UAB’s Curtis Receives Transplant Society’s Top Honor for 2009

The American Society of Transplantation (AST) has selected John J. Curtis, M.D., professor of medicine and surgery and Endowed Professor of Transplant Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as the recipient of its highest honor, the Ernest Hodge Distinguished Achievement Award, for 2009.

May 1, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The American Society of Transplantation (AST) has selected John J. Curtis, M.D., professor of medicine and surgery and Endowed Professor of Transplant Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), as the recipient of its highest honor, the Ernest Hodge Distinguished Achievement Award, for 2009.

The award, to be presented at the society's annual meeting in Boston later this month, recognizes a senior investigator whose lifelong work has advanced the field of transplantation and whose contributions to the field and the AST have been broad and far reaching. The selection is determined by the AST Board of Directors.

This highly respected award is funded by Roche Laboratories in honor of Dr. Ernest E. Hodge, a physician and Roche employee who died in January 2004. During his tenure with Roche, Hodge played a pivotal role in new and innovative drug studies in organ rejection prevention and autoimmune disorders. The Ernest Hodge Distinguished Achievement Award is designed to serve as a testament to Hodge's contributions to the field of organ transplantation and as a tribute to a valued colleague.

Curtis is recognized as an international leader in transplantation nephrology, and was one of the first researchers to recognize the importance of studying non-immunologic issues in clinical transplantation. His research documented the importance of the kidney in influencing blood pressure responses and remains definitive in the field. Curtis also began UAB's transplant nephrology training program in 1988, which was one of the first such training programs in the country.

"This is a humbling experience, and I am grateful to the society for this honor," Curtis said. "UAB is consistently among the largest kidney transplant programs in the world because the university has always had the transplant program as a high priority, and I am grateful to have been able to work in such a robust program for so many years. There always has been a strong working relationship between surgery and medicine at UAB, and that really has enabled us to produce the research we have over the years."

UAB Professor Robert Gaston, M.D., a nephrologist who trained with Curtis, said his colleague's  service to the society, direct impact in advancing the science of transplantation, and stature within the field support such this high honor.

"Beyond these easily documented accomplishments, John's work not only introduced me to the literature of transplant medicine, but established for the first time the importance of studying non-immunologic issues in clinical transplantation," Gaston said. "It was John Curtis' pioneering work in this regard that makes him so important in our evolution as a community."

Curtis began his teaching career at the University of Kentucky, where he was medical director of the kidney transplant program from 1976 to 1979. He joined the UAB faculty in 1979. Gaston said Curtis' work describing the relationship between hypertension and native kidneys, transplanted kidneys, the renin-angiotensin axis and immunosuppressants generated 10 years of Specialized Centers of Research (SCOR) funding at UAB and resulted in numerous publications of significance.

"During the '80s and the '90s, the UAB group published seminal papers regarding pathogenesis and treatment of post-transplant hypertension and characterized the impact of the novel immunosuppressant, cyclosporine, on renal function and blood pressure," Gaston said. "These papers appeared in Lancet, the American Journal of Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine and remain seminal works in the field. Beyond these direct contributions was the impact of this body of work demonstrating, perhaps for the first time, that studying medical issues in transplant recipients could be a fertile, productive, and rewarding avenue for clinical investigation."

"John Curtis has made monumental contributions to transplant nephrology, education and patient care during his 30 years at UAB," said Anupam Agarwal, M.D., director of the UAB Division of Nephrology. "He has excelled as a researcher, teacher, mentor and physician in ways that few academic physicians are able to do."

Curtis earned his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Scranton in Scranton, Penn., and his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He served his residency and nephrology fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital and performed a special studies rotation in nephrology at Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. The UAB Board of Trustees name Curtis to the position of Professor Emeritus in April.

About AST

The American Society of Transplantation is an international organization of transplant professionals dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation through the promotion of research, education, advocacy, and organ donation to improve patient care. The society comprises more than 2,800 transplant physicians, surgeons and allied health professionals.

About UAB

The UAB Division of Nephrology, established in 1970, provides state-of-the-art clinical care, research in basic and clinical aspects of nephrology and transplantation, teaching, and disease management for patients with diverse types of kidney disease. UAB Hospital is consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for persons with kidney disease.