an alumnus or alumna who embodies the ideals of the School of Medicine and whose career reflects an ongoing commitment to serve others through the practice of medicine.
Kao is currently working in Cambodia to strengthen medical programs for children with HIV/AIDS. She graduated with honors from the UW School of Medicine in 2000, and completed her residency at Harvard’s combined internal medicine and pediatrics program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Boston. While serving as a Thomas S. Durant Fellow for Refugee Medicine through Massachusetts General, she was the medical director of the Nyabiheke Refugee Camp in Rwanda. Kao was also recognized for her work on medical missions in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Romania, and her work at a clinic for the underserved in Boston.
Dr. Ben Danielson, medical director of Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in Seattle, will receive the Early Achievement Alumni Award. The award honors an alumnus or alumna who graduated from medical school within the last 20 years, and has excelled in his or her career in medicine, or made significant contributions or remarkable achievements in clinical care, medical science, humanitarianism or administrative activities.
Danielson received his medical degree at the UW in 1992, and completed his residency at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle. He is a clinical associate professor of pediatrics, and works with medical and physician-assistant students and medical residents at Odessa Brown, a community health center that serves a culturally diverse, predominately low-income population. Danielson serves as a mentor in the UW School of Medicine’s Rural and Underserved Opportunities Program (RUOP) and the Minority Mentoring Program. He has been recognized for his community advocacy, especially on issues related to low-income and minority youth populations.
Dr. John Vassall II, vice president of medical affairs for Swedish Medical Center, will receive the Alumni Service Award, which honors an alumnus or alumna whose dedicated and determined efforts on behalf of the UW School of Medicine and the Medical Alumni Association have benefited the community.
Vassall received his medical degree at the UW in 1978 and completed his residency and internship in internal medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital and Emory University Affiliated Hospitals in Atlanta. He was chief of staff at Swedish from 2005 to 2007, and has been on staff there since 1983. Vassall is also a clinical associate professor of medicine at the UW, and is a past president of the UW School of Medicine Alumni Association. He is an American Medical Association delegate from the Washington State Medical Association, and is a speaker of the House of Delegates and member of the board for the Washington State Medical Association. Vassall received the 2006 Internist of the Year award from the Washington Chapter of the American College of Physicians, in recognition of his outstanding clinical skills and leadership.
To learn more about the UW Medicine All-School Celebration, visit the UW Medicine Alumni Association Web site at:
http://depts.washington.edu/medalum/AllSchoolCelebration/index.php
