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Ronald Harvey receives Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health
Dr. Ronald G. Harvey is a Professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research in the University of Chicago. His research has focused on determining the fundamental mechanisms of causation of cancer by carcinogens, specifically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), present in cigarette smoke. He and his collaborators have shown that PAHs are transformed enzymatically into reactive forms that combine with DNA to form adducts. The adducts result in mutations that lead ultimately to induction of tumors. He has devised practical methods for synthesis of the active metabolites and their DNA adducts and is currently working to develop methods for measuring these adducts in human cells. He is the author of three books and more than 450 publications in scientific journals.
Harvey was awarded the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health in June of 2006. The Alton Ochsner Award is presented to one or more clinical or basic science investigators, without regard to age, race, gender, or nationality, for outstanding and exemplary original scientific investigations that relate tobacco consumption and health. This scientific work may be clinical, fundamental, epidemiological or preventive in scope. The prime criterion for award selection is its scientific impact on this major health threat. The $15,000 award is presented at the Annual Convocation of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The Award is named for the late Alton Ochsner, MD, one of the founders of the Ochsner Clinic Foundation. Doctor Ochsner was the first person to recognize that cigarette smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer. These seminal findings led to scientific studies ultimately resulting in the identification of the underlying mechanisms associated with tobacco addiction and smoking related diseases. This led to the major efforts presently aimed at reducing tobacco consumption by federal and state governments to reduce disability and deaths resulting from this devastating scourge.