Cincinnati Children’s Scientists Honored by i-CLIP and the American Thoracic Society

Dr. Jeffrey Whitsett Receives i-CLIP Lifetime Achievement Award

Monday, May 17, 2010

CINCINNATI – Two scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center received major awards for promising research from the International Conference on Lung Innate Immunity and Pulmonology (i-CLIP) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) during both group’s annual conferences in New Orleans.

Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD, executive director of the Cincinnati Children’s Perinatal Institute and its division of Pulmonary Biology, received i-CLIP’s lifetime achievement award on May 15. I-CLIP also dedicated its conference this year to Dr. Whitsett.

Anne-Karina T. Perl, MS, PhD, Assistant Professor in the division of Pulmonary Biology, received the Respiratory Cell & Molecular Biology Carol Basbaum Award from ATS on May 17. The award recognizes a junior investigator for outstanding scientific achievement and leadership potential.

Dr. Whitsett is a pioneer of lung and developmental biology research and established a strong pulmonary biology research group at Cincinnati Children's. He and his colleagues have established numerous mouse models to study the biological functions and disease relevance of many pulmonary proteins. To date, he has published 458 research papers and contributed to more than 100 reviews in the field. Dr. Whitsett has mentored more than 15 graduate and 55 postdoctoral level trainees.

Dr. Whitsett is internationally known for his research in pulmonary medicine, as well as for his clinical expertise in neonatology. He played a critical role in making surfactant protein replacement a routine tool for treating immature lungs and respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants.

Dr. Perl, a former postdoctoral mentee of Dr. Whitsett, started her own laboratory in 2004 to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying normal lung formation and lung repair after injury. By identifying lung progenitor cells and dissecting the functional role of numerous genes in the cellular processes of lung repair and lung regeneration Dr. Perl hopes to identify new strategies for prevention and treatment of lung diseases like Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD), emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiolitis obliterans (BOS).

About Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is one of 10 children’s hospitals named to the Honor Roll in U.S. News and World Report’s 2009-10 America’s Best Children’s Hospitals. It is ranked #1 for digestive disorders and highly ranked for its expertise in respiratory diseases, cancer, neonatal care, heart care, neurosurgery, diabetes, orthopedics, kidney disorders and urology. Cincinnati Children’s is one of the top two recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Internationally recognized for quality and innovation by The Joint Commission, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, it has collaborations with hospitals and health systems around the world. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org.