HOUSTON - (Business Wire) TIAA-CREF, financial services organization and leading provider of retirement services in the academic, medical research and cultural fields, announced today that Herbert L. DuPont, M.D., M.A.C.P., chief of internal medicine at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, and vice chairman department of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, was named the 2009 recipient of the TIAA-CREF Distinguished Medical Educator Award. The award, founded by TIAA-CREF, is given annually to honor teaching physicians, nurses and other health care professionals for their outstanding work, significant contributions and exceptional influence in the field of medical education. The award carries a $10,000 honorarium for the recipient and a $5000 donation is made to The Health Museum (also known as the John P. McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science) for summer camp scholarships.
“Today TIAA-CREF is thrilled to recognize an outstanding leader in the Texas medical community,” said Bert Scott, Executive Vice President, Chief Institutional Development and Sales, TIAA-CREF. “Dr. DuPont’s work has influenced and shaped the minds of medical professionals around the world and embodies TIAA-CREF’s mission of serving those who serve others.”
Dr. DuPont received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Ohio Wesleyan University. After receiving his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine and carrying out an internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota, Dr. DuPont became an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the late 1960s before joining the faculty at the University of Maryland. In 1973, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Houston and became the first director of its program in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology. He became Director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston in 1989. In 1995 Dr. DuPont became Chief of Internal Medicine at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital.
“Education has been and continues to be the cornerstone of St. Luke’s, and Dr. DuPont’s receipt of this award is extremely befitting,” said David J. Fine, President and CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System. “His work in tropical medicine, epidemiology and infectious diseases will continue to inspire future generations of physicians, educators and researchers. To be honored by his peers is a great testament to Dr. DuPont’s medical contributions for more than four decades.”
Since 1974 Dr. DuPont, with his wife, Peggy, has taken over 200 students from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Baylor College of Medicine and other medical schools to Mexico during a summer research elective. These students have learned how to perform international research and have been exposed to another culture and language. International research programs developed by Dr. DuPont on four continents have provided data, samples and research opportunities for students, residents and fellows. There are over 60 publications in peer review journals that represent studies done by trainees and students working with Dr. DuPont.
Dr. DuPont currently teaches medical students, M.P.H. and Ph.D. students at the University of Texas Medical School, University of Texas School of Public Health and Baylor College of Medicine. While serving as Chair of Internal Medicine Service at St. Luke’s he has spoken at Internal Medicine Grand Rounds, and for more than eight years conducted a weekly infectious disease and antibiotic lecture to residents and medical students rotating at St. Luke’s.
Dr. DuPont has served as the primary mentor for 24 physicians during their three-year infectious diseases fellowship; six Ph.D. scientists carrying out a postdoctoral fellowship; 13 Ph.D. students; and 17 Master’s level students during their formal degree program. Many of these former trainees occupy academic positions in the United States and other countries including Canada, Mexico, Peru, Korea, Jordan, Nigeria, Brunei Darussalam, Pakistan and Australia.
Dr. DuPont helped found the International Society of Travel Medicine and was its first president. He was also a member of the board of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) from 1981 to 2002, serving as president from 1997-1999. He is past president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Clinical and Climatological Association. Dr. DuPont received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich in 2004, the Distinguished Achievement Citation from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2006, the Maxwell Finland Award for Scientific Achievement from the NFID in 2008, Mastership in the American College of Physicians in 2009, the President’s Scholar Award for Research, University of Texas Health Science Center in 2009 and Distinguished Medical Achievement Award, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia in September 2009. He has authored or co-authored more than 600 scientific publications and written or edited 19 books.
The steering committee selected to govern the award and to evaluate nominations is composed of leading medical professionals from the Baylor College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing.
TIAA-CREF, along with the award steering committee, will host a banquet at La Colombe d’Or Hotel on Thursday, December 3, to honor Dr. DuPont’s accomplishments.
About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF is a national financial services organization with more than $402 billion in combined assets under management (9/30/09) and the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields. For information, visit www.tiaa-cref.org.
TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products.
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