Summer 2003
Trachtenberg Receives Sabin Humanitarian Award
President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg was among this
years Sabin Vaccine Institute Humanitarian Award winners, the
institutes highest non-science prize. Singer/songwriter Paul Simon
and Montefiore Medical Center Childrens Hospital President Irwin
Redlener, co-founders of the Childrens Health Fund, also received
Humanitarian Awards, while Bernard Poussot, president of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals,
was recognized with the Sabin Lifetime Achievement Award.
For the first time in the history of these awards, the work of
four individuals has been brought to the institutes attention
all within the same year, said Sabin Institute Chair H.R. Shepherd.
In commending the accomplishments of President Trachtenberg, Shepherd
cited the Trachtenberg Scholars program, which has awarded 68 full,
four-year scholarships to academically outstanding DC public high school
seniors a commitment of more than $9 million. Also mentioned
were the Universitys facilities in the new GW Hospital, home to
the Sabin Institutes human hookworm vaccine research program.
Navigating the rise of an established and recognized academic
institution to far greater heights of excellence and prestige is no
mean feat, particularly in the nations capital where a lesser
figure would become overpowered by the politics and peculiarities that
can impede progress, said Shepherd.
Not only are students today benefitting from his many progressive
initiatives, added Shepherd, but the city has been uplifted
by his scholarship program for promising District of Columbia public
school students.
Co-winners Simon and Redlener were recognized for their efforts to combat
the health crisis facing impoverished children in the United States,
by forming the Childrens Health Fund.
Poussot received the lifetime achievement award for his guidance at
Wyeth Pharmaceutical, a leader in the development and introduction of
vaccines and other drugs to fight disease.
I am humbled to be included in a group that has impacted humankind
in such a positive way, said Trachtenberg. But, in truth,
this award truly recognizes the dedication and commitment of the entire
GW community from our world-class faculty and staff to the talented
students who study in our classrooms and laboratories.
Previous recipients of the Sabin Humanitarian Award include Jean-Pierre
Garnier, chair and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline; Jean-Jacques Betrand, chair
and CEO of Aventis Pasteur; Mary Flake de Flores, first lady of Honduras;
and Nicholas Zwick, founder of Dialogic Corporation (now part of Intel).
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu