SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Leading contributors to the field of rheumatology were honored October 18th at the first plenary session of the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). "The presentation of these honors is one of the greatest privileges involved in being the president of ACR," said David Wofsky, MD, the outgoing president.

The first to be acknowledged were the two recipients of the Distinguished Rheumatologist Awards, Edward D. Harris, Jr., MD, and Gene G. Hunder, MD. The award typically goes to members whose contributions lie in the areas of patient care, clinical scholarship, or direct service to patients.

Dr. Harris is the George DeForest Barnett Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Stanford University School of Medicine, in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Hunder is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Harris was particularly honored for his pioneering research in defining the mechanism of tissue destruction in rheumatoid arthritis, and for developing and proving the hypothesis that the rheumatoid pannus acts as a locally invasive malignancy. Dr. Wofsky also noted that Dr. Harris was recently elected to the Royal College of Physicians in London. Dr. Hunder was acknowledged for the wide scope of his investigations, which range from systemic lupus erythematosus to giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.

The highest award of the ACR, the Presidential Gold Medal, was given to Ralph C. Williams, Jr., MD. The award, which is supported by an endowed fund, recognizes either active or emeritus members who have made major contributions to rheumatology. Dr. Williams is a Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was recognized for being part of the investigative team that first described the appearance and disappearance of rheumatoid factor in the treatment of subacute bacterial endocarditis, and for the team's contribution as the first to describe idiotypes in rheumatology. More recently, he identified some possible molecular mimicking between bacterial antigens and inflamed tissue in ankylosing spondylitis.

The Distinguished Investigator Award was presented to Arthur Weiss, MD, PhD, who serves as the Ephraim P. Engleman Distinguished Professor at the University of California-San Francisco where he is the Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Weiss was recognized for his contribution in elucidating the basic mechanisms involved in signal transduction in T lymphocytes, and for elucidating the reasons that autoimmunity may develop if T lymphocyte regulatory mechanisms are impaired.

Finally, the ACR gave special recognition to Harold Davidson, PhD. The recognition, which was outside the annual ACR awards, was given to Dr. Davidson to acknowledge his retirement as the Administrator of the Center for Scientific Review at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The ACR acknowledged Dr. Davidson's role in assisting several rheumatology investigators with their NIH grant applications during his tenure.