Media Contact:

HAHN RECEIVES PRESIDENTIAL GOLD MEDAL FROM AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY

ATLANTA – Bevra H. Hahn, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the division of rheumatology of the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, received the Presidential Gold Medal award from the American College of Rheumatology during the ACR Annual Scientific Meeting, October 16 – 21 in Philadelphia, Pa. 

The highest award that the ACR can bestow, the Presidential Gold Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding achievements in rheumatology over an entire career. Candidates for the award have made important contributions in multiple areas such as clinical medicine, research, education or administration.

Dr. Bevra H. Hahn’s parents, Isa Quillen and Chet Hannahs, said she could enter any profession she wanted and provided a debt-free education – a BSc from Ohio State, MD from Johns Hopkins, house staff training at Washington University. Rheumatology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins provided inspirational mentors Lawrence E. Shulman, MD, PhD, Alfonse T. Masi, MD, DrPH, and the late Mary Betty Stevens, MD. Thereafter Dr. Hahn served on the faculties at Washington University, then UCLA.

Research contributions to rheumatology include: establishing cyclophosphamide and azathioprine regimens in lupus mice later used in patient care, establishing that supplemental calcium and vitamin D reduce bone loss in patients on glucocorticoids, manipulating SLE by regulating antibody idiotypes, demonstrating that anti-DNA contain amino acid sequences that stimulate T cell help, suppressing SLE by induction of regulatory T cells with peptides that mimic T epitopes, contributing to identification of  genes that predispose to SLE, and demonstration that abnormal high-density lipoproteins in SLE are pro-inflammatory and increase risk for atherosclerosis. Hahn says that all work has been interactive with brilliant scientists, clinicians and staff, including Theodore J. Hahn, MD, Betty P. Tsao, PhD, Fanny Ebling, PhD, Ram Raj Singh, MD, Antonio La Cava, MD, PhD, Ram Pyare Singh, PhD, Pojen P. Chen, PhD, Jennifer M. Grossman, MD, Kenneth C. Kalunian, MD, Maureen A. McMahon, MD and Weiling Chen. Work has been inspired and sustained by outstanding trainees; many are current leaders in the practice community, in academics and in industry.

Support, inspiration and patience have come in great measure from Dr. Hahn’s husband Theodore J. Hahn, MD, her daughters April Diane Hahn (Lange), PhD, and Alysanne Hahn, and from her grandchildren’s learning the joy of discovery.

Dr. Hahn has been privileged to work with the ACR as president in 1999-2000 (which depended on the outstanding ACR staff), master, and mentor award recipient. She has also worked for the NIH (and is currently a member of its Council on Councils), which supported her research throughout her career. Dr. Hahn is also on the board of directors of her local Arthritis Foundation.

Dr. Hahn holds awards from rheumatology societies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Argentina and Chile and credits many talented colleagues around the world for these. She also prizes the Evelyn V. Hess Award from the Lupus Foundation. Recent research support has come from the NIH, LRI, ALR, LCTC, Kirkland Foundation and the AF. Private donors have been generous, including Bertram A. Maltz, MD, the Dorough Foundation, the Paxson Family, Carolyn and Roger Horchow, and Jeanne Rappaport.

“It takes a huge network of outstanding, supportive and brilliant people to take on the challenge of understanding and managing rheumatology diseases. Foremost, it takes many helpful, thoughtful patients to help us understand. With all I share the ACR Gold Medal,” says Dr. Hahn of her most recent ACR honor.

The ACR is an organization of and for physicians, health professionals, and scientists that advances rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support that foster excellence in the care of people with or at risk for arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases.

###