By on October 19, 2012 - 10:18am
The Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association will present Special Achievement Awards to four distinguished alumni on October 20. An exhibit of photographs and documents featuring the award recipients is now on display in the Weill Cornell Medical College main lobby at 1300 York Avenue.
The 2011 Special Achievement Award is presented jointly to Ellen Shulman Baker, M.D. '78; Jay. C. Buckey, Jr., M.D. '81; and Mae C. Jemison, M.D. '81. All three have served on Space Shuttle missions for NASA.
Ellen Shulman Baker, M.D., joined NASA as a medical officer at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center after completing her residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She became an astronaut in 1985. Dr. Baker has logged more than 686 hours in space as a mission specialist on three flights. She retired from NASA in 2011.
Ellen Shulman in her medical student days
Jay C. Buckey, Jr., M.D., was a Payload Specialist aboard NASA Space Shuttle flight STS-90 in 1998 and conducted 26 individual life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system. He is currently Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School and Adjunct Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth.
Jay C. Buckey, Jr. presenting the student address at the 1981 Commencement
Mae C. Jemison, M.D., became a general practitioner in Los Angeles after medical school, and then spent more than 2 years as an Area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa. Dr. Jemison joined NASA in 1987. She became the first female African-American astronaut when she served on the space shuttle Endeavor in September 1992.
In his address to the graduating class of 1981, Commencement Speaker Robert J. Glaser, M.D. began by remarking on the recent successful launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and went on to draw parallels between NASA and advances in medicine. Interestingly, 2 members of that graduating class, Dr. Buckey and Dr. Jemison, went on to serve in the space program.
The 2012 Special Achievement Award is presented to Richard T. Silver, M.D. '53.
Richard T. Silver, M.D., received his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1953. He was a Clinical Associate in the General Medicine Branch at the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute and then completed an internship in medicine and a residency in medicine (hematology) at The New York Cornell Medical Center. Afterwards, he served as a Visiting Fulbright Professor in Salavador, Bahia, Brazil. He then returned to NewYork Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center where he has remained. Dr. Silver is currently the longest serving member of the Weill Cornell Medical College faculty.
Cancer team, 1973. Ralph Engle, Denis Miller, Morton Coleman, Robert Zager, Richard Silver, Mark Pasmantier
Dr. Silver is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Leukemia and Myeloproliferative Center at NewYork Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center. He is also the Principal Investigator at Weill Cornell Medical Center of an NIH grant study to myeloproliferative diseases, and is Chairman of its Membership Committee. Dr. Silver serves as Medical Director, The Cancer Research and Treatment Funds, Inc. He is on the Board of the New York State Society of Medical Oncologists and Hematologists, and is a Life Member of the Cornell University Council.
Please see the lobby exhibit for more from Drs. Baker, Buckey, Jemison, and Silver.
Blog Category: News and Announcements
