Surgeon Thomas E. Starzl and organic chemist Barry M. Trost received the John Scott Award last Friday (November 19) in Philadelphia.
The award is given to men and women whose inventions have contributed in some outstanding way to the "comfort, welfare, and happiness" of mankind, and it was instituted by Edinburgh druggist John Scott in the early 1800s.
"The idea was to reward ingenious men and women who make contributions to humankind," explains Robin Hochstrasser, University of Pennsylvania physical chemist and secretary of the John Scott Medal Advisory Committee. "All the awards that we've given over the years satisfied that criterion," he said.
Starzl, from the University of Pittsburgh, was recognized for his research on liver and kidney transplantation and immunosuppression and for his successful efforts to explain the mechanism of organ engraftment.
"[He] was the person who changed the way medicine is done," both physically and ethically, said Hochstrasser. ...
