February 5, 2009
Leonard Hudson to receive Trudeau Medal
Leonard D. Hudson, UW professor of medicine and former head of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, has been chosen to receive the 2009 Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal from the American Thoracic Society and American Lung Association, to be presented at the ATS International Conference in May. The award honors Hudson’s many contributions to research, his training of pulmonary and critical care physicians, and his “extraordinary care of patients and their families.”
For more than 30 years Hudson has investigated acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute lung injury, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and other problems of pulmonary medicine. He has been president of the ATS, the American Lung Association of Washington, and the Washington Thoracic Society, among numerous other positions of leadership locally and nationally. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the UW in 1998 and in 2000 was named to the Pulmonary Hall of Fame by the American Lung Associations of both Washington and Colorado. He received the 2008 Mission of Caring Award from Harborview Medical Center. To honor Hudson’s outstanding leadership, the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the American Lung Association of Washington are working together to establish an endowed chair in his name.
The Trudeau Medal recognizes major contributions to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of lung disease through leadership in research, education, or clinical care. It was established in 1926 in honor of Edward Livingston Trudeau, a founder and the first president of the American Lung Association.
The ATS citation of Hudson reads, “We honor you for your multiple contributions, including the training of generations of excellent pulmonary and critical care medicine researchers and clinicians as well as your efforts at the University of Washington in developing a wonderful academic environment for research and training. We also recognize and honor you for your research in acute lung injury and for your contribution to the development and success of the NHLBI ARDS Network and for your extraordinary care of patients and their families.”
Hudson received his medical degree from the UW School of Medicine and served his internship at Cornell Medical Center in New York. He returned to UW for his residency, served as chief medical resident at Harborview, and then completed a pulmonary fellowship at the University of Colorado. He joined the Department of Medicine faculty in 1973 and in 1999 became the first appointee to the Endowed Chair in Pulmonary Disease Research. At Harborview he has served as medical director of the Medical ICU, the Pulmonary Function Laboratory, and the Respiratory Therapy Department, and he was associate physician-in-chief of medicine for 15 years. He headed the division from 1985 to 2003. He developed the pulmonary fellowship training program at UW and mentored many trainees. For many years he taught the Human Face of Medicine course in the School of Medicine.
